West 11th Street park in danger of being mowed over

As the largest native forest inside the loop without permanent protection, the West 11th Street Park's future is hanging on by a thin monetary thread. While HISD, the current owners of the 21 acres, agreed to give the City of Houston first chance of buying it when it was decided they no longer wanted it, the selling price of 9 million dollars was a bit much to handle. Even though Mayor Bill White offered 4 million dollars in matching funds, and there has been a long list of donors to help raise the extra money, there is still a hefty sum that must be raised by the end of the year.

Although there are conflicting reports on how HISD acquired the land, and why they aren't donating it (or keeping it for that matter), the bottom line is that the school district wants the money. On the information page of the Save this Park site, it reads "Originally part of the Hogg Foundation’s holdings, in 1939 the property was deeded to the University of Texas, which in turn sold it to HISD ten years later," while the Chronicle reported that "the land was originally owned by the Hogg Foundation and given to the University of Texas, which gave it to HISD."
Also, on the FAQ page of the West 11th Street Park site, a question and answer reads, "Why can’t HISD just give us the park? The park is an asset that they bought with tax dollars. They can’t just give it away. They have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to sell it at a fair price."

Well, however HISD may have acquired the land, the fact remains that a large and important natural sanctuary in Houston may be subjected to development if the city is unable to pay the amount requested by the time the HISD buying contract expires. Unless the Parks Board can secure a loan for the remaining money (probably by using a piece of the park as collateral), the land would be up for sale January 1st, 2007. With Houston's penchant for what many would label innapropriate development, we can only hope that the 11th Street Park actually remains a park.

More information:

Save this Park

West 11th Street Park

Houston Parks Board 11th Street Park site

Houston Audubon Society's West 11th Street Park Bird Survey

Park location

Photo: our own (and Flickr user) jeffbalke