{"id":1186,"date":"2014-11-06T00:49:22","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T06:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?page_id=1186"},"modified":"2017-10-11T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T22:48:15","slug":"parks-department-take-down-that-fence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?page_id=1186","title":{"rendered":"Parks Department: Take Down That Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

When is a Public Boat Launch Not a Public Boat Launch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 6, 2014<\/p>\n

A boat launch is no longer a boat launch after the City spends $1.3 million designing, building, and landscaping it and doesn\u2019t include access for the people and their boats.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the explanation from representatives of the parks department and the Uptown TIRZ 16 for why the once-popular official Parks and Wildlife boat launch at Woodway<\/a> in our Memorial Park remains fenced-off and closed to the public more than six months after it was transformed into a massive drainage outfall.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The maintenance ramp cleared of mud at the Woodway not-a-boat launch on Nov. 1, 2014. It’s not safe for people, says the City.<\/p><\/div>\n

Coincidentally, being able to put in at Woodway<\/a> allows the public to float down Buffalo Bayou through the historic natural area that the City and County want to obliterate. That nearly 1.5-mile stretch of the river further downstream is one of the last remaining wild reaches of our 18,000-year-old mother bayou. So keeping the put-in closed makes it more difficult for people to see the majestic very old cliffs, lovely forested banks, and sandy beaches of this little known wilderness area that will be destroyed.<\/p>\n

Officially it\u2019s not a boat launch at all, which is why it is closed, although it might be a boat launch again sometime in the future, according to Rick Dewees, assistant parks department director in charge of Memorial Park, and Sarah Newbery, the Uptown TIRZ 16 project director for the Memorial Park Master Plan. The Uptown TIRZ 16 financed the project at Woodway with taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n

But wait, what\u2019s that gently sloping, winding paved ramp leading down to the water?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not for people; that\u2019s only for maintenance trucks, said Dewees. Newbery agreed.<\/p>\n

People Not a Priority, says the Parks Department
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Where<\/a>

Where the information kiosk used to be in Memorial Park west of 610.<\/p><\/div>\n

Officially the project, completed last spring, was for \u201cerosion control\u201d and installation of a new, bigger outfall for increased drainage, pointed out Dewees and Newbery. Trees were cut down (erosion control!), and the new outfall was dug out of the formerly wooded ravine that once featured a nature trail. A park kiosk with information about the area was removed.<\/p>\n

For some reason, despite the fact that it\u2019s a public park and was a popular boat launch and nature area, nobody in government planned for people to use it, said Dewees and Newbery.<\/p>\n

However, it looks perfectly usable\u2014when it\u2019s not covered with mud.<\/p>\n

And a lot of mud from the bayou collects there. So the drainage\/erosion control project does need a lot of maintenance. The mud is scooped up and deposited under the adjacent Woodway Bridge, there to wash out unseen back into the bayou.<\/p>\n

Strangely, neither Dewees nor Newbery had any idea who was maintaining the drainage\/erosion control project by scraping up the mud.<\/p>\n

TIRZ 16 doesn\u2019t do maintenance, only capital improvement projects that require hiring companies like SWA Group, the landscape architecture firm that designed the landscaping, and apparently the maintenance ramp, for the not-for-people project. AECOM was apparently the engineering firm that designed the powerful outfall to shoot water directly across the river at the opposite bank, eroding the bank and blocking the flow of the bayou like a dam.<\/p>\n

SWA Group, then headed by Kevin Shanley, also designed the Buffalo Bayou Partnership\u2019s Buffalo Bayou Park<\/a> project east of Shepherd that removed a great deal of natural riparian vegetation. Shanley, a former president of the Bayou Preservation Association, was a creator and major proponent of the controversial plan to bulldoze the natural bayou further downstream. The Army Corps of Engineers is considering whether to issue a permit<\/a> to the Harris County Flood Control District for that $6 million boondoggle.<\/p>\n

Protecting People from Themselves<\/strong><\/p>\n

But still, why keep the not-a-boat-launch off-limits? Why is this entire Woodway area of the park, formerly known as the Archery Range, closed-off behind locked gates?

at least three canoe launches in the city\u2019s Buffalo Bayou Park east of Shepherd<\/a>, Dewees said, \u201cHmm. That\u2019s news to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Memorial Park Conservancy, Houston Parks and Recreation Department and the Uptown Houston TIRZ are holding the second of four community meetings Monday, Nov. 10, 2014, about proposals for the new $1.8 million Memorial Park Master Plan.<\/p>\n

The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the White Oak Conference Center, 7603 Antoine Drive, 77004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When is a Public Boat Launch Not a Public Boat Launch? November 6, 2014 A boat launch is no longer a boat launch after the City spends $1.3 million designing, building, and landscaping it and doesn\u2019t include access for the people and their boats. That\u2019s the explanation from representatives of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1186","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4252,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions\/4252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}