The City of Houston will soon launch a capital campaign calling on Houstonians to help fund an $18 million makeover of Emancipation Park.
The effort has been heralded as an attempt to position the park as a monument to the city’s African-American history, and as ground reclaimed for families, cultural events and Third Ward redevelopment.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently awarded $1 million to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to renovate and expand the park, adding to the forward movement of the project.
The 10-acre park, located on Dowling Street in Third Ward is considered a local landmark because of the central role it has played in the development of Black Houston.
Founded by a group of former slaves in 1872 who pooled $800 to buy the land as a site for Juneteenth celebrations, Emancipation Park has hosted everything from Black Panther rallies to community extravaganzas sponsored by business owners who thrived when Dowling was the jewel of Black Houston’s economic development.
“If people could put together nickels and dimes to purchase this 10 acres of land in the 1800s, surely we should be able to amass the kinds of activities that will stimulate economic development and progressive programming,” said Dorris Ellis, president of Friends of Emancipation Park and publisher of the Houston Sun.
However, some residents are questioning the project’s ability to deliver community development, economic or otherwise.
“The Freelon Group, the architects chosen to lead this project, are out of Philadelphia,” said Stephanie Coleman, community development coordinator for Tre Magazine. “How is it that none of the Black architecture firms knew there was a call for proposal? If you’re saying there is not a capable Black architect in all of Houston, and all of Texas I have a problem.”
Project reservations
Coleman, who moved back to Houston about a year ago, found out about the project by accident.
“After attending a community workshop, activist Ester King stopped by the Tre office and told me he was on his way to a meeting about the redevelopment of Emancipation Park, and that I should come. When I got there I asked organizers how had it been promoted to get community involvement. They said by an email sent out by Community Cloth.
“When I asked around I couldn’t find anyone who knew about the redevelopment—not community center leaders, not local college professors, nor local artists. I’m not saying the organizers’ intention weren’t good, but their system was not out-reaching,”Coleman said.
“You have businesses that have been in that area for over 40 years who did not hear about this redevelopment until they heard it on the news.”
In addition to the state grant, the city has committed $2 million to the project. the OST/Almeda Corridors Redevelopment Authority, a local government corporation created by the city to revitalize the area, will provide an additional $4 million.
With park renovation details still being finalized, it is believed the first $10.5 million will be spent on building a gymnasium, updating the 72-year-old community center, replacing or upgrading the pool, adding parking spaces and building a covered plaza area by the community center.
Later additions might include walking trails, a water spray area, a porch with rockers overlooking the playground, gateways and plaques to commemorate the park’s history, and an “iconic” feature such as a sculpture, according to parks director Joe Turner.
Beyond the hiring of an out-of-state architect, Coleman and others believe there was not enough community involvement in the development of the park’s enhancement plan.
“Why does our community need a rocking chair porch? We have a community that is underserved and underfed. Community gardens should be part of the landscape. We have arts programs that are dying, and the need for museums and libraries. And the structure of it should reflect resources that we can afford to maintain featuring more natural light and air that can flow through instead of air conditioned space.
“This park should have an impact on the Third Ward community economically, developmentally and culturally. But how does this current plan facilitate that?” asked Coleman, who feels residents of Cuney Homes, Texas Southern alumni and Jack Yates faculty and alumni should have been involved in the planning.
More questions
“How is it that none of the local Black publications knew or said anything about these community planning meetings? The community didn’t know,” Coleman said. “A community that invests in itself will maintain itself. A local architect would be more invested in the park’s upkeep.
“If you look at the park proposal there’s no reference to arts legend John Biggers, and no reference to local history because the Freelon Group doesn’t know any beyond what they’ve been able to pull from meetings,” Coleman said.
Theola Petteway, the redevelopment authority’s executive director, sees a renovated park solidifying the city’s commitment to the economic health of the area and serving as a sign for investors to target Third Ward for more growth, with new homes and new businesses.
Coleman worries that the disconnect between community residents and the actual project, which is scheduled to begin when private contributions and public money can fund the first phase, speaks to the proposal’s imaging as well.
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who sent a letter requesting the grant from the state, views the development as akin to individuals being set free from captivity. However, Stephanie Coleman (no relation), contends that more self-determination and community investment would have been garnered had project overseers done more to involve residents.
“All of the images in the park proposal are of Black people entertaining, feeding, and wading in the water. That’s not Jack Yates. That’s not the park’s founders. The spirit affixed to the proposal is not of a self-defining, overcoming, against-all-odds group of people. Rather, we are portrayed as recipients of someone else’s goodwill.
“This project should project us as individuals of business and commerce,” Coleman said. “And in light of the city’s Support Houston initiative, at least 70 percent of the monies involved in the building of the park should go to Houston firms, especially if you’re asking Houstonians to pay for it.”
Aswad Walker
DEFENDER
