Quick Facts on the Wagner Greenspace

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night. It should be a fun time and there will be cookies!

Here is a preview of our fact sheet hand out tomorrow.

Also, thank you to all the wonderful volunteers that have worked so hard to make this happen: Alex, Colleen, Ellie, Carlie, Tiffany & Sarah

A Brief History

• Historically the Wagner street tracts were owned by the Gillespie family for over 60 years, from the early 1940's until the late 2000's. 
• Mildred "Mickey" Gillespie moved there in 1940 with her first husband and newborn son. She stayed in the house after the war and met her future husband James Edward "Jimmy" Gillespie at dance in the Heights. They married in 1948 and lived on the property until Jimmy's death in 2001. 
• Since 2001, the Wagner property changed hands twice and was slated for home development. With blueprints in-hand, the second buyer, a developer, was unable to get permits to build due to controversy with the city over a through-street from Honsinger to Wagner.
• After the developer backed out, the Wagner property was acquired by the Houston Parks Department (HPARD) in 2015 as a "green space", which is a park with no amenities. 
• In 2016 HPARD also purchased and demoed the lots on Honsigner, adding about 50% more square footage to the greenspace. 

Neighbors with a Purpose

In our urban environment, and with many homeowners having small to non-existent yards, there was an instant demand for the space. Dog owners, parents, and nature lovers began to realize the property was an open field and started utilizing it. We started meeting our neighbors- and becoming a community. Word spread that the "field" was city owned, but without plans or funding to improve the space. Conversations drove action and Friends of Wagner Greenspace was born. To date, we have met with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) through which we have found sponsorship and a better understanding of what it will take to make the Greenspace a multi-use park that will best serve our neighborhood. Meeting minutes are available and we would love to have you join our efforts. Contact information is on the next page

What we have learned

• Parks are a BIG, expensive endeavor. They typically cost 500K to 1M+ and they take 5- 10 years to come to fruition. 
• The good news is that activism and fundraising speed up the process and building a park can be done in phases. We hope to see Phase 1 (“Must Have’s”) executed quickly- in next 12-18 months. How soon everything can be completed is largely determined by our community efforts and our place in line on the HPARD priority list. 

The Vision

The following was Friends of Wagner Greenspace’s initial ideas for the space prioritized by Must Have (1), Should Have (2), Could Have (3). Of course a final vision will need YOUR input!

How to get Involved

• Please take a moment to fill out the survey today: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DB76GBZ
• Join the mailing list, go bookmark our blog and most importantly, introduce yourself!
• Donate for dog poop bag stands. 
• Participate in the process of fundraising and building- do you have connections/ resources/ talents you can contribute to make this a reality for our neighborhood? 

Contact Information

Email: FriendsofWagnerGreenspace@gmail.com

Blog: FriendsofWagnerGreenspace.blogspot.com

Neighbors Night Out - March 30, 2017 6-8PM

The Beginnings of a Park

City Acquires the Property through Parks and Open Space Ordinance

The journey to build our neighborhood park began at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 when the City of Houston purchased the property through the Park and Open Space Ordinance. According to HCAD.org, the property on Wagner was purchased effective 9/22/2015 and the properties on Honsinger were purchased effective dates 2/22/2016 & 2/29/2016. The site itself is ~ .56 acres.

This article in the Houston Chronicle provides more information about the land slated for the park.

Improvements in the Greenspace

Since the city purchased the property the following improvements have been completed:

• The houses on Honsinger were leveled in August 5, 2016. If your interested you can watch a clip of the house demo below.
• The neighborhood currently uses the Wagner space as an ad-hoc dog-park/ kiddie play space.
• 311 has been out to assess taking down the old fence separating the Wagner and Honsinger properties and it is slated to be removed in March 2017.

While this is awesome progress there are still a few things we hindering basic usability.

• The Honsinger side of the property is littered with trash and broken glass from the demo and does not have much grass coverage. Additionally dying trees and old rebar are at the back of the property
• On the Wagner side, the ground is not level and dog poop is left on the ground. It is not so fun when your toddler steps in runs up to dog poop and yells "poo poo"!
• The land could use some trashcans, benches and picnic tables to make it more usable to the community immediately for low cost. 

There is still much to be done and the Houston Parks and Recreations Department (HPARD) has said they will work on improving these basic needs in the near future.

Meeting with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department - February 2, 2017

On February 2, 2017 a small group of neighbors met with the HPARD the learnings and results of the meeting were: 

• Property was acquired through the Park and Open Space Ordinance
• HPARD can take care of our initial "must have" list (e.g. clean up land, add benches, add trashcans, add picnic table, remove the fence, etc). The timeline on when this will be completed is still TBD.
• The process to fundraise and develop a full park (e.g. playground, garden, etc)  can take 5-10 years and $500-$1 million dollars.
• We can work as a community to begin fundraising and work towards developing a park.

"Parks are Forever" - Joe Turner