Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Report for the Houston Parks Board
To download a copy, click here
Red Fields to Green Fields
Red Fields to Green Fields is a public/private effort that will acquire financially distressed properties (real estate “in the red”) and convert them into public parks and adjacent land “banked” for future sustainable development.
A glut of commercial property threatens our communities, businesses, hundreds of small and mid-sized banks, and the FDIC. Parks improve the economy, environment, and health of a city. We can seize this historic opportunity to create more livable, healthier communities and avert the imminent failure of many banks and businesses.
Low-cost loans would be made via a land bank and parkland acquisition fund provided by the nation's banking system and led by the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and FDIC. Funding could also come from creative financing options such as tax credits, leveraged with local equity capital. Public-private partnerships would buy distressed properties and remove buildings, using loans from the Land Bank Fund. Part of the land would be turned into a park; the rest would be redeveloped later to retire the loans. Each phase would create jobs and support property values.
For more information view the presentation.
1983 Green Ribbon Report
A citizens' group was appointed by local, state and federal authorities in the early 1980s to prepare a multi-year action plan which would correct deficiencies and allow the parks and recreation system to keep pace with growth in Houston. This study required exhaustive efforts of over 100 people and, to this day, is still an important planning tool when considering how the parks system must respond and grow. To download a copy of the full report, click here
1993 Mayor's Transition Committee on Parks - Update to the Green Ribbon Report
A decade after the Green Ribbon Report was presented, Mayor Robert Lanier formed the Transition Committee on Parks to determine if the parks system was headed in the right direction. The committee strongly believed that the majority of the recommendations in the Green Ribbon Report were still valid. Click the links below to download the report:
Committee Report
Justification for adopting the recommendations of the 1983 report
Persons and organizations providing testimony to the committee
Responses to Request for Input from elected City officials
Background information supporting the committee's recommendations |
