Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Last week, we learned that when it comes to abundant and accessible park land, Dallas ranks 26 out of the top 50 big cities in the country. The Trust for Public Land gives cities a ParkScore based on certain criteria such as the number of acres, the size of parks and how easy it is to get to them.
The number fell from last year, and Willis Winters, head of Dallas Parks and Recreation, said in a Morning News report that North Dallas was to blame, noting that the Trust had deemed areas like Preston and Spring Valley, and Marsh and Walnut Hill “very high need.”
At the House of Blues last night, the Dallas Parks Foundation brought together city officials, nonprofit leaders and local residents to talk about the state of parks, recreation and transportation in its first-ever CONFAB: A Dallas Parks Foundation Conversation.
In Downtown alone, the city has 87.3 acres of proposed green space, including four high-priority projects in the West End and on Pacific, Carpenter and Harwood near the Farmers Market.
“In the parks department, we like to say that we’re magical because we can create five acres of park land out of thin air,” jokes Michael Hellman, assistant director of parks and recreation.
I found Hellman after the presentation and asked him where the magic park land is in North Dallas, an area that has historically lacked green space. As Advocate discussed in the Far North Dallas edition’s August 2011 cover story, Where is Far North Dallas?, the area north of LBJ quickly developed in the 1970s and ’80s with homes and indoor shopping malls in mind, not parks. The land was just too valuable.
Things are about to change.
“Well, look at Dallas Midtown,” Hellman says, referring to the part of the project that calls for an 18-20-acre central park that will connect with the city’s trail network. Planners have compared the planned park to the Klyde Warren Park in Downtown.
As for other underused areas of North Dallas, the parks department is considering a partnership with another government entity — which one, Hellman wouldn’t say. They’re in the very early stages of discussion.
“It’s an entity we’ve done partnerships with in the past, successfully. It’s one that we think would be logical.”
At the event, Hellman provided updates on the proposed parks in Downtown. Transportation planning manager Jared White talked about the bike plan, and incoming District 11 Councilman Lee Kleinman gave a how-to on starting a Friends group.
