MacGregor Park, a cultural cornerstone, deserves a makeover

Identity, race and culture in Houston.

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MacGregor Park, a cultural cornerstone, deserves a makeover

I've lived in Houston for just over a decade now, with just over two of those years spent in a cozy rental a couple of blocks from MacGregor Park. The park, which has become a cultural cornerstone in Greater Third Ward, is slated for a $54 million renovation, driven in part by the Kinder Foundation.

I used to go running there and, when I was heavily pregnant, would walk our 100-pound Labrador/Weimaraner mix (who died this past Sunday, RIP) around the southeast corner of the park near the statue of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By the time our son was a year old, we'd purchased a home in Westbury and moved out of the neighborhood. I haven't been back to the park in years but I miss watching the competitive, sometimes dazzling, pickup basketball games on the outdoor court. Or watching the kids, mostly girls, in barrettes and braids and beads, swinging colorful rackets during tennis lessons on the nearby tennis courts. I imagined my great-aunt, who attended Texas Southern University in the 1950s and often reminisced about playing tennis on those courts in her young adulthood.

Late spring days were filled with the cracks of bats from the games with Texas Southern baseball team, who play on Neagle Field. Sundays often rattled with the bass from car stereos and a kaleidoscope of bowling-ball slick slabs cruising around the park.

A recent article by staff reporter Yilun Cheng breaks down data from the Houston Parks and Recreation Department that shows that neighborhood parks in poor condition are disproportionately concentrated in low-income, predominantly minority areas and that Houston has fallen behind other large Texas cities in meeting residents' green space needs equitably.

MacGregor Park isn't quite in disrepair, but the community deserves to have an upgraded space to meet, play and build new memories.

Do you have a story to share or know of one that needs to be told? Share it with us here. 

In today's edition, education reporter Sam Kelly checks back in on HISD's expanded bilingual program; correspondent Nguyen Le writes about a UH grad finding success in the Vietnamese film business; and higher education reporter Samantha Ketterer follows the University of St. Thomas' rare program of degrees taught in Spanish. 

Welcome back to HouWeAre.

 

Jaundréa Clay, HouWeAre editor HouWeAre@houstonchronicle.com

 

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Photo by: Elizabeth Conley, Staff Photographer

$54 million renovation at MacGregor Park will stay 'true to its roots'

A storied space in Houston, MacGregor Park lent its name to two hip-hop song titles separated by 30 years: After the L.A. Rapper declared it "the place to be" in 1985, Fat Tony in 2015 referred to MacGregor as "the sweetest park."

On Wednesday, City Council voted to approve a monumental proposal for a $54 million renovation of MacGregor Park. The project is led by a $27 million gift from the Kinder Foundation.

As the southeast Houston park inches toward its centennial, it is now being discussed not just for its past but for what its future will bear. 

The plan will ultimately marry two visions: namesake Henry F. MacGregor's hope for a natural haven amid an urban center and the activity-driven community space that MacGregor became during the second half of the 20th century in the predominantly Black neighborhood it serves.

 

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What We're Talking About

• While Houston ISD experiences continuing declines in student enrollment, one group appears to be on the rise: emergent bilingual students. Education reporter Sam Kelly checks in with how the district's expanded program is faring under Superintendent Mike Miles' rigidly structured New Education System.
•  Recent census data shows Harris County is home to Texas' most diverse Native American population, boasting people from 150 Native groups. The count spans Indigenous populations from citizens from land now considered the U.S., including Native Hawaiians, Chamorros and American Samoans, and communities in Mexico and Central and South America who are U.S. residents. Staff writer Amelia Winger breaks down the numbers.

 

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Our Picks

Photo by: Kirk Sides, Staff Photographer University of St. Thomas expands Latino opportunities with degrees taught in Spanish Students at the University of St. Thomas can learn liberal arts or theology exclusively in the Spanish language – part of a rare but nationally growing form of instruction that school officials hope will create equity for an underserved population. The private Catholic university has gradually expanded its degree programs with courses offered only in Spanish, widening opportunities for non-bilingual Spanish speakers who might have found higher education otherwise inaccessible in the U.S. The newest program, an associate's in general studies, came this spring as part of a broader religious and educational responsibility to serve all parts of the community, university leaders said. STRESS TO SUCCESS: The uphill battles first-generation students face in the increasingly competitive college application process "Our Catholic faith is a universal faith," President Richard Ludwick said. "The fact that we would have the willingness and competency to create programs in multiple languages, specifically Spanish, makes perfect sense." The university began its first Spanish-only program in 2019 with the opening of the Center Semillero for Hispanic/Latino Theology, responding to a need for more non-ordained ministers in churches with large Spanish-speaking populations. Fr. Dempsey Rosales Acosta created a master's in pastoral theology and later added a master's in biblical theology, both of them becoming massively popular with older learners who wanted to study in their native tongue. About 120 people are enrolled in both master's programs. Some of the students are bilingual but have...

 

Photo by: Courtesy Duc Nguyen UH grad Dức finds success in Vietnamese film business 'The Last Wife,' the period piece that he co-wrote opens in theaters Friday in the U.S., including Houston.

 

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer MFAH installs 6,000-lb. sculpture highlighting African diaspora MFAH becomes the first U.S. institution to acquire and permanently install work by Simone Leigh, a Chicago-based artist.

 

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer Harris County honors Black soldiers in 1917 Houston riot at Camp Logan Harris County Commissioners Court passed a resolution recently honoring the Black soldiers of Camp Logan,  just weeks after the U.S. Army overturned their convictions from 106 years ago.

 

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One More Thing

This weekend is chock-full of events at the Otaku Winter Arc Festival, a cultural festival started by Pearland native Vincent Tran that will be held this year at Karbach Brewery. It features a sumo wrestling tournament on Sunday, Dec. 17, and other activities that celebrate the Japanese culture.

 

 

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