Khambrel Marshall is coming up next.
up next.
From KPRC 2, this is Houston
newsmakers with Khambrel
Marshall.
>> Good morning and welcome
to this special edition of
Houston Newsmakers. As we take
a deep dive into what will be
the new and improved Memorial
Park coming up in a couple of
weeks. We’ll see the big reveal
of what’s being called the
Memorial Park Land Bridge and
Prairie. An artist rendering
shows the imagination of what the finished product will look
the finished product will look
like. 4 titles under to Mount
East and west of Earth referred
collectively as the Land
Bridge. The reality looks a
bit different as the finishing
touches are being applied to what can only be described as
what can only be described as
a marvel of architecture and
environmental sustainability.
You get a firsthand look at
what’s going on and what to
expect. We get that information
from someone who lives and
breathes
Memorial Park.
>> You may have been able to
see all the construction going
on a memorial park. All these last number of years. But now
last number of years. But now
it’s almost ready to start this
week on Houston newsmakers,
president and CEO, the Memorial
Park Conservancy. Shelley
Arnold is with me and show you.
This is the beginning of what
is going to be a really, really wonderful, a place for people
wonderful, a place for people
to come from. How many zip
codes?
170 the codes
>> counted in 2015 and
counting. People from 170 zip
codes that come to Memorial
Park.
>> This whole area, the land
Bridge is one of the areas are
going to be kicking off as of
December 10 talk a little bit
about the concept of why this
came about and how effective
you think it’s going to be.
So the land Bridge and Prairie,
it’s the consolidated project.
It’s 100 acres and I’m proud to announce and honored to
announce and honored to
announce that this will be the
Kinder Land Bridge and the and
Melvin will prairie and the
that the Land Bridge and
Prairie came about. It started
in the design process when the
planning process when we were
interviewing Houstonians, when
we were researching when we were talking to a college us
were talking to a college us
scientists, ecological
scientists, biologist what the
party needs and what we heard
from Houstonians. One of the
important things that we hear
from you. So the INS is that
they wanted a safer crossing
across Memorial Drive and they
want access. 2 other parts of
the park. If they use the north
side, they want access to the
south side and vice versa.
We also heard people want to gathering spaces and we also
gathering spaces and we also
heard that people wanted their
part to be healthier to be
better work. We’re coming off
of the drought in 2000, 11 12
and lost. Tens of thousands of
trees in a memorial park.
And so this was originally
envisioned the what propelled the need for the crossing
the need for the crossing
crossing for people at a
crossing for wildlife. But it’s
the land Bridge and prairie
together are much more than
that.
>> This is so neat because you
have a land bridge and prairie
that are connected in the land
Bridge. The prairie itself was
ball fields that you actually
excavated and moved to. Another
probably shows the way that the park itself, it’s helping
the park itself, it’s helping
the park good even better.
That’s exactly right. And so.
>> The ball fields are really
important asset for so many
Houstonians. They enjoy them.
But here way on the south side of the park, they were hard to
of the park, they were hard to
maintain very hard to find.
And this land can serve much,
much more valuable purpose for
it. The ecology for wildlife
and for people and put the
putting the ball field on the
North side where they were
originally intended to be in the 1930’s Memorial Park master
the 1930’s Memorial Park master
plan then freed up this pace
for us to dig out. And so we
dug out
with oil to use to create the Land Bridge rouse the eastbound
Land Bridge rouse the eastbound
in the westbound of the Land
Bridge. We dug out. It’s 10
feet down and it it will allow
water to pass into the space
storm water specifically to
pass into this space and then
to be absorbed into the
prairie. So the what the prairies where the original
prairies where the original
habitat and ecosystem of
Houston native Gulf Coast
Prairie. That’s what the
greater Houston region was.
That one time largely forest.
Savannah’s as well. Largely
Gulf coast prairies. And so
you ask people, you know, don’t
understand necessarily why we
flood so much more today. And part of the reason is
And part of the reason is
because we’ve developed and
covered up and destroyed the
prairies. There’s less than
one percent left in the Gulf
Coast region of the Gulf Coast
prairie with the and Melvin.
Wolf Prairie that I’m so
honored and proud
to announce we’re undertaking a
major urban Prairie
Restoration. Fact is the largest urban prairie
largest urban prairie
restoration in Texas right now.
>> You told me something
earlier about the size of
Memorial Park and how it
related to light.
One of the more famous park
that we know Central Park.
We about Central Park all the
time. What
is that relationship in size
between Central Park in New
York and Memorial Park here.
Well, the memorial Park is
nearly 1500 acres. It’s almost
twice as big as Central park.
>> And people don’t know that
because the park has been
chopped in the new 25 different
pieces. Roads parking, lots
ball field, more The railroad actually. And so what we’ve
actually. And so what we’ve
been doing is part of the
master plan. The Memorial Park
master plan. The city Council
passed is stitching the park
back together. So how can we
stick to the land back
together, which is better for
Park users? It’s better for
the wildlife. It’s better for
the storm. Water flow. It’s
better for all the natural systems that need to happen in
systems that need to happen in
the in in Parkland to make it
healthy to make it resilient.
And so that’s part of what
we’re doing. So the land Bridge
and Prairie is a major effort
to stitch the park
back together. >> People driving through the
>> People driving through the
tunnel to they see the beauty.
They see the architectural
beauty of this. It’s amazing
that what they’re driving
through. Is Britney. Work of nature of the
Work of nature of the
architects really did mean
really. And the architect
of this.
>> All commands are designed
Nelson Byrd Woltz. We brought
them to to they’re really good
at ecological restoration.
They’re really good at creative problem solving they listen.
problem solving they listen.
They listen to the public.
They listen to the soils, for
example, and we brought them in
to help us solve the these
challenges. The multiple
challenges and opportunities in the park. And you’re exactly
the park. And you’re exactly
right. We are helping nature
become more resilient after we
humans have damage to nature.
So we’re stepping back in and
we’re creating greater bio diversity. We expect an
diversity. We expect an
increase, for example, in the
number of birds bases that
frequent this area. And we know
how many were here before the
construction began. So where
this is based in science, this is based in planning design
is based in planning design
engineering. But I’d say, but
architectural innovation.
In fact, the New York, there’s
an article in New York Times a
few weeks ago on Sunday in the
Sunday Times that.
Called out this project, the
Land Bridge and Prairie Project
as one of the most innovative
architecturally innovative
projects globally. It was named
among 11 projects globally.
And so that’s here. That’s in
Houston. And so we’re getting
we’re beginning to get global
recognition for this work. It’s clear that you live this
It’s clear that you live this
job. It’s a
>> profession for you. Your
president and CEO, but you
really love what you’re doing
at this point. What do you want
Houstonians to know what I
think he’s doing? And I mean, everyone who decide to come to
everyone who decide to come to
this park, what do you want
them to feel and experience
when they come here? What would
you want the most? Enjoy it. >> I want them to we’ll be able
>> I want them to we’ll be able
to. To heal themselves to grow
healthier, to connect with
others. The bridge, this bridge
is symbolic in many ways.
Parks are places where people
come together. Urban parks, our very special, very special
our very special, very special
place in our society. And when
you think of that, we’re in a
time of such a great the
divisiveness it’s a place to
bring people together. It’s a
place to have to allow people
to connect with each other
where everyone’s the same,
where everyone can connect with
nature of this park is unique because it’s an urban
because it’s an urban
wilderness space. This is a new
park in 8 not just locally but
nationally because it’s such a
large centrally located park, an urban wilderness space with
an urban wilderness space with
a rich cultural history.
It’s important people come
together. It’s important that
people connect with nature.
They find themselves they find
spirituality if they find their