By Allan Jamail
Houston, TX. – Friday, October 26, 2018 — Members of the Houston Parks Board met with citizens of the Wood Shadows II Subdivision, where a proposed hike and bike trail is in the pre-construction stage. The trail, if completed, will be placed on the northern side of the Kinder Morgan pipeline right-of-way easement, beginning at Maxey Road, going westward approximately two or three hundred feet behind the homes along the 11600 block of Lafferty Oaks Street.
Lisa Kasianowitz, Outreach Manager (in photo foreground), conducted the meeting and Chip Place (hand raised), Managing Director of Capital Projects for the Houston Parks Board, together explained the intentions of the Parks Boards trail and answered questions of the concerned citizens present.
Kasianowitz and Place explained it as part of Bayou Greenways 2020. The Houston Parks Board is working on a new greenway segment for the Hunting Bayou Greenway, which will ultimately connect from Manitou Drive near 610, through Herman Brown Park, to Maxey Park along Maxey Road, with the trail connecting into the existing trail network in Herman Brown Park in the middle. Construction is tentatively set for spring/summer of 2019.
Citizens were concerned about an increase in walking and vehicular traffic in their neighborhood, which could then bring an increase in crime, as well as crowded street parking in front of their homes from people driving there to use the trail. Police surveillance for security to prevent thefts and break-ins of their homes, and maintenance of the trail to prevent littering issues, were raised.
Iris Jones, a nearby homeowner, said, “For 30 years we have lived peacefully in Wood Shadows II subdivision. Since Hurricane Harvey we’ve had an increase in crime in our neighborhood, making it unsafe to use our front yards, so our backyards are now our safe havens. To erect an unlit walking trail so close behind our homes is dangerous, unwise, and totally unacceptable!”
