Site: Oak Meadow Park, 500 Ahrens St., Houston, TX 77017
Point of Contact: Oneika Peters, Sr. Community Liaison, HPARD, 832-755-0293(cell)
Chanelle Frazier, Outreach Manager, Houston Parks Board, 713-
Parking: Speaking program participants and VIPs will park along Ahrens Street near the playground; general public parking will be around the park
Weather Provisions: Event will be outdoors; umbrellas will be provided in case of light rain; in case of moderate rain, speaking program will be under the park’s picnic pavilion
Language Provision: This is a bilingual speaking program through interpretation headsets provided to people who prefer to listen in Spanish
Confirmed Speaking Program Participants (in order of appearance):
Kenneth Allen, Director, Houston Parks and Recreation Department
The Honorable Mayor Sylvester Turner, Mayor, City of Houston
Mayor Pro-Tem and Council Member Dave Martin, District E
Beth White, President and CEO, Houston Parks Board
Dean Corgey, Commissioner, Port Houston
Michelle Garcia, Vice President, Oak Meadows Civic Club
Confirmed Elected Officials, Partners, and Guests
Sara Cronin, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs; Gwendolyn Kimble, Communications Coordinator; Nick Gill, Houston Operations Plant Manager; Jason Sanders, Environmental Manager, TPC Group
Sara Montelongo-Oyervidez, Manager, Refinery Public Affairs, Valero Energy Foundation
Jesus Gonzalez, President, and Rita Snow, Secretary, Oak Meadows Civic Club
02:30 p.m. All Event Elements in Place 03:05 p.m. Opening Remarks Begin
03:26 p.m. END of Program & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony BEGINS 04:00 p.m. Event ends
Speaking Program – 21 minutes
3:05 p.m. Kenneth Allen, Director, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, thanks participants for coming and offers remarks (4 mins)
3:09 p.m. Mr. Allen introduces The Honorable Mayor Sylvester Turner, Mayor of The City of Houston (1 min)
3:10 p.m. Mayor Sylvester Turner offers remarks (3 mins)
3:13 p.m. Mayor Sylvester Turner introduces Mayor Pro-Tem and District E Council Member Dave Martin (1 min)
3:14 p.m. Mayor Pro-Tem Martin offers remarks and turns program back to Mr. Allen(2 mins)
3:16 p.m. Mr. Allen introduces Beth White, President and CEO, Houston Parks Board (1 min)
3:17 p.m. Ms. White offers remarks (2 min)
3:19 p.m. Ms. White introduces Dean Corgey, Commissioner, Port Houston (1 min)
3:20 p.m. Mr. Corgey offers remarks and turns program back to Ms. White (2 min)
3:22 p.m. Ms. White introduces Michelle Garcia, Vice President, Oak Meadows Civic Club (1 min)
3:23 p.m. Ms. Garcia offers remarks and turns program back to Mr. Allen (2 min)
3:25 p.m. Mr. Allen offers closing remarks and thanks everyone for attending! All
speakers, VIPs, and electeds move to the ribbon cutting location (1 min)
3:26 p.m. Ribbon Cutting Photo Opp
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: All Program Participants gather at the ribbon-cutting location
Oak Meadow Park Improvements Description and Background – This event celebrates the grand opening of improvements at Oak Meadow Park, located in the Oak Meadows Neighborhood.
Improvements made by the Houston Parks Board and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department include: o Replaced the playground’s equipment for ages 2-5 and 5-12 and the adjacent concrete plaza o Replaced swing set and added adjacent site lighting o Upgraded asphalt walking trail to new concrete and installed two new benches along the trail o Renovated basketball area with resurfaced court, repainted lines, new backboards and posts, and installation of new seatless benches for players to lean on o Converted the baseball field into a soccer field and established new turf o Added picnic pavilion area with lighting and four new picnic tables o Enhanced volleyball court with new sod, posts, and corner markers o Refreshed and reconfigured site furnishings, such as benches, picnic tables, and grills o Repaired park water fountain o Addition of bollards around the park perimeter o Detention area for improved drainage for the park
Houston Parks Board served as the project manager, with Times Construction as the construction firm. The landscape architect was Clark Condon Associates, Inc. The overall total project cost is $1,095,000.
Upgrades to this neighborhood park were made possible by 50/50 Park Partners, a Mayor Sylvester Turner initiative led by the City of Houston, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Houston Parks Board, and Greater Houston Partnership.
The 50/50 Park Partners framework provides an opportunity for corporations to play a leadership role in supporting neighborhood parks and their surrounding communities, catalyzing the process of reinvigorating an under-resourced park.
In addition to a City of Houston public investment of $14 million to the 50/50 Park Partners Initiative, we would like to acknowledge over 30 philanthropic partners who together invested over $10 million, including Houston Endowment, Port Houston – the official Park Partner for this park.
Houston Endowment has played a leadership role in parks across the city through its history of investments and recognizes the value of smaller neighborhood parks.
Port Houston played a pivotal role in this park’s transformation by pledging $1 million to the 50/50 Park Partners program, partnering with both Oak Meadow Park and Hidalgo Park, and inspiring the maritime-themed playground.
In addition, three companies contributed funding towards improvements at Oak Meadow Park: INVISTA, TPC Group, and the Valero Energy Foundation – collectively contributed over $30,000 to the project.
The initiative included a coordinated process for determining park improvements focused on collaboration with the Oak Meadows Neighborhood and the District E Office.
For this park, an initial community listening session was held on December 8, 2021, during which residents provided their ideas and feedback on key aspects of the park.
An in-person pop-up on December 14, 2021, and additional meetings were held with the community to refine the park’s improvements and design further.
A survey was also distributed to the neighborhood via email and yard signs.
