We now have some official opposition to the proposal that's been floated to turn the Gus Wortham golf course into a soccer facility for the Houston Dynamo. Walter Boyd makes the case for saving the Wortham course in this Sunday op-ed, while a much more pointed response comes from City Council candidate James Rodriguez. I've reprinted Rodriguez's full statement beneath the fold. I get the impression from the Mayor White quote in that Newswatch post that the city is likely to look elsewhere before this issue becomes hot, but you never know. We'll have to see how it plays out. And finally, I note yesterday's letters to the editor on the matter, not because sentiment clearly ran one way or the other, but because Letter #3 is one of the more openly racist missives I've ever seen published on the Chron's pages. I wonder if James Campbell will hear it about that.
Anyway, read on for Rodriguez's statement. I don't have a dog in this fight, but it has the potential to be an interesting fight to observe.
Statement of James G. Rodriguez Candidate for Houston City Council, District I Opposing the closing of Gus Wortham Golf Course February 15, 2007Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 19, 2007 to Other sportsI join Carol Alvarado, Houston City Council Member, District I, and a number of East End civic organizations and leaders in opposing the closing of the Gus Wortham Park Golf Course. The ill conceived and poorly planned proposed initiative to convert the golf course into a soccer complex is an egregious example of government bureaucracy attempting to dictate public policy without the benefit of community input.
As the only candidate running for the Houston City Council, District I that is standing with the community on this important issue, I call on the city of Houston to reconsider its plans for a Gus Wortham soccer compound. I request that the city begin to engage the community in a constructive dialogue to invest in the future of this historical golf treasure as well as explore alternatives in the East End where soccer fields for recreational use can be developed.
The civic organizations and leaders of the neighborhoods surrounding the Gus Wortham Park Golf Course should have a strong voice and input on public policy matters that affect their community, particularly park space issues that have an everyday impact on their lives. It is apparent that the community was left in the dark on a critical quality of life concern that has a direct bearing on traffic congestion, flooding, parking, construction, and the environment.
I take pride in working over the past few years to make sure civic organizations and leaders have a strong voice at City Hall. When neighborhoods are a major part of the public policy debate within our great city, all communities benefit. It is obvious that in the case involving the Gus Wortham Golf Course, the communities that stand to lose the most were completely shut out of the process. This type of city government behavior will not be tolerated. We demand better from our city.
Rodriguez is dead wrong about this one. Few are as pro-historic preservation as I am in this town, but Gus Wortham as a golf course is a lost cause. A soccer complex home for Dynamo as well as a large number of youth fields etc. would serve that community, indeed the entire Houston community, far, far more than the golf course ever has or will. Rodriguez is saying no to a windfall of success for that area. A massive soccer complex and Dynamo home right there would perfectly position the city's soccer effort in the heart of the Hispanic community, pulling it to the city center and away from the suburbs.
Take a look at the Colorado Rapids' new facilities in Denver at their Web site, www.coloradorapids.com. What's right about their plan is the huge number of youth fields to support their youth development program. What's wrong about it is that it's in the suburbs and away from the city's Hispanic community. This is a mistake we must not make.
The Gus Wortham Soccer Complex idea solves that problem here in this city. The suburbs will always have their soccer clubs and facilities, but the Hispanic community and inner city needs something like that to call their own. The Wortham idea is it.
It really makes me wonder what is going on with Rodriguez, et al. here. My personal belief is that he, Alvarado and the others he mentions but does not name are pissed about not being involved in the process right now. Politics is killing their interest and the community is getting short shrift once again. How typical.
If Dynamo move to a suburban facility we'll be able to look back at this short-sighted effort on Rodriguez' part as one of the main reasons why.
Posted by: Marty Hajovsky on February 19, 2007 2:17 PMAnd another thing to add here is that Walter Boyd is right about the maintenance of the natural beauty of the Gus Wortham area. It would be a shame to lose it.
But I think that can be saved along with the addition of the soccer complex. The site is quite large and it is hardly hemmed in with historically valuable properties.
A first-rate soccer complex can be built there while maintaining the natural beauty of the park. San Antonio's Woodlawn Lake Park (www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/woodlawnhis.asp ) would be a perfect example of this. In place of a little used golf course, with all of the fertlizer-spawned pollution that that brings, you can have a sprawling natural area with adjoining soccer fields and a first-class (by U.S. standards at least) soccer stadium for Dynamo. It would turn the whole area into the jewel the original site of the Houston Country Club used to be.
Posted by: Marty Hajovsky on February 19, 2007 4:34 PMMarty Hajovsky makes some excellent points. I grew up in Second Ward and now live blocks from Gus Wortham. Our community is going to lose an incredible opportunity to partner with resources that can build a top-notch soccer facility.
This will not be the first time. Due to uninformed community backlash (some racist), we lost the opportunity to have a quality Boys & Girls Club, just blocks from Gus Wortham.
As for Billy Carter and his redneck stereotypes, I would like to take him to the Galleria one day. I would point out a light-skin couple walking into a boutique store, as they spend a few thousand dollars. Then, I would die to see his reaction as I tell him that they are Mexican and live in Royal Oaks.
Wayside is a 4 lane road that is jammed every evening with traffic a mile and 1/2 back from the I-45 exit. Imagine it on game day if a stadium attracting 30 thousand people were in play. The Infrastructure around Gus is just not there although the cheap land is. for homeowners in the immediate area, this would be a disaster.
The City of Houston should look to reclaim the tracts of abandoned industrial land that dots the near eastside toward Minute Maid. Houston as a whole needs to get more greenspace, not pave over what little we do have with concrete parking lots and stadium seating.