Heritage Park – "Insulted and Humiliated"
I’ve reported before on the sad state of Heritage Park, and the lack of any real information from the city on just what is going on with this neglected little bit of space on the Trinity Bluff. After a recent walk back to the park, I’m sad to say that nothing much has changed. Heritage Park still sits fenced off, decaying, and shut down, all the water features drained and silent.
Of course, it’s not too fenced off; the fencing is fairly comically ineffective, and in fact when I arrived I found one section of fence completely upended against a wall. So, naturally, I headed in to get some more photos of the insulting neglect the city is subjecting Lawrence Halprin’s intimate little park to.
In this case, “preserve” doesn’t seem to be too big on the city’s mind.
I’ve got to say, it’s very disheartening to see how silent the city is being on the future prospects of Heritage Park. This could be a fantastic little space if properly maintained and cared for. It’s unfortunate that its nearest neighbor is an ugly county parking garage, but as the TRV moves ahead Heritage Park would be in the middle of a lot of new activity.
If you can’t read it, the graffiti reads “Insulted and Humiliated.” While I couldn’t tell exactly what the sprayer’s actual reason was for his work, I think the phrase sums up the city’s treatment of Heritage Park pretty well.
We ought to be preserving this park, not letting it sit vacant with the possibility of demolition looming over its head. Fully restored, it would be a great counterpoint to the Water Gardens – in contrast to Phillip Johnson’s sturm und drang, Lawrence Halprin created a more calming, meditative space. A lot of Halprin’s work has been demolished over time, though some is still loved and well cared-for; check out the Ira Keller Fountain in downtown Portland for an example of a Halprin space that’s been fully restored and is loved.
If you’re as interested as I am in seeing Heritage Park restored to its original condition, I encourage you to let District 9 Councilman Joel Burns know. I figure Joel’s the best bet in getting our voices heard. You can e-mail Joel at district9@fortworthgov.org.
I hate to say it but I have not been at all impressed with Fort Worth’s ability to care for itself–I’m surprised, too, because its population is booming, the taxes are high—where does all the money go? This city could sooo easily have beautiful parks and amenities–so much of it seems to be in disrepair.
I emailed Mr. Burns and copied the Mayor asking what’s up with the park. I also asked if a drill site was in the works for this site. I figured that was a pretty fair question to ask being this is boomtown for drilling everywhere and anywhere in Ft. Worth.
For some good news, apparently the County and City are planning on working on that small park area on the north side of the courthouse. At a commissioner’s meeting they showed the original plans for the area and it sounded like the County or City (not sure) wanted to clean it up a little in the spirit of the original plan and fix the way traffic comes into downtown.
Who knows if this is just a pipe dream or if its something that is actively being pursued, but it would be nice to make that entrance into downtown even more grand.
Now if we can just work on Belknap.
I’ve never even seen that park before, it looks incredible. Or, at least, it looks like it was incredible. It’s in a pretty sad state. Fort Worth needs to get it’s act together and preserve it’s even as it’s building it’s future.
Kevin, I don’t know if you have seen this powerpoint presentation. It’s old but it appears that at one point there was interest in this awesome little park by some people that may be motivated to take up for it again.
http://www.planning.org/cpf/pdf/fortworth.pdf
That is a beautiful park! It reminds me of a monochromed Barragon.
As a teen our family “bought a brick” to help fund the building of this park. In spite of high hopes, I remember this park as a scary place where the homeless bathed in the fountains. It was never a place one wanted to linger in. With hidden corners and blind alleys you never know who was hiding just out of site.
The same could be said about the Water Gardens before the re-do. Opening the WG to the convention center changed the dynamics of that park. The same could be done with Heritage Park. Make it part of the developments around it by opening up new access points.
Jeff Hughes