No cookie cutter parks please!

As you all know I am an advocate of unique park amenities and I especially believe by making our parks unique, we can draw people to Baytown. "No cookie cutter parks" has been my battle cry for some time.

Because of my endless droning over the years about how hostile Baytown area drivers are to pedestrians and people who still enjoy walking, hiking, and/or riding a bicycle, I was shocked to see the Baytown Poll recently. 31% of our citizens chose the option that our Parks are a waste of money? I sat in disbelieve when I read that.

The simple answer here is fully one third of our population don’t get out of their cars except to shop or get gasoline. If their doctor ever orders them to get exercise, they will suddenly become an advocate for places to walk, let me tell you. My area is near Blue heron and daily I watch as seniors “pound their feet” on the cement trail.

When the hard-working Dustin Schubert was the park planner, I begged him to install not only a certified 5K trail with obvious markers, but to add elevation changes, as we live on the flat, right? Runners, cyclists, and exercisers have nothing short of our bridge or overpasses to get in some hills. No park that I know of has a certified 5K trail for runners to practice on. Believe it or not, our brains are not working as well as we think when we are running, so putting a person a course that is easy to follow is very important to runners.

To my knowledge and disappointment, this has not happened.

The grandest fantasy of us walkers/runners/cyclists would be a flyover pedestrian trail from Blue Heron Parkway over the RR tracks to Jenkins. I envision a steady stream of exercisers coming to Baytown specifically to walk/run/cycle this new pedestrian bridge. I cannot exaggerate how big of an attraction this flyover would be.

Finally, I propose we add 3 elevation changes to the new trail addition in Jenkins Park. This will get people to the far South side trail like flies to a potato salad picnic and give Baytown something many other parks do not have. I'm including an image and each elevation could cover an easy 150 feet beginning to end. Fill dirt could be used and I do not believe this is a budget breaker. If it is as successful as I think, we can add numerous more elevations changes and soon runners are coming from all over to use the new challenge.

Input from the public can be shared by writing your city council person and believe it or not this is exactly the kind of input they need and desire before they make changes in the city policies.

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Living in amazing Baytown Texas!

 FLASH/CRACK/BANG! My bride and I both stood in shock realizing the bolt of lightning hit way too close for comfort. We were in our living room and I cautiously walked over and looked through my front door window. I was sure I would see destructive evidence of the bolt of electricity, but no. Nothing. No fire, no confusion... no confirmation, or so I thought.

Back about 25 years or so ago, I transplanted 5 Kenefick area loblolly pine trees in my yard and anywhere else I could put a tree. Back then Chaparral Village had an rental exodus, as homes here sold and the street I live on had a lot of foliage-free lots and many vacancies. I began offering trees to anyone who would plant one. Some I dug up in the forest around Livingston and others I got from the city's free tree give away program. Needless to say, I planted close to 30 trees here in Chaparral Village.

Imagine my surprise when talking to my neighbor Jerry LeCompte, when he pointed at his loblolly and there is a great lightning bolt groove down the trunk of the tree almost 2 inches wide. He explained he was just opening the door on his Jeep when the instantaneous blast of electricity went through the tree next to him. If I remember right, the power intrusion knocked out some stuff in his house and maybe his Jeep. It goes without saying that Jerry came very close to being incinerated. What a memory he has to pass along.

I recently rescued an Eastern box turtle while participating in the memorial walk for Sam Wingate. It was in the middle of El Chaco Drive and I don't think for one second a resident there would harm it, but someone not paying attention could run over it, so I intervened. I took it about a mile and turned it over to the local turtle whisperer. Yes, he now has 4 in his spacious backyard and as amazing as it sounds, he calls to them with breakfast and they all come to the patio to feed.

This all began a few years ago when his pet dog died and his bride asked that it be their last dog. I can't imagine life without dogs, but he did the next best thing when a lone box turtle crawled under his fence. Well, since this day, 2 more have came along and he had a wooden fence installed. Some would claim this was cruel, but these turtles are living in relative safety and security and each have been named. I asked what he would call it and he said his granddaughter would get the honor. I'll have to get back to you on what she chose.

Walking the Blue Heron Park trail has became a staple for many and isn't without the sharing of information and the gradual mitigation of constant litter and the group slowly catches on that picking up trash not only gives you ab work, but makes the trail and street look nicer. Baytown Parks Super Dustin Schubert has agreed we need a trash can at Barkuloo and Blue Heron Parkway and it will probably be installed at the end of the trail coming behind Chaparral Village. Stick-carrying Mike Williams not only paid a couple of grand to have 2 benches installed, but he is out and about like clockwork each morning at an estimated pace of 4 miles per hour. We exchange information about litter and the current number of walkers and move on.

Jose is a colorful Hispanic man of about 70 who jogs from Baker Road to JC Holloway Park and back nearly every day and is a walking/talking/jogging machine who always shares an interesting tidbit or two. We shared information on the American persimmon tree on the sidewalk close to N. Main Street. Persimmons are like seed-filled candy when ripe and if you pull lightly on the fruit and it drops into your hand, it is ready to eat. Better hurry though, as they are ripe. Each fruit has 6 seeds and they can be planted, but understand it will be 5-6 years before you have fruit.

I bet your neighborhood has similar characters out and about and the only way to meet them is to get outside. What better place to be than right in your neighborhood getting exercise and talking to neighbors? Grab an empty grocery sack and hit the trail. It'll benefit your abs and you might just meet one of the most interesting people of your life.

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Baytown can still shine like a diamond

Photo credit: Steve Liles - Cedar Bayou at Roseland Park 2017

I feel very optimistic about the city of Baytown. There, I said it. Being a citizen of this town since 1974 and watching it grow, I haven't always felt this way. It helps that I am a member of the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) and had input in which direction the city should take over the next 5 years. Incidentally the city is about 6 months into implementing the changes, so progress is actually happening.

Kingwood Trail

This past week 4 of us intrepid geocachers took our bikes up to Kingwood to geocache and we rode along the numerous Greenbelt trails there. Surprise! They were nothing spectacular. Basically we rode on cement trails along highways with occasional dips behind subdivisions and although there are miles of trails, they are basically just sidewalks in the shallow woods.

Here in Baytown, we don't have the luxury of planning development in this manner for the most part. Sure, when a new subdivision goes in, we will see a retention pond added with a cement walkway around it and sidewalks. There will be cookie-cutter landscape added every so many feet to give the appearance of a perfect place to walk the dog. The pond might even have a token fountain and mail order kids playground. Is this really what we want or need? I am for all of this, but it also should be unique and well thought out.

Houston's Donovan Park

Baytown leaders and planners need to put extra effort into making Baytown's parks and trails different and more interesting than places like Kingwood and The Woodlands. When the 4 of us went geocaching, one was from Webster, another from Sugar Land and Larry Houston and I from Baytown. We spent money there too, because after about 5 hours on our bikes, we were hungry. If we make Baytown unique and capitalize on our concessions, people will come here. Our Texas Avenue venues, our disc golf courses, our trail systems, and our new boat ramps all can be draws.

When the SPAC presented our 5 year plan to the city, my small part was to push the idea of uniqueness. I urged the city leaders to take field trips to look and see what other cities are doing to provide anything other than the "same old stuff". Recently I talked to a young man and he urged me to see if Baytown can install a BMX bike track, similar to the 2 skate parks we have. I urged him to gather a petition I could present to our park planners. He informed me that it would be wildly popular and the surrounding cities have nothing like it. This is what I am stressing. Let's be unique.

Espee BMX Park, Chandler Arizona

I have the highest regard for our Parks department and we are making progress. I would love to see a first class BMX park built here, as well as a certified and clearly marked 5K trail in Jenkins Park. A flyover pedestrian bridge connecting Blue Heron Parkway to Jenkins Park would provide hill training for athletes and connect the 2 trails. It simply takes vision and eventually the money will follow. Yes, I feel optimistic about our city. I hope and pray our next mayor follows in our current mayor's footsteps.

I looked back at one of my columns from 12 years ago and I had the same optimism and boy howdy, we are a completely different town. Many naysayers believe it is always better some place else, but as a person who is always on the move geocaching in the Houston area, I can tell you there is a plainness to many of these "nice" areas that smacks of sameness. There are also parts of this huge metropolis that make Baytown look like a shiny diamond contrary to what some profess. Maybe beauty isn't a good description, as in keep Baytown beautiful and maybe we see what we want to see.

I do know that accepting things the way everyone else does isn't for Baytown. We need innovative parks and great access to our waterways. We need vision. We need more people to step up for litter abatement. We need to recognize that the future of Baytown is everyone's responsibility.

There are no sounds of silence

I took a comfortable seat on my patio the other day just about sundown and closed my eyes. It took almost a full minute before I could begin to hear the ambient sounds and shut down my dependence on vision. Most were indistinct because I am used to seeing what makes these sounds. The wind picked up and moved the leaves in the bald cypress, and water oak trees I planted 25 years ago when I moved here. I turned my head and homed in on this sound I usually miss.

I opened my eyes and watched the fresh green foliage caress each and every leaf and wondered if they feel as soft as they look. Off in the distance I recognize the sound of a car revving its powerful motor and I again close my eyes and try and envision the driver, excited about the adrenaline rush they are experiencing. My mind drifts back to 1970 when I came to Texas from St. Louis in a 1968 Shelby Mustang GT350.

At 18, the muscle car had a lot of energy and I pushed the car quite hard a number of times. With eyes closed, I hear this modern car blast down Blue Heron Parkway and wonder if an LEO is running radar at the park. I open my eyes and watch 5 white ibis silently fly over me and they are most likely coming from the pond close by. Lately I've seen a pretty good variety of birds there, including wild ducks.

A distant siren cries out and it sounds like it is on (what I still call) Loop 201. It's most likely going to take the Garth Road exit and closing my eyes, I follow its progress as it goes past North Main. I hope I am never a passenger in one of those and I run a few scenarios through my mind before another sound attracts me.

"Erack erack erak!" The sound is coming from the corner of my house. Its a green tree frog male looking for a mate. I would get up and walk over to find it, but I know its between the gutter and the side of house. Its a beautiful green color and happily undisturbed. Besides, I am comfortable where I am, sitting at the table under the umbrella with my feet up.

A train blows it's mega horn and it drones its deep and lonely announcement of passage.  The German Shepard pup next door imitates its sound and rattles the chain link fence of its enclosure. This sets off my Pomeranian/Papillion mix  and Shi Tzu and they run around the patio screaming in dog language that this is their yard and to stay out. A plane takes off from the Baytown Airport and I open my eyes to watch it. I can't help that I was in the Air Force and want to see every single aircraft that flies over me. I will myself to close my eyes and resume my adventure.

A radio comes on from a few houses down and it's "coun-tree" like they used to play and I wonder if its a CD or maybe better yet, a cassette tape. Shortly after that, I smell meat cooking and there are few smells more welcome than barbecued meat. I sub a class at a gym in Midtown and when I exit that gym usually around 0700, I smell BBQ and donuts and that, my friend, trumps straight BBQ every time. In this case, its almost a sin because the smell is outside a gym. I award myself 10 calories each time I smell it.

Whoa!  The motorcycles these days are incredible machines. I sure hope that fellow can control that missile. Blue Heron's straightaway sure is a tempting quarter mile. I listen and thankfully I do not hear the sound of the bike t-boning a car pulling out of the parking area at the park. I figure it is only a matter of time. The chimney swallows make a hurried pass overhead and I know they are gulping down mosquitoes. Why do the danged blood-sucking insects only attack me and not my bride?

Hank Williams turn into Aerosmith and the pungent odor of cooked meat causes me to open my eyes just as a blue jay lands ten feet away from me and loudly squawks. "I have nothing to give you old friend," I say and it looks at me and launches off like it was shot from a gun.

I wonder what it would be like to have my bride lead me out on the patio early in the morning, say about 0600 and I stay out there with a cover over my eyes until sunset. I bet it would be the experience of a lifetime. I'm reminded that there is a lot more to life than I am currently experiencing and that this simple experiment in vision deprivation, really opened my eyes. I challenge my readers to give it a go.
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80,000 people and growing!

Holy all that is sacred! We now have over 80,000 warm bodies to bump into every time we swagger across town! That extra 15,000 from 1980 days sure makes a difference and if my predictions are correct, we are going to see a whole lot more people (and each one of them will try to be on Garth Road at the same time) in the next 4 years. It’s guestimated that at least 20,000 more cruise into the city during the day by undisclosed secret sources which I alone (and probably Jim Finlay) am privy to.

The good news is the City is planning to 6-lane Garth Road and then it will only be about as crowded as it is right now. I want to applaud the city planners in that they are really making a go of getting more roads and connecting parking lots so those of us who like to avoid all of that, can get around a bit better. Of course you have to factor in the parking lot missile cars.

By the time most of are reading this column, the SPAC (the Imagine Baytown People) will be huddled over a huge stack of surveys trying our level best to make a recommendation to the city of what we, the citizens want here in the next 5 years. Now this subject has came up numerous times in social media about it not meaning a danged thing and no one will listen and it confuses and yes, angers me a bit when I have to stress just the opposite.

This ain’t Washington DC honey where they ask for input and then do what they danged well please. This is small town big town Baytown and they, our city council want to know what the citizens want and have given everyone ample time to state those desires.

When Nick Woolery told me the Mayor wanted me on this committee, I made it clear that my biggest concern was family amenities and making Baytown a better place to raise kiddos and nothing has changed in that department. I care very little about new stores, motels, storage facilities, car washes, etc, etc. I want more places to take kids and get out doors and enjoy life here.

We need better and more unique Parks, like the one in the Heights called Donavan Park.  People drive miles to take their children there and it’s free. We don’t need more cookie cutter parks, which look the same as all the other ones in Anytown, USA. Geeze, let’s use our imagination on this. We have waterways that are not being developed and we have a lot of them. We need to push the wide sidewalk plans where cyclists can ride their bikes around the city and shed some of the fat that we get from the many new restaurants.

Captain Jerry Jones of the Cedar Bayou Friends is doing his part in planning the second annual Cedar Bayou Voyager event on October 15^th and has enlisted the help of Southeast Texas Geocachers (under the expert assistance of Army Colonel (Ret.) Lee Ann Adams.  Of course I will be there representing the Texas Geocaching Association.  Jerry and I go all the way back to the Vietnam War when were both stationed on the same base.

Calypso Cove just about breaks even money wise (according to my other secret sources) and based on how many people use it, I think we need a second one on the north side of I-10 and no, not on Garth road! These water parks are awesome and if you haven’t taken your kiddos to one, try it and see.  I counted 4 lifeguards the last time I was there and all of them were taking their job seriously.

We need more businesses and clubs organizing quarterly Adopt a Site programs to give back to the community and help their members and employees bend over and remove litter. Hey, don a shirt with your business name on it and go down a street and see if that doesn’t advertise your business like no other way. Eleanor Albon will hug you until you are blue in the face, I promise. I enjoy her hugs every time I see her.

Kathy Nelson and her husband are putting Keep Baytown Beautiful on the map with their Beautiful Business of the Week award program and I salute the pair. That is a lot of work to scout out these places, take time for a photo Op, and then go back and retrieve the sign.

Litter abatement is a real problem here as everywhere and the reason for it is many people still believe throwing trash out the window of their car is a good way to keep the inside clean. I ran a test one week on Blue Heron Parkway and each day for one week at close to the same location, I picked up a Nature Valley Granola bar wrapper.  Now I don’t know how long it took that person to eat it after they left home, but they were very consistent in when it went out the window.

I can’t prove it, but I suspect this person has never participated in a single trash bash in their entire life.  Am I a trash bash expert?  No, but here it is nearly August and I have been in one every month this year.

Texas Avenue is coming along as is the Yepez Vineyard and Baytown is making strides to get a geocaching Geotour under the expert eye of Anna Enderli, so we are making progress.  Now, if we can only get the naysayers to see some sunshine and offer suggestions over criticisms, we will be well on our way to making Baytown a city on the move.
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To Preserve or Plunder?

I was watching the fascinating series by Ken Burns on PBS about the development of our US National Parks.  It is narrated by Peter Coyote and I could listen to him read the back of a cereal box and enjoy it. The documentary offers a lengthy discourse of how Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks were created and shows how John Muir became their staunch defender.

Teddy Roosevelt was also instrumental in the education and awaking to protect our natural resources. The big difference in the two men’s philosophy was that Muir wanted us to leave everything alone and Roosevelt took more of a management line. In my opinion, the management route is the better choice.

I found it sad and in other ways, totally amazing how ignorant the general population was a hundred years ago about preservation and in some ways how little we have learned. Some attitudes a century ago are still with us, albeit subtly different. Mr. Coyote explained how people would come to Yellowstone Park and using a tool, engrave their name in the stones of deposits and it was almost an obsession and difficult to stop.

There were no laws in place to restrict such destruction and finally the US Army was called in to try and police the parks. People just didn’t get it, leaving huge piles of debris wherever they camped and evidence of their passage. There were no Tread Lightly creeds in place and animal life was seen as something to use and destroy at will.

Everything was perceived as inexhaustible and for the pleasure of the individual at that moment. The idea of sustainability wasn’t even in the remotest corner of the average visitor’s mind.  Just to rehash, sustainability is the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance. The near extinction of the American wolf interrupted this natural balance to the point that Yellowstone National Park was dying. It wasn’t until biologists convinced the world that they were essential and after reintroduction, the Park began to grow again.

Who would have thought reducing one species would have this destructive power over an entire area?

Now.  What in the world does all of this have to do with us, right here in mega-Baytown? A whole lot. The reason I say a whole lot is because this same destructive behavior and short-sightedness persists right here in our voting population. Some of us are habitual trash throwers. Everywhere we go, we dump evidence of our passing. I pick up debris and litter like it is a full time job. In April alone, I attended 5 trash bash events including the Adopt a site on Blue Heron Parkway that the SETX Geocachers have adopted. 

With Total Petrochemicals, we picked up enough debris by the Lynchburg Ferry to fill an entire industrial scrap pan and this is done every year. Every year. There are enough alcohol bottles and cans on the side of roads to prove that for every person caught drinking and driving there are probably 25 times that number who are getting away with it. For obvious reasons, they throw it out the window of their vehicles for people like me to pick up. I wish I had a touch-DNA kit and I would turn the evidence over to the cops.

When the subject comes up about creating more sustainable parks and walkways, there are old-world thinkers who gripe and complain that we don’t need them and then turn right around and wonder why so many people are in poor health or overweight. They can’t see the forest because there are no trees in their life. They drive their cars and trucks to point A and back to B and then point out that if they want a nice place to go, they’ll simply drive out of town. This philosophy was presented to me this week.

In so many words it was explained that no matter what we do here, we will always just be a redneck oil town. My immediate thought was “Yup, as long as people like you are here, it surely will be.” We live the life of electricity and gasoline. Remove either and you are on foot. You suddenly get an up close and personal look at the Nature you have conveniently ignored. On top of that you get to meet the people who have resided next to you for the last 10 years.

I don’t want to live in a 1984-ish industrial complex, a slum, ghetto, or a place with cookie cutter tiny unimaginative parks. I also want the option to travel on foot and get a little shoe time instead of always thinking my vehicle is my only way to get around. Our waterways need the same consideration, where fish are edible, beach and coastline is recreational, and families can launch their canoes and kayaks on the creek or bayou and explore nature.

Ray Tallant fishing on the ship channel.

That old philosophy that every berry out there is to be eaten immediately needs to go with the wind. We as citizens have the responsibly to make life here better and we can’t do it without adjusting our way of seeing the possibilities.

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Don’t Mess With… Baytown?

 When our esteemed Mayor DonCarlos said Baytown has a litter problem, I took it with a grain of empty plastic water bottle.  Its not like I didn’t believe him, I just didn’t think it was the mentality of many people to litter in 2014.  Not in Baytown anyway.  Didn’t we stop doing that, like, 30 years ago?

Well.  Shut the front door; he was right.  It’s not like I don’t trust his judgment; I do.  Heck, I voted for him as Mayor at least 10 times so far, maybe more now that I think about it.  It’s just that until I experienced it first hand, I had no idea it was anything more than stuff blowing out of the back of a pick-em-up truck, or maybe a shopping cart.

I remember when he said it I saw a bunch of trash in the field south of Home Depot and told myself trash and litter was relegated to places like this – and why didn’t the store owners clean it up?  I can say this and not be self-righteous and that statement right there stinks of self-righteousness doesn’t it – but it’s true just the same.

This year alone, I’ve participated is 7 trash bashes.  The city had a big one at Bergeron Park on the 18^th, but I was at an event in Livingston (and yes, we picked up trash) and missed it and the Baytown Photo club has about 4 a year out on Tri-City Beach Road.  By the way, I need to attend the next one.  Heck, I even went over to Beaumont to attend what Geocachers call a CITO, or Cache In Trash Out event and picked up trash on 2 miles of highway there.  So am I being self righteous when I get miffed over tossed garbage?

I can’t say for sure if that giggly happy fellow in the Facebook photos at the Bergeron Park clean-up was Scott Sheley, but it probably was.  I didn’t see any donuts though, so maybe not.  Picking up other peoples trash is hard work and requires stamina and thus the donuts, kolaches, and of course – Gatorade or some other high-powered salty drink.  I’m a BRAWNDO man myself, because it has electrolytes, so an army of trash picker uppers deserve their food.

I’ve come to the conclusion that trashy people with no conscience or ecological awareness are those who unroll their car or truck window and throw out that great big bag of fast food refuse.  They might also belong to the same group who chug a bottle of Thunderbird or a half-pint of Old Granny and toss it onto the spanking new Blue Heron Parkway median.

Because I walk it with one or two empty grocery bags and pick up the constant resupply of litter, I know for a certainty that it is NOT the many people texting as they drive that I observe, as they simply don’t have enough hands to toss trash while they mindlessly peck away on their Smartphones that often are as large as a Whataburger samich was 30 years ago.

Until I saw the daily water bottles, food wrappers, beer cans and (gasp) a used condom on the trail around the detention pond at Blue Heron Park and the long trail running behind Chaparral Village, I thought it was only refuse blowing out of cars.  Now I know otherwise.  What perplexes me the most is that health conscious rational thinking people, walking for exercise, would casually drop their water bottles, only to see them the next day and drop more.

Kathy Nelson is a Board member of Keep Baytown Beautiful and has contacted me.  Their mission is to work within our community to strive for excellence in making Baytown a cleaner, brighter place to live and play.  I like this and there is hardly a day goes by that I don’t pick up trash in this town, so I fit in with this philosophy real good.

The bottom line is trashy people dump their trash on the ground everywhere they go and those of us that don’t like to live in filth, pick it up.  If you are a person who throws everything out the window of your car, please stop it.  Thank you.

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History and the Sage of Cedar Bayou

This is Baytown Bert in Baytown, Texas and this is Podcast 014

It’s Sunday night and a cold wind out of the north sends shivers to your little five year old body as you slip into a night gown.  Your live-in nanny tucks you in, as your mother reads from the family Bible.  Your hard working dad goes out to the barn to secure it for the night and that is when you hear your fathers cry of alarm.

Violent and savage men viciously kill your dad, mom, and older brother and kidnap you and your nanny and carry you bound down into old Mexico where you are sold for little of nothing.  When the massacre of your family is discovered, a blood stained family bible is a grim reminder of the perils of living on the plain.

Sounds horrifying doesn’t it?  It is and it is Texas history.  This story took place in 1836 in Robertson County to the John Harvey family. Their daughter Ann and their servant girl lived as slaves for four years before her Alabama uncle James Talbot recovered her.  There is no mention of the fate of the servant girl.  The price the Mexicans paid the Indians for young Ann was “a few blankets”.

It is known as the Harvey Massacre and the event took place one mile west of a historic marker on Highway 6.  I stood by the marker after returning from Dinosaur Valley State Park the other day and felt real compassion for this pioneer family.  I mean it really hit me how difficult and dangerous the early settlers had it, but there is more and this shows the amazing fiber of these people.

In 1848, Ann Harvey married a man named Sanders Briggs and in 1853, they moved back to Texas – and built a home near the massacre site.  This marker is a link with our past and the Baytown area has many such markers.  In fact, there are 3 at Bayland Park alone.  I often stop when I see a marker and read every word.  I make time to do it.

Its probably no secret  I own and operate ourbaytown.com, which is a historic resource for the area.  On numerous occasions, I’ve worked with Trevia Wooster Beverly, who is a direct descendant of Quincy Wooster and her list of affiliates and positions involving history in the area is too exhaustive to list here.

Our current project, along with Mayor DonCarlos is examining the historic marker dedicated to the Sage of Cedar Bayou, John Peter Sjolander, yes, the guy Sjolander Road is named after.  This marker is at 6330 Sjolander Road and I really wonder how many people have stopped and read the marker, as it is next to a telephone pole and almost invisible.

Bayland Park Markers

On top of that, for parking, there is a grass-covered culvert which until recently was covered with a four foot high pile of tree trimmings for the last year.  The marker may need to be moved to a better location and I do believe that would be preferable to adding better parking.  I will ask a couple simple questions now.  Is this how we are going to honor this man?  Are we proud enough of our history to do better than this?

On September 20^th, I’ve been invited to be the speaker at the local chapter meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  I think this group of ladies would agree that our history is very important and the moment we forget it, we will be doomed to repeat it, bad, more than good and as it turns out; I am a direct descendant of , second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, second signer of the Mayflower Compact and a passenger of the Mayflower.

Baytown in a lot of ways is just 3 oil towns and a number of smaller communities who have been randomly shuffled like a deck of cards to homogenize us and as we grow, we may need to restructure our way of looking at things and this marker is just one of many, but its like I’ve always heard about eating an entire elephant.  You do it one bite at a time.

In my opinion the new detention Pond parking area/park on Blue Heron Parkway would be a good place to move the marker.  It is close enough to the old community of Cedar Bayou, which incidentally is listed on the old maps to be about where the Bark Park, in Jenkins Park is.  In our fast paced existence, history may not seem like a big deal to some, but to others, it is a lesson worth studying.
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Blue Heron Parkway Revisited

 The Blue Heron Parkway is a total success story and I openly admit I not only voted against the expansion, but I was wrong in thinking it was stupid.  I also confess that I will stop and ask for directions when I’m lost.  Actually, as a geocacher, I’m never lost, but my first declaration of guilt is true.

 

When the issue of expanding Baker Road through what has traditionally been known as Honda Hills, and then crossing Barkuloo Road into the virgin woods behind Chaparral Village and intersecting with Sjolander Road was proposed, our town was experiencing tepid growth and I couldn’t for the life of me understand why so many people wanted to get to Sjolander Road.  Whew!  That was a long sentence.

Boy, I was short-sighted.  Strike two!  I’ve suspected for years that Baytown would experience exponential growth, but it arrived like an unexpected blue norther and caught our citizens with their back flaps down.  If you think the 45 minute wait at Cheddars is bad now, guess what?  We ain’t seen nothin’ yet

I listened to the Mayor of our fair city on Channel 16, whom I support wholeheartedly, talk about the traffic and speed of our motorists and what is to come and I wonder if Baytownians can fathom the congestion we are to experience over the next 5 years, as construction crews and support people flood our roads.  Add into the equation the sad fact that a great number of motorists are looking at a small electronic device in their hands as they drive and we have a King Kong-sized monkey of a problem.

Now I understand why the Blue Heron Parkway was a look into the future of Baytown and applaud the city for having a futuristic vision.  Let’s take a look at it.  Behind Chaparral Village subdivision is a beautiful hike and bike cement sidewalk which intersects with the retention/detention pond and I read in the Baytown Sun this week that additional money has been found to run the sidewalk around the giant well-sculpted pond.

In addition is a letter I received from Parks Superintendent Scott Johnson where he assures me this new trail will be lighted with solar powered LED lighting!  The trail and the 10 foot wide sidewalk on the south side of Blue Heron Parkway offers walkers, joggers, and cyclists over 4 miles of new lighted trails.

Geocachers on the back trail.

Seeing that I love the hi-tech game of geocaching, I have already saturated this addition and parkway with geocaches, a total of 16 to be exact and it has already attracted geocachers from Beaumont, Katy, Anahuac, and Houston.   Geocachers love to eat and they spend their hard-earned money here when they come, so it is another win for Baytown.  There are so many geocaches in the Baytown, that people come down from Dallas and distant cities and spend the night here, just to find the bulk of them.

I sat down with Mayor Stephen DonCarlos, Public Affairs Coordinator Patti Jett, and Tourism Director Anna Enderli a few weeks ago and it is in the plans to make Baytown an official Geotour city.  There is only one in Texas with others planned, but the general idea is, it is a mechanism to attract tourists (geocachers primarily) to our city where they visit all the key historic and interesting sites and boost our local economy.  It was decided to go full bore ahead and with the help of Larry Houston, we may be a Geotour city sometime in 2015.

Our newest road Blue Heron Parkway also has a wonderful 10 foot wide sidewalk on the south side.  Now, it is my understanding that any time a sidewalk of this dimension is placed as a hike/bike trail, it pretty much closes the land beside it to driveways and this is not only my hope, but all of us in Chaparral Village who live on Buffalo Trail and El Rancho Drive.

The Parkway is beautifully done, but cutting down the trees south of it to pour concrete will make it ugly and ruin the last sanctuary of forest for wildlife that lived there prior to the expansion.  As we develop our city, we need to aggressively plan reforesting every available patch of public land with Texas natives and xeriscape plants.  Defoliating our city has so many negative effects; it would take an additional 650 words to list them.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of driving on the Parkway, take a tour.  However, try to avoid when Ross Sterling high school lets out, as the young studs in their fast cars and trucks like to rip down it to impress the other young studs.  The girls of course couldn’t care less.

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Hear ye, hear ye! Baytown Talks!

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You may well remember that the long time Internet local forum Baytown Talks re-launched January 1, 2014 as baytowntalks.net.  Well, it has taken off, to put it mildly.  We are averaging 100 new subscribers per month.

Some of our notables are Mayor DonCarlos, council members Brandon Capetillo and Terry Sain.  I’ve written each of our councilmen inviting them to join.  After all, it is in their best interest to know what people are talking about, right? 

Professor Susan Cummings came on board yesterday, which to me is an endorsement of sorts.  Susan and I agreed to disagree about ten years ago and both of us enjoy reading what the other writes.  Terry Prothro joined to keep us informed about the nature Center’s activities.

The hand of the king is Anna “Booksie” Singleton.  She is the forum’s number one moderator and keeps everything running smoothly.  Booksie (a nickname I gave her as she is an avid reader) knows what is acceptable on the forum and what is not and watches everything, like a sharp-eyed gentle hawk.

For those who may not know, a forum differs from social networking sites in that those who are members post an email-like question or statement and anyone else on the forum can write a response.  All conversations fall into categories.  It is nothing like Twitter either, as a person can write a tome and it will post – or they can post a video or photograph in the category pertaining to their interest.

Unlike Facebook, where the posts scroll out of sight and are forgotten, the category – say, CRIME, will contain many threads with relevant responses.  The thread will stay until it is way down on the list, or eliminated by the moderator or admin because it is no longer relevant.

One thread that is very popular is:  What are they building?

In this thread (heading), if someone wants to know what is happening on a corner lot in a business zone, they will ask the question.  Often times, our City’s PR person, Patti Jett will post a “fact”.  What, not speculation?  Nope.  She will inform us that such and such a business has filed intentions to build.  Incredible.  Of course, before she posts, any member can speculate and often this is the case, for better or worse.

Read a good book?  Post it in the Books and Reading section.

Have something you want to buy, sell, or simply give away?  There is a section for non-businesses to post it there.

Baytowntalks.net is proud to have ExxonMobil refinery retiree and Vietnam Veteran Ren Fitts come onboard as our military adviser.  If you don’t know this guy, you should and if you have a question about Veteran’s affairs, or just want to toot your son or daughter’s military horn, this is the place to post it.  Ren is the moderator on military affairs on the forum.

Pets.  Who doesn’t love pets?  Or gardening?  What about firearms, or your favorite restaurant?  Yup.  BaytownTalks.net has a section for each of these topics and guess what?  It’s all on a local level.  That’s right; its Baytown area folks talking about our rapidly expanding city. 

Yes, Baytownians talk about the Walking Dead and Revolution (no, the TV program!) and what is showing at the Baytown Little Theater.  Big shot actor Kenny Wade makes sure of it as he is a member of the forum.

There is a section for politics, kitchen talk for sharing recipes, Baytown Business, and a general discussion category where things like computer virus’, the Houston Texans, pet peeves, whether or not it is okay to eat something that falls on the floor if you pick it up within 5 seconds, and should we prep for the coming possible apocalypse.

The theme of the forum is Baytown, Texas - Where friendly people share and after almost three months, it is running smooth as a baby’s bottom.  Can I still use that expression?  Maybe I should create a poll on BT.net and ask our members?

If you want to know what is going on in and around Baytown, simply register on BaytownTalks.net.  You will be instructed to verify your email address, but don’t let this scare you away.  It is strictly to ensure you are not a computer virus and no one including the moderator or admin can see your password.

Baytown is growing in such a manner that soon, we will be so big, even the old timers like me will have to have a tool to know what is going on around town, besides the Baytown Sun and by the way, the Baytown Sun staff watch BT.net also, as it is an excellent way to find out what people are talking about.

The Blue Heron Parkway Revisited

I wish to officially retract my many derisive statements about the Baker Road Extension.  I didn’t vote for it and I sure as heck fire didn’t see where anyone would profit from it except the land owners.  On top of that, I didn’t see the intensity of exponential growth this little tri-city oil town was going to suddenly experience.

The Blue Heron Parkway/Baker Road Extension

Well, to be honest, I suspected we were going to see major growth.  Anyone traveling the Fred Hartman bridge from the Baytown/La Porte Tunnel days knows the amount of vehicles going over the bridge has went from, “Boy, this sure is a lot of bridge for this few cars,” to “Mine Gott!  Where is the cow-catcher I ordered for the front of my pick-em-up truck?”

Living directly behind the expansion, I’ve taken a very personal interest in what is now named, the Blue Heron Parkway - a cool sounding water-loving bird name and very fitting for our multiple bay town.  My interest has been serious enough to get the skinny from the workers, engineers, city officials, and our mayor as I ride my bicycle up and down it.

Nick Woolery, Asst to the City Manager, has been a plethora of information.  Many believe the project is stalled and hearing the machinery every day, I know it’s not.  “The project is on track and we are anticipating the project to be completed by the beginning of March.  The reason you haven’t seen much activity on the project near North Main is because of work being done near the pipeline that runs just east of North Main.  Once this work is complete and traffic signal improvements at North Main and Blue Heron Parkway (BHP) are done, you will start seeing more progress from N. Main.”

There are three detention ponds being built.  Pond A is north of the extension and behind a N. Main storage facility.  It will be visible from the extension.  Pond C is on the curve on Hartman Drive and these two are to handle the current drainage needs.  “Once the project is completed, these ponds will be conveyed to the Harris County Flood Control District and they will be responsible for maintenance. “

Behind my house is a giant retention/detention pond.  “The larger detention pond on the east side of the project (Pond B) is to handle drainage needs from future development along BHP.  You are correct that it will drain into Cary Bayou.”

Detention/Retention Pond B

“North of Detention Pond B is additional detention area that will be used for recreational purposes.  As of now, it’s planned for future recreational purposes like softball and baseball practice fields and a

small parking area, but this is not currently funded.  We will construct these amenities at a later date.  We have received donations to plant new trees in this area, however.  Once the construction is complete, we will proceed with planting new trees in this detention area.”

“Along BHP will be 5-foot sidewalks on the north side of the road and 10-foot sidewalks on the south side of the road.  The larger sidewalk is suitable for walking and biking.  As you mentioned, there is also an 8-foot sidewalk that will run from the intersection of Blue Heron Parkway and Barkuloo road, down to the pipeline easement and over to Detention Pond B, passing through Barkuloo Park on the way.”

When I asked about a walking trail around the pond, he told me:  “There are plans to extend the trail around the new Detention Pond B in the future, but it’s not part of this project.  As funds become available, we’ll construct a trail around the detention area and build the recreational amenities.  The same goes for extending the sidewalk across Sjolander Road and the railroad tracks to Jenkins Park.  We certainly have future plans to make this happen, but it’s not a part of this road construction project.”

Crockett Elementary Expansion

In response to the Crockett Elementary roadwork, he replied: “…this is a separate project, but it’s being done in connection with the opening of BHP.  The school is re-configuring their driveway to accommodate more vehicles and help keep the vehicles that are waiting off the public streets.”  They will also put up a heavy-duty fence along the parkway to protect the children.

“As for the medians in the project.  Our Parks and Recreation staff designed the medians for Blue Heron Parkway.  They used similar design standards as you see throughout Baytown (see Baker Road, N. Alexander, etc.).  The project you see on North Main, north of I-10, is a county project.”

Giant mound of dirt belongs to Angel Brothers

 The giant mound of dirt at the end of the airport runway has caused much speculation.  “The dirt from the project will belong to the contractor, Angel Brothers.  I don’t know what their plans are for the dirt, but that’s not something the City is involved with.”

“You asked about annexation in the area.  There are no immediate plans to annex the general area into the City.  As is the usual practice, annexation will happen as development occurs and is generally limited to the area developed.  Sometimes it is necessary to annex across undeveloped property to reach a new development.  As is the case with all annexations, when they are proposed there will be plenty of notice and opportunity given to residents to provide comment throughout the process.”

 Finally, I addressed the rumor that once the BH Pkwy is finished, the airport runway will be lengthened:  “In regards to East Cedar Bayou Lynchburg being closed to lengthen the airport runway, this is not true.  East Cedar Bayou Lynchburg is a County road and is under the jurisdiction of Harris County.  However, there are no plans to close this road, even after Blue Heron Parkway opens and the City would be opposed to any such closure.”
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