Community Engagement: Beacon Hill Style
I have been spending a significant amount of time in San Antonio over the past year and one of my favorite neighborhoods is Beacon Hill. Last week, I saw a flyer while having lunch at Beacon Hill Deli for "Capitol Ave Community Meeting" so of course I had to show up.
Turns out these neighbors have been very busy using a bottoms up approach creating an active community garden and a neighbor driven linear park. The purpose of this meeting was idea generation for a piece of land that was overgrown and scattered with trash combined with the remnants of the concrete foundation from a former home. Currently the land was serving as an (unauthorized) sorting yard for people scrapping trash for money in the area. The neighbors were exasperated by a long battle trying to use city processes to keep criminal elements out of the park.
But now, District 1 City Councilwoman Sukh Kaur had led efforts to get the city to purchase the land, was investing $100,000 from her council office's budget and brought on a local landscape architect Coral Studio to help bring the neighbor's ideas to life.
This was the first meeting amongst neighbors for this project but I learned about a Linear Park Project that was the culmination of years of hard work and advocacy.
The following excerpt comes from a San Antonio Report article written in 2022:
https://sanantonioreport.org/the-trailist-beacon-hill-linear-park/
"For the association, assembling the trail over the years has been a bit like gardening, with residents negotiating with the city for funding slowly over many years, said Lockey, a retired medical technology professional who has lived in the neighborhood since 1996. Bit by bit, they’ve added length and features to the trail, which extends diagonally across the neighborhood to Hildebrand Avenue.
By my reckoning, this trail is unique in the San Antonio area. No other neighborhood park has been quilted together over so many years, through streets and empty lots, crossing behind backyard fences, built right into the neighborhood it serves.
The whole idea came about because of the underground stormwater tunnel below the neighborhood, Lockey explained. Beneath the linear park runs a gigantic stormwater conveyance structure. At the surface, the only signs are the concrete inlets poking up from the grass, offering flash floods a place to flow underground. "
More Links and Overview:
The 3.5 acres of vacant residential land was transformed to create the Beacon Hill Linear Park. An adjacent storm water drainage right-of-way which held a large underground concrete culvert was creatively incorporated into the design of the project. Other features of the development included winding paths, native grassy meadows, a natural playground, water fountains, and a basketball court.
Coral Studio: https://www.coral-studio.com/
