MEDIA ADVISORY
Action: Vision Galveston encourages community to participate in Jones Park redesign
GALVESTON (March 10, 2022)— Vision Galveston (VG), joined by project partners from Better Parks for Galveston, the City of Galveston, Galveston Independent School District, and members of the Green Galveston Action Team, will gather at 5:30 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2022, at Parker Elementary School Gym in the Jones Drive/Heards Lane neighborhood of Galveston. Galveston residents are encouraged to attend.
Jones Park is a project of Vision Galveston's Green Galveston initiative in partnership with Better Parks for Galveston and the City of Galveston. The project seeks to create an accessible, climate-ready park, representing the first step in developing more high-quality green space and amenities for Galvestonians.
The community engagement event intends to solicit community feedback and provide education and awareness related to the Jones Park redesign project. Vision Galveston seeks feedback on Jones Park design elements, including the type of play, the character of play, play structures, and court play.
For the Jones Park's 30% design phase, Green Galveston’s Action Team, comprised of numerous volunteers and organizations, worked with Vision Galveston’s design consultant Asakura Robinson to incorporate initial public input recommendations for the potential design of the park. The Jones Park redevelopment project reflects creating a design element that will encourage play and address the common flooding issues associated with the park. Beyond the 30% design phase, community feedback is needed to determine needs and preferences for specific elements of Jones Park’s future design, including courts and play equipment. This presents a unique opportunity for the community to influence the park’s design elements.
“Vision Galveston’s goal is to ensure that every Galvestonian lives within a five-minute walk to a park, and we’re putting that into action. A growing body of evidence suggests that increasing high-quality green space can generate wide-ranging benefits to Galveston related to the three pillars of sustainable development: the environment, the economy, and, socially, for the greater community,” said Christine Bryant, chief executive of Vision Galveston.
“Although it’s sometimes hard to quantify the value of the natural world by taking into account the economic, health, and social benefits we derive from nature, there’s little doubt that high-quality green spaces provide intrinsic environmental, aesthetic, economic, and recreation benefits that positively impact the personal wellbeing of our residents, workers, and visitors.”
Vision Galveston is a nonprofit organization that connects the collective community’s vision for Galveston Island to the resources to make that vision happen by 2040. With the help and support of its residents, workforce, partners, and funders, VG aims to transform Galveston into the best place to live, raise a family, work, and explore nature for all socioeconomic groups.
Vision Galveston emerged in September 2018, a project to empower residents to define a vision for its future. Over 8,500 people (representing 15 percent of Galveston’s diverse population) responded to a survey, attended interactive workshops, and met in small groups in homes, schools, and nonprofit organization offices. Nationally-recognized consultants synthesized their comments about what kind of city they wanted and the actions needed to realize their collective vision into five broad vision statements and 78 recommendations.
Recommendation #29 from the Vision Galveston strategic plan calls for improvements to parks and open spaces, focusing on green space that meets community needs, inspires creativity, and helps increase ecological resilience.
Recommendation #30 seeks to ensure that high-quality parks are within walking distance of every home. This practice will increase Galvestonian’s accessibility to quality parks, maximize the frequency of visits, and address a diverse set of resident needs, improving the quality of urban life on the island.
This inclusive framework—refined with expert input, a 200-plus steering committee, and community residents and businesses—influenced a final report released in June 2019. The report acts as a roadmap for Galveston leaders in developing its City Comprehensive Plan.
In 2020, Vision Galveston received its 501c3 nonprofit status as a “backbone organization” that supports aligning Galveston nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies to actualize recommendations from its strategic plan.
In 2022, Vision Galveston kicked off its Phase Two or “action” phase—starting to act on the strategic plan’s recommendations through its four initiatives, Build Galveston, Green Galveston, Incubate Galveston, and Measure Galveston.