28 SUMMER2011.cite change to the approved Flood Control plans would question may have influenced the decision. A major rejected. Merz notes that the federal funding in to work.” The Coalition proposal, however, was was willing to change if the change could be made at the time, as “open-minded,” adding that, “he that relied on detention basins. Sims Bayou Coalition, made an alternative proposal the bayou to contest the plans. The group, called the ditch,” says Merz, who organized residents along to plan straightened, concrete bayous. Elsewhere, the Army Corps continued a waterway watched over by elites. can be understood as an anomaly, as Bayou in the 1960s. That case, however, the Army Corps from ruining Buffalo Bush, and George Mitchell stopped practices. for a paradigm shift in Flood Control one became the flashpoint and impetus Of all the bayous, this out-of-the-way real estate agents dub “hidden gems.” course and the Ship Channel are what downstream near the Glenwood golf Wealthier, mostly Anglo neighborhoods Latino neighborhoods much of the way. through predominantly African American and the neighborhoods.” would be a death knell not only for wildlife but for she says, “and turning Sims into a concrete ditch found. “This part of town was already struggling,” impact statement and was alarmed by what she bayou. She obtained a copy of the environmental heard about flood control plans to straighten the Buffao Bayou within Memorial Park. In 1991, she vegetation spilling over its steep banks, much like of Sims Bayou, which, at the time, was narrow with she bought a home in Garden Villas near the banks comes acrossasclearandbalanced. Richards-style quips in a brash Texas twang, she E Merz describes Art Story, who led Flood Control “They were going to turn Sims into a trapezoidal Terry Hershey, George H. W. Sims Bayou runs through the south side of town When Merz moved to Houston in the early 1970s, the Army Corps of Engineers. No Anne of someone who successfully took on unassuming voice you would not expect velyn Merz speaks with the kind of IS THERE-SCULPTINGOFSIMSBAYOU ACAUSE FOR CELEBRATION? trail a is connected by parks alongSims A seriesofseven this year. are finished Control project million Flood of the$350 stages the final could grow as Buried Concrete 14-mile that single-family homes with the sweeping bayou. park connects a neighborhood of modest, well-kept scene of children playing and adults strolling. The was altogether different, an idyllic multicultural stamped with a “Parental Advisory.” What I saw rap album Reveille Park shows tough, tattooed kids Reveille Park. The cover of South Park Mexican’s adjacent water treatment plant. Just downstream is up all but a sliver of the park, which stinks from an Bayou Park, the widening of the bayou swallowed ranges from remarkable to unfortunate. At Sims environment. a lawn not the undergrowth of an intact riparian are, in most places, too sparse. The grass resembles been shaped by erosion and deposits. The trees obvious. The banks are often too even to have though, the human sculpting of the bayou becomes curving form was pleasing. On closer examination, and did not require reauthorization by Congress. found to handle water better than the original plan In 1992, the SWA Group alternative proposal was buried concrete blocks that fit together like a mat. concrete surface, the banks would be stabilized with and 1 to 5 ratio. Furthermore, instead of using a of height to width, the banks would have a 1 to 4 to create a meandering form. Instead of a 1 to 3 ratio entire $350 million project. United States Congress, possibly jeopardizing the have required reauthorization of funds by the Merz gives credit for the success of Reveille Park On my visit to the new Sims Bayou, the broad, SWA Group proposed using more right-of-way photo JackThompson and surrounding neighborhoods integration of the bayou with parks project are finished this year. The of the $350 million Flood Control that could grow as the final stages Sims is connected by a 14-mile trail improve thehabitat,”Merzexplains. overhanging trees, but we could never going to have really big will improve with time. “We are ends, the ecology of the Sims banks regime changes, and the drought If the management of the planting allows root penetration,” she says. the vegetation. “The geotextile mat by A series of seven parks along Merz remains optimistic about Raj Mankad preservation. and naturalists, marking trees and habitats for partnering engineers with neighborhood activists that walked the whole bayou segment by segment, at the park, which was one event among many The Coalition held a barbecue for the engineers to dialogue between Flood Control and residents. responsibility tomakethatdemandfelt.” to be seen as responding to demand. It is the citizen’s person to stick their neck out is difficult. They have rightright thing.thing. ExpectingExpecting anan electedelected oror non-electednon-elected put their elected officials where they have to do the billion GrandParkwaytollroad. are threatened by the planned expansion of the $4.8 River, and Trinity River—at the far edge of city that Bear Creek, Cypress Creek, Greens Bayou, Brazos natural. We stillhaverelativelyintactwaterways— rather than a sculpted landscape that sort of looks be celebrating Sims Bayou as a riparian environment development standards in place, perhaps we would sprawl. If Houston were denser and had low-impact spent on flood control is a bailout of Houston’s amount oflandacquiredforfloodcontrol. seeks to take advantage of the unprecedented connect bicycle trails along all the bayous rightly Greenways Initiative, a $500 million proposal, to the concrete trapezoidal ditch model. The Bayou better for the city’s neighborhoods and wildlife than bayous in the last ten years has been profoundly Control on Sims, Brays, White Oak, and other billion of work by the Army Corps and Flood Reliant/Astrodome Stadium complexes. The $1.5 Harris County is 5,000 acres, the equivalent of 14 combined area of all the new detention basins in central to Flood Control’s current strategy. The detention basinsastheprimarysolution.” were starting from scratch today, we could have had could be. There’s still room for improvement. If we better than it would have been but not as good as friendly, more aesthetically pleasing. The habitat is would have been. It is greener, more neighborhood We made progress. We made it much better than it feelings. We know that we had a very hard fight. years of activism, Merz says, “You have mixed Merz reminds us “it is the role of the citizens to The hard truth, however, is that the $1.5 billion Detention basins that double as parks are now When pressed about the outcome after twenty

c IS THERE-SCULPTINGOFSIMSBAYOU ACAUSE FOR CELEBRATION? Buried Concrete photo JackThompson by Raj Mankad Sims Bayou. stricken, geotextile-lined banksof Evelyn Merz onthedrought- 29 SUMMER2011.cite 30 SUMMER2011.cite

6+$5”167(,10$11