Terry Hershey Park Meeting & Eldridge Construction
- admin
- Jun 25, 2025
- 4 min read
Parks Meeting Tomorrow
Precinct 4 controls Terry Hershey Park. According to the website, "Harris County Precinct 4 is planning improvements for parks across Precinct 4, and we need your ideas to make parks better for everyone to enjoy! Join one of the three workshops to share your feedback!"
Make your voice heard. In the 1960s, Terry Hershey spearheaded the opposition to concreting Buffalo Bayou with the support of a young Congressman who represented this area - George H.W. Bush. That effort was successful. In my opinion, we do not need more urbanization of our parks; we need to embrace nature that exists in our parks. We shouldn't be destroying the natural flora and fauna, especially given the budget deficits that the County has been making up by increasing our tax burden.
Location: Terry Hershey Park Pavilion on the North Side of Memorial at 15200 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77079.
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 25th from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. That's Tomorrow!
County Taxes, Flooding & Art Projects Background
Harris County Commissioners’ Court sets the tax rate for four entities: Harris County, the Hospital District, the Flood Control District, and the Port Authority.
You may have noticed that the taxes you paid for these entities dramatically increased by 14% just in the past year. But it gets worse because your actual tax bill is the product of the tax rate and the taxable value of your property. So if the taxable value of your property increased last year, then the tax increase was even more than 14%.
Commissioners’ Court was primarily able to cram down this tax increase by using a loophole that allows local governments to exceed the State imposed limits in the case of the declaration of an emergency (Derecho and Hurricane Beryl). The Texas Legislature worked on closing this loophole this past session.
Even with that dramatic increase, Judge Lina Hidalgo said last month that Harris County is facing a $270 million budget deficit and officials will have to either cut back on spending or raise taxes in fiscal year 2026.
We have still not seen any flood projects in our reach of Buffalo Bayou in the almost eight years since every home in Memorial Thicket℠ was flooded for two weeks by the unprecedented releases due to the dams being opened by the Corps of Engineers. Even with the $2.5 billion flood bond issued by Harris County and all other taxes we have paid since then, flood control has not been the priority it should be for our area.
It literally took an Act of Congress spearheaded by our Congressman to have a bill signed this year to require the "expedited" completion of the Buffalo Bayou Tributaries and Resiliency Study, Texas, carried out pursuant to title IV of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The law requires a final report to be submitted by the end of this year. What is disconcerting is the Corps of Engineers was already obligated under the previous law to provide the report and here we are over six years later with no report, much less one shovel of dirt being turned.
While Harris County Commissioners Court has voted to raise taxes but have not found funding for priority flood control projects, they have supported numerous public art projects recently. The Texas Voice reported on a $250,000 expenditure for graffiti art at the County’s Juvenile Detention Center in October, and Commissioners Court approved $272,727 sought by County Commissioner Lesley Briones for four murals to reduce violent crime. Briones then sought more funding for public art in her precinct by spending another $272,727 to implement two sculptures in the Alief neighborhood. Terry Hershey Park is part of Commissioner Briones' precinct.
Construction on Eldridge
We are now past the 60 day mark for which the current traffic plan at Eldridge and Memorial was to remain in effect. Though not official, that date will be extended for another 60 days for a total of 120 days. Then for the 30 days after that, the right turn lane from Eldridge south to Memorial west will be closed. As has been communicated to the project manager, the right turn lane is of little use as almost everyone does not use that lane due to the sharpness of the turn. We have also communicated how the traffic control pattern is resulting in many issues that could be readily resolved. At this point, expect the construction on Eldridge to continue well into the fall with the end of the year for the total project completion. Of course, this is subject to change.
Engage Houston is now back in service after being down for months. You can sign up for notifications here, however, it is currently not up to date with the above information nor the traffic control plan though I did ask them to do so last Wednesday.
Greg Sergesketter
MTHA Rep. to Memorial SN
815 Elk Run Circle
713.234.0604
June 24, 2025