The Humanity of Green
Articles
The Humanity of Green
Posted: August 1, 2012 by Chuck DeShazo
Downtown Dallas has realized for years that it has needed a systematic plan to add more green space within its freeway core in order to adequately serve the residents and business people who spend considerable portions of their time there. A number of years ago the City of Dallas had a team of consultants look at how to add more park space to the inner core of the city. The Downtown Parks Master Plan was the culmination of their efforts to add new vitality to the outdoor life of the city. Belo Garden is the most recent of the new parks shown on their initial plan to actually be completed and ready for use.
In many ways, this is an exciting time for Dallas, as catering to the human need for the outdoors has not been the city’s strong suit in decades past. The opening of Main Street Garden several years ago, the Belo Garden now, and the Klyde Warren Park in October, are serving to redefine space for individuals who walk the streets of Downtown. Dallas definitely needs more outdoor space in its central core. The important question to ask however is this: When is that outdoor space an inviting outdoor living room for the residents, business-people, and visitors who visit?
To answer that question I thought there was no time like a day forecast to be 108 degrees, to go and check it out. For full disclosure, I will state that I went to the park about noontime on a Saturday. Due to that, I wore shorts and a tee shirt. However I wore no cap, as a business-person out for a noonday walk in July would most likely not be wearing a cap.
Belo Garden sits on 1.7 acres that used to be a parking lot in Downtown across Main Street from One Main Place and Commerce Street from the Federal Building. The Belo Foundation paid for the design and construction of the park, utilizing award-winning landscape architects Hargreaves Associates and Austin Industries, while Dallas city bond money was used to purchase and remediate the space.
Some of its features include the Texas Grove which contains native trees from regions throughout Texas. It also has the Fountain Plaza which provides cool wet relief for children desiring to enjoy the Downtown Dallas park as a playground. The prairie inspired gardens contain colorful plants and grasses rarely seen in the heart of a city. The Garden Grove along the east side of the park helps to shade the seating area that is best for family picnics or conversations. For more information about Belo Garden please click here.
What were my expectations? To be perfectly honest I was expecting a bakefest. My wife wanted me to take water with me but I swore that idea off as I wanted to have a similar experience to the other casual walkers. I will say that the eastern side of the park at that time was blessedly in the shade. Therefore it was bearable for individuals to actually sit at tables and read, talk or do other things without worrying about whether they were getting a sunburn. I stood at the edge of this area taking pictures and thinking that this really wasn’t that bad. I then proceeded to walk on an adjacent path while snapping my photos and walked right into the dazzling light of the noon day. I knew that my nutritionist would approve of my intake of Vitamin D though, so I gamely ventured forward, stopping every few feet to take photos and look in different directions at the nearby skyscrapers. The most inviting element to me in this main area of the park is the fountains that are designed in such a way as to invite families where the children can happily be amused for a period of time delightedly running back and forth. I looked at them and thought about how I would love to prance back and forth under the fountains as well. Unfortunately as an adult, one has to do a lot of wishing and fantasizing about certain things.
One can walk around the fountains and take short walks down one of several paths that take one to the perimeter of the park. I was beginning to really feel the sun by this time, and thinking how I enjoyed being in Dallas parks in May, March, October, November and that every so often January day. However, I was not going to give into my feelings, as this wasn’t about me but about whether the park was enjoyable for others. Besides it wasn’t two o’clock in the afternoon yet when the sun would be directly overhead. Therefore I really had no cause to complain. Along these pathways are plantings I mentioned earlier that are obviously native. There are also a healthy number of trees that over time will mature to really provide the shade that will make this place more of a respite from the surrounding urban aura.
I finally ended my observations by climbing the mound on the north side of the park in order to get an eagle’s eye view of the world below.
What are my final recommendations regarding Belo Garden? By all means, please go enjoy the park anytime from September through May. If you are a brave Dallas soul who wants to visit in July, I would grab a cup of coffee and go there about 7:30 in the morning. I would also recommend winding down in the park about 7:00 in the evening. Bear in mind that earlier in the day, the summer sun is blocked by tall buildings to the east of the park. That enables the main seating area with tables and chairs to be in the shade until the early afternoon. Conversely, this will make the western side of the park more inviting in the cooler winter months, when people come out to take a quick stroll during the afternoons.
I will also state that according to an article in the Dallas Morning News, some of the trees in the garden have apparently found this summer to be not ery hospitable. 15 of the original 109 trees in the Belo Garden have either died or suffered significant stress. This is due to a variety of factors: soil, water, and wind, all of which can be fixed easily enough so as to strengthen the overall foundation of the park to withstand future weather and natural events in Dallas. Some trees were receiving too little water from the drip irrigation system, whereas some others, particularly along Commerce Street, have been receiving too much, due to the wind blowing water from the nearby fountains. To solve that particular problem, a wind sensor is being installed that will slow the velocity and quantity of the water in the fountains’ jets when the wind speed reaches 15 miles per hour, and will automatically shut off the fountains when the wind speed reaches 20 miles per hour.
All in all, I am thankful for Downtown Dallas’ newest neighbor and the fact that it is one more addition to the green space in the central city. I think back to the movie “Field of Dreams”, and the phrase, “If you build it, they will come.” The addition of more parkland in Central Dallas, will make life more pleasant to the increasing numbers of people who will call the city home.
