Activist's dream is to get a YMCA for her underserved area

Neighborhood group has plan for undeveloped Stuebner-Airline Park

Mary Taylor has a vision and a dream. For over 30 years this seventy year old has worked in her community to improve and beautify her area. Now as president of the Beautification and Restoration Committee for the Acres Home, Willow Run and North Plaza neighborhoods, she has taken on her biggest project. Ms. Taylor has set her sights on a 26-acre unimproved city park which she believes would be an excellent location for a YMCA.

Stuebner-Airline Park on Veterans Memorial Boulevard was designated a city park in 1987. Other than cutting the grass in a small cleared area, the city has not made any improvements to the park. It has no playground equipment, picnic tables, lighting or parking area.

As she sees it, a YMCA would be a good fit for the park. So she has started a campaign to enlist the help of the city, county, area businesses and residents to raise money to have a YMCA built. The city finally decided to designate CIP funds of $1.6 million for improvements to the park. However, Ms. Taylor wants the funds to go towards the building of a YMCA.

She says that a private non-profit like the YMCA is well organized and structured. "The city would not be able to provide their level of service. That's why government and private entities need to come together to make our communities better. A facility like a YMCA would benefit this community more than a few improvements in the park. The Y would provide supervised activities for children and seniors as well. A park with some swings and benches is going to result in children being in an unattended situation, and be a place for gang activity and graffiti."

The idea for a YMCA to be built on the park land was first proposed by committee members in a meeting with city officials at the Parks and Recreation Department. They were told by officials that the YMCA would have to conduct a study first to determine if there is a need for the facility in the community. The committee, too, would have to survey the neighborhoods to determine if there was widespread support for a YMCA facility. The city said it was willing to give a 30-year lease on the land at $1 per year to facilitate the project.

By the time the committee met with YMCA officials, it had conducted surveys and found there was a broad base of support for a YMCA in the surrounding neighborhoods. They have received letters of support from public officials and nearby school districts. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said in a letter to the city that a YMCA was "vitally important" to the area, and she supported the proposal by the Acres Home committee. City Council Member Ronald Green said "there is a tremendous need for this type of community facility in this area."

The HISD North Region office stated that a YMCA will have a positive impact and "provide the residents in the community with much needed services." YMCA officials noted this, and said they were willing to explore the possibility of serving the community, but the committee would have to meet certain guidelines to establish a YMCA in their area.

Mary Taylor says that the area meets the population guidelines, and it is a growing area. "Not only Willow Run and Acres Home will be served by a YMCA facility, but also neighborhoods to the north and west of 249, some newly built. The park is in an excellent location for quick access to both 249 and I-45," she says.

Ms. Taylor believes that the community itself is the best judge of what it needs. "So many times city funds are directed to contractors to do work," she says, "when the funds should be directed to the community itself. There are people in our neighborhoods, such as our youth, who can be hired to do the work. Who knows better than the residents what needs to be done and how best to do it. We can budget and do the record keeping with the city's oversight. It's a win-win situation."

She is a strong believer in individual efforts and initiative to accomplish goals. "We can't depend on the government to do everything for us. If a resident sees trash around the neighborhood, that resident needs to pick it up themselves. The neighborhoods need to be kept clean, but it takes the efforts of all the neighbors to keep it clean. We need to take pride in our neighborhoods."

Ms. Taylor says she has personally mowed the grass on a vacant lot at the entrance to her subdivision. "I kept that lot clean for years, but I can't do it any more. I'm older and my lawn mower was stolen. So I need someone else to step forward."

Her committee has taken on numerous projects to beautify and improve the area. This has included the planting of trees along the esplanade on Veterans Memorial, and the installation of brick sign columns at the entrances to the subdivisions. The committee has also conducted various graffiti cleanup projects, as well as encouraged individuals to paint over the graffiti as soon as it is done. "I have painted over it myself," Ms. Taylor says, "so that way, it discourages the perpetrator."

Ms. Taylor and her committee are looking for ways to raise funds to get the YMCA project started. "But we can't do it alone. We need the city, county, and state officials to step forward and work with the YMCA to make this happen. Local businesses also need to get involved because it will benefit them to have a Y in the area. The city came up with the money so quickly for the downtown park that will benefit people from out of town. But we have a need for something that will benefit our community right here."

She says she will never give up hope for the YMCA project. She believes that with faith and determination she will prevail. "I think about my mother," she says. "She was a very strong religious person, but didn't preach to us all the time. Just expected us to do the right thing." Mary Taylor raised three children of her own and has numerous grandchildren. "Family and my community are important to me," she says, "and that's what keeps me going."

(The Banner, August 6, 2008)