WHY FRIENDS OF CLEVELAND PARK?

---

Houston has almost four  hundred parks with 187 being  in the "neighborhood" category and  Im confident that we have one of the best. Our park is twenty times the size of any neighborhood adjacent to Magnolia Grove. For more than five years, I’ve picked up trash in Cleveland Park—alone at first—because no one else was doing it. Between 1997 and 2023, the park went largely ignored. No improvements. No investment. Just mowed grass and a locked-up pristine ballfield.

That changed when Council Member Abbie Kamin (District C) came through—after I hounded her for months. Thanks to her office, real improvements finally began. But the bigger turning point was realizing that if we wanted long-term change, it had to come from us—from the community.

That’s why we created Friends of Cleveland Park.

We’re a nonprofit formed in 2025 to be stewards of one of the best neighborhood parks in Houston. In just the past 2½ years, Cleveland Park has lost 52 large shade trees, leaving it hotter and more vulnerable each summer. Our most urgent mission is to reverse that trend by planting 50 to 80 native trees this year alone.

First of all we will be named as the Eleventh  (#11 of 187)  Official Neighborhood "Friends of [ ] Park" partner group   with HPARD Houston Parks and Recreation and Houston Park's Board.  I've worked with everyone  at HPARD from ground crew to management and can say they are exemplary people doing good work. It's a very  esteemed group, the parks getting the goods and attention, its an amazing partnership,  and it will pay dividends for years. 

We’re also helping relaunch the Magnolia Grove Civic Club, because right now we’re the only area in Super Neighborhood 22 not showing up—and we’re missing out big time. That has to change. The park needs the neighborhood, and the neighborhood needs the park.

One of our proudest accomplishments so far is the partnership we’ve built with the family of Officer Timothy L. Hearn, for whom the ballfield is named. Tim was killed in the line of duty in 1978 at the age of 28. What the sign doesn’t tell you is that he was a UT Austin graduate, a devoted husband and father, and a leader on the HPD Rambler Softball Team that used to play right here.

In April 2025, on Tim Hearn Day in Houston, we were honored to welcome Mayor John Whitmire—Tim’s best friend since high school. The two graduated from Waltrip High together, were in each other’s weddings, and stayed close until the night Tim never came home. The Mayor had a great day in the park—walking the field, sharing memories, and meeting neighbors who care about keeping that legacy alive.

The Hearn family has been incredible—gracious, supportive, and passionate about telling Tim’s story the right way. I’ve committed to Jennie and Tory Hearn that a new, meaningful sign will go up this year—and it will, even if I have to pay for it myself.

Donations are tax-deductible. Please step up.

As for me, I'm a lifelong park lover. I grew up in Beaumont and have lived in 11 cities across two countries over the years. I’ve seen what great parks can do for a community, but what’s happening here in Cleveland Park right now? These are some of the best examples of civic engagement I’ve ever witnessed.

Friends of Cleveland Park exists because this place matters. It's where stories like Tim’s live on. It's where shade and trees still matter. It's where a little sweat equity can change a neighborhood.

And it’s just getting started. If you’ve ever enjoyed this park—even once—we invite you to join us.

Heartwarming examples of what makes Cleveland Park special:

For more than a decade, the most consistent source of connection in Magnolia Grove has been an informal off-leash dog group that gathers in the park many afternoons. It began with renters from Bayou Park and grew to include more than 80 regulars—homeowners, neighbors, newcomers, and now just a couple of the original members remain. It's something some neighbors hate, and to me, is why we need some type of innovative dog area set up in our park. I just don't have the time for Karens who would rather bitch or call HPD than volunteer to help me get a section for dogs in our park. It would be great, although the group is very self-policed, low-conflict, and deeply inclusive. It gave rise to countless friendships, dates, a wedding, and sadly, one heartbreaking tribute. When dog crew member Carolee Taylor was tragically murdered by her ex-boyfriend on Christmas Eve—her birthday—the group joined the family in the park for the candlelight vigil.  She adored her dogs, and this space, and her story shook the entire neighborhood and city, and to this day is the saddest murder by an ex story I have ever seen. 

Parks bring people together—for joy, for love, and even for grieving. Cleveland Park has done all three.

With all the recent sadness about summer camps, it’s hard not to notice something else: most of the kids in Cleveland Park every night won’t have those same childhood experiences many of us did. Many are children of Afghan resettlement families or hardworking single parents doing everything they can to keep their kids in the good public schools this neighborhood feeds into.

They are out on that ancient playgrond equipment 24/7 and its for them I will push for improvements. For everone else that was  riding horses at Camp Friday Mountian as a kid or in a canoe at Waldemar or Camp Longhorn - I challenge you to help make our park bette for this group of neighbors. And yet—something special is happening here that comes out of our park -

Neighbors on Dickson invited the Afghan families to experience Halloween after they arrived. Apartment neighbors stepped in to help with services and paperwork. At the park, people have shown them why Americans love dogs. And some of the most heartwarming moments? A group of younger men from the apartments are frequently out with this group of  (mostly) boys on many afternoons showing these kids soccer, baseball, and tennis skills. It's. heartwarming sight everyone in the park has taken notice of because rarely do we see a father figure associated with any of this group, and keeping them busy is a good thing because several need parental supervision for sure.  Kudos to all you guys for stepping out - that is community for sure.

And it’s happening right here, in our park.

If you pass through Cleveland Park early in the morning, you’ll spot the Magnolia Grove tennis regulars—neighbors who’ve lived here for decades and still play almost every day. Since the courts were resurfaced, new faces are joining in, and the crowds have only grown. There’s laughter, competition, and real camaraderie on those courts. They've been joined by a lot oof groups some with some serious tennis training going on.  And then there’s the other gathering place: the Officer Timothy L. Hearn Memorial Ballfield. On most nights just as Tim Hearn was in the 70's - it's full of people out having their best game nights, often saying this is the park they look forward to most. We've been the preferred ballfield in the city now for 85 years. 

We overlook the mess sometimes, even the beer cans, because this is what parks are for. And because, just like it was 60 years ago, the most favored ballfield in Houston is still right here, in our park.

And now, we're thinking bigger.

In just seven years, Cleveland Park will turn 125 years old—a rare and remarkable milestone for a neighborhood park in a major city. The official name for a 125th anniversary is a quasquicentennial—a mouthful, yes, but a milestone worth celebrating.

We’re calling it Cleveland 125: a long-term, community-led campaign to transform this sleepy, underused park into something unforgettable. Right now, Cleveland Park has just a few amenities and little visibility. But with your help, that changes—starting today.

Cleveland 125 is a bold, seven-year vision to restore, reimagine, and revive this historic green space so that future Houstonians inherit a park that reflects the best of who we are today. It’s a challenge to every neighbor:
Come out.
Get active. Volunteer.
Get involved. Join A Comittee.
And help us bring in some private funds to fill the void of budget cuts as we also  create a better park. 

You can help us at the September Joint Meeting  with MGCC first by coming out, signing up, joining a committee or the Board, buying a membership, being a business sponsor, adding the park to your  Kroger Card now and by updating your Estate Plan  & Will, Adopting A Tree, Funding A Tree, Donating a Case of Trash Bags.  We need you. We Thank You. We're Really Proud of these improvement projects we made happen. 

This isn’t a city project or one guys project neighbors -  It’s our project. And when we succeed, we won’t just mark a quasquicentennial—we’ll have built a legacy. Together. ###