Grimes Park, the 9-acre Sunnyside recreational park owned by HISD and leased by the city for the past 30 years, is now closed. HISD terminated the lease early so that the district can build a new career and technical education center there, forcing the Southeast Lions, the Little League football team that has played there since 1993, to find a new home. The closure is part of a broader pattern in the historically neglected neighborhood and follows HISD’s contentious closure of 12 school campuses in the past year and 60 over the past two decades.
The city invested $1.5 million to update Grimes Park in 2023, which was also the last time the lease agreement was renewed, which, Mayor John Whitmire was quick to point out was before his tenure. “Time will tell whether it’s to the advantage of the community, but it’s a major investment, and they wouldn’t yield,” Whitmire said at the September 16 meeting.
After facing criticism from several councilmembers and City Controller Chris Hollins, Mayor Whitmire invited Parks Department director Kenneth Allen to explain the takeover. Allen walked through the Grimes Park-HISD timeline: HISD mailed notice of its intent to close the park to a city P.O. box in January, but it didn’t reach the parks department until March, resulting in a short-notice relocation of the Southeast Lions. When District D Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz asked why the Little League team received such short notice, Allen said the parks department notified both her and the team’s director about the lease termination in June; after that, it was the Little League director’s responsibility. Allen added that the city did its due diligence by consulting the city’s legal department and meeting with HISD. By August, HISD had already moved the timeline back twice, setting a final deadline to vacate the park by September 1, 2026.
Not all is lost. The parks department salvaged some of Grimes Park’s amenities, including lighting, playground equipment, benches, and picnic tables for reuse at other parks. And the Lions already have a new home at Garden Villas Park, but finding it was challenging. Several nearby parks were inadequate because they lacked sufficient lighting needed for night practices. The city determined it will take $781 million to properly update the lights at every park in the city, but the entire parks budget for the current year is $107.4 million.