South Park, Houston

thumb|[[Jesse H. Jones High School|Jones High School]]

South Park is a broad post-World War II development in the south-central area of Houston, Texas, a few miles south of MacGregor Park and directly south of the 610 Loop. According to the 2000 Census, the community has a population of 22,282. 81% of the South Park population is African American, compared to 25% for the city as a whole. Houston's Martin Luther King Boulevard (formerly South Park Boulevard) runs through the area. Reflecting its postwar origins, many streets in South Park are named after World War II battle sites and persons. In the 1980s and 1990s crime became a key issue for South Park. Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press said "South Park is an overgrown garden these days, its soil only able to be tilled by the most determined or the most desperate. It shows no sign that it will grow again any time in the near future."

History

South Park, a post-World War II development, had mostly middle class White American families during the 1950s and early 1960s. Many of the homebuyers were veterans of World War II, and streets were named after battles and people that the homebuyers knew from personal experience. When South Park served as a suburb, lawns were neatly trimmed and area children traveled to places by bicycle. a major area thoroughfare, to Martin Luther King Boulevard. The renaming was effective on April 5, 1978.

Shilcutt said that South Park was no longer considered a suburb by the late 1980s, and that crime became a major concern. In 1987 South Park was still considered to be a mixed race neighborhood. In 2000 82% of the neighborhood was Black, and 16% of the area population was Hispanic.

As of 2011 the median yearly income is $33,196, a 15% decrease from 2000's number. As of the same year the median housing price is $50,400, a 15% increase from 2000's number. In a 10-year span ending in 2011, the foreign-born population of South Park increased by almost 10%.

Cityscape

The South Park subdivision has four sections. Section 1 is bounded by Calhoun Road, a line south of Pershing Boulevard, a line east of St. Lo Road, and a line north of Doolittle Road.

One part of Sections 2-4 is bounded by the 610 Loop, a line south and west of Burma Road, a line south of St. Lo Road, and a line east of Kassarine Pass. Another portion of Sections 2-4 is bound by Calhoun, 18th, Jutland, and a line north of Southwind Avenue. Another portion is wedged between St. Lo and Martin Luther King Boulevard (formerly named South Park Boulevard).

The wider South Park area is bounded by the 610 Loop, Cullen Boulevard, the Sims Bayou, and Mykawa Road. In 1993 Ronald Ray Howard, a convicted killer and drug dealer, said, in the words of Houston Chronicle reporter Roy Bragg, that South Park was "a war zone, a place of nightly shootings, fistfights, police harassment and strife. There, the right amount of money could buy any weapon, even hand grenades. Seven-year-old children knew how to handle pistols."

Gonzales said that the South Park criminal element imploded because the criminals depleted the wealth that was left in the neighborhood. According to Gonzales, the criminals moved to Alief and the Hiram Clarke area. In 2011 Gonzales said "Pickins is slim" in South Park.

In 2001 police officers attempted to stifle the scene by flooding the 10 block stretch with water. The police said that businesses had wanted the crowds to be dissipated. After black activists protested, C. O. Bradford, the chief of the Houston Police Department, apologized. The following weekend, the cruising scene had reappeared. Thirty-two police officers were on the street, and traffic cones and barricades manipulated the vehicle traffic. Peggy O'Hare of the Houston Chronicle said "It worked reasonably well, taking only five minutes to travel the 10-block area with restricted lane use."

Elementary schools serving sections of South Park include Alcott, Bastian, and Kelso. All residents of the South Park subdivision are zoned to Attucks Middle School. Residents east of Martin Luther King Boulevard are zoned to Sterling High School while other residents are zoned to Worthing High School. The Jones Futures Academy, formerly Jones High School, is an alternative secondary school in South Park.

Sterling, Worthing, and Jones serve the larger South Park area. In 2007 a study determined that 60% of the entering first year classes at Jones and Sterling advanced to their fourth year, and a portion of those students graduated. Because of this, the Associated Press and Johns Hopkins University labeled Jones and Sterling "dropout factories." The study stated that over half of the high school students zoned to Jones and Worthing instead chose to attend other HISD schools. Jesse Jackson Academy, a state charter school, is located north of South Park, inside the 610 Loop.

On Thursday March 13, 2014, the HISD board voted 6-3 to keep the Jones campus open and convert it into an alternative career readiness school for students throughout HISD. At that time Jones was no longer be a zoned school, and its athletics programs were discontinued. Residents east of Martin Luther King Boulevard were rezoned to Sterling, and residents west of MLK were rezoned to Worthing, both for the 2014-2015 school year. The school was consolidated with St. Peter the Apostle Middle School.

Public libraries

The area is served by the Young Neighborhood Library of the Houston Public Library, which is located north of 610 in Palm Center.

Government and infrastructure

South Park is in Houston City Council District D.

Houston Fire Department operates Fire Station 35 South Park, a part of Fire District 46. The station was originally built at Holmes at South Park. The station had to move due to the construction of Interstate 610. The current station near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Van Fleet opened in 1965.thumb|Fire Station 35, 1976

The neighborhood is within the Houston Police Department's Southeast Patrol Division, headquartered at 8300 Mykawa.

The Harris Health System (formerly Harris County Hospital District) designated the Martin Luther King Health Center in southeast Houston for the ZIP code 77033. The designated public hospital is Ben Taub General Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

Parks

thumb|St. Lo Park

St. Lo Park is located at 7335 St. Lo Road. Pershing Park is located at 5500 Pershing/St Lo Road.

Notable residents

Megan Thee Stallion, a rapper and songwriter from the Dead End neighborhood of South Park, lived there until 14 when she moved to nearby Pearland.
Carlos Coy (South Park Mexican), a Mexican-American rapper who is currently in prison, convicted of sexual assault.
Clyde Drexler (basketball player)

Notes

References

External links

Census 2000: Demographic Data by Super Neighborhood