Basketball goal at Hamilton Park, a photograph taken April 6, 1968. (Courtesy University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History crediting Dallas Municipal Archives)
Terrel Harris played for the Miami Heat in 2012, and he wears his championship ring with pride. His career took him a long way from his Hamilton Park roots, as Dallas Morning News’ Robert Wilonsky points out, however the current Colony resident wasn’t such a big star that he can afford to purchase an enclosed gym and senior center for his old neighborhood, which would cost close to $12 million. He wishes he could.
Harris has spent many an hour over the past few years rallying for new facilities at Hamilton Park, and his actions have inspired District 10 councilman Adam McGough to do the same.
Last week McGough in a Facebook post praised Harris and Hamilton Park community members for “engag[ing] in our government process, and even more[so] [for] showing up and speak[ing] from their heart about their lives, their struggles, and their community needs.”
McGough continued: “Hamilton Park showed up in a major way. The speakers were honest, straightforward, and direct. Many speakers spoke for the very first time at city hall, and poured out their hearts to be heard by city leaders. Hamilton Park has been overlooked for decades, and this community is in dire need of resources.”
He followed this praise up with a bit of outrage at James Birdsong, an appointee charged with assessing needs around Dallas prior to bond decisions, who wrote in a memo that he drove through Hamilton Park and determined that the neighborhood already has an “exemplary park and rec center.” (See full text below.)
The all-black subdivision of Hamilton Park opened in 1954, at a time when safe, comfortable housing for people of color in our city was grossly inadequate. The DMN reports that Harris’ grandparents were among the neighborhood’s first homeowners.
Dallas City Council members next week will decide how to allocate funds, about $800 million, that voters may approve in November.
