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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-09-06/houston-s-most-diverse-neighborhood-gets-a-resilience-hub>
"Hurricane Beryl hit the Houston area last July, causing dozens of deaths and
leaving millions without power. The Sunday after the storm passed, Natalia
Beard, principal at landscape architecture firm SWA, surveyed the damage at the
Alief Neighborhood Center and Park. The new amenity was spared, fortunately,
and even provided shelter for affected residents in southwest Houston.
“Typically it’s not open on Sundays, but it was opened as a cooling center, and
there were families inside enjoying the air conditioning,” she recalls.
Opened in January 2023, the 38-acre, $59 million project, a collaboration
between SWA and architecture firm Page, aims to serve as a new model for
community services. With a sprawling park and a slanted L-shaped building that
hosts three city departments (health, public libraries and parks and
recreation), the Alief Neighborhood Center and Park is designed to emphasize
community pride and connections year-round. And in a pinch, the
70,000-square-foot building also provides emergency services — handy for a
multicultural hub in a suburban area facing more frequent and damaging weather
events."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-secondhand-only-shopping-mall-trash-diving/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
