Houston Independent School District’s Board of Education voted this morning to accept a mediated agreement that calls for the demolition of the original Phillis Wheatley/E.O. Smith school while incorporating decorative elements from the historic building into the new Mickey Leland Preparatory Academy for Young Men, to be built on the site.
Wheatley supporters, HISD meet with mediators about historic school's future
Representatives of the Historic Wheatley / E.O. Smith Preservation Coalition and Houston Independent School District are meeting today with court-appointed mediators to try to resolve the coalition’s suit to stop the demolition of the original Phillis Wheatley High School, 1700 Gregg Street at Lyons.
Grassroots effort puts brakes on Wheatley demolition
Almost 100 people attended Tuesday night’s community meeting of the Historic Wheatley/E.O. Smith Preservation Coalition to hear updates on the fate of the original Wheatley High School, 1700 Gregg St. at Lyons. Demolition of the historic building was temporarily stopped on Tuesday through a grassroots campaign.
Encouraging developments in Astrodome discussion
On Tuesday, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett announced his idea to repurpose the Astrodome as the world’s largest indoor park, saying the proposal would create “a new vision of the future” while honoring Judge Roy Hofheinz’s original intention for the iconic stadium. Since then, there have been positive responses to the plan, including an ongoing Houston Business Journal survey showing majority support for the proposal and an Atlantic magazine CityLab article that draws parallels between the Dome’s possibilities and New York’s High Line urban park.