Hello Houston – The Commuter Cut (October 8, 2026)

The future of a popular green space in East Downtown remains uncertain after it was altered for the FIFA World Cup.

The Bastrop Promenade was used for FIFA Fan Festival this past summer.

With much of its grass and landscaping removed, and replaced with decomposed granite.

Residents had been told the space would be restored after the event, but the East Downtown Management District later decided to keep many of those changes.

Now, residents are fighting to get that green space back.

Joining us to talk about the effort to restore the promenade are Robert Gallegos, a former Houston City Council member, Winn Lee, a resident advocate with Save Bastrop Promenade, and Ed Pettitt, president of Friends of Columbia TAP.

Good morning to you all.

Welcome to Hello Houston.

Good

morning.

Thank you for having us.

So who wants to start with how this all started? Because I guess it started with FIFA Fan Fest and a promise, right?

Right, right, yeah.

The East Edo Management District basically was hosting FIFA there on the promenade.

So they're the ones that basically removed the grass because of the FIFA, you know, people that were going to be participating.

And I got involved due to the fact that I'm a former council member representing District I, which is including Edo.

And what got me really involved was that there's a dog park there at the end of the promenade.

and as council member i was approached by edo years ago to help with funding for a dog park and they had this vision of a beautiful green space which would be you know grass people would be walking their dogs people would be picnicking with you know uh so they were asking council member we need help and so i went ahead and helped them to do this it was the first dog park in district i uh and now to hear what happened i went over there to to walk it myself, and I was just shocked to see the decomposed granite.

This was not the vision I was told by the Edo Management District at that time.

So, Wyn, you are a resident here.

You're with Save Bastrop Promenade.

You've got a great shirt on.

Thank you, Kirsten.

Thank you,

Ed.

The future of a popular green space in East Downtown remains uncertain after it was altered for the FIFA World Cup.

The Bastrop Promenade was used for FIFA Fan Festival this past summer.

With much of its grass and landscaping removed, and replaced with decomposed granite.

Residents had been told the space would be restored after the event, but the East Downtown Management District later decided to keep many of those changes.

Now, residents are fighting to get that green space back.

Joining us to talk about the effort to restore the promenade are Robert Gallegos, a former Houston City Council member, Winn Lee, a resident advocate with Save Bastrop Promenade, and Ed Pettitt, president of Friends of Columbia TAP.

Good morning to you all.

Welcome to Hello Houston.

Good

morning.

Thank you for having us.

So who wants to start with how this all started? Because I guess it started with FIFA Fan Fest and a promise, right?

Right, right, yeah.

The East Edo Management District basically was hosting FIFA there on the promenade.

So they're the ones that basically removed the grass because of the FIFA, you know, people that were going to be participating.

And I got involved due to the fact that I'm a former council member representing District I, which is including Edo.

And what got me really involved was that there's a dog park there at the end of the promenade.

and as council member i was approached by edo years ago to help with funding for a dog park and they had this vision of a beautiful green space which would be you know grass people would be walking their dogs people would be picnicking with you know uh so they were asking council member we need help and so i went ahead and helped them to do this it was the first dog park in district i uh and now to hear what happened i went over there to to walk it myself, and I was just shocked to see the decomposed granite.

This was not the vision I was told by the Edo Management District at that time.

So, Wyn, you are a resident here.

You're with Save Bastrop Promenade.

You've got a great shirt on.

Thank you, Kirsten.

Thank you,

Ed.