The Man on a Mission to Bring the Green
Katharine Shilcutt, Houstonia
“It’s been beyond successful,” says Turner of the busy park, which his department showcased as a project when the National Recreation and Park Association held its annual conference here three years ago. It was a rare bit of bragging for a man who’s often too busy to take credit for his own ideas, including such ambitious projects as Bayou Greenways 2020, which aims to connect 10 of the city’s major bayous via a system of interconnected parks and trails.
In fact, Turner appears downright fixated on his mission of “meeting the needs of the city with our green space.” His days are packed with meetings and data-delving sessions, with his team using everything from 311 calls to demographic stats from the Health Department to figure out where they should be concentrating their efforts.
