Conflicts mount over new home for HPD horses

This report just in from KHOU-TV, Channell 11 Houston
By LEE MC GUIRE

When they’re not on patrol, the 37 horses in HPD’s Mounted Patrol unit live in Memorial Park.

The area is cramped says Lt. Randy Wallace.

It’s also muddy, there’s no grass, and there isn’t much for the horses to do.

“What we have here is just the bare basics,” said Lt. Wallace.

It is three acres surrounded by heavy traffic, but very close to some of the parks the horses patrol.

The new, $7 million facility will have 46 stalls.

It’s five times larger with room to run.

The catch is it’s in the county, not the city.

Crews are already clearing the land along Little York and it was only when this work started that Frank Watson noticed. He opposes the new location. “For four years now they knew about it but they didn’t tell us about it.”

The new patrol headquarters is technically just outside Houston city limits—so the city didn’t have to hold a public hearing.

“And it will cripple any kind of economic growth we have in mind,” said Watson.

Now, former Councilmember Carol Mims Galloway says the site is too far from downtown. “With the cost of gasoline you’re going to have to drive horses almost 11 miles to the downtown area.”

The police say because the new site is just off 59, it will actually be easier to reach most of the city.

Not telling neighbors was just an oversight says Wallace. “It was just something that slipped through the cracks if you will because the property is in the county.”

So the horses are headed for a new home even though their new neighbors are a bit skittish.

On Tuesday, Police Chief Harold Hurtt met with those neighbors at the current mounted patrol facility to talk about their concerns. Mayor Bill White says their voices have been heard, but that the project will go forward.

It’s expected to open by next spring.