McALLEN — For most of the past 16 years, Raymond Moreno has kept a large printout in his home office.

On that printout is a 2003 rendering from the city of McAllen, that shows an eden-like park planned for the Morris Regional Detention Facility near Perez and Morris elementaries in north McAllen.

A person walks along the sidewalk near Morris Middle School and Perez Elementary on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, in. McAllen. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

The park on Moreno’s printout has a pool and a sand volleyball court and dozens and dozens of trees.

“One day,” he would tell himself. “One day.”

One day, Moreno thought, we’ll have our park. The years went by, and Moreno realized he may not see his kids play in the park. Maybe, he thought, he’d see his grandkids play there.

For the past decade and a half, the Morris Regional Detention Facility park project has, for the most part, been collecting dust.

Last month, officials from the city and the school district announced plans for significant improvements to the land, plans they say make significant strides toward completing an unfulfilled covenant between the city and the McAllen school district.

Those plans address an underdeveloped green space that for years has been a sore spot in McAllen.

In 2004, the city acquired the land near Morris for use as a drainage improvement project, on the understanding that the land would also be developed into a park.

The city dug pits and completed the drainage project; the park aspect of the acquisition stalled.

In 2011, people in the neighborhood complained about the massive, barren pits. It was often called “the dustbowl.”

“Some of the neighbors who purchased homes in the neighborhood purchased homes because of that plan, because that’s what was shared by the city,” Moreno said. “This is the committed, promised park, and so neighbors were buying homes and lots and getting their future in line, because this was the planned park.”

Residents complained about air conditioners failing because of the pits. A petition with hundreds of signatures called for the park’s development.

“And then still it sat,” McAllen ISD Trustee Debbie Crane Aliseda said last month. “And it sat and it sat. And there were articles on the front page of the paper, about the dustbowl, and nothing happening. And you know how it is: you get new mayors, city commissioners, and things get shelved.”

The space between Morris Middle School and Perez Elementary behind a fence on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, in. McAllen. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

The city, Monitor archives show, laid the blame for the park langouring on a lack of funds.

In fits and starts, the Morris park received small improvements.

Moreno pushed for the park on the Trenton Pecan Neighborhood Association. The McAllen Junior League donated some money to help fund an inclusive park. PTO groups at the elementary campuses pushed for improvements as well.

The Morris park is no longer a dustbowl, but it’s still a far cry from the park promised to residents and parents of students at the schools.

Improvements the city and school district have spent the last few months working on take a major stride toward that goal. Those improvements include several areas with outdoor chess tables, a popular game at the schools.

They include half a dozen covered pavilions, barbecue pits, two formal entrances, lighted fields, walking trails, landscaping and trees.

Those improvements, Crane Aliseda said, could be completed in as little as a year and a half.

“It’s just the right timing,” she said. “All the players in the game understood the problem and understood we have to get this fixed.”

According to Crane Aliseda, those improvements meet a need in the area.

“You have 1,500 students there, five days a week, eight months out of the year with no area to do their athletics,” she said.

The space between Morris Middle School and Perez Elementary on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, in. McAllen. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

City Commissioner Tony Aguirre says his daughter’s a kindergarten teacher at Perez and his kids went through Morris. He’s familiar with the area around the schools.

“North McAllen has grown to be a beautiful area,” he said. “People are needing more safe walking areas, dog walking and just open space, at times.”

“We’ve got some money and we’re using it, we want to use it.”

Despite the proposed improvements, it’s still not the park on Moreno’s printout. That park, he said, is still the dream for him and his neighbors.

“It’s a step forward, but it’s not the finish line,” he said.

Both Crane Aliseda and Aguirre said they see more improvements in the future as completely possible, given enough funding is in place.

The planned improvements, Crane Aliseda said, are progress— significant progress.

“I think it’ll work well. It’s a good fit”