Eubanks appointed to Parks and Recreation Board – finally

Although Ted Eubanks’ appointment to the city’s Parks and Recreation Board faced some headwinds, City Council on Thursday did finally appoint a 40-year parks professional who specializes in heritage and nature tourism. That appointment was postponed last month after some Council members had unspecified objections to his service. On Thursday, only Council Member Paige Ellis abstained on the roster of appointments that included Eubanks. Last year, Council Member Mackenzie Kelly withdrew his name for parks board consideration without saying why. According to Rewild Zilker, which has opposed the vision put forth by supporters of the Zilker Park Vision Plan and its nonprofit model, those nonprofits are the likely source of opposition to Eubanks, an expert on historical and nature tourism. Ellis’ district includes Zilker Park. Eubanks has said, “Over the years I have certainly had opinions and concerns at times about how Austin manages its public lands, and that is unacceptable to a handful of organizations.” After the vote on Thursday, Eubanks told the Austin Monitor, “Perhaps the discussion we should be having is given how much money we have spent on the plan, what does it take to fix it? If there are mistakes in it – and there are – why don’t we correct them?” The biggest question facing the city, he said, is “how are we going to sustainably maintain our parks?”