Southeast Austin’s Roy G. Guerrero Park is home to a disc-golf course and baseball fields and is a popular destination for birding. But according to the city, a growing threat poses a risk to the popular park: erosion. The 360-acre park is home to two separate creeks: Country Club West and Country Club East. The two […]
Sean Saldaña
Posted inParks
Ambitious vision plan for Zilker Park seeks community input
Hosting more than 1.3 million visitors a year, Zilker Park is perhaps the most iconic and beloved public space in Austin. Founded in 1917 with a land donation from Andrew Jackson Zilker, Zilker is the city’s oldest metropolitan park. Eighty years later in 1997, the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The […]
Posted inAustin
Zero Waste Advisory Commission talks through logistics of Prop B
With the passage of Proposition B earlier this month, Austin residents voted to reinstate local laws establishing prohibitions against sitting, resting and camping in public in certain parts of the city. Opponents of the proposition argued that in addition to having a disparate impact on the city’s homeless population, the laws would further stigmatize and worsen […]
Posted inPreservation
PARD publishes update on Montopolis Negro School preservation effort
For nearly three decades in the 20th century, the Montopolis Negro School gave Black children an education in an era when they were not welcome in Austin schools. The schoolhouse at 500 Montopolis Drive was not just a place of education, it functioned as a community center in the then-rural Montopolis neighborhood. At one point, Travis […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Breaking down the Reimagining Public Safety task force’s recommendations
Last month, the city’s newly formed joint city-community Reimagining Public Safety task force released its 2021 mid-year recommendations report. At over 70 pages long, the report’s proposals range from popular police reform policy changes to ideas that would fundamentally reshape the way the city operates. Early in the report, the task force makes its ambitions and worldview clear, […]
Posted inBudget
PARD requests budget increase for security, staffing and program expansion
Last week, the Parks and Recreation Board unanimously voted to approve recommendations for budget increases for the 2021-22 fiscal year. According to the recommendation, Austin’s parks system has experienced an increase in off-leash dog violations, illegal parking, notifications of homeless encampments, alcohol in parks and “inappropriate behavior in greenbelts.” Because of these issues, along with […]
Posted inResources
Austin Resource Recovery reworking Zero Waste Master Plan
When City Council unanimously adopted the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan in 2011, it was a bold step toward making Austin “the most livable city in the country.” At more than 300 pages, the plan laid out a number of environmental sustainability goals for the city over the next three decades, but the primary objective was […]
Posted inPublic Safety
City Council exploring ways to shrink APD scope of work
This Thursday, City Council will meet to work through more of the logistics of the city’s biggest policy priority over the last year: reimagining public safety. In a memo sent to Council on April 9, Rey Arellano, assistant city manager for public safety, detailed several agenda items that revolve around “budget amendments and decoupling activities.” […]
Posted inParks
Park rangers continue reworking operations ahead of summer season
In a memo sent to City Council last week, Parks and Recreation Director Kimberly McNeeley provided an update about PARD’s upcoming summer operations, detailing “Covid-19 modified protocols, winter storm recovery challenges and general operational details for the season.” The update also described the state of operations among the city’s park rangers. The overall finding? Fasten […]
Posted inDistrict 9, Preservation
Landmark commission postpones demolition in West Line Historic District
The Historic Landmark Commission heard a proposal last month to demolish an old building and construct a new one on a property located in the West Line Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The building in question, at 1007 Maufrais St., is also a contributing building, meaning […]
Posted inPreservation
Landmark Commission votes against front-yard pool proposal
At last month’s meeting on March 22, the Historic Landmark Commission discussed a certificate of appropriateness application to modify the landscape, construct a terrace and build a swimming pool at the historic Jackson-Novy-Kelly-Hoey House at 2406 Harris Blvd. First recommended for historic zoning in 2009, the property has been home to “some of the most […]
Posted inPreservation
Landmark commission approves changes to historic Mary Street home
Last week, the Historic Landmark Commission gave the go-ahead for some repairs and upgrades to a home at 508 E. Mary St., a property in the Mary Street Historic District. Originally established in 1928, “the 500 block of E. Mary Street was part of a working-class neighborhood comprised of a mix of homeowners and renters, […]