Every year when the weather warms up, the city’s parks and greenbelts fill up. This year, that trend has been amplified by the pandemic as Austinites flock to city parks, causing some of the most popular outdoor spaces to hit capacity, close their gates and begin monitoring the numbers of visitors. This May, in an […]
City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department
The city department responsible for the city’s park system, rec centers, and associated infrastructure.
Posted inParks
Municipal golf courses to phase out BYOB policy, negotiating concession vendor contracts
The Parks and Recreation Department announced it will be eliminating its bring-your-own-beer policy for municipally run golf courses, starting Oct. 1. PARD’s Golf ATX Division quietly updated its website and Twitter on Aug. 21 with a public notice informing golfers that municipal courses will slowly transition away from the BYOB policy in favor of offering […]
Posted inParks
Council won’t vote on Walter E. Long Park plan now
Despite the fact that the vision plan for the nearly 3,700-acre Walter E. Long Park has been in the works for years and has won approval from both the Parks and Recreation Board and the Environmental Commission, a majority of City Council members expressed reluctance to move forward on the plan at Tuesday’s work session. […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit outlines challenges for Millennium Youth Complex
The Office of the City Auditor has found numerous problems at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in East Austin, starting with the city’s failure to effectively manage and monitor its agreements with the Austin Rosewood Community Development Corporation. The duties of the nonprofit ARCDC include oversight of the agreement with SMG, the for-profit company in […]
Posted inParks
City to consider Walter Long park vision, while county moves ahead with expo center plans
City Council will consider and possibly adopt the vision plan for Walter E. Long Metro Park later this month, more than a year after the plan was recommended for adoption by the Parks and Recreation Board. A memo late last month from Parks and Recreation Department Director Kim McNeeley said the department is ready to […]
Posted inBudget
Council seeks $5 million for park facilities and trails
As it heads into next week’s budget hearings, City Council is searching for ways to add millions in programs and services to a proposed budget that is already nudging up against the 3.5 percent property tax increase cap Council committed to last month. Council members have identified four areas of need for the Parks and […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit accuses parks department leaders of waste
The Office of the City Auditor released a report Tuesday accusing Parks and Recreation Director Kimberly McNeeley and Assistant Director Liana Kallivoka of giving another employee a “special privilege,” improperly using more than $22,000 worth of sick leave and wasting $39,000 of city funds. Both McNeeley and Kallivoka strenuously defended their actions in continuing payments to a […]
Posted inBonds & Propositions
Parks advocates push $750M bond proposal to add sidewalks, trails throughout city
Parks and transportation advocates hope to put a $750 million bond proposal on the November ballot that would fund many construction projects centered around “active transportation” found in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan. The effort, led by the group Austin Outside, is focused on the call to improve sidewalks, bike lanes, urban trails and safety […]
Posted inAustin
City offered free DNA analysis of remains exhumed in Oakwood Cemetery chapel project
Years of analysis have revealed little information about the human remains of 36 bodies discovered buried beneath the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel in November 2016. Now a potential academic partnership between the Parks and Recreation Department and a biological anthropologist at the University of Connecticut could use minimally destructive methods of DNA testing to offer insights well […]
Posted inParks
Parks board recommends not installing metered parking at parks
Parking in Austin is a precious commodity. It has also become more expensive for many residents who use the city’s parks for recreation. After hiking the prices for metered parking to $2 an hour last year, the city announced it will add Deep Eddy to the list of parks with metered parking, which includes the Emma […]
Posted inAustin
City begins reopening library, pool facilities
City libraries and pools are reopening for the summer beginning this week. Beginning today, Austin Public Library begins its phased reopening of library branches across the city. In phase two, which started today, book drops at branches are open. Books returned to the library book drops during phase two will be quarantined for 72 hours […]
Posted inAustin
City to rebury remains of those exhumed during Oakwood Cemetery chapel project
The final two-volume report on the Oakwood Cemetery chapel restoration project was released to the public Thursday, marking the beginning of the next step in the project’s long, complicated history: the reburial of the remains of 36 people whose graves were disrupted and exhumed during the rehabilitation of the historic East Austin landmark. The Austin […]