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Tag Archives: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department

Environmental Commission recommends funds for river watchers

The health of Austin’s rivers is carefully monitored on a regular basis by a team of experts. But some of those experts are much younger than many people may realize. Austin Youth River Watch has been training at-risk high school…

Austin's cemeteries get new leader

Tonja Walls-Davis has a new favorite gravesite: one for a child, whose headstone is in the shape of a single Lego. “I’ve traveled these grounds so many times,” she told the Austin Monitor. “But, like I said, every time I…

Why don't Austin parks have recycling bins?

All commercial properties in Austin will be required by October of next year to have on-site recycling containers, but the same is not true of all properties owned by the government that put the requirement in place. The Parks and…

Hoping new music festivals will come to Austin? Look east, where the cows are

Steps past a motorized gate and calf-deep in dung-spotted grass, Rick Cofer looks upon the acres of land that make up John Treviño Jr. Park. The entire park, Cofer says, is 330 acres. Yards in front of him, a herd…

Parks and Rec budget bogged down by golf

The Parks and Recreation Board is concerned that expenses from Austin’s city golf courses will overshadow the other needs in its already tight budget. At their meeting on June 29, board members looked over a budget forecast that predicts an…

With another lifeguard shortage, some city pools to open late

At a city-run job fair back in March, 15-year-old Jake Santema awaited an interview with staff as part of the process to become a summer lifeguard. “I’m a little nervous of the feeling of having someone’s life on my hands,”…

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Parks board weighs in on Shoal Creek PUD

After more than three hours of presentations and testimony, the Parks and Recreation Board decided to send the message that the amount and quality of open space planned for The Grove at Shoal Creek Planned Unit Development is not to…

Expo Center revitalization could be city's next bond election

The Travis County Expo Center – situated on the city of Austin’s largest park – is in need of a $620 million facelift, and City Council members hinted Wednesday that the renovation could be funded by a bond election. News came…

New study envisions major changes around Barton Springs Pool

Austin’s rapid population growth and development, along with Zilker Park’s aging facilities, are threatening Barton Springs, the pool and its bathhouse. In a presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board on Tuesday, city staff and members of the Barton Spring…

As splash season nears, city begins to write future of Austin pools

As the temperature in Austin climbs, kids and adults flock to the city’s several dozen pools. But while the industry puts a pool’s lifespan at 30 years, many of Austin’s pools are 50 years or older. So in 2012, the…

Staff seeking OK to fix Eliza Spring

Members of the city’s Watershed Protection and Parks and Recreation departments have been planning improvements for Eliza Spring in Zilker Park since at least 2012. The spring, which is home to the largest concentration of the endangered Barton Springs salamander…

Parking meters? In Zilker Park?

Austinites who frequent Zilker Park are used to kites, lights and fences going up. But this week, a wholly unfamiliar sight within the park grounds caught some residents off guard. Last week, the Parks and Recreation Department sent out notice…

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