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Tag Archives: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department

City IDs $65M in creative space needs for possible 2024 bond package

The city has identified $65 million in critical needs for cultural arts infrastructure projects that will be under consideration for a possible bond vote in 2024. A memo released last week spells out the progress being made on a handful…

After years of staffing woes, Austin finally hires enough lifeguards by start of swim season

Austin finally has enough lifeguards. This week, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department celebrated the hiring of more than 1,000 lifeguards this swim season. That allowed PARD to open all 32 operational pools in its expansive aquatics system and extend…

City, conservancy moving ahead with Rainey Street safety improvements

The Parks and Recreation Department has proposed up to $1 million in permanent infrastructure improvements to enhance public safety along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail in the Rainey Street District. A memo released last week by department Director…

Insufficient staffing revealed in audit of fraud and waste at Parks and Recreation Department

A former employee of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department fraudulently submitted timesheets stating she was working, according to a report from the Office of the City Auditor, and she collected paychecks for six months in 2021 – although she…

Study calls for formalizing partnership between parks department and foundation

Local parks advocates want the city and the Austin Parks Foundation nonprofit group to come to a formal agreement spelling out the roles and responsibilities between the two entities, with the hope of better addressing equity issues across the city’s…

Ethics commission dismisses complaints over Zilker Park votes

The Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan continues to generate controversy. This week, accusations about the motivations of two of the plan’s supporters came before the Ethics Review Commission. In April, Austinite Teri Adams filed two complaints with the Ethics Review…

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Parks board recommends park safety task force

The Parks and Recreation Board is calling for City Council to establish a parks safety task force to evaluate park safety, consider whether to reinstate a parks police unit and recommend ways of supporting the growing number of homeless residents…

Parks board hears update on project to convert Nash Hernandez building into intergenerational community hub

The city’s Parks and Recreation Board reviewed progress in the ongoing effort to convert the Nash Hernandez building in East Austin into an intergenerational resource and activity center. At the board’s April 24 meeting, members of the Intergenerational Resource and…

City on track with lifeguard hiring, director says

Great progress has been made in the hiring of lifeguards, Parks and Recreation Department Director Kimberly McNeeley told City Council at Tuesday’s work session. In addition to the $20 per hour salary, McNeeley said those who complete their training and…

Austin is short lifeguards every year. One problem is the application process.

Austin consistently struggles to fully staff its public pools. A report out last week from the Office of the City Auditor suggests part of that struggle is due to an overly complicated – and unreliable – application process to become a lifeguard. To fully…

Conservation Corps sees success, and possible expansion, in city memo

An evaluation of the city’s Civilian Conservation Corps program shows that nearly 200 people have been placed in city jobs in areas that had been historically difficult to fill. A memo released last week by Kimberly McNeeley, director of the…

A closer look at the park spaces included in Waterloo Greenway phase two

The city’s Parks and Recreation Board learned more this week about the park spaces included in the next construction phase of the Waterloo Greenway. Phase two, which kicks off this spring, will focus on the 14 acres along Waller Creek…

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