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Tag Archives: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department
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 • By Nina Hernandez • May 2, 2023
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…
Parks • By Nina Hernandez • Apr 28, 2023
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…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Apr 19, 2023
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…
Parks • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Apr 4, 2023
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…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 3, 2023
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…
Parks • By Nina Hernandez • Mar 29, 2023
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Lifeguard hiring back on track after wage increase and dedicated outreach
Austin is on pace to hire a sufficient number of lifeguards to open all of its pools and splash pads this upcoming summer – aided by the city’s minimum wage increase to $20 an hour and dedicated outreach from its…
Parks • By Nina Hernandez • Mar 3, 2023
Austin misses goal of having direction signs on all urban trails
Austin failed to install directional signs, also known as wayfinding, on all urban trails by 2022, a specific target outlined in the city’s far-reaching transportation strategy. The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan was adopted unanimously by the City Council in 2019. The ASMP – two…
Parks • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Feb 28, 2023
Notley/Monitor Poll: Austinites can't agree on greatest park challenges or solutions
Austin residents regularly use city parks but are divided over how they should be maintained, according to a January/February poll of 429 voters commissioned by Notley and conducted by national pollster Change Research for the Austin Monitor. The poll comes…
Parks • By Nina Hernandez • Feb 15, 2023
Downtown Commission votes to form graffiti working group
At the most recent Downtown Commission meeting on Jan. 18, members agreed to form a working group to address what Chair August Harris deemed a “rapid increase in graffiti around our community.” During a sprawling discussion of the topic, commissioners…
Austin • By Ava Garderet • Feb 7, 2023
PARD tries again to approve long-awaited cemetery rules update
For nearly a decade, the city has worked to overhaul the nearly half-century-old rules governing grave ornamentation and maintenance of Austin’s five municipal cemeteries, which are under the stewardship of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. PARD says the new rules are…
Parks • By Nina Hernandez • Jan 10, 2023
Culture, climate district gets mixed reviews from feedback sessions
An effort to create a new “living room” in the center of Austin along Lady Bird Lake needs some fine-tuning and a more precise mission, according to early community feedback gathered by an outside consulting firm. A memo delivered on…
