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 dwelling in city parks. The parks board unanimously recommended the task force at its April […]
Parks and Recreation Board
The city’s Parks and Recreation Board members deal with the acquisition, development, improvement, and maintenance of Austin’s parks and playgrounds.
Posted inParks
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 Activity Center Advisory Group and facilitator Jacqueline Angel, a professor at the University of Texas […]
Posted inParks
Environmental Commission recommends Zilker vision plan along with list of conditions
The city’s Environmental Commission voted last week to approve a resolution recommending the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan – albeit with a lengthy list of recommendations that include further public engagement and environmental monitoring. The resolution notes that the vision plan includes environmental site analysis of the general ecology of the park, review of environmental […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Parks board delays SXSW fair pay action until June
The Parks and Recreation Board has signaled it will ask City Council to require fair pay standards to be included in all future contracts with South by Southwest, including its use of Auditorium Shores for free concerts for the public. At its Monday meeting, the board was set to consider a resolution concerning compensation for […]
Posted inParks
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 between Lady Bird Lake and Fourth Street known as the Confluence. The board was provided […]
Posted inParks
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 Aquatic Division. The Parks and Recreation Board was provided with an update on the hiring […]
Posted inParks
Trail Conservancy seeks Council feedback on annual programming plan
This week City Council will consider an item to approve the Trail Conservancy’s 2022 annual programming plan for the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail at Town Lake Metropolitan Park. This update on annual programming at the trail comes as a condition of the agreement Council signed with the Trail Conservancy in June. […]
Posted inParks
Clogged wells, ongoing drought gum up Deep Eddy Pool’s opening hours
Deep Eddy Pool is facing delayed opening hours due to drought conditions and the clogged status of two of the wells the city uses to keep the spring-fed pool in operation. Although regular maintenance scheduled for January may alleviate some of the problem, there is a limit to what the city can do while water […]
Posted inDevelopment
Parks board recommends Brodie Oaks development
Last week, the Parks and Recreation Board voted to recommend the Brodie Oaks planned unit development as superior to City Council, contingent on the applicant complying with a list of board recommendations concerning public access to the on-site park and related facilities. The proposed PUD, located at Loop 360 and Highway 290, would reimagine the […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Public Safety joins parks board effort to study crime in city parks
At its special called meeting Tuesday, the Public Safety Commission unanimously voted to send one of its members to a Parks and Recreation Board working group studying crime in city parks and tasked with coming up with recommendations for City Council. The call from the parks board is preceded by a memo PARD Director Kimberly […]
Posted inDevelopment
Parks board raises concerns over Statesman PUD proposal, calling it ‘not superior’
The Parks and Recreation Board said Wednesday that the highly anticipated mixed-used development plan composed of several buildings on the former Austin American-Statesman lot does not do enough to protect the iconic space in front of the Congress Avenue Bridge. In a unanimous recommendation to City Council, the parks board said the proposal does not fulfill […]
Posted inParks
Parks board continues talks about alleviating ‘flagrant’ violations of leash laws
Austin’s Parks and Recreation Board recommended Monday to create more fenced off-leash dog areas in the hopes of decreasing the rising number of citizens allowing their dogs to roam parklands leash-free where they are not permitted to do so. Austin currently has only 13 off-leash dog areas. “This off-leash dog issue has just kind of evolved […]