Tag Archives: Parks and Recreation Board
Walter E. Long Park plan, all $800 million of it, gets parks board approval
With an eventual price tag expected to exceed $800 million and a timeline likely stretching more than two decades, members of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Board unanimously voted to approve a new master plan for East Austin’s Walter E. Long…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 8, 2019
Start of summertime brings trash to Austin's greenbelts
Austin’s greenbelts, though beautiful, have had a fraught history of visitors contaminating the wild beauty of the Central Texas landscape with their trash. At the May 28 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board meeting, Board Member Rich DePalma brought…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Jun 3, 2019
Parks board critiques Butler Pitch & Putt solicitation, recommends change of hands
The Parks and Recreation Board yielded to the authority of city procedure Tuesday when it passed a recommendation for Council to approve an agreement with Pecan Grove Golf Partners to take over the management of Butler Park Pitch & Putt…
Parks • By Ryan Thornton • May 30, 2019
Commission drills down on Grove at Shoal Creek park plans
After years of contentious planning, the Grove at Shoal Creek has broken ground and begun construction on the first two blocks of residences of this mixed-use development in central Northwest Austin. The plan for the accompanying parkland remains under discussion. At…
Planning • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 4, 2019
Reporters Notebook: APD on ICE
Life after SB 4… Following Texas’ Senate Bill 4, also known as the “Sanctuary City bill,” Austin City Council asked that all instances of city collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement be tracked. A Feb. 28 memo from Austin Police Chief…
Reporters' Notebook • By Austin Monitor • Mar 4, 2019
Austin looks to engage residents and preserve 'Old Austin' through storytelling
From Wooldridge Square, the birthplace of Austin illustrator Jim Franklin’s legendary Keep Austin Weird concert poster, to Interstate 35’s historic past as a cattle driving route, Austin is built upon the stories and memories of generations past. However, as the city’s population…
Austin • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 29, 2019
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Parks board OKs Givens Park Master Plan
After months of preparation and committee reviews, the Givens District Park Master Plan arrived before the Parks and Recreation Board on Jan. 22 as a consent item, only to be pulled due to members of the public who attended the…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 24, 2019
Even with new funding, parks board says city has a long way to go to repair pools
The year 1996 was the gold standard for Austin’s city Aquatics Division, according to Richard DePalma, a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. Since then, “We’ve just continued to shrink.” At the Dec. 4 meeting of the board, DePalma…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Dec 7, 2018
City cemeteries will soon see the light with new bond funding and event space
The city of Austin has operated cemeteries since 1839; however, it was only in 2013 that the Parks and Recreation Department assumed responsibility for cemetery operations, at which point the department made a few changes. Despite funding challenges allowing for…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Dec 6, 2018
The Norwood House may soon get a face-lift
On the northwestern corner of Interstate 35 and Riverside Drive is a plot of land that the city purchased in 1985 and that most Austinites know to be an off-leash dog park. However, also nestled on that same plot of…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Nov 1, 2018
PARD unburies contract infringement with cemetery contractor
Recently, city auditors found major flaws in how the city manages its contracts, and based on the testimony by a citizen at the Oct. 23 Parks and Recreation Board meeting, the city’s cemetery contract may fall into that category. “We…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Oct 29, 2018
Special events ordinance on pace for April 2019 implementation
After six years of drafts and revisions, it appears Austin’s long-brewing special events ordinance will go into effect in April 2019, giving event producers during spring festival season – cityspeak for South by Southwest and spring break – another year…
