Community members are invited to attend the second virtual community meeting the parks department is holding for the Zilker Park Vision Plan. The meeting will focus on “potential programs for the park, including enhancements, amenities, activities, events, traffic, and parking, to generate ideas for the park’s future.” Gregory Montes, PARD program manager, explained, “Zilker plays host to hundreds of programs, events, and functions each year, and thousands of Austinites and outside visitors participate in these many activities. It’s crucial that the public weigh in on future programs and events so we can balance these efforts with the goals to preserve natural and cultural resources and ensure a safe, inclusive environment throughout the park’s 350 acres.” Tuesday, Aug. 10, 6-7:30 p.m. The meeting (the second of five) will be hosted on Zoom and Facebook Live. Those who are unable to attend may share their experiences and stories on Zilker Park Vision Plan’s SpeakUp Austin page.

If you already recycle, why not boost your home sustainability game by learning to compost? Austin Resource Recovery is holding a free online home composting class. “Rather than sending your food scraps and lawn clippings to the landfill, you can turn them into a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your plants, garden or lawn by using a home composting system.” Participants may be eligible for up to a $75 rebate on a home composting system and accessories or a backyard chicken coop. Tuesday, Aug. 10, 6-7 p.m. Register for the class on Eventbrite.

With Austin Public Health’s announcement that Austin/Travis County has entered Stage 5 for Covid-19, local officials stressed the urgency of getting vaccines into the arms of the unvaccinated. During Thursday’s budget work session, Mayor Steve Adler said, “We’re in a pretty dire place in the community with respect to the Covid virus and we’re asking the employers in the city to help … employers have the ability to require masking in their businesses and have the ability to say we really only want people who are vaccinated to come in.” City leaders are also discussing the possibility of offering incentives for people to get vaccinated, such as a stipend for city employees in addition to a 2.5 percent yearly wage increase. Adler added that he would want to offer the stipends to city employees who have already been vaccinated as well. He asked his colleagues and City Manager Spencer Cronk to consider where they might find funding for those stipends.

Children attending grades K-12 in Texas are required by law to have certain vaccines. To make it easier on busy families, Austin ISD is holding a free back-to-school shot clinic where students can get all of their required immunizations. The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine will also be available for kids 12 and older; while the Covid vaccine is currently not required to attend school, it is strongly recommended. No appointment is necessary and walk-ins are welcome. Face masks are required inside the clinic and kids must be attended by a parent or guardian. Please bring your child’s immunization records if available. Saturday, Aug. 7, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. AISD Performing Arts Center, 1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd. Free shuttles will be operating from the following sites to the PAC from 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.:

• Dobie MS, 1200 E. Rundberg Lane
• Webb MS, 601 E. St. Johns Ave.
• Guerrero Thompson ES, 102 E. Rundberg Lane
• Navarro ECHS, 1201 Payton Gin Road
• Martin MS, 1601 Haskell St.
• Akins ECHS, 10701 S. First St.
• Central Office, 4000 S. I-35 Frontage Road
• Covington MS, 3700 Convict Hill Road
• Palm ES, 7601 Dixie Drive
• Small MS, 4801 Monterey Oaks Blvd.

Park rangers know everything. At least, that’s how it seems to hikers and picnickers and park visitors desperate to shanghai a ranger and pepper her or him with questions. City park rangers have decided to make it easier to get all those questions answered by inviting Austinites to join them for a civilized cup of coffee or tea and a chat on a regular basis. Coffee and tea are provided, as are cups, but participants are encouraged to bring their own reusable mugs along with their questions and topics of conversation. Meet at the Ranger Station in Zilker Park (the stone cottage near the playground) every Saturday from 10 a.m.-noon.

In an effort to move closer to the city’s Vision Zero goals, the Austin Transportation Department is testing out a laser technology called Lidar – for light detection and ranging – that “aims to monitor traffic data and proactively identify safety measures that could be taken to increase safety,” according to the department. The pilot will be installed next month at East Seventh and Springdale, a noted high-injury intersection, where it will collect traffic data for 12 weeks on “all road users including vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists in real time.” Read more about Lidar and how it works here.

Demonstrating some mobility of its own, the City Council Mobility Committee is shifting gears and rescheduling its meeting from today to Friday, Aug. 6. The new meeting will take place from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., with the agenda remaining the same. On Friday, the committee is expected to take up Project Connect plans and Street Impact fees, among other things.

Local artists Steve Parker, Wanda Montemayor, Ernesto Hernandez, Nick Schnitzer, Vy Ngo, Laurie Frick, Dharmesh Patel, and Autumn Ewalt have been selected to create art installations for roadways in the Corridor Construction Program. The artists, who were recommended by a panel of community judges and selected by City Council, will collaborate with the community to design and build their artworks. Art in Public Places Program Manager Sue Lambe said in an announcement about the selection, “We’re excited that these talented local artists are now able to begin their work. Their first task will be to listen to the community, getting inspired to create public art that reflects their corridor’s goals. The coordination with the Corridor Program Office will allow for these artworks to be fully integrated in the transportation experience along these corridors.”

Residents seeking Covid vaccinations will have their pick of more than 40 vaccine events throughout the county this week. The pop-up clinics, hosted by Travis County, Austin Public Health and their local community partners, do not require appointments and are open to anyone. The Pfizer vaccine is currently the only vaccine authorized for kids ages 12-17. Check the online calendar to find a complete list of vaccine events. With the highly infectious Delta variant spreading and hospitalizations on the rise, local health officials are urging unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated without delay.

In their effort to collect community feedback about the redistricting of the 10 Austin City Council boundaries, members of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission have to hold public forums in every City Council district. But the dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases has the commissioners swapping some of their in-person meetings with virtual meetings. Commissioner Dr. Sterling Lands explained, “One of the biggest challenges this commission has faced in getting the word out to the public that these forums are happening has been Covid. People are afraid to congregate, so we are hosting some public forums online via Zoom.” Find the revised schedule for the remaining forums here.

Austin Energy is hosting a series of webinars aimed at teaching participants “how to build, remodel or buy green homes that improve energy and water efficiency, increase comfort and reduce maintenance.” The Green by Design series is hosted by Austin Energy Green Building team members who are well versed in sustainable building practices. All course materials will be provided. Register here for one or all of the Tuesday evening sessions.

• Aug. 10: Green Planning and Design, 7-9 p.m.
• Aug. 17: Green Materials and Landscaping, 7-9 p.m.
• Aug. 24: Green Home Systems, 7-9 p.m.

Past entries in the Wild Neighbors Speaker Series have enlightened their online audience about bats, armadillos, snakes and crazy ants. The latest edition in the popular series plumbs the mysteries of another quintessentially Texan marvel – caves. Balcones Canyonlands Preserve cave biologist Colin Strickland will lead a “virtual dive into the refreshingly cool, dark world beneath our feet. Colin will show photos and videos of the commonly encountered organisms in Central Texas caves, starting at the cave entrance and working his way deeper underground.” Friday, Aug. 27, noon-1 p.m. Register for the webinar here.