East Austin leaders look to reset talks over future of Palm Park and school site

A recent City Council vote that initiates the process for Sir Swante Palm Neighborhood Park to be zoned as public parkland may open the door to renewed negotiations between city officials, the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, and longtime Latino advocates who have raised concerns for years about being excluded from decisions around the historic site’s redevelopment.

The May zoning resolution represented a key administrative step that will allow future infrastructure investments in and around the downtown park to move forward. For East Austin community representatives with deep roots to the park and the adjoining Palm School, the vote offers a chance restart conversations with city leaders and representatives from Waterloo Greenway, the organization spearheading a string of parks improvements along nearby Waller Creek.

At issue is frustration over the teardown in 2023 of a long-closed pool in the park, which took place after public feedback sessions regarding the future of the city-owned park. Advocates for Latino groups that had long held the school and park as a cultural epicenter feel their input in those sessions was not meaningfully included, and want more opportunities to shape the park’s possible transformation into a cultural heritage space inspired by those in Barcelona or Mexico City.

Martha Cotera, a member of the Save Palm School Coalition that is also involved in park-related matters, said community members didn’t feel included in input sessions held in 2023 and 2024 and feel shut out by Waterloo Greenway leadership.

“There is no transparency at all… and no matter how many pins we put up (in feedback sessions) we still have not been involved in the design process,” she said. “We need for community people to sit down with the designers. We want it to be a cultural heritage park, like a Parque Guell in Barcelona.”

Other groups involved in the push for more input in Palm Park planning include Raza Roundtable, HABLA, League of United Latin American Citizens District 12, and a taskforce supporting the proposed Palm School Museum and Heritage Institute. Another nuance in the possible discussions over the park is the future of the school property, which is owned by Travis County and in recent years had been considered for possible sale.

“We need to make sure that that park is a cultural park and that we can use it as leverage to work with the county to get Palm School building dedicated to cultural and possibly museum institute use,” Cotera said. “Without Palm Park, we lose that leverage.”

Gilbert Rivera, a member of Travis County Historical Commission, said use of the park space by newer downtown residents has removed some of its connection to East Austin groups. With housing almost certain to expand in areas surrounding the park, he said it should reflect its historical significance along with the possible conversion of Palm School into a museum or community center.

“There are people out there that are salivating at the mouth to get specifically Palm School. We’ve had developers come in and ask if it could be sold for their development plan,” he said, noting that the expected parkland zoning would make it extremely difficult for Palm Park to be sold. “The facilities they’re working on don’t seem to be being built for the community. They seem to be built for other peoples that are not necessarily from the historical Mexican-American communities. We want to maintain some historical significance by having markers put up as to what the park was, what the park used to be, uh, and how it was used in the past.”

City and Waterloo Greenway officials say they are committed to incorporating public feedback into the design of the park, which is now in Phase III of the broader Waterloo Greenway redevelopment effort.

With Waterloo Greenway under the leadership of new CEO Colette Pierce Burnette, community leaders are in talks for a meeting in the coming weeks that is expected to include members of City Council representing downtown and East Austin.

“To our knowledge no meeting has been set, but we are looking forward to it,” Melissa Ayala, Waterloo Greenway’s vice president of government relations, wrote in response to questions from Austin Monitor. “Collaboration with our community is essential and part of who we are at Waterloo Greenway. The design for Palm Park has been driven by strong community participation, which has led to an exciting design. We look forward to continuing to build on the community participation that has shaped the project thus far.”

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Posted In: Planning, District 9