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Most Popular Stories
- Office slowdown sparks new downtown housing ambitions
- Parks Board recommends vendor for Zilker Café, while voicing concerns about lack of local presence
- City leaders evaluate surprising ideas for water conservation
- Audit: Economic official granted arts, music funding against city code
- Downtown Historic Resource Survey eyes seven new districts eligible for designation
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Parks
Parks department needs 600 lifeguards by May
In anticipation of the upcoming swim season, Parks and Recreation Department Director Kimberly McNeeley submitted a memorandum to City Council on Jan. 22 that contained an update on maintenance and staffing in the city’s aquatics department. The memo states that the…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Feb 10, 2021
Parks department considers ways to standardize its partnerships
The Parks and Recreation Department is continuing its work creating uniformity and standards in partnerships with nonprofit organizations that are expected to play a larger role in maintaining and improving parks facilities in the coming years. At last week’s Parks and…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 2, 2021
Parks board asks Council to update rules for naming facilities, features
The city will change its rules for naming parks and the amenities within them, in a move to increase equity and add more public input to the process commonly used to honor community leaders. The Parks and Recreation Board voted…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 29, 2021
Parks board pushes for easement, land dedication on S. Congress project
The Parks and Recreation Board found that a development along South Congress Avenue adjacent to Williamson Creek must provide parkland as part of its site plan approval process, and cannot pay a fee in lieu of that donation. The board…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 28, 2021
Covid impacted Austin parks concessions
Like many other enterprises, concessions operating in Zilker Park and along Lady Bird Lake suffered various financial impacts last year due to Covid-19, according to a report from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Gross sales generated by Town Lake Park concessions fell…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Jan 11, 2021
Parks board tables renaming recommendations for Council
The Parks and Recreation Board has once again taken up the task of suggesting revisions to the city’s naming and renaming ordinance, the law that lays out guidelines for the naming process behind city facilities like parks, sports complexes, pools,…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Dec 14, 2020
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Discussions continue about Hancock Golf Course’s insolvency
Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Anthony Segura and Division Manager for Golf Operations Kevin Gomillion gave an update on the community engagement status of the Hancock Golf Course’s revenue troubles at the Dec. 4 special Parks and Recreation Board meeting.…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Dec 8, 2020
Parks board wants bigger say on financial, budget issues
The Parks and Recreation Board is making a move to dive deeper into the financial and budgetary issues that affect the city’s parks department. At the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, Board Member Sarah Faust made a recommendation to modify the…
Parks • By Daniel Salazar • Nov 9, 2020
Council OKs purchase of Wood Street parkland
After a lengthy discussion about the rules regulating acquisition of city parkland, Council voted 7-2-2 on Thursday to purchase 0.214 acres of downtown property at 702 Wood St. Council members Jimmy Flannigan and Pio Renteria voted no, and Council Member…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Oct 30, 2020
Council postpones $1.1 million acquisition of Wood Street property for new parkland
A small grassy field just off Sixth Street would provide easier access to the Shoal Creek Trail and preserve a historically significant piece of downtown, but City Council members delayed action on the $1.1 million purchase to address concerns that…
Parks • By Jackson Barton • Oct 26, 2020
Hancock Conservancy pushes for park
As the city looks for alternatives to maintaining the Hancock Golf Course, which sits on Red River Street between East 38th and East 41st streets, a newly formed group is urging the city to turn the nine-hole course into a…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Oct 19, 2020
PARD contends with homeless encampments during pandemic with limited resources
With nearly 300 parks and 17,409 acres of property to oversee, Wes Bickham, an environmental coordinator with the Parks and Recreation Department, has a lot of ground to cover in his work finding alternative solutions for people experiencing homelessness who…
