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Parks
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…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Sep 29, 2020
Parks board pushes against long-term reservation program for parks
Every year when the weather warms up, the city’s parks and greenbelts fill up. This year, that trend has been amplified by the pandemic as Austinites flock to city parks, causing some of the most popular outdoor spaces to hit…
Parks • By Jessi Devenyns • Sep 25, 2020
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Municipal golf courses to phase out BYOB policy, negotiating concession vendor contracts
The Parks and Recreation Department announced it will be eliminating its bring-your-own-beer policy for municipally run golf courses, starting Oct. 1. PARD’s Golf ATX Division quietly updated its website and Twitter on Aug. 21 with a public notice informing golfers…
Parks • By Savana Dunning • Sep 3, 2020
Council won't vote on Walter E. Long Park plan now
Despite the fact that the vision plan for the nearly 3,700-acre Walter E. Long Park has been in the works for years and has won approval from both the Parks and Recreation Board and the Environmental Commission, a majority of…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Sep 2, 2020
City to consider Walter Long park vision, while county moves ahead with expo center plans
City Council will consider and possibly adopt the vision plan for Walter E. Long Metro Park later this month, more than a year after the plan was recommended for adoption by the Parks and Recreation Board. A memo late last…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Aug 21, 2020
Neighbors of Bright Leaf worry about fire risk
After a City Council vote on July 29 allowing the city to take over management of Bright Leaf Preserve from the Austin Community Foundation, some residents worried about what that might mean for their Northwest Austin neighborhoods, especially in terms of…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Aug 17, 2020
Carver Museum expansion project enters planning process
The Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center is moving forward into the planning stages of an expansion project that’s been 22 years in the making. Austinites voted to approve the bond to fund updates, construction and expansion on the…
Parks • By Savana Dunning • Aug 13, 2020
Environmental Commission recommends vision plan for John Treviño Jr. park
A 330-acre former ranch east of U.S. Highway 183 has been waiting for the city to introduce park amenities since 2003. On Aug. 5, the city-owned parcel took one step closer to becoming a nature-focused, master-planned metropolitan park named in…
