July 3, 2023
After its approval by Austin Parks and Recreation on Might 22, the Zilker Park Imaginative and prescient Plan has obtained public opposition on-line from a number of teams. Save Zilker Park, a motion in opposition to the plan, has grown a outstanding Instagram following.
The Imaginative and prescient Plan “outlines the long-term imaginative and prescient, rules, objectives and techniques for the enhancement, administration and operation of Zilker Park.” If carried out, the plan would create a number of parking garages, pedestrian and bike trails and bridges, a welcome heart and extra over the subsequent one to 3 years.
In an e-mail publication despatched on June 27, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson mentioned the Zilker Park Imaginative and prescient Plan can be a part of a Metropolis Council work session on August 29. The council will then take into account taking motion on August 31. Throughout that assembly, the Council may also hear from the general public.
Whereas the Imaginative and prescient Plan intends to handle ecological degradation, accessibility points and park operations, the creator of Save Zilker Park, who requested to stay nameless, mentioned that for a few of these modifications, “the cons are outweighing the advantages,” which means they aren’t needed as a result of Zilker is self-regulating. She thinks that, most significantly, the plan lacks public help.
Gregory Montes, program supervisor of the Metropolis of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Division, mentioned a lot of the opposition in opposition to the imaginative and prescient plan comes from particular neighborhoods.
“These neighborhoods adjoining to the park had a special expertise of the park,” Montes mentioned. “(They) had been very vocal about what suggestions they wished within the plan … we began to see some variations, saying you (these neighborhoods) need X, however the neighborhood members need Y.”
Nonetheless, the creator of Save Zilker Park mentioned a number of components of the Zilker Imaginative and prescient Plan have confirmed unpopular among the many Austin neighborhood.
“(The Imaginative and prescient Plan) would say, 13% of the folks need to transfer the amphitheater to the Nice Garden,” she mentioned. “However the actuality is that 87% don’t need the amphitheater on the Nice Garden.”
As a frequent person of Zilker Park, public well being junior Liesl Small opposes the Zilker Imaginative and prescient Plan.
“Having such a big inexperienced area that’s not urbanized is one thing that a number of main cities don’t have,” Small mentioned. “Placing parking garages or a proper live performance venue would take that away from Austin and make Austin lose a few of its attraction, which has already been taking place over the previous few years.”
Montes mentioned positions in opposition to the plan lack context or are deceptive and that the Imaginative and prescient Plan explains the reasoning behind such modifications.
Montes mentioned Zilker Park wants “environmental enhancement and restoration” and that the proposed modifications enhance the unideal situations through which many points of the park at present function.
As an illustration, Montes mentioned the proposed parking garages tackle environmental considerations about automobile pollution operating off into the creek and river. The relocated Zilker Hillside Theater can be match for attendance calls for, ADA accessible, and extra handy for performers to load and unload.
“When we’ve to boost one thing … persons are going to have to just accept that as a result of it’s for the higher good,” Montes mentioned. “It’s a part of dwelling within the metropolis, and it’s a part of our metropolis actually making an attempt to fulfill the demand of the people who stay right here.”
