Each August, City Hall watchers are treated to City Council returning from recess and beginning arguably their most important task. What’s that, you might be asking yourself? The answer is crafting and adopting the upcoming fiscal year’s budget. Early each August, the City Manager presents to City Council and the public their proposed budget. This stage is both the culmination …
Hello, Texas Summer! As temperatures increase, park usage does too, so it’s even more important to make sure we clean up after ourselves in our parks. After Memorial Day, unfortunately, lots of Austin’s beautiful greenspace was left in a mess, which makes it much harder for others to enjoy and for the city to maintain! As Austin Parks Foundation pushes …
May 21, 2019 – The Trust for Public Land just released their rankings of the 100 largest cities’ parks. Austin moved down to 43rd from 42nd in 2018. Austinites will agree that our parks are one of their favorite parts of living in Austin, but the reality is our parks are vastly underfunded. Our parks don’t meet the needs of …
Memorial Day is just around the corner, and that means it’s time for picnics in the park, hanging by the pool, and all the outdoor fun that summer brings. To have all of that fun though, our parks and pools need to be taken care of. A perfect example is the Barton Creek Greenbelt, an Austin favorite, that will be …
Simply put, House Bill 2 & Senate Bill 2 (or HB 2 & SB 2) are bad news for Austin’s public parks. In exchange for small property tax relief for homeowners estimated at a few dollars per month, municipalities will face a budgetary crisis. The bill will cause an out-sized negative impact towards their ability to provide services central to …
Bills Propose Sporting Goods Sales Tax Be Directed to Parks as Intended Up at the Capital, legislators are considering bills (SB 26, SJR 24, HJR 39, and HR 1214) that would amend the Texas Constitution to ensure that sales tax collected from the sale of sporting goods is dedicated to Texas State Parks and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department …
Our parks and Austin Parks Foundation need your help! The City of Austin’s annual budget process is kicking off with a series of community budget forums hosted by City Commissions throughout March. Commissioners will hear what’s important to the public, and how we’d like to see funding prioritized in next year’s city budget. They will then incorporate the feedback into recommendations …
By Elizabeth McGuire We’ve all heard this before: one person can make a difference. But really, how? One person can make a difference because one voice can amplify others. One person can inspire dozens. One effort can snowball into action and eventually lead to change. This is how our community improves. So goes the philosophy of Sally Baulch, who has …
2018 proved to be a great year for parks advocacy! Park advocates and APF Board and staff worked hard on issues like the 2018 bond development and election, Austin’s annual budget, raising the profile of parks issues for City Council candidates, and more. In the spirit of gratitude and giving thanks – here’s a look back at all we were …
Most of us are familiar with the high profile races being decided in the upcoming election, but did you know that voters will also be deciding whether or not to approve funding for capital improvements in city infrastructure? This year voters will have the choice whether or not to support $925 million dollars in investment in city infrastructure spread out …
