Save Zilker Park
Mayor of Austin, City Council Members and Parks and Recreation Board Members
The signers of this petition urge the City of Austin to reject the Zilker Park Vision Plan for the reasons presented below.
Zilker Park should be restored, rewilded, and operated for public park purposes. Zilker Park is where we go to enjoy nature, exercise, and participate in recreational activities. It's a place for families, friends, and everyone to gather and enjoy the park and each others company. It should not be transformed into an outdoor entertainment district where the goal of making money drives the need to build expensive, environmentally damaging facilities to support private events and concessions.
The outreach done by the Parks and Recreation Department failed to inform and connect with the vast majority of Austinites. We are concerned that important long term decisions are being made without adequate input from the public.
Overwhelmingly, Austinites do not support the City consultants' draft plan. This is demonstrated by a poll from all 10 districts. Public input on the plan during the park plan process confirms these poll results, even though that process pushed survey respondents to support large scale construction within the park.
A vision plan for Zilker Park should speak to the highest aspirations of the entire community, our love of nature, our right to the democratic oversight of public space, and equitable access to Zilker park and parks throughout the city. Parks should be available to everyone regardless of the ability to pay. Public parks belong to the people.
We want the Parks Board and City Council to establish a new vision planning team to write a vision plan for Zilker Park, one drafted by the people, not by a hired consultant. The public trust in the DesignWorkshop vision plan has been compromised by verifiable and unacceptable conflicts of interest.
A vision plan for Zilker Park that truly represents the will of the community will unite old and new Austin to create a plan that represents commitment to protect the environment and promote egalitarian values. We are not Houston, we are not San Antonio, we are not Chicago, we are not New York City. We are Austin, and our parks should reflect our unique character.
Here are some of our major concerns with the current Zilker Park Vision Plan:
1. Parking garages do not belong inside Zilker Park.
2. The public input process did not meaningfully engage the people of Austin
3. Without any public vetting, the plan recommends the inclusion of a unified (umbrella) nonprofit with decision making power that will create a barrier between regular citizens and the democratic process.
4. Do not put a 5,000 person amphitheater on the Great Lawn. It has repeatedly been one of the least popular items in the plan with the public, disrupts sports communities, and turns Zilker into a potential year-round venue rather than remaining a park. If the director of the Hillside Theater doesn't like its current location, he can take his summer show to the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park.
5. People feel welcome as soon as they step foot inside the park. With better signage and improved restroom facilities, there is no need for a Welcome Center in Zilker Park. The proposed Welcome Center is an unnecessary addition.
6. The sports complex is not a substitute for the historic little league fields, sand volleyball courts, and open multi-use playing fields of the Great Lawn, Monkey Tree Lawn, and existing Rugby Field near Pecan Grove.
7. Development on the south Barton Springs playing fields is an unwelcome intrusion on an open, multi-use green space.
8. Making Barton Springs Road two lanes is unnecessarily disruptive. Parallel parking on Barton Springs Road will lead to bottlenecks and precarious traffic situations.
9. Leave existing surface parking lots in place. Leave existing park roads in place to be used by everyday park-goers during low peak times and scalable mass transit options during high peak times. Remove paid parking from Zilker Park.
10. The failures in the existing infrastructure in Zilker Park must be immediately addressed. Maintain the park starting immediately, including getting bathrooms running, repairing playscapes, getting the mini-train running, opening the cafe outside Barton Springs Pool, etc.
Sponsored by
To:
Mayor of Austin, City Council Members and Parks and Recreation Board Members
From:
[Your Name]
I urge the City of Austin to reject the Zilker Park Vision Plan for the reasons presented below.
Zilker Park should be restored, rewilded, and operated for public park purposes. Zilker Park is where we go to enjoy nature, exercise, and participate in recreational activities. It's a place for families, friends, and everyone to gather and enjoy the park and each others company. It should not be transformed into an outdoor entertainment district where the goal of making money drives the need to build expensive, environmentally damaging facilities to support private events and concessions.
The outreach done by the Parks and Recreation Department failed to inform and connect with the vast majority of Austinites. We are concerned that important long term decisions are being made without adequate input from the public.
Overwhelmingly, Austinites do not support the City consultants' draft plan. This is demonstrated by a poll from all 10 districts. Public input on the plan during the park plan process confirms these poll results, even though that process pushed survey respondents to support large scale construction within the park.
A vision plan for Zilker Park should speak to the highest aspirations of the entire community, our love of nature, our right to the democratic oversight of public space, and equitable access to Zilker park and parks throughout the city. Parks should be available to everyone regardless of the ability to pay. Public parks belong to the people.
We want the Parks Board and City Council to establish a new vision planning team to write a vision plan for Zilker Park, one drafted by the people, not by a hired consultant. The public trust in the DesignWorkshop vision plan has been compromised by verifiable and unacceptable conflicts of interest.
A vision plan for Zilker Park that truly represents the will of the community will unite old and new Austin to create a plan that represents commitment to protect the environment and promote egalitarian values. We are not Houston, we are not San Antonio, we are not Chicago, we are not New York City. We are Austin, and our parks should reflect our unique character.
Here are some of our major concerns with the current Zilker Park Vision Plan:
1. Parking garages do not belong inside Zilker Park.
2. The public input process did not meaningfully engage the people of Austin
3. Without any public vetting, the plan recommends the inclusion of a unified (umbrella) nonprofit with decision making power that will create a barrier between regular citizens and the democratic process.
4. Do not put a 5,000 person amphitheater on the Great Lawn. It has repeatedly been one of the least popular items in the plan with the public, disrupts sports communities, and turns Zilker into a potential year-round venue rather than remaining a park. If the director of the Hillside Theater doesn't like its current location, he can take his summer show to the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park.
5. People feel welcome as soon as they step foot inside the park. With better signage and improved restroom facilities, there is no need for a Welcome Center in Zilker Park. The proposed Welcome Center is an unnecessary addition.
6. The sports complex is not a substitute for the historic little league fields, sand volleyball courts, and open multi-use playing fields of the Great Lawn, Monkey Tree Lawn, and existing Rugby Field near Pecan Grove.
7. Development on the south Barton Springs playing fields is an unwelcome intrusion on an open, multi-use green space.
8. Making Barton Springs Road two lanes at all times is unnecessarily disruptive. Parallel parking on Barton Springs Road will lead to bottlenecks and precarious traffic situations.
9. Leave existing surface parking lots in place. Leave existing park roads in place to be used by everyday park-goers during low peak times and scalable mass transit options during high peak times. Remove paid parking from Zilker Park.
10. The failures in the existing infrastructure in Zilker Park must be immediately addressed. Maintain the park starting immediately, including getting bathrooms running, repairing playscapes, getting the mini-train running, opening the cafe outside Barton Springs Pool, etc.