Success! The “Zilker Vision Plan” is Now Off the Table 

On August 7th Mayor Kirk Watson declared that the “Zilker Vision Plan” was not viable for consideration by the Austin City Council. After months (and for some of us, years) of resisting this insanity, to have it go away and leave the park alone, was a dream come true! As has been documented on our website and elsewhere, we at the Free Zilker Coalition were not opposed to every proposal in the plan, but we are glad that the offensive aspects of it (the bridges, the parking garages, the welcome center, the narrowing of Barton Springs road, the 5000-capacity amphitheater on the Great Lawn, and the nonprofit organizational partner), at least as a bundle, are no longer threatening Zilker Park. Therefore, we are not planning a big rally or gathering at City Hall on Aug 31st, as we had been. There may be some small demonstration but we’d rather everyone save strength and energy for another day, as surely we will need to come to the defense of our communal green spaces and our beloved springs again. It seems that monied interests can’t help but drool over the gazillions to be made if they could privatize our city and rent it back to us at events and by sellling us concessions. We feel that enough compromises have been made. We stand unwavering as public parks activists. So congratulations to all who helped put a stop to this insanity for now!! We won the battle, but the war is far from over. We know those behind the plan are playing the long-game. They are patient—we must stay vigilant against part and parcel of this plan getting tacked on to other needed legislation and other underhanded maneuvering. Here are our goals for a New Vision Plan. We continue to strive, with your help, to accomplish the following:
1)   Make sure that improvements to Zilker are made in a way that protects free access to the park for everyone and preserves and protects the habitat of the plants and animals who make it their home.
2)   Fix the structure of fees that Barton Springs / Zilker Park already generates so that this money goes to protect and expand the rewilding of ALL the Austin Parks, East and West, North and South.
3)   Make the existing free shuttle service workable to reduce parking at ALL of our major city park attractions. Currently there is a shuttle that runs from Zilker on the weekends to One American Center, but it is two shuttles per hour, far too low for the demand of park goers.
4)  Demand accountability and/or the resignation of those at the top of PARD and the parks board who enabled this to get as far as it did.
5)   A public parks system run by city workers dedicated to public service, who are capable and responsive to the needs of the people of Austin for recreation and leisure —not revenue generating interests hiding behind the closed doors of nonprofit boards.
6)  Reckoning with the history of colonization, racial discrimination and segregation that is bound up with the history of our city and parks system. Past wrongs must be set right before we can move forward, together.
7)  Under competent PARD leadership, together in unity, championing parks in every area of the city as civic treasures and fighting to expand protected green space against development in the aquifer recharge and contributory zones. The appetite for this among the public is huge. A vibrant, well-funded parks system with public oversight by citizen activists is a legacy we will be proud to pass to future generations. 

What does it mean to love a park?

What does it mean to love a park?

What does it mean to love a park to death?

What does it mean to be from Austin, Texas?

It’s not a birthright, it’s a mindset. If you love simple pleasures, natural beauty, and value authenticity above all else, you may be an Austinite. If you care about respecting nature and following her wisdom, and know in your bones no amount of promised riches could move you to betray your source of wonder and recharge—much less risk losing it for future generations, you may be an Austinite.

There are times when those who love this place are called to defend it. When people in boardrooms turn their gaze onto the treasures we hold in common, and see a future in which they can enrich their fortunes, then the threat of losing what makes us Austin becomes real. We locate ourselves in a long line of people who have carved out and defended public park spaces in Austin; environmentalists in the past who fought back when it was threatened, looking toward a generation of young people highly sensitive to climate stakes and the mortgaging of their future for corporate profits.

Though nonprofits have a duty to promote social benefit, corporations have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits and force the vision plan on Zilker Park. It may be too late to stop them.

We all love a good show and are very lucky to live in a place with so many venue opportunities. The Zilker Vision Plan is a business model vision for Zilker. Will we be forced to hand over our parks, from Waterloo to Zilker, to nonprofits working with monopolies? Or can we find a way to stop them? Free Zilker wants to find out.