Austin Finally Getting Its Own Central Park

It has taken almost 20 years to reach this point, but the city of Austin will soon have its very own central park right in the heart of town. You have probably seen the bulldozers and construction workers and excavation going on near the Palmer Events Center over the past few months. That was Phase 1, and with it complete, work on Phase 2 will begin in the next month or so and is expected to be completed in about a year.

When finished Austin will have a lovely piece of green space, replete with a pond, children's art garden, an egg-shaped meadow, hike and bike trails, a fountain people can play in and a meditation labyrinth. Whoa! We are pumped, especially considering we live about a block from the new central park. Zilker has always been a nice place to hang and toss the Frisbee or play soccer, and we like hiking on the greenbelt. Pease Park is good for disc golf, and we can take the dog down to auditorium shores for a jump in the river. But this new park will offer a truly classic 'park experience,' a serene green space with multiple attractions that will afford an excellent retreat for a languid summer afternoon. And on certain days, city officials will even close off parts of Riverside between South 1st and Lamar, making the Town Lake Park/Auditorium Shores area one gigantic green space for people to enjoy. Upon hearing this news we signed a new lease. We may never leave the neighborhood.

The park will also have some parking, a restroom and eventually a pump house to provide for irrigation. The $9.2 million project is being funded by a 1998 bond that provides the city money from a tax on car rentals. Take that, ya damn tourists.