The meeting on April 20 highlighted the degraded house and the dog park. Comments about issues and uses, solicited by the consultants, were posted on the list serve. In case you missed that, here’s the link:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/norwoodtract.htm
Dog park advocates were a very vocal part of the meeting and were rightly concerned about the future of the Norwood Dog Park. In case you missed it, here’s a piece done by KVUE about this:
Looking at the forest, as well as the trees, reveals that the dog park issue is city wide. We were told a year ago by PARD Director Hensley that the dog park would be closed and that staff was looking at alternate locations. More than a year later, this is still being “studied”. Demand for fenced in dog parks like Norwood is great, and supply is limited. If PARD cannot meet this demand on their own, with their budget cuts, perhaps it’s time to consider public/private partnerships to fix this problem. After all, Hensley did state the following, that PARD needs to “employ more efficiency in our operations to make the best use of available resources”. In addition she said “It is with new, innovative, and creative ways of doing business that the Department will continue it’s success in managing the public’s resources responsibly”. I think it’s time for PARD to walk the talk……in relation to dog park deficits and volunteer based restoration of the house.
