We can rewrite city code to Pardon a Goat! Now let's do something for the other KIDS!

The meetings leading up to the creation of the Town Lake Park combined a powerful coalition of people with a plan.  The deal was sealed with the bond election of 1998.  We have our funding source: the car rental tax. There is something for everybody and Austin is on course to win.

Austin created what is really Austin, a venue where families and their children, neighbors, lovers, slackers, bikers and runners, dreamers, and park bench philosophers come together to be the wonderful world of diversity that we are in one of the greatest tracts of land in the country—South Austin!

Venues for:

Symphony performance

Ballet

Great theater

Meetings, conventions, and trade shows

Come Rally and Rumble at the Town Lake Ribbon Cutting!

Arts and theater people finally got first class venues to create a new world for performing arts. We have the potential to create the greatest outdoor environment in the world—a place to live and love nature.

We met the needs of everyone with a designated source of income, the car rental tax that would go to fund this dynamic Austin Parks and Arts Complex.  The money would fund Town Lake Park, Palmer Events Center, Parking garage, and a revamped Palmer Auditorium.

But woops!  Somebody got more than their share of the cookies. It's like you build a palace and the money runs out so the front yard is now dirt and fences.  Not only is it not fair, it doesn't make sense!

Now some folks are getting downright hostile towards trees, flowers, babies, and nature.  They think this park is getting in the way of something better—commercial development to make some money off this land that's just sitting there looking beautiful but not bringing in a dime!  "We have parks out the wazoo!" is the thought.  In fact if we could just pave over Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool we could bring in Six Flags and Denny's and make some real mullah. 

Let's get back to the deal that was voted on and stop the bureaucrats who talk down to us like a bunch of scruffy kids and tell us we're unreasonable in wanting to take care of Austin's greatest treasure—what surrounds Town Lake.

We need the park for:

The Citizens! – They're the ones who voted for the masterplan, and they need a place to come to get away from the cars, the crowds, and enjoy the park even when they can't afford the tickets to what's happening in the performance and meeting complexes.

The Arts Community – What kind of first class facility is surrounded by junky grounds and landscaping?  These folks don't want a shabby environment for their events.

Town Lake Park benefits:

Austin Lyric Opera

The Austin Symphony

The Austin Ballet

Arts Center Stage

Thousands of musicians, actors, writers, producers, and people in the theater Industry

The Parks Community – there are thousands of you!  You have worked for years for the benefit of our parks.

Runners, bikers, walkers, and those who lie on the grass

The Convention Folks – When people come in from West Texas, they'll think they're still in Abilene with mesquite, sand and cactus.  We need to give our visitors a break and show them the Town Lake area.

The Merchants – We have the most unique area in the state, but our short-sided developers want to turn us into Dallas, for goodness sake.  People come here to see Town Lake, not a strip mall paved over a park.

The Short-sided Folks in the Downtown Alliance – Seriously, we gotta save these folks from themselves!  These folks need a brain re-arrangement.  Those who drive to the downtown have the only unique opportunity to shop in downtown, Congress, Lamar, and First Street and enjoy water and green space.  People who will be living in those downtown lofts are going to want what only a great park can give them—a space to live outdoors.

So folks, the time is now . . . Let's rumble!