Zilker Park...ing lot? 🤔

Changes are coming to Austin's crown jewel.

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The magic of Barton Springs in winter.

The future of Zilker Park and the future of Austin

On Sunday, January 8, the City of Austin will close public input on what is arguably the city’s most important public venture to date: the Zilker Park Vision Plan. Now, a plan is just a plan, but the final document will provide the framework for future decisions made about the beloved park.

Local coverage of this plan, which was created by Austin Parks & Recreation, has largely centered around the creation of a land bridge and new parking lots. It’s even inspired a bit of fear-mongering on behalf of certain organizations declaring Zilker will be “converted to a year-round for-profit amusement park.” In separating the click-bait from the story, it’s in everyone’s best interest to remember that many of these changes aren’t going to be made anytime soon. First, this is going to cost a lot of money. Second, it hasn’t even been approved yet. And third, things like this take a very long time. After all, the reopening of the Zilker Eagle is more than a year behind schedule and that’s a miniature train.