Neighborhood Park Construction Update

Hello Neighbors!

We want to update you on the progress on our very own neighborhood park which, as we speak, is being constructed by the City of Austin on the site of the old Unity Church on Del Curto. As you may or may not know, residents of SLNA have been trying for over a decade to get a park built within our neighborhood boundaries. These efforts are finally seeing the light of day.

If you drive along Del Curto past the new park, you might have noticed the area is completely fenced off. It’s easy to miss with the whirlwind of construction taking place both across the street and behind the park. The anticipated opening of the park is in September, just a couple months away.

Here is the construction timeline given to us by the City of Austin about a month ago:

 1.       Tree protection/ removal:  PARD completed the tree protection and temporary erosion controls and has removed the trees scheduled for removal.  June 2013.

 2.        Site Work:  Grading at the park for the installation of the sidewalks, playscape, pavilion and basketball court is expected to begin in late July 2013.

3.       Playscape:  The installation is expected to be towards the end of August 2013.

4.       Benches and Trash Receptacles:  These items have already been purchased and will be delivered to the Parks Department by mid-July, 2013.

 5.        Kiosk/ Pavilion:  PARD is finalizing the contract with the City of Austin Contract Management Department for the purchase of the kiosk and pavilion. Installation is expected to be a the beginning of September 2013.

6.       Basketball Court:  Installation of the court is expected by mid-September 2013.

I hope you and your family are just as excited about our new park as we are. As a reminder, you will be able to vote for the new park name nomination. See the details about that at the July 1, 2013 post on the SLNA website. The vote will take place at the next neighborhood meeting on August 15th. We will not be voting for the name outright, but for the name that we suggest to the City. The City has a formal policy it uses to decide the actual name and the name that we suggest is part of that process.

We would like to thank our Park Committee Chair, Bruce Evans, for diligently guiding/pushing/shoving the City of Austin into getting this project on track. We are getting closer to having our very own neighborhood park!

Calling all Neighbors – Help Name your New Park !

Hello everyone and Happy Summer. We hope you are staying cool! It won’t be long now until our new park is officially open. In anticipation of that day, please submit nominations for the new park name! Here are all the details:

South Lamar Neighborhood Association
Park Naming Nomination and Voting Process

Park Naming Committee members: Mario Champion, Kassi Darakhshan, Bryan King, Nancy Maclaine

Questions? Email kassi.darakhshan@gmail.com

Nomination Process:

• Request for park name nominations can be submitted via a Google Form and via mail (by mailing in the bottom portion of this document). Click HERE for the online voting form.
• Neighbors are being notified of nomination process at the June 20th mtg. and via the SLNA Yahoo Group
• Incomplete nominations will not be accepted and neighbors may nominate more than one name
• All neighbors can nominate, but only SLNA members can vote
• The Park Naming Committee will narrow down the nominations to the top 10 (if there are more than 10 nominations) and the top 10 will be announced via SLNA Yahoo Group on August 1st
• Any neighbor can join the Park Naming Committee. Members must be able to commit time to nomination process. To join the committee please email SLNA Secretary at kassi.darakhshan@gmail.com or let SLNA President, Nancy Maclaine know at the June 20th meeting
• Committee will use an instant run-off voting system
• Nominations are due by Saturday, July 20th

Voting Process:

• Voting will take place at the August 15th mtg.
• If the nominator(s) is present at the meeting he/she will be invited to make a 1-minute case for their nomination
• Voting will be completed by an “instant run-off” system where voters will rank the nominations from 1 (top choice) to 10 (last choice)
• Anyone wanting to vote must be a SLNA member 10 days prior to meeting (per neighborhood bylaws) which in this case is August 5th, 2013. Neighbors can become members online at southlamar.org
• At the June 20th meeting, SLNA members APPROVED absentee voting by email on just the issue of Park Naming. To absentee vote, members must submit their vote via email before 11:59pm Sunday, August 12th, 2013 to South Lamar Neighbor Secretary’s email address: kassi.darakhshan@gmail.com
• The top name will be announced at the end of the meeting on August 15th and then be submitted to Austin Parks and Recreation Dept.