The San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department will host a series of events at Brackenridge Park in October and November to showcase the Brackenridge Park Draft Master Plan and how it can improve the existing park.
Each event is free and open to the public and will highlight the master plan’s goals, which include increasing the park’s visibility and pedestrian access, preserving cultural and historic attributes, and restoring natural park features.
At first glance, the events – which range from painting classes to a Halloween costume contest to a bike tour – don’t appear to be designed for community input. But in a Monday phone interview with the Rivard Report, Xavier Urrutia, director of the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, said that the events represent a new approach to community engagement and are meant to showcase what the park has to offer today while ensuring that patrons have a say in what happens in its future.
“This is for the public to come out and hopefully learn something in a non-academic setting,” Urrutia said.
The community engagement process in the traditional sense has already been quite thorough, as Parks & Rec officials have hosted several sit-down input meetings across the city.
The new approach is “event-based master planning,” a term coined by City Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1), who is chair of the Neighborhoods and Livability Committee. He told the Rivard Report that the events are a reflection of the previous round of community meetings that called for more citizen engagement in the master plan process.
“We’ve had additional public engagement meetings and we reported back to the (Council’s) Neighborhoods and Livability Committee,” Urrutia explained. “At that time, it was recommended that certain items not be considered. There were a number of items that had a lot of public support and we largely removed the ones that didn’t.”
Among the items taken out of the plan due to community feedback were trams that would transport people to and from different areas of the park, reduced surface parking, and the closure of several roads that lead in and out of the park.
The coming events are a way to reach out beyond “books and words,” Urrutia said, and present Brackenridge Park in a more fun, engaging way.
He added that the master plan is currently being finalized and is scheduled for release before the end of the year. The citizens’ comments gathered at these events will be taken into consideration by the Neighborhoods and Livability Committee and, ultimately, City Council. The meetings, which have yet to be scheduled, will be open to the public and have opportunities for comment.
“This is a thoughtful approach for the community,” Treviño said. “There’s a demonstrated desire to know what’s going on and this is an affirmation of a learning process. It’s incredibly inclusive and as transparent as can be.”
Tours of the park are also available by the Brackenridge Park Conservancy, he added.
The forthcoming events are listed below. Comment cards for feedback will be available at all events. Video testimonials and surveys will be conducted at a select few.
Brackenridge Cultural Soirée
Friday, Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m.
Location: Koehler Pavilion
With the backdrop of a Flamenco performance, attendees can learn more about the master plan and see an exhibition of archaeological artifacts found within the park.
Brackenridge by Train
Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
Location: Train Depot
Take a ride through the park on the famous train with stops for hitting piñatas, flying kites, and more.
Costume Contest and Monsters, Inc. at Sunken Garden Theater
Saturday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m.; Movies will begin at sunset.
Location: Sunken Garden Theater
Following a Halloween costume contest, a short film of the history of Brackenridge Park and the feature film Monsters, Inc. will be screened.
Brackenridge Nature Bike Tour
Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9-11 a.m.
Location: Meet at Joske Pavilion
A guided bike tour of the park. Learn about controlling invasive plant species and identify ways to improve park flow both internally and externally.
Brackenridge Coffee & Painting Class
Wednesday, Nov. 9 from 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Location: Lions Field
A painting class and a cup of coffee supplement discussions of the master plan.
Brackenridge Archaeology Exploration
Saturday, Nov. 19 from 10 a.m.-noon
Location: Lambert Softball Field
Children of all ages are invited to take part in a recreated archaeological dig to find replicas of artifacts originally found in the park.
Top Image: Guests ride the Brackenridge Park train during an event hosted by the Brackenridge Park Conservancy earlier this year. Photo by Scott Ball.
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This is such unbelievable rubbish. The community spoke, and spoke loudly, about their disapproval towards the plans that the city had for the park– these events are nothing but a sham. They’re held at weird times that will be inconvenient for working class people and are coercively forcing their plans under the guise of cutesy community activities. The city is becoming more violent by the day, homelessness is swelling, wages are stagnant, and yet the city wants to spend time in Breckenridge when there are so many parks that need improving in low-income neighborhoods. We do not need to continue gentrifying the Broadway area. This is shameful.
The City is investing in the place where it’ll make the most difference: along major arteries or rays that spread out from downtown. The River corridor is the most bang-for-buck investment the City can make because it’s already the best. Brackenridge is at the northern end of millions and millions of investment in that corridor. And there are about a dozen institutions ranged about Brackenridge that will benefit directly from its re-development and re-invention as something other other than, at best, a place to camp and litter, and, at worst, a place to get high or sleep while not out panhandling.
Putting out new sod or planting new trees that will die or installing new equipment that will get spraypainted on isn’t an investment. That’s throwing good money after bad. If you live in one of these blighted areas and have a park, create a Friends of the Park Association and start having work days and raising money to fix it. Get the community involved. That effort, eventually, will change the culture around that park to where, maybe, the City can do something nice with them.
Anyway, these events at Brack are necessary to re-orient people’s perceptions about Brackenridge. It’s already got great park “bones,” and it’s going to be awesome when it’s fully fleshed out. People are still going to camp or BBQ there in the future and you’re delusional if you think that’s ever going away—it’ll be a nicer venue to do that stuff in. And maybe it’ll be so nice they’ll feel worse about leaving garbage everywhere to where they actually pick up after themselves. Win/win!
“Among the items taken out of the plan due to [LIMITED] community feedback were [MANY OF THE BEST ITEMS LIKE] trams that would transport people to and from different areas of the park, reduced surface parking [THAT WOULD MAKE THE PARK VASTLY MORE USABLE AND BEAUTIFUL, and the closure of several roads that lead in and out of the park.”
We had the opportunity for a park on par with Central, Grant, etc. and we are left with the same crappy parking lot for a park. Brack is a dump and it could have been the cornerstone of transformation, but a minority of citizens (those that attend meetings to complain) killed it. The majority that live around and frequent the park fully supported the plan.
Thanks San Antonio.