Delightfully Unhinged: Greater & Greener with a side of ASMR

This month the People of the Parks podcast gets (slightly) unhinged! Suzy is joined by new stand-in host, Taylor, where they discuss APF's involvement in this summer's Greater & Greener conference, how YOU can help support parks funding right now (austinparks.org/blog) and then wind things down with a little ASMR: Parks Edition🌳 (Suzy's dream IRL)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Wait, what are you doing? Isn't this recording?

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Stick around for the end, y'all. Hello, hello, and welcome back to People of the Parks, the official podcast of Austin Parks Foundation. I'm your host, Susie, and today I am not joined by my co-host Katie because she has taken on another co-host in the form of a fabulous daughter. Insert baby noises here. That's right! Your other favorite person of the parks is officially a mother. She's mothering. And with that comes three delightfully unhinged months of our pod for the summer season. No, no, no, no, no. She means slightly unhinged, folks. Slightly unhinged. Tomato tomato. Either way, your girl's in the driver's seat. But do not worry, dear listener. You're still in good hands because joining me for this adventure is the one, the only producer Taylor. Hello, hello. I'm gonna have to say more than that this month. Oh my god, you're doing amazing. Taylor, how do you feel now that you're stepping up to the hosting plate? Little sports. Look at you.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, a little sports moment. Got a little sports analogy in there. Um nervous because you guys have made this a hard spot to fill. You guys are really good at what you do. And so I just get to sit back here and listen and enjoy and edit things. But now Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Welcome to the pod, baby. Y'all gotta hear my voice. You know, all jokes aside, something you can expect from our summer season is the same thing that you can expect from all people of the parks episodes, and that is just some some good old-fashioned parks goodness. Yes. Some good old-fashioned APF, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

All your favorite things about people of the parks with some special guest hosts.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yes, maybe some new voices.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

And a couple of fun things that Susan has been dying to try.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Alright, Taylor.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Shall we get into it then? I think so. It's now or never. And I gotta tell you guys, one of our favorite things about working in parks is the passionate people we get to work with on a daily basis. 1000%. In the community, through our volunteers, working alongside the city on park projects, and on special occasions, getting together with other park professionals to learn from each other and see how other cities are handling a lot of the same things we handle here in Austin.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Taylor, another sports thing. It sounds like you're teeing up something here.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Wow, you really did some homework on the sports analogies.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

I really did, but that was let me be clear, that was T ball, not golf.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

You would be right, Susie. We have Greater and Greener, the premiere event for innovators and decision makers from across the global urban parks community. Oh, global. Global urban parks community. It's the only event dedicated to exploring the full potential of parks as city-building tools.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Ooh, and this year. It's in Austin. Oh yeah. Another another air horn. So that means that APF is working alongside the organizers of the conference, City Parks Alliance, along with the Austin Parks and Rec department and other green space organizations in Austin to offer programming for the conference and to help welcome these amazing fellow people of the parks into our city.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

June 13th to 16th, the city will basically have a Parkapalooza. Oh, love. With park people from around the country coming to learn about how Austin does parks. And now that I'm seeing global in here, I'm gonna update that. People from around the world. Oh yeah. And beyond attending ourselves, APF has been pretty involved in getting greater and greener here, right, Susie? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Okay. APF is a silver sponsor of Greater and Greener. So that means that we contributed $25,000 to support the conference getting here and getting set up in Austin. But beyond that, we wanted all of our favorite park people in town to be able to attend and learn from this amazing resource that's right in our backyard. So we provided um financial scholarships for some APR staff so that they could experience the conference too.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

In addition to that, some of our staff are even going to be flexing their park knowledge, leading workshops throughout the conference to speak on things like specific park projects, navigating the park space as a nonprofit, exploring parks funding sources, and leading park tours and a special volunteer project at the new Chestnut Pocket Park. I'm super excited about the workshops. I am as well. We talked about this recently at a staff meeting. And you guys, there are some really cool extracurriculars that you can do prior. Yeah. But prior to Greater and Greener starting, an APF staff is involved with at least three of those on Sunday, June 14th. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

And you know you're gonna see your favorite pod girls there. So if you're a fan, come by and say, hey, um, we might just have something special for you.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Perhaps in the form of a severely cute merch item.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Maybe a bandana. Who knows? Guess you'll have to come and see us at Greater and Greener to find out. I think it's time for the bulletin board. Oh my god, I'm living for you joining me on that intro.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

I have no ability to be a singer of any sort. Make something sound fun and cute the way you guys do.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Guys, drop Taylor some love on this episode. Please support our girl.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

No, I'm fine. No, you guys just make it a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Okay. Well, much like Ooh, was it the chicks? What am I thinking of? It is the chicks. Much like the chicks said, spring is turning into summer. And summer will soon give way to fall. Spring turns summer and summer turns. Oh, I know. I'm just waiting for where you take it.

unknown 6:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Much like the chick said, spring is turning into summer. But before things start to heat up too much, we have some really great ways to get involved and even speak up for the parks this month.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Please, please, please. This is a big one. First, a bit of advocacy news. City council is currently reviewing options for a general obligation bond that will be on the ballot this November. It's been eight years since the last bond to include parks funding, and our city's park system has over $1.8 billion in identified needs. Billion with a B. That's crazy. Yes, and eight years is also kind of unfathomable.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah, and I I believe the park system functions on a six-year cycle.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Generally, yes. And and we're we're at we're past that and go moving into year eight or in the middle of year eight, I guess I should say. But the time to advocate for our parks is now. So head over to our blog at Austinparks.org slash blog to read up on APF's recommendations and guides for contacting city council to urge them to support parks funding this May.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

And if you want to advocate for parks year-round, you can sign up for our Parks Advocacy newsletter.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

A little plug.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Yes, sign up for our newsletter sign up on our website and make sure that you select Parks Advocacy to get all of those updates and action items to your inbox.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

And then on Saturday, May 23rd, APF is hosting a volunteer event as part of the trash-free golf campaign to help keep trash out of Texas waterways. And that project will take place from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Dittmar Neighborhood Park.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

What a great way to kick off the summer season by helping to like keep trash out of our waterways. Absolutely. And finally, our summer fitness in the park series will begin on Friday, May 29th, where you can join APF and our friends at Habitat at 7 a.m. for yoga at Zilker Park, followed by a cold plunge at Barton Springs Pool. The summer series runs through September 4th, and you can get all of that information on our website, AustinParks.org.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yes. Every Friday morning at 7 a.m. for yoga at Zilker Park. And as always, you can check out our event calendar at Austinparks.org slash event dash calendar for more information on these events and links to sign up.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And now No no no and now it's time for the Sword of Unhinged. Delightfully. Not delightfully. I think it's delightful.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

I think this will be delightful.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

This is gonna be delightful because I have been dying. Dying to do a little parks ASMR on the pod. And I feel like this is my moment. If not now, Taylor when. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

No, I don't. The pod continues on, and we could do this at any point in time in reality. To kick off. But I do like the kickoff to summer, a little nature in your ears.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Yes. My ASMR listeners will understand. So please, ASMR, fellow ASMR folks, don't let this flop. Susie has been talking about this since January. No, literally. And I finally got the go-ahead from no one because Katie is on maternity leave. We can cut this part out.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

No, because Katie, I need you to know I'll keep it. I'll keep it. She's gonna keep it tight.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah. A tight five. It's gonna be great. I'm gonna enjoy it. So before you sit back, relax, and listen to some soothing sounds of the parks. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe on all of your favorite podcast platforms. Maybe leave us a comment on social. Maybe show some love for your favorite host, Katie, and her new bundle of joy. Yes. And hey, share this episode with another park or ASMR lover in your life.