ParkScore: How does Austin measure up?

This month the People of the Parks podcast gets down with the data! Suzy is joined by Taylor and RETURN guest, Austin Parks Foundation CEO, Colin Wallis. The Trust for Public Land ParkScore dropped last month, and they discuss where Austin ranks, what it means and how APF (and other outdoor nonprofits) are helping to move the needle!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We'd love to see how I think you should leave that in. Hello, hello. And welcome back to People of the Parks, the official podcast of Austin Parks Foundation. I'm your host, Susie, and I am once again joined by my co-host and producer Extraordinaire Taylor.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

And our special return guest of the pod, APF CEO Colin Wallace. Colin.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Hello, hello. Welcome back to the return guest.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Officially our first return guest. So and we are recording this time. I don't know if you guys remember the snap moving on I found one. I do because it was.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

It was. How the sausage is made.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

I feel like it got better the second time though.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

So I agree. We really I think that was our very first podcast. It was. And we did it. And now we're here. Oh, look at us.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

It's really a formatting issue, but that's why neither here nor there.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Okay. So as you both know, we are in full summer mode here in Austin. And I know that's really exciting for parkgoers because, you know, things like the pools are open, like Montopolis pool, where we were this morning for a ribbon cutting. Um, you know, school's out, the kids are out. It's just really great to see all the activity in the parks. But beyond that, it's also a very exciting time for those of us working in the park space because we just got our official 2026 park score from Trust for Public Land.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

It's like the nerdiest statement I've ever heard. We are so excited. We got our park score.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

And I've since it's come out, I've at le I've heard it referenced at least three times in like different scenarios with people outside of APF.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

If if I was unclear about being a park nerd, I am not anymore.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Now, Taylor, Colin, before we get into the meat of this park score, because I know you're just dying too, let's break it down a little bit for the listeners at home. Who is Trust for Public Land and what on earth is a park score?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

All right, you got it. So Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to create parks and protect public land across the U.S. Like an APF for America. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

I feel like that should be their tagline.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

We'll pitch it at greater and greener.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, but once a year they release their park score index, which is a rating system comparing how well the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. are meeting the need for parks.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

And as Colin mentioned, it is very granular. It is like a data and park person got married and they had a park score index.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Crunching that data.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

So, Colin, what can you tell us about like why the park score is important and how it's used by park people like us?

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Yeah, I mean I think the kind of the bottom line is just it's essentially a ranking of of how people are are taking care of their parks, of cities, uh populous cities in the US, peer cities. And so I think like most ranking systems, it is flawed, but in general, I think it's a great uh barometer for how cities are doing compared to each other and compared to how they should be doing. And uh, you know, I think this is important to the parks department and important to us because historically Austin's done really bad. Um and and you know, I think we've we moved up this year, um, but you know, if you go back, we we moved down uh significantly more last year. So we're sort of like one step forward, two steps back. But it's a it's just a great way to sort of benchmark what we're doing here in Austin versus what other cities, particularly ones that are doing right by their parks and how they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Okay. And kind of the perfect time of year for this to be happening as we're recording a few days before Greater and Greener starts, and we'll be face to face with all these park people starting this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Yes, speaking, I don't know if you explain that, but speaking of like being a total park nerd this weekend, Austin is hosting a conference called Greater Greener that is put on by the City Parks Alliance, and it historically has been in cities, it's only every two years, it's not an every year conference. So I'll give it to parkies. We don't go to conferences every year, we do it once every other year, which seems very sane.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

It's environmentally friendly too.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

But in the last ten years, it's been in Denver, who has amazing parks. Which I was unaware of. Denver took me by surprise. Denver's done some pretty cool stuff. Um, San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Minneapolis. Minneapolis is kind of the sneaky, like they always do really great stuff in parks.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Okay, yes, they're pretty high on the ranking this year, too.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Austin's hosting it, which is a big deal. And I think it really kind of speaks to um, you know, I particularly I think our partnerships around town, organizations like us that are working hand in hand with the parks department to make our parks better. I think City Parks Alliance really saw that and saw Austin as kind of a model to sort of show off some of these partnerships and some of the projects that they've delivered.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

And Colin will be speaking on a panel. Taylor and I are very excited for that one. So maybe we'll have to have you back for a three-peat to discuss what you wear.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Well, we're talking about ACL, which is the fun topic that everybody either loves or hates. And so it will be a fun, uh it'll be a fun panel.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

It'll be a spirited conversation.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

Yeah, and it's gonna be great because Jesus from the Parks Department is there, and me, obviously, and Stacey, who has been at C3 from day one. Um, and then Charlie McCabe, who was my predecessor here at APF. Oh, get out. And also was here at APF when they first entered into the ACL agreement, is going to be at the conference and he's going to be in the crowd. So we're gonna rope him into the discussion area.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Okay, a little behind the scenes. I can't wait. I feel like I just love to be a fly on the wall with you and Jesus and anyone from C3 talking about this. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Stacy's awesome. She'll have a lot of good stories to tell for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Okay, well, getting back to park score, you know, when I sat down with our actual park score last night and I really started digging in to outline the episode, I had to rewrite it a bunch of times because there is just so much information. I could not parse it down.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

There's a ton. We learned about this actually at a staff meeting recently, and they're like, so we've had this a few times now, and it really is tough to like boil it down because there is just so much, and you you can pick onto any one category and dive even deeper, which feels kind of wild when it is already so great.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Oh, I know. And like even taking the notes from that staff meeting, which was like an hour, I was like, all right, I gotta, I gotta figure out how to do this. So, as much fun as the nitty-gritty is for us park nerds to get into, uh, this could very easily become an hour-long episode if we're not careful. So, in People of the Parks fashion, I think the best way for us to tackle the park score is the same way that we tackle a lot of things on the pod. And that's a friendly little trivia competition. A little ode to Katie. Exactly. I know you, Taylor, and Colin are just like the least competitive people that I know. Really? So um, I've written down some interesting highlights from our 2026 park score.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

These are things that I have included in the outline in case either of you had a chance to read it in the 12 hours since I uploaded it last night. Or things that our fantastic advocacy manager Alyssa mentioned in that meeting for our staff last week. So I will ask a question. You can buzz in when you think you have the answer. Most points wins the quiz.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Oh, it's a competition.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Just glory and goal. Taylor's kicking me out of the skin.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

I can't actually think she's taunting me.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Okay. First question. There are five categories that Trust for Public Land evaluates to come up with our park score. What are they and what do they mean? Now there's five, so I'll let you guys bounce back and forth if you want, and you get one point per category.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Okay. Five categories.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

One that I can always remember is Acreage because we have quite a lot of park space.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Ding ding ding. Acreage is one of them. And um Acreage is evaluated on both median park size and percentage of the city area that's dedicated to parkland. Okay. Colin, you want to take a crack at it?

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Yes. I have I actually have all these come into memory. I've talked about parks force so many times. Oh my god, such a dork. Enlighten us. I would say access. So the thing that Trust for Public Land is sort of one of the things they're known for is this idea of the 10-minute walk. So someone at TPL, uh, that's what the cool kids call Trust for Public Land, um a bunch of years ago decided that the barometer for deciding if people have access to a park or open space is it needs to be within a half mile walk, which they estimated to be about 10 minutes. And so they they determine your your access score based on how what percentage of your residents live within a 10-minute walk to some park space. And historically Austin has not done super great. I think we're now around 70, which it we're getting better, but as you would expect in some of the metropolitan areas that are a little bit more dense than we are, there are people that are up in the upper 90s. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Um, so you know, well, and I think even either last year or the year before, I saw that San Francisco did achieve 100%. Yeah. Which is like a huge deal. I've never felt like more of a partner than when that happened.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Well, and it's so funny because somebody and lots of somebody's spent a lot of time and energy to m looking at data and maps to make sure that there was like a little patch of grass somewhere so that people could call that a park. Yes. And I'm not uh taking away from what they did. It's amazing. And they have tons of parks, but they they definitely worked really hard to make that happen. Kudos to them.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Okay, so we've got acreage and access. Colin, do you want to hit number three?

SPEAKER_03 11:01

Amenities. That's what APF does. We build lots of amenities, um basketball hoops, uh playgrounds, dog parks. Dog parks, you name it. Yeah. Um that's always uh and I just always remember that the two things about amenities that stick in my head is one, Austin historically is really bad with basketball hoops, which is really strange.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Um especially since I feel like since being at APF, we've done a lot of basketball. We've done a lot of basketball courts. Thanks to the Spurs.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Shout out to the Spurs. Come on, Wimby.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

I know please castle. Pull it together.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

We had a rough night last night. Um but uh and then also the pool thing, which is super interesting because you know, basically pools don't count. And as you guys know, we have 40 some odd neighborhood and district pools in Austin. 45. And they're a total drain financially, no pun intended. Um they're also they're just really hard. Pools are super difficult, and so Austin doesn't really get any sort of uh bump because of the pools that we have and the way we take care of them. Obviously, in places where it's colder, they don't have pools, they don't need pools like we do here because it's so hot. So that's that's kind of one of the flaws I think in that that TPL could probably stand to address is just how how those pools are factored into our score.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Absolutely. Yeah. All right, Taylor, was that did we do four? Was that three? We got three.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Okay, three, because we have amenities, which leads to investments. Investments, yes. I think when I think amenities and investments, I think about our shade match that we're working toward, right? So I know investment is a big one.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Yeah, and I think a big one for park score index is that it includes not only the agency spending, so any park spending within the city or a public entity, but also private. So that's donations, that's organizations like us, APF, and the other parks organizations around town.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yeah, and I think uh, and I don't want to spoil a later part of this podcast, but I think Austin has risen in the investment uh area as it relates to park score, and that is because of the APFs, the trail conservancies, the water, the greenways, the peace park. Yes. It is not because our city is doing a better job uh allocating resources to our parks, it's because so many organizations are are being successful at raising uh private dollars to bring to the table.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Oh, you did spoil it, but that was beautiful. Okay, and then our final one Equity. Equity, a big one. Another area where there's always room to improve.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah, Austin has historically not done a great job with providing similar assets in east and west.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Absolutely. And so the park equity score is is decided um based on the fairness in distribution of space between neighborhoods by race and income. So it's measuring park space that's accessible to communities of color or low-income households. Okay, great job, guys. I think that's two for Taylor, three for Colin. I was I'm not counting. Yeah, he didn't just hold up three fingers very threateningly. Okay, so question number two. And remember, one of you's gotta buzz in. Oh, we gotta buzz in. We're getting into the single answer ones. What is Austin's park score ranking for 2026 and how has it changed from 2025? Oh, Colin, he gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

Uh we were ranked 47 for 2026. Yes. And that was up from or down from, depending on how you just state that, from 54 in 2025.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

A seven space leap. Seven jumps. A pretty significant jump. I know we've kind we talked about how we've waffled in the past, but this was a good jump in a positive direction.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Very positive.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah. So, okay, now this is leading off of that last question.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Oh, I think this might have been what I was thinking. Yes, and why Colin got in before me.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

So though we jumped up in the rankings, there was not a huge difference in our actual park score. So what was the difference in our actual park score out of a hundred for 2026? For 2026. I know we went up.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

What was the difference from 2025? I know we went up essentially a half point. That is correct. Which doesn't sound like a ton, but obviously it does do it moves the needle. Yes. Um in terms of like the actual I feel like we're this year at 54 points? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

So versus 53.5? Yes, that is correct. So with a seven-point leap in the rankings, we really only improved based on the metrics by half a point.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

But we're at least going in the right direction.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

You know, any improvement is good. Right, improvement is good. So now getting into our score. What were our two highest score categories for 2026? And what were our two lowest? Does anyone want to guess the highest?

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Investment. Which I'd be curious I don't know, I don't have this committed to memory, but I don't we're at 72. I'm not sure where that ranks in terms of all the other cities. Like I said, there are people, San Francisco's at 100. Uh there are lots of people in the 90s. Yes. I don't know where that puts us, but it's we've improved. And that is that is the and again, I think it's all it's a big function of that is all the organizations. Like you guys said, we just opened the playground at Montopolis, the shade at the pool. Last weekend, the Waterloo Greenway opened the confluence, which is amazing. Um the Trail Conservancy just opened some a new feature on the trail. Yeah, the Wishbone Bridge. The Wishbone Bridge, um, which was a city project, but the but the Trail Conservancy has done a bunch of other projects. So uh we're definitely seeing some good investment.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, it's interesting you bring that up. So Austin is actually ranked 20 nationwide in parks investment, and that is in large part due to just the vast number of outdoors organizations like the ones that Colin mentioned. So investment is our highest rank at 72. Anybody want to guess second highest?

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Access. It is access. We're moving in the right direction.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

We are, we're moving in the right direction with access.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

So well, about 10 years ago, and as as y'all know, I've been here for a long time, um, it became very fashionable in Austin to care about equity. Um it wasn't always fashionable, but that's true. Uh you've seen the city change a lot of policies to address some of the things that have happened historically and be more thoughtful about where investments go. And so that's the result of a lot of years of that happening in practice and starting to see some of the fruit of doing that for so many years.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Absolutely. Okay, so our two lowest scores, I think we are all aware because we sort of touched on this previously, but does anybody want the point?

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Amenities.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Amenities and equity. And equity, yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Well, and I think that you know, you look at uh just sort of the historic uh non-investment in a lot of Austin that has a lot to do with amenities. And then the other part of that that I think probably contributes is as y'all know, because you live here, Austin has grown really fast. Yes. And you know, w what was a very small town not that long ago historically is now a gigantic city. I think we're number 10 or 11.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, I was gonna say I think we're within like the top 15.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Yeah, and all these people have moved to Austin, and when people come to Austin, what do they want to do? They want to use the parks. They do. And so all of these amenities have wear and tear and they're not getting replaced, and so I think that that speaks to why the amenity score is so low.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Well, and I think we also kind of touched on Austin has some unique elements that aren't contributed into the park score. Like the parks department handles cemeteries in Austin, and that's not true in other cities. And then, of course, we have an aquatics department that handles 45 different pools. And then, of course, with equity, I think seeing these numbers, you know, it's always a good metric to see how we're improving. And I know that um, you know, we were just in East Austin today talking with the neighborhood um at the the ribbon cutting for the Montopolis playground and pool, and just speaking with the community about how they have felt overlooked for so long and are finally getting, you know, some attention to these park spaces that are so important to the neighborhood. And I think it really speaks to how the city and park works in Austin take this information in and really use it to strategically plan how we can touch some of those historically underserved areas.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

To like see and hear from the community and listen to what all they've done and what the work that they've put in. Tireless work. Yeah. It's really cool to just see it all come to fruition and see like these beautiful spaces we've been able to be a part of at APF.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Well, and I feel like, and this is a topic for next month, but you, Taylor, and I have been working pretty closely with Alyssa on bond information, and so to hear community members mentioning bonds and and watching documentaries about park spaces where they're mentioning bonds, it's like the bond was from 2018. Yes, it's all it's all coming together full circle.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Where the money comes from. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

That investment. Okay. So now zooming out, how many acres of parkland factored into our park score? Oh, Taylor. It's over 19,000. I will give that to you. It is 19,318. And interestingly, TPL actually categorizes parked land a lot differently than we do at APF. Um so in our park score, they recognize 532 parks around Austin, which is quite a jump from the nearly 400 we're always mentioning at APF. Colin, what is the difference?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Yeah, their TPL is counting sort of some of the state parks, some of the HOA maintained parks, any sort of publicly accessible open space, I think they're counting which would uh factor into that discrepancy, which I think is interesting. I mean, I think we as y'all know, we historically have really focused on City of Austin parkland.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

But you know, when you really think about it, nobody cares who owns the parkland. It's so true. They just want to be able to go there. Yes. And so I think there's an interesting opportunity, and I'm certainly not the first one to suggest this, but the county and the state and the city and all of these other entities that manage open space. Like, how can they collaborate to make make them all more accessible and better? And what's the there's some economies there? I don't know exactly what they are, but we have I mean, you think about some of the great county spaces that are close to Austin. You've got like Hamilton Pool, you've got Blue Hole in Wimberley, you've got McKinney Falls. Like there's lots of really cool places that aren't necessarily City of Austin Parkland, but they're awesome. We were at uh Blue Hole a couple weeks ago. Yeah, it's so amazing out there.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Ugh, it's gotta be nice now that like with all the rain, things have sort of recharge.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

It's nice and cool, water shaded, it's beautiful. You're getting cold on a summer day. It's nice.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Gotta get outside this summer, y'all. Okay, so we're getting towards the end of my quiz. But which because we're so competitive here, which Texas cities currently outrank Austin? So that means that they have a higher park score.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

I'm jumping in on Plano because this is one that wouldn't immediately like jump into your brain. But I remember when I first learned about park score, and I was like, how can Plano be better than us? No same. I I always like to call it Plano, Texas. Like but you think about it, it's a much smaller town. It's a very new community. Very true. And it's you know, they planned it in a way to make sure and they had the you know foresight to make sure there was a lot of open space and they're taking care of it in the right way, and therefore they're number 13, which is amazing for them.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Always surprising me to see Plano so high. Tego, do you want to take a crack at number two?

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yes. It could be uh any of the Texas cities, right? Yes. Because I don't know if this is like number two, but I know unfortunately that Dallas sat ahead of us. As well as Arlington, which I tend to love. And Frisco.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Yeah, those are those are all Dallas.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

They're all Dallas area, so they're doing something right in the Dallas uh Dallas area.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Carving Dallas up into lots of little park districts. Subdistricts.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

So yeah, I thought that was surprising. And I think especially Colin, you kind of touched on that. Plano, Frisco, Arlington, you know, they're more we think of them more as like suburban areas, much lower population. Definitely. Um but then you have a a large area like Dallas, which has significantly more acres of parkland than Austin. And you know, they're doing something right. So lots of room to grow and learn from our Texas comrades. Maybe we'll see them at greater and greater. Well, it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

I mean, you know, it's funny. Dallas did this thing a bunch of years ago where uh they sort of vacated some space over a freeway and made this thing called the Clyde Clyde Warren Park, where they basically built a park over the freeway. And it's in kind of in the middle of Dallas, and it's um it's really cool. It's such a unique thing uh that used to be nothing and now it's this like great green space. And you know, you look at what's happening in Austin right now with I-35 and all this discussion about building a park over I-35, like you can look directly at Dallas and see kind of the the roots of that idea where they've done it successfully.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

So that's so interesting. I had no idea. I didn't either. Am I gonna have to go to Dallas? Am I not giving them enough credit? That's what I'm wondering.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

Like it's worth a visit if you're there. I don't know that I'd advise you to go to Dallas just to see it, but if you happen to be in Dallas for other reasons, yeah, it's definitely worth going to.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Maybe I need to go to Dallas for the parks, check out the park aspect of it. Because I'd never think of it.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

You can go to the Texas OU game and then go see this. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

And I can go to the fairs in Dallas for that week.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

I can go to the Manil and see some cool art show. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Colin, you've got us dialed in with the recommendations.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Like driving up by a 35. You may want to skip that part.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Oh, I know special temple just perpetually under construction. Anyway. Special bonus question. Oh. I think Colin may have already guessed this. Sorry. What city ranked number one in 2026?

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Oh this is a big topic of conversation at our meeting, and it was Washington, DC.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Which to me, again, I was surprised by because I thought San Francisco was gonna take it with their 100% access, but that just goes to show you there's a lot more that goes in the park score. I know.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Well, DC has so much federally protected land and federal parks right there in the middle of the middle of DC.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

So I know I went to their botanical garden and I like stayed there all day.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Atlanta, Atlanta has a crazy botanical garden if you ever get it.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

I've never I've never been to Atlanta.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

They have this whole orchid, um, indoor orchid section that has like every kind of orchid you could ever imagine. It's insane. Wait, my god. I had no idea there were so many varieties of orchids. Atlanta. It's very cool. The Atlanta Botanical Garden. Worth a visit.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

That's awesome. There's one north of Chicago that's similar. We took my grandma there because you want to see a lot of orchids, you could just go in my grandma's living room, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Wait, I love if you want to see a lot of dead orchids, you should come over to our house because we can kill those things like nobody's.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

No, her watering schedule is it's it's they're a fickle mistress. Detail. It is a workout because you are walking 20 plus plants from one room to this room to do. Well, that's how she stays so sprized. She truly is. It's her workout. I know, at 85 doing that, yeah. Shout out to your grandmother.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Okay, great trivia question. So one of our amazing supporters, Vanessa Lucky, has started a business. She will bring your orchids back to life. Like, you know how you get those pretty orchids for like some party or something, and then it dies and you just like throw it away. Yeah. Like Poinsett is. She will she will bring them back to life because she's the orchid whisperer. She's making it.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Is this really something she's it's a thing?

SPEAKER_03 28:22

She has a whole like orchid business. Shout it out. She's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

That is cool. Shouts to Vanessa Lucky.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

She's like, she can bring them back from the dead.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm going to have to remember that.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

I always threatened to bring all of mine over to her house and she's like, uh, no thanks.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

You're just going to show up with a wagot. Okay. Well, Taylor, Colin, I did not keep score. Which one of you feels like you won?

SPEAKER_03 28:44

I feel like Taylor won.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Oh, I'm I feel like I'm going to have to say Colin too.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Taylor's is more authentic. I I have to know this. Taylor actually learned something.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Listener, if you would like to learn more about Trust for Public Land or Austin's Park Score, you can visit TPL.org slash parkscore. We'll also link to that webpage in the episode description. So you can check it out. For sure. And now it's time for the bulletin board. Colin, I really don't remember if we did that on our first episode. Okay. But it's always my favorite to see people's reactions. We could run it back if you want to join.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Well, I'm happy to plug our um what we're calling summer fitness park series with habitat retreats. Good. Every Friday morning now through September 4th. You can join us for sunrise yoga and a cold plunge at Barton Springs every Friday, 7 a.m. at Zilker Park. I saw this in person last year and was blown away. I've never seen that many people doing yoga all at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Oh, you've got to get out again.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

It is so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

There's more. It's a huge group now.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

It's crazy. And then, like, if you've never jumped into Barton Springs to start your day in the summer, there is no better way. I need to truly. And it's free before eight o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

And we get we they do. They'll get you over there before 8 a.m.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Get in before it costs money, and it's a great way to start your day. Get your core temperature down a little bit. Keep you a little cooler.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

The Zilker Eagle Mini Train has started. Extended summer hours. Now through August 17th, the train will be open one hour later, but that's until 6 45 p.m. We will also host summer free ride days to mark special holidays and occasions in the park this summer. You can visit uh zilkertrain.org to learn more and to plan your visit. And follow at ZilkerEagle on Facebook and Instagram for the most updated train operating info.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

And we have a community volunteer event Saturday, June 27th at Springdale Neighborhood Park. You can join our amazing volunteer team from 9 a.m. to eleven AM for a morning of litter cleanup around the park. Remember to bring plenty of water to stay hydrated out there. It is warm. Very and you can find more information on this and all of our upcoming events by visiting Austinparks.org/slash event dash calendar.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

We also want to give a special shout out to two of our amazing co-workers for graduating recently from their Leadership Austin cohort. I love this.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Yes, congratulations to our senior events and partnerships manager, Caitlin Denham, and our volunteer manager, Robin Lee Gallegos, for taking the step and their leadership journey.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

We're so proud of them.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Way to go. Shout out to Leadership Austin.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

And finally, I, Susie, want to shout out our amazing producer and colleague Taylor for her upcoming four-year anniversary at ACT.

SPEAKER_03 31:46

This is when we start chanting four more years. Four more years.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

More years, forever.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Taylor, I can't believe you've been here four years. That's so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

I can blow your mind again because you know what? Susie, uh seven days after myself, will have been here for four years as well. Within a week of each other.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Literally.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

And it's just been the greatest four years of her life, right, Colin. Oh, okay. And then, of course, thank you to Colin for being our very first repeat guest and number one park nerd. Thanks for coming on the pod.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

I need a t-shirt that says number one park nerd. Don't play because I will make it.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Colin's work anniversary is coming up too. Oh my gosh. Wait, it's true.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

I can't believe I missed this.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

July 1st, I think. King. How many? 14 years. 14 years.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

A whole I had to get here 10 years early to get things ready for y'all.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

I was gonna say, how did you survive for 14 years?

SPEAKER_03 32:45

It took a long time to get things ready to roll. Got it just right so that y'all could come on board.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

And we so appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

We have so many. It's we're so lucky here. We have so many great people to work with.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

I'm not joking when I say all the time, y'all are gonna have to pry this job out of my hands.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

She has said that many, many times. All right, that is gonna do it for this month's pod. But hey, are you enjoying our podcast? Maybe you want to hear some more ASMR?

SPEAKER_01 33:15

You're plugging that again.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

I am. Let us know by leaving a five-star review and sharing people of the parks with your friends. I've been told recently that we're the perfect length for your morning commute. So there's that. And as always, you can connect with us on social media at Austin Parks FDN. We love to see what you're doing out in the park, so show us how you're spending your summer.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Until next time, we'll see you outside.