Reopening Austin

City of Austin reopening 9 neighborhood pools and other key amenities

Warby Parker Summer 2017 Haskell sunglasses

Some pools will reopen in June — but stay apart.

Photo courtesy of Warby Parker

Update: This story has been updated with the confirmed list of opening pools and additional information about Barton Springs and Deep Eddy.

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The City of Austin announced the reopening plan for some of its biggest amenities — including pools, libraries, and animal services — beginning as early as next week.

During a May 29 virtual press conference led by City Manager Spencer Crock and featuring leaders from Austin Parks and Recreation and Austin Public Libraries, among others, the city laid a timeline for some key attractions.

City of Austin workers
The City of Austin will slowly begin welcoming employees on June 1, though most non-essential workers may remain working from home. The health risk, said Deputy City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, will be reassessed every 28 days beginning now for the foreseeable future, and adjusted accordingly.

As for the future of city workers telecommuting, the deputy city manager said she imagines those numbers will continue to grow, calling it a "revelation" how productivity increased under the Stay Home/Work Smart mandate.

Austin public pools
Nine Austin-area pools will begin reopening this month, though Deep Eddy and Barton Springs are not included. On Cronk's May 29 memo to Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council, it does say that when the two pools reopen, it's suggested they be on limited schedules, with Barton Springs closed Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and Deep Eddy closed Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday.

"I'm aware — very much so — of how valuable the Parks and Recreation Department is to many community members," said Kimberly McNeely, director of Austin Parks and Recreation, "and how it plays a vital role in physical health, in mental health, and spiritual health."

Once open, pool-goers must adhere to social distancing rules, which will be enforced. The following pools will reopen in the coming weeks under a limited schedule:

Govalle — June 1 (no lap lanes; closed Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday)
Rosewood — June 1 (lap lane; closed Sunday, Wednesday, Friday)
Shipe — June 1 (no lap lanes; closed Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday)
Big Stacy — June 2 (lap swim only weekdays, recreational swim only weekends; closed Monday, Friday, Saturday)
Mabel Davis— June 5 (two long-course lap lanes; closed Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)
Northwest — June 5 (six lap lanes; closed Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday)
Walnut Creek — June 5 (three lap lanes; closed Monday, Wednesday, Saturday)
Bartholomew — June 6 (no slide, lap lanes only; closed Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
Garrison— June 6 (two long-course lap lanes; closed Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

PARD swim teams will be canceled this summer, and splash pads will also remain closed. McNeely noted that splash pads are not considered pools, but rather grouped in the same category as playgrounds, water parks, and other places with "multiple touch points."

"We're in a position to make additional amenities available to the public," she said, noting that city-owned tennis courts, basketball courts, and parts of the Zilker Botanical Garden could also open soon.

Austin Public Libraries
Austin Public Libraries will open its book and media drops on June 1, and Director of Libraries Roosevelt Weeks encouraged Austinites to begin returning the more than 200,000 items that are currently outstanding. Once those are returned, the items will be quarantined for 72 hours before being lended back out.

Weeks also announced that curbside lending service will begin June 8 at the following 10 branches:

Austin Central Library
Manchaca
Ruiz
Southeast
Carver
Windsor Park
University Hills
Millwood
North Village
Spicewood Springs

Austin Animal Center
The Austin Animal Center has taken in more than 900 animals over the past 10 weeks, according to Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland. Of those, he says, 763 have been placed in foster, and more than 400 have been adopted.

Beginning June 1, AAC will begin welcoming two potential adopters per hour (and only two family members per group). New pet owners must fill out a form on the website and will receive a time to come into the East Austin facility. Once there, each person will have their temperature checked and must wear a mask and maintain social distancing guidelines while in the building.

City Code
Interim assistant director Daniel Word noted that the cashier's office will be the first Austin Code Office amenity to open. It will be operating on June 1 and will be open daily from 8 am-4 pm. The licensing and registration office will open on June 15 for things such as short-term rental, billboard, private waste haulers, etc.

openings

Red Light

San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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