Among the items on the city Parks and Recreation Board agenda Tuesday night (Oct. 25) was an item entitled “The Future of Hancock Golf Course.” The backup materials from the Parks and Recreation Department noted that “Hancock Golf Course has not generated enough revenue to cover the obligations of the course in the last several years” and announced “the City has begun a Community Engagement Process to determine the future of Hancock Golf Course.” The structure of their process is revealing. Note that at each step, the department intends to set the policy and then involve the Parks Board and City Council, the supposed policy-setting public bodies:

1) Engage the Golf Advisory Group.

2) Inform Parks and Rec Board of the process.

3) Engage the neighborhood and community and special interest groups.

4) Report findings of community engagement to the Parks and Rec Board.

5) The Parks and Recreation Department will make a final determination of how best to utilize the park.

6) Report the findings of the community engagement process to the Parks and Rec Board and
City Council.

7) The Parks and Rec Department will develop a plan to implement desired changes.

This from the department which recently wanted to privatize two rec centers because it claimed it couldn’t manage them as efficiently as private operators would. See the full document at www.cityofaustin.org/cityclerk/boards_commissions/meetings/39_1.htm.

This article appears in The 1%.

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