› Two Steps Brackward The ongoing campaign to save the Lions Municipal Golf Course took a blow last week when the University of Texas System Board of Regents voted not to renew the city of Austin’s lease on the West Austin landmark. At their Feb. 18 meeting, the regents backed an earlier proposal from their Brackenridge Tract advisory body not to enter into any new negotiations when the current lease expires in 2019, and control defaults back to UT. The decision falls in line with the university’s highly controversial plan to remove the golf course, the Brackenridge Field Lab, and the existing graduate apartments from the 345-acre site and turn it into a new mixed-used development (“Muny Isn’t Part of UT’s Grand Plans,” June 26, 2009). Opponents of the plan, such as the Save Muny group, have criticized UT for preparing to close the oldest desegregated golf course south of the Mason-Dixon Line and further reducing the amount of Downtown green space. – Richard Whittaker
This article appears in February 25 • 2011.