Southwest Austin Real Estate Blog

Hamilton Pool Reopens to Swimmers Today

Austin's famous Hamilton Pool reopens to the public today, May 1, after closing last year due to separate drowning incidents that occurred in the famous tourist spot in 2016. The natural pool located at 24300 Hamilton Pool Road in Dripping Springs was a favorite local attraction where Austinites can visit to beat the gruelling heat of summer until authorities decided to close down the park to determine how to best mitigate future drownings after two consecutive drownings occurred.

The Travis County Park Department reopened the pool with additional safety features offered to the visiting public. Loaner life jackets in varying sizes are offered at the pool entrance, and throw rings have been placed around the pool for easy access in case of an emergency. The effort was made to ensure that visitors planning to escape Austin's typical summer heat would be safe from any untoward incident while enjoying the natural water formation.

Authorities also reiterated that they may close the pool at certain times to check the water quality, especially if high bacteria counts are present. To make sure that you enjoy the day you set for your outing to the area, please make reservations ahead. The official website where you can check out the latest Hamilton Pool updates and make reservations can be accessed here.

Are you planning on taking a trip to Hamilton Pool? Do you think the safety features provided by the authorities are sufficient to keep tourists safe? Let us know your thoughts! Also, please feel free to share this article to your friends! Have a fun outing this upcoming summer season!

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Learn About Austin's Strategic Initiatives for 2017 Here

The Austin Neighborhoods Council outlined four strategic initiatives for 2017 in its monthly meeting held last Wednesday, April 26. 

This year's strategic initiatives are:

1. CodeNEXT - the redevelopment of the city's land use code is the priority of the ANC.

2. The ANC wants to have “a clear, equitable and metric/data-driven land use regulation that adequately addresses problems such as affordability, displacement and lack of public input.” Developing such a system will be discussed in next month's meeting.

3. The ANC also wanted to prioritize the creation of a department of neighborhoods within city government. ANC also insisted that the Austin City Council should publish a tabulated record of council member votes after each council meeting, for transparency.

4. Lastly, the topic of affordable housing has been brought forth for further discussion by the council in efforts to recognize the magnitude of the problem and how it can be solved through community-level intervention. The initiative calls for "result-driven policies for improving affordability for everyone," with special consideration to families living at the 50% limit of median family income.

Interested to know more about the other topics discussed in the last meeting? You can access the article that first appeared in Community Impact Newspaper here. What are your thoughts on the initiatives listed by the ANC? Let us know your opinion in the comments!

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