I am still in Telluride with my family, where we have been completely immersed in the outdoors. It has been a delight to see the joy our kids experience as they play in the woods, discover wild raspberries and worms (see below), and explore all around them. Being here has made me feel poetic about the outdoors and summer, so I wanted to share this wonderful poem, The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver (click on title; it's ever better if you listen to Garrison Keillor read it).
Not much can compete with what parks and open spaces offer children in terms of cognitive, social, and motor development, in addition to all-around physical and emotional well-being.
On the City of Austin front, our City Council is in the midst of deciding what to put on a November bond ballot for a host of items, including parks and public open space. The Council is also about to adopt the City's budget for the next fiscal year. Unfortunately, for both these items there is a dismal amount proposed to increase access to parks and public open space. Currently, 63% of Austin's inner-city residents do not have walking distant access to a public park. This is in contrast to cities like Minneapolis (99%), Boston (97%), Denver (90%), Seattle (79%), and Chicago (90%). Austin also ranks 65th in the country in per capita spending on parks operations and maintenance. Other related stats can be found in the City's Urban Parks Workgroup report. More on this topic in future blogs, but now is the time to speak out to Austin City Council members about the bonds ballot and city budget to ensure that all Austin children have access to great outdoor spaces.
 |
| Finding raspberries in the woods |
 |
| The joy of finding a worm! |
No comments:
Post a Comment