[Steve Barnick]

Zoila,

You make it all sound so complicated.

I got involved in FBSP because I wanted to spend more time at the pool. I have succeeded in that although I spend more time as a volunteer and advocate these days than a swimmer.

FBSP goal of educating the citizens of Austin by sponsoring volunteering cleaning efforts at the pool so that we can better understand and communicate the issues of BSP.  Another goal is to maintain a focus of our efforts to be inside the fence specifically the grounds, the pool, and the facility. This has been a challenge and there are some obvious exceptions but it is still a valid.

FBSP advocates under the premise that more is accomplished in a cooperative atmosphere with the people responsible for the pool, the salamander, and the facility surrounding BSP. Our accomplishments in getting a resolution for developing a plan, short term project funding and adoption of a master plan approved in the span of 3 years is proof that this method is successful.

There are some very real challenges for maintaining BSP for the future. As more people begin to use this facility there needs to be infrastructure such as paths, better lighting, increased efficiencies in cleaning and maintenance that are being addressed with the grounds improvement project. I happen to like what I am seeing at this stage of the project and like FBSP are in full support of moving this forward to actually getting it done somewhere close to the short term project time frame of 3-5 years. 

The master plan sets out to address the 10-20 year projects that are needed to insure the future of the pool. FBSP is actively advocating that funding in next years bond election be dedicated to some of these long term goals. We hope to accomplish this by volunteering, and advocating based on the principles that I have explained above.

It is that simple.

Respectfully,

Steve

--- In barton...@yahoogroups.com, "Zoila Vega-Marchena" <zvega@...> wrote:
>
> Steve,
> You will never understand because you role is to blindly support anything in
> the Master Plan as perfect, even when you are presented with the mistakes
> (removal of 28 heritage trees, bypass tunnel).  Your role is to claim credit
> for anything and everything.  You are the PR guy for FBSP.  Not to say that
> you don’t contribute, but other do as well but they go unrecognized because
> it’s not convenient to the FBSP cause.  And the FBSP cause is NOT to protect
> the pool, but to promote itself as the pool organization while actually it’s
> nothing but a political machine that does NOT protect the pool and does NOT
> inform the real stakeholders, the swimmers and users of the pool.  The only
> ones that know what FBSP plans to do are the members of their board and
> their political supporters.
>
> You should applaud the efforts of the people who are making this plan
> happen, but some of the ones you list are not participating actively while
> many others who are were not included.  It is not city council.  City
> council sees the larger too far away picture, and supports the idea of
> providing funds to improve the pool, but they don’t know the details.  It is
> not FBSP.  FBSP supported every failed and non-failed project as long as it
> was in the Master Plan.  If it was up to FBSP, there would be no heritage
> trees left, and the bypass tunnel would have shut down the pool for months
> at the price of $4M instead of the $2M that it will cost now.  It is not the
> environmental board alone, but also the Parks board, rather the Joint
> Committee, setup by city council.  It is also PARD, Watershed and many other
> non-profits like the Austin Heritage Tree Foundation, Barton Springs public
> Process, SOS, and many individuals and companies, like Don Gardner, Bartlett
> Trees, many other arborists, many civil engineers and architects that
> provided advice, etc., none of them affiliated with FBSP, none of them
> approached by FBSP, but approached by the remaining large amount of BSP
> stakeholders that continue to remain unrecognized.
>
> I posted the link to the 60% BSP Grounds Improvement presentations weeks
> ago.  I asked PARD for the audio to be posted and I posted the link to the
> audio in this forum.  You keep on repeating that link as if it was something
> new.  It is good to remind people of it, and it’s good to ask people to read
> the presentations posted there.  But, I posted that link weeks ago to inform
> the BSP stakeholders of the proposed changes.
>
> Zoila  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: barton...@yahoogroups.com [mailto:barton...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Steve Barnick
> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 9:56 PM
> To: Karen Kreps
> Cc: Barton Springs; Zilker; FBSP-Google Listserv
> Subject: [bartonsprings] Re: Grounds improvement 60% presentation
>
>  
> Karen,
> I will never understand why this is not a good thing with you and the group
> of folks around you. I like what I am seeing with the design at this stage.
> I am actively advocating for and am in full support of what is being done. I
> applaud the support of city council, the efforts of FBSP, PARD,
> Environmental Board, Joint Subcommittee, Watershed and the contractors that
> are working to make this happen. I believe that this is a good balance of
> development and keeping the rural feel of the south side along with
> recognizing the challenges of increased usage and maintaining the grounds to
> a higher standard. I am really jazzed about the notion of finally preventing
> flood waters from entering the pool from that parking lot and soccer field
> area.
>
> This is a short term project that has a limited scope and funding for
> improvements inside the fence with some exceptions. My hopes are that as
> more of the master plan is discussed long term issues like parking, mass
> transit to/from the pool and improvements to the facilities will be funded
> and implemented in the future.
> 
> Here is the link:
> http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/bartonspringsmp.htm
>
> I encourage everyone to check out the link for these presentations. I was
> able to listen to the first presentation and follow along using the
> documentation with little or no problem. The second presentation had some
> added detail that made it even more understandable. I am not sure when the
> second presentation both audio and visual presentation will be available but
> again I encourage everyone to check it out.
>
> Respectfully,
> Steve
> ***************************
>

[Steve Barnick]

Have a great holiday!

Steve