"We have moved in the last eight years from 65 percent of our community having access [to parks] to now 70 percent," Alter said. "But we still have more people that don't have the ability to walk to a park, where they can enjoy fresh air, exercise or just be out in nature. We believe that it's important to quality of life and to the health of our community."
"We know these properties can serve the functions they were originally purchased for, but they can also be improved and opened to the public for recreation," she said.
Acquiring park space in Austin has been increasingly challenging as funding becomes limited and a state law has changed the way cities dedicate parkland.
With Thursday's vote, the Parks and Recreation Department will be able to plan the next steps with the community regarding how the properties can be improved and open to public use.
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