Hello and thank you for your interest in our Parks.
The MANOR COUNTRY CLUB is an IDEA. There is no clubhouse currently. And there’s next to nothing in our parks. HOWEVER... Manor has $478,700 in our Park Funds that can ONLY be spent in the parks. It’s non-taxpayer funds. It comes from the Developers when they put in a subdivision, or apartments, or townhomes, etc. at the current rate of $550 per home. I’ve seen receipts for $962,000. Guess what’s been budgeted for Fiscal Year 22-23... NOTHING! Why is that?
The MANOR COUNTRY CLUB is just US going to our parks that are filled with things to do. It’s the Country Club FOR THE PEOPLE! And it’s FREE.
The City Council hasn’t put a park bench in Bell Farms in seven years. They haven’t put even one bench or picnic table in the “Art Park” in three years. The City has over $63,000 for LIGHTS in Timmermann Park and they haven’t put ONE LIGHT in ~ in three years!
Myself and two others once offered to put a 9-hole DISC GOLF Course in Timmermann Park in December FOR FREE; and the Manor’s City Council never even said “thank you” and we still don’t have the Disc Golf course there despite it being in the “approved” master plan from 2016!
Let’s take a collective look in the mirror folks. Despite the Council’s claims, Manor is NOT a “Regional Leader with Exceptional Services...” (and all the rest of the nonsense fluff in the City’s “Vision Statement.”) As everyone plainly knows, Manor is basically pretty ho hum (with HUGE potential).
We have an “under achieving” Council (for years and years) and an apathetic citizenry. When I try to encourage people to go to City Hall and advocate for progress and park improvements, the attitude is “why bother?” Unless we change this dynamic, we are doomed to mediocrity or “slower than molasses” progress. We need to make the leap of faith and become very PRO-ACTIVE!
Note to self: Our kids ARE ONLY YOUNG ONCE! What are we waiting on? We could be having soccer games, ping pong tournaments, radio car races, bocce leagues, basketball games, pickle ball... and then ~ our kids have a REASON to get off the couch, and off their VIDEOGAMES and iPhones. They have a MECHANISM that encourages the entire family to get out of the house and INTERACT with their neighbors in a positive, productive and healthy way.
This a chance for people to improve their parenting skills. The “problems” in the schools are not the fault of the teachers - they are mainly the fault of the parents. How do we improve parenting skills? By giving people a chance to interact and be around good role models. Not by two people saying “hi” at an HEB or Walmart. It has to be repetition as in a 10-week soccer league. Over several years. (Kids are of course responsible for their own behaviors, and education can always be improved.)
And by the way, parks are NOT JUST FOR KIDS. Adults and seniors benefit greatly. The Bocce Players have made many friends and connections over the last two years. A couple of people have gotten jobs thru the networking. It’s exercise. It’s nature. It’s fresh air. It’s belonging. It’s been transformational for some. Yet the City has been unable to finish the 8’ surrounding the courts in 3 years. We’ve been LOCKED OUT for 8 MONTHS. CITY CLAIMS its a “Public Health Hazard” TOTAL BS.
The Manor Country Club is simply us and all of our Parks filled with as much cool things as WE can put in ‘em. It’s open to City of Manor residents and all of Greater Manor.
The adjacent SWING SET & SLIDE are more dangerous! It’s ironic because these courts are the ONLY thing that is a Regional Leader in this community; yet we can’t start league play because the City has been unable to give us a fee structure that works.
(I’ve started three bocce leagues. The one in Santa Rosa CA begun in 2009, now has over 600 people playing five nights a week on five courts and having a blast. Many have become close friends and are still involved 13 years later! It has changed people lives for the better. The City there charged us NOTHING for the first two years. They wanted people to use the parks.)
Please read bit.ly/boccefutures to learn more about the second most played sport in the world (after soccer). See the antique Bocce paintings from the 1800’s at end Page 64.
On the FUN side of things:
Sit down with the kids and go thru this. Talk about the different sports. Talk about the Parks. Most people have NO IDEA that we even have all these parks. We have a one-mile Nature Trail that is fantastic! (Sorry, half our parks aren’t even on the City website - how would you know about them?)
Talk about the Berry Patch and the Community Gardens and the dog runs. (Yes, separate ones for BIG and for small dogs. No bullying allowed. Small dogs can play in peace. That’s a relief.)
A Tennis Court that’s also a Pickleball Court that’s also a Volleyball Court that’s also a Badminton Court... at Bell Farms Park. (or elsewhere)
I’d suggest you get the kids Membership Cards too. If the 8-year says “wow” and the 12-year old says “yawn”... the 8-year old gets a card now with a low number. In two years, the 14-year old changes his mind and his membership is much higher. Oh well. I think that’s fun. And it’s an on-gonig meaningful conversation.
It also gets them (and yourselves) more involved in the civic discussion. “How do we these things done Mom?” “Good question, son?” you say. “it works like this...” And so on. But it has practical results. If a goodly number of us start becoming more involved - especially with easy “no-brainers” like improving the parks... we will become a Regional Leader. We will have “things to do.” We will meet and get to know our neighbors. We will FEEL that sense of belonging and community.
Our blood pressure will go down, stress will be vented - and our happiness and quality of life WILL GO UP UP UP!
p.s. Do I have to join? No. Not really. The parks are open to the public. It’s all about having fun, improving our lives and BECOMING ADVOCATES for the Parks. We can add whatever value we want. For instance, you might get an email saying “the blackberries at the Timmermann Park Berry Patch are really juicy right now. Bring the kids and pick a few.”
Or, “Hey the Radio Car Club is having Dragster Races this afternoon. Check it out. Carriage Hills.”
It’s on US... so let’s it do it right. Let’s become the Manor that our destiny deserves!
We’ve had $63,000 for LIGHTS in Timmermann Park for almost THREE YEARS. What are we waiting on? Why are we depriving our children AND ourselves?
NOTE: When looking at the site plan maps, Please go “full-screen” and then use the slider at the lower RIGHT of your screen to ZOOM way in.
Table of Contents
Addtl Sports and Other Amenities include: Junior Soccer, 8 Washers, 2 Ping Pong Tables, Drone Flying, Large and Small Dog Runs, Multi-fruit Trees, Berry Patch, benches, picnic tables, grills, lights...
Art Park.
Here is my Concept Plan for Art Park. (Most of it is currently a dirt lot with nothing in it.)
With the addition of a big stage with a “railroad themed” canopy, the Art Park can be a often used space for concerts, meetings, presentations and plays. The benches, tables and amenities are designed for fun AND business. During SXSW, the space would be rented almost every night and generate on-going revenue.
It has a chalk garden for kids, dart boards, stylish benches and shade; plus high-tables for laptops. When a group rents this space, they will take their breaks and have activities at our nearby parks; including:
1) Timmermann Park - with its Bocce Courts and Disc Golf Course;
2) Jennie Lane Park with its Pickleball and Sand Volleyball Courts; and
3) Manor’s Woodlands Park with its one-mile Howdy Way Nature Trail
We have very nice toll roads that can shuttle bus loads of eager conventioneers from all over Austin and the nearby cities. When it’s not rented... we use the space for poetry readings, local band concerts, high school theater...etc. etc.
Remember: We have some $800,000+ for Parks; (nontaxpayer funds that MUST be spent on Parks)
We also have over $700,000 in H.O.T. Funds. These Hotel Occupancy Funds are designed to bring overnight stays at our local hotels. The railroad themed canopy should be built with these funds. We could put a visitor center here.
Let’s put a bunch of unusual trees in here.
ALISON BAYLIS, Regional Urban Ecologist I, Urban & Community Forestry Texas A&M Forest Service sent me these links to CENTRAL TEXAS Fruit and Nut trees. WOW. We have a lot of variety to choose from.
I’d like to plant 150 trees in our city as a present for our 150th B-day.
Front: https://austinenergy.com/.../fruitAndNutGrowingGuide.pdf...
Back: https://www.austintexas.gov/.../2_8_12_fruit_nut_tree...
Fruit Trees for Art Park
Mexican Plum
Jujube
Kumquat
Che
Escarpment Black Cherry
Loquat
Pawpaw
Mulberry
Let’s Play Bocce • Juguemos Bocce
I don’t see a single disc basket. Three people in the community have offered to donate an entire 9-hole Disc Golf course which they have re-desgned for free (inc all the baskets and concrete tee-sites). These gentlemen are Zach from mintdiscs.com and James from reloaddisccs.com - both are Manor companies. I was going to do all the signage for the cost of materials. Watch the video at http://bit.ly/ManorDisc
NOTE: For some unknown reason, the City has added a CENTER TURN lane on RING ROAD. The result of this is that we LOST some 50 parking places for the Park!?!? What’s the point of having a park that NO ONE can go to... this MUST be changed.
This will give you a better idea of how the mini-golf suggested for the upper part of Timmermann Park (north of Ring Rd) would look. It’s free for everyone to play unless it’s rented out by the City for parties or events.
Most cities like to have parks that can generate revenue to help with maintenance costs especially.
Perhaps, we’ll just have a couple of dozen old putters and a basket of colored balls there for people to use. Otherwise, bring your own from home.
The buildings will be 2-3’ tall replicas of our local landmarks. The “fairways” will have bends and angles; plus hills, humps and valleys. Lights are solar powered “smart lights” that have motion detectors and timers. The yellow circles are bollard lights (short ones) for walkways. The orange colored elements are multi-fruit trees, or other trees.
Gocce is bocce played on a miniature golf course. You get extra points or half-points if a ball goes into the cup. Patent pending.
Note that the Zip Line would be an outside vendor. I’d give them the same 50% sales tax rebate that Manor is giving other developers for 10-20 years to recoup their upfront costs. Imagine being up on the platform looking down on 290 crawling slowly below. And then... ZOOM you’re soaring out over the park for half a mile. You can weigh up to 250 pounds and still partake.
Here’s my plan for LIGHTS: We’ve had over $100,000 specifically for lights in Timmermann Park for THREE YEARS!! and not ONE light has been put in. Of course, that’s just as well since they wouldn’t have known where to put them; and they probably would have been “old school” hard-wired dumb lights. These lights are solar powered smart lights with dimmers and motion detection. They’re $4,000 each for the more decorative ones and $3000 for the plain vanilla. When the development around the north end of the park is finished - that total available will be $161,000.
If you haven’t enjoyed playing sports under the lights on a cool evening ~ or even taken a nice brisk walk... you don’t know what you’re missing!
These are examples of Multi-fruit trees. 3-4 different varieties are GRAFTED onto the “root stock.”
Robert at Veterans Wall.
