The Downs/Mabson Project
Downs/Mabson Fields are part of Boggy Creek Park, which borders Boggy Creek in Central East Austin. Both fields are bordered by Boggy Creek on the West and North, Alexander Avenue on the East, 12th Street on the South. Mabson field is right on 12th Street, and is home of the Huston-Tillotson baseball team, and is also used by various adult community baseball teams. Downs field just north of Mabson, and is used by Little League and Pee-wee baseball, softball and football teams. During the sports season, both fields become hubs for community sportsmanship and recreation, and on a game night, sportsfans and families spill out into Alexander Avenue as they support their teams.
View of park sign and 12th Street/Alexander Ave intersection
Click here to see pictures of the current state of the park.
Area residents in the Rosewood Neighborhood Planning Team are working on a park improvement project. While the fields themselves are maintained by the city, we would like to beautify the adjacent areas. Currently, much of the park area around the fields is open scrub grass or dirt fields. The parking area is not separated from the dirt and grass area, which increases vehicle traffic on the grass. The view of the park from 12th Street is barren, with few trees or bushes. Area residents hope that landscaping could be designed to increase shade and invite pedestrians to walk or rest in this currently underutilized space. We have some grant money available to fund this project, and are now working on a landscape plan. We seek assistance from landscape architects to design a xeriscaped plant streetscape and also from contractors who can create a grantite gravel parking area. We hope to have a final improvement plan in place by summer 2006.
The plan continues to evolve as we get information about what improvements are within our budget. Click here to download notes from a recent meeting on this project (MS Word file.) The next meeting to discuss park improvements will be held on Tuesday, May 9th, 6pm at Carver Library. Currently, the main improvements we are currently considering include:
