Catherine Flowers, District 4 representative to the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Board, spoke to the Bond Election Advisory Task Force as a private citizen and urged the task force to consider funding senior-center needs—particularly at Gus Garcia Senior Center—when the task force develops its bond recommendations.

Flowers described Gus Garcia Senior Center as serving a large number of seniors in North Austin, many living below the poverty line, and said the Parks and Recreation Board’s gap analysis identified North Austin as having low capacity for senior programming. "If we were gonna place funding somewhere for a new senior center, that it should likely be in North Austin," Flowers said, and she referenced a Parks and Recreation Board recommendation (20231127-2) she had provided to staff.

She said the seniors’ group at Gus Garcia has advocated for more space for senior programming, particularly because summer camps reduce available space for older-adult activities. Flowers said she would follow up with statistics and additional documents and that the Parks and Recreation Board recommendation had been provided to the task force liaison.

Why it matters: speakers told the task force that North Austin has limited senior-center capacity and that adding or expanding senior facilities would address overcrowding and service gaps for low-income seniors. The request links an identified gap study and an existing Parks and Recreation Board recommendation to the bond planning process.

What was not decided: This was public comment and an advocacy ask; no staff cost estimates, site proposals or formal commitment from the task force were recorded during the meeting.

Provenance: Catherine Flowers’ remarks appear in the public-comment segment; first related remarks at transcript block starting 644.935 and final related remarks at transcript block starting 841.38.