Well, this is just tragic. The 360 Bridge Overlook - one of the iconic views in Austin - has no caretakers.
It has thousands of visitors, but few "friends."
The pics above are what the 360 Bridge Overlook offers at its best. And the pic below of all that trash is the what the lower access area looks like most of the time.
I made some calls, and because the bluffs are in fact private property, the Austin parks department doesn't have any authority or resources to apply there.
Austin police this past week have begun enforcing the parking restrictions along Hwy 360 below the Overlook. This might lower the number of visitors at the Overlook, but it won't deal at all with the trash problem.
We all know that part of the Overlook’s charm is the lack of infrastructure. But untamed is one thing. Unkempt is another.
The litter is this bad or worse the entire length of the parking area on the western Overlook.
I'm up on the Overlook often (as this blog shows), and as our worst-kept secret has gotten more attention, it has also gotten badly abused. It has really gone downhill in the last couple years. The spot is one that tourists seek out (of course!), and it's now almost always fouled with litter.
The amount of trash in the (illegal) parking area is off putting and ought to be embarrassing for the jerks who dump it (of course it's not).
But for those of us who claim to be proud of our city, it's not only shameful, it ought to make us really cranky.
Last year my family started making a habit of cleaning up the Overlook whenever the litter gets too bad to ignore. But the place is too big for just us, and human nature is too relentlessly trash-dumpy.
Today, my son Noah and I again went armed with trash bags, trash pickers, and gloves and waged our futile little war. We collected almost four bags of hipster self-absorption in just the couple hours we had to work. I'm sure they made more this afternoon.
¡WE NEED HELP TO GET THE LITTER UNDER CONTROL!
It looks like our little commons is up to us to protect.
And so I'm putting out a call for a voluntary care-taking effort: Friends of the Austin 360 Overlook.
At the moment, the membership is....well, it's me and my two kids. So, we're recruiting new Friends.
Requirements for membership include: be not currently in prison, own a pair of gloves, able to open a contractor bag, and willing to pick up used diapers, condoms, fast food leftovers, old Christmas decorations, beer cans, beer bottles, beer boxes, actual beer, etc.
A small contribution of time can have a remarkable impact. My son I left a noticeable dent in a couple hours. Just go be a friend because the Overlook needs some!