I'm actually in favor of developing some parks. I'd rather have density than a park that's hardly ever used and is costly to maintain. I realize I'm in the minority with this opinion. Obviously, we need some parks, but how many? It's easy to go overboard with the parks. Especially in a city like Austin. They spread the city out and make it feel suburban. A medical school can do a lot of good.
But this doesn't even seem like it's going to affect the park very much.
Notice that the academic building is directly south of Cooley Pavilion and the hospital is mostly in place of what was previously Red River Street. All this is doing is developing part of the Frank Erwin Center parking lot and the UT tennis courts. Small parts of Centennial Park look like they will be affected, but for the most part the park seems like it will be unscathed. Are we really so religiously and zealously NIMBYish about parks that we're unwilling to even sacrifice small parts of them in order to build a state of the art medical school? If so, I would have to ask why?
I like this plan. I think it's perfect. It adds density and coherence in a really responsible way. It's going to be a medical school right by a park, which will make for a really great experience for the employees, students, and patients.