If you head out to the hike and bike trails along Lady Bird Lake, take a cell phone. Two of the three emergency call boxes are broken.
In addition to jogger Nicoll Gutierrez's dog Bruno, she never leaves home without her cell phone.
"It has a 911 emergency button there,” she said pointing to her phone.
City parks officials are learning that more people are turning to their cell phones during an emergency instead of special call boxes.
The city put five in place along Lady Bird Lake in the mid 90s. They are starting to break down. In October, one stopped worked after heavy rain flooded the call box. It was repaired and back in order by January.
In June, the call box at the Holly Power Plant in East Austin quit working. Two weeks later, the call box in the 2100 block of Lou Neff Road in Zilker Park also broke. Both have yet to be fixed.
Repairs are expensive.
"I have an estimate on one of them," park ranger LeAnn Ishcomer said. "It's around $2,300."
Ishcomer says each time a box breaks down, it takes two to three months to get it back into service.
The city has some decision making to do.
"We're going to fix the call boxes right now and then look at the cost benefit analysis of whether keeping the boxes running is the proper way to go,” Ishcomer said.
From June of 2010 to June of this year, 79 people activated a phone to call for help. Ishcomer says most of those calls came from people asking directions. That number also includes the times when park rangers use the call box to see whether it works.
None of the 79 calls were serious enough to require police response.
The University of Texas uses similar call boxes.
From January 1 until today, numbers show students made 124 emergency calls.
While it is not the first line of communication with police for students, officers say it is working.
"Sometimes they get a flat tire, their car was broken into,” UTPD Sgt. Charles Bonnet said. “It also has a bit of a deterrent effect.”
The difference may be user friendliness. The City of Austin is considering an upgrade in technology.
Should the City of Austin pay to maintain the emergency call boxes, or are they obsolete? Join the conversation on Facebook on The KVUE Insider or text/call 512-522-8025.
