r/Pflugerville

City Council will be discussing proposed updates to the City’s park and Lake Pflugerville rules at the 5/12/26 meeting, and I wanted to highlight a few of the changes residents may be most interested in.

Some proposed changes include:

• Changing Lake Pflugerville hours from 5am–10pm to 6am–9pm. Clarification *The trail surrounding the lake shall remain open 24 hours per day*

• Removal of the current 24-hour fishing access language

• New restrictions related to alcohol at the lake

• Proposed changes would remove motorized watercraft, only allowing watercraft propelled by human or wind power unless specially authorized

• New rules for tents/shelters and spacing requirements

• New e-bike speed restrictions on trails and sidewalks

• Additional restrictions on commercial activity, amplified sound, and certain park uses

I know Lake Pflugerville and our parks are important to many residents, so I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts before the meeting. Please share feedback here, email Council, or attend the meeting on 5/12/26 (tonight).

See the link to the proposed rules :

https://pflugerville.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8002702&GUID=22730F72-EFA0-4743-83DC-2DE9360FDB41&Options=&Search=

I checked to see if the south entrance to Northeast Metro Park had reopened, only to find that it was permanently closed years ago because too many people were cutting through the park to get between Killingsworth/Wells Branch and Pecan. To me, the fact that that happened implies that there is demand for more routes between those two streets in that area. Can’t wait for the Impact Way extension. Any streets you’d like to see more connections between?

Seriously wtf is wrong with this city?

Wooooo. I see garbage bins rolling down the street.

I haven’t been able to find any on Google or class pass. Why don’t we have one? The closest is in round rock and I can only imagine there’d be demand for one closer. Unfortunately I have no money to invest in something like that but someone with the funds should open one!

For the first time I went to the Pflugerville lake this weekend, I walked around the lake and hung out in the beach area.

I am new to Pflugerville, and did not realize it had a strong Asian population.

Would the community be interested in an AMXF singles events?

Deputies received a 911 call around 8:29 a.m. requesting a welfare check at a home in the 17900 block of Civorno Drive after one of the residents did not show up for work.

When deputies arrived, they found three victims with gunshot wounds.

What’s up with the wonky construction on some of the buildings? If you look at the big one facing Dessau, the right side what appear to be windows, looks slanted. The other building (parking garage?) slopes upward toward the back. I realize it’s not completed yet but it looks shoddy.

A few months ago, I brought forward a resolution to put clearer guardrails, oversight, and transparency requirements around the city’s use of AI, facial recognition, surveillance cameras, and related technologies.

Council has not yet taken action on that proposal.

Instead, the next step is a Council “lunch and learn” this month (May), where staff will walk us through how the city currently uses AI. That was the Mayor’s suggested alternative to moving forward with my proposal at the time. I still think we need actual policies, not just a briefing, but I’ll see how that discussion goes and participate in good faith.

There are a few reasons I continue to believe this needs more urgency.

The city’s public “Safety Cameras” page is still out of date. It lists 28 ALPRs (which was true in 2022), even though the city now has close to 90 (as far as I’m aware, more than any other city in central Texas, including our much more populous neighbors). I requested a couple of months ago that staff update the page with the current map and device inventory; that has not happened. 

The city also has several Flock video cameras in parks (Moose Park being the prime example). These are not ALPRs, but they are still AI-enabled video surveillance cameras made by Flock. As far as I can tell, the city website and transparency portal still do not clearly disclose their existence, nor is there any publicly posted policy or audit trail on their usage. As far as I'm aware, there are no written staff policies related to the video surveillance cameras, only the ALPRs.

More people have been showing up to Council meetings to speak during public comment, and more have emailed the mayor and full council about these issues than about anything else in recent memory.

There has been an expansion of surveillance technology

The city also uses Clearview AI, an identity-based facial recognition technology built on a large database of scraped online images (it basically pulls in millions of people's social media profiles to 'identify' suspects). That was not proactively disclosed to the public, or as far as I'm aware, to Council. It came up by accident during the Police Department’s recent annual report, when an officer mentioned that other agencies know we have that software and call to ask to run searches on it. It's unclear whether PfPd responds to those requests; they should not be doing so. However, unlike the Flock ALPRs, there is no evidence that we have a written staff policy regarding Clearview's use.

Recently, a resident filed a Public Information Act request asking for more information about Clearview AI and its use. City staff engaged outside counsel, who initially sent the request to the Attorney General, claiming that the requested data was confidential law enforcement information and therefore shouldn't be disclosed publicly. The resident reached out to me; I intervened, and the city ultimately provided the requested information and canceled the request to the state AG. In my view, that information should not have been withheld in the first place, and you’ll find no other public mentions of our PD using identity-based facial recognition AI.

The larger issue on that one is that residents should not have to file public records requests, catch a detail in an annual report, or ask a council member to intervene directly just to know what surveillance technology the city is using.

There is one positive recent development, though.

Sam Aly ( u/MooseContent8525), who ran against me in the election and now serves on the Charter Review Commission, spearheaded a separate proposal to require the city to adopt protections for AI and surveillance technology in our 'constitution'. The Commission approved it! I thank him for his support of this cause.

The proposed charter language reads:

Ҥ 2.03. Artificial Intelligence Protections.

The City Council shall adopt protections governing the collection, use, retention, and oversight of data, facial recognition, and surveillance technologies; establish transparent approval processes for such technologies; require a responsible AI framework; ensuring this information is used locally for legitimate basis laid down by law.”

Because the Charter Review Commission approved the proposal, I expect it will appear on this November’s ballot. My understanding from the City Attorney is that Council can “add” items to the Charter Commission’s approved amendments to our city’s constitution, but cannot “remove” items. 

My preference is still for Council to act before then. We shouldn’t have to wait for a voter-approved charter amendment to force our hand to do the basic work of public transparency, approval processes, retention rules, oversight, and civil liberties protections.

But if the Council doesn’t act and voters approve the amendment in November, the Council will be required to implement it then. 

I’ll keep pushing on this topic because AI and surveillance tools are already here. Our Police department should have access to modern, effective tools to keep us safe and solve crimes BUT those tools need to have rules, oversight, and not infringe on residents’ civil liberties. 

-Councilmember Coffman