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In recent years, people in Brentwood and Crestview have become more involved in preserving, enhancing, and maintaining their local green spaces, including Hancock Creek. And, city, state, and federal projects are helping manage erosion, flooding, and drainage there.

TREES

In late 1992, Brentwood and Crestview neighbors, through a project coordinated by the Brentwood Neighborhood Association and Tree Folks, worked together to plant 259 new trees along Hancock Creek, from Koenig Lane north to Justin Lane. (Justin is considered the boundary line between the Brentwood and Crestview neighborhoods, although homes on the south side of Justin are also part of Crestview.) On January 30, 2010, Crestview neighbor Karen Lorenzini coordinated the planting and care of young trees along Hancock Creek from Justin Lane to West St. Johns. In 2014, Crestview neighbor Lynnette Alley approached the City of Austin about caring for the median north of St. Johns at Arroyo Seco, and the city decided to create an adopt-a-median program, with Lynnette as its first participant. Despite the ongoing drought and erosion around some of the trees, the sustained efforts of neighbors—especially during the summer—are helping keep the trees watered and thriving. (More about other neighborhood tree planting projects here.)

LUMINARIAS

In 1994, Brentwood began a luminaria project along the creek, in honor of the newly planted trees. The first year, volunteers placed a luminaria next to each new tree. Now, many more luminarias line both sides of Hancock Creek on several evenings before Christmas. In recent years, the project has expanded along Hancock Creek north of Justin Lane into Crestview, up to the Crestview Shopping Center. The luminaria project continues each year, thanks to Brentwood and Crestview volunteers who donate and gather the milk jugs, candles, and sand, and who place, light, extinguish, and pick up the jugs after the lighting is over. More about that project here.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Over the past six years, infrastructure projects along Hancock Creek have included the replacement of the West North Loop bridge (an earlier one, right, was replaced in the 1930s by the Texas Department of Transportation) and a number of wastewater improvement projects along Upper and Lower Hancock in Crestview, Brentwood, Allandale, and Rosedale by the Austin Clean Water Program.

During Summer 2011, the pedestrian bridge across Hancock Creek near Brentwood Elementary School was rebuilt, making the bridge safer and more attractive for schoolchildren and other neighbors walking to and from Brentwood Elementary, Brentwood Park, Hope Chapel, and other parts of the neighborhood.

AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE

One way to help share the history of Hancock Creek and encourage neighbors to get more involved in protecting and enhancing the area would be to install sturdy, attractive signage, especially in areas of heavy pedestrian traffic near the creek, including Brentwood Elementary School, Brentwood Park, and Crestview Shopping Center.

Coming Monday, 10/10/11: Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco, Part  5—Wildlife Around the Creek: Domino the Pig