Latest / Austin Signal / Travis Heights housing project scale draws some concerns

Transcript

Travis Heights housing project scale draws some concerns · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  An affordable housing complex
• 0:10
  planned for the Travis Heights
• 0:11
  neighborhood is one step closer to
• 0:12
  becoming a reality.
• 0:14
  Neighbors around the proposed site
• 0:16
  say they aren't opposed to the idea,
• 0:18
  more so the scale of it.
• 0:20
  More about the complex and the
• 0:21
  neighborhood it could be built in.
• 0:23
  And the Austin Independent School
• 0:24
  District is looking to save money
• 0:26
  and exit some contracts or schools
• 0:27
  that are slated to close.
• 0:29
  How much money they're looking to
• 0:30
  safe and how they could do it, that
• 0:32
  is coming up on today's show.
• 0:34
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:36
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:38
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:39
  Plus, we are gonna hear the story of
• 0:41
  James Polk.
• 0:43
  No, not the president, the Austin
• 0:45
  music legend.
• 0:46
  And with the Olympics in full swing,
• 0:48
  we're gonna tell you more about an
• 0:49
  opportunity to get in on the
• 0:51
  action yourself.
• 0:53
  Those stories and more coming
• 0:55
  up next on Austin Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there.
• 1:09
  Thank you for tuning in.
• 1:10
  This is Austin Signal here
• 1:12
  on listener powered public radio
• 1:15
  KUT News.
• 1:16
  It is Tuesday, February 10th.
• 1:18
  I'm going to put my Cupid wings on
• 1:19
  for a second to remind you to make
• 1:21
  those Valentine's Day reservations
• 1:23
  already.
• 1:24
  You know, it might even be too late.
• 1:25
  But if not, this is your sign to
• 1:27
  stop putting it off. That holiday
• 1:28
  will be here before you know
• 1:30
  it. I'm your host, Jerry Gihannel.
• 1:32
  Let's jump into today's
• 1:34
  show.
• 1:36
  Creating more affordable housing has
• 1:38
  been on the City of Austin's
• 1:39
  priority list for many years now.
• 1:41
  One hurdle to that, the
• 1:43
  neighborhoods where the housing is
• 1:45
  planned. For a look at one
• 1:46
  neighborhood pushing back, we are
• 1:48
  speaking with Asher Price.
• 1:49
  He is a reporter with Axios Austin.
• 1:52
  Asher, thanks for talking with us on
• 1:53
  Austin Signal.
• 1:54
  Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:56
  First off, tell us which
• 1:57
  neighborhood are we talking about
• 1:58
  here? We're talking about Travis
• 1:59
  Heights, which is a old Austin
• 2:01
  neighborhood just off South.
• 2:03
  And where in Travis Heights would
• 2:05
  this affordable housing complex, is
• 2:07
  it planned to be built?
• 2:09
  This is by the corner of
• 2:11
  Annie and Nickerson.
• 2:13
  It's just east of where all those
• 2:15
  shops are on South Congress.
• 2:17
  It's a one acre lot that's
• 2:19
  owned by a church
• 2:21
  that's selling the property.
• 2:22
  And the project is called Rowan
• 2:24
  Vale because it's on Annie Street.
• 2:27
  And Rowan means redheaded
• 2:30
  in Gaelic and the
• 2:32
  developers thought of
• 2:34
  Little Orphan Annie.
• 2:35
  And so that's why they called it
• 2:36
  Rowan Vail.
• 2:38
  Her redheadedness.
• 2:40
  And tell us a little bit more about,
• 2:42
  like I'm imagining it's not a huge
• 2:44
  size of land, but how many units
• 2:46
  would this developer like to
• 2:48
  build on this plot of land?
• 2:49
  The developer wants to build about
• 2:52
  75 units, 75 apartments.
• 2:56
  The design is in flux, but
• 2:57
  they also want to have
• 3:00
  street level parking.
• 3:02
  And there's a plan pre-K for
• 3:05
  the building as well.
• 3:06
  Okay, well, if you've ever spent any
• 3:08
  time out there, you know, it's like
• 3:09
  a really packed area, right?
• 3:11
  And like a lot of places here in
• 3:12
  Austin, if want to build, you have
• 3:14
  to go up.
• 3:15
  And I guess that's the plan for this
• 3:17
  affordable housing complex, correct?
• 3:18
  Yeah, exactly.
• 3:20
  To paint more of a picture of the
• 3:21
  neighborhood, it's a lot of
• 3:22
  single-family homes around there.
• 3:25
  A lot of them date back to
• 3:26
  the early 20th century.
• 3:28
  The developers proposing a
• 3:30
  building that could reach as high as
• 3:32
  five stories,
• 3:34
  and that's where some of the
• 3:36
  friction comes in.
• 3:37
  Yeah, it seems as though the
• 3:38
  neighbors, they're not against the
• 3:40
  idea of an affordable housing
• 3:41
  complex moving into their
• 3:42
  neighborhood. It's more of the scale
• 3:43
  of it, correct?
• 3:44
  Exactly, that's what the neighbors I
• 3:46
  talk to say, and that's
• 3:48
  also what they've written city
• 3:49
  council members about.
• 3:49
  This is a kind of, I
• 3:51
  would say, classically liberal
• 3:53
  Austin neighborhood.
• 3:54
  And so that a lot of the people who
• 3:56
  live there say, we're not against
• 3:57
  affordable housing, we're
• 3:59
  for it in principle.
• 4:01
  Our opposition is about the scale
• 4:03
  of this project.
• 4:04
  We don't want this thing looming
• 4:05
  over us.
• 4:07
  And they also worry about traffic
• 4:09
  issues.
• 4:10
  As you mentioned, this item was
• 4:11
  before City Council last week,
• 4:13
  what was being decided there?
• 4:16
  Preliminary thing.
• 4:18
  The city has to give its
• 4:21
  approval for
• 4:24
  tax credits for the project.
• 4:26
  The tax credits actually I think
• 4:27
  come from the state, but the
• 4:30
  state requires that the kind of
• 4:32
  local municipality gives its
• 4:34
  stamp of approval to this project.
• 4:35
  So this is just like a preliminary
• 4:37
  approval for the
• 4:39
  tax credits for this project
• 4:40
  And as far as City Council, is this
• 4:42
  in line? Have they made other moves
• 4:44
  aimed at increasing affordable
• 4:45
  housing here in Austin?
• 4:47
  Yeah, the city council kind
• 4:49
  of overarching policy right now is
• 4:51
  to promote affordable housing.
• 4:53
  I think there's something like
• 4:54
  50,000 affordable sort
• 4:56
  of income restricted units as
• 4:58
  they're described around the city of
• 4:59
  Austin. The city's putting tens
• 5:01
  of millions of dollars more into
• 5:03
  more affordable housing projects
• 5:05
  across the city.
• 5:08
  And that just goes
• 5:10
  into the larger conversation about
• 5:12
  you know whether
• 5:14
  people who are working in the middle
• 5:16
  class can live in
• 5:18
  central parts of the city.
• 5:20
  As you said, the city council did
• 5:22
  okay that resolution.
• 5:24
  Does that make it a done deal?
• 5:25
  What sort of happens next?
• 5:27
  That's a great question.
• 5:28
  I don't think anything's a done deal
• 5:30
  till ground is actually broken on
• 5:32
  these projects.
• 5:34
  No, the city council
• 5:36
  member whose district this is,
• 5:38
  council member Zo, is encouraging
• 5:40
  the developers to meet
• 5:42
  with the neighbors to talk more
• 5:44
  about, you know, coming to some
• 5:46
  kind of agreements, I guess.
• 5:49
  But, you, know, I think the wind is
• 5:51
  at the backs of the developers
• 5:53
  because, you know, it's
• 5:55
  kind of... City policy now to
• 5:57
  encourage affordable housing.
• 5:59
  I also think there's a kind of
• 6:00
  broader thing politically happening
• 6:02
  here.
• 6:03
  You know, a decade or so ago,
• 6:05
  the city council changed from like
• 6:07
  an at large makeup where you
• 6:09
  anybody could vote for
• 6:11
  the council members and now it's by
• 6:13
  geographic district.
• 6:15
  And it used to be the neighborhoods
• 6:16
  like this, Travis Heights had
• 6:18
  a lot of political clout because
• 6:19
  this was packed full of voters who
• 6:21
  would vote in municipal elections.
• 6:23
  And they got to have
• 6:25
  a big say in the
• 6:27
  direction of the city council on
• 6:28
  questions like this.
• 6:30
  Now it's more bifurcated
• 6:32
  with council members representing
• 6:34
  different districts.
• 6:35
  And so one neighborhood
• 6:37
  or a few neighborhoods don't have
• 6:39
  as much clout in terms of
• 6:41
  deciding who is serving on the city
• 6:42
  counsel.
• 6:43
  We have been speaking with Asher
• 6:45
  Price. He is a reporter with Axios
• 6:47
  Austin. We're gonna have a link to
• 6:48
  his work at kut.org slash
• 6:50
  signal. And in today's show notes,
• 6:52
  Asher, thanks for talking with us.
• 6:54
  It was a pleasure.
• 7:02
  This is Austin Signal.
• 7:03
  Thanks for being here with us.
• 7:05
  The Austin Independent School
• 7:06
  District wants to put a halt to
• 7:08
  future spending for schools slated
• 7:10
  for closure by pausing
• 7:12
  work and ending some construction
• 7:13
  contracts tied to those campuses.
• 7:16
  Acacia Coronado is the education
• 7:18
  reporter for Austin Current.
• 7:19
  They are KUT's collaborator on the
• 7:21
  Austin Signal and a partner with
• 7:23
  KUT newsroom in covering the city
• 7:25
  of Austin. Thanks for coming by the
• 7:26
  show.
• 7:27
  Thanks for having me.
• 7:28
  So tell us a little bit about
• 7:30
  the general gist of this story.
• 7:32
  How much money is AISD
• 7:34
  looking to exit out of with these
• 7:36
  contracts?
• 7:37
  Yeah, so as of right now,
• 7:39
  according to their financial documents,
• 7:41
  the district has spent about $24
• 7:42
  million on some of these closing
• 7:44
  campuses.
• 7:45
  Okay, that's already been spent.
• 7:46
  That's already been spent, yes.
• 7:49
  And then they are also on the
• 7:51
  line for 72 million dollars
• 7:52
  in commitments, which represents
• 7:55
  work and materials that
• 7:57
  may not have been bought yet
• 7:59
  or that may not have done yet.
• 8:01
  Okay, so they've spent already the
• 8:03
  24 million and they're looking to
• 8:05
  find a way out of this 72 million.
• 8:08
  I think obviously they would
• 8:10
  like to save or exit out
• 8:12
  of all of those 70 million.
• 8:13
  Is that realistic or does the
• 8:15
  district kind of have an idea of how
• 8:17
  much they might end up spending.
• 8:19
  So, according to the district, they
• 8:21
  are able to exit
• 8:23
  most of these contracts without
• 8:24
  having to pay any additional
• 8:26
  money, but they do estimate that
• 8:28
  their final amount spent on
• 8:30
  the closing schools will be closer
• 8:31
  to $41 million because
• 8:33
  of additional
• 8:35
  HVAC and security and
• 8:37
  safety improvements that still have
• 8:39
  to be done, invoices that have
• 8:41
  not been received yet or paid yet,
• 8:43
  and additional.
• 8:45
  Elements to keep the sites at
• 8:47
  Oak Springs Elementary and Martin
• 8:49
  Middle School safe and secure
• 8:51
  since those sites were already under
• 8:52
  construction.
• 8:53
  Oh, there's already construction
• 8:54
  happening at those sites.
• 8:56
  Right, so because those were already
• 8:58
  open construction sites, in order to
• 9:00
  leave them safe for the public,
• 9:02
  they have to do
• 9:03
  some additional work on those sites.
• 9:05
  Okay, well, I know these are many
• 9:07
  millions of dollars that we're
• 9:08
  talking about, and I'm sure lots
• 9:10
  of different contracts.
• 9:11
  Do you know anything about those
• 9:12
  contracts?
• 9:14
  I personally have not seen the
• 9:15
  contracts yet.
• 9:16
  The Austin Current did request them,
• 9:18
  but we have not received them yet.
• 9:20
  So all that we do know
• 9:22
  is what district officials have told
• 9:23
  us, which is that they are able to
• 9:25
  exit the contracts and they in
• 9:27
  general don't have to pay additional
• 9:28
  fees for it.
• 9:29
  Okay well, if we get an update we
• 9:31
  will bring that to you here on
• 9:32
  Austin Signal.
• 9:34
  It makes fiscal sense to me why
• 9:36
  if you've set aside a bit of money
• 9:37
  for a school that is slated to be
• 9:39
  closed you might want to put a
• 9:41
  halt to that, make that stop.
• 9:43
  What are some, you know, what are
• 9:45
  some argued benefits for continuing
• 9:46
  to move forward with this work
• 9:48
  despite the fact that the schools
• 9:50
  could be closing soon?
• 9:51
  Yeah, so some of the arguments that
• 9:53
  have been made in favor of
• 9:54
  continuing with some of these
• 9:55
  improvements are that there are
• 9:57
  still students that are housed at
• 9:58
  these schools and they still have
• 10:00
  months left of learning there.
• 10:02
  And that could include
• 10:04
  having to be in classrooms that
• 10:05
  might not have a well-functioning
• 10:07
  HVAC system or a campus
• 10:09
  that fits all of the security
• 10:12
  necessities for the students
• 10:14
  to keep them safe.
• 10:15
  So the argument is for the
• 10:17
  benefit of those students that are
• 10:19
  still housed there.
• 10:20
  And I've been talking a lot about
• 10:21
  closures and we have been talking a
• 10:23
  lot of closures here at
• 10:25
  KUT over the last year.
• 10:26
  But can you just remind us how many
• 10:27
  schools are slated to close and when
• 10:29
  is that going to happen?
• 10:30
  Absolutely. So in November,
• 10:32
  the school board voted to close
• 10:34
  10 campuses and
• 10:36
  those campuses are slotted to
• 10:38
  close by the end of
• 10:40
  this school year.
• 10:41
  So next school year, students should
• 10:43
  begin their learning experience at a
• 10:44
  new campus.
• 10:45
  What do we know about the timeline
• 10:47
  for, for how quickly the
• 10:49
  district would like to move out of
• 10:51
  these, some of these contracts?
• 10:53
  Yeah, so not having seen them, I
• 10:54
  don't know if there are any
• 10:55
  deadlines for them.
• 10:56
  What I do know is that district
• 10:58
  officials said they do hope to have
• 10:59
  some sense of what happens
• 11:01
  next by the end of summer and have a
• 11:03
  better idea of whether they
• 11:05
  have exited these contracts.
• 11:07
  Okay, well like I said earlier, when
• 11:09
  we get that update, we will bring
• 11:10
  that to you here on Austin
• 11:12
  Signal. We've been speaking with
• 11:14
  Acacia Coronado.
• 11:15
  She is the education reporter for
• 11:17
  Austin Current, KUT's collaborator
• 11:19
  on Austin signal and a partner with
• 11:21
  KUT newsroom in covering the
• 11:23
  city of Austin.
• 11:24
  Acacia, thank you for your time.
• 11:25
  Thank you for having me.
• 11:27
  And peeking out the window here at
• 11:29
  the KUT studios, clouds are keeping
• 11:31
  things a bit cooler today than what
• 11:33
  we've had over the last few.
• 11:35
  The National Weather Service
• 11:36
  forecast says rain chances starting
• 11:38
  around sundown tonight and
• 11:40
  increasing overnight to about 40%.
• 11:42
  More 80s are in the forecast for
• 11:44
  later this week and then some better
• 11:45
  rain chances Friday night into
• 11:47
  Saturday.
• 11:48
  We're going to have more Austin
• 11:50
  Signal for you coming up after
• 11:52
  this break.
• 12:01
  This is Austin Signal,
• 12:03
  welcome back.
• 12:04
  February is Black History Month and
• 12:06
  all month long our friends over at
• 12:09
  KUTX have been highlighting
• 12:11
  musicians who've made their mark
• 12:12
  on the Austin music scene.
• 12:15
  Today, host Myles Bloxson has a
• 12:17
  look at a musician who created one
• 12:18
  of the first integrated bands in
• 12:20
  Austin and shared the stage
• 12:22
  with Ray Charles.
• 12:28
  Dr. James Polk was born on September
• 12:30
  10, 1940, in the Texas
• 12:32
  town of Yocum, but his musically
• 12:34
  inclined family decided to settle in
• 12:36
  Corpus Christi.
• 12:37
  At an early age, James took formal
• 12:39
  violin lessons, then changed over
• 12:41
  to saxophone and once he discovered
• 12:43
  his middle school band director
• 12:44
  needed trombone players, he switched
• 12:46
  his attention to mastering the
• 12:48
  trombon. With his dad's approval at
• 12:50
  the age of 13, he started playing
• 12:52
  in a local band.
• 13:02
  In 1958, Polk moved to Austin
• 13:04
  where he attended the historically
• 13:06
  black college, Houston Tillerson
• 13:07
  University.
• 13:08
  He graduated in 1962 with
• 13:10
  a degree in music and education.
• 13:12
  At this point, he was already a
• 13:14
  professional musician and decided to
• 13:16
  take up the family tradition and
• 13:17
  play the piano.
• 13:30
  He created James Polk and the
• 13:32
  Brothers, one of the first
• 13:33
  integrated bands in Austin, with
• 13:34
  trombonist Larry Collins, and with
• 13:36
  transcribed sheet music for his band
• 13:38
  members W.C.
• 13:39
  Clark, Angela Stray Lee, Martin
• 13:41
  Banks, and Matthew Robinson.
• 13:42
  They toured together for over a
• 13:44
  decade, and because they were
• 13:45
  integrated, they were able to
• 13:46
  perform at venues that would have
• 13:48
  otherwise been close to them.
• 13:50
  Just because you're
• 13:53
  near
• 13:56
  The cold nights grow warm
• 13:59
  In 1978, the one and only
• 14:01
  Ray Charles called and offered Polk
• 14:03
  a gig playing the piano in his
• 14:05
  orchestra.
• 14:06
  Over the next 10 years that he
• 14:07
  worked with Charles, his role
• 14:09
  evolved into being the orchestra's
• 14:11
  organist, writer, arranger, and
• 14:12
  composer. Two of the songs he wrote
• 14:14
  for Ray Charles were nominated for
• 14:16
  Grammy Awards.
• 14:19
  After his success with Ray, he
• 14:20
  received an honorary doctorate from
• 14:22
  Houston Tillerson University.
• 14:23
  He was named the Professor Emeritus
• 14:25
  of Jazz Studies in the School of
• 14:27
  Music in 2007 at Texas
• 14:29
  State. Polk was inducted into the
• 14:30
  Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1999
• 14:33
  and the Austin Jazz Society Hall of
• 14:34
  fame in 2016.
• 14:36
  He currently plays with the Jazz
• 14:37
  Ensembles, Centerpiece, and Church
• 14:39
  on Monday. Dr. James Polk continues
• 14:41
  to serve and inspire and mentor
• 14:43
  in his community through his
• 14:46
  workshop and it's Dr. James Polk
• 14:48
  Academy of Arts and Technology.
• 14:50
  For more information on Dr. James
• 14:52
  polk visit KETX.org.
• 14:53
  For KETx, I'm Myles Bloxson.
• 15:08
  The 2026 Winter Olympics
• 15:10
  are in full swing across the
• 15:11
  world in Italy, and the Olympic
• 15:13
  fever is running strong all the
• 15:15
  way back here in 70-something degree
• 15:17
  Austin, Texas.
• 15:19
  This weekend, the team behind the
• 15:21
  KUT KUTX podcast, This
• 15:23
  Is My Thing, is hosting an
• 15:24
  opportunity for you to learn a
• 15:26
  little more about an Olympic sport,
• 15:28
  and here to tell us more about the
• 15:30
  event is Mike Lee.
• 15:31
  He is the host of This Is my Thing.
• 15:32
  Mike, welcome back to Austin Signal.
• 15:34
  Thank you so much. It's always fun
• 15:35
  to be on here with you.
• 15:36
  We're glad to have you on and
• 15:38
  we want to know which Olympic
• 15:40
  sport are we going to be learning a
• 15:41
  little bit more about this weekend.
• 15:42
  This is we're going to be learning
• 15:44
  about curling.
• 15:44
  OK.
• 15:45
  Many people's favorite winter sport.
• 15:47
  But yeah, I feel like,
• 15:49
  at least on the surface, it seems
• 15:51
  like the one that you should most
• 15:52
  easily be able to grasp, right?
• 15:54
  You're throwing a big stone, and
• 15:56
  then you're using these brushes to
• 15:57
  kind of clean up.
• 15:58
  It seems simple enough.
• 16:00
  You know, one thing that I learned
• 16:02
  and that you will learn if you
• 16:03
  listen to the podcast is that
• 16:05
  curling is harder than it looks.
• 16:07
  I discovered that, you know, the
• 16:09
  hard way on the ice.
• 16:10
  And tell us a little bit about the
• 16:11
  person who taught you more about
• 16:13
  curling.
• 16:13
  That guy's name is Dave
• 16:15
  Dannenfelser, he is,
• 16:16
  he lives here in Austin.
• 16:18
  He is not from Austin,
• 16:20
  he grew up in, oh, I believe
• 16:22
  Wisconsin.
• 16:23
  Yeah, he says the other end of I-35,
• 16:25
  right? That's right, yeah. To get to
• 16:26
  his hometown.
• 16:27
  Very easy, get on 35 and just drive
• 16:29
  north.
• 16:29
  Keep going until you reach the end.
• 16:31
  Until you reach end, there you go.
• 16:33
  And he grew with his grandfather,
• 16:34
  who was a great curler back in like
• 16:36
  the 70s and 80s, learning the
• 16:38
  sport, moved to Texas.
• 16:40
  He said he moved here for love.
• 16:41
  And assumed that
• 16:43
  he was done with curling, but he was
• 16:45
  not because curling was not done
• 16:46
  with him. We do it here.
• 16:48
  And yeah, he is a member of the Lone
• 16:50
  Star Curling Club, who are going to
• 16:51
  be hosting the open house
• 16:53
  this weekend that we're going to go
• 16:54
  to and be there for.
• 16:56
  And yeah. You can come by, you can
• 16:58
  learn more about the sport, see a
• 16:59
  little bit of it, get out on the ice
• 17:01
  yourself a bit.
• 17:02
  It's not, they also have a thing
• 17:03
  called a learn, called a Learn to
• 17:05
  Curl. This is not that you won't get
• 17:07
  an actual lesson, But you've got a
• 17:08
  little flavor for it.
• 17:09
  A little introduction, a little
• 17:11
  like, see how it looks, see if it
• 17:12
  looks like fun to you, talk to
• 17:14
  some folks, learn a little bit more
• 17:16
  about it.
• 17:17
  Yeah, should be fun. Should be fun.
• 17:18
  Okay, very cool.
• 17:19
  Well, yeah, as I said, when you
• 17:20
  first see curling, the first time I
• 17:22
  saw curling two decades ago or
• 17:24
  whatever, I thought, hey, that looks
• 17:25
  like a lot of fun, it looks pretty
• 17:27
  easy, you're kinda like gliding
• 17:28
  across the ice, you're using these
• 17:30
  brushes, but I'm gonna play a little
• 17:31
  clip here from, again, this is Dave
• 17:33
  Dannenfelser, this a clip,
• 17:35
  him talking a little bit about the
• 17:37
  work that is required to be
• 17:39
  a proper curler. Alright.
• 17:44
  As something that you do because
• 17:46
  you love it and not because you're
• 17:48
  getting paid for it.
• 17:49
  What does curling do for your brain
• 17:51
  and for your heart?
• 17:53
  One, it is a lot more physical sport
• 17:55
  than a lot of people give it.
• 17:56
  The sweeping, when you have to
• 17:58
  sweep, is, I call it
• 18:00
  a sprinter's sport in the sense that
• 18:01
  you have be able to
• 18:03
  get on the ice.
• 18:04
  You have to basically run
• 18:06
  a sprint, but sweep a
• 18:08
  sprint and your heart rate gets way
• 18:10
  up there.
• 18:11
  My heart tracker does a good job of
• 18:13
  showing that I'm getting a workout
• 18:15
  and being able to go from
• 18:17
  super intensity to then
• 18:19
  complete relaxation.
• 18:21
  It is good, and it actually feels
• 18:23
  good.
• 18:24
  In a way, it's kind of
• 18:26
  like yoga or like meditation.
• 18:28
  You kind of can, being able to
• 18:31
  focus on your body and relax it when
• 18:32
  you need to, it a great
• 18:34
  feeling.
• 18:35
  I was actually asking like
• 18:36
  metaphorically, what does it do for
• 18:38
  your heart? But oh Literally,
• 18:39
  they're literally there are cardio
• 18:41
  benefits. Yeah
• 18:41
  Yeah, literally, there's a cardio
• 18:43
  benefit.
• 18:45
  Yeah, I mean, just step-wise, you
• 18:46
  can walk 10,000 steps
• 18:48
  in a game.
• 18:50
  So if you're looking for your 10,00
• 18:51
  steps, it's a great way to do it.
• 18:54
  Metaphysically, though,
• 18:55
  I think it's like with anything,
• 18:58
  if you can get and
• 19:00
  attain that zone where you
• 19:01
  can make a great
• 19:03
  shot, there is just an amazing
• 19:05
  elation. You get, you know, the
• 19:07
  dopamine, all those little drugs
• 19:08
  they say your brain produces and
• 19:10
  makes you happy.
• 19:11
  Curling does that for me.
• 19:13
  It both relaxes me and excites me
• 19:15
  at the same time.
• 19:16
  Yeah, there's obviously a lot of
• 19:17
  work there and a lot of practice.
• 19:19
  You just brought up a really good
• 19:20
  point, Mike.
• 19:21
  Can you tell all the people out
• 19:22
  there what you told me?
• 19:23
  Well, as I as I learned, and you'll
• 19:25
  hear this in the podcast version,
• 19:27
  curling, especially to those of us
• 19:29
  in the warmer states, looks really
• 19:31
  easy because we've mostly only
• 19:33
  ever seen really good curlers.
• 19:34
  Like you've probably done it
• 19:36
  yourself. You've certainly seen
• 19:37
  people be bad at football and
• 19:39
  baseball.
• 19:39
  I've seen people throw a baseball
• 19:40
  terribly, swing a bat terribly,
• 19:42
  but I guess I've only seen the
• 19:44
  top level of top level curlers do
• 19:46
  their thing.
• 19:47
  And they make it look real.
• 19:48
  What else about curling did you
• 19:50
  not anticipate before, you know,
• 19:52
  learning a little bit more with
• 19:53
  Dave?
• 19:53
  I didn't realize just how much
• 19:55
  strength you need in in
• 19:57
  your like quads and the lower
• 19:59
  half of your body.
• 20:00
  It was you need more than I bothered
• 20:01
  to bring with me on the day that I
• 20:03
  went out to the pond, which is it's
• 20:04
  It's really kind of an oxymoron,
• 20:07
  because at least when you see it on
• 20:08
  the ice, it looks...
• 20:09
  Like they're just floating, like
• 20:10
  they're gliding across the ice.
• 20:12
  Yeah.
• 20:12
  Yeah. And, you know, you'll get
• 20:14
  there, I imagine, if you if you
• 20:16
  if you'd practice, but the
• 20:18
  first time stepping out, you've got
• 20:19
  a gripper on one foot, so you can
• 20:20
  kind of grip to the ice and a
• 20:22
  slider. I'm probably using the wrong
• 20:23
  terms. But one of your one
• 20:25
  of her feet is meant to slide on the
• 20:27
  ice where the other is meant to grip
• 20:28
  the ice. It's hard to get used
• 20:30
  to.
• 20:31
  Yeah, I think you're using the Texas
• 20:32
  terms for curling there, the
• 20:34
  gripper. I learned all of these.
• 20:35
  But this is like, this is a This is
• 20:37
  My Thing classic.
• 20:38
  It has been a couple of years since
• 20:39
  I recorded I did want to ask you
• 20:41
  have there been many other things
• 20:43
  that you have learned about through
• 20:44
  other people that have Required this
• 20:46
  much physical toll as curling in
• 20:48
  your years of learning things
• 20:49
  throughout
• 20:50
  people. Oh, gosh, you know, I mean,
• 20:51
  I've, I have talked to a lot of
• 20:53
  people who do physical things.
• 20:55
  And something that I found really
• 20:57
  interesting is that for
• 20:59
  a lot of people, it's just that
• 21:00
  there is a particular type of
• 21:02
  exercise that is fun for them and
• 21:04
  feels good. And for a lots of folks,
• 21:06
  they just don't like anything else.
• 21:08
  You know, I remember talking to
• 21:09
  someone who is a sword
• 21:11
  fighter.
• 21:12
  And she said for her, it is
• 21:14
  like, Regularly going to the gym is
• 21:16
  torture. She hates running, you
• 21:17
  know, just the what we might think
• 21:19
  of as a more standard exercise,
• 21:22
  not fun, sword fighting is fun.
• 21:24
  And for curlers, that motion
• 21:26
  just really, like Dave
• 21:28
  said, it gives you some dopamine,
• 21:30
  you know?
• 21:31
  It's really interesting how
• 21:32
  different things just kind of work
• 21:33
  for different people.
• 21:33
  And if you can find the thing that's
• 21:35
  your thing.
• 21:36
  Well, remind us again that people
• 21:38
  have an opportunity this Sunday
• 21:39
  maybe to learn a little bit more
• 21:41
  about curling.
• 21:41
  Maybe you're not gonna walk away as
• 21:43
  the best curler in central Texas,
• 21:44
  but you're gonna walk away learning
• 21:46
  a little bit more.
• 21:46
  Remind us of what you have going on.
• 21:48
  So it'll be at The Pond in
• 21:50
  North Austin, and it'll from
• 21:52
  9.30 to 11 on Sunday,
• 21:54
  the 15th.
• 21:55
  They're calling it an open house.
• 21:56
  Basically, there'll be some curling
• 21:58
  demonstrations. You can talk to some
• 21:59
  curlers, learn a little bit about
• 22:00
  it, step on the ice a little,
• 22:03
  just kind of get a vibe for it, and
• 22:04
  if it feels like fun.
• 22:06
  And we will be there hanging out.
• 22:08
  We're gonna have stickers and
• 22:09
  probably some buttons.
• 22:11
  KUT paid for the stickers, I gotta
• 22:12
  make the buttons myself.
• 22:15
  So no guarantees, but probably
• 22:16
  I'll find time between now and then.
• 22:18
  All right, well if there's a button
• 22:19
  maker out there who can help us out
• 22:20
  between now and Sunday, give us a
• 22:22
  holler, kut.org slash Signal.
• 22:24
  We have been speaking with Mike Lee.
• 22:26
  He is the host of the KUT KUTX
• 22:28
  podcast. This is my thing and we're
• 22:30
  going to have a link to that event
• 22:31
  happening this Sunday in our show
• 22:33
  notes. Mike, thank you for coming on
• 22:34
  as always. Thanks for having me.
• 22:36
  And thank you out there for spending
• 22:37
  part of your Tuesday here
• 22:39
  with Austin Signal.
• 22:41
  We are listener powered public
• 22:43
  radio.
• 22:43
  Kristen Cabrera is our managing
• 22:45
  producer and Rayna Sevilla is
• 22:47
  our technical director.
• 22:49
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 22:51
  We will be back with you tomorrow.
• 22:52
  Have a great day.