Latest / Austin Signal / Voter registration update, The politics of Zilker’s grass, Barton Springs bathhouse renovation

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Voter registration update, The politics of Zilker’s grass, Barton Springs bathhouse renovation · Austin Signal

• 0:10
  Early voting starts in just one
• 0:12
  week, and local officials are
• 0:13
  furiously working to make sure
• 0:14
  everyone who has registered to vote
• 0:16
  is ready to go.
• 0:18
  And a wrongful death lawsuit against
• 0:19
  Camp Mystic has been allowed to
• 0:21
  proceed after an initial pause while
• 0:23
  the camp began to work its way
• 0:24
  through bankruptcy court.
• 0:25
  We'll have the details coming up on
• 0:27
  today's show.
• 0:28
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:30
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:32
  Ben Philpott.
• 0:34
  And what's better at Austin City
• 0:35
  limits, mud or dust?
• 0:37
  People love to complain about the
• 0:39
  conditions at the music fest and how
• 0:41
  it damages Zilker Park,
• 0:42
  but this year the arguments have
• 0:44
  gotten even more political.
• 0:47
  Plus,
• 0:49
  what's taking so long to repair and
• 0:51
  refurbish the men's bathroom at
• 0:52
  Barton Springs?
• 0:54
  That's up next on Austin Signal.
• 1:05
  Hey, Austin, it's Monday, October
• 1:07
  12th, 2026.
• 1:09
  I'm your host, Ben Philpott.
• 1:11
  This is Austin Signal.
• 1:13
  Early voting starts one week
• 1:15
  from today, and Travis County
• 1:17
  employees have been working overtime
• 1:19
  processing tens of thousands
• 1:20
  of voter registration applications.
• 1:23
  There are boxes and boxes and boxes
• 1:25
  of paper sitting in my office.
• 1:27
  That's Travis County voter registrar
• 1:29
  Celia Israel.
• 1:31
  She says to catch up on the backlog,
• 1:33
  her office has trained people from
• 1:35
  other divisions and has worked late
• 1:36
  nights and weekends.
• 1:38
  The team working on processing all
• 1:40
  of those forms is now up to 40
• 1:42
  people.
• 1:43
  So what we have is tons of
• 1:45
  paper that we have to go through and
• 1:47
  we have to squint our eyes
• 1:49
  and say, I don't know, is that
• 1:51
  apartment number 10 or apartment
• 1:52
  number B.
• 1:53
  So it's very painful.
• 1:54
  It's very detailed, but
• 1:56
  it's the law. So we will do what
• 1:58
  it takes.
• 1:59
  Early voting starts October
• 2:01
  19th.
• 2:04
  Late last week, a judge ruled that
• 2:05
  multiple wrongful death lawsuits
• 2:07
  against Camp Mystic could continue.
• 2:09
  Here to explain what's going on in
• 2:11
  the courts and tell us the reasons
• 2:13
  for the pause in the first place is
• 2:15
  KUT's Williamson County reporter,
• 2:17
  Kaylee Hunt. Hi Kaylee.
• 2:19
  Hey Ben. So yeah, why was
• 2:21
  this lawsuit paused in the first
• 2:22
  place?
• 2:23
  Yeah, so these five
• 2:25
  wrongful death lawsuits filed by
• 2:28
  more than a dozen parents
• 2:30
  who lost their children during
• 2:32
  the July 4th, 2025
• 2:35
  floods at Camp Mystic,
• 2:37
  they were paused when
• 2:39
  Camp Mystics and its owners
• 2:41
  filed for Chapter 11
• 2:43
  bankruptcy relief back
• 2:45
  in June.
• 2:46
  And that's pretty standard practice
• 2:48
  for these types of cases
• 2:50
  to allow the
• 2:52
  entity that's declaring bankruptcy
• 2:54
  some sort of relief or protection
• 2:56
  while they go through that process.
• 2:59
  And so what we learned late
• 3:01
  on Friday after a 12 hour
• 3:03
  hearing was that these
• 3:06
  death lawsuits can now proceed
• 3:07
  beginning on November 9th.
• 3:09
  Was there a specific reason why that
• 3:11
  protection either wasn't needed or
• 3:13
  felt like it could continue and it
• 3:14
  wouldn't damage the
• 3:17
  Camp Mystic during the bankruptcy?
• 3:20
  Yeah.
• 3:21
  Basically, the judge who's
• 3:23
  overseeing the bankruptcy case,
• 3:25
  he said, Judge Christopher Lopez,
• 3:27
  he said that he believes
• 3:29
  just the public interest in
• 3:32
  these cases and the topic
• 3:34
  is compelling enough to continue to
• 3:37
  allow the wrongful death lawsuits to
• 3:38
  continue.
• 3:39
  And then you said that it was a
• 3:40
  chapter 11 bankruptcy, but I
• 3:42
  understand there's a bit of an
• 3:43
  argument between whether it should
• 3:44
  be, and we're gonna get technical
• 3:45
  for a second, chapter 11 or
• 3:47
  chapter seven, but just
• 3:49
  real quickly, what are the basic
• 3:51
  differences between those two?
• 3:52
  That's right.
• 3:53
  Yes.
• 3:54
  So a Chapter 11
• 3:57
  bankruptcy case typically allows a
• 3:59
  business to continue
• 4:01
  operating while they reorganize
• 4:03
  their finances under court
• 4:05
  supervision. So that's what Camp
• 4:06
  Mystic has filed for.
• 4:08
  The US trustee, which is
• 4:10
  a federal official that helps
• 4:11
  oversee bankruptcy cases,
• 4:14
  they I have asked
• 4:16
  the judge to consider...
• 4:19
  Transferring this into a
• 4:21
  chapter seven case, which would
• 4:23
  eventually basically
• 4:25
  see a court appointed
• 4:27
  trustee sell the camp's property
• 4:29
  and assets to pay off all
• 4:32
  the people that they owe.
• 4:33
  So chapter 11, you could imagine
• 4:35
  that someone would buy Camp Mystic
• 4:36
  and continue Cat Mystic chapter
• 4:39
  seven. They're just selling off
• 4:40
  assets and who knows what would
• 4:41
  happen next.
• 4:42
  Correct
• 4:43
  All right. And then before we let
• 4:44
  you go, I did want to switch gears
• 4:46
  to another story that you've been
• 4:47
  covering. You know, City of Taylor
• 4:49
  has recently approved an agreement
• 4:51
  with a developer to build a data
• 4:53
  center and a power plant in
• 4:55
  Williamson County.
• 4:56
  Can Can you tell us a little bit
• 4:57
  about this agreement with the city
• 4:59
  council?
• 5:00
  Yeah, so this agreement was
• 5:02
  a big deal and something
• 5:03
  that's been months in the making
• 5:06
  with the Taylor City Council
• 5:08
  and city staff there.
• 5:10
  This proposed development initially
• 5:12
  was in an unincorporated part of
• 5:14
  Williamson County, which meant that
• 5:16
  the city would not be able to
• 5:18
  draw tax revenue from the
• 5:20
  development and they would not able
• 5:22
  to impose any sort of regulations
• 5:24
  concerning zoning or
• 5:26
  any sort environmental protections.
• 5:29
  And so they argued
• 5:31
  it was within their best interest to
• 5:33
  come to this agreement,
• 5:35
  which will see this development
• 5:38
  be annexed into the
• 5:40
  city.
• 5:42
  Not everyone is happy about that.
• 5:43
  Yeah.
• 5:44
  That's what I was gonna say, you
• 5:45
  know, so the the entire city then
• 5:46
  they're excited about this or no
• 5:48
  I mean, I, yeah, no, I think you
• 5:50
  could argue that, um, I would,
• 5:52
  I don't know if I would say
• 5:53
  anybody's necessarily excited, but,
• 5:55
  um. There are folks
• 5:57
  that just say this is the lesser of
• 5:59
  two evils.
• 6:00
  There are, you know what?
• 6:01
  Some people are excited, right?
• 6:03
  Because the city says they're going
• 6:04
  to get, um nearly
• 6:06
  $30 million worth of
• 6:08
  community That's right.
• 6:09
  That's not bad for a small town.
• 6:11
  Well, and again, it's Taylor small
• 6:13
  town at this point too, but yeah,
• 6:15
  and a lot of that's going towards
• 6:17
  the school district there.
• 6:19
  So, you know, there are some
• 6:21
  benefits, that's one of the benefits
• 6:23
  that city staff say.
• 6:24
  How quickly will something like this
• 6:26
  break ground, you know that?
• 6:27
  That's another complicated issue
• 6:30
  because they have not
• 6:32
  filed their environmental
• 6:36
  permits with the TCEQ,
• 6:37
  which is currently on pause at
• 6:39
  Abbott's because
• 6:41
  of a directive by Governor Abbott.
• 6:44
  So that is yet to be seen when
• 6:45
  they'll break ground.
• 6:46
  All right. Well, that's KUT's
• 6:48
  Williamson County reporter, Kaylee
• 6:50
  Hunt. Kaylee, thanks so much for
• 6:51
  covering all those different things
• 6:53
  going on. And thanks for talking
• 6:54
  with me today.
• 6:55
  Thanks for having me, Ben.
• 7:04
  We've got more Austin Signal coming
• 7:05
  up for you in just a second,
• 7:07
  stay with us.
• 7:16
  Austin City Limits 2026 is
• 7:19
  officially over.
• 7:20
  The KUTX crew is at Zilker Park
• 7:22
  right now, taking down the tent and
• 7:24
  loading up.
• 7:25
  The first weekend was rainy and
• 7:27
  muddy. The second, the Texas heat
• 7:29
  returned and so did the dust.
• 7:31
  But the discussion over this year's
• 7:33
  weather was pushed into politics.
• 7:35
  People on both the right and left
• 7:37
  pointed to damage to Zilkert Park
• 7:39
  as a reason to move the festival
• 7:41
  and even vote out local
• 7:43
  politicians.
• 7:44
  Here to talk about it is Austin
• 7:46
  American Statesman, City Hall
• 7:47
  reporter Chaya Tong.
• 7:49
  Hello, and thanks for joining us
• 7:50
  here on the Austin Signal.
• 7:52
  Thank you so much for having me.
• 7:53
  All right, first let's kind of get,
• 7:55
  let's explain the big picture, I
• 7:56
  guess.
• 7:57
  Whether it's mud or dust,
• 7:59
  what is the argument people are
• 8:00
  making about ACL at
• 8:02
  Zilker?
• 8:03
  Yeah, it was super interesting this
• 8:05
  year. I mean, bottom line,
• 8:07
  everybody was mad about the weather
• 8:09
  and about the mud, and you
• 8:11
  kind of saw two camps emerge
• 8:13
  politically.
• 8:14
  You had a more progressive liberal
• 8:16
  camp that was upset about the
• 8:18
  environmental impacts on Zilker
• 8:20
  Park, reignited some longstanding
• 8:22
  environmental debates we've had here
• 8:24
  in Austin over whether the festival
• 8:26
  should be at Zilkert Park at all,
• 8:28
  or what the damage could be to the
• 8:30
  environment, parkland.
• 8:31
  And then you had the conservative
• 8:32
  camp which used the mud as kind
• 8:34
  of a symbolic jumping off
• 8:36
  point to talk about everything they
• 8:38
  saw wrong with city government, city
• 8:40
  management, stuff like you can't
• 8:41
  even manage a music festival, why
• 8:43
  should we trust you with anything
• 8:45
  else? So you saw these two.
• 8:46
  If we just had a different mayor,
• 8:48
  then clearly the festival, it
• 8:49
  wouldn't have rained.
• 8:50
  The weather would have been better.
• 8:52
  Well, so one of those big arguments
• 8:53
  that you mentioned is just let's
• 8:55
  move the festival away from Zilker.
• 8:58
  Are there any real serious
• 9:00
  suggestions about where you would
• 9:02
  move it in Austin if it weren't at
• 9:04
  Zilk?
• 9:04
  One that I heard this year a lot was
• 9:07
  moving it to Circuit of the
• 9:08
  Americas.
• 9:09
  I'm not sure like how much
• 9:11
  political traction that has inside
• 9:13
  City Hall. I mostly heard that from
• 9:14
  outside City Hall, I spoke with
• 9:16
  council member Ryan Alter, who also
• 9:18
  weighed in on this whole Zilger Park
• 9:20
  damage debate.
• 9:21
  Um, and he said he made it very
• 9:22
  clear that he was not interested in
• 9:24
  moving the festival, but unsure of
• 9:25
  how much more traction that has
• 9:27
  inside city hall.
• 9:28
  Well, I think we've both heard a lot
• 9:29
  of people just simply say, yes, I
• 9:31
  want it moved. Oh, where?
• 9:32
  Well, out of Austin.
• 9:33
  I just don't even want it in Austin,
• 9:34
  which that's probably not going to
• 9:36
  happen either.
• 9:37
  What's next in terms?
• 9:38
  So, I mean, there was damage,
• 9:40
  though. I mean there's tons of mud.
• 9:41
  And then, of course, you had the
• 9:42
  dust and just destroying everything
• 9:44
  with thousands of feet there.
• 9:45
  So what is next in terms of
• 9:47
  assessing damage from this year's
• 9:48
  festival? And then who, you know,
• 9:50
  who's going to pay for it?
• 9:52
  Yeah, you know, at the end of the
• 9:53
  day, every year C3 presents,
• 9:55
  which is the company that manages
• 9:57
  ACL.
• 9:58
  They're responsible for restoring
• 10:00
  the park and historically have done
• 10:02
  so every year.
• 10:04
  I think Councilmember Alter said he
• 10:05
  has every confidence that that will
• 10:06
  happen this year as well and that's
• 10:08
  a standing part of the city's
• 10:10
  contract with ACL.
• 10:11
  Are there any limits on that?
• 10:13
  I mean, like, is there a money
• 10:14
  amount, any kind of limit to how
• 10:16
  much C three is willing to pay?
• 10:18
  I mean what, what can they do?
• 10:20
  Can they just put down sod over the
• 10:22
  entire park again?
• 10:23
  Like, what do they do
• 10:24
  I mean, from what I, my
• 10:25
  understanding is they can re-sod the
• 10:27
  park, um, I'm not sure about
• 10:29
  a money limit.
• 10:31
  I just, I know that their
• 10:32
  responsibility is to leave the park
• 10:33
  the way they found it.
• 10:35
  So that's kind of the level of
• 10:37
  responsibility they have.
• 10:39
  That seems like a high bar.
• 10:40
  Yeah, that's a big ask.
• 10:43
  And then, you know, you were talking
• 10:44
  about this earlier,
• 10:46
  environmentalists do tend to
• 10:48
  lead this fight.
• 10:50
  Is it just
• 10:52
  election year?
• 10:53
  I mean, is that we're so close to
• 10:55
  one of the closest races that we've
• 10:57
  had in the state of Texas,
• 10:59
  between right, left,
• 11:01
  conservative, liberal, whatever,
• 11:04
  in decades here.
• 11:06
  Is that just bleeding into
• 11:07
  everything? And that's what we've
• 11:08
  got this year.
• 11:09
  I definitely think there's something
• 11:10
  to be said for that.
• 11:11
  I mean, politics is coming into
• 11:12
  everything. We saw James Tallarico
• 11:14
  at the festival last weekend, which
• 11:16
  reignited a whole social media
• 11:17
  storm.
• 11:18
  I also think, you know, this is a
• 11:20
  debate that happens every year in
• 11:22
  Austin. We always have
• 11:24
  environmentalists and others saying
• 11:25
  that they're really concerned about
• 11:27
  damage to the park.
• 11:28
  But I think, two things happened
• 11:30
  this year. One was election
• 11:32
  year. So you had political arguments
• 11:33
  just getting kind of thrown to the
• 11:35
  top of social media feeds.
• 11:36
  And you had that kind of, yeah,
• 11:38
  getting more and more important by
• 11:39
  the day.
• 11:40
  Um, but I think you also had
• 11:42
  like this really interesting social
• 11:44
  media moment in and of itself.
• 11:46
  We had these really stark images of
• 11:48
  the before and after of Zilker Park.
• 11:51
  You saw the park go from green to
• 11:52
  brown, and I think those images
• 11:54
  made really good social media fodder
• 11:56
  and like a really, um,
• 11:59
  good jumping off point for people to
• 12:00
  have kind of a larger debate.
• 12:03
  We've been speaking with City Hall
• 12:04
  reporter Chaya Tong.
• 12:05
  Chaya, thanks so much again for
• 12:06
  coming in and talking with us on
• 12:07
  Austin Signal.
• 12:08
  Thanks for having me.
• 12:11
  And you know, we've got even more
• 12:12
  from our coverage of ACL over
• 12:14
  at kutx.org.
• 12:16
  Stick with us here on Austin signal.
• 12:18
  We've got more for you in just a
• 12:20
  minute.
• 12:25
  This is The Austin Signal.
• 12:26
  Welcome back.
• 12:27
  The historic bathhouse on the
• 12:29
  northern edge of Barton Springs Pool
• 12:31
  is one of the city's most cherished
• 12:33
  public landmarks.
• 12:34
  It's where visitors to the Springs
• 12:35
  have changed and showered since
• 12:37
  the 1940s.
• 12:39
  And its central rotunda has taught
• 12:40
  thousands of people about the
• 12:42
  endangered salamanders that inhabit
• 12:44
  the Springs.
• 12:45
  But the building has been under
• 12:46
  construction for almost three years
• 12:48
  for a long planned rehabilitation,
• 12:52
  much longer than expected.
• 12:53
  And what prompted one pool user
• 12:55
  to write into KUT's
• 12:58
  ATXplain project to ask,
• 13:00
  what's going on?
• 13:01
  So KUT Nathan Bernier looked into
• 13:03
  it.
• 13:05
  Swimmers at Barton Springs Pool
• 13:07
  generally fall into one of two
• 13:09
  camps.
• 13:10
  There are those who wade in,
• 13:12
  slowly creeping down the limestone
• 13:14
  stairs into the chilly spring-fed
• 13:16
  waters, gasping at every
• 13:18
  step, like me.
• 13:20
  Yikes, and
• 13:23
  then there are those who plunge
• 13:24
  themselves into the 70 degree
• 13:26
  pool
• 13:30
  Javier Paramares is
• 13:32
  a jumper.
• 13:33
  Yeah, you just have to jump in
• 13:35
  and it's not that close once you
• 13:36
  jump in, I promise.
• 13:38
  Padamades rides his e-bike to
• 13:39
  Barton Springs about four times a
• 13:41
  week, and he's noticed some issues
• 13:43
  with the rehabilitation of the
• 13:45
  historic bathhouse.
• 13:46
  Construction started on that in
• 13:48
  early 2024, and the
• 13:50
  bathhouse partially reopened about a
• 13:51
  year ago, in October 2025.
• 13:53
  First off, the
• 13:55
  man's bathhouse has
• 13:58
  a sewer vent running through
• 13:59
  it that fumes
• 14:01
  gasses out into the bathhouse and
• 14:03
  doesn't smell great.
• 14:05
  I don't know how the women's
• 14:07
  bath house looks, but I hope it's
• 14:09
  holding up better.
• 14:10
  Also wondered about the rotunda out
• 14:12
  in front that's been closed for
• 14:13
  construction since early 2024,
• 14:16
  which is getting close to three
• 14:17
  years ago. So all this prompted him
• 14:19
  to reach out to ATXplain.
• 14:22
  So the question I would like you to
• 14:24
  answer for me is, what's going
• 14:25
  on with the renovation?
• 14:27
  How did it go so wrong?
• 14:28
  Will it be fixed?
• 14:30
  And when?
• 14:32
  And how did, yeah, just what ended
• 14:33
  up happening here?
• 14:35
  I will do my best to answer and
• 14:36
  I will call you back with.
• 14:38
  What I find out.
• 14:39
  Alright, sounds good.
• 14:40
  Alright, thanks, sir.
• 14:45
  So what is this bathhouse?
• 14:48
  It's not like it has any bathtubs or
• 14:50
  anything.
• 14:51
  Well, the Barton Springs Bathhouse
• 14:52
  is kind of like the gateway to the
• 14:54
  springs that's attracted humans for
• 14:56
  at least 13,000 years.
• 14:58
  Only the bathhouse has been around a
• 14:59
  little less than that since 1947.
• 15:02
  Still historic though.
• 15:04
  And instead of dark enclosed locker
• 15:06
  rooms, it has these roofless
• 15:08
  courtyards where people change and
• 15:09
  shower. There's like plants and
• 15:11
  grass and you're under the open sky.
• 15:12
  It's kind of nice.
• 15:14
  The building is even on the National
• 15:15
  Register of Historic Places, but
• 15:17
  after almost 80 years, it was
• 15:19
  showing its age.
• 15:20
  So the city put together a plan to
• 15:22
  renovate the bathhouse.
• 15:24
  In 2023, the project was finally
• 15:26
  ready to go out for bid.
• 15:27
  At an environmental commission
• 15:29
  meeting, a city official, Riley
• 15:30
  Triggs, laid out a plan to start
• 15:32
  construction right after New Year's
• 15:33
  and wrap up in about 14 months.
• 15:35
  But Commissioner Richard Breimer
• 15:37
  wondered about the price tag.
• 15:39
  What's the current cost
• 15:40
  estimate of this?
• 15:42
  I heard or read or something
• 15:44
  about $10 million, is that correct?
• 15:46
  Yes, approximately that, yes.
• 15:48
  Okay.
• 15:49
  And notwithstanding inflation and
• 15:51
  labor availability and supply chain
• 15:53
  issues,
• 15:55
  you don't anticipate a,
• 15:57
  you know, significant change from
• 15:59
  that going forward.
• 16:02
  We will know when the contractors
• 16:04
  submit their bids.
• 16:06
  Renovating a historic landmark in
• 16:08
  a floodplain and directly next to
• 16:10
  the habitat of two federally
• 16:11
  endangered salamanders was never
• 16:13
  going to be easy, and it was never
• 16:15
  gonna be cheap.
• 16:16
  The official city estimate put the
• 16:18
  construction price tag at a little
• 16:19
  over $9 million.
• 16:22
  Two bids came in, and when they were
• 16:24
  unsealed, senior parks officials
• 16:25
  were shocked.
• 16:27
  The lower of the two bids was
• 16:29
  submitted by the Texas-based
• 16:30
  contractor Spawglass, and
• 16:32
  it about $17 million.
• 16:34
  The other bid topped 20
• 16:36
  million, more than double the
• 16:38
  estimate.
• 16:39
  Behind the scenes, internal city
• 16:40
  emails I obtained captured the
• 16:43
  shock.
• 16:43
  One senior parks official described
• 16:45
  the numbers as disheartening.
• 16:47
  It's pretty normal for the
• 16:49
  preliminary or design
• 16:51
  cost estimates to be off
• 16:54
  from bid.
• 16:55
  That much off is a little
• 16:57
  less usual.
• 16:58
  Alyssa Therrett oversees
• 16:59
  architectural development for Austin
• 17:01
  Parks and Recreation.
• 17:02
  The city decided to go with the
• 17:04
  lower bid from SpaGlass.
• 17:06
  And in early 2024,
• 17:08
  the project broke ground.
• 17:10
  A couple months later, the city did
• 17:12
  something else.
• 17:13
  Item 35 is renaming
• 17:15
  the Barton Springs bath house after
• 17:17
  Joan means Cabela.
• 17:18
  I really appreciate-
• 17:18
  Page Ellis's council district
• 17:20
  includes Barton Springs.
• 17:21
  We just did a groundbreaking on that
• 17:23
  bathhouse, so I think this is very
• 17:25
  timely.
• 17:26
  When this bathhouse was first built,
• 17:28
  it was not open to everyone in
• 17:30
  Austin because of segregation.
• 17:32
  And for a long time, black swimmers
• 17:34
  were not allowed in Barton Springs
• 17:36
  Pool. That is until
• 17:38
  a local teenager changed that.
• 17:41
  1960, spring of 60,
• 17:43
  I went to Austin High.
• 17:46
  Joan Means Kebele was
• 17:48
  one of the first black students to
• 17:50
  go to that school.
• 17:51
  This is from an interview she gave
• 17:52
  to Austin PBS back in 2014.
• 17:55
  Barton Springs is iconic.
• 17:57
  Barton springs is Austin.
• 17:59
  Even though I had never been there,
• 18:01
  everybody talked about it all the
• 18:03
  time.
• 18:03
  So when it came time for the annual
• 18:05
  class picnic at Barton Springs, the
• 18:06
  black students were only allowed in
• 18:08
  after a lot of pressure from parents
• 18:10
  and students.
• 18:11
  But they were told, don't go in the
• 18:13
  water.
• 18:14
  You know how big Burns Springs is.
• 18:16
  How do you control all the people
• 18:18
  in there? So we started
• 18:20
  swimming.
• 18:21
  And that led
• 18:22
  to a summer of swim-ins,
• 18:24
  to pressure Austin eventually
• 18:26
  to desegregate its recreational
• 18:28
  facilities.
• 18:29
  But it was not easy.
• 18:30
  I found that almost everything that
• 18:32
  opened, we had to
• 18:35
  march, protest,
• 18:37
  petition, go to the council.
• 18:40
  These things just don't open
• 18:41
  by themselves.
• 18:43
  Cabello passed away in 2021.
• 18:49
  The 2024 groundbreaking on the
• 18:50
  Joan Means Cabelli bathhouse at
• 18:52
  Barton Springs was more than a
• 18:54
  decade in the making.
• 18:55
  There were master plans and
• 18:56
  feasibility studies, a couple bond
• 18:58
  elections, public input meetings,
• 19:00
  so it took a very long
• 19:02
  time to go from talking about fixing
• 19:04
  it up to actually working
• 19:06
  on it.
• 19:07
  And just like the construction cost
• 19:08
  was about double what they first
• 19:10
  thought, the time it will take
• 19:12
  to build this will wind up
• 19:14
  being about twice as long.
• 19:16
  Here's Alyssa Theriot again.
• 19:17
  The current contractual
• 19:19
  substantial completion date is
• 19:22
  or was October 25th
• 19:25
  of 2025.
• 19:27
  Technically the whole project should
• 19:28
  have been done last year.
• 19:30
  Now, some of the bathhouse did
• 19:31
  reopen last October, like restrooms
• 19:33
  and shower areas and lifeguard
• 19:35
  offices, but the rotunda
• 19:37
  and restoring it as the grand
• 19:39
  entrance to Barton Springs along
• 19:40
  with all the educational exhibits,
• 19:42
  that's still closed.
• 19:44
  And emails show the city and the
• 19:46
  contractor bickering over
• 19:48
  who's to blame.
• 19:50
  For example, even though it's a
• 19:51
  complicated renovation of a super
• 19:53
  old building, a lot Part of the
• 19:55
  delays are related to high-tech
• 19:57
  museum hardware.
• 19:58
  The city has this elaborate
• 20:00
  installation with an interactive
• 20:02
  video wall that's tracked by
• 20:04
  motion-sensing cameras.
• 20:06
  There are laser projectors and touch
• 20:08
  screens and it's just been hard
• 20:10
  to set up.
• 20:11
  In one email, SpaGlass said the
• 20:13
  city failed to deliver a really
• 20:15
  important touchscreen monitor until
• 20:17
  mid-June of this year and that was
• 20:19
  55 days late.
• 20:21
  And the contractor has accused the
• 20:22
  city of what it calls a systemic
• 20:24
  design management failure.
• 20:28
  And says that plans for the exhibit
• 20:29
  were repeatedly changed after
• 20:31
  construction was already underway.
• 20:34
  In these emails, the city told
• 20:35
  SpaGlass that the project's been in
• 20:37
  a formal state of non-excusable
• 20:39
  delay since October 2025.
• 20:43
  SpaGlas said no, that's
• 20:45
  incomplete and inconsistent with
• 20:47
  the documented record.
• 20:50
  City officials talked privately
• 20:51
  about scheduling a grand opening for
• 20:53
  this month.
• 20:54
  A way to try and pressure the
• 20:56
  contractor to get over the
• 20:58
  finish line.
• 20:59
  So when you go through all these
• 21:00
  records, there does not
• 21:02
  appear to be a single big thing
• 21:04
  that held up construction for months
• 21:06
  and months.
• 21:07
  It's a whole bunch of little things
• 21:09
  that add up to big delays.
• 21:11
  And by the way, SpaGlass did not
• 21:12
  respond to requests for comment.
• 21:15
  Now the city is not exactly sure
• 21:17
  when will be done but
• 21:19
  thinks it will be soon.
• 21:20
  We're tracking it.
• 21:21
  Unfortunately, the dates tend to
• 21:23
  move a bit each week.
• 21:24
  So there's not yet a
• 21:26
  set in stone date.
• 21:27
  We are tracking stuff that
• 21:30
  shows substantial completion in
• 21:32
  about a month.
• 21:33
  And the city still needs another
• 21:35
  month after that to set up exhibits
• 21:37
  and an aquarium and to
• 21:39
  train staff.
• 21:42
  Hello?
• 21:44
  Hey, Avier.
• 21:45
  I called back Avier Palamares,
• 21:47
  who asked about the bathhouse for
• 21:48
  ATXplained, and I told them about
• 21:50
  what I learned, including about
• 21:52
  those sewer smells in the bath house
• 21:54
  that the contractor and
• 21:56
  city staff have been trying to
• 21:57
  figure it out.
• 21:58
  They sent smoke through pipes to see
• 22:00
  where it goes.
• 22:01
  They found some bad plumbing, and
• 22:03
  they're working on it.
• 22:05
  And the bath House probably won't
• 22:06
  open until the winter.
• 22:08
  I don't think there is a better
• 22:09
  answer, but I just wish it was the
• 22:11
  project is done soon and done
• 22:13
  correctly.
• 22:14
  Like you said earlier, it's a crown
• 22:15
  jewel and I
• 22:17
  think it's better
• 22:19
  for it to be fully open for
• 22:21
  everyone to enjoy.
• 22:23
  And maybe that will include me
• 22:25
  one day.
• 22:26
  It's so f***ing cold.
• 22:27
  This is not pleasant.
• 22:29
  But now that I'm in, it doesn't feel
• 22:31
  so cold.
• 22:33
  I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
• 22:35
  That's it for us today on Austin
• 22:37
  Signal. Thanks to Nathan and all the
• 22:38
  reporters who helped out today.
• 22:40
  Caroline File is our technical
• 22:41
  director.
• 22:42
  Alexander Hart is our producer.
• 22:44
  Managing producer is Kristin
• 22:45
  Cabrera.
• 22:46
  Jimmy Moss is the show runner.
• 22:48
  And I'm Ben Philpott.
• 22:49
  Talk to you tomorrow.