Latest / Austin Signal / AISD campus transforms into affordable housing for teachers

Transcript

AISD campus transforms into affordable housing for teachers · Austin Signal

0:08
Affordable housing is top of mind
0:10
for many Austinites, but especially
0:12
for educators working in our local
0:14
schools.
0:15
Now a former AISD elementary
0:17
school campus is being transformed
0:19
into housing with some units set
0:21
aside specifically for teachers.
0:23
We take a closer look at that East
0:24
Austin project and brown water
0:26
flowing from the taps in one Austin
0:28
area suburb, what residents say
0:30
they wish they knew before moving
0:32
in, and how they're working to warn
0:34
others.
0:35
All that coming up on today's
0:37
show.
0:37
The Austin Signal is a production
0:39
of KUT News, hosted by
0:41
Miles Bloxson.
0:43
We've had a very warm spring this
0:44
year, and we're not even close to
0:46
the peak of our summer temperatures.
0:48
The heat isn't unusual, but it's
0:49
arriving at a time when Austin's
0:51
energy utility has quadrupled
0:52
shutoffs for non-payment.
0:55
Those stories coming up next, right
0:56
here on Austin Signal.
1:08
Hi and hello and welcome to Austin
1:10
Signal. I hope your day is going
1:12
amazing so far.
1:13
I'm your host, Miles Bloxson.
1:15
It's Wednesday, March 25th.
1:19
Affordable housing in Austin has
1:20
been a growing challenge, and
1:22
educators are feeling it too.
1:24
Now Austin ISD is taking action,
1:26
redeveloping the Anita Ferrellis Coy
1:28
site, formerly Allen
1:30
Elementary School, into mixed income
1:32
housing that will include units for
1:34
teachers.
1:35
Here to tell us more is Acacia
1:36
Coronado, education reporter
1:38
with Austin Current.
1:40
Great to have you here, Acacia.
1:41
Thanks for having me.
1:42
Yeah, so let's get into it.
1:43
It's expensive to live here, and
1:45
we're all feeling it.
1:46
So how is that impacting educators
1:48
in AISD?
1:50
Yeah, so AISU recognized
1:52
a need, seeing how their educators
1:54
were struggling to
1:56
buy houses and afford
1:58
rent.
1:59
And so when they were looking to
2:01
repurpose the Anita Ferales Coy
2:03
facility, they decided
2:05
to work with a developer to
2:07
redevelop it into a mixed income
2:09
housing, half of which
2:11
will have rent
2:13
restricted, sorry, income restricted
2:15
units that
2:17
the teachers can apply for.
2:18
And how did this come together?
2:21
Yeah, so they put out a call for
2:23
developers that were willing to work
2:24
with them to kind of help respond
2:27
to the housing
2:29
situation that teachers
2:31
were facing.
2:32
And so once they found the
2:33
right developer to work with, they
2:35
decided to do something
2:37
that could give back to educators
2:38
and help them find housing.
2:40
In case you're like.
2:40
Is already underway.
2:42
I think y'all started back in
2:43
February so this housing
2:45
isn't just for teachers though,
2:46
right? You mentioned a little bit
2:47
earlier about that.
2:48
Right. So it's mixed income housing.
2:51
Half of the 675 units
2:53
that are planned are going to be
2:54
income restricted.
2:56
And so teachers will be able
2:58
to have priority application
2:59
through a
3:01
internal site through the district.
3:04
But the mixed income housing will
3:06
be also open to community
3:08
members as well.
3:10
And when this project is complete,
3:11
how many units are we talking?
3:14
At 675 units when it's
3:15
complete. So they're in phase one
3:17
right now and they're set to begin
3:18
construction on phase two either
3:20
later this year or next year.
3:22
Mentioned that teachers will have
3:24
priority, how can they apply when
3:26
the development is actually
3:27
complete?
3:29
Yeah, so the district has an
3:31
internal site for teachers to
3:33
apply. So they'll be able to
3:35
work through there to try to
3:37
get a priority for one
3:39
of the units.
3:41
Wow, this is major and you're
3:43
from Austin. I'm from Austin as
3:44
well. What does something like this
3:45
mean to you?
3:47
Yeah, I mean, it's expensive
3:49
to live in the city and we've all
3:50
seen it grow.
3:52
So I'm sure teachers will
3:54
be happy to have an option
3:56
on hand.
3:57
And this could possibly be like a
3:59
model for the future.
4:00
What are you hearing there about
4:01
that?
4:02
Yeah, so I mean Austin ISD
4:04
just voted to close
4:06
10 schools and some of
4:08
those campuses might be up for
4:10
repurposing soon and.
4:12
Listed on their many options
4:14
for repurposing is the
4:16
possibility of using
4:19
some of these sites for long-term
4:21
ground leases, which is what they
4:22
are using for this development,
4:24
which allows them to lease land to
4:26
a developer.
4:27
They own the land, they get an
4:28
income from that, and the developer
4:30
owns the construction.
4:32
So it's a benefit for both.
4:34
That's a Kasi.
4:34
I'm Andrea Coronado with Austin
4:36
Current, KUT's collaborator on
4:38
the Austin Signal, and a partner
4:39
with KUT Newsroom
4:41
in covering Austin.
4:43
Thank you so much.
4:43
Thanks.
4:53
People in the Austin's Colony
4:55
neighborhood have been dealing with
4:56
very hard water for over
4:58
a decade.
4:59
As KUT's Katie McAfee reports,
5:02
some residents are taking a new
5:03
approach to getting better water.
5:06
Out on Webberville Road, there's a
5:07
sign as you head into the Austin's
5:09
Colony neighborhood.
5:10
You can't miss it.
5:12
In big letters, all caps,
5:13
it reads, ask about the water
5:15
before you buy here.
5:17
The sign appeared only a few months
5:19
ago, but what the sign is about,
5:21
water issues in the neighborhood,
5:23
those have been going on for years.
5:25
Tyler Croft says he started having
5:27
problems right away after he and his
5:29
wife moved to Austin's colony two
5:30
years ago.
5:31
Started out we noticed
5:33
with our dishwasher our dishes
5:35
would come out very caked
5:37
in and like white like
5:40
residue on everything on all the
5:41
glass.
5:42
He didn't think too much of it at
5:43
first, but they kept having issues.
5:46
Their dishwasher stopped working.
5:48
The water tasted funny.
5:50
Once, while getting a glass of
5:51
water, Croft says he turned on the
5:53
tap and it came out brown.
5:55
His hair was getting dry and
5:56
brittle.
5:57
And then when our daughter was born,
5:59
we noticed like eczema right away,
6:01
which could be a lot of different
6:02
factors, but soon after we
6:04
put a filter
6:06
on her bathtub
6:08
and started to see those symptoms
6:10
kind of start to subside a little
6:11
bit.
6:12
Something needed to change.
6:14
Croft installed a water softener
6:15
under his sink, filters on the
6:17
shower heads, then a bigger water
6:19
softner system in the garage.
6:21
All told, Croft says he spent about
6:23
$5,000 on water filtration
6:25
systems and softeners.
6:28
And it's not just the Crofts.
6:29
Down the street, Richard Helleman
6:31
says he can't use his dishwasher
6:33
either.
6:34
It's just a drying rack for him.
6:36
And he's got other issues with his
6:38
appliances.
6:39
My hot water heater like
6:41
gurgles every time I take a hot
6:43
shower. I can't even flush it
6:44
because there's so much sediment in
6:46
the hot water heater.
6:47
My landlord has said he's had to
6:48
replace like at least three
6:50
other tenants hot water heaters.
6:53
Hellman says the nozzle on his
6:54
shower head routinely gets clogged
6:56
with white mineral deposits.
6:58
The same thing happens to his garden
6:59
hose.
7:01
See how it barely works and it's
7:04
like shooting out in like these
7:06
really like tight streams
7:08
like it shouldn't be doing that it
7:10
should just be like a nice like
7:12
stream of water like a like a,
7:14
like your shower you know.
7:17
A few houses down, big, blue,
7:19
plastic jugs of water line the
7:21
walkway to Lin Ling's front door.
7:25
Through a translation app, he
7:27
tells me this isn't tap water.
7:29
He buys these jugs.
7:31
He's noticed yellowish substances
7:33
in the tap water
7:34
It's a hit, it's a, uh,
7:37
it, uh...
7:37
So what's going on here?
7:40
People in this neighborhood have
7:41
Austin addresses,
7:43
but Austin's colony is out of the
7:45
service area for Austin water.
7:47
Instead, the neighborhood is served
7:49
by a for-profit company called Texas
7:51
Water Utilities.
7:52
The company uses groundwater from a
7:54
local well, plus water pumped
7:56
from the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer.
7:58
The local well water is considered
8:00
very hard, which means it has
8:02
high concentrations of minerals like
8:04
calcium and magnesium.
8:06
In its most recent report in 2024,
8:08
Texas water utilities reported three
8:10
water samples averaged out to a
8:12
hardness level of 260
8:14
milligrams per liter.
8:16
For reference, more than 60
8:18
milligrams per leader is considered
8:20
moderately hard by the US Geological
8:22
Survey.
8:23
Hard water can cause plumbing issues
8:25
and appliance failures.
8:26
But since there are no known adverse
8:28
health risks, it's not regulated by
8:30
the EPA or by the Texas Commission
8:32
on Environmental Quality.
8:34
Even so, the company says it's
8:36
taken steps recently to make it
8:37
softer.
8:38
In an email, Vice President of
8:40
Operations Tim Williford said four
8:42
water samples from February had an
8:44
average hardness of 50 milligrams
8:45
per liter, which is considered
8:47
soft water.
8:49
I explained all of this to Austin's
8:51
colony resident Richard Franklin at
8:52
a coffee shop.
8:53
I don't know where they got that
8:54
from
8:55
He was skeptical.
8:56
Or even, who even told you that lie?
8:58
Franklin's lived in Austin's colony
9:00
for over 20 years.
9:02
He says he's lost track of how many
9:04
times he's had to replace his
9:05
dishwasher, maybe three or four
9:07
times.
9:08
He's replaced both of his toilets.
9:10
He says a few years ago, he went to
9:12
fix his sink and...
9:13
The pipes were so corroded
9:15
that as I tried
9:17
to grab the nut,
9:19
the pipes fell off and just corroded
9:21
in my hand.
9:22
He says the cost of having to
9:23
routinely replace appliances has
9:25
added up, and that's on top of
9:27
paying for the water itself.
9:29
Before even turning on the tap,
9:31
Texas Water Utilities customers in
9:32
Austin's colony pay a base fee
9:34
of $59.
9:36
That's more than seven times the
9:37
cost of Austin Water's base fee.
9:40
There's also a $79 base
9:42
fee for sewer services, plus
9:43
a few other small charges.
9:45
Franklin showed me a copy of his
9:47
water bill from February.
9:48
His total bill was 161
9:50
bucks.
9:51
The cost of the water he actually
9:53
used, less than $14.
9:56
We don't use that much water.
9:58
I literally have gotten to the point
9:58
where I said, if we pee, we don't
10:00
flush.
10:02
In the land of fun and sun, we dont
10:03
flush for number one.
10:05
Franklin says those base fees have
10:07
gone up in recent years as Texas
10:08
water utilities tax on what it calls
10:10
system improvement charges.
10:12
Those fees pay for big
10:14
infrastructure upgrades.
10:15
In an email, the company says it
10:17
spent $6.3 million on
10:19
the Austin's colony area in 2025.
10:22
That money went into replacing aging
10:23
pipes and buying more water from the
10:25
Carrizo Wilcox aquifer, which makes
10:27
the water softer.
10:28
But Franklin says he hasn't
10:30
noticed any improvements at his
10:31
house.
10:32
This was last Saturday, last
10:34
Saturday. My wife was gonna take a
10:36
bath.
10:37
He shows me a photo of a bathtub
10:39
filled with dirty looking water.
10:41
I don't know what they think that
10:42
is, I
10:44
don't know if brown water is not
10:45
hard, but that
10:47
was her bathtub.
10:49
She couldn't take a bath.
10:51
Franklin and Croft have both
10:52
formally protested some of these
10:54
charges with the Public Utility
10:55
Commission of Texas, which regulates
10:57
water rates in the state.
10:59
It's been a long process.
11:01
Croft's effort to protest the latest
11:03
$16 increase has taken months
11:05
of back and forth with Texas Water
11:06
Utilities and the Public utility
11:08
Commission.
11:09
Franklin went through the same back
11:10
and fourth a few years ago.
11:12
He ultimately lost.
11:14
So a few months ago, he thought of a
11:16
different strategy.
11:18
He put up that big sign on
11:19
Weberville Road.
11:20
The one that says ask about the
11:22
water before you buy here.
11:24
The thought process is,
11:26
why don't we have the developers not
11:27
be able to sell their homes in this
11:29
area, and
11:31
have them go to the legislature and
11:34
force private water
11:35
companies to do
11:37
what's affordable
11:40
and livable.
11:42
That's what that sign was for,
11:45
was to pit the
11:47
people with the money against the
11:48
people with money.
11:50
Franklin says he's caught some flak
11:51
from neighbors over the sign.
11:53
They told him it's making the
11:54
neighborhood look bad.
11:56
But he says the sign is his way of
11:58
being a good neighbor, warning
11:59
newcomers about the fees they'll
12:01
have to pay.
12:02
I asked Franklin if he thought the
12:03
sign has actually done anything
12:05
other than peeve some of his
12:06
neighbors.
12:08
And he told me it must have because
12:09
the county is making him take it
12:11
down.
12:12
Somebody complained about it, so we
12:13
know it made noise.
12:18
Although I think it's funny because
12:19
we've had a sign up there about our
12:20
community meeting every month.
12:22
That sign's been there for two years
12:24
now and it's never been touched, no
12:25
one said a word about it.
12:27
But the sign that's directly above
12:28
it, they're asking me to take that
12:29
sign down.
12:31
He's not giving up, though.
12:32
He found a new place to put up a
12:34
sign on private property.
12:36
He says his next one is going to be
12:37
almost twice as big.
12:39
I'm Katie McAfee in Austin.
12:51
Well, it's still March, so we aren't
12:53
in the high summer temperatures just
12:55
yet, but when it comes to the
12:56
balance of keeping cool and keeping
12:58
the energy bill down, it can be a
13:00
struggle. And for those behind on
13:02
their bill with Austin Energy, they
13:03
are more likely to see their
13:05
electricity shut off as Austin
13:07
Energy ramps up shut-offs
13:09
for non-payment.
13:10
To tell us more, we are speaking
13:11
with KUT's Government and
13:13
Accountability reporter.
13:14
Andrew Weber.
13:16
Andrew, thanks for talking with us
13:17
today. Yes, ma'am.
13:18
Thank you for having me, Miles.
13:19
Of course. Now, I think for some
13:20
people, they might think, duh, you
13:22
don't pay your electricity.
13:24
It gets turned off.
13:25
That's just how the story goes.
13:27
But Austin Energy has been working
13:28
with customers to avoid shutoffs
13:30
previously and especially after
13:32
the pandemic, right?
13:34
Yeah, you mentioned the pandemic.
13:35
I mean, I think we all remember that
13:37
the utility paused, you know,
13:39
any shutoffs whatsoever because
13:41
folks were struggling at that time.
13:43
And then you had, you know back
13:45
when this whole state froze and,
13:47
you know in 2022 when the city
13:49
froze, they've had these sort of,
13:51
if I can use a nerdy word, moratoria
13:53
on shutoffs before,
13:55
previously.
13:56
The last couple of years there have
13:57
been fewer and fewer of those.
13:59
The weather hasn't been as extreme
14:00
to sort of trigger those.
14:02
Uh, so the city hasn't
14:04
paused its shutoff or the city
14:05
utility, I should say, hasn't
14:06
positive shutoffs, uh, but it also
14:08
has a program called the customer
14:10
assistance program that helps
14:12
pay down some, some of your bill
14:14
if you qualify.
14:16
Um, but the, the problem previously
14:18
was, you know, about four years ago,
14:20
the city wasn't really enrolling
14:23
as many people as it could.
14:25
It was only 38% of the people who
14:26
were eligible, who were enrolled in
14:28
the program. So The
14:30
utility has over the last couple of
14:32
years done a really good job of
14:33
getting more folks enrolled and
14:35
just letting folks know this exists
14:37
if you need help to pay your bills.
14:39
And they've seen a lot of success
14:41
in that. Now it's up to 85,000
14:43
people who are enrolled in that
14:44
program.
14:45
Yeah, because as your headline
14:46
states, the shutoffs have
14:48
quadrupled recently.
14:50
So why has this number increased so
14:52
much?
14:53
Yeah, there's a lot of reasons for
14:55
that.
14:56
I mean, for one, it's just more
14:58
expensive.
14:59
Austin Energy would argue our
15:01
bills are the lowest on the ERCOT
15:03
market. That's the state's energy
15:04
marketplace.
15:05
And they would also argue that, by
15:07
and large, bills are
15:09
down compared to a couple years ago.
15:12
But residential customers, people
15:13
who live in apartments and houses,
15:15
are still struggling to pay their
15:17
bills.
15:18
And a lot of that is because what
15:20
the utility charges has
15:22
gone up. Over the last couple of
15:24
years because they have bills to pay
15:26
as well, you know, it's a utility
15:28
that doesn't operate, you
15:29
now, it operates at a loss.
15:31
It's currently got a $44 million
15:33
deficit that it
15:34
has to make up because if they
15:36
don't then, you know there's no
15:38
other game in town that's the only
15:39
utility that Austin has to get
15:41
electricity.
15:42
Right, and you mentioned bills have
15:43
gone up, but how does Austin Energy
15:45
decide how much it charges
15:47
customers?
15:49
It's an arduous process.
15:51
There's lawyers involved, it's
15:53
usually in a courtroom setting, or
15:55
at least some sort of legal setting.
15:57
Basically, the utility says,
16:00
this is what we have to pay back for
16:01
our debt, and this is what
16:03
we want to charge folks.
16:04
We have to raise rates, and we're
16:06
going to do X, Y, Z.
16:07
And in that setting, they
16:09
call it a rate review.
16:11
There is also somebody who's
16:13
advocating for all the residential
16:15
customers, all the people in houses
16:17
and apartments who are paying Austin
16:19
energy bills, they usually
16:21
have a counterproposal.
16:22
And so a
16:24
judge basically decides which
16:27
proposal to go with or what
16:28
compromises
16:31
are made where, and then
16:33
the bill becomes, it becomes
16:35
a new rate.
16:35
That sounds like a lot.
16:37
Yeah, it's a lot, it' s a lot but
16:38
the last couple of years, the city's
16:40
been, the city utility has been
16:42
slowly raising rates.
16:43
And last year it folded that whole
16:45
process into the city budget,
16:47
which is already a very fraught
16:49
process.
16:50
And the folks I spoke with say that
16:52
that process needs to be more
16:53
transparent and just
16:55
transparent and out in the public
16:57
square going forward.
16:59
Another key point is that
17:00
temperatures are increasing year
17:01
after year, right? We're seeing that
17:03
with our weather.
17:03
So how does that get factored into
17:05
all of this?
17:07
Austin is is famously
17:09
not super affordable right now, and
17:11
it's not getting any colder
17:13
in the summers.
17:15
And that demand for electricity
17:17
is driving these
17:19
shutoffs.
17:20
And it's also not likely going
17:22
to go away.
17:23
Climate researchers at UT in
17:24
the city predict that these,
17:27
you know, these sort of like heat
17:28
dome events, these crazy, crazy
17:30
hot summers aren't going
17:32
away. If anything, they're
17:33
increasing over the next couple of
17:35
over the next believe century.
17:38
So this has obviously always
17:41
been an issue, Austin being hot,
17:44
but you know, as it relates to
17:45
the demand for electricity, that's
17:47
that's also going to keep
17:50
Well, we've been speaking with KET's
17:52
government and accountability
17:53
reporter, Andrew Weber.
17:55
Andrew, thanks so much for talking
17:56
with us.
17:57
Thank you.
17:57
Appreciate you.
18:03
When the Austin signal comes back,
18:05
we'll be talking about RiseFest,
18:06
a festival that is happening at
18:08
Pease Park right here in Austin.
18:13
This is the Austin Signal, welcome
18:15
back.
18:16
Back in 1928, a city plan excluded
18:18
black residents from certain parts
18:19
of Austin, including the city's
18:21
first public park, Pease Park.
18:23
One group is working to reclaim that
18:25
history and reshape the narrative
18:27
through the Rise Project.
18:29
They're hosting Rise Fest, an event
18:30
honoring the history and cultural
18:32
legacy of Austin's black freedom
18:34
communities.
18:35
It takes place this Sunday, March
18:36
29th, from two to five p.m.
18:38
At Kingsbury Commons in Pease Parks.
18:41
Joining me in the studio are the
18:42
co-founders of Rise, Stephanie Lang
18:44
and Funmi Ogunro.
18:46
Great to have y'all here.
18:47
So happy to be here.
18:49
Yes. Hello, hello.
18:51
Can y'all first start by telling me
18:52
how did Rise come about?
18:54
Yes, of course.
18:55
So before the name RISE
18:57
came about, we were just known
18:59
as the Austin Black Freedom
19:00
Communities documentary.
19:02
I grew up in Austin and I
19:04
spent a lot of time in East Austin
19:06
as a child, but I never
19:07
knew what freedom communities were
19:09
or heard the name.
19:10
And so she told me freedom
19:12
communities came about after
19:14
emancipation.
19:16
Black people built these communities
19:17
all around Austin and lived in
19:19
South Austin, East Austin, North
19:21
Austin, all throughout Travis
19:22
County.
19:23
And we had our own
19:25
homes and schools.
19:27
And so that's how we
19:29
started off with the documentary.
19:32
Years later now, we're still working
19:34
on the documentary and it's almost
19:35
done and the name is now
19:37
Rise.
19:39
So Stephanie, you're a 7th
19:41
generation Austinite.
19:42
How important is it for you to make
19:44
sure our stories are told?
19:46
So important, Miles, one
19:48
of the things
19:50
that was always so,
19:53
I would say, troubling for me
19:55
as an adult
19:57
was feeling like there's
19:59
this void of recognition
20:02
of all the contributions that
20:04
black people have made to
20:06
this city.
20:08
There's so much that has been done.
20:10
There's so much that
20:12
I wish I knew when I was a younger
20:14
child.
20:15
Sitting in certain parts of Austin,
20:17
not feeling welcome at
20:18
all, and then realizing
20:21
that my folks were from these
20:22
communities, my folks made these
20:24
communities into homes,
20:26
which subsequently is part of why
20:28
they were probably pushed out of
20:29
there in the first place.
20:30
So it's so important, before you can
20:32
fully learn the history of any
20:34
community, you know, any
20:36
city, whatever it is,
20:38
to, you now,
20:40
Marginalize or pull out large sex
20:41
of that who that contributed so
20:43
much is you're not learning the full
20:45
story So it's something we all need
20:47
to learn and history repeats
20:49
itself, right?
20:49
So learning about
20:52
This history really speaks to where
20:53
we are right now in this moment
20:55
because there's nothing new under
20:56
the sun
20:58
and we're all sitting here, three
21:00
black women from Austin,
21:02
from different parts of Austin.
21:04
Funmi, how important is storytelling
21:05
in this work for you, especially
21:07
when it comes to shifting hearts
21:08
and shifting minds, because for me,
21:10
that's what storytelling does.
21:13
I spent a lot of time on East 11th
21:15
Street as a child.
21:17
My mom had a nonprofit
21:19
arts program and
21:21
I participated in a lot
21:23
of the programming and poetry.
21:26
In that art background
21:28
and working with the black
21:29
community, my elders has
21:32
really influenced me as
21:34
a artist.
21:35
I didn't know storytelling was the
21:37
the medium I would be choosing,
21:39
but I believe spending so much
21:41
time as a child on 11th street
21:43
is the reason why I'm
21:45
now storytelling,
21:47
because I'm telling stories of
21:48
people that grew up in East Austin
21:50
and all over Austin.
21:52
For me, what can people
21:52
expect when they show up to
21:54
Rise Fest, because I know it's going
21:56
to be a lot of good times there.
21:58
Rice Fest is gonna be a beautiful
22:00
day of fun at Peace
22:02
Park.
22:03
It's free.
22:04
First of all, I gotta say that.
22:05
I wanna let you know this is a
22:07
family-friendly event.
22:08
So bring your kids.
22:09
There's gonna be kids' corner so
22:11
your kids can come and be engaged.
22:13
We're gonna have the Sweet Home
22:15
Baptist Missionary Choir
22:17
from a Freedom Community,
22:19
Clarksville, which is just right
22:20
around the corner from Peace Park,
22:22
so they're a beautiful choir.
22:23
They're gonna open up the
22:26
festival.
22:26
We're also gonna have Austin's poet
22:28
laureate, Zell Miller.
22:30
We're gonna have one of the best DJs
22:32
in town, DJ Asia Monet.
22:34
We're going to have different
22:35
activations from some of our
22:36
community partners like Austin
22:38
History Center, Bethany
22:40
Cemetery, Norris Explorers,
22:43
Third Spaces, Black Austin Tours.
22:45
There's going to be a gardening
22:46
activity for families.
22:47
You can plant a seed and take it
22:49
home with you.
22:50
So this is really a beautiful
22:52
community event and it's gonna be
22:53
a great time. We'd love to see you
22:55
out there.
22:56
And another one of like the special
22:58
intimate parts of
23:00
the fest is we're
23:02
gonna have a conversation with
23:05
two really
23:07
iconic in our lives and now
23:09
viral TikTok stars,
23:11
elders, part of descendants
23:13
of freedom community,
23:15
Ms.
23:16
Vesita and Ms.
23:19
Flores Sorrells, also known as Ms.
23:21
Flo. So special time
23:23
and like a little section off to
23:25
their cells.
23:26
To have that conversation with
23:28
interested festival
23:30
goers.
23:31
I've been speaking to Stephanie Lang
23:32
and Funmi Ogunro of
23:34
the Rise Project about their
23:36
upcoming event Rise Fest taking
23:37
place this Sunday on March
23:39
29th from 2-5 p.m.
23:41
At Kingsbury Commons in Pease Park.
23:43
Thanks so much for joining me today.
23:45
Thanks for having us.
23:47
Thank you. This was great.
23:49
You can hear more about the Rise
23:51
Fest in the show notes page for
23:52
the podcast for Austin Signal.
23:54
And that's it for us today on Austin
23:56
Signal.
23:57
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
23:58
director, Kristen Cabrera is our
24:00
managing producer, and I am your
24:02
host, Miles Bloxson, and we'll talk
24:04
again tomorrow.
24:05
Thanks for joining us.