Latest / Austin Signal / Floodgates opened amid heavy rain in Austin area

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Floodgates opened amid heavy rain in Austin area · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  Flooding this morning in the Austin
• 0:09
  area caused plenty of road closures,
• 0:12
  a water rescue, and even
• 0:13
  necessitated the lifting of
• 0:14
  floodgates on the Colorado River.
• 0:16
  We're going to have the latest on
• 0:17
  the situation and the alerts that
• 0:19
  went out about it.
• 0:20
  And as the city of Austin tightens
• 0:22
  its strings on the upcoming budget,
• 0:24
  nonprofits are bracing for even more
• 0:25
  cuts, the groups that could be
• 0:27
  impacted, and how organizations are
• 0:29
  preparing.
• 0:30
  Plenty more about those stories
• 0:31
  coming up on today's show.
• 0:33
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:35
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:37
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:38
  Plus, it's last call at the
• 0:40
  Paramount Theater.
• 0:42
  But luckily, the doors are only
• 0:43
  shutting temporarily ahead of an
• 0:45
  all-out renovation, and there's
• 0:47
  still plenty of entertainment that
• 0:48
  they're bringing to town.
• 0:50
  More ahead of tonight's
• 0:51
  goodbye-for-now event,
• 0:53
  that is up next, and is right here
• 0:55
  on Austin Signal.
• 1:07
  Howdy, this is Austin
• 1:09
  Signal, I'm your host Jerry
• 1:10
  Gihannel, it is June 15th,
• 1:13
  a very soggy Monday here at the KUT
• 1:15
  studios, thank you for being with
• 1:17
  us.
• 1:19
  A line of storms passed over the
• 1:20
  Austin area in today's early morning
• 1:21
  hours, dropping a few inches of rain
• 1:23
  in a number of spots across central
• 1:25
  Texas.
• 1:26
  That rain quickly turned into
• 1:27
  flooding in some spots, resulting in
• 1:29
  closed roads and necessitating one
• 1:31
  water rescue.
• 1:32
  And the National Weather Service has
• 1:34
  rain chances hanging above 50%
• 1:36
  through tomorrow.
• 1:38
  For more about the weather and the
• 1:40
  alerts that went out during it, we
• 1:41
  are speaking with Chelsea Xu.
• 1:43
  She's the engagement reporter at KUT
• 1:45
  News. And Gabriel Velazquez-Neda,
• 1:47
  our breaking news reporter.
• 1:49
  Thank you both for being here with
• 1:50
  us. Hello.
• 1:51
  Hello.
• 1:52
  So Chelsea, I wanted to start with
• 1:53
  you. Tell us how much rain has
• 1:55
  fallen overnight.
• 1:57
  Yeah, so the last
• 1:59
  time that I checked,
• 2:01
  the Lower Colorado River Authority,
• 2:02
  which you know has this system for
• 2:04
  tracking rainfall totals,
• 2:06
  said that since midnight there's
• 2:08
  been as much as three to four inches
• 2:10
  of rain in different
• 2:12
  parts of Travis County.
• 2:13
  Okay, and there were lots
• 2:15
  of flood warnings that I woke up to
• 2:17
  that kept being extended.
• 2:19
  Where do you think stand right now
• 2:20
  with those warnings or those
• 2:21
  advisories?
• 2:21
  Yeah, so everything has expired
• 2:23
  right now. So the line of storms
• 2:25
  that moved in, they started north of
• 2:27
  Austin, and that was kind of
• 2:28
  the main,
• 2:31
  it mainly started in the
• 2:32
  overnight hours and continued into
• 2:34
  the early morning, moving south
• 2:36
  of Austin.
• 2:37
  And yeah, by 10am, it was pretty
• 2:39
  much on its way out of the Austin
• 2:41
  area.
• 2:42
  So right now, all of the imminent
• 2:44
  threats are gone, but
• 2:46
  We're just dealing with the
• 2:48
  aftermath of a line of really slow
• 2:49
  moving storms that dropped a lot of
• 2:51
  rain So we've seen you know flooded
• 2:53
  roads and things like that
• 2:54
  And I've been seeing lots of social
• 2:56
  media videos, particularly in Waco.
• 2:58
  It seemed like there was lots of bad
• 2:59
  flooding and when we get bad
• 3:00
  flooding over here, lots of road
• 3:02
  closures tend to happen.
• 3:03
  Do we know how many road closurs
• 3:05
  there were today here in Austin?
• 3:07
  Yeah, so last I checked,
• 3:09
  there were more than 100 low water
• 3:11
  crossings that were closed across
• 3:12
  the Austin area.
• 3:14
  And I saw even as part of
• 3:16
  your reporting that there was a
• 3:17
  water rescue. Tell us more about
• 3:18
  that.
• 3:18
  Yeah, so this happened before
• 3:20
  five in the morning this morning.
• 3:22
  There was a driver of a minivan
• 3:24
  who became stuck at a
• 3:26
  low water crossing. They were trying
• 3:27
  to drive through it.
• 3:29
  Austin Travis County EMS and the
• 3:31
  Austin Fire Department ended up
• 3:32
  responding and doing a water rescue,
• 3:34
  and they were able to safely get the
• 3:36
  driver out of the vehicle.
• 3:37
  And that person did not end
• 3:39
  up needing any medical care.
• 3:41
  And the last I checked with those
• 3:42
  two agencies, that was the
• 3:44
  one water rescue that happened
• 3:45
  within the city of Austin as a
• 3:47
  result of the flooding.
• 3:48
  Okay, well, we were aware that rain
• 3:50
  was going to be moving into the
• 3:51
  area, but lots of folks might have
• 3:53
  been awoken overnight with an
• 3:55
  alert on their phone.
• 3:56
  Gabriel, you've been looking into
• 3:57
  this alert.
• 3:58
  What exactly did it say?
• 4:00
  Yeah, so it was basically warning
• 4:02
  people about the flash flooding to
• 4:03
  not go out, to turn
• 4:05
  back.
• 4:06
  Basically the main messaging was
• 4:08
  stay safe, stay inside, and
• 4:10
  don't get stuck on the roads.
• 4:12
  And some folks were concerned
• 4:13
  because they got an alert that said
• 4:15
  this was a critical,
• 4:17
  it still had the same language as a
• 4:19
  national weather service.
• 4:20
  Are these different kinds of alerts?
• 4:21
  Where do these alerts come from?
• 4:23
  Yeah, so they do come from the
• 4:25
  National Weather Service, and it's
• 4:27
  a national program called the
• 4:29
  Wireless Emergency Alerts, and
• 4:31
  they specifically target your local
• 4:33
  cell towers to broadcast that
• 4:34
  message to you.
• 4:36
  There is a difference between the
• 4:37
  flood watches and the flood
• 4:39
  warnings, the flood warning's being
• 4:40
  a little more serious, that's where
• 4:42
  you get the kind of imminent
• 4:42
  threats.
• 4:43
  Okay, Gabriel, before you get out of
• 4:45
  here, you spoke with some local
• 4:47
  authorities about how they craft
• 4:48
  these messages and they also
• 4:50
  expressed some concerns about folks
• 4:51
  turning off these alerts.
• 4:53
  What did they have to say?
• 4:54
  Yes, so I spoke to Martin Ritchie.
• 4:56
  He's the Director of Department of
• 4:57
  Homeland Security for the Capital
• 4:58
  Area Council of Governments.
• 5:00
  It's a mouthful of a title.
• 5:02
  But basically he said that
• 5:04
  he does have conversations with the
• 5:06
  stakeholders, he has conversations
• 5:07
  with the community and it's
• 5:08
  something that they're constantly
• 5:09
  working on, but that he was proud of
• 5:11
  the response.
• 5:11
  This is what he said.
• 5:13
  I'm very proud of the first
• 5:15
  responders that were out
• 5:17
  there doing their job.
• 5:18
  And I think the community should
• 5:20
  respect that by keeping
• 5:23
  that switch on.
• 5:26
  It's, I apologize for
• 5:28
  those that feel they were woken
• 5:30
  up, even if it
• 5:32
  wasn't sent by our system, but
• 5:34
  just I apologize on behalf of the
• 5:36
  whole way we approach this
• 5:38
  stuff for the inconvenience.
• 5:40
  But...
• 5:41
  I do want people to know
• 5:43
  it's essential that we can reach
• 5:45
  you.
• 5:46
  Okay, so there's a lot going
• 5:48
  on. We've been following lots of
• 5:49
  reporting. Chelsea, before you get
• 5:51
  out of here today, I know that
• 5:53
  there was talk about opening some
• 5:54
  floodgates as a result of the amount
• 5:56
  of rain that we have received.
• 5:57
  Did that end up happening?
• 5:59
  Yeah, so the Lower Colorado River
• 6:01
  Authority, you know, which manages
• 6:02
  that part of the river, they
• 6:04
  opened a floodgate at Lake Bastrop
• 6:06
  Dam and at Tom Miller Dam around
• 6:08
  8am this morning.
• 6:11
  So water from Tom Miller dam flows
• 6:13
  into Lady
• 6:15
  Bird Lake. So that's where you're
• 6:16
  going to see some of that impact.
• 6:17
  And then Lake Bastro Dam is east of
• 6:19
  Austin and it's also flowing into
• 6:21
  the Colorado river eventually.
• 6:23
  Well, we know that you do a
• 6:25
  lot of reporting on these kinds of
• 6:26
  stories, Chelsea, these breaking
• 6:27
  news.
• 6:28
  And the weather here in Texas is
• 6:30
  always pretty crazy.
• 6:31
  You never know how quickly it can
• 6:33
  change. Can you remind us of ways
• 6:34
  that folks can stay weather aware
• 6:36
  ahead of future storms like this?
• 6:38
  Yes, I definitely follow the
• 6:40
  National Weather Service, the Austin
• 6:41
  San Antonio office.
• 6:42
  They post a lot of updates both on
• 6:44
  their website and also on all of
• 6:46
  their social media accounts.
• 6:49
  There's also Austin Emergency
• 6:50
  Management, which is the city's
• 6:53
  official emergency agency.
• 6:55
  They also have social media counts
• 6:56
  that you can follow.
• 6:57
  And then, particularly right now
• 6:59
  with flooding, there is
• 7:01
  a website called atxfloods.com.
• 7:03
  Which has all of these low
• 7:05
  water crossings that are closed and
• 7:07
  where they're at.
• 7:08
  All right. We have more about this
• 7:10
  story in today's podcast,
• 7:12
  Show Notes, and at kut.org.
• 7:14
  We have been speaking with Chelsea
• 7:15
  Zhu and Gabriel Velázquez-Neda.
• 7:17
  Thank you for coming on the show.
• 7:19
  Thank you. Thank you!
• 7:32
  With a budget deficit looming, the
• 7:33
  City of Austin continues to
• 7:35
  look for ways to trim costs among
• 7:37
  proposed cuts, reductions to
• 7:39
  funding for social services for
• 7:41
  non-profits.
• 7:42
  Sam Stark covers city government for
• 7:44
  our reporting partner, Austin
• 7:45
  Current, and he is here now to tell
• 7:47
  us the story. Hey Sam.
• 7:48
  Hey Jerry, how's it going?
• 7:49
  I'm doing well. Thank you for being
• 7:51
  back in.
• 7:52
  Before we get into the specifics of
• 7:53
  these potential cuts, can you remind
• 7:55
  us why is the city of Austin facing
• 7:57
  a budget shortfall.
• 7:58
  Yeah, so it's a number of
• 8:00
  things. It's inflation, stagnant
• 8:02
  sales tax growth, constrained
• 8:04
  property tax revenue, and then that
• 8:06
  looming budget deficit you
• 8:07
  mentioned.
• 8:08
  Also, there was, of course,
• 8:10
  Proposition Q, which was handily
• 8:12
  beaten last year.
• 8:14
  That measure would have increased
• 8:15
  property taxes to fund city
• 8:17
  services.
• 8:18
  So all of these things combined
• 8:20
  have forced Austin City Council
• 8:21
  members to make a tough
• 8:23
  decision this budget session.
• 8:25
  And as you mentioned, one of those
• 8:27
  decisions or choices is
• 8:29
  that proposed $16.8
• 8:31
  million cut to social service
• 8:34
  contracts.
• 8:34
  So what sort of nonprofit
• 8:36
  organizations does the city
• 8:37
  currently have contracts with?
• 8:39
  Quite a few.
• 8:40
  Dozens.
• 8:41
  They do things like housing
• 8:43
  services, legal aid, and
• 8:44
  mental health care.
• 8:46
  I talked to a couple of them.
• 8:48
  One of those is Family Eldercare,
• 8:50
  which helps housing insecure seniors
• 8:52
  find safe, affordable housing.
• 8:55
  They said that they've been hit by
• 8:56
  funding losses from nearly every
• 8:58
  level of donor since 2024.
• 9:01
  The CEO told me that that has
• 9:03
  translated to around $6 million
• 9:05
  in cuts.
• 9:06
  Um, and then they also received
• 9:08
  along with many of the nonprofits
• 9:10
  contracted through the city, a 10%
• 9:13
  reduction, uh, from the city last
• 9:15
  year.
• 9:16
  How is the city going about
• 9:17
  determining where to make the
• 9:19
  cuts to make up this budget
• 9:20
  shortfall?
• 9:20
  Yeah, so they haven't publicly
• 9:23
  indicated which ones are
• 9:25
  being targeted yet, but
• 9:27
  they did approve an
• 9:29
  evaluation framework in
• 9:31
  February that would
• 9:33
  sort of look at them on
• 9:36
  these three tiers from
• 9:38
  this rubric.
• 9:39
  And so it's legally obligated
• 9:41
  services, then they would
• 9:43
  look for overlapping funding
• 9:45
  and opportunities for consolidation.
• 9:47
  Before evaluating contracts
• 9:49
  based on performance and
• 9:51
  equity considerations.
• 9:53
  So who is most likely to be affected
• 9:54
  if these organizations lose funding?
• 9:57
  And conversely, how are these
• 9:58
  nonprofits responding?
• 10:00
  So the nonprofits are
• 10:02
  quite worried.
• 10:04
  As I said, with the family elder
• 10:06
  care situation,
• 10:08
  nonprofits are not in a great
• 10:10
  financial space as with many
• 10:12
  of us.
• 10:13
  They are facing increased
• 10:15
  competition for donors,
• 10:17
  donors who are also facing some of
• 10:19
  their own financial uncertainty.
• 10:21
  But in response to
• 10:23
  this proposition, a coalition
• 10:25
  of nonprofits called One Voice
• 10:27
  Central Texas urged
• 10:29
  the city to treat the reductions as,
• 10:31
  or a number of things.
• 10:33
  They had a list of items that they
• 10:35
  wanted city council to
• 10:37
  consider. One of those was treating
• 10:39
  the reductions as last resort,
• 10:42
  including these nonprofit voices
• 10:44
  in the conversation
• 10:46
  going forward, and then
• 10:48
  fully considering how these
• 10:50
  cuts would impact the vulnerable
• 10:51
  residents that nonprofits serve.
• 10:54
  So since they sent out that
• 10:56
  letter in late May,
• 10:58
  Several council members publicly
• 11:00
  supported the coalition's approach,
• 11:02
  but it remains unclear whether city
• 11:03
  leaders are going to be able to
• 11:05
  avoid proposed cuts and keep
• 11:07
  the safety net relatively
• 11:09
  intact.
• 11:09
  Yeah, it's still unclear.
• 11:11
  Have you seen any indication on how
• 11:13
  likely these cuts might be?
• 11:14
  Or is that something that's still
• 11:16
  way down the line?
• 11:17
  This is a process that still has a
• 11:19
  lot to play out.
• 11:20
  Yeah, so the budget decision or
• 11:22
  budget conversations will be
• 11:23
  happening over the next couple of
• 11:25
  months. I think the final decision
• 11:26
  comes in August.
• 11:28
  But they did say
• 11:30
  on the city council message
• 11:32
  board that they would have a work
• 11:33
  session dedicated to
• 11:35
  discussing this.
• 11:36
  But I did talk to Council Member
• 11:38
  Lane, who said that she understands
• 11:40
  how important these nonprofits are
• 11:42
  and the services that they provide
• 11:43
  to the community.
• 11:44
  But she said it's just a tricky
• 11:46
  situation for the reasons I
• 11:48
  described earlier.
• 11:49
  Also, with contracts
• 11:52
  already within the next budget,
• 11:54
  those contracts being APD and
• 11:56
  AFD, there's just not a lot of
• 11:58
  wiggle room when it comes to what
• 11:59
  can be funded and what can't.
• 12:02
  Okay, that is Sam Stark.
• 12:03
  He is the government reporter for
• 12:05
  Austin Current.
• 12:06
  They are a reporting partner with
• 12:07
  Austin Signal and KUT News covering
• 12:09
  the city of Austin.
• 12:10
  We're gonna have a link to his
• 12:11
  reporting in today's show notes.
• 12:13
  Sam, always great to talk with you.
• 12:14
  Thanks, Sherry.
• 12:16
  And an update from this morning's
• 12:17
  flooding. Austin Travis County EMS
• 12:19
  has reported another water rescue
• 12:20
  took place as a result of today's
• 12:22
  rain. This one was in Maynard.
• 12:24
  There was one occupant in the
• 12:25
  vehicle who was safely
• 12:27
  removed.
• 12:29
  A Travis County judge could sign off
• 12:31
  today on Austin's use of hotel
• 12:33
  occupancy taxes to help pay for the
• 12:34
  Convention Center expansion.
• 12:36
  The Austin City Council approved
• 12:37
  last month issuing a $1.3
• 12:39
  billion bond to move the project
• 12:41
  forward.
• 12:42
  City leaders hope to use the money
• 12:43
  from hotel occupant taxes to
• 12:46
  help down that debt.
• 12:49
  This is Austin Signal, we'll be back
• 12:51
  after a break.
• 12:59
  Hi, this is Kristin Cabrera,
• 13:01
  Managing Producer for Austin Signal.
• 13:03
  KUT Field Guide to Austin's Summer
• 13:05
  Reading Bingo Challenge is underway.
• 13:07
  Do you need a few book
• 13:08
  recommendations to get you started?
• 13:10
  Well, here are two.
• 13:13
  Jade City by Fonda Lee is the
• 13:15
  first book in a trilogy called The
• 13:16
  Greenbone Saga.
• 13:17
  It's an urban fantasy that takes
• 13:19
  place in a world not unlike our own,
• 13:21
  except in this one, people who wear
• 13:23
  Jade get super speed and strength.
• 13:25
  The story centers around the Kahl
• 13:27
  family, who are the center of this
• 13:28
  crime organization.
• 13:30
  The book is an action-packed mix of
• 13:32
  The Godfather meets Enter the
• 13:34
  Dragon, with just a dash of
• 13:36
  superpowers.
• 13:37
  But overall, it's the characters who
• 13:39
  really stick with you.
• 13:40
  Reading Jade City had me completely
• 13:42
  invested in what was going to
• 13:44
  happen with the Kohl family and
• 13:45
  those around them.
• 13:47
  The author Fonda Lee does a
• 13:48
  masterful job in writing character
• 13:50
  dynamics that will leave you
• 13:52
  thinking about them way after you
• 13:54
  close the third book.
• 13:55
  I highly recommend you read Jade
• 13:57
  City for the fantasy square of the
• 13:58
  bingo card.
• 14:01
  The second book I recommend is The
• 14:03
  Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
• 14:05
  This is book one of the five-part
• 14:07
  Stormlight Archive series.
• 14:09
  The book is pure adventure and
• 14:11
  fantasy, but is grounded in the
• 14:13
  deep human emotions of its
• 14:14
  characters.
• 14:15
  And though this would also take care
• 14:17
  of the fantasy square on the bingo
• 14:19
  card, I actually recommend this
• 14:21
  for the audiobook square.
• 14:23
  Not only because The Way Of Kings is
• 14:24
  long, but because the two
• 14:26
  audiobook narrators Michael Kramer
• 14:28
  and Kate Redding are fan-
• 14:30
  fantastic, and really do a great job
• 14:32
  of immersing you in the story.
• 14:34
  You can find out more about the KUT
• 14:36
  Field Guide to Austin Summer Reading
• 14:38
  Bingo Challenge like
• 14:40
  how to get your own bingo card in
• 14:42
  today's podcast show notes and
• 14:44
  at KUT.org.
• 14:46
  I'm Kristin Cabrera and you're
• 14:47
  listening to Austin Signal.
• 14:55
  It's Last Call tonight at the
• 14:56
  Paramount Theater, as the historic
• 14:58
  venue prepares to close for the
• 15:00
  next 11 months.
• 15:01
  The downtown Austin landmark is
• 15:03
  undergoing a major restoration
• 15:05
  project for the first time in
• 15:06
  decades.
• 15:07
  But before the curtain falls, the
• 15:09
  Paramound is hosting its free Last
• 15:11
  Call open house event where the
• 15:12
  public can grab drinks, seeing the
• 15:14
  renovations so far, and
• 15:16
  say goodbye to the theater for
• 15:18
  now.
• 15:19
  Here to tell us more about the
• 15:20
  renovations and the event is Jim
• 15:23
  Ritz, Paramount Theater CEO
• 15:24
  and executive director.
• 15:26
  Jim, welcome back to the show.
• 15:27
  It's so lovely to be with you.
• 15:29
  We are very excited to hear about
• 15:31
  this project.
• 15:32
  So tell us a little bit about what
• 15:34
  sort of renovations are going on and
• 15:36
  what are planned for the future.
• 15:37
  Well, first of all, starting with
• 15:38
  the Paramount Theater, the
• 15:40
  110-year-old Paramount Theater,
• 15:42
  we are doing the first full
• 15:44
  restoration in almost
• 15:46
  five decades of the
• 15:48
  theater.
• 15:49
  The single question that everybody
• 15:50
  asked me, I'll answer right up
• 15:52
  front, yes, we're replacing all
• 15:54
  of the seats at the Paramound
• 15:55
  Theater.
• 15:56
  And the second most asked question
• 15:58
  is, no, we are not
• 16:00
  filling in the Houdini hole at the
• 16:02
  top of the Paramout Theater.
• 16:03
  So if I can just get those headlines
• 16:05
  right out of the way.
• 16:06
  I think a lot of people just breathe
• 16:07
  sighs of relief for both of those.
• 16:08
  You're absolutely right about that.
• 16:10
  But what we are doing is
• 16:12
  a number of things.
• 16:15
  We're on the National Registry, so
• 16:16
  we're not changing anything
• 16:18
  structurally.
• 16:20
  But the first part of it is we're
• 16:21
  a union house, a very proud union
• 16:23
  house with Local 205 of IATSE.
• 16:26
  And we have some extraordinary
• 16:27
  lighting and
• 16:29
  audio folks on our
• 16:31
  staff.
• 16:32
  We are improving the tools that
• 16:34
  they will have.
• 16:35
  And I think that's really important.
• 16:38
  Secondly, we are looking
• 16:40
  at the the outer lobby where
• 16:41
  you enter in and currently
• 16:44
  it isn't terribly friendly
• 16:46
  for somebody who is
• 16:48
  in a wheelchair or walker or just
• 16:49
  needs a little bit of time so we
• 16:51
  will be flattening that
• 16:54
  entry level and
• 16:56
  having a specific lane specifically
• 16:59
  for those folks instead of them
• 17:00
  having to fight between the
• 17:02
  other you know 1,100 people who
• 17:04
  are coming in waiting in lines.
• 17:07
  Then we are refreshing
• 17:09
  all of the ornamentation on
• 17:11
  the walls. And actually it will take
• 17:13
  four months alone for that.
• 17:16
  Everything when you are in
• 17:18
  our inner lobby or you're in the
• 17:20
  auditorium, she is absolutely
• 17:21
  beautiful, but she needs a little
• 17:23
  work.
• 17:25
  And so once we get all the seats
• 17:26
  out, we will have scaffolding all
• 17:28
  over the entire auditorium in
• 17:30
  the inner lobby.
• 17:31
  And it is individual artists
• 17:33
  by hand.
• 17:35
  Freshening, changing some colors to
• 17:37
  make it consistent with when
• 17:39
  the Majestic Theater became
• 17:41
  the Paramount Theater in 3031,
• 17:44
  our color palette is now going to be
• 17:46
  consistent with what 3031
• 17:48
  would have been, so there'll be a
• 17:49
  little cleaner feel, a little more
• 17:50
  consistency.
• 17:52
  And one of the other really
• 17:54
  important things we're doing is in
• 17:55
  the original 1915
• 17:57
  plans, John Eberson, the architect
• 18:00
  for the majestic theater.
• 18:02
  On the third floor of the theater,
• 18:04
  behind the three opera windows,
• 18:06
  in the original 1915 plans,
• 18:09
  there was supposed to be a ballroom
• 18:11
  behind those three opera, opera
• 18:13
  windows. Well, they put
• 18:15
  in the crown molding, they put it in
• 18:17
  the opera windows but they
• 18:18
  never built out the ballroom.
• 18:20
  And so for many decades, it
• 18:22
  was just storage.
• 18:23
  And then for the last 25 plus
• 18:25
  years, we had little warns of
• 18:27
  offices of our staff members and
• 18:28
  things like that.
• 18:30
  What we are going to do in working
• 18:31
  with the design group of Paul
• 18:33
  Clayton and Clayton Cordy
• 18:35
  architects, we are gonna build
• 18:37
  out the ballroom and finish it
• 18:39
  for the first time.
• 18:40
  So it's gonna be a really cool place
• 18:41
  for the public and others.
• 18:43
  We can have small events in there,
• 18:45
  but we're finishing, you know, it
• 18:47
  took us 110 years, but we are
• 18:49
  finishing the original plan.
• 18:50
  So those are a lot of the things
• 18:51
  that are going on.
• 18:52
  Yeah, you mentioned a hundred and
• 18:53
  ten year old building five decades
• 18:55
  since the last restoration why
• 18:57
  now to to undergo this process.
• 18:59
  Well, the reality is would love
• 19:01
  to have done it seven years ago,
• 19:04
  but when the pandemic
• 19:06
  hit it hit all of us and it took us
• 19:08
  two or three years to recover.
• 19:10
  The reason we're doing it now is
• 19:13
  it's time.
• 19:14
  We're so fortunate that
• 19:16
  the theater has held up as well as
• 19:18
  it has, but we need to do
• 19:20
  some of the things some people don't
• 19:21
  think of sexy, but were upgrading
• 19:23
  the HVAC systems and
• 19:25
  everything. And yes that's to help
• 19:27
  the artists and the patrons feel
• 19:28
  more comfortable but the reality is
• 19:31
  the enemy of all of the artwork
• 19:33
  that is on our walls is
• 19:35
  changing temperature and changing
• 19:36
  humidity and until
• 19:38
  we change all
• 19:40
  of that we'll put all this work
• 19:42
  into it and then not protect it
• 19:44
  so we'll be doing that we needed
• 19:46
  to do these things now we need it we
• 19:47
  needed three years ago to replace
• 19:49
  all our seats so we've been
• 19:51
  We've been out in the community,
• 19:52
  they've been incredibly helpful.
• 19:54
  We've raised a little over $31
• 19:55
  million, or about
• 19:57
  halfway to the total of what we're
• 19:59
  going to do to the paramount and the
• 20:01
  complete re-imagining of the state
• 20:03
  theater, which will happen next.
• 20:05
  But we still need help from folks
• 20:07
  and we're
• 20:09
  grateful for how supportive the
• 20:10
  Austin community has been.
• 20:12
  So the theater is going to be
• 20:14
  closing down for 11 months
• 20:15
  or so, but the plans for the
• 20:17
  shows are going to ongoing.
• 20:19
  I'm thinking right now the summer
• 20:20
  classic film series is something
• 20:21
  that everybody partakes in or
• 20:24
  tries to get out and get a piece
• 20:25
  of.
• 20:26
  How is the programming going to
• 20:28
  continue for the Paramount through
• 20:29
  this closure?
• 20:30
  Two ways.
• 20:31
  One of the things, the State Theater
• 20:33
  in Paramount will never be
• 20:35
  closed at the same time.
• 20:37
  So on tonight, we're having the
• 20:39
  last call, which we've invited the
• 20:41
  community at no cost.
• 20:43
  Come in, have a low-cost beverage
• 20:44
  with this kind of old school
• 20:46
  pricing.
• 20:47
  Have a photo with the fire curtain,
• 20:49
  which is one of only eight in the
• 20:51
  United States.
• 20:52
  Have a chance to say goodbye to her
• 20:54
  for eleven months but what we are
• 20:56
  doing is uh...
• 20:57
  We will be producing wall-to-wall
• 20:59
  the state theater particularly with
• 21:01
  the summer classic film series
• 21:03
  although and we're really
• 21:05
  grateful to the bullock museum in
• 21:06
  the i'm i'm ax theater we're
• 21:09
  going to be taking ten over the
• 21:11
  course of the summer of our
• 21:12
  uh... Classic movies and will be
• 21:14
  playing them there at i'm max the
• 21:16
  first one actually is on
• 21:19
  Tuesday.
• 21:20
  Of next week, Jaws,
• 21:22
  you'll have a chance to see it
• 21:23
  there, or The Wizard of Oz
• 21:25
  in 3D on June
• 21:27
  23rd.
• 21:28
  The other thing is we're producing
• 21:29
  shows over at
• 21:31
  AISD, a performing arts
• 21:33
  center near Mueller, Radio
• 21:35
  East, we're looking at some other
• 21:37
  places, so we will still
• 21:39
  be producing a lot of content
• 21:41
  over the course of the almost 11
• 21:42
  months that will be closed.
• 21:44
  Okay, well, I'm really looking for,
• 21:45
  I mean, I loved going to see 2001 at
• 21:47
  the Paramount, but I'm excited to
• 21:49
  check it out at the IMAX this
• 21:51
  year and see just how different
• 21:53
  that experience might be.
• 21:54
  One thing I wanted to ask you about
• 21:55
  is I've seen on social media some of
• 21:57
  the excavation that has been going
• 21:59
  on. There's been old newspaper
• 22:00
  clippings and old popcorn bags that
• 22:02
  have been drawn out. Is there
• 22:03
  anything that stood out to you from
• 22:04
  this excavation process that just
• 22:06
  really kind of made you shake your
• 22:08
  head and say wow.
• 22:08
  Well, I've, I have been stunned
• 22:10
  at, and I'm, I'm so
• 22:12
  grateful to, uh,
• 22:14
  to our team, uh for the creation
• 22:17
  of Trash Talk, which is
• 22:18
  basically been what everybody
• 22:20
  has, Tori Schultz, who is,
• 22:23
  uh has done TikTok with us
• 22:25
  and is, is one of our key people in
• 22:26
  communications.
• 22:28
  The world is fascinated by
• 22:30
  the detritus of what's
• 22:32
  been left behind.
• 22:33
  Candy boxes, jewelry,
• 22:36
  cell phones, all the things going
• 22:38
  back for almost 110 years.
• 22:40
  And when we go in and opening some
• 22:42
  of these walls and things or some of
• 22:44
  the work that we're gonna be doing,
• 22:45
  I think it's gonna be fascinating to
• 22:47
  see what else we think.
• 22:48
  But there is a massive, massive
• 22:50
  curiosity within this community
• 22:52
  for the trash talk of
• 22:54
  the Paramount Theater.
• 22:55
  We've found it really amusing.
• 22:57
  Fantastic, all right, we have been
• 22:59
  speaking with Jim Ritz.
• 23:00
  He is the Paramount Theater CEO
• 23:02
  and executive director.
• 23:03
  We're gonna have a link to tonight's
• 23:04
  event in our show notes.
• 23:06
  Jim, great to talk with you.
• 23:07
  And Jerry, thank you so much.
• 23:09
  And thank you out there for tuning
• 23:10
  in to today's show.
• 23:11
  There's more from us at kut.org
• 23:14
  slash signal.
• 23:16
  Rayna Sevilla is our technical
• 23:18
  director, Alexandra Hart is our
• 23:19
  producer, and Kristen Cabrera is our
• 23:22
  managing producer.
• 23:23
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 23:24
  We will talk to you tomorrow.