Latest / Austin Signal / More background on Buford’s shooting suspect released

Transcript

More background on Buford’s shooting suspect released · Austin Signal

0:08
We are learning more about the
0:09
alleged shooter and Sunday morning's
0:11
deadly incident at a West 6th Street
0:12
bar.
0:13
The suspect had no prior
0:14
interactions with police here in
0:16
Austin, but that wasn't true for
0:17
other agencies in Texas.
0:19
What we know about that history and
0:21
why it wasn't enough to keep him
0:22
from legally acquiring firearms.
0:25
And the Texas Department of
0:26
Transportation has not started
0:27
construction on a new boardwalk
0:29
along Lady Bird Lake.
0:30
TechStop pledged $25 million for the
0:32
project as part of the expansion of
0:34
I-35.
0:35
Now it's warning the city to accept
0:37
its terms or lose the project
0:38
altogether.
0:40
More from a KUT news investigation
0:42
that's on today's show.
0:43
The Austin Signal is a production
0:45
of KUT News, hosted by
0:47
Jerry Quijano.
0:48
And on this Friday, we've got a
0:50
little Austin music history for you,
0:52
those stories and more,
0:54
coming up next, it's right here on
0:56
Austin Signal.
1:07
Howdy out there, you are tuned in to
1:09
Austin Signal right here on
1:11
community-supported public radio.
1:13
This is KUT News.
1:15
I'm your host, Jerry Kikano.
1:16
It is the first Friday of March
1:18
2026.
1:19
We're glad you're spending part of
1:21
the day here with us.
1:23
We are continuing to report on
1:25
and follow developments in the
1:27
investigation and aftermath of
1:28
Sunday morning's deadly shooting at
1:30
Buford's backyard beer garden on
1:31
West 6th Street.
1:33
Austin police chief Lisa Davis said
1:34
on Thursday that the total number of
1:36
people hit by gunfire, including
1:38
the suspect, was now at 19.
1:40
That was an increase from previous
1:42
statements.
1:43
Three people were killed and one
1:44
remains in critical condition.
1:46
And while Austin police report not
1:48
having a run-in with the suspect
1:49
before last weekend's shooting,
1:51
we are learning more about
1:52
interactions with other law
1:54
enforcement agencies prior to
1:55
Sunday. For more, we're speaking
1:57
with Sam Stark, the local government
1:59
reporter for Austin Current.
2:01
KUT's collaborator on Austin Signal
2:02
and a partner with KUT Newsroom
2:04
covering the city and this deadly
2:06
shooting. Welcome to the show, Sam.
2:08
Thanks so much for having me.
2:09
So in your story, you found that
2:10
court records from Bexar County
2:11
showed a possible history of
2:13
domestic violence from the
2:15
alleged shooter. Can you tell us
2:16
more about that?
2:17
Yeah, so we recently
2:19
acquired divorce documents
2:21
from Bexar County.
2:22
That's where Ndiaga
2:24
Diyajni lived with his ex-wife.
2:27
So we know that his ex wife
2:28
Isatao Sivare
2:30
filed for divorce from
2:33
Diyaja in March
2:35
2022.
2:37
In September of that year,
2:39
a judge found that Diyaji had
2:41
a quote history or pattern
2:43
of committing family violence during
2:45
their marriage.
2:46
The ruling in those documents placed
2:48
Saveri in sole custody of
2:50
their two sons, which signaled the
2:52
court's concern about safety
2:54
while still permitting Diogenes'
2:57
limited and supervised visitation.
2:59
One thing I wanted to ask you about
3:00
was Austin Police said pretty early
3:02
that the guns used in the
3:04
attack were acquired legally.
3:05
Did any of these crimes
3:07
bar him from owning guns?
3:09
Yeah, so Austin Police said that he
3:11
acquired them legally in
3:13
San Antonio in 2017.
3:16
So I actually spoke with Hays
3:18
County Assistant District Attorney
3:19
Greg Cox about this
3:21
situation.
3:23
He said that because Diogeni had no
3:25
criminal conviction for family
3:26
violence, he was still legally
3:28
allowed to own firearms.
3:30
So, if he did have a
3:32
criminal conviction, state law
3:34
bars people convicted of family
3:36
violence misdemeanors or felonies
3:38
from possessing guns for
3:40
five years after completion of their
3:42
sentence and probation.
3:44
Cox told me that civil courts don't
3:47
usually trigger those
3:48
firearm restrictions.
3:50
There is one exception.
3:52
A person may also be barred from
3:54
possess firearms if a court
3:56
issues a domestic violence
3:57
protective order against them.
3:59
Even without a criminal conviction.
4:02
Okay, we have your story at KUT.org
4:04
and we'll have a link in today's
4:06
show notes.
4:07
In addition to you reporting, you
4:08
also include a handwritten note
4:10
that you found in
4:12
the records. What does it say in
4:13
there?
4:14
So also in those documents was a
4:16
handwritten letter from D'Ajni
4:17
replying to the divorce filings,
4:20
refuting some of Savare's claims.
4:23
He said, quote, in our culture and
4:25
religion, we do not need a marriage
4:26
certificate to be husband and
4:28
wife.
4:29
The only reason why we are
4:31
here is because I applied for a
4:33
marriage certificate to help her
4:34
become a legal resident of the
4:36
United States and later become
4:38
a citizen.
4:39
I only object to her lying
4:41
reason for divorce, otherwise I
4:43
have no problem whatsoever having
4:45
her out of my life.
4:47
You also talked with someone who
4:48
assists victims of domestic
4:50
violence.
4:51
What did she have to say about the
4:52
connections between domestic
4:53
violence and these kinds of
4:54
shootings?
4:55
So she said that they are
4:57
never surprised when someone who
4:59
has committed this type of shooting
5:00
has a history of family
5:02
violence.
5:03
She pointed to a study that
5:06
reported an established link
5:08
between mass shooters and
5:09
perpetrators of family violence.
5:11
That was a study out of Johns
5:13
Hopkins Bloomberg School of
5:15
Public Health, which found that
5:16
almost 70% of mass shootings
5:18
in the United States from 2014 to
5:20
2019.
5:21
Involved a person who had either
5:23
killed a family member or had
5:25
a history of domestic violence.
5:28
Sam, we here at
5:30
KUT have been covering the story as
5:31
you have with Austin Current.
5:34
There's a lot to be updated.
5:36
We had an update yesterday from
5:37
Austin Police Department and we're
5:38
expecting more in the future.
5:39
What are you going to be continuing
5:40
to cover in the days and weeks
5:42
ahead?
5:42
Yeah, so I mean, we're just really
5:44
interested in getting kind of a more
5:46
complete picture of who this
5:48
person was.
5:50
The Austin Police Department as well
5:51
as FBI investigators have been...
5:53
Dropping hints here and there,
5:55
for example, on Thursday, we
5:57
had heard that he had a welfare
5:59
check in 2022.
6:01
They said that that came from an
6:02
outside agency, but wouldn't specify
6:04
which one.
6:06
I'm going to just continue to
6:07
look at the response from local
6:09
agencies as well as federal ones to
6:11
see what they're doing in the wake
6:12
of this tragedy.
6:14
That is Sam Stark.
6:15
He is the local government reporter
6:16
at Austin Current, a partner
6:18
with KUT News and Austin Signal
6:20
in covering the city of Austin.
6:22
Sam, thanks for your time.
6:23
Thanks so much.
6:34
Back in 2023,
6:36
Textod said it would pay up to $25
6:38
million to build a new boardwalk
6:40
along Lady Bird Lake.
6:42
And the offer seemed kind of
6:44
simple, a long-desired safety
6:46
upgrade on Austin's busiest trail
6:48
paid for by the state as part
6:49
of the I-35 expansion.
6:52
But nearly three years since then,
6:54
construction on this new board walk
6:55
hasn't even started and now
6:57
Textod is warning the city of Austin
6:59
that it must accept the terms of an
7:01
agreement or risk losing the
7:02
boardwalk all together.
7:04
So what's going on here?
7:06
A KUT news investigation helps
7:08
provide some answers as
7:09
KUT's Nathan Bernier reports.
7:14
Austin has more than a hundred miles
7:16
of trails, but the most popular one
7:18
by far is the ten-mile
7:20
loop around Lady Bird Lake in
7:22
the middle of the city.
7:24
The Anne and Roy Butler hike and
7:25
bike trail attracts five million
7:27
visits a year.
7:28
And one of the most beloved features
7:30
is the existing mile-long
7:32
boardwalk that opened 2020
7:34
My name is Al
7:36
Godfrey, I'm an architect
7:37
and I was
7:39
the lead designer for the boardwalk.
7:42
And right now we're walking along
7:44
the board walk on a beautiful,
7:46
beautiful Monday observing
7:49
the city skyline and
7:51
it is spectacular.
7:52
The boardwalk cost $28
7:55
million to build, mostly paid for
7:57
with City of Austin property taxes.
7:58
It seems like it really
8:00
resonates with the community and
8:03
has become an important
8:05
milestone, a
8:07
benchmark for the city in terms of
8:09
its idea of itself.
8:11
Now Austin could get a
8:13
second boardwalk on the Butler Trail
8:14
and in a much more central location
8:17
Right in front of the Hyatt
8:19
Regency on the south shore
8:21
of Lady Bird Lake That's basically
8:23
between South First Street and
8:25
South Congress Avenue But
8:27
this time instead of the city
8:28
footing most of the bill up to
8:30
25 million dollars would come from
8:32
the Texas Department of
8:33
Transportation And it's all
8:35
because of the expansion of I-35
8:37
through Central Austin
8:40
Adding extra lanes to the highway
8:42
means the I-35 bridge over Lady
8:43
Bird Lake needs to get wider and
8:45
that construction is already
8:46
underway.
8:47
But doing that requires using some
8:49
of the surrounding parkland, some
8:51
of it during construction, but also
8:53
almost an acre that will be
8:54
permanently absorbed into the
8:55
highway's footprint.
8:56
Now under federal law, TxDOT has to
8:58
make up for that use of parkland
8:59
with something called mitigation.
9:02
Sometimes that's a straight cash
9:04
payout. Last month the city accepted
9:06
more than 17 million dollars from
9:07
TxTOT.
9:08
The boardwalk, though, falls into
9:10
a different category of mitigation.
9:13
It is not strictly required by
9:15
law.
9:15
It's text out going above
9:17
and beyond.
9:18
This is a kind of sweetener that
9:20
often gets bundled into large urban
9:22
highway expansions to help agencies
9:24
build support for controversial
9:26
projects.
9:27
So almost three years after this
9:28
project was announced, why is
9:30
there not even a timeline for when
9:32
construction could begin?
9:35
A KUT news review of thousands
9:36
of pages of emails obtained out of
9:38
the Texas Public Information Act
9:40
helps reveal why.
9:41
Behind the scenes, a power struggle
9:43
played out over who would control
9:45
the boardwalk and who would get the
9:47
25 million dollars.
9:48
It involved the city of Austin and a
9:50
non-profit called the Trail
9:52
Conservancy, which operates and
9:53
maintains the Butler Trail under a
9:55
contract with the city.
9:56
And it didn't really go as planned,
9:59
but it did eat up a lot of
10:01
time.
10:02
And it started with an
10:04
email.
10:06
It was March 2023.
10:08
The email was from a member of the
10:09
Trail Conservancy's Board of
10:11
Directors, Matt Harris.
10:13
He's also on Cap Metro's board.
10:15
Harris had just seen a KUT news
10:16
story about TechStot using Parkland
10:18
to build the I-35 bridge over Lady
10:20
Bird Lake.
10:21
He emailed the lead engineer for
10:23
TechStots Austin District, Tucker
10:25
Ferguson, and wrote,
10:27
Tucker, can we visit regarding this
10:29
when you have a moment?
10:30
I have a couple ideas that will get
10:31
TechStat the space it needs and yet
10:33
preserve the trail long-term.
10:36
Within days, TxDOT officials
10:38
were meeting with the Trail
10:39
Conservancy's leadership.
10:41
By the summer, the boardwalk was
10:42
listed in the final environmental
10:44
study for the I-35 expansion,
10:46
but what was not public was how
10:48
the $25 million would move.
10:51
For months, TXDOT and the Trail
10:53
conservancy tried to figure out
10:55
how to route the money directly to
10:57
the Trail Conservancy, bypassing
10:59
the city, which owns most of the
11:01
trail, and the underwater land
11:03
where the boardwalk would be
11:04
constructed.
11:05
The problem with this arrangement
11:07
was that it violated state rules.
11:10
Inside TexDOT's statewide
11:11
headquarters, contract lawyers
11:13
started raising red flags.
11:15
And then in January, 2024,
11:17
the attorney overseeing TexDot's
11:20
contract division, Ken Stewart
11:21
wrote, we need to involve
11:23
a local government.
11:24
We cannot just pick the nonprofit
11:26
because we do not have the authority
11:28
to just go pick firms to do business
11:30
with.
11:31
That ended the plan for a direct
11:32
payment to the Trail Conservancy.
11:34
But it did not end the effort to
11:36
route the money outside the parks
11:37
department or to avoid direct
11:39
oversight by the city council.
11:42
So today is July
11:44
1st, 2024.
11:46
We are in the PDC.
11:48
It is 3.09 and I'm calling together
11:50
the meeting of the
11:52
Austin Public Facility.
11:54
The Austin Public Facilities
11:55
Corporation is not exactly well
11:57
known.
11:58
City Council created it in 2003
12:00
because it has the power to buy,
12:02
sell, and renovate city property
12:03
with more flexibility than a
12:05
typical city department.
12:07
I am Manny Thomas.
12:08
I am the Chief Marketing Officer for
12:10
the Trout Conservancy.
12:12
And I'm here to talk to you a little
12:13
bit about our Ford Walk
12:15
Central project.
12:16
Under the new plan to route the $25
12:18
million to the Trail Conservancy,
12:20
TxDOT would give the money to the
12:22
Austin Public Facilities
12:23
Corporation, which would then hand
12:25
it over to the trail conservancy.
12:27
Emails showed trail conservacy
12:29
leadership telling TxdOT that if the
12:31
money went through the city and
12:32
required a city council vote, the
12:34
boardwalk project would no longer be
12:36
feasible.
12:37
So in the summer of 2024, the
12:39
trail Conservancy also known as TTC
12:41
made a similar case to
12:42
the austin public facilities
12:43
corporations board of vectors.
12:45
It would not be feasible as a City
12:47
of Austin project.
12:49
TxDOT's budget for this project is
12:51
based on TTC being the project
12:54
manager and it has a strong cap at
12:55
25 million.
12:56
A member of the corporation's board,
12:58
who did not identify themselves in
13:00
the city's audio archive of the
13:01
meeting, explained that what the
13:02
trail conservancy was seeking was
13:04
not a normal arrangement.
13:06
So my understanding, we would simply
13:08
serve as a pass-through,
13:10
just through the PFC's existence.
13:13
It gives us that mechanism to allow
13:15
that to happen, as opposed to
13:16
having to go through our typical
13:18
capital projects.
13:20
But this is not a normal delivery,
13:22
so.
13:22
Under the Trail Conservancy's
13:23
contract with the city, major
13:25
capital projects, like a boardwalk,
13:27
are subject to review by the
13:29
director of Austin Parks and
13:30
Recreation.
13:31
But as this meeting was happening,
13:33
Austin Parks& Recreations was
13:34
without a permanent director.
13:36
That person had left the city a
13:38
month earlier to lead the Trail
13:40
conservancy.
13:41
Kimberly McNeely would spend less
13:42
than six months on the job as the
13:44
conservancy's CEO before resigning.
13:47
Back at the Parks Department,
13:49
senior staff were still trying to
13:50
understand what was going on.
13:53
In August 2024, Parks
13:55
Manager Ricardo Solis wrote to
13:57
Assistant Parks Director Liana
13:58
Calivoca that the plan to route
14:00
the $25 million through the
14:02
Austin Public Facilities Corporation
14:04
was "...news to me."
14:06
Adding that TechStat was
14:07
"...dictating the mitigation without
14:09
our input." Calivuca dove
14:11
into the I-35 project's
14:13
environmental documents.
14:14
She found a memo from the Trail
14:15
Conservancy to TechState, saying the
14:17
city had transferred to TTC,
14:20
the primary day-to-day stewardship.
14:22
Of the Butler Trail and surrounding
14:24
park.
14:25
Kali Volkow wrote, This statement is
14:26
misleading in my opinion.
14:28
TTC in effect eliminated Parks
14:30
and Recreation's input and
14:32
involvement.
14:33
How on earth?
14:35
By January, 2025,
14:37
Kali volkow went further.
14:38
She wrote the Parks Department does
14:40
not see a need for the boardwalk.
14:42
Park staff even asked TxDOT to
14:44
redirect the $25 million to
14:46
high priority parks projects,
14:48
including some affected by the I-35
14:50
expansion.
14:51
But TextDot would not agree to that.
14:55
After all that, things
14:57
have changed again.
14:59
Now the $25 million for the
15:01
boardwalk will go to Austin Parks
15:03
and Recreation and will
15:05
require a City Council vote.
15:07
In a statement to KUT News, the
15:08
Parks Department said it will enter
15:09
into an agreement with the Trail
15:10
Conservancy to design and build the
15:12
board walk that includes milestones
15:14
and accountability.
15:16
The Trail Conservency told KUT news
15:18
that it serves as a collaborative
15:20
partner and advocate for the city.
15:22
And it's prepared to support project
15:23
delivery in close coordination with
15:25
Austin Parks and Recreation and
15:27
other city departments.
15:28
For parks advocates, all this
15:30
underscores their broader concerns
15:32
about a growing reliance by the city
15:34
on non-profits
15:35
to operate and manage public space.
15:38
The Trail Conservancy became
15:40
a competitor instead of
15:42
a cooperator with the Parks
15:43
Department.
15:44
Diana Prechter is a public parks
15:46
advocate who's been researching the
15:47
boardwalk process.
15:49
Transparency in government
15:51
becomes an incentive
15:53
for people to behave
15:55
ethically.
15:56
And by outsourcing
15:58
government functions to
16:00
non-government organizations,
16:02
you break the
16:04
continuity of transparency.
16:06
Suddenly things are done that you
16:08
can't understand, the citizens
16:10
cannot look into.
16:13
Those who support non-profits
16:14
managing parks say those
16:16
non- profits can do a better job
16:17
than the city and for less cost
16:19
to taxpayers by relying on private
16:21
donations and philanthropy.
16:24
But for now, TxDOT says if the
16:26
City Council does not approve its
16:27
proposed agreement on the boardwalk,
16:29
then the state will cancel the
16:30
project and keep the $25 million.
16:34
I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
16:40
This is Austin Signal here
16:42
on community supported public radio.
16:44
We'll have more after this break.
16:46
Thanks for spending part of your
16:47
Friday here with us.
16:56
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
16:58
It's a story as old as
17:01
Texas itself.
17:02
A young musician on their 21st
17:04
birthday, no less, packing up their
17:05
belongings and heading for the green
17:07
pastures and cool waters of
17:09
Austin.
17:10
In this version though, the musician
17:12
brings along a few friends for
17:14
that journey.
17:15
For more, let's hear from Jason
17:16
Mellard with the Center for Texas
17:18
Music History at Texas State
17:20
University.
17:24
This week in Texas music history, a
17:26
Chance Nashville meeting between an
17:28
Alabamian and some Carolinians
17:29
brings new sounds to Austin.
17:31
On March 5th, 1972,
17:33
singer-songwriter Willis Alan
17:34
Ramsey, on his 21st birthday,
17:36
caught a performance by Uncle Walt's
17:38
band in Nashville and convinced the
17:40
trio to move to Austin The acoustic
17:41
group consisting of Champ Hood,
17:43
Walter Hyatt and David Ball had
17:45
formed as high schoolers in
17:46
Spartanburg, South Carolina and made
17:48
their name with eclectic
17:49
arrangements that melded their
17:50
southeastern string band sound with
17:52
jazz and blues.
17:55
Oh, if baby
17:56
runs from me,
17:58
the boots that's a high-wheel train
18:05
I know about
18:07
a lot that don't
18:09
have anything to do with
18:10
me or what I want
18:13
It makes sense that the combination
18:14
would click with Ramsey, whose
18:16
delicate song craft and wit had
18:17
established him as an influential
18:18
player in Austin's songwriting
18:20
circles.
18:21
The band released their self-titled
18:22
debut in 1974, and three
18:24
additional independent albums
18:25
followed.
18:26
Still, they were unsigned to a major
18:27
label when they first appeared on
18:29
Austin City Limits in 1980.
18:31
As journalist Townsend Miller said
18:32
of the band, of all the artists who
18:34
made the Legendary 70s scene,
18:36
I don't think any have intrigued,
18:38
captivated, hypnotized, They're one
18:40
of the hearts of Austin fans like
18:41
Uncle Walt's band.
18:43
Still, they remain something of an
18:44
underground favorite with a huge
18:46
influence on other artists.
18:47
Marcia Ball, then with the country
18:48
Freed and the Fire Dogs, credits
18:50
them with opening up her horizons by
18:52
nudging her in the direction of
18:53
Louisiana's Professor Longhair.
18:55
Lyle Lovett, who opened for Uncle
18:56
Walt's band early in his career,
18:57
became a stalwart champion, as did
18:59
their initial Austin host Willis
19:01
Allen Ransy.
19:02
Though the band split in 1983,
19:04
Hyatt, Hood, and Ball would reunite
19:05
in various combinations over the
19:07
years at the Kerrville Folk Festival
19:08
at Threadgills.
19:13
Each of the members established solo
19:15
careers in their own right.
19:17
Walter Hyatt released the albums
19:18
King Tears and Music Town,
19:20
Champ Hood, the posthumous Bon Haven
19:21
and worked with Jerry Jeff Walker
19:22
and Tony Price, and David Ball a
19:24
prolific country career, including
19:26
1994's platinum album,
19:28
Thinkin' Problem.
19:29
Their talent likely meant they would
19:30
have found a way to make music no
19:32
matter where they were, but it was
19:33
Ramsay's Tennessee invite that would
19:35
make them a part of the Texas music
19:37
story.
19:41
You can hear music from the Lone
19:42
Star State 24-7 on the
19:44
Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
19:54
The road
20:02
Well, it is Friday and this week
20:04
somehow is finally coming
20:06
to an end.
20:07
It was a busy one here at KUT with
20:09
lots of breaking news, primary
20:11
elections, and of course our
20:12
membership drive.
20:14
But overall this week made us
20:15
appreciative of the teamwork that we
20:17
have here at KUT, KUTx,
20:19
and the Texas Standard, work that is
20:21
made possible by a listener just
20:23
like you.
20:24
And this week also underscores the
20:26
importance of taking a break when it
20:28
all gets to be just a little too
20:30
much, and maybe focusing and
20:31
relaxing with hobbies.
20:33
Even better if those hobbies have a
20:35
community built around them, like
20:37
this group of women here in Austin
20:38
with a shared interest in
20:40
skateboarding.
20:41
Former Texas Standard intern Keyla
20:43
Holmes has the story.
20:47
Several women are walking over to
20:49
a small patch of concrete near a
20:51
bike trail in East Austin.
20:52
I actually skated here from my house
20:54
so wouldn't have been able to do
20:56
that four months ago and yeah.
20:59
Amanda Batchelor sets up near a
21:01
painted cloth banner that reads
21:03
Austin Women's Skate and a donation
21:05
box for diapers.
21:07
Batcheler has always wanted to
21:08
skate.
21:09
She started learning about six
21:11
months ago after searching for a
21:12
women's skateboard community on
21:14
Instagram.
21:15
She found the Austin Women Skate
21:17
group, and now she's among the
21:19
dozens of women who meet up twice a
21:20
month to coast.
21:22
I feel like I just kind of fell in
21:23
love with it. In your late 20s, you
21:25
just have no idea like how to make
21:26
friends.
21:27
Mental health and art therapist Brie
21:29
Valdez is one of three women who
21:31
started Austin women's skate.
21:33
This past summer, the trio would
21:35
grab their boards and meet at
21:37
Mueller Park for a cruise.
21:39
But eventually, they realized
21:41
if they were enjoying their informal
21:43
skate meetups, others probably
21:45
would too.
21:46
We saw kind of like a need in the
21:48
community for
21:50
women's skaters and a space for
21:51
women skaters to feel really
21:53
supported.
21:54
Every first and third Wednesday,
21:56
the group takes a break from their
21:57
jobs and responsibilities to let
21:59
loose and skate with one another.
22:01
This audio is from two of the
22:03
group's recent meetups.
22:04
As soon as I get on the skateboard,
22:06
I stop thinking about anything else.
22:08
As members erupt into chatter
22:10
and laughter and place their diaper
22:12
donations into a box near the extra
22:14
skateboards, organizer Carolina
22:16
Montgomery gives a little pep talk.
22:20
Have fun, be safe,
22:22
be kind, and just remember this is
22:23
space for everyone.
22:25
At every meetup, everyone introduces
22:27
themselves and sometimes
22:29
answers an icebreaker.
22:31
This evening, the group shared what
22:33
they had for lunch, gripping their
22:35
boards, waiting to disperse.
22:37
I'm Chelsea, I had green
22:39
orzo risotto
22:42
with blended broccoli
22:45
Some women have knee pads and
22:47
helmets on.
22:48
Others just have the clothes on
22:50
their backs.
22:51
Organizer Carolina Montgomery likes
22:53
to wear gear because it helps her to
22:55
feel more confident.
22:57
As a skater in her early 40s,
22:59
she believes that skateboarding has
23:00
taught her to take more risks.
23:02
I think that it's made me brave,
23:04
to be able to take chances, to take
23:06
up space, and to be okay taking
23:08
up space.
23:09
Even if I'm not the best skater,
23:11
or if I am just a beginner, or I
23:13
don't do tricks, or I'm so scared,
23:15
it's okay to take space.
23:18
Herrera grew up watching her older
23:20
male cousins skate.
23:22
But as a girl growing up in the 90s,
23:24
she felt like there wasn't much
23:25
representation in the sport.
23:27
Not seeing anybody like
23:29
me doing skateboarding made
23:30
me really nervous, made me really
23:32
scared.
23:34
Best to make time to skate.
23:36
Because for her, it's like she's
23:38
finally free to do what she's always
23:39
wanted.
23:41
I played all the Tony Hawk games and
23:43
so like I said I watched videos I
23:46
read some of the magazines and
23:48
so it definitely felt like giving my
23:50
child self something
23:52
back.
23:56
After taking a group photo,
23:58
the women all placed their feet on
24:00
the tails of their boards,
24:02
found their balance, and pushed
24:04
themselves down the bike trail.
24:07
I'm Keyla Holmes for the Texas
24:09
Standard.
24:11
And that is it for Austin
24:13
Signal this week.
24:15
Thank you for tuning in.
24:16
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
24:18
We will be back on Monday.
24:20
Have a beautiful weekend.