Latest / Austin Signal / New site under consideration for UT Austin medical campus

Transcript

New site under consideration for UT Austin medical campus · Austin Signal

0:09
A future UT Austin academic
0:11
medical campus could be changing its
0:13
location here in town.
0:15
The campus was set to be built on
0:16
the site of the now-demolished Frank
0:18
Irwin Center, but now the University
0:20
of Texas Board of Regents is
0:22
considering a new location for the
0:24
development. More about the possible
0:26
changes coming up.
0:27
Plus, she just might be the most
0:29
successful Texas songwriter that
0:31
most Texans have never heard of,
0:33
with songs recorded by Roy Orbison,
0:35
Bing Crosby, and Elvis Presley,
0:37
among many others.
0:39
A new tribute album celebrating the
0:40
music of Cindy Walker.
0:42
Come hear more about her.
0:44
The Austin Signal is a production
0:46
of KUT News, hosted by
0:48
Jerry Quijano.
0:49
And we've got some Thanksgiving
0:50
flavor for ya from questionable
0:52
old Austin recipes to things
0:54
that Texas kiddos are thankful for.
0:57
That's next on Austin Signal.
1:08
Howdy out there.
1:09
Thank you for listening to Austin
1:11
Signal. This is listener powered
1:12
public radio.
1:14
KUT news 90.5.
1:16
You can tune in and hear us on the
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KUT app and online at
1:20
KUT.org.
1:21
It is Tuesday, November 25th,
1:24
inching closer to the Thanksgiving
1:26
holiday.
1:26
We're glad you're making us part of
1:28
your day.
1:29
The Texas volleyball team is going
1:31
to face Kentucky tonight for the SEC
1:33
Tournament Championship.
1:34
The Longhorns have only lost a pair
1:35
of games this season.
1:36
To Texas A&M and Kentucky.
1:39
The Horns got their revenge over the
1:40
Aggies last night, and they'll look
1:42
to do the same tonight against the
1:43
Wildcats. Game time is at
1:46
six o'clock.
1:47
Thank you for being here.
1:48
This is Austin Signal.
1:51
The University of Texas Board of
1:52
Regents is considering changing the
1:54
site for the future UT Austin
1:56
Academic Medical Campus.
1:58
UT leadership had previously
1:59
announced that the development would
2:01
be built at the site of the former
2:03
Frank Irwin Center off of I-35
2:05
in downtown Austin.
2:06
Here to tell us more about the
2:08
possible changes is KUT's
2:10
healthcare reporter Olivia Aldridge.
2:12
Howdy Olivia, how are you?
2:13
Hi, I'm good.
2:14
I'm glad you're here with us.
2:16
So I just announced that news
2:18
or the news that you reported really
2:20
recently. Rewind us a little bit,
2:22
take us back.
2:23
What is this medical campus plan
2:25
that we're talking about?
2:27
Yeah, this is a plan for a new UT
2:29
Academic Medical Center.
2:30
It was first announced back in 2023,
2:33
and it's set to include an Austin
2:35
location of MD Anderson Cancer
2:37
Center, along with a second hospital
2:39
tower that would be a specialty
2:41
university hospital.
2:43
And I was wondering how big of a
2:44
deal is it to have an M.D.
2:47
Anderson Cancer Center as well
2:49
as the medical tower?
2:50
What exactly does it mean and how
2:52
important could those be to Austin?
2:54
Well, MD Anderson in Houston has
2:56
been ranked the top cancer center in
2:58
the US by US News and World
3:00
Report and other sources over the
3:02
past decade, really.
3:04
So it's absolutely a heavyweight for
3:06
cancer care.
3:07
And the president of MD Anderson
3:08
said back in 2023 that
3:10
around 5,000 Austin
3:12
residents travel to Houston every
3:14
year for cancer here.
3:16
So having some of those resources
3:17
right here in town is a
3:19
big deal for residents.
3:21
And I'd say that between these two
3:23
hospitals, we're looking at adding a
3:24
lot of new doctors, a lot new care
3:26
options for local people, and
3:28
maybe even making Austin more
3:30
of a destination for people seeking
3:32
certain kinds of care.
3:33
And also these university
3:35
affiliated facilities are going
3:37
to grow the education opportunities
3:39
for students at Dell Medical
3:41
School at UT.
3:43
And UT officials kind of celebrated
3:45
this plan as something that would
3:46
advance Austin's reputation as
3:48
a hub for medical innovation.
3:51
So I was wondering how did the idea
3:52
of building it at the former Irwin
3:55
Center location, how did that come
3:56
about? Was that always the plan?
3:58
I know there is a hospital already
4:00
nearby there in that area.
4:02
Yeah, this specific plan we only
4:04
found out about in 2023, but there's
4:06
been discussions about tearing down
4:07
the Irwin Center and using that
4:09
space for something related
4:11
to potentially the expansion
4:13
of Dell Medical School or kind of a
4:15
so-called medical district for
4:17
more than a decade, you know, really
4:18
since Dell Medical school came
4:20
about.
4:22
Dell Seton Medical Center and some
4:23
buildings associated with the
4:24
medical school and the school of
4:26
nursing are actually, yeah,
4:28
neighbors to the site.
4:29
But now it sounds as though the
4:31
UT Regents board, they might
4:33
be having second thoughts about that
4:35
location.
4:36
It seems like it.
4:37
Chairman Kevin Altieff said last
4:39
week that they're looking at a
4:41
larger site to see if that makes
4:42
more sense. He said that this
4:44
isn't just an academic medical
4:46
center, it's quote, a district for
4:48
the future.
4:49
So he didn't say much else, but
4:51
reading between the lines there,
4:52
maybe it would seem to imply that
4:53
they possibly want some options for
4:55
future growth.
4:57
But that said, UT is
4:59
emphasizing that the Irwin Center
5:00
site is still under consideration.
5:02
So nothing's been decided.
5:03
Okay yeah, nothing has been decided,
5:05
but is there an alternate site that
5:07
they have in mind?
5:08
Possibly, I know you mentioned a few
5:10
of those there, but, is there any in
5:12
particular that stand out?
5:13
They do have another site in mind
5:15
that they're looking at, although
5:16
they aren't being specific about it
5:18
yet.
5:19
LTV said it's north of campus,
5:21
near the domain, UT
5:23
reps kind of told me it's an
5:25
undeveloped site already owned by
5:26
UT, so you know, we're not talking
5:28
about like the Pickle campus.
5:31
Travis County property records do
5:33
show a 59-acre undevelop
5:35
property that UT has for
5:37
decades in that general area,
5:39
so that would seem to be a fit,
5:41
potentially.
5:42
But UT wouldn't confirm that that is
5:44
the site they're looking at or any
5:45
other site. So there could be other
5:46
possibilities.
5:47
Yeah, there's still the decision
5:49
to be made.
5:51
You mentioned that this plan, at
5:52
least for the Irwin Center, was
5:53
announced in 2023.
5:55
What is the timeline like moving
5:57
forward for this project?
5:59
They're saying that the timeline
6:01
hasn't changed from what was
6:02
announced in 2023.
6:04
So that means dirt could be turning,
6:05
um, somewhere by
6:07
next year.
6:08
And these hospitals could be opening
6:10
by 2029 or 2030.
6:13
Well, that is Olivia Aldridge.
6:14
She is the healthcare reporter for
6:16
KUT News.
6:17
You can read more about this story
6:18
over at KUT.org.
6:20
Olivia, thank you for taking the
6:22
time with us today.
6:29
Alright, well you know with
6:30
Thanksgiving just a few days away,
6:33
we are thankful here at Austin
6:34
Signal for a lot of things,
6:37
and one of those is the people that
6:38
we get to work with every day with
6:40
KUT, with KU-TX, and of
6:42
course over at Texas Standard,
6:44
which is produced here at KUT
6:46
every single day, and this
6:47
year they are celebrating 10 years
6:50
of making the show, so we dug
6:52
back into the Texas Standard
6:53
archives to bring you this
6:55
little moment of thanks.
7:02
My name is Fausto Hidalgo Diaz,
7:05
and I am seven years old.
7:08
And I am thankful for volcanoes,
7:11
technology,
7:13
toys, water,
7:16
and tigers, and...
7:20
Chicken, oh and toys.
7:23
Hi, my name is Sunny Juliet
7:25
Parson and I'm almost seven.
7:27
I'm thankful for my friends and
7:30
my family.
7:31
I'm also thankful for others
7:33
and people that
7:35
need help if they're hurt.
7:43
My name is Sean and I'm
7:45
about to be eight years old.
7:47
I'm thankful for my family and
7:49
how they treat me.
7:51
Because if I act good, they give me
7:54
good stuff.
7:56
Motor control cars and
7:59
video games.
8:01
It's called Mario.
8:05
My...
8:05
My name is
8:08
Farrah and I
8:10
am five years
8:12
old and I live in
8:14
Marfa, Texas and
8:19
I am
8:22
grateful for
8:28
vacation.
8:30
My name is Jaden Long and I'm five
8:32
years old.
8:34
I'm in kindergarten and I am
8:36
grateful for school and
8:39
science and playground and
8:40
lunch.
8:46
My name is Kenley
8:49
Oliver and
8:51
I am five years
8:53
old.
8:55
I am thankful for
8:58
my family
9:00
and my dad in the
9:02
military.
9:04
I'm thankful for friends,
9:06
cousins,
9:09
and ice cream.
9:10
Okay, that's it.
9:11
Hi, my name is Red and I'm
9:13
six years old from Dallas,
9:16
Texas.
9:17
So, I'm thankful for
9:19
my friends and my
9:21
family.
9:23
And I like school a
9:25
lot, and that's all that I'm
9:27
grateful for.
9:29
Happy Thanksgiving!
9:31
Thank you.
9:35
Lots to be thankful for.
9:37
That collection of voices
9:39
was recorded back in 2017 so
9:41
we know those kids now
9:43
growing up a little bit I'm sure
9:44
they have lots more to be thankful
9:46
for and we are thankful you're
9:48
tuning here to Austin Signal.
9:50
Thank you for spending part of your
9:52
Tuesday here with us.
9:53
Well right now it's 1 15 in the
9:55
afternoon as we're recording this
9:57
live which means I'm about
9:59
48 hours from enjoying a plate or
10:01
two of Some of my favorite sides,
10:03
mashed potatoes, green bean
10:04
casserole, dinner rolls, and
10:06
gravy. You know how it goes.
10:08
And if you're listening later on the
10:09
podcast, we're even closer to
10:11
tea day, so that's a good thing.
10:13
That's gonna be part of my eat-ins
10:15
for Thanksgiving 2025,
10:18
more than 400 years on from
10:20
that first gathering back in
10:21
1621.
10:23
You know, the Mayflower Pilgrims
10:25
and such. But there are some
10:27
folks that say that the real
10:29
first Thanksgiving Well that took
10:31
place about two decades prior
10:33
to that, and it happened, they say,
10:35
near present-day El Paso when at
10:37
least 400 Spaniards in an
10:39
exploration led by Juan de Oñate
10:41
feasted with the Manso
10:43
tribe. Still, that's not even
10:45
the only claim to the first
10:46
Thanksgiving here in Texas,
10:48
according to the Texas Almanac.
10:51
A historical marker outside of
10:52
Canyon that's up in the panhandle
10:54
claimed Francisco Vazquez de
10:56
Coronado celebrated the first
10:58
thanksgiving. Near the Palo
10:59
Ludo Canyon in 1541.
11:02
Though there is some debate whether
11:03
that was a true Thanksgiving or
11:05
a celebration of the Feast of the
11:07
Ascension, which falls in the
11:08
spring.
11:09
And the first official Thanksgiving
11:10
in Texas was declared by Governor
11:13
George Wood, who set the date
11:14
for the first Thursday in
11:17
December.
11:18
Now you're probably wondering, how
11:19
do I possibly know all
11:21
of this? Well, that is because of
11:23
one Andrew Weber, government
11:24
accountability reporter and internet
11:27
human here at the KUT Newsroom.
11:29
He put together a piece for KUT
11:31
a few thanksgivings back.
11:33
He's also written about some of
11:35
Austin's questionable holiday
11:37
sides to go along with your main
11:38
entree.
11:39
Recipes shared in vintage Austin
11:41
American Statesmen editions from the
11:43
40s to the 70s for delights
11:45
like cauliflower with celery
11:48
sauce, lima beans and
11:50
sour cream, and something
11:52
called a winter orange
11:54
salad. I don't know.
11:55
We're going to be sharing those old
11:57
stories. And the recipes if you'd
11:59
like them in Thursday's edition
12:01
of the KUT Newsletter.
12:03
It is a Monday to Friday update
12:05
of the news that you need to know
12:06
about Austin and our community.
12:09
You can sign up at
12:10
newsletter.kut.org.
12:15
Well, one thing I'm thankful for
12:16
this year is Austin's signal and
12:18
all of our listeners out there.
12:20
Again, you can tune into the show
12:21
Monday through Friday, one to 1.30.
12:24
Here on KUT News 90.5,
12:27
on the KUT app,
12:28
and online at KUT.org.
12:32
And don't forget, you can find more
12:33
about the show at Kut.org
12:36
slash Signal.
12:38
Coming up, we're going to talk about
12:39
one of Texas's most famous
12:40
songwriters that perhaps you've
12:43
never even heard of, but you've
12:44
heard her music.
12:45
Come find out more.
12:46
That's after the break.
12:47
This is Austin Signal.
12:59
This is Austin Signal, welcome
13:01
back.
13:02
Her songs were recorded by the likes
13:04
of Ray Charles, Roy Orbison,
13:06
Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley,
13:08
heck even the birds,
13:10
yet she just might be the most
13:11
successful Texas songwriter that
13:13
most Texans have never heard of.
13:15
Now though, things seem to be
13:17
changin'. There's a new tribute
13:18
album celebrating the life of
13:20
Cindy Walker, and as the Texas
13:22
standards Leah Scarpelli found
13:24
visiting Walker's hometown of Mejia,
13:26
east of Waco.
13:27
The album's not the only undertaking
13:29
trying to bring Walker's story
13:31
back into the spotlight.
13:34
On a quiet street on the outskirts
13:36
of Mejia sits a modest two-story
13:38
white house.
13:39
It's an obvious need of repair.
13:41
The paint is chipping, the eaves are
13:42
collapsing.
13:43
It's a miracle this place hasn't
13:45
fallen down.
13:46
Lindsay Lipman meets me to take a
13:48
tour.
13:49
She's a longtime journalist
13:50
originally from Mejia who helped
13:52
start a foundation to preserve the
13:53
story of the town's most prominent
13:55
musical celebrity.
13:56
70 years ago, as Cindy Walker's
13:58
star was at its peak in California,
14:01
her brother suggested she and their
14:02
mother come back to Texas to be
14:04
closer to him and his family.
14:05
She bought the house while they were
14:07
still out in Hollywood and then got
14:09
here in the 1950s
14:10
and then stayed here
14:12
all that time.
14:13
For over half a century, from age
14:15
36 until the end of her life at 88.
14:19
Littman says Walker didn't come back
14:20
to Mejia to retire, however.
14:22
This is where she spent her most
14:24
prolific years as a writer.
14:25
Where we're standing is where Willie
14:27
Nelson would visit her.
14:28
Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, they pull
14:30
up on their big busses
14:32
and stop by and talk to
14:34
Cindy.
14:35
So you wanna go in?
14:39
Making sure there's no raccoons or
14:40
cats or anything like that, okay.
14:42
In the first room we enter, the
14:43
floor is caving in from water
14:45
damage.
14:45
Yeah, be very careful.
14:48
Lipman takes me around downstairs,
14:49
then up, where Walker's writing room
14:51
sits in the far back corner.
14:53
And so there was a record player
14:55
here in her couch.
14:57
Cindy would write and cut demos with
14:59
her mother, Ori, often playing with
15:00
her on a baby grand piano,
15:02
helping to put form to the song.
15:04
She would basically almost like
15:06
clock in, start working.
15:07
Her nieces were told like, don't
15:09
bother Aunt Cindy when
15:11
she's in this room.
15:12
Soon, a Texas historical marker will
15:14
sit outside.
15:15
There's also an application in to
15:17
put the house on the National
15:18
Register of Historic Places.
15:20
And we're just a small group of
15:21
people who care
15:23
a lot about what
15:25
Cindy gave, not just
15:27
to the Mejia community,
15:30
but to Texas and to
15:31
America in general.
15:38
I can't see no
15:41
It's impossible to cover all the
15:43
hundreds of songs that Cindy Walker
15:44
wrote in her lifetime, but here
15:46
she is performing one of her
15:47
earliest, Dusty Skies.
15:50
She was born Lucille Walker in 1917
15:53
and came from a musical background.
15:55
Her grandfather, Franklin, wrote
15:56
spiritual songs, hymns, and
15:58
even published hymnals.
16:00
Cindy never met him, but as the
16:02
child of a cotton broker, she moved
16:03
around a lot.
16:05
As they traveled, her mother, Ori,
16:07
began operating song and dance
16:08
studios.
16:10
Have one newspaper clipping from
16:12
her performing at
16:13
three years old.
16:14
Gregory Smith is a professional
16:16
historian and board member of the
16:18
Cindy Walker Foundation.
16:19
He's also working on her biography.
16:21
She started performing
16:24
on stages.
16:26
This included movie theaters,
16:28
wherever they happened to live,
16:30
on the radio when that
16:32
was possible.
16:33
Smith says that in 1940, the family
16:35
traveled to Hollywood, presumably
16:38
for her father to sell cotton.
16:40
Think they were going on this trip
16:41
to sell Cyndiwok.
16:43
The story goes that as they were
16:44
driving down Sunset Boulevard,
16:46
Cindy saw the Crosby building.
16:48
And says, oh, Papa stopped
16:50
the car, Bing Crosby's in
16:52
there.
16:52
But it was actually Crosby's brother
16:54
and business manager, Larry.
16:56
Cindy brought her mother in to play
16:58
piano as she sang Lone Star Trail.
17:00
Larry Crosby, soon
17:02
thereafter, introduced
17:04
her to Bing Crosbie.
17:11
It was
17:13
Walker's first published song.
17:16
Lots of things happened in Hollywood
17:18
very quickly.
17:19
Walker appeared in films, released
17:21
singles for Decker Records,
17:23
and became a well-known figure in
17:24
soundies, video jukeboxes found
17:26
in bars and other public places that
17:29
cost a dime to watch.
17:30
I'm a born ballerina,
17:34
regardless of what they
17:36
say
17:37
Around this time, Walker pitched her
17:39
songs to Texas's most famous
17:41
bandleader at the time, Bob Wills.
17:43
He would go on to record over 50
17:45
of her compositions.
17:47
It's grand that you're from Texas,
17:50
Cause I'm from Texas
17:52
too.
17:54
By the time Walker was lowered back
17:56
to Texas in 1953,
17:58
she had stopped performing and was a
18:00
full-time, well-established
18:01
songwriter.
18:05
In 1955, Eddie Arnold
18:07
gave her a challenge.
18:08
Write a song called You Don't Know
18:10
Me about a man with a secret love.
18:12
Walker did just that.
18:14
It became a hit for Eddie Arnold in
18:16
1956 and was recorded
18:18
by several other artists, including
18:20
Ray Charles in 1962.
18:23
Anyone can tell
18:25
You think you know
18:27
me well But
18:30
you don't know me
18:32
That same year, Roy Orbison had
18:34
a top five hit with Walker's song,
18:36
Dream Baby.
18:37
Dream baby, make me stop
18:39
my dreamin' You can make my dreams
18:41
come true
18:43
Cindy Walker would go on to write
18:44
over 650
18:46
songs.
18:48
Said, well, I can write these songs
18:50
in Hollywood or I can ride them in
18:52
Texas.
18:52
Back at Cindy Walker's home, Lindsay
18:54
Lipman envisions what the foundation
18:56
hopes to do with the house and the
18:57
six city lots it sits on.
18:59
The bigger picture is to have
19:01
the home restored as a community art
19:03
and music center,
19:05
and then to have the
19:07
upstairs space where her writing
19:09
studio was to be more of an exhibit
19:11
space.
19:12
Restoration will take a lot of
19:14
effort and money likely exceeding
19:16
tens of thousands of dollars The
19:18
foundation has been holding
19:19
fundraisers for the last few years
19:21
and started Cindy Walker days
19:23
a festival in Mejia Held each
19:25
year around Walker's birthday in
19:27
July and now a
19:29
new album.
19:30
It's all her fault a tribute
19:32
to Cindy Walker
19:33
They did a little post on the Cindy
19:34
Walker Foundation page saying we're
19:36
trying to raise money for her house
19:37
and
19:38
Gray Delisle is a voice actress,
19:40
comedian, and singer-songwriter who
19:41
put the tribute together.
19:43
She also performs a duet on the
19:45
album.
19:45
And I thought gosh if this was like
19:47
Hank Williams house or something I
19:49
mean people would pay attention and
19:50
and he didn't have as many hits as
19:52
she had
19:52
Oh, it's all your
19:54
fault that I'm not sleeping,
19:56
I live in dreams, instead of
19:58
eating I'm just a Take me
20:01
in your
20:03
arms and hold
20:05
me
20:06
I don't I don't
20:08
care if I'm
20:11
not
20:12
I also made it an all-female record
20:13
because so many men had hits she
20:15
wrote so well for men and you
20:17
don't hear a lot of women singing
20:18
her songs.
20:19
Delisle had met a lot of the women
20:20
who sing on the album when Asleep at
20:22
the Wheels' Ray Benson invited her
20:24
to perform alongside him at a show
20:26
in Fort Worth.
20:27
She is one of the most important
20:29
songwriters along with Gershwin,
20:31
Willie Nelson, these
20:33
kind of names.
20:34
Benson says Cyndi Walker's name
20:36
might not be as famous as some, but
20:38
as far as being a woman in the music
20:40
industry, Walker was simply known
20:42
and respected as a great songwriter.
20:44
I think that when you have the kind
20:46
of talent that she had and the kind
20:48
of successes she had,
20:50
she, she sort of transcended
20:52
all of that.
20:54
Upon Cindy's death in 2006,
20:56
the home went to Walker's
20:57
housekeeper.
20:58
The foundation bought the house in
21:00
2022 and discovered dozens
21:01
of unreleased songs, including this
21:04
one called Tennessee Rain.
21:05
I woke up to the sound
21:07
of Tennessee rain
21:12
With the Texas woman
21:14
by my side
21:16
For Littman, her passion for letting
21:18
others know about Cindy Walker goes
21:20
beyond her appreciation of the
21:21
music.
21:22
It's about giving back to their town
21:24
and helping to rekindle interest in
21:26
a songwriter who left an indelible
21:27
mark, not just on Texas
21:29
music, but the great American
21:31
songbook as well.
21:33
It's all her fault a tribute to
21:35
Cindy Walker is out now,
21:37
with proceeds going towards
21:38
restoring Walker's home in Mejia.
21:41
For the Texas Standard, I'm Leah
21:43
Scarpelli.
21:44
You'll never, never know
21:48
The one who loves
21:50
you so
21:52
You don't know me
22:05
And that is it for
22:07
today's edition of Austin
22:09
Signal.
22:10
Thank you for spending part of your
22:12
day here with us.
22:13
As a reminder, you can catch up on
22:15
our previous shows over at
22:17
kut.org slash
22:20
signal.
22:21
Kristen Cabaretta is our managing
22:23
producer.
22:24
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
22:26
director.
22:26
And one thing that we are thankful
22:28
for this year is Jimmy Mass.
22:31
He is our show runner.
22:32
We are here every single day,
22:35
every single weekday from 1 to
22:36
1.30 on KUT News
22:38
90.5, on
22:40
the KUT app, and online
22:42
at KUT.org.
22:45
We'll be back at the same time
22:46
tomorrow.
22:47
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
22:49
We'll talk to you then.