Latest / Austin Signal / Texans consider ACA enrollment options amid rising premiums

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Texans consider ACA enrollment options amid rising premiums · Austin Signal

0:09
Open enrollment for insurance plans
0:11
purchased through the Affordable
0:12
Care Act marketplace started this
0:14
month. Millions of Texans currently
0:16
use a marketplace plan.
0:18
And here in Austin, folks are
0:19
navigating a bit of uncertainty amid
0:21
their enrollment.
0:22
We've got that.
0:23
Plus, state officials finally
0:25
released a horde of documents and
0:27
emails between Elon Musk and
0:28
Governor Greg Abbott's office.
0:30
More than a thousand pages were
0:32
included, but a majority of the
0:33
information within the He just was
0:35
blacked out and redacted.
0:37
We've got more about the files and
0:38
the story from the Texas newsroom
0:40
that is coming up.
0:41
The Austin Signal is a production
0:43
of KUT News, hosted by
0:45
Jerry Quijano.
0:46
And the Paramount and State Theaters
0:48
in downtown Austin are raising funds
0:50
for a major restoration.
0:52
Come hear the ideas they've got
0:54
planned for the future.
0:55
That's next here on Austin
0:57
Signal.
1:08
Howdy, this is Austin
1:10
Signal, I'm Jerry E.
1:11
Connell. Thank you for being with us
1:13
today. It's Thursday, November 20th,
1:15
and it's shaping up to be a rainy
1:17
one here in central Texas.
1:19
Travis Hayes and Williamson Counties
1:21
are currently under a flood watch
1:22
until Friday morning at 6 o'clock.
1:25
So have a few ways of staying
1:26
weather aware.
1:27
You know this Texas weather loves to
1:29
turn on a dime.
1:31
A few quick headlines for you today.
1:33
The Austin Independent School
1:34
District Board of Trustees will vote
1:36
tonight on a highly contested plan
1:38
to close 10 schools and make several
1:40
major programming changes ahead of
1:41
the next school year.
1:43
The district says the plan will
1:44
generate $20 million in savings
1:46
if it passes.
1:47
The board meeting starts at 6 p.m.
1:49
And the Austin City Council could
1:51
vote as soon as today on a new
1:53
smaller city budget.
1:55
Among the priorities for a number of
1:56
council members are funding for EMS,
1:59
homelessness reduction, and mental
2:01
health outreach teams.
2:04
Open enrollment for insurance plans
2:05
purchased through the Affordable
2:07
Care Act marketplace began this
2:09
month. Nearly four million Texans
2:10
currently have a marketplace plan,
2:13
but many of them are being
2:14
confronted with higher premiums this
2:16
year.
2:17
KUT's Olivia Aldridge spoke with
2:19
Austinites who are navigating this
2:20
uncertain open enrollment season.
2:25
Plans.
2:26
At the Prosper Health Coverage
2:27
Center off I-35 in South
2:29
Austin, volunteers and specialists
2:31
are busy manning the phones and
2:33
meeting in person, with Texans
2:35
looking for free assistance
2:36
enrolling in health insurance.
2:38
One of those clients is Brita Lee,
2:41
who asked to use her first and
2:42
middle name for privacy reasons.
2:44
When she learned her current
2:45
marketplace plan would be more
2:47
expensive next year, she decided
2:48
to shop for other options.
2:50
It meant that we had to scramble to
2:52
find me a plan that even
2:54
gives me close to the amount of
2:56
coverage I had before, which means
2:58
half of my doctors I have now I
3:00
won't be able to go to next year.
3:02
She was able to find a plan she can
3:04
afford, but her monthly payment
3:06
will still be higher this year.
3:07
She says that means trimming an
3:09
already tight household budget.
3:11
Yeah, it just means like anything
3:13
fun that we want to do, it has to be
3:14
free and we cannot travel at
3:16
all.
3:17
Lee isn't alone.
3:19
In states like Texas that use
3:20
healthcare.gov, insurers are
3:22
charging around 30% more next
3:24
year. That's according to an
3:26
analysis from the nonpartisan health
3:27
policy organization, KFF.
3:30
But that's not the only reason
3:32
people are seeing higher costs.
3:34
Certain federal subsidies that help
3:36
offset premiums are expiring,
3:38
too. Most Americans, depending
3:40
on their income, get what's called a
3:42
premium tax credit.
3:43
Back in 2021, the Biden
3:45
administration increased those tax
3:47
credits, giving a lot of poorer
3:49
households more support and giving
3:51
some middle-income earners a subsidy
3:53
for the first time.
3:54
But that increase is set to go away
3:56
in January.
3:57
That means costs will more than
3:59
double for many consumers.
4:01
Erica Leos is the director of
4:03
Prosper Programs at Foundation
4:04
Communities.
4:05
She's been fielding a lot of
4:07
questions about these changes.
4:09
People were worried and
4:11
just had questions about, well, how
4:13
does this affect my plan and my
4:15
situation? Okay.
4:16
It depends on the person and the
4:18
household.
4:19
Many will still get some amount of
4:20
federal support, but lower subsidies
4:22
combined with higher costs from the
4:24
insurer are a double whammy that
4:26
some families may struggle to
4:27
afford.
4:28
Take Ashley Velasquez, a
4:30
self-employed nonprofit consultant
4:32
in Austin.
4:33
She would have to pay a thousand
4:35
more dollars a month to keep the
4:36
same Blue Cross and Blue Shield
4:38
insurance plan next year for her
4:40
family of five.
4:41
I don't see how we could do that.
4:42
It is more than our mortgage.
4:44
Looking through the marketplace,
4:46
Velazquez found that her primary
4:47
care provider and her kid's
4:49
pediatrician weren't in network with
4:51
some of the lower cost plans.
4:53
There are other trade-offs too.
4:55
Lower premiums sometimes mean high
4:57
deductibles and out-of-pocket
4:58
maximums.
4:59
So when you start looking at the
5:01
total cost, it's really hard to
5:02
compare like apples to apples.
5:04
She's also considering a plan that
5:06
would cost just shy of $1,000
5:08
per month.
5:09
That's about 200 more than she's
5:11
used to, but she'd get similar
5:12
benefits to what she currently has.
5:15
And peace of mind should one of her
5:16
three healthy kids get sick or
5:18
hurt. If somebody falls
5:20
off the m-
5:21
bars and breaks an arm, we need to
5:22
be able to take them to the
5:24
emergency room and know that they're
5:26
going to get care that's going
5:28
to be covered by a health...
5:29
There's still a chance Congress
5:31
could vote to extend the enhanced
5:32
tax credits in December.
5:34
Getting that vote on the Senate
5:36
docket was part of the deal
5:37
Democrats made to end the federal
5:39
government shutdown earlier this
5:40
month.
5:41
But many Republicans are still
5:43
resistant, citing the estimated $350
5:45
billion, the enhanced
5:47
to tax credits, would cost the
5:49
federal over the next decade.
5:51
Heading into enrollment season, Leos
5:53
was concerned that all this
5:54
uncertainty at the federal level,
5:56
result in a lot of folks forgoing
5:58
health insurance altogether.
6:01
Experts at Texas A&M have estimated
6:03
hundreds of thousands of Texans
6:05
might do so.
6:06
That was one of the things we were
6:07
kind of worried about that people
6:08
might choose either not to
6:10
enroll at all or decide
6:12
before even checking for prices
6:14
and plans.
6:15
So far, she says most of her clients
6:17
at the Prosper Center are choosing a
6:19
plan, even if their budget takes a
6:21
hit.
6:22
Folks have until December 15th
6:24
to enroll for coverage.
6:25
That begins January 1st.
6:27
I'm Olivia Aldrich in Austin.
6:35
After fighting to keep secret
6:37
a trove of documents between
6:39
Governor Greg Abbott's office and
6:41
Elon Musk, state officials recently
6:43
released some 1,400
6:45
documents.
6:47
But only about one in every
6:49
seven pages actually had any
6:50
kind of information that wasn't
6:52
redacted or blacked out.
6:54
This work, this record's
6:56
request, is a collaboration between
6:58
the Texas newsroom, the Texas
6:59
Tribune, and ProPublica.
7:01
Lauren Magahi is an investigative
7:03
reporter and editor at the Texas
7:05
Newsroom. She's with us now in
7:06
Austin Signal. Hi, Lauren.
7:08
Hey, how are you?
7:09
I'm doing good, how are you?
7:10
Good. We're glad to have you in
7:12
the studio.
7:13
So I want to start by saying these
7:14
documents are the result of a public
7:16
records request that was filed back
7:17
in April.
7:18
Take us back. Why were you all
7:20
seeking out these documents in the
7:21
first place?
7:21
Sure.
7:22
You know, this was part of an effort
7:23
to just better understand Elon
7:25
Musk's influence in the Texas
7:28
Capitol. I feel like there was a lot
7:29
of attention on Washington, D.C.
7:31
With the Doge effort, but
7:33
not a lot people were looking here
7:35
closer to home and he's moved
7:37
most of his headquarters of his
7:38
businesses here into the Austin
7:40
area.
7:41
We all know he has this big launch
7:42
pad down near Brownsville and
7:44
no one seemed to be looking at
7:46
the capital and what he was
7:48
trying to do there so We filed
7:50
this to see what's his relationship
7:53
like with the governor and the
7:54
governor's office.
7:55
And it seemed like a pretty easy
7:57
question to answer at the time.
7:59
It seems like it, but what did
8:01
you encounter? What did you get
8:02
back?
8:03
Uh... Well it was a month months
8:05
long saga took five months
8:07
uh... Couple hundred dollars uh...
8:09
For us to actually get to the end of
8:10
this thing and we were
8:12
taken to the a g so the governor
8:14
didn't want to release these records
8:15
he he had a lot of reasons why
8:17
but he wants the attorney general
8:19
who kind of referees these disputes
8:21
and asked him to give him the
8:23
permission to keep them all secret
8:24
the attorney-general
8:26
uh... Then took a couple of
8:28
months and then issued this
8:30
decision.
8:31
That said, okay, you can keep
8:32
some of this stuff secret, and
8:35
then you have to release certain
8:36
documents. And then we waited to
8:38
see what we would get back, and we
8:40
eventually got about 1,400
8:42
pages from the governor's office
8:44
that were emails either with Elon
8:46
Musk or people from his companies.
8:48
This might be a little bit in the
8:49
weeds, but in the story, it's
8:51
mentioned that you paid a $244
8:53
check, I believe.
8:54
Is that normal?
8:55
For our listeners out there, you
8:57
know, they know maybe about FOIAs
8:59
and they know about public records
9:00
requests. Is it normal that you have
9:01
to pony up a little money to
9:03
get the state to search out some of
9:05
these documents.
9:05
It depends.
9:06
It's totally up to the agency you're
9:09
asking. So like you could file a
9:10
record request with any public
9:11
entity, right? Like your city
9:12
council person, your county
9:14
commissioner.
9:15
And if they think that they're gonna
9:17
have to sink in significant staff
9:18
time to either gather the records
9:20
or redact the records, they can
9:22
charge you if it's over a certain
9:24
dollar amount.
9:25
And what was unusual in this case,
9:26
it's something that I'm seeing
9:27
happen more and more, is
9:29
they'll give you a cost estimate
9:31
usually, and they'll say, hey, can
9:32
you pay 50% of this?
9:34
And then. Will produce the records,
9:36
and then maybe you have to pay the
9:37
other 50%.
9:38
In this case, the governor's office
9:40
asked for 100% payment
9:42
upfront.
9:44
So $244.64,
9:46
I will not forget that, because it
9:47
came out of my checking account
9:49
initially.
9:50
And then they actually, after
9:52
the fact, said, you know what, we
9:53
think these records are actually all
9:55
private, and we're going to ask the
9:56
attorney general to allow
9:58
us to withhold them after they cash
10:00
that check. So those two
10:02
things appear to be coming more
10:04
of a pattern with agencies across
10:06
the state asking for 100%
10:08
payment upfront and then
10:10
saying, okay, just kidding, we're
10:11
not gonna release any records at
10:12
all.
10:13
In the story, it's also noted that
10:14
it seems to be becoming more common
10:16
as well, the increasing
10:19
difficulty that there is when it
10:20
comes to accessing these sorts of
10:22
documents. Why is that the case?
10:24
Yeah, this is particularly
10:26
difficult with records
10:27
about government's interactions with
10:29
private businesses.
10:31
So we talked to some experts who
10:32
said this is part of a pattern
10:33
they've seen over the last 10 years,
10:36
where it's getting harder and harder
10:37
to get information from governmental
10:40
entities about partnerships
10:41
they're doing with with
10:43
corporations, tax exemptions,
10:45
all these kinds of things that
10:46
involve public money,
10:48
public projects, but a private
10:49
Corporation.
10:50
And that's because corporations have
10:52
the right, as they should probably,
10:54
right, to say, hey, we don't want
10:56
some of this information
10:58
out in the public domain.
10:59
It may involve trade secrets,
11:01
proprietary information.
11:02
Under the guise of-
11:02
Under the guise of competition.
11:03
Right, competition.
11:05
But what is happening is they're
11:07
seeking broader and broader
11:09
exemptions, more and more
11:10
withholding of records.
11:12
And some of that may relate to
11:14
money that is taxpayer money being
11:15
spent in these projects.
11:17
So it's becoming harder and harder
11:19
to get that, according to experts
11:20
and the experience of a lot of us
11:21
that work in this space.
11:23
And we saw that with this 1,400
11:25
pages we got from the governor's
11:27
office. It wasn't really
11:29
1, 400 pages at the end of the day.
11:31
Was.
11:31
It wasn't that much at all, right?
11:33
No, I mean, there was only a couple
11:34
hundred pages. So we got 1,400
11:35
pages, took five months.
11:37
You did actually get 1,400 pages.
11:38
We got a PDF with about
11:40
1,400 pages, 1,374
11:42
pages.
11:44
And I was like, whoa,
11:45
that's a lot.
11:47
OK, cool.
11:48
Let's see what's in here.
11:49
And I started scrolling, and
11:51
almost every page was completely
11:53
redacted. So totally blacked
11:55
out, not even one readable word on
11:57
it. And there was a note at the
11:59
top of one of the pages that had
12:01
cited a state law about
12:03
competition, saying,
12:05
these pages are redacting because it
12:07
involves competition or bidding
12:09
information.
12:11
There were about 200 pages that were
12:12
unredacted, but a lot of them were
12:14
like old corporate records that have
12:16
been out in the public domain for a
12:17
long time.
12:18
Some of them where public requests,
12:20
or public records requests,
12:21
including my own requests were
12:23
in there.
12:24
And so the 200 pages we did
12:26
get didn't really give us,
12:28
didn't answer that question we had,
12:29
which is what is his influence, what
12:31
is Elon Musk's influence in the
12:33
state capitol and what is this
12:34
relationship like with the governor
12:35
and the governor's office?
12:36
Tweet. We weren't able to really
12:37
glean anything additionally from the
12:39
records.
12:39
Lauren, did you get any additional
12:41
comment or information from Elon
12:43
Musk or from Governor Greg Abbott's
12:44
office about why these
12:46
documents were so redacted?
12:48
We asked both of them for comment.
12:50
Elon Musk and his representatives
12:52
didn't respond to any of our emails.
12:54
The governor did give us a statement
12:56
and his
12:58
spokesman said that the governor
13:00
follows open records laws and
13:02
he makes sure to release everything
13:04
that isn't confidential.
13:05
So stuck by it.
13:06
So that leads me to my last question
13:07
for you. Is there any recourse?
13:09
You get 1,400 pages.
13:10
You've already paid $244, but
13:12
you really only have about 200
13:15
pages worth of information.
13:17
What steps can the Texas Newsroom,
13:18
the Texas Review, and ProPublica,
13:20
what happens next?
13:22
So we asked the attorney general
13:24
to reconsider his
13:26
decision in allowing
13:28
the number of documents that
13:30
he let the governor's office just
13:31
completely withhold.
13:32
So we said, hey, can you take
13:33
another look at this decision you
13:35
made and make sure that all
13:37
of these pages they wanna withhold
13:38
are actually proprietary
13:40
trade secrets, those kinds of
13:41
things.
13:42
Those requests are not usually
13:45
honored. They usually stick by their
13:46
decisions, but it's one of the
13:48
only recourses.
13:49
People that have a problem with an
13:51
open records decision can also
13:53
sue, but it's expensive.
13:55
And again, you may not win and you
13:57
might sink a lot of time and money
13:58
into it.
13:59
So right now we're just seeing what
14:01
the attorney general is gonna say to
14:02
our request.
14:03
OK, this story is a collaboration
14:05
between the Texas Newsroom, the
14:06
Texas Tribune, and ProPublica.
14:08
You can read it right now at
14:10
kut.org.
14:11
Lauren Magocchi is an investigative
14:13
reporter and editor at the
14:15
Texas Newsroom. Lauren, thank you
14:16
for your time. You're welcome.
14:23
Thank you out there for spending
14:24
part of your Thursday here
14:27
with Austin signal We are
14:28
listener-powered public radio and
14:31
in case you want to catch up on any
14:32
of the episodes you might have
14:33
missed this week Or so far from the
14:35
show head on over to
14:39
cut.org
14:41
Signal coming up.
14:42
We're going to talk renovations at
14:44
the Paramount and State Theaters
14:45
in downtown Austin should
14:47
be a very fun conversation.
14:49
We'll be back in a moment, and we'll
14:50
talk to you then
14:58
This is Austin Signal,
15:00
here on listener-powered public
15:02
radio KUT News, thank you for
15:03
spending part of your day here with
15:05
us.
15:06
The Paramount Theater launched a
15:07
campaign this week to raise money
15:08
for a restoration of the
15:10
110-year-old building.
15:13
The Paramound is listed on the
15:14
National Register of Historic Places
15:16
and is only one of 20 theaters
15:18
in the U.S. That is more than 100
15:19
years old and still operating.
15:22
Hmm, you know, I think I heard that
15:23
fact during an A.T.
15:24
Live show.
15:26
I wonder who did that story.
15:27
There are also plans for a
15:29
re-imagining of the state theater
15:31
next door.
15:33
Jim Ritz is CEO of the
15:35
Austin Theater Alliance, the
15:36
nonprofit that operates both venues.
15:38
He's with us now on Austin Signal.
15:40
Howdy, Jim. Howdy.
15:41
Nice to be with you.
15:42
I'm glad you are here.
15:44
When I just met you a little bit
15:45
earlier, but you made me
15:47
change my first question because you
15:49
invoked the name of John Ailey
15:50
walking into the studios today.
15:52
We obviously hear no.
15:54
And are reminded now, in his
15:55
absence, how important John was
15:57
towards making people feel like
15:59
a part of Austin, part of the local
16:01
music and arts experience.
16:03
How important are the Paramount and
16:04
state theaters when it comes to
16:06
supporting arts and music here in
16:07
Austin?
16:07
I think one of the things we can
16:09
draw a parallel between John and
16:11
the Paramount and State Theater and
16:13
frankly KUT,
16:15
there are certain parts that are a
16:17
fabric of our fundamental
16:18
part of the fabric of this community
16:21
and the
16:23
paramount theater has been here for
16:24
110 years.
16:25
John only felt like he was here for
16:27
a 110 years,
16:29
but what he gave
16:31
us was an insight
16:34
on maybe part of a culture of
16:36
Austin, we wouldn't have understood
16:38
more fully.
16:39
Beyond that,
16:41
the cultural arts groups
16:43
in this city never had
16:45
a greater friend than John Ailey.
16:47
He loved to go to the shows, he
16:49
liked to talk about them.
16:51
And so with the Paramount
16:53
being 110 years and the
16:55
State Theater being 90 years,
16:57
we're now in the sixth generation
16:59
of patrons who are coming in
17:01
to be with us.
17:04
In many ways they are those
17:06
generations are tied together by
17:08
their experiences that can only
17:10
happen in a place like
17:12
the paramount theater the state
17:13
theater and i'm hoping all the other
17:15
organizations will grow to be a
17:16
hundred and ten years and they will
17:18
have their six generations of by
17:19
that time will be on our twelfth
17:21
generation
17:22
Absolutely.
17:23
I'm not sure what generation we're
17:24
at here at KUT, but yes, we want to
17:26
continue growing into the future,
17:27
and that's part of the reason why
17:28
you are planning this restoration.
17:31
You mentioned 110 years old, 90
17:32
years old. Why now?
17:35
Um, a couple reasons.
17:37
We've come to a point in time, we've
17:39
needed to do a full restoration of
17:40
the Paramount Theater probably
17:42
for 20 years.
17:43
The work that they did in 79
17:46
was simply miraculous,
17:48
given the economics that were
17:49
available to them, the resources
17:51
that were able to them was simply
17:53
marvelous.
17:54
But there has, as we said, she's
17:56
beautiful but she needs a little
17:57
work. Yeah, we all do.
17:59
Absolutely.
18:00
And with the state theater, it's
18:01
a more dramatic change.
18:03
We're doing a complete re-imagining,
18:05
protecting the historic
18:07
front of the theater, which is
18:09
beautiful.
18:10
But virtually everything else that
18:12
was once historic has been
18:14
gone, has been taken away over
18:16
the years. And that's impacted the
18:18
business. In the state theater, and
18:19
particularly it is, we
18:21
talk about our business, that the
18:23
way that we operate is take really
18:25
good care of the patrons, really
18:27
good of the artists.
18:29
And frankly, really good care of one
18:30
another. And because we had
18:32
300 seats, and we
18:34
only had one concession
18:36
with one or two bartenders,
18:38
more importantly, only two restrooms
18:41
for 300 people, you can't
18:43
live up to what you're saying our
18:44
mission is, which is to provide the
18:46
best patron experience.
18:47
The other thing is, we were
18:49
limited to some degree by
18:51
the size of our dressing rooms,
18:53
our green rooms,
18:55
the seating capacity.
18:57
For us to be able to have a wider
18:59
variety of artists,
19:01
not only nationally, but from
19:03
the local communities and with what
19:04
we're doing by bringing in
19:06
telescopic seating, bringing in
19:08
a new mezzanine, bringing in a new
19:10
balcony will increase the seating
19:12
capacity by 50%,
19:14
but also just incredible
19:16
changes in concessions and
19:18
lounges and the stage areas,
19:21
which is going to let us, I think,
19:22
be able to bring in so
19:24
many different of the local.
19:27
Community cultural institutions.
19:28
We're doing some wonderful things
19:30
with Ballet Afrique right now and
19:32
I think the new state theater
19:34
will be important to us from that.
19:36
What also the state theater
19:37
represents is
19:39
the next generation of patrons.
19:41
We can do things in the state,
19:44
in the new state theater that we
19:45
can't do right now.
19:46
We can experiment to a greater
19:48
degree. The cost of failure and
19:50
experimentation is not as great at
19:51
this date as it is at the Paramount.
19:53
But if you're able to not just
19:55
invite new chronology,
19:57
meaning the next generations,
19:59
but also the entire community
20:01
to be able to feel welcome
20:03
and to experiment with us,
20:05
then what we're doing is, I think,
20:07
is we're growing the next generation
20:09
of cultural leaders and
20:11
also patrons who will then
20:12
ultimately move over to the Paramout
20:14
Theater.
20:15
So what is your fundraising goal and
20:17
what are some of the things you
20:18
would like to improve?
20:19
$55 million for
20:21
construction for both theaters,
20:23
$10 million to establish an
20:25
endowment. The overall objective
20:27
is to protect both theaters for
20:29
the next hundred years.
20:30
I mean, just very simply put,
20:32
the key things, I just talked a
20:33
little bit about the state, but let
20:35
me go over to the Paramount Theater.
20:37
The Paramount theater,
20:39
its internal ornamentation
20:42
is spectacularly
20:44
beautiful, but it is
20:46
deteriorating.
20:46
And what we are going to be doing
20:48
is though the theater was
20:50
originally opened in 1915
20:52
as the Majestic Theater,
20:55
in 1930 it was
20:57
purchased by Paramount Pictures.
20:59
And at that time there were a number
21:01
of changes that they made and in the
21:03
79 restoration, things
21:05
that they did differently.
21:06
What we're doing is, we're
21:08
going to take it back to the palette
21:10
of the color palette
21:11
and design of 1931.
21:16
Then we're also, and this is be...
21:18
And probably I should lead with this
21:20
for your entire audience.
21:21
We are replacing every single
21:23
seat in the Paramount Theater.
21:24
Oh, I can hear the ovation coming
21:26
from the drag outside, you know,
21:28
people are responding.
21:30
I appreciate it, but it's true.
21:32
We're way beyond their useful
21:34
life. So we will be replacing
21:36
all of those.
21:37
We're also significantly upgrading
21:39
our technology for sound
21:41
and lighting.
21:43
We're a union house, a very proud
21:45
union house.
21:46
And our union sound artists
21:48
and lighting artists do not have
21:50
the state of the art tools in order
21:52
for us to really maximize what their
21:54
capabilities are.
21:55
And I think that folks, when they
21:57
come into it, will still be this
21:59
wonderfully intimate theater.
22:00
And I they'll feel the freshness
22:02
of what we're doing with the
22:04
ornamentation.
22:05
But I think what they'll notice is
22:07
a different relationship to the
22:08
music, to the spoken word,
22:11
to the film, because we're upgrading
22:13
all of that.
22:14
The final thing that we're doing
22:16
or the final two things is we are
22:18
expanding the
22:20
concessions areas and we're
22:22
going to be expanding the restroom
22:23
areas, Okay. Which I think is very
22:25
important.
22:26
The final thing that I love is in
22:27
the original 1915 plans
22:30
for the Majestic Theater, now the
22:31
Paramount Theater, there
22:33
was behind those three opera
22:35
windows that you see on the front of
22:37
the Paramout Theater, the Paramouth
22:39
Blade bisects the middle
22:41
window.
22:42
John Eberson, who was the architect
22:44
who designed it in 1915, it
22:46
is so clear that what
22:48
was in his mind was that those
22:50
windows would be open.
22:51
There are actually balconettes
22:53
in front of each of them where
22:55
somebody can stand.
22:56
But those windows were gonna be
22:57
open, white shears would be blowing
22:59
in the wind, and behind that was
23:01
to be a ballroom that you
23:03
would have had a woodwind quartet
23:05
playing and all of that.
23:07
Well, for some reason, they built
23:09
the windows, they put in the
23:10
floor, they put it in crown molding,
23:12
but they never built out that
23:14
1,500 square feet.
23:15
We are now going to be doing that
23:17
and building it out, and it will be
23:21
JP's Peace, Love and Happiness
23:23
Lounge. We're very grateful to.
23:25
To the DeZoria family,
23:27
to JP and Eloise,
23:29
for funding that entire project.
23:31
And you can see what that looks like
23:33
over at KUT.org.
23:34
I gotta ask you, and although
23:36
there's great anticipation for the
23:38
new seats, what's gonna happen to
23:39
those old ones?
23:40
You think people might wanna own a
23:41
piece of the Paramount, have a
23:43
little history?
23:43
First of all, you're
23:45
exactly right, and we
23:47
are a non-profit and we will
23:49
raise funds however we can.
23:50
I know all about that.
23:52
Well, we do know that, we've done a
23:54
lot of things together.
23:56
But what we'll be doing first is
23:58
we will be giving our
24:01
patrons an opportunity to buy those
24:03
seats. And then depending
24:05
on what we have after
24:07
that. We'll determine whether they
24:08
can be reutilized elsewhere
24:10
or if they're too far gone.
24:12
But we will be very ecologically
24:15
sensitive to how we
24:17
deal with those that are not
24:19
sold.
24:19
Okay well we only have about a
24:21
minute left, you know, lots of
24:23
things to be excited about heading
24:25
into the future.
24:26
What do you hope for the Paramount's
24:27
future, you said for the next
24:29
century, what do you hope that's
24:30
going to be like?
24:32
What I hope is that it continues to
24:34
be what it is right now, and I
24:35
believe it is the crossroads
24:37
of our community, where the people
24:39
are allowed to come in and have the
24:41
opportunity to see the widest range
24:42
of programming.
24:43
They can be made to laugh.
24:45
They can made to cry.
24:47
They can make to think perhaps a
24:49
little bit differently, but that
24:51
they understand that this is the
24:53
place that you can come and see
24:55
literally every form of
24:56
entertainment.
24:57
You have the opportunities to be
25:00
moved.
25:02
And perhaps maybe, we hope, improved
25:04
a little bit because your soul was
25:06
fed by the Paramount and State
25:07
theaters.
25:08
A very simple goal, and I
25:10
love that. I love you can get
25:11
grounded in that, and if you haven't
25:13
been to the Paramount to the State
25:14
Theater yet, it's waiting for you.
25:16
And hopefully we'll be there long
25:18
into the future.
25:19
Again, we've been speaking with Jim
25:20
Ritz. He is CEO of the Austin
25:22
Theater Alliance, the non-profit
25:24
that operates the Paramout and State
25:25
Theaters. They set a $65 million
25:28
fundraising goal for a restoration
25:29
of both venues.
25:31
Jim mentioned the JP's Lounge.
25:33
You can check out photos of what
25:34
they would like to do in the future,
25:36
over at KUT.org.
25:38
Jim, thank you for being here today.
25:39
My pleasure, I really appreciate you
25:41
having me.
25:41
Absolutely, this is Austin
25:43
Signal. Kristen Cabrera is
25:45
our managing producer.
25:47
We're glad she's back with us today.
25:49
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
25:51
director.
25:52
I'm Jerry Quijano.
25:53
We will talk to you tomorrow.