Latest / Austin Signal / Why some Austin city staff are urging against plan for parks above I-35

Transcript

Why some Austin city staff are urging against plan for parks above I-35 · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  TXDOT is pouring billions of dollars
• 0:10
  into I-35 through Central Austin,
• 0:12
  adding more lanes and eventually
• 0:14
  sinking parts of the highway up to
• 0:16
  60 feet below ground level,
• 0:18
  which makes it possible to build
• 0:19
  parks above the highways.
• 0:20
  But that comes with a hefty price
• 0:22
  tag. Find out why Austin City staff
• 0:24
  is urging elected officials to
• 0:26
  hold off on those plans.
• 0:28
  And a New York Times investigation
• 0:29
  is prompting new conversations about
• 0:32
  the legacy of labor leader Cesar
• 0:33
  Chavez across the country.
• 0:35
  Find out how that ultimately led to
• 0:37
  the decision to remove the mural
• 0:38
  here in Austin and how the community
• 0:40
  feels about it.
• 0:41
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:43
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:45
  Miles Bloxan.
• 0:47
  The Austin-based group D'Oreo
• 0:49
  is performing at Rock the Park
• 0:50
  tonight. Hear about their journey
• 0:51
  thus far and their plans for the
• 0:53
  future. That's all coming up
• 0:55
  right here on Austin Signal.
• 1:06
  Hello, Austin!
• 1:07
  It's Friday, March 27th.
• 1:09
  I'm Miles Bloxson, and this is
• 1:11
  The Austin Signal.
• 1:12
  Txot is pouring billions of dollars
• 1:14
  into I-35 through central
• 1:16
  Austin, adding more lanes
• 1:17
  and eventually sinking parts of the
• 1:19
  highway up to 60 feet below ground
• 1:21
  level. That open-air highway
• 1:23
  canyon will run from Holly Street
• 1:25
  to Airport Boulevard, creating a
• 1:27
  rare opportunity to build parks over
• 1:29
  the highway.
• 1:30
  But those parks don't come cheap.
• 1:32
  Austin has already committed more
• 1:33
  and a hundred million dollars.
• 1:35
  Towards the plan and at least half
• 1:37
  a billion more is needed to build
• 1:39
  them all out.
• 1:40
  But as KUT's Nathan Bernier reports,
• 1:43
  city staff are urging Austin's
• 1:45
  elected leaders to hold off
• 1:47
  warning the plan is too risky
• 1:49
  without private money to help pay
• 1:50
  for it.
• 1:53
  This is a splash pad.
• 1:54
  Kids are running around and playing
• 1:56
  on a hot summer day.
• 1:57
  A few steps away, a father and son
• 1:59
  are having a game of ping pong.
• 2:02
  Not far from them, a young man and
• 2:03
  woman are playing UNO on a blanket.
• 2:06
  A little picnic, playing a little
• 2:07
  card games, eat some lunch, you
• 2:09
  know.
• 2:09
  Beneath them all are ten lanes
• 2:12
  of highway traffic.
• 2:16
  This is Clyde Warren Park in
• 2:18
  Dallas. It sits on top of
• 2:20
  the Woodall Rogers Freeway.
• 2:22
  The park is only five acres,
• 2:24
  but it attracts more than 1.5
• 2:26
  million visitors a year.
• 2:28
  And when I visited Clyde-Warren Park
• 2:30
  on that hot day in 2024,
• 2:32
  I spoke to one of the guys who
• 2:33
  helped bring it to life, Dallas
• 2:35
  attorney Rob Walters.
• 2:37
  And he had some advice for Austin,
• 2:38
  which back then was early in the
• 2:40
  process of trying something similar
• 2:42
  over I-35.
• 2:44
  Everything you see on this park,
• 2:46
  everything we're sitting on, all of
• 2:48
  this was paid for out of the private
• 2:50
  sector.
• 2:51
  There are tremendous naming
• 2:52
  opportunities.
• 2:53
  They shouldn't have to pay a penny
• 2:55
  for what goes on top.
• 2:56
  If Austin doesn't do this, this will
• 2:58
  sound offensive, I don't mean to do
• 2:59
  it. It will be an utter, colossal
• 3:02
  failure of collective leadership.
• 3:06
  Last May, Austin's City
• 3:08
  Council agreed to pay more than $100
• 3:10
  million just for the support
• 3:12
  structures that would hold up
• 3:14
  concrete decks over sections
• 3:16
  of I-35.
• 3:17
  That's after TxDOT lowers the main
• 3:19
  lanes.
• 3:20
  The biggest of those so-called caps
• 3:22
  would effectively tunnel
• 3:24
  I- 35 from Cesar Chavez
• 3:26
  to 7th Street.
• 3:28
  But here's the thing.
• 3:29
  Austin is not doing it
• 3:31
  the way Dallas did.
• 3:32
  I think this is a transformational
• 3:34
  park. It changes a city.
• 3:35
  This is an old promotional video.
• 3:37
  It's going to bring all of us
• 3:38
  together as a community,
• 3:40
  as a family.
• 3:41
  More than anything, it's going to
• 3:43
  give Dallasites something to be
• 3:45
  proud of.
• 3:46
  In Dallas, Clyde Warren Park started
• 3:48
  with the private sector,
• 3:51
  specifically wealthy people who
• 3:52
  wanted to help pay for it and
• 3:54
  have their names stamped on it.
• 3:56
  Like Chase Bank Promenade, or
• 3:58
  the Ginsburg Family East Lawn, or
• 4:00
  even Moody Plaza.
• 4:02
  By the way, it was not just Clyde
• 4:03
  that relied mostly on private
• 4:05
  funding. Same for the Rose Kennedy
• 4:06
  Greenway over I-93 in Boston
• 4:09
  and Southern Gateway, which is a
• 4:10
  second highway park being built in
• 4:12
  Dallas.
• 4:13
  You're watching a meeting of the
• 4:14
  Austin City Council.
• 4:16
  In Austin, the city is leading
• 4:18
  the effort, and so far,
• 4:20
  no one from the private sector has
• 4:21
  stepped up with any money.
• 4:24
  So city staff are delivering a very
• 4:25
  different message to the city
• 4:26
  council than they were just a couple
• 4:28
  years ago.
• 4:29
  At this point, we just can't
• 4:31
  recommend that that we that
• 4:33
  you move forward with such a
• 4:34
  decision because that does create
• 4:35
  such a significant risk.
• 4:36
  That's Kim Oliveras.
• 4:38
  She's the City of Austin's Director
• 4:39
  of Financial Services.
• 4:41
  And city staff are now making this
• 4:43
  formal recommendation that Austin
• 4:45
  not spend any more public
• 4:47
  money on the caps beyond
• 4:49
  the $100 million already devoted to
• 4:50
  pay for those support structures.
• 4:52
  For those who were always skeptical
• 4:54
  of building parks over I-35,
• 4:57
  this feels like a moment of
• 4:58
  vindication.
• 5:00
  Crystal Lane represents Austin City
• 5:01
  Council District 6.
• 5:02
  When we as council committed $104
• 5:05
  million to the I-35 Roadway
• 5:07
  Elements last year, I,
• 5:09
  along with many of my colleagues,
• 5:10
  raised serious concerns about
• 5:13
  the projected cost estimates,
• 5:15
  also about the limited funding
• 5:17
  partners that we had at that time
• 5:19
  and that certainly I thought was
• 5:21
  realistic that we might secure by
• 5:23
  now.
• 5:24
  Those on the City Council who want
• 5:25
  to build 14 acres of parks over
• 5:27
  the highway are also frustrated.
• 5:30
  Ryan Alter represents Austin City
• 5:31
  Council District 5.
• 5:33
  It just feels like every time we
• 5:34
  have this conversation, we're
• 5:35
  expecting one of two things to
• 5:37
  happen. Either someone to drop off a
• 5:38
  $50 million check, which is never
• 5:40
  going to happen,
• 5:43
  or for the DAA to come to
• 5:45
  us and say, hey, we've put together
• 5:46
  all the downtown partners, and
• 5:48
  here's your $200 million you're
• 5:50
  looking for.
• 5:50
  The DAA is the Downtown Austin
• 5:52
  Alliance.
• 5:53
  We have to have an aggressive
• 5:55
  capital campaign if this is gonna be
• 5:57
  successful.
• 5:58
  And that requires someone
• 6:00
  to be in charge.
• 6:01
  Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers
• 6:03
  told council members that attracting
• 6:05
  that kind of private money does
• 6:07
  not happen overnight, and he spent
• 6:09
  three years in Dallas as
• 6:11
  a top city official.
• 6:12
  By the time somebody
• 6:14
  knocked on my door when I was
• 6:16
  in Dallas, you had funding
• 6:19
  stacks that had already been
• 6:21
  generated.
• 6:22
  And so we're talking years
• 6:24
  of conversations
• 6:27
  that have taken place, but
• 6:29
  they had the money before they
• 6:31
  came to the city, which is a little
• 6:33
  bit different than this situation.
• 6:36
  And that difference might determine
• 6:38
  whether Austin's vision for parks
• 6:39
  over I-35 ever becomes
• 6:41
  a reality.
• 6:43
  But for now it appears a majority of
• 6:44
  the city council is ready to build
• 6:46
  those support structures and
• 6:48
  wait and see if more funding becomes
• 6:50
  available, either from a
• 6:52
  new administration in the White
• 6:54
  House after 2026,
• 6:55
  or from those with money who want
• 6:57
  to give it up and have a little
• 6:59
  piece of Austin named after them.
• 7:01
  I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
• 7:15
  For years, a mural of Cesar Chavez
• 7:17
  welcomed people into East Austin.
• 7:19
  Now that wall is blank.
• 7:21
  The mural was painted over this week
• 7:22
  following a New York Times
• 7:24
  investigation outlining multiple
• 7:26
  allegations of sexual assault
• 7:27
  against a labor leader.
• 7:29
  Joining us now to talk about the
• 7:30
  decision and reaction is Luz
• 7:32
  Moreno-Lezano, KUT's
• 7:34
  City Hall reporter.
• 7:35
  Great to have you here, Luz.
• 7:36
  Thanks for having me, Miles.
• 7:37
  For folks that are not familiar,
• 7:39
  where was the mural of Caesar Chavez
• 7:42
  located and how long was it actually
• 7:44
  there?
• 7:44
  Yeah, so if you're driving down
• 7:46
  Cesar Chavez going east,
• 7:48
  this mural was facing
• 7:50
  west of a building at the corner
• 7:52
  of Cesar chavez and Waller Street.
• 7:54
  So when you basically enter
• 7:56
  the East Austin neighborhood, that's
• 7:58
  where that mural stood.
• 8:00
  Now there has always been a mural of
• 8:01
  César Chavez there, but it
• 8:03
  had been plagued with like
• 8:05
  vandalism and things over the years.
• 8:07
  And so when this new building owner
• 8:09
  came in, They asked
• 8:10
  to work with the community to
• 8:12
  restore it, and that happened in
• 8:14
  2023.
• 8:15
  Okay, and a New York Times
• 8:17
  investigation is prompting new
• 8:19
  conversations about the legacy of
• 8:21
  labor leader Cesar Chavez.
• 8:22
  This is across the country.
• 8:24
  How did that ultimately lead to the
• 8:26
  decision to remove the mural here in
• 8:27
  Austin?
• 8:28
  Well, so I talked with one of
• 8:30
  the co-owners of the building, Eric
• 8:31
  Barth, yesterday.
• 8:32
  He basically kind of talked a little
• 8:34
  bit about just having to make this
• 8:35
  really tough decision to kind of
• 8:38
  believe what we heard from the women
• 8:39
  who spoke up, but also kind
• 8:42
  of work with the community.
• 8:43
  And we have a little of a clip here
• 8:45
  from him.
• 8:47
  With the recent news and
• 8:49
  revelations about Cesar Chavez,
• 8:52
  we felt like it was no longer
• 8:55
  something that we wanted associated
• 8:56
  with the business, and that was a
• 8:57
  discussion we had, again, with the
• 8:59
  community leaders and the
• 9:00
  neighborhood leaders.
• 9:02
  And when you think about the
• 9:04
  community, right, I know it's
• 9:05
  affecting a lot of people because
• 9:06
  they've seen this mural for like
• 9:08
  most of their lives, right?
• 9:09
  Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the
• 9:11
  the community, the Latino community
• 9:12
  has had such a really tough time
• 9:14
  trying to wrap their head around
• 9:16
  this news, you know, for a long time
• 9:17
  this man has been an
• 9:19
  icon and a voice for
• 9:21
  people who didn't have one.
• 9:23
  You know, I spoke
• 9:25
  with Bertha Urendo-Nortiz, she
• 9:26
  is the co-founder
• 9:29
  of this group, Arta Texas, and
• 9:30
  they're the ones who restored the
• 9:32
  mural.
• 9:33
  And she kind of talked a little bit
• 9:34
  about how Cesar Chavez had
• 9:36
  been part of who they
• 9:38
  identify with in East Austin.
• 9:40
  And she gave me this really
• 9:41
  emotional testimony that we'll hear
• 9:43
  here in a second, but I
• 9:45
  think that people
• 9:47
  are still grappling with how to
• 9:49
  respond to this.
• 9:51
  And we've seen a lot of movement
• 9:52
  over the last week or so in this.
• 9:54
  And here's a little bit about what
• 9:55
  she kind of showed with me
• 9:56
  yesterday.
• 9:57
  I've been there 46 years,
• 9:59
  going to be 47 years in August.
• 10:02
  We've always saw that mural.
• 10:04
  When you enter Cesar Chavez and
• 10:06
  enter the East Austin neighborhood,
• 10:09
  you would always see that mural to
• 10:11
  the left. You would see Cesar chavez
• 10:13
  face, you would see a field,
• 10:15
  you will see farm workers,
• 10:17
  and you would see the message Cesar
• 10:18
  Puede.
• 10:21
  Iconic wow 46
• 10:23
  years she said going on 47
• 10:25
  so a long time long
• 10:26
  Long, long time.
• 10:27
  She has been an activist
• 10:29
  for her community.
• 10:30
  She's run for city council.
• 10:32
  I mean, she is an organizer and she
• 10:33
  has a really good pulse on
• 10:36
  her community and what her
• 10:37
  neighborhood is feeling about this.
• 10:38
  Yeah, I'm from the east side of
• 10:40
  Austin, so of course I saw that
• 10:41
  mural growing up a lot.
• 10:43
  Any plans of what will actually be
• 10:45
  painted in its place?
• 10:46
  Yeah, you know, when I talked with
• 10:47
  Eric, he he talked a little bit
• 10:49
  about not, you know,
• 10:51
  even though they own the building,
• 10:52
  this wall isn't theirs, you know,
• 10:54
  that this wall belongs to the
• 10:55
  community. And so they're going to
• 10:57
  leave it blank until they can work
• 10:59
  with the neighbors and with city
• 11:01
  leaders to figure out what should go
• 11:02
  there. So I don't think we'll see
• 11:04
  anything there for a while, but
• 11:06
  it sounds like they are, they do
• 11:08
  want to do something and you know
• 11:09
  what that looks like is still to be
• 11:11
  determined.
• 11:11
  How does a business owner feel?
• 11:13
  I mean, to know, like that was a
• 11:14
  part, you know, when he started the
• 11:15
  business, that was the part of his
• 11:17
  business, essentially, right?
• 11:18
  Yeah, yeah, I think,
• 11:19
  you know, he seemed to know
• 11:21
  that this mural,
• 11:23
  this neighborhood has
• 11:27
  gone through a lot of change.
• 11:28
  And just because they bought the
• 11:30
  building, it doesn't mean that they,
• 11:32
  you can like own the side
• 11:34
  of the wall that welcomes
• 11:35
  neighbors and that has been there
• 11:37
  for so long.
• 11:38
  And so I think he's really kind of
• 11:40
  embraced the East
• 11:42
  Austin community and he wants
• 11:44
  them to be part of this decision.
• 11:46
  I think we're starting to see that
• 11:48
  all across the city as
• 11:49
  city leaders respond to this and
• 11:51
  we might see name changes to the
• 11:53
  street and we've seen celebrations
• 11:54
  canceled and I think that's all part
• 11:56
  of like how the community is
• 11:57
  responding.
• 11:58
  That was KET City Harbor.
• 11:59
  Reporter, Luz Moreno Lozano.
• 12:01
  Great talking with you.
• 12:02
  Thanks, Miles. Of course.
• 12:04
  We'll have links to that story at
• 12:05
  KUT.org slash Signal and
• 12:07
  in the podcast show notes.
• 12:09
  Coming up next, you'll hear from the
• 12:10
  group Dorio about their performance
• 12:12
  tonight at Rock the Park.
• 12:14
  This is Austin Signal.
• 12:16
  We will be right back.
• 12:29
  This is the Austin Signal, welcome
• 12:31
  back.
• 12:32
  Our sister station, KUTX, is back
• 12:34
  with a new season of the
• 12:36
  award-winning, good time for all
• 12:37
  happening, that is Rock the Park.
• 12:40
  This latest go-around kicks off
• 12:41
  tonight with Bananerman and is
• 12:43
  headlined by Dorio.
• 12:44
  This is Chad, Dorio
• 12:46
  Court, and Rachel Roscoe, who are
• 12:48
  joining us now in the studio.
• 12:50
  Welcome to the show, y'all.
• 12:52
  Hey. Hi.
• 12:53
  Thanks for having us.
• 12:54
  Of course.
• 12:55
  For our listeners who may not be
• 12:57
  familiar with y'all, who is Dorio
• 12:58
  and how long have y'al been making
• 13:00
  music together?
• 13:01
  So I guess we've been making music
• 13:03
  since 2019.
• 13:06
  And yeah, we're three albums in,
• 13:08
  I guess, right now.
• 13:10
  But yeah, the project compromises
• 13:12
  of me, Chad,
• 13:14
  and Rachel.
• 13:14
  Yeah, I'm Rachel and we're
• 13:16
  a musical duo based
• 13:18
  here in Austin and we make,
• 13:21
  I would say like,
• 13:23
  our music has pop and rock
• 13:25
  and a lot of different influences,
• 13:27
  but we produce
• 13:29
  everything ourselves so it's kind of
• 13:31
  just what we
• 13:33
  hope the inside of our brains to
• 13:35
  sound like coming through on D'Orio.
• 13:52
  What I need, I'll
• 13:54
  try my best
• 13:57
  I'd better
• 14:02
  I love that, so your album, Super
• 14:03
  Love 3, has been out for almost a
• 14:05
  year, right?
• 14:06
  So what are y'all most proud of,
• 14:08
  looking back on the album and the
• 14:09
  tour that you were on last year?
• 14:11
  Yeah, it was our first time going
• 14:13
  to the West Coast and our first-time
• 14:15
  playing like LA and a bunch of
• 14:17
  cities out there.
• 14:18
  So it was really fun to bring the
• 14:20
  album out last
• 14:22
  summer. And I feel like
• 14:24
  it had a really warm reception in
• 14:25
  Austin too.
• 14:26
  We got to do a KUTX
• 14:28
  Studio 1A taping.
• 14:30
  That was fun to
• 14:32
  get those live recordings.
• 14:36
  And I feel like, so that was
• 14:38
  our third album.
• 14:39
  And I felt like it was,
• 14:41
  we kind of talked about it a lot
• 14:42
  where we'd been working with the
• 14:43
  same people up until
• 14:45
  this album. And we really felt like,
• 14:48
  just because of the relationships
• 14:49
  we've formed, like with friends
• 14:51
  and stuff that have helped us out,
• 14:53
  I feel that was kind of the
• 14:54
  culmination of the project
• 14:55
  and kind of like seeing all
• 14:57
  like the work and
• 14:59
  relationships that we kind
• 15:01
  of built upon leading up
• 15:03
  to that album.
• 15:04
  Yeah, I don't know, it felt really
• 15:06
  good to keep working with the same
• 15:07
  people and then see the project kind
• 15:08
  of keep snowballing.
• 15:29
  Speaking of recording new stuff,
• 15:31
  what do y'all have planned for this
• 15:32
  year?
• 15:33
  So, this might
• 15:34
  be the, I guess
• 15:36
  the announcement, but we do have a
• 15:38
  new album coming out this
• 15:40
  summer.
• 15:42
  We have some new music coming out
• 15:44
  the summer. Okay.
• 15:45
  Yeah. Yeah,
• 15:47
  but later in.
• 15:49
  Can you tell us anything?
• 15:52
  I'm laughing at Chad because he told
• 15:54
  me not to say that we had a new
• 15:55
  album, and then that was the first
• 15:57
  thing that he just said.
• 16:00
  We definitely have new music coming
• 16:02
  out this summer that
• 16:04
  we're really excited about, and we
• 16:06
  are going to play some new songs
• 16:07
  tonight at Rock the Park for
• 16:10
  the first time.
• 16:11
  So we've been practicing those
• 16:13
  and figuring them out in a live
• 16:14
  format, and we're really excited
• 16:16
  about that. Exactly, yeah.
• 16:17
  Debut in some new songs on
• 16:19
  Fresh.
• 16:20
  Yeah, at the
• 16:21
  park. I think it'll be the perfect
• 16:23
  place.
• 16:24
  You know what, I love this for
• 16:26
  y'all, that y'alre gonna be at
• 16:27
  Mueller and rock the park.
• 16:29
  But you know, that's all about the
• 16:31
  kids too, right? Like there'll be a
• 16:32
  lot of kids there. It is family
• 16:34
  friendly. And recently we got some,
• 16:36
  a little bit of criticism from the
• 16:38
  kiddos that we needed to be a little
• 16:39
  more fun on the radio and that we
• 16:41
  don't need to be so serious.
• 16:43
  You know, they tell us what's on
• 16:44
  their minds and we listen.
• 16:45
  So I need to ask you all, what
• 16:47
  is your first concert that you
• 16:49
  remember from your childhood?
• 16:53
  You know, I grew
• 16:54
  up going to a lot of public
• 16:57
  arts events, like free
• 16:59
  concerts in San Antonio that my mom
• 17:01
  was really good at keeping up with.
• 17:03
  So that's why I'm really happy to
• 17:04
  play stuff like Rock the Park
• 17:05
  because I have really sweet memories
• 17:06
  as a kid of just kind of rolling
• 17:08
  up at these big downtown
• 17:10
  events and kind of getting to
• 17:12
  experience what performers are
• 17:15
  and all that stuff.
• 17:15
  But I
• 17:17
  don't really.
• 17:20
  We weren't like a super musical
• 17:21
  family, so I don't have historically
• 17:23
  a first concert, but I
• 17:25
  know the first memorable
• 17:27
  Austin concert that I was taken
• 17:29
  to was in middle school.
• 17:32
  My friend's parents took us to
• 17:34
  see cake at Stubbs,
• 17:36
  and I didn't know
• 17:38
  anything about cake and I did
• 17:40
  know anything Stubbz.
• 17:42
  I learned that you're not allowed to
• 17:43
  bring umbrellas in, I remember it
• 17:44
  was raining. But I feel
• 17:46
  like that started
• 17:49
  off.
• 17:50
  This kind of obsessive journey of
• 17:52
  like seeing shows at Mohawk and
• 17:54
  going to fun, fun, fun fest and just
• 17:56
  being obsessed with coming to Austin
• 17:57
  for concerts when I was in high
• 17:59
  school and stuff. So I, I
• 18:01
  do really, I remember that, that
• 18:03
  cake show.
• 18:04
  That's a pretty epic, uh, for sure.
• 18:07
  What about for you, Chad?
• 18:09
  Um, why was a
• 18:11
  former emo kid?
• 18:12
  Well, I'm still like emo,
• 18:14
  but emotionally, but I guess on the
• 18:15
  music taste I have, um, well,
• 18:17
  I still like, but anyways, um it
• 18:18
  was, um taking back Sunday with
• 18:21
  my sister, um in
• 18:23
  Dallas and she took,
• 18:25
  it was our favorite band growing up
• 18:26
  and yeah, I don't know.
• 18:28
  It was cool.
• 18:29
  I grew up in a small town and I feel
• 18:31
  like go into a concert.
• 18:33
  Arena concert with Taken Back Sunday
• 18:35
  in Dallas, was just like,
• 18:37
  well, this is cool.
• 18:39
  And yeah, I don't know.
• 18:40
  It was intimidating, but it was also
• 18:42
  fun, I think, being around people
• 18:45
  that had similar music taste as
• 18:47
  you.
• 18:49
  I don't know, I think I was just
• 18:50
  pretty insecure going there, but
• 18:52
  then when I got there, I was like,
• 18:53
  okay, cool, there's people like me
• 18:54
  that exist, even though I might
• 18:56
  listen to this music that maybe my
• 18:58
  friends think I'm weird for
• 18:59
  listening to.
• 19:03
  Important to go out to shows, I
• 19:04
  think, and find people that
• 19:06
  are like you.
• 19:07
  Find your tribe.
• 19:08
  What advice do you all have
• 19:10
  for up and coming artists out there?
• 19:15
  I mean, I was a kid who was
• 19:16
  like in choir and
• 19:19
  I was in orchestra at school, but
• 19:20
  I didn't, I think I was too shy
• 19:22
  to like make my own music
• 19:25
  and like I was writing songs,
• 19:26
  but I wasn't ever like thinking
• 19:28
  about recording them until I was,
• 19:31
  a lot later, like in my late
• 19:32
  twenties. So I think kids should
• 19:34
  just, if you want to make music,
• 19:36
  just start doing it and
• 19:38
  don't be too
• 19:40
  like scared to share it
• 19:42
  or just record it for yourself.
• 19:43
  And don't share it for a while
• 19:45
  and develop it that way.
• 19:48
  But I think with everything
• 19:50
  you can do on your computer now,
• 19:52
  it's both nice,
• 19:55
  the accessibility, but it's also
• 19:56
  overwhelming that anyone can
• 19:58
  record stuff at any time.
• 20:00
  Yeah, and to go back on like being
• 20:02
  scared to release something or even
• 20:04
  scared to write music, I feel like
• 20:05
  that feeling, I always
• 20:07
  think that feeling is going to go
• 20:09
  away every album, every
• 20:11
  song we release, but it never goes
• 20:13
  away.
• 20:13
  So I've just kind of learned to,
• 20:15
  you know, that feeling's always
• 20:17
  going to be there. So might as well
• 20:18
  just embrace it in a way and
• 20:20
  just, or maybe not embrace it.
• 20:22
  But it's never going
• 20:23
  to go away.
• 20:24
  But it's just fun
• 20:26
  to make music for yourself and
• 20:28
  maybe not worry about anything else,
• 20:30
  which is easier said than done.
• 20:33
  Yeah.
• 20:34
  I would also, this is kind of a
• 20:35
  different point, but I also think
• 20:37
  there is never too much music
• 20:39
  in Austin.
• 20:40
  Chad and I really were, he's from
• 20:41
  Bryan and I'm from San Antonio, and
• 20:43
  we really were drawn to Austin by
• 20:45
  the music.
• 20:46
  And I think even though it's
• 20:48
  such a discussion now that like,
• 20:50
  oh, Austin's not as creative
• 20:51
  anymore, there
• 20:53
  is still like, I think the
• 20:55
  music community, the community of
• 20:57
  people here that are interested in
• 20:58
  going to shows and checking out
• 20:59
  smaller records is still
• 21:01
  pretty unbeatable.
• 21:04
  And I think staying in a
• 21:07
  community for a long time is just
• 21:09
  a great way to
• 21:11
  kind of meet like-minded people.
• 21:14
  We've been chatting with Chad and
• 21:15
  Rachel from Dorio.
• 21:17
  They're headlining Rock the Park
• 21:18
  tonight at Gerard Kenny Park at
• 21:20
  Mueller. It's a free and
• 21:22
  family friendly event that starts at
• 21:24
  6 45, but our friend Jackie
• 21:26
  Fuller over at KUTX says it's
• 21:28
  best to arrive around six o'clock.
• 21:30
  If you want to nab your ideal spot,
• 21:32
  trust me, you don't want to miss it.
• 21:34
  Thanks so much for being here,
• 21:35
  y'all.
• 21:35
  Thank you for having us.
• 21:50
  Don't forget, if you miss an episode
• 21:52
  of Austin Signal, you can catch up
• 21:53
  by listening to the podcast.
• 21:55
  Stream it or download it.
• 21:57
  Austin Signal is available on
• 21:58
  Spotify, Apple Podcast, or
• 22:00
  wherever you get your podcasts.
• 22:03
  Well, that's it for us right here on
• 22:05
  Austin Signal.
• 22:05
  It's been so much fun being
• 22:07
  your host these past couple of days
• 22:09
  and giving our good old friend
• 22:11
  Jerry Quijano a break, which is
• 22:13
  much needed. But don't worry, he
• 22:15
  will be back on Monday.
• 22:17
  I wanna thank Luz Moreno-Lazano
• 22:19
  for her reporting and joining us in
• 22:20
  the studio today, Nathan Bernier for
• 22:22
  his I-35 story and Dorio
• 22:24
  for chatting with us before their
• 22:26
  Rock the Park performance tonight.
• 22:28
  A special thank you to Rayna
• 22:29
  Sevilla, our technical director, and
• 22:31
  Kristen Cabrera, our managing
• 22:33
  producer.
• 22:33
  And a special shout out to our
• 22:35
  showrunner, Jimmy Maas, who is doing
• 22:37
  a thousand things around here,
• 22:38
  including being our board op today
• 22:40
  in the KUT Studio.
• 22:42
  I'm your host, Miles Bloxson.
• 22:44
  This is Austin Signal.
• 22:46
  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
• 22:48
  We'll talk to you on Monday.