Listen
Water is never far from the top of concerns for Central Texans and folks across the state. Down in Corpus Christi, plans for a desalination plant are underway, and one Austin-area city is set to spend half a million dollars for a spot in line to get some of that water.
City of Austin leaders are divided on a bond election to improve local roads and parks. The election this November would come just one year after voters soundly rejected a property tax rate increase known as Proposition Q.
Plus, Austin’s food scene is chock full of fine dining experiences, but has that erased the presence of a bonafide Texas staple? Our ATXplained project chewed the question over.
Plus a Few Headlines mentions in the show today:
- And Mexico has their final Group Stage world cup match. Tonight at 8pm against Czechia and watch parties are happening across the city.
- Camp Mystic has filed for chapter 11 Bankruptcy that’s after months of investigations and multiple lawsuits files by the families of those who died in last years deadly July fourth floods.
- Also the Statesman is reporting a ‘Rat infestation’ at St. David’s hospital in South Austin.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] Water is never far from the top of concerns for central Texans and folks across the state. Downing Corpus Christi plans for a desalination plant are underway, and a nearby city is set to spend half a million dollars for a spot in line to get some of that water. We’re going to have an update. And city of Austin leaders are divided on a bond election to improve local roads and parks. A bond election this November would come just one year after voters soundly rejected a property tax rate increase known as Proposition Plenty more about that coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:38] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:43] Plus, Austin’s food scene is chock full of fine dining experiences, but has that erased the presence of a bona fide Texas staple? Our ATXplain project chewed the question over. That’s up next, and it’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are listening to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is Wednesday, June 24th. Thank you for making us part of your day. Plans for a desalination plant in Corpus Christi are underway, and a quickly developing city here in central Texas is set to spend half a million dollars for a spot in line for some of that water. KUT’s Hayes County reporter Lee Walden has the story.
Leigh Walden [00:01:33] In October of last year, the Kyle City Council was presented with an ambitious plan.
Travis Peruski [00:01:38] So we are going to build a desal project, and we’re going to bring it down from Harbor Island, which is, if you’ve ever been to Port Aranda’s, I’ll show you a picture of that. That’s Travis Perlman.
Leigh Walden [00:01:45] That’s Travis Perusky. He was the chief operating officer for the Nueces River Authority based out of Valdi. The desal project he’s talking about is a proposed multi-million dollar water desalination plant set to be built just off of Corpus Christi. It would use seawater from the Gulf of Mexico, take the salt out of it, and treat it so it’s drinkable.
Travis Peruski [00:02:06] So at Harbor Island, we’re going to drill down about 80 feet. We will build a 14-foot wide tunnel to put a 12-foot pipeline. The intake is about 1.3 miles out into the Gulf.
Leigh Walden [00:02:15] The project would require infrastructure to bring the water in from the ocean, and the treatment plant. Also, the technology to expel the briny waste water produced in the process. It would also need over 200 miles of pipe to bring water from Corpus to Kyle. Parts of his presentation came off like a sales pitch.
Travis Peruski [00:02:34] We’re actually 90% sold out now, so actually the last 10 million gallons is what luckily Mike put on the list for you guys to put on would be on phase one for the first hundred MGD.
Leigh Walden [00:02:44] Ultimately, the council voted to approve signing on to the plant to the tune of half a million dollars, all to reserve Kyle’s spot in line.
Travis Peruski [00:02:52] Y’all look like y’all are taking the last 10%, so congratulations to you guys.
Leigh Walden [00:02:56] Now, city officials and residents are becoming skeptical of the timeline and efficacy of the plans for the desalination plant. And as some city users are paying over $300 a month for water already, worries over the cost of the pipeline needed to actually get this water to Kyle are growing.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:14] That was KUT’s Hayes County reporter Lee Walden, who is with us now in the studio for more. Lee, thanks for being here.
Leigh Walden [00:03:20] Thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:21] So tell us, where does the situation currently stand?
Leigh Walden [00:03:24] Yeah, so the fellow we just heard from there, Travis Pruski, who was the chief operating officer for the Nueces River Authority, he actually resigned, alleging that there was, you know, a little bit of falsified information about the financing and water availability from the Nuece River Authority against the executive director there. And since then, they have been… Dealing with a little bit of trepidation on this project, most recently, Greg Abbott has put four new board members onto the board for the new Racist River Authority, and it’s lost a lot of faith for cities like Kyle, who have invested money in this project that was ambitious to begin with and operating under the idea that this relatively small and rule agency would be able to take it on.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:11] You mentioned that some people are starting to get worried that this water might never materialize. Who have you heard from?
Leigh Walden [00:04:17] Yeah, I’ve heard from residents within Kyle, but I’ve also heard directly from Kyle’s mayor, Yvonne Flores-Kale, said that this is a project she was worried about from the beginning before she was even elected. This was raising alarm bells for her. Let’s hear a little bit.
Yvonne Flores-Kale [00:04:33] I don’t think this is a good idea. There’s not enough solid information. There’s no enough, to me, it almost seemed like a Ponzi scheme.
Leigh Walden [00:04:44] So she spoke on this proposal when it first came up in October of last year. And since then, she hasn’t really, the faith in this project hasn’t materialized for her. So initially, it was a kind of a rushed decision in her eyes. The city signed on after a 30 minute presentation from Travis Prusky there. And since them, yeah, it’s just a project that hasn’t, really seems solidified, hasn’t built the kind of trust that for so much money, you would think public officials would be rooting for at this point. Um, so she’s also worried because the city of Kyle has already put down a quarter of a million dollars, $250,000 signed on last year, and they’re anticipated to put down another quarter of a million this fall just to keep their spot in line. So this is just to reserve future water from this desalination plant.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:33] Okay, you’ve also you have reported on how expensive water has become in some parts of Kyle. Tell us more about that one
Leigh Walden [00:05:39] Yeah, thank you. Water in Kyle has grown a lot more expensive. So for inner-city limits users, the water rates last fall jumped up 20%, and for out-of-city limits users 77%. This doesn’t totally encapsulate even just this project. It’s a lot of different things. They’re spending a lot money in Kyle on water. People say that there’s no cheap water anymore in the Hill Country, which is true. But people like the mayor argue that there is cheaper water options than projects like this, which is piping water all the way up from Corpus Christi into their town.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:16] What do we know so far about how this project has contributed to increased water bill, specifically in Kyle?
Leigh Walden [00:06:21] Yeah, we don’t know so much on how much this project specifically has increased water bills. Probably not that much because Kyle has a lot of water projects going on. One of them is with water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which is only about 50 to 80 miles away from Kyle. To build that infrastructure, to build the pipes to bring water into the city, it was a project that took longer than anticipated and cost more than anticipated. And residents in Kyle are already starting to pay it off, and it’s hurting their budgets. This project is way more ambitious, way further away, and would take a lot more time, presumably to actually deliver any water to Kyle.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:03] Yeah. And you spoke, the mayor had something to say about this as well. Let’s hear that tape.
Yvonne Flores-Kale [00:07:07] At some point, it’s going to be cheaper to go to HUB and put water bottles on people’s doors than it’s gonna be for us to bring this DeSalle plant into our city.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:20] Okay, we have been speaking with Lee Walden. She is KUT’s Hayes County reporter. We’re gonna have more about this story in our podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Lee, great to talk with you. Thank you. The Austin City Council could ask voters this fall for money to tackle parks, transportation and cultural arts needs. KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano reports on the potential bond and the division among the City Council on whether this fall is the right time.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:56] Last month, the majority of the Austin City Council directed staff to create a bond package with a focus on parks, transportation, and cultural arts. Staff responded with a plan that would spend about $400 million. But it’s an asset that is coming just a year after voters rejected a property tax rate increase known as Proposition Q, which would have raised more than $100 million in property tax revenue. Councilmember Ryan Alter helped lead the council effort to get a bond on the ballot in November.
Ryan Alter [00:08:23] We have a lot of deferred maintenance and just other capital needs that ranges from our parks to our sidewalks and roadways. They’re just things that you have to invest in as a growing city.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:08:39] Councilmember Paige Ellis understands the council needs to be mindful of how a bond would impact taxpayers, but says the city needs to also consider long-term investments.
Paige Ellis [00:08:49] The voter approved bond projects are sometimes the only chance that some neighborhoods are going to get the improvements that they desire. So I’m focusing on parks, active trails.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:01] And libraries. Through voter approved bonds, Austin can borrow money to pay for large projects like libraries, roads, and parks. The city uses a property tax increase to repay the bond separate from the taxes it pays for the city’s basic needs, like public safety and homelessness. And the focus on improving things like parks has some Austinites excited about the possibility. Members of the Zilker 351 group say they would support a parks bond in hopes of restoring the at Barking Springs. That’s the free side of Barton Springs Pool. Fleetwood Jacobs is a nonprofit’s executive director.
Fleetwood Jacobs [00:09:34] It will improve our water quality in one of the most heavily used swimming areas. It will stabilize an eroding shoreline. It will increase access and safety. And importantly, it will preserve the natural character.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:56] Of barking springs. She says the project would also add more appropriate places for people to relax, like benches and picnic tables. Jacob says it’s a project that has been needed for quite some time.
Fleetwood Jacobs [00:10:06] It was approved by city council in 2009 in the Barton Springs pool master plan. And it’s just been sitting here waiting for funding for that many years. And every year that we don’t do something about it, this just gets worse and worse.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:22] The group is even willing to help raise matching funds if the city adds the $3 million project as part of a new bond. Councilmember Mike Siegel says these tangible projects are why he thinks voters will be with another ask for more money at the ballot box.
Mike Siegel [00:10:36] You’re going to see your park bathroom get repaired. You’re going see your local pool get a new shade structure. You’re gonna see the acquisition of land in a part of town that doesn’t otherwise have a park. And I think that’s a lot different than what voters were asked to approve with the tax rate election, which was more of a generalized investment in our general fund.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:57] But not everyone agrees it’s the right time to ask voters for a bond. Mayor Kirk Watson is leading that charge against the bond. He supports park improvements, libraries, and bike lanes, and understands a city has many needs. But he questions the timing, especially so soon after the failure of the tax rate election prop queue, which he calls a TRE.
Mayor Kirk Watson [00:11:16] The city had needs last year, it had needs when voters rejected the TRE. It will have needs in 2028. The existence of needs doesn’t eliminate our responsibility to govern responsibly.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:36] And he says yes, a bond and a property tax election are different revenue generators, but the money would still come from the same place.
Mayor Kirk Watson [00:11:43] The money coming out of the taxpayer’s pocket, the pocket is the same. And the TRE was a direct statement to us about responsibility with regard to spending and by the way, there has been things change that impact that pocket. People’s pockets are shallower.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:12:08] City staff have suggested the council only consider a bond of no more than $400 million, but staff also recommended waiting until 2028 to allow the city to spend more of the money left from the bonds passed in previous years. City staff will come back in July with a potential package. The city council has until August to decide whether to take that to voters in November. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:39] And here are a few headlines for your Wednesday. Camp Mystic has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. That’s after months of investigations and multiple lawsuits filed by the families of those who died in last year’s deadly July 4th floods. We have more reporting at kut.org. Also, the statesman is reporting a rat infestation at St. David’s Hospital in South Austin. That problem has forced the kitchen to close and. It was discovered after construction began on the hospital’s new expansion project. And Mexico has their final group stage World Cup match that’s tonight at 8 p.m. Against Chechia, where arch parties are happening across the city. And previous Mexico games have drawn thousands around town to packed venues and bars. We’re going to have a link to more about Mexico’s avid fan base here in Austin, in today’s podcast, Show Notes, and at KUT. We’re coming up on a break, but we have more, and if it’s the lunch hour, you’re in for a particular treat coming up next. That’s right here on Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. Austin is a foodie town between the James Beard Award winners, TikTok influencers, and Michelin stars. It’s getting harder to find an open table. And according to one person who wrote to KUT’s ATXplain project, all this new fancy food has people eating less of a Texas staple. KUT Ben Philpott looked into the possible disappearance of a golden fried icon. For this story we’re
Ben Philpott [00:14:30] going to talk about a time when Austin was just better, you know, before you moved here. No, no, just, just kidding. Just kidding. We’re going to go back to a time when a pounded slab of meat battered and deep fried ruled the landscape. That’s right. This story is about chicken fried steak. Now, for some of you, your stomach muscles just tightened as a picture of the gravy covered yumminess popped into your head. For others, you may have never eaten it. That suspected increase in those never eating it is exactly what led Chris Simoes to AT Explained.
Chris Simoes [00:15:05] So my question is why don’t people eat chicken fried steak anymore?
Ben Philpott [00:15:09] Now, Chris kind of already has his own answer to this. He has been in Austin since the early 90s. He says iconic places that served up giant pieces of fried goodness just aren’t around anymore.
Chris Simoes [00:15:20] Threadgills is gone. Nighthawk is gone, and when I was a kid, it was so prevalent you could find it at seemingly almost every convenient food location, as well as in high school. There were only two things you could get every single day. One of them was a hamburger, and the other was chicken fried steak.
Ben Philpott [00:15:37] That’s right, folks. The streets of Austin were paved in battered cube steak, the kind of fried delight you got at places like Lone Star Cafe.
Music [00:15:44] You love those chicken fried steaks and you’re crazy about the chili and you drank a lot of Lone Star Listenin’ to Willie We’ve been cookin’ in the Texas way for fifteen years LoneStar Cafe
Ben Philpott [00:15:56] Remember that place? There were several locations, but there was one also on South Lamar near Ben White, which is now a pay way. Well, a permanently closed pay way, either way chicken fried steak is of course not on the menu. And it’s not like you’re going to find chicken fried steak on the regular menu at Austin’s James Beard or Michelin star winning restaurants.
Chris Simoes [00:16:18] No, it’s too fancy there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chicken fried steak was a very, uh, inexpensive cut of meat. It was breaded, it was fried, and then it was served up and it was inexpensive. I’m not paying $25 for a chicken fried steak and that’s what it is today. So I don’t think you can still find a $7 Chicken Fried Steak.
Ben Philpott [00:16:34] I do hate to burst Chris’s bubble, but you can’t get anything for seven bucks anymore. And maybe that’s part of the reason why you can find chicken fried steak. It’s just not fancy enough. Austin is no longer only a Tex-Mex and barbecue town. It’s a big city with big city restaurants
Jane Coe [00:16:52] This is the best Viet Cajun crawfish that you’re going to find in Austin, Texas and they only have two weekends left.
Ben Philpott [00:16:58] Jane Coe has watched Austin’s food scene grow up, or I guess as she would say, glow up.
Jane Coe [00:17:04] I’m considered the OG food blogger in Austin, Texas, and voted best local food blog for several years. I started food blogging in college in 2010, and for over a decade now I’ve featured over a hundred…
Ben Philpott [00:17:14] Her Taste of Coco social media accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Jane Coe [00:17:19] It’s been very exciting to see the City of Austin’s palette expand to so many different cuisines that would have never worked before, and seeing the city.
Ben Philpott [00:17:29] Hungry for more. Jane is Taiwanese-American and grew up in Houston. She moved to Austin in 2007 to go to UT, and when she first got here, she says it was slim pickings on the food scene, especially if you wanted Asian food.
Jane Coe [00:17:41] There was no Asian food at all. I think there was like one sushi restaurant on West Campus back then, and it wasn’t great. So it’s been very exciting to see the broadened horizon of Asian food here in town.
Ben Philpott [00:17:53] The expansion of the food scene followed the exponential growth of Austin itself, but Jane thinks the elevation of food really happened because of the pandemic. Lots of restaurants went out of business, but afterwards the places that survived, along with new ones, were ready to take some risks. She says Austinites, out of their homes for the first time in months, were also ready to try something new. And trendy food led to trendy people talking about trendy food, which led to more trendy things happening and more trendy people moving here to do those trendy things.
Jane Coe [00:18:27] What’s that trendy thing on the weekends now where you like coffee and chill? That’s like the hot thing.
Ben Philpott [00:18:31] I’m in my fifties. I don’t do cool things, cool, trendy things anymore.
Jane Coe [00:18:34] It’s like hundreds of people that come out and sit in cold plunges to drink coffee and chill. Hundreds of people on the weekend. Those people are not eating chain fries, I can tell you that.
Ben Philpott [00:18:46] Yeah, I can tell you that. Those people are not eating chicken fried steak. Probably. But the dish hasn’t disappeared. It’s still a favorite at places like Moonshine downtown and the iconic Hoovers on Manor Road. So you can find it if you want to, or maybe I should say, if you need to. Food fills a need, right? You’re hungry, you need fuel, you eat. You’re sad, mad, excited, maybe a little drunk, you ate. But food is also a way to connect with friends across the table or with memories miles and miles away. Like for me, I grew up in the deep South and a food staple there is the biscuit. My mom made them from scratch all the time. When I moved here 20 years ago, it was pretty hard to find a good biscuit in Austin. But as the city grew, so did the options. My coworker, Saida Carrillo, first moved here in 2008 and she had a hard time finding the kinds of foods that smelled like home. I was really craving this
Syeda Carillo [00:19:47] food that’s called Haleem, which is like this slow-cooked dish with lentils and beef. And it’s usually like a thing that’s on the stove all day long and you smell it and it smells amazing and you can’t wait to eat it.
Ben Philpott [00:19:59] Saeeda is Pakistani-American. She was born in the U.S. And grew up in Houston with the smells and tastes of her mother’s traditional Pakistani cooking. So it was natural that she would look for a taste of home. It was hard to find in Austin. Indian restaurants, plenty of those. Pakistani restaurants, not too many.
Syeda Carillo [00:20:18] You know, it’s probably like, if you’re really craving a pizza from a certain place and somebody’s like, oh, well, there’s like, Papa John’s right there, no shade to Papa John, but maybe that’s not the specific type of pizza you were craving.
Ben Philpott [00:20:31] She knows people mean well, and she does like Indian food. However, there are subtle, but important distinctions. If you grew up with a specific food cooked by a specific person, your parent or grandparents, something close just isn’t close enough. So why not just head over to her mom’s house and have her cook up something.
Syeda Carillo [00:20:50] Okay, Ben.
Ben Philpott [00:20:52] If you make me cry, then we got to go get dessert. I mentioned Saeeda grew up in Houston, but her mom and dad are from Pakistan. They were here on temporary visas. Eventually, the visas expired. Then they were long expired. Her folks tried to get their immigration status fixed. They worked within the system, but eventually they got a final no. They were forced to leave the U.S. Saeed was 17.
Syeda Carillo [00:21:19] I was just about to start college and so I ended up staying back here when I was very young and have been here, you know, kind of in this long distance situation with them ever since. And so, yeah, that’s why my mom is on the other side of the world and I miss her cooking very much.
Ben Philpott [00:21:38] Her mom and dad are still overseas. They still can’t come back. Which really sucked when she got married last year. Beyond the obvious of her parents only being able to watch the ceremony via Zoom, she didn’t have her family around her to fix a traditional Pakistani meal for the reception.
Syeda Carillo [00:21:54] Oh, thank you. Do you take a picture of me scooping? Okay. But then, she found it. I’ve got some rice on my pants. That’s okay.
Ben Philpott [00:22:05] Here we go, what are we eating today, say?
Syeda Carillo [00:22:07] We are eating chicken biryani and butter chicken. Where’s it from? Oh, this is from Zavia Grill on Palmer Lane, which is my favorite Pakistani restaurant in Austin.
Ben Philpott [00:22:20] We set out the food and the room is filled with the smell of spice and sauce. And just like that, Saeeda is transported back to her mom’s kitchen growing up. Yum! Smells so good. So you know, maybe it’s okay that Austin’s food scene has changed. It might mean that my question-asker Chris has a harder time finding chicken fried steak. But it also means that Saeedah can find a Pakistani place. And in a city this big, if you really do need a chicken fried steak, you can absolutely find one. Which got me thinking about the lack of restaurants that serve it. And I think that’s my answer to the question of why people don’t eat it anymore. The city is grown. The population is different. And it’s just fallen out of style. A heartbreaking example of that, Hoover’s on Mainer Road. After almost 28 years, the iconic home cooking restaurant has closed its dining room. For now, they will still run a limited catering and to-go menu a few days a week. But the chance to sit with friends and talk at a table over a chicken fried steak has ended. All right, here we go. Chicken fried steak. Oh my god. There you go. Luckily. Me and the people in this story were able to meet up and do just that before it closed.
Chris Simoes [00:23:44] They haven’t found the Hoover’s delicious chicken fry steak to eat apparently.
Ben Philpott [00:23:49] Each of us sat at Hoover’s with a plate of crispy fried goodness, topped with gravy and accompanied by classic side dishes of mashed potatoes, green beans, fried okra, and more.
Jane Coe [00:23:59] It is so it’s so flaky which is so surprising and i love the gravy and of course the fried okra it is delicious
Ben Philpott [00:24:07] And if that makes you hungry, go find a chicken fried steak this weekend. It’s out there. You just have to want it. I’m Ben Philpott in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:18] You And you can find more of our ATXplained stories on the ATXPlained podcast, and you can ask your own question about Austin at kut.org. That is it for today’s show. We’re going to have more about the stories we shared with you in the podcast show notes and at kutt.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host Jerry Keechanal, Austin’s Signal will be back tomorrow. We will talk to you then. Have a great day!
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
