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Affordable housing is top of mind for many Austinites, but especially for educators working in our local schools. Now, a former AISD elementary campus is being transformed into housing — with some units set aside specifically for teachers. Acacia Coronado from the Austin Current takes a closer look at the East Austin project.
Brown water is flowing from the taps in one Austin-area suburb. We’ll hear what residents say they wish they knew before moving in, and how they’re working to warn others.
We’ve had a very warm spring this year and we’re not even close to the peak of summer temperatures. The heat isn’t unusual, but it’s arriving at a time when Austin’s energy utility has sharply increased shutoffs for nonpayment.
Back in 1928, a city plan excluded Black residents from certain parts of Austin–including the city’s first public park, Pease Park. One group is working to reclaim that history and reshape the narrative. We’ll talk to the founders of the RISE Project on today’s show.
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.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:08] Affordable housing is top of mind for many Austinites, but especially for educators working in our local schools. Now a former AISD elementary school campus is being transformed into housing with some units set aside specifically for teachers. We take a closer look at that East Austin project and brown water flowing from the taps in one Austin area suburb, what residents say they wish they knew before moving in, and how they’re working to warn others. All that coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:37] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Miles Bloxson.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:43] We’ve had a very warm spring this year, and we’re not even close to the peak of our summer temperatures. The heat isn’t unusual, but it’s arriving at a time when Austin’s energy utility has quadrupled shutoffs for non-payment. Those stories coming up next, right here on Austin Signal. Hi and hello and welcome to Austin Signal. I hope your day is going amazing so far. I’m your host, Miles Bloxson. It’s Wednesday, March 25th. Affordable housing in Austin has been a growing challenge, and educators are feeling it too. Now Austin ISD is taking action, redeveloping the Anita Ferrellis Coy site, formerly Allen Elementary School, into mixed income housing that will include units for teachers. Here to tell us more is Acacia Coronado, education reporter with Austin Current. Great to have you here, Acacia. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so let’s get into it. It’s expensive to live here, and we’re all feeling it. So how is that impacting educators in AISD?
Acacia Coronado [00:01:50] Yeah, so AISU recognized a need, seeing how their educators were struggling to buy houses and afford rent. And so when they were looking to repurpose the Anita Ferales Coy facility, they decided to work with a developer to redevelop it into a mixed income housing, half of which will have rent restricted, sorry, income restricted units that the teachers can apply for. And how did this come together? Yeah, so they put out a call for developers that were willing to work with them to kind of help respond to the housing situation that teachers were facing. And so once they found the right developer to work with, they decided to do something that could give back to educators and help them find housing. In case you’re like.
Miles Bloxson [00:02:40] Is already underway. I think y’all started back in February so this housing isn’t just for teachers though, right? You mentioned a little bit earlier about that.
Acacia Coronado [00:02:48] Right. So it’s mixed income housing. Half of the 675 units that are planned are going to be income restricted. And so teachers will be able to have priority application through a internal site through the district. But the mixed income housing will be also open to community members as well. And when this project is complete, how many units are we talking? At 675 units when it’s complete. So they’re in phase one right now and they’re set to begin construction on phase two either later this year or next year.
Miles Bloxson [00:03:22] Mentioned that teachers will have priority, how can they apply when the development is actually complete?
Acacia Coronado [00:03:29] Yeah, so the district has an internal site for teachers to apply. So they’ll be able to work through there to try to get a priority for one of the units.
Miles Bloxson [00:03:41] Wow, this is major and you’re from Austin. I’m from Austin as well. What does something like this mean to you?
Acacia Coronado [00:03:47] Yeah, I mean, it’s expensive to live in the city and we’ve all seen it grow. So I’m sure teachers will be happy to have an option on hand. And this could possibly be like a model for the future. What are you hearing there about that? Yeah, so I mean Austin ISD just voted to close 10 schools and some of those campuses might be up for repurposing soon and. Listed on their many options for repurposing is the possibility of using some of these sites for long-term ground leases, which is what they are using for this development, which allows them to lease land to a developer. They own the land, they get an income from that, and the developer owns the construction. So it’s a benefit for both. That’s a Kasi.
Miles Bloxson [00:04:34] I’m Andrea Coronado with Austin Current, KUT’s collaborator on the Austin Signal, and a partner with KUT Newsroom in covering Austin. Thank you so much. Thanks. People in the Austin’s Colony neighborhood have been dealing with very hard water for over a decade. As KUT’s Katie McAfee reports, some residents are taking a new approach to getting better water.
Katy McAfee [00:05:06] Out on Webberville Road, there’s a sign as you head into the Austin’s Colony neighborhood. You can’t miss it. In big letters, all caps, it reads, ask about the water before you buy here. The sign appeared only a few months ago, but what the sign is about, water issues in the neighborhood, those have been going on for years. Tyler Croft says he started having problems right away after he and his wife moved to Austin’s colony two years ago.
Tyler Croft [00:05:31] Started out we noticed with our dishwasher our dishes would come out very caked in and like white like residue on everything on all the glass.
Katy McAfee [00:05:42] He didn’t think too much of it at first, but they kept having issues. Their dishwasher stopped working. The water tasted funny. Once, while getting a glass of water, Croft says he turned on the tap and it came out brown. His hair was getting dry and brittle.
Tyler Croft [00:05:57] And then when our daughter was born, we noticed like eczema right away, which could be a lot of different factors, but soon after we put a filter on her bathtub and started to see those symptoms kind of start to subside a little bit.
Katy McAfee [00:06:12] Something needed to change. Croft installed a water softener under his sink, filters on the shower heads, then a bigger water softner system in the garage. All told, Croft says he spent about $5,000 on water filtration systems and softeners. And it’s not just the Crofts. Down the street, Richard Helleman says he can’t use his dishwasher either. It’s just a drying rack for him. And he’s got other issues with his appliances.
Richard Hellemen [00:06:39] My hot water heater like gurgles every time I take a hot shower. I can’t even flush it because there’s so much sediment in the hot water heater. My landlord has said he’s had to replace like at least three other tenants hot water heaters.
Katy McAfee [00:06:53] Hellman says the nozzle on his shower head routinely gets clogged with white mineral deposits. The same thing happens to his garden hose.
Richard Hellemen [00:07:01] See how it barely works and it’s like shooting out in like these really like tight streams like it shouldn’t be doing that it should just be like a nice like stream of water like a like a, like your shower you know.
Katy McAfee [00:07:17] A few houses down, big, blue, plastic jugs of water line the walkway to Lin Ling’s front door. Through a translation app, he tells me this isn’t tap water. He buys these jugs. He’s noticed yellowish substances in the tap water
Lin Ling [00:07:34] It’s a hit, it’s a, uh, it, uh…
Katy McAfee [00:07:37] So what’s going on here? People in this neighborhood have Austin addresses, but Austin’s colony is out of the service area for Austin water. Instead, the neighborhood is served by a for-profit company called Texas Water Utilities. The company uses groundwater from a local well, plus water pumped from the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer. The local well water is considered very hard, which means it has high concentrations of minerals like calcium and magnesium. In its most recent report in 2024, Texas water utilities reported three water samples averaged out to a hardness level of 260 milligrams per liter. For reference, more than 60 milligrams per leader is considered moderately hard by the US Geological Survey. Hard water can cause plumbing issues and appliance failures. But since there are no known adverse health risks, it’s not regulated by the EPA or by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Even so, the company says it’s taken steps recently to make it softer. In an email, Vice President of Operations Tim Williford said four water samples from February had an average hardness of 50 milligrams per liter, which is considered soft water. I explained all of this to Austin’s colony resident Richard Franklin at a coffee shop.
Richard Franklin [00:08:53] I don’t know where they got that from
Katy McAfee [00:08:55] He was skeptical.
Richard Franklin [00:08:56] Or even, who even told you that lie?
Katy McAfee [00:08:58] Franklin’s lived in Austin’s colony for over 20 years. He says he’s lost track of how many times he’s had to replace his dishwasher, maybe three or four times. He’s replaced both of his toilets. He says a few years ago, he went to fix his sink and…
Richard Franklin [00:09:13] The pipes were so corroded that as I tried to grab the nut, the pipes fell off and just corroded in my hand.
Katy McAfee [00:09:22] He says the cost of having to routinely replace appliances has added up, and that’s on top of paying for the water itself. Before even turning on the tap, Texas Water Utilities customers in Austin’s colony pay a base fee of $59. That’s more than seven times the cost of Austin Water’s base fee. There’s also a $79 base fee for sewer services, plus a few other small charges. Franklin showed me a copy of his water bill from February. His total bill was 161 bucks. The cost of the water he actually used, less than $14.
Richard Franklin [00:09:56] We don’t use that much water. I literally have gotten to the point where I said, if we pee, we don’t flush. In the land of fun and sun, we dont flush for number one.
Katy McAfee [00:10:05] Franklin says those base fees have gone up in recent years as Texas water utilities tax on what it calls system improvement charges. Those fees pay for big infrastructure upgrades. In an email, the company says it spent $6.3 million on the Austin’s colony area in 2025. That money went into replacing aging pipes and buying more water from the Carrizo Wilcox aquifer, which makes the water softer. But Franklin says he hasn’t noticed any improvements at his house.
Richard Franklin [00:10:32] This was last Saturday, last Saturday. My wife was gonna take a bath.
Katy McAfee [00:10:37] He shows me a photo of a bathtub filled with dirty looking water.
Richard Franklin [00:10:41] I don’t know what they think that is, I don’t know if brown water is not hard, but that was her bathtub. She couldn’t take a bath.
Katy McAfee [00:10:51] Franklin and Croft have both formally protested some of these charges with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates water rates in the state. It’s been a long process. Croft’s effort to protest the latest $16 increase has taken months of back and forth with Texas Water Utilities and the Public utility Commission. Franklin went through the same back and fourth a few years ago. He ultimately lost. So a few months ago, he thought of a different strategy. He put up that big sign on Weberville Road. The one that says ask about the water before you buy here.
Richard Franklin [00:11:24] The thought process is, why don’t we have the developers not be able to sell their homes in this area, and have them go to the legislature and force private water companies to do what’s affordable and livable. That’s what that sign was for, was to pit the people with the money against the people with money.
Katy McAfee [00:11:50] Franklin says he’s caught some flak from neighbors over the sign. They told him it’s making the neighborhood look bad. But he says the sign is his way of being a good neighbor, warning newcomers about the fees they’ll have to pay. I asked Franklin if he thought the sign has actually done anything other than peeve some of his neighbors. And he told me it must have because the county is making him take it down.
Richard Franklin [00:12:12] Somebody complained about it, so we know it made noise. Although I think it’s funny because we’ve had a sign up there about our community meeting every month. That sign’s been there for two years now and it’s never been touched, no one said a word about it. But the sign that’s directly above it, they’re asking me to take that sign down.
Katy McAfee [00:12:31] He’s not giving up, though. He found a new place to put up a sign on private property. He says his next one is going to be almost twice as big. I’m Katie McAfee in Austin.
Miles Bloxson [00:12:51] Well, it’s still March, so we aren’t in the high summer temperatures just yet, but when it comes to the balance of keeping cool and keeping the energy bill down, it can be a struggle. And for those behind on their bill with Austin Energy, they are more likely to see their electricity shut off as Austin Energy ramps up shut-offs for non-payment. To tell us more, we are speaking with KUT’s Government and Accountability reporter. Andrew Weber. Andrew, thanks for talking with us today. Yes, ma’am. Thank you for having me, Miles. Of course. Now, I think for some people, they might think, duh, you don’t pay your electricity. It gets turned off. That’s just how the story goes. But Austin Energy has been working with customers to avoid shutoffs previously and especially after the pandemic, right?
Andrew Weber [00:13:34] Yeah, you mentioned the pandemic. I mean, I think we all remember that the utility paused, you know, any shutoffs whatsoever because folks were struggling at that time. And then you had, you know back when this whole state froze and, you know in 2022 when the city froze, they’ve had these sort of, if I can use a nerdy word, moratoria on shutoffs before, previously. The last couple of years there have been fewer and fewer of those. The weather hasn’t been as extreme to sort of trigger those. Uh, so the city hasn’t paused its shutoff or the city utility, I should say, hasn’t positive shutoffs, uh, but it also has a program called the customer assistance program that helps pay down some, some of your bill if you qualify. Um, but the, the problem previously was, you know, about four years ago, the city wasn’t really enrolling as many people as it could. It was only 38% of the people who were eligible, who were enrolled in the program. So The utility has over the last couple of years done a really good job of getting more folks enrolled and just letting folks know this exists if you need help to pay your bills. And they’ve seen a lot of success in that. Now it’s up to 85,000 people who are enrolled in that program.
Miles Bloxson [00:14:45] Yeah, because as your headline states, the shutoffs have quadrupled recently. So why has this number increased so much?
Andrew Weber [00:14:53] Yeah, there’s a lot of reasons for that. I mean, for one, it’s just more expensive. Austin Energy would argue our bills are the lowest on the ERCOT market. That’s the state’s energy marketplace. And they would also argue that, by and large, bills are down compared to a couple years ago. But residential customers, people who live in apartments and houses, are still struggling to pay their bills. And a lot of that is because what the utility charges has gone up. Over the last couple of years because they have bills to pay as well, you know, it’s a utility that doesn’t operate, you now, it operates at a loss. It’s currently got a $44 million deficit that it has to make up because if they don’t then, you know there’s no other game in town that’s the only utility that Austin has to get electricity.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:42] Right, and you mentioned bills have gone up, but how does Austin Energy decide how much it charges customers?
Andrew Weber [00:15:49] It’s an arduous process. There’s lawyers involved, it’s usually in a courtroom setting, or at least some sort of legal setting. Basically, the utility says, this is what we have to pay back for our debt, and this is what we want to charge folks. We have to raise rates, and we’re going to do X, Y, Z. And in that setting, they call it a rate review. There is also somebody who’s advocating for all the residential customers, all the people in houses and apartments who are paying Austin energy bills, they usually have a counterproposal. And so a judge basically decides which proposal to go with or what compromises are made where, and then the bill becomes, it becomes a new rate. That sounds like a lot. Yeah, it’s a lot, it’ s a lot but the last couple of years, the city’s been, the city utility has been slowly raising rates. And last year it folded that whole process into the city budget, which is already a very fraught process. And the folks I spoke with say that that process needs to be more transparent and just transparent and out in the public square going forward.
Miles Bloxson [00:16:59] Another key point is that temperatures are increasing year after year, right? We’re seeing that with our weather. So how does that get factored into all of this?
Andrew Weber [00:17:07] Austin is is famously not super affordable right now, and it’s not getting any colder in the summers. And that demand for electricity is driving these shutoffs. And it’s also not likely going to go away. Climate researchers at UT in the city predict that these, you know, these sort of like heat dome events, these crazy, crazy hot summers aren’t going away. If anything, they’re increasing over the next couple of over the next believe century. So this has obviously always been an issue, Austin being hot, but you know, as it relates to the demand for electricity, that’s that’s also going to keep
Miles Bloxson [00:17:50] Well, we’ve been speaking with KET’s government and accountability reporter, Andrew Weber. Andrew, thanks so much for talking with us.
Andrew Weber [00:17:57] Thank you.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:57] Appreciate you. When the Austin signal comes back, we’ll be talking about RiseFest, a festival that is happening at Pease Park right here in Austin. This is the Austin Signal, welcome back. Back in 1928, a city plan excluded black residents from certain parts of Austin, including the city’s first public park, Pease Park. One group is working to reclaim that history and reshape the narrative through the Rise Project. They’re hosting Rise Fest, an event honoring the history and cultural legacy of Austin’s black freedom communities. It takes place this Sunday, March 29th, from two to five p.m. At Kingsbury Commons in Pease Parks. Joining me in the studio are the co-founders of Rise, Stephanie Lang and Funmi Ogunro. Great to have y’all here.
Funmi Ogunro [00:18:47] So happy to be here.
Stephanie Lang [00:18:49] Yes. Hello, hello.
Miles Bloxson [00:18:51] Can y’all first start by telling me how did Rise come about?
Funmi Ogunro [00:18:54] Yes, of course. So before the name RISE came about, we were just known as the Austin Black Freedom Communities documentary. I grew up in Austin and I spent a lot of time in East Austin as a child, but I never knew what freedom communities were or heard the name. And so she told me freedom communities came about after emancipation. Black people built these communities all around Austin and lived in South Austin, East Austin, North Austin, all throughout Travis County. And we had our own homes and schools. And so that’s how we started off with the documentary. Years later now, we’re still working on the documentary and it’s almost done and the name is now Rise.
Miles Bloxson [00:19:39] So Stephanie, you’re a 7th generation Austinite. How important is it for you to make sure our stories are told?
Stephanie Lang [00:19:46] So important, Miles, one of the things that was always so, I would say, troubling for me as an adult was feeling like there’s this void of recognition of all the contributions that black people have made to this city. There’s so much that has been done. There’s so much that I wish I knew when I was a younger child. Sitting in certain parts of Austin, not feeling welcome at all, and then realizing that my folks were from these communities, my folks made these communities into homes, which subsequently is part of why they were probably pushed out of there in the first place. So it’s so important, before you can fully learn the history of any community, you know, any city, whatever it is, to, you now, Marginalize or pull out large sex of that who that contributed so much is you’re not learning the full story So it’s something we all need to learn and history repeats itself, right? So learning about This history really speaks to where we are right now in this moment because there’s nothing new under the sun
Miles Bloxson [00:20:58] and we’re all sitting here, three black women from Austin, from different parts of Austin. Funmi, how important is storytelling in this work for you, especially when it comes to shifting hearts and shifting minds, because for me, that’s what storytelling does.
Funmi Ogunro [00:21:13] I spent a lot of time on East 11th Street as a child. My mom had a nonprofit arts program and I participated in a lot of the programming and poetry. In that art background and working with the black community, my elders has really influenced me as a artist. I didn’t know storytelling was the the medium I would be choosing, but I believe spending so much time as a child on 11th street is the reason why I’m now storytelling, because I’m telling stories of people that grew up in East Austin and all over Austin. For me, what can people
Miles Bloxson [00:21:52] expect when they show up to Rise Fest, because I know it’s going to be a lot of good times there.
Funmi Ogunro [00:21:58] Rice Fest is gonna be a beautiful day of fun at Peace Park. It’s free. First of all, I gotta say that. I wanna let you know this is a family-friendly event. So bring your kids. There’s gonna be kids’ corner so your kids can come and be engaged. We’re gonna have the Sweet Home Baptist Missionary Choir from a Freedom Community, Clarksville, which is just right around the corner from Peace Park, so they’re a beautiful choir. They’re gonna open up the festival. We’re also gonna have Austin’s poet laureate, Zell Miller. We’re gonna have one of the best DJs in town, DJ Asia Monet. We’re going to have different activations from some of our community partners like Austin History Center, Bethany Cemetery, Norris Explorers, Third Spaces, Black Austin Tours. There’s going to be a gardening activity for families. You can plant a seed and take it home with you. So this is really a beautiful community event and it’s gonna be a great time. We’d love to see you out there.
Stephanie Lang [00:22:56] And another one of like the special intimate parts of the fest is we’re gonna have a conversation with two really iconic in our lives and now viral TikTok stars, elders, part of descendants of freedom community, Ms. Vesita and Ms. Flores Sorrells, also known as Ms. Flo. So special time and like a little section off to their cells. To have that conversation with interested festival goers.
Miles Bloxson [00:23:31] I’ve been speaking to Stephanie Lang and Funmi Ogunro of the Rise Project about their upcoming event Rise Fest taking place this Sunday on March 29th from 2-5 p.m. At Kingsbury Commons in Pease Park. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Funmi Ogunro [00:23:45] Thanks for having us. Thank you. This was great.
Miles Bloxson [00:23:49] You can hear more about the Rise Fest in the show notes page for the podcast for Austin Signal. And that’s it for us today on Austin Signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer, and I am your host, Miles Bloxson, and we’ll talk again tomorrow. Thanks for joining us.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
