Listen
A review of the city of Austin’s $25 million contract with the Long Center to disburse arts grants has exposed gaps in billing, transparency and oversight. City auditors said they raised concerns for years about weaknesses in the monitoring of city contracts. Andrea Ball from the Austin Current has the story.
A new program aims to bring Austin’s home-based side hustles out of the shadows of that crowded garage and into the light of day. It’s the latest effort from the city to create ways for micro business owners to thrive, not just survive.
Families across Texas that choose to celebrate Easter have varying traditions. For many, especially Mexican-American families, cascarones are a staple in children’s easter baskets. Austin Signal Managing Producer Kristen Cabrera takes us through what makes these eggs special.
Plus; The Texas women’s basketball team is back in the Final Four for the second year in a row. A pair of wins this weekend would give the Longhorns their second national championship — exactly 40 years after their first.
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 [00:00:09] A review of the City of Austin’s $25 million contract with the Long Center to Disperse Arts Grants funding has exposed gaps in billing, transparency, and oversight. City auditors for years have raised concerns about weaknesses in the monitoring of city contracts. We’ve got more about that. And a new program wants to bring Austin’s home-based side hustles out of the shadows, out of that crowded garage and into the light of day. It’s the latest effort from the city to create ways for micro businesses and owners to thrive, not just survive more about that coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:41] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:46] Plus, the Texas women’s basketball team is back in the final four. A pair of wins this weekend would give the Horns their second national championship, 40 years on from their first. More about that coming up next on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. It is Friday, April 3rd. Thank you for making us part of your day. For over 20 years, the Austin City Auditor’s Office has continuously flagged problems with the monitoring of money paid to contractors and consultants. And the $25 million contract with the Long Center to disperse arts grant funding is just the latest example, according to a report out by Austin Current. It says that the city continues to have issues with how it monitors the billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars it pays to consultants, nonprofits, and private companies. For more, we are talking with Andrea Ball, the growth development reporter who wrote the story for Austin Current. Andrea, welcome back to the show.
Andrea Ball [00:01:54] Thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:54] So remind us about this $25 million Long Center agreement and why it’s under so much scrutiny right now.
Andrea Ball [00:02:01] Right, so in 2023, the city decided that it was going to start using a third party to administer these arts grants. To be clear, the $25 million contract is not all $25 million to the Long Center. They’re handling the processing of about $23.5 million that’s going out to the artists. $1.5 goes to them as profit or as fees for service. And When I came to town, I started hearing some things about the process and some financial questions about the contract itself. And so the Long Center is used because it has such a great ability to basically get grants out quickly, where the city was really slow about it. The way the contract was structured, it was just kind of unusual for the type that it was in that instead of saying, okay, your fees are capped at this percentage or this dollar amount, it was a fee for service thing, which means fee for services per hour, which means you gotta really be on top of that. And that’s where questions started coming in.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:13] You have been reporting on this for a while now another story that you did recently says that because of all of this the city has started to rethink the arts grant system and maybe the contract with the long center or what’s going on there.
Andrea Ball [00:03:24] So when we did our story, these city’s arts department, just to keep it short, they decided to do a review. And when people do reviews, you pretty much assume nothing’s gonna happen. You know, okay, they’re just gonna be like, oh, we reviewed it, great, look forward to a fruitful and long relationship. And, but actually it appears they really did look at it and they came back with an internal review that said, hey, we’re not getting audits that are detailed enough. You can’t account for certain billing. We don’t have performance measures for you. This is just, we need to tighten up. We’re probably gonna do an RFP, meaning we’re gonna bid this out when your contract’s up in 2028. And we are also thinking about doing a third party independent audit of you. I do wanna say something pretty clearly. No one has accused them of doing anything improper. And the story that we did yesterday really talks about But whatever issues there are with the Long Center and this contract is not all on them if there are really issues. The city has a long documented history of having problems with monitoring contracts throughout the city. They’ve been warned for two decades about this issue and it continues to happen. This lack of monitoring, this fragmentation of contracts all over the city, the lack of performance reviews and goals. This is not new. And so you start to have to ask the question, why, why is, why, why are we not changing this?
Jerry Quijano [00:05:01] And it’s not just limited to arts grant funding, correct? Right. Right. It’s everything. Mayor Watson is on the city’s Audit and Finance Committee. What did he have to say about this pattern of weak oversight?
Andrea Ball [00:05:11] Yeah, he told me this week that he’s got some things in the works, that he has been addressing this within the city staff, and I don’t know yet what those plans might be in terms of oversight, but some people are saying, yeah, it’s long overdue.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:25] You mentioned this contract going up for bid again. Has the city considered taking this work in-house?
Andrea Ball [00:05:33] Yes, they have talked about that. It used to be in-house. And the issue was that the artists were like, it’s taking forever to get the money. I got to do my work. Like, this money is really important to artists, because it helps them to not spend their own money to live in in Austin. Because if you’re spending all your money on your art, you can’t pay your rent. And so that’s why these grants are super important. So one of the possibilities is yes, that the city’s arts department would take it in house. The estimate is to take around 10 people, uh, that they would need some more money for, you know, the expenses of that, some IT work, whatever. And it’s, it’s up for, y’know, consideration.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:19] So what are you hearing from members of the community as this is playing out?
Andrea Ball [00:06:23] I think that I will tell you this. I have heard from a lot of musicians that this issue has been coming up over the years and that they have talked to people in the city about it and nothing happened. I think sometimes when it comes to grants and things like that, people’s concerns get dismissed as you didn’t get a grant so you’re better. When we talk about processes and they are mixed. With a lot of emotions, things get glossed over, or it’s too difficult to address, or there’s a new department, we’ve had so many new leaders, new city managers and stuff, so I think there’s lot of interest in seeing, okay, you’re listening to our concerns now, where’s this going?
Jerry Quijano [00:07:11] Okay, we have been speaking with Andrea Ball, she is the growth development reporter at Austin Current, KUT’s and Austin Signal’s reporting partner in covering the city of Austin. Andrea, always a great time talking with you.
Andrea Ball [00:07:22] Thank you for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:34] Running a business out of your home is getting a little easier for Austin entrepreneurs. KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano tells us how the city is now making it simpler for secret side hustles to be shared out in the open.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:49] Jennifer Worth frames art, posters, and photos out of her East Austin home. It’s called Vintage Framing Studio, a business she started in 2010. She reuses and recycles frames she finds at thrift stores and works with each customer to find the right frame for their piece. It’s the kind of work she and her partner used to do at South Austin Gallery before closing the brick and mortar location 10 years ago. Worth converted her garage into a framing workshop and used her front fence to advertise her small business.
Jennifer Worth [00:08:19] On my fence and like if you across the street you’ll see it’s a green belt so there’s constantly people like walking so I would get a lot of people basically would see my signs.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:08:31] Then early last year, she says a city worker knocked on her door and told her to take those signs down. Someone in the neighborhood had complained. Now, Worth will be allowed to put her signs back up. The Austin City Council has approved a pilot that lets home-based businesses like Worth’s advertise and sell their products in their front yards. It’s part of a recent effort by the city to create more ways for micro businesses to operate and thrive in Austin. Councilmember Natasha Harper-Madison led the initiative to let small businesses operate from their homes in plain sight. Sharon Mays, Harper- Madison’s Chief of Staff, says it’s not a new concept.
Natasha Harper-Madison [00:09:06] Austin has had home occupation rules on the books for a really long time and that lets residents run a limited number of businesses inside of their home.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:18] But the businesses were never visible from the street. During the last legislative session, lawmakers made it easier for Texans to start a home business. May said that cleared the way for Austin to let these businesses come out in the open.
Natasha Harper-Madison [00:09:31] Our Strong Local Commerce initiative is really trying to empower those entrepreneurs and those home-based businesses by saying there is an option to also bring that business outside of the house.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:47] It means these home-based business owners can display a small sign in the yard and sell art, plants, and other goods from their front porch. Kelly Masters is president and founder of nonprofit Homemade Taxes. She says this is the kind of flexibility she and her team have been fighting for in the cottage food industry. Back in 2005, Masters was looking for a way to earn a little extra money by making and selling cakes out of her home. But she soon learned that it was illegal. For years, she lobbied lawmakers for new cottage food laws. In 2011, the state legalized cottage food businesses with some limitations. But many cities still have rules that prohibit home-based businesses from being visible, making it difficult to sell their goods from a residence. You can make the best product in your kitchen, but…
Kelly Masters [00:10:31] It’s hard to find a place to sell it. And so for a lot of these bakers and makers, the most natural place to sale.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:39] And the easiest place to sell is right at your own home. The new program isn’t sitting well with everyone. At a city council meeting last week, several people expressed concerns about traffic, parking problems, eyesores, noise, and odors. South Austin resident Sarah Fow says it could be a bigger problem for neighborhoods without sidewalks.
Kelly Masters [00:10:56] When we don’t have sidewalks, we’ve got the kids, the bikes, the dogs, the strollers. We’re all forced to walk out in the street.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:05] Survive adding more car trips to our neighborhood streets from the retail businesses. Council staffer Mays says the city is taking those concerns seriously and plans to roll out the home-based business program in areas designated as pink zones. Staff will monitor things like traffic, parking and neighborhood sentiment before a citywide rollout. City rules about noise, trash and pollutions to apply and these businesses are not allowed to violate HOA rules or deed restrictions. Jennifer Wirth says as a longtime business owner, the city should be doing more to support local businesses. It might be that.
Jennifer Worth [00:11:37] That to keep the local and then like keep Austin weird, we need to have these home businesses that people can find, you know, cause we can’t, a lot of us can’t afford brick and mortar and it’s too scary to do that.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:49] She says businesses like hers and others help make the city what it is. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:57] And we’re gonna have a link to Luce’s reporting in today’s podcast, Show Notes. And since it is a Friday, in case you missed anything that we worked on this week, you can always catch up on all of our shows. That is over at kut.org slash Signal. We are community powered public radio and we will be back after a break. This is Austin Signal. Thanks for making us part of your Friday. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. Families across Texas that choose to celebrate Easter have varying traditions. For many, especially Mexican-American families, cascarones are a staple in children’s Easter baskets. My grandma collects all her eggshells from her church baking and loves to paint hers in a variety of really, really pretty styles. These colorful and painstakingly handmade confetti eggs have one purpose only, to be smashed on someone’s head. Austin signal managing producer, Kristin Cabrera, takes us through what makes these cascarones special.
Kristen Cabrera [00:13:07] Easter memories of mine consist of 90 degree weather in the Rio Grande Valley, barbecuing fajitas surrounded by lots and lots of cousins. But what I remember most about these childhood Easter’s are the cascarones. With these confetti eggs as ammunition, what happened after the egg hunt was tantamount to a family battle royale. And I know my family wasn’t the only one. We would crack the Easter eggs.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:13:33] On people’s heads and it was all in fun. There were some mischievous kids and adults who put stuff in them like flour.
Kristen Cabrera [00:13:44] You never knew who was gonna get that one. That’s Norma Elia Cantu. She is the Murchison Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio. She says cascarones are a tradition that many Mexican-American families have going back generations. Well, like most South Texans.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:14:00] And northern Mexican Mexicans. We have a tradition during Easter of preparing the cascarones during Holy Week, dyeing them, stuffing them with confetti, covering them up, decorating them. And I have very fond memories of my childhood when my aunts from Mexico would come visit Laredo.
Kristen Cabrera [00:14:21] Help us decorate the eggs. I remember watching my mom and my grandma delicately crack the tops of each egg at breakfast, setting the shell aside to dry out and eventually be decorated and filled weeks later. And all these memories got me thinking, I should just make some right now. Okay, so I am in my kitchen slash dining room right now in my apartment and I’ve got 18 eggs that I’m gonna use to make cascarones. The process is fairly straightforward. Step one, crack the egg. The key is just to tap the top of the egg and then just lift it up like a little top. Step two, rinse and dry your eggs. So I’ve just rinsed the eggs. Then I’m gonna place the eggs in the oven at 275 for five minutes, just to dry out the eggs with heat. I have to wait for my eggshells to cool, but if you’ve been drying yours on the counter for weeks, then it’s time for step three, decorating. But overall, I think the best bet is markers. I decorate the shells with stars and flowers and try my best to be both artistic and delicate. Where this artistry originally comes from is full of conjecture, says Kantu. There are many cultures that have a rich tradition in decorative eggs.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:15:44] In fact, Ukraine has a very rich tradition of hand-painted eggshells, and also into Germany and Austria, but they would not stuff it with confetti and hit it over people’s heads.
Kristen Cabrera [00:15:55] Heads because they’re precious. The hollowed out and filled eggs are said to have originated in China. Marco Polo reportedly brought the tradition to Europe, but cascarones really took root in Mexico. Which brings us to Step four, filling the eggs. This is the family prankster’s favorite part. Though confetti is customary, some will sneak flour or even glitter into the eggs instead. This was strictly forbidden by my mom. Step five, covering the eggs, all this takes is a little bit of Elmer’s glue and a square of tissue paper. And now they’re done. Except to make these truly cascarones, they need to be tested. As a childless millennial with no backyard, I’ve borrowed my co-workers’ kids.
Kelly Masters [00:16:40] Can you say it louder and into that? My name’s Henry and I’m seven years old. Yeah, can you say, my name is Scout? My name is South. Oh, and then how old are you? I am 10 years old! How old are ya?
Kristen Cabrera [00:16:54] Scout is in fact five years old, and that voice asking her to say so is her mom and my KUT co-worker, Clara Ha. Clara and her husband Alan have graciously let me test the quality of my cascarones in their backyard. And now, the kids are about to run and find the ones I’ve hidden. Alright, ready, set, go! Go find them! One of the great things about cultural traditions is getting to share them with others. In Texas. These cascarones have found their way into more than just Easter celebrations, but birthday parties and city festivals like Fiesta in San Antonio. Humanities professor Norma Cantu explains that cultural expression in Texas is already fused with other influences and something magical can happen over time. It kind of transformed.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:17:40] And becomes its own third culture if you will. What Gloria Anzaldua would call nepantla, we exist in this in-between space that brings together different sometimes opposing cultures into a unified expression. And in some way I would even claim the cascarón is a site of such fusion.
Kristen Cabrera [00:18:08] If you’ve never had a cascadona in your basket, we invite you to try it out. But as Cantu says, be gentle.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:18:14] You don’t hit the cascaron on someone’s head.
Kristen Cabrera [00:18:17] You break it here.
Norma Elia Cantu [00:18:17] Hand over their head. I’m Kristin Cabrera in Austin.
Jennifer Worth [00:18:22] Gentle touches!
Jerry Quijano [00:18:38] The Texas women’s basketball team will take the court against fellow one seed UCLA in tonight’s final four game in Phoenix. As KUT’s Kaylee Hunt reports, it’s the second straight year that the Longhorns have advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals. But the team and its fans are hopeful that this season will end a championship drought.
Kailey Hunt [00:19:00] That last national title nearly 40 years ago, back when the team was coached by the legendary Jody Conrad. And over the last two years, the team has been so close to finally winning again. For the first time since 1987.
Jody Conrad [00:19:15] Texas is headed.
Kailey Hunt [00:19:22] For now, Conrad remains the only coach to lead a Texas women’s basketball team to a national championship. Her 1986 team went 34-0, becoming the first women’s team in NCAA history to complete a perfect season. Current coach Vic Schaeffer is looking to bring home the title in his sixth year leading the program. Schaefer has his own historic coaching record. He’s the only Coach in NCAA women’s history to lead multiple teams to multiple final force. He took Mississippi State to Final Four appearances in 2017 and 2018. In a press conference after UT’s win over Michigan in the Elite Eight, Schaeffer talked about his team’s success and that the journey isn’t over.
Jody Conrad [00:20:05] I told them they’re good enough. I’ve been on this trip before, but I want them to really be focused. Enjoy today, don’t take these things for granted. I do not take today for granted, these moments, but enjoy it. But when we get on the plane and we go to Phoenix, you keep that edge that you’ve had.
Kailey Hunt [00:20:25] Schaeffer says there’s no question that last year’s Final Four run influenced his team’s performance this year. Here he is talking at a press conference in Phoenix.
Vic Schaefer [00:20:34] They know exactly what they’re getting into, and I just think there’s a maturity about them and a level of focus and concentration and confidence.
Kailey Hunt [00:20:45] Texas was knocked out of last year’s final four round by South Carolina. The Longhorns got revenge though last month, defeating the Gamecocks 78-61 to secure the program’s first ever SEC Conference Championship.
Madison Booker [00:20:58] I think we kind of increased that focus and increased that mentality. I think right before SC Tournament started.
Kailey Hunt [00:21:03] That’s Texas’ junior first-team All-American Madison Booker.
Madison Booker [00:21:07] I think we knew we had a business and we had our goals to achieve and we wanted to achieve it and we felt like we were good enough to achieve. So I think that’s kind of when we really locked in and kind of paid attention more to film and scout and practice.
Kailey Hunt [00:21:19] But even with all that work, all that focus, and all the pressure of being in another Final 4, Booker says the team is having fun.
Madison Booker [00:21:27] I think it’s so easy to kind of take basketball as a job. I just think we as a team, we have done a great job kind of just going back on that and kind of taking it back as a kid’s sport. I mean, we all played when we were younger and we all loved this sport when we’re young. We had a fun, we played when were younger. And I really, when we did that, I think we seemed more like we seemed like a higher level in our team chemistry and our sisterhood here.
Kailey Hunt [00:21:50] The winner of tonight’s game will play South Carolina or UConn in Sunday’s national championship game. Tip off tonight is at 8.30pm on ESPN. I’m Kaylee Hunt in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:00] And if you’ve got your season long superstitions that have been working, keep on going tonight and hopefully on Sunday for the national championship game too. Well, that is it for today’s show. We’re gonna have a link to all of the reporting that we shared with you today in the podcast show notes. And you can find more from us at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director. She’s been handling the majority of the technical duties and keeping me in line this week doing a great job. Thank you Ray. Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. She has been under the weather this week so she’s not been with us in the studio but still working hard as ever. Thank you Kristen. I am your host Jerry Quijano. Austin Signal will be back Monday afternoon at 1 o’clock and always wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great weekend and be safe out there.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
