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With early voting around the corner, you might be focused on the races for U.S. senator and governor, but several important local votes are happening — including a nearly $300 million bond proposition to help local libraries and parks.
Austin and San Antonio are growing closer together every day. We’ll get an update on home sales and housing developments in those counties just south of Travis.
Plus: The co-owners of Nixta Taqueria have a new cookbook that tells their families’ stories and how they’ve blended those traditional foods into their lives in America.
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.
Ben Philpott [00:00:08] You might be focused on the races for Texas, in Texas for U.S. Senator and Governor, but several important local votes are happening. That includes a nearly $300 million bond proposition on the ballot to help local libraries and parks. That’s coming up on today’s show. The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Ben Philpott. Austin and San Antonio are growing closer together every day. We’ll get an update on home sales and housing developments in those counties just south of Travis. Plus, Austin is home to one of the best taco restaurants in the country, at least according to me. Now, the co-owners of Nixta Taqueria have a new cookbook that tells their family stories and how they’ve blended those traditional foods into their lives here in America. That and much more coming up on Austin Signal. Hello everyone, this is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Ben Philpott. It’s Tuesday, October 13th. We’re less than a week away from the start of early voting in this fall’s elections. There’s a lot of attention at the top of the ticket for competitive races for U.S. Senator and governor, but down-ballot there are important votes for Austinites. That includes deciding on a $295 million bond to improve parks and libraries across the city. KUT’s Luz Moreno-Lazano reports.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:01:38] The bond is broken up into two separate propositions on the November 3rd ballot. There is $260 million for parks, and $35 million set aside for libraries. But this ask is coming just one year after Austinites rejected a major property tax hike known as Proposition Q. While advocates say it’s time to invest in the city’s parks and libraries, opponents worry about the financial burden on homeowners as inflation and the cost of living continue to rise. Alyssa Vargas is with the Austin Parks Foundation. The non-profit works with the city to fund parks, projects, and trails. She says Austin’s budget mainly pays to maintain current parkland, but doesn’t leave room for much else, and there are a lot of parks and pools in need, including Garrison Pool in South Austin, and Zilker Park.
Alyssa Vargas [00:02:25] If we want to continue to use them and enjoy them in the way that we do, we must sustain them and fund them.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:02:32] Especially when compared to Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
Alyssa Vargas [00:02:38] Get these bonds in November, then we’ll continue to fall behind to our competitor cities if we don’t invest.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:02:44] The $260 million would support parks, buildings, and facilities, infrastructure, public pools, and new parks and trails. Then there’s a bond proposition for libraries. The $35 million would fund two main projects. About $20 million would go to the renovation and expansion of the Hampton Branch Library at Oak Hill. Tim Staley is the executive director of the non-profit Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. He says it’s a much needed project to address the aging facility’s needs as one of the most heavily used branches in the system.
Tim Stanley [00:03:16] So it’s in need of not just renovation, but also expansion. More room is needed for it to effectively provide the needs for the surrounding community there. That’s space for programming, for children’s programming, adult programming, too.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:36] The remaining $15 million of the library bond would go toward building a new branch and colony park. That’s a newer neighborhood in northeast Austin. Staley says the city has grown quickly over the last several years, and the library system has not kept up. He says that area is no different.
Tim Stanley [00:03:51] There are just too many Austinites that do not have the access to the services and amenities that the public library provides.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:04:04] This bond would come at a cost to taxpayers. If approved by voters, the owner of an average-valued home of $495,000 would pay about $40 more on their annual property tax bill. City staff previously recommended waiting another two years before putting this decision before voters, and Mayor Kirk Watson agreed with that.
Mayor Kirk Watson [00:04:23] Responsible government doesn’t ask taxpayers only one question. Is this worthwhile? Of course parks are worthwhile. Of course community investments are worthwhile, but that’s not the only question. Responsible governments also ask, is this the right time? Is this the way to pay for it?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:04:44] It’ll be up to Austin voters to answer that question. Early voting begins on October 19th. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Ben Philpott [00:05:02] The space between Austin and San Antonio continues to become a lot less spacious. Home sales and new home construction numbers tell the tale. And to help us dive into them, we’ve got Ali Jewell from the Austin Business Journal.
Ali Juell [00:05:16] Hey there, how are you doing?
Ben Philpott [00:05:18] Pretty good. So when you look at those three counties between Austin and San Antonio, that’s Kamau, Lockhart and Hays. What’s going on? What kind of housing growth are you seeing?
Ali Juell [00:05:28] So as with kind of any portion of the metro right now, there’s a lot of softness in those sub markets, but there’s lot of promise too in the long term. I mean, as you mentioned, those Austin, San Antonio metros, they’re getting closer and closer and those three counties are very much in the space primed to benefit.
Ben Philpott [00:05:50] So I’m assuming softness in the sub markets means that, that, well, I mean, we’ve got high mortgage prices and kind of a whatever economy. So that’s just, things aren’t, aren’t cooking like they usually would.
Ali Juell [00:06:02] Yeah, sales have been down a bit. I know specifically in Kamal, the data showed kind of on par with 2019 numbers. And obviously we saw that pandemic boom, so don’t necessarily want to be backtracking in that way. And yeah, like you said, things like interest rates, consumer confidence, just not at their peak right now, not encouraging people to necessarily go out to those, you know, less tried and true spots, but yeah, long-term potential still there.
Ben Philpott [00:06:31] So when I moved to Austin almost 25 years ago, the boom county was Williamson. How does Hayes County now kind of compare to what Williamson was doing when it was really, just clicking and booming and going?
Ali Juell [00:06:45] Yeah, I got to talk about this with Hayes County Commissioner Walt Smith. In his opinion, he thinks that, you know, Hayes is primed to be in about a decade, kind of the next Williamson County. He sees places like Kamal and Caldwell and Guadalupe following suit like in the next decade. So lots of confidence among those people that South is prim’d to be a Williamson county kind of position.
Ben Philpott [00:07:11] So this may be a simple question, but you know, in general, is it, is all of this home building just about cost, you know? In other words, are the people buying and building homes in Hayes and Caldwell, uh, because it’s just cheaper than Austin, than Travis County.
Ali Juell [00:07:28] Yeah, I mean, a really big challenge these days for home builders and developers is land prices. And, you know, obviously, assumably, in a place like Austin Proper, the prices are going to be higher. And so the benefit to a place, like Caldwell or Hayes, is prices are cheaper and, you know, you can really target those kind of first time home buyers. It’s a place where they can afford to go and there’s exciting things on the horizon.
Ben Philpott [00:07:56] You brought up Hayes is hoping that they may be Williamson County in about a decade. So what does that mean for infrastructure? How is local infrastructure holding up?
Ali Juell [00:08:04] That was also a very big topic of conversation with Walt Smith. I know that right now, they’re a little bit behind in terms of kind of road work and stuff. I wouldn’t want to be in Dripping Springs at school getting out time, personally, but they have a lot to look forward to. Also in terms wastewater treatment build out, that’s on the horizon. They have a a lot of infrastructure and roadways coming online soon. What he told me is we may not be completely prepared for the boom that’s about to come, but we’re doing our darndest to catch up.
Ben Philpott [00:08:37] It feels like the roadway issue is there’s one way in one way out to all of these towns that you go through. Like if you’re heading to the hill country and that, that’s what makes it, you know, clog up so easily.
Ali Juell [00:08:47] Totally, yeah.
Ben Philpott [00:08:48] So what’s on the horizon? What are the next big developments in Hayes and Caldwell?
Ali Juell [00:08:54] Yeah, well, so Wilson Capital recently closed on the ridge. It’s a massive, massive neighborhood, over a thousand acres, that they’re planning on working on. It should have commercial and residential in there. Perry Homes has a 1,400-home project that’s coming online close to Lockhart. And, you know, when I talked with Walt Smith, he said that there’s a lot of developers that are preparing to bring things to the table. So there’s lot of investment still going that direction.
Ben Philpott [00:09:22] That preparing is it is it kind of a they’re making that bet they’re hoping that once you know once the the homes have been built that maybe the interest rates are a little lower
Ali Juell [00:09:32] Yeah, I mean, the magic word whenever you talk with homebuilders or developers is depending on market conditions. So they’re.
Student 3 [00:09:39] Depending on my
Ali Juell [00:09:40] They’re always preparing and, you know, hoping that market conditions align the way they want, but also, you, know, they’re not afraid to take some time if need be and if buyers are maybe a little shyer than they’re hoping.
Ben Philpott [00:09:53] Ali Jewell covers residential real estate for the Austin Business Journal. Thanks so much for joining me today. Of course. Thank you. Coming up on the show, a new cookbook from an Austin restaurant traces family roots and the blended cooking that they’ve created in America. We’ll hear from the co-owners of Nyksta Taqueria. And what does an improv troupe do when they lose their home and can’t find a new theater? Well they improvise, of course. Those stories coming up after the break. This is Austin Signal. This is The Austin Signal, welcome back. Last year, the hideout theater was forced to leave its 26-year home on Congress Avenue. They got the boot after the building’s new owner decided to convert the space into a bar. The improv troupe then signed a lease for a new spot in South Austin, but that plan was derailed. For KUT’s art beat, Michelle Dollenberg spoke to the owners about how they’ve been, well, improvising.
Jessica Arjay [00:10:57] Welcome! Come on in. Here we are at the front door. The first thing that you see is that we’ve got kind of this forest thing going in the hallway.
Roy Janek [00:11:06] It wound up being a lot more jungle themed than I think we expected it to be, but in a very cool, good kind of way.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:11:14] That’s owners Jessica Arjay and Roy Janek giving me a tour of the Hideout Theater Annex. I asked them how the past year has been.
Jessica Arjay [00:11:21] Yeah, I mean, how do you feel about roller coasters?
Roy Janek [00:11:26] When we had to move out, we were really fixated on wanting to basically smoothly move to another location that was as good or better than 617 Conchrist. And because of that, we jumped very quickly into, comparatively quickly, into trying to make a location work.
Jessica Arjay [00:11:47] We also thought that we’d be moving to a new space in South Austin. That fell through, very sadly.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:11:53] With a move-out deadline looming, the hideout decided to temporarily perform at their annex space where they have improv classes and workshops. The space on North Lamar was just a typical office with a couple of large rooms, a kitchenette and a bathroom.
Roy Janek [00:12:06] Now that we’re using it as our home base, we’ve completely transformed it.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:12:10] A team of volunteers helped designer and improviser Casey Bueller convert the front room into a cozy lounge and the back room into an intimate theater space. The team transported a mural Bueller painted in 2009 from their old location and nailed it to the wall in the lounge.
Roy Janek [00:12:25] So now that same mural that everyone walked past for, you know, 16 years is here to provide some continuity.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:12:34] As we move into the backspace, improv students start coming in. A class is about to begin.
Roy Janek [00:12:39] So we’re now standing in the theater and the stage in the theater is actually the stage from the upstairs theater at 617 Congress.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:12:49] The hideout’s old location had two theater spaces. The upstairs theater had about 50 seats, and the downstairs one was nearly double that size. The new space seats about 40. Behind the stage, Bieler painted a mural of a mountain vista.
Roy Janek [00:13:02] The moon variant of the hideout logo is the centerpiece of the entire set.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:13:07] Roy said the design of the space represents the journey the hideout is on.
Roy Janek [00:13:11] You’re hiking through the woods as you come in through the hallway and you come out here to basically like an outpost where you take a breath and you take a moment to relax and that is kind of the story of the Annex as well. It’s our outpost as we like gather our strength for the journey ahead.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:13:31] To help figure out what’s next, the Hideout is participating in a program called Art Space Immersion.
Jessica Arjay [00:13:36] They’re helping us figure out how to make this step into a larger place, into a place that’s more comfortable for us on a permanent basis.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:13:43] Based out of Minneapolis, ArtSpace is a national nonprofit developer and consultant of creative spaces for artists. The Hideout was one of six arts organizations chosen for an Austin cohort, which is being funded by the Moody Foundation. The program kicked off in May and will wrap up in December. Each month, the organizations work on plans for their own space needs and learn more about the real estate industry.
Roy Janek [00:14:05] It’s an opportunity to be like, what do we really value? What’s worth like growing what’s worth, like redirecting in terms of what we do.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:14:14] While they plan for their future theater, they’re making the most of the present at the Hideout Annex. But it’s been a transition.
Roy Janek [00:14:20] Until we did the first show here, I was really worried that the magic wouldn’t be there.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:14:26] During the construction of the stage and risers, just
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:14:28] left to run an errand.
Jessica Arjay [00:14:30] And then by the time that I came back the stage was almost completely put together and the risers were there and it just, I’m so sorry, and it was suddenly it was like oh this is a theater. This is really gonna be something and it pretty magical.
Roy Janek [00:14:45] You feel immediate connection to the audience, even in a way that our smaller theater at the old space didn’t have.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:14:53] There’s a feeling of like intimacy and just possibilities.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:14:59] Over the past 10 years, a lot of Austin theaters have gone through major transitions. Some have moved and some have closed.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:15:08] And we find ourselves in a weird middle place. It’s very improv-like, you know? Instead of choice A or choice B, you go choice banana. And that’s what we’re in right now, is the banana choice.
Roy Janek [00:15:18] We’re laying the foundations now. It may be several years from now, but like I want a 200 seat theater. I want another, I want to secondary theater. I want the coffee house again. Will we wind up with that? I don’t know, but I do know that this isn’t like where our story ends. Also, I would say that choice banana is choice B because it starts with B.
Student 3 [00:15:39] Roy?
Ali Juell [00:15:43] Let’s go ahead, everybody go ahead and get in a circle.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:15:46] The improv class is starting. For many of these students, the annex is the only place they’ve ever known as the hideout. It’s their hideout theater.
Student 1 [00:15:54] When the lights come up, pew! Hi, I’m Tom, the commercial window washer. Hey, um.
Student 2 [00:16:01] Jessica on the ballerina.
Student 3 [00:16:03] Perfect care! Perfect care.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:16:05] One of the skills they’re learning is to be in the moment, to let go of planned jokes or storylines and react to what’s happening right then.
Student 4 [00:16:12] I’m an eight-legged octopus. I’m a zombie. While the hideout
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:16:17] While the hideout dreams about the future, every week they’ll also be here on stage, in the present, reacting to what’s happening in the moment.
Student 5 [00:16:24] Chad the surfer
Student 6 [00:16:26] I must.
Michelle Dahlenburg [00:16:28] For KUT’s Art Beat, I’m Michelle Dollenberg in Austin.
Ben Philpott [00:16:43] Who has the best tacos in Austin? It’s the kind of question where the answer could start a war or at the very least end a friendship. But I want to go on record now as saying that any attempt to answer without discussing Nixta Taqueria just isn’t taking the question seriously. And now the team behind Nixtia has their very first cookbook. So for our On Our Plate segment, we’re joined today by co-owners Chef Edgar Rico and Sara Mardenbigi. Hey guys, thanks so much for coming in.
Sara Mardenbigi [00:17:12] Thank you for having us.
Ben Philpott [00:17:13] All right. So, um, you know, we met a long time ago. We actually met back in 2019 when you were just launching Nick stuff for a story that I had done for Katie’s at explained project. So I know where both of you, you come from, your, your backgrounds, uh, but for the audience, when you open up the book, one of the first things that I think people will see and will be really striking is how you have the table of contents divided.
Edgar Rico [00:17:36] Yeah, I think for us, it was, you know, this feeling that the two of us had that I think a lot of people can relate with if you are like, first generation American in your family. I think we always, it’s, we are always in that in-between space where you don’t feel quite Mexican enough, or you don’t feel quite American enough, and like, I thin- me and her when we were writing this book, like a lot of those, you know, recipes on there were like things that our moms would try and make to like make us fit in and make us feel American. Like my mom has a recipe on there. It’s like inspired by like something my mom would make. Cause I remember going to like kids, like when I was young, going to kids friend’s houses for dinner and like seeing them eat like chicken fried steak or like meatloaf. And I was asking my mom like, how can we never man? How can we ever eat that stuff? Like, what the heck? You know, and, you know, our moms would attempt doing their own versions of it. You know my mom, the first time she ever tried it, decided to like nuke some microwave, microwave meatloaf that she cooked for like 45 minutes in the microwave. Weirdest thing ever, but I remember as a kid being like, this is the best thing ever. And I felt so American eating that. But then Sarah’s mom also has a recipe in there that we have in there. It’s like called Macaroni, that is like, you know, it’s a version-ish of like spaghetti, Hold the Meatballs. It’s like a bolognese sauce kind of, but she makes a tattie out of it. So you make your sauce and then you cook your noodles and then. Almost combine that and layer it like a like a lasagna and then you crisp it up at the bottom you get a bunch of oil And a little bit of potatoes, and you make like a really crispy noodle tadig and then like flip it out almost looks like a little cake and you eat it and It’s very interesting. It’s like a very different take on Italian spaghetti. But I don’t know, there’s things like that throughout the book. And I think that was the part of the reason why we wanted to include the American section because we’re like, you know, we’re in that space where we’re kind of like in between and we are American, but we are also like really proud of our roots and where we are from. So yeah, it’s kind of a fun little nod to our experience growing up here in the States.
Ben Philpott [00:20:00] So what are your favorite, what are your favorite recipes on this? Like, do each of you have one favorite that you, you’re like, I don’t care what you do with the book, but this has to be in it.
Edgar Rico [00:20:08] For me it was the rajas con crema. That dish for me is like a very dish that it was one like a like every mom I feel like has like a bread and butter recipe. That is like absolutely like my mom’s bread and butter recipe, but for me it also kind of like… Oh, like in memories in my head is like something I vividly remember. Because like when we were first opening the restaurant, I remember my grandma and my mom were like both in the space. And I remember my grandma decided to like. Cleaned the space with a limpio and like she like lit up a bunch of sage, palo santo everywhere, had some uh you know holy water and she like blessed the whole space and I remember after uh we like sat down and like had like just rest the ingredients kind of laying around and my mom just threw that down and I just that also looking back at it would be like the last time I ever got to cook with like my grandma and my mom and like us all in the same space together and I don’t know just that dish is like very sentimental to me and You know making the book and I was like that’s has to be like absolutely in the book. Sarah. How about you?
Sara Mardenbigi [00:21:23] I remember that night that we opened for friends and family, it was the first time his grandma also tried a tuna tostada. And she was like, this tastes way different than the canned tuna that I eat at my house.
Edgar Rico [00:21:35] All she ever had eaten, so.
Sara Mardenbigi [00:21:37] That was a really special day, honestly. I think similarly, food is this time capsule, this bank of memories that you have. And for me, the recipe that really resonates is the Khurysh e-Karafs. So, I think so often, there is not really a familiarity with what Persian food is. You may not have access to it to where you live. It may. Feel very foreign, but I remember growing up in Arkansas in the Ozarks, I would invite friends over to my house and every single time, they didn’t know what they were eating, but they would have two or three plates of it. They were super excited. So for me, I really wanted to show a different side of what Persian cooking could be beyond kebabs and rice and what people sort of associate with it if they don’t know much about it. So any Rana Khorisht is similar to you saw though in Mexico. It’s a type of stew. Kadavs means celery. And when you first think about a celery stew, it doesn’t sound super appealing, but the beauty of Persian cooking is kind of two fundamental things. It’s one, the time and care that you put into something. It’s not gonna be a 30-minute meal. You want the flavors to continue growing and developing over a few hours. You’ll start in the morning and then by, you know, four or five p.m. It’s good to go. And then the second part of it is that we use an insane amount of vegetables and everything, like herb city, piles of herbs, getting drowned in herbs. So this recipe, you’ll find eight bunches of cilantro, eight bunch of parsley, two bundles of celery. And you kind of feel like Popeye by the end of it. You’re like, yeah, I’m so strong. But it’s just this really beautiful dish that uses these. Limuamoni, which are these dried limes that you put into the stew, and over time it sort of bursts into the still creating this really beautiful lemony kind of undercurrent. And then you get that with like a heaping plate of basmati rice with saffron on it. And it’s just so and it was my momoney’s, my late grandma’s favorite dish. Because she was from the north of Iran, near the Caspian, and they say that if there’s no rice, then it’s not really a meal. So I really kind of took hold of that sentiment, and I’m just excited for people to try those recipes and understand a little bit more about Persian cooking.
Ben Philpott [00:24:19] The new cookbook is From Tacos to Tadik, from Nixta Taqueria. Edgar Rico and Sarah Martin Beegy, thanks so much for coming in and talking with us today. Good luck on the tour.
Sara Mardenbigi [00:24:29] Thanks so much.
Edgar Rico [00:24:29] Thank you, thanks for having us.
Ben Philpott [00:24:34] Well, it’s obviously lunchtime, folks. That’s it for today’s Austin Signal. Thanks to Luz Moreno Lozano, Ali Jewell, and Michelle Dollenberg for their reporting. Caroline Files, our technical director. Alexander Hart is our producer. Managing producer is Kristin Cabrera. Jimmy Moss is the showrunner. And I’m your host, Ben Philpott. Be sure to tune in tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
