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The Austin City Council is considering a vote to renew its contract with a for-profit utility that provides natural gas to the city, despite long-standing dissatisfaction locally with gas rates.
The IHOP near downtown Austin has finally been sold at auction. The pancake purveyor has remained steady despite rampant development all around it. Why it finally happened.
We’re nearing the end of the school year, and some students in Austin ISD won’t be back on their campus next year amid school closures. We’ll hear about Bedichek Middle School’s final track and field competition.
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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] The Austin City Council is considering a vote to renew its contract with a for-profit utility that provides natural gas to the city. That’s despite long-standing dissatisfaction locally with gas rates. More about that, and the IHOP near downtown Austin has finally been sold at auction. The pancake purveyor remains steady despite rampant development all around it. Why it finally happened, and what’s the future for the International House? That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:32] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:37] Plus, we are nearing the end of the school year, and some students in the Austin School District won’t be back on their campus next year, not because of graduation, but because their campus is being shut down. We’re gonna hear about one middle school’s final track and field competition. We’ve got that story and a whole lot more. It’s up next, and it’s right here on Austin Signal. This is Austin’s Signal. It is Thursday, May 7th. I’m your host Jerry Kiechanel. Thank you for tuning in. Some breaking news into the KUT newsroom. The FBI just released an update on the investigation of the shooting at a West 6th Street bar in March. The release says the suspect in the deadly shooting outside Buford’s did not have ties to terrorism. Three people died and 15 others were injured in the shooting. The F.B.I. Had previously been investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism. Investigators now say the suspect appears to have been a quote, lone actor. The 53-year-old was fatally shot by police at the scene. This is a developing story, we’re going to have a link to more in today’s show notes. The Austin City Council will consider a vote today to renew its contract with Texas Gas Service, the for-profit utility that provides a city with natural gas. As KUT’s Mo’s Bouchelle reports, the move comes despite long-standing discontent with local gas rates.
Mose Buchele [00:02:03] Two years ago, the relationship between the city of Austin and Texas Gas Service was in a bad place. Repeated rate hikes had upset residents, and plans for another increase had city council members suggesting they had reached a breaking point. Here’s council member Ryan Alter speaking at the time to representatives of Texas Gas Service.
Ryan Alter [00:02:24] Please, please, please work with the city, our representative, and the outside stakeholders to meet the moment and not motivate us two years from now to really question whether or not this is a good partnership.
Mose Buchele [00:02:44] Now it’s two years later, gas bills are even higher, but Austin City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a plan to renew its partnership with Texas Gas Service for another ten years. Alter now says the important question is under what terms?
Ryan Alter [00:03:01] So this is going to be well discussed before we reach the finish line. And we’ll hopefully have a product in place that protects customers and limits these rate increases because it’s just, it’s too much.
Mose Buchele [00:03:17] The vote on Thursday is over a proposed agreement drafted by City of Austin staff in negotiations with Texas Gas Service to allow the utility to continue as the primary franchise holder to pipe gas into Austin homes and businesses. Under these agreements, local governments rent out their public right-of-way for a franchise fee, and utilities get a local monopoly on gas service. Ahead of the vote, some council members told KUT that earlier talk about terminating the city’s relationship with the utility proved unrealistic. I don’t know where that money comes from. That’s District 10 Councilmember Mark Duchin. He says he likes the idea of the city buying out the gas service’s local pipeline system to make it public.
Mark Duchin [00:04:02] You’re talking about probably, I would guess, in the billions of dollars of capital that we would need to go start to have that conversation.
Mose Buchele [00:04:13] District 5’s altar worries that getting a different for-profit utility to take over from Texas Gas Service would likewise be prohibitively expensive.
Ryan Alter [00:04:23] And so instead what we wanted to do was see, you know, how far we could push them in this franchise agreement to get some of the stuff that we wanted to see and I’d say we we’ve gotten some of that.
Mose Buchele [00:04:36] He pointed to increased bill assistance for low-income ratepayers, improved leak detection reporting, and greater oversight on how the gas service is spending money on capital projects, all as significant improvements over the city’s last agreement with the utility. Others say the city could still do better.
CIty [00:04:54] It is 6.02 PM. I’m calling this meeting of the Resource Management Commission to order.
Mose Buchele [00:05:00] At a meeting last week of Austin’s Resource Management Commission, commissioners, who are appointed by city council to advise on gas issues among other things, approved a list of recommendations outlining ways they thought the contract could be improved. Those recommendations included more money for low-income bill assistance, a more ambitious conservation program, and changes to the way Texas Gas Service finances its own growth. Commissioners said, right now, existing customers foot most of the bill.
Raphael Schwartz [00:05:31] That growth when developers should. The idea is that the existing customers, existing gas customers are subsidizing the company’s expansion into new areas. Here’s Commissioner Raphael Schwartz. We are asking here that the company does in fact collect full contribution native construction for new hookup and development, in particular line extension or new hook up.
Mose Buchele [00:05:53] The idea that the proposed contract is not as good as it should be has led some to call for City Council to postpone Thursday’s vote and continue talks between the city and the utility. In interviews earlier this week, Duchin said he would support postponing if enough other council members agreed. Alter said he was thinking about it, but he worried the move could result in a worse deal than Austin City staff has already negotiated. He also noted that it is state regulators at the Railroad Commission of Texas that have ultimate authority over gas utility rates.
Ryan Alter [00:06:27] Did we get-
Mose Buchele [00:06:28] as far as we want.
Ryan Alter [00:06:28] On it, no, but we’ve gotten things in this franchise agreement that you won’t find anywhere else in the state of Texas.
Mose Buchele [00:06:36] Which is a pretty meaningful win.” In a statement emailed to KUT, Texas Gas Service wrote in part, quote, Texas gas service believes the current franchise framework provides a strong foundation for delivering safe, reliable service to Austin residents. Regardless of whether the council vote on that framework comes Thursday, there will be some more time for the public to weigh in. Under city rules, new franchise approvals require three readings at city council and cannot be finalized. Until 30 days after the initial vote. I’m Mo’s Bouchel in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:19] It’s been jokingly called the most valuable IHOP, sitting on a corner of Cesar Chavez and I-35, set against a backdrop of rainy street high-rises. We’ve told you about one real estate developer’s lengthy battle to keep the property, while it was finally sold at a foreclosure auction for just a fraction of its $27 million valuation. Here to tell us more is Paul Flav. He covers business litigation and bankruptcy for the Austin American Statesman. Paul, welcome to the show.
Paul Flavhe [00:07:46] Hey, how’s it going?
Jerry Quijano [00:07:47] I’m doing okay, so can you tell us about the main character here, Nate Paul? That’s a name I think some Austinites will probably recognize. Others might not be familiar. Who is Nate Paul.
Paul Flavhe [00:07:58] Yeah, Nate Paul is an Austin real estate investor and founder of World Class Holdings, had a real estate empire here in Austin, a titan of the industry, founder of world class holdings and he’s in the last few years seen that empire unravel through foreclosures, FBI scrutiny, bankruptcy fights and years of lawsuits. He did plead guilty to one count of making false statements to a lending institution and he was embroiled in the controversy around… Ken Paxton bribery allegations.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:31] I think anybody who has driven through Austin on 35 has noticed this IHOP, particularly because it just seems so out of place given the rapid development around it, almost like a relic of a bygone era, the Austin that used to be. What’s the story of the real estate legal battles around it and how did we get to this point now?
Paul Flavhe [00:08:50] Yeah, so Paul and World Class Holdings took out a $2 million loan on the property in 2017. They stopped making payments on that in 2020, I believe, and the note holder on it attempted to foreclose in 2020 initially. And for the last five, six years, they’ve been entrenched in multiple courts and in multiple legal battles over who owns it uh… And getting it foreclosed on and uh… He’s gone through as he’s gotten as far as going into bankruptcy court he’s appealed to the appeals court of texas the supreme court of Texas has been rejected all of his attempts to try and hold on to this this property that went from you know this smaller valuation to what is now by the county a twenty six twenty seven million dollar valuation of this property that sits, as you said, right on the edge of one of the more developed parts of the city.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:52] Yeah, that brings us to the foreclosure auction this week. It seemed like it may never happen. Why did it happen this time?
Paul Flavhe [00:09:59] Just in short, he had run out of legal maneuvers. Paul had, like I said, gone through several court cases trying to put off this foreclosure, trying to find a way to hold onto this property. He initially had gone to bankruptcy late December, last December, trying to hold on to it, the court threw out the case saying. This was really a more of a legal dispute between two parties. Caesar Rainey, who now holds the note, and World Class Holdings. Paul had argued that, hey, we just want the payoff amount. They had accused Caesar Rainy of stonewalling on providing them the details they would need to pay off the note. Caesar Raine continued to fight to try and sell off this property, and ultimately won.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:52] All right, Paul, we’ve talked about the legal considerations. Let’s talk about the pancake considerations. People always talk about not having enough 24-hour diners here in the Austin area. What’s the fate of this IHOP going forward?
Paul Flavhe [00:11:04] Yeah, the Travis County Exchange Corporation purchased it, and when we talked to their bidder, attorney William Brown, he just said, yeah, for the foreseeable future, it’ll still be an IHOP. But yeah, I can’t imagine that that’ll be for, I would say in five years, it’d be hard to imagine that IHop is still there, considering the value of that property. The IHopt is, you know, for all intents and purposes, worth less than the property that it sits on by a factor of many. I think we are all sort of expecting that to be redeveloped.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:40] All right, that is Paul Flav. He covers business litigation and bankruptcy for the Austin American Statesmen. We’re gonna have a link to his latest reporting in today’s show notes. Paul, thank you for your time. Thanks so much. And thank you, for being with us. We’ll be back after a break. This is Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. The end of the school year is fast approaching, that means it’s time for last classes, last exams, last trips on the school bus. For students at Austin ISD’s Betachek Middle School, it will be the last time that the school is open. It’s one of 10 schools being closed by the district to help cut costs, but one of its last moments is a joyous one. QUT’s Greta Díaz-González Vázquez introduces us to the Betachek Bobcats track and field team as they get ready for their final competition.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:12:35] On a Tuesday afternoon, the Berechek track and field team walks into the gym.
Chris Gonzalez [00:12:39] Line it up for the warm up.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:12:40] Since they learned that the school is set to close, Coach Chris Gonzalez says students are pouring their hearts into making sure they win their last track and field meet. It’s less than a week away.
Chris Gonzalez [00:12:50] We told them at the beginning of the school year, it’s like, hey, we’re gonna go out. Let’s try to go out on top. I mean, that would be the perfect ending to our story.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:13:00] Eighth grader Isabella Hernandez says the track team is one of the best things of her time at Bedichek.
Isabella Hernandez [00:13:06] You’re able to show what you’ve accomplished this whole year, especially at the Zone Meet. It’s going to be a really big accomplishment if we make a place. And I think it would be like.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:13:18] Last people to do track. Hernandez and her teammates have constant reminders that Bobcats are excellent athletes. The ceiling of the gym is decorated with a couple dozen banners that showcase their victories over the years. In the hallway outside the gym there’s plaques and photos on the walls and inside trophy cases. If there’s someone who remembers vividly a lot of those victories is coach April Mendoza. In one of the trophy cases there’s a How old were you? That’s 8th grade, 13. Mendoza went to Bericek in the 90s. She was one of the few female students that played football.
April Mendoza [00:13:57] Now that I came back to work, it’s something that I show. We’ve had a lot of girls that have come and gone in between to show them that it’s possible. Come on, have fun. Why not? She knows.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:14:09] Many of her students have deep roots at Bedichekk. Their parents, maybe even their grandparents, were bobcats. That’s not her case. Coming from a military family that moved every couple of years, Bedichek was the first place she put down some roots.
April Mendoza [00:14:25] We were always moving every two or three years and this was home. This is where we were able to make home. And this is where the adults were here to support you in whatever.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:14:34] She graduated, and after several more moves, she came back to Austin. In 2008, she became a full-time teacher at Bedichick, then a coach. Overall, she has spent 21 years of her life, almost half of it, inside this campus. Over the years, she learned to appreciate the love her teachers and coaches put into her education.
April Mendoza [00:14:55] This is not a very affluent community. For example, our track meets are some of the best in AISD, and they know that as a middle school. But a lot of the things that we have is because coaches were resourceful and during construction, getting cones or finding flags that were no longer used.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:15:10] Coaches take turns with the lawnmower and edgecutter to make sure the fields are kept up. They clean the gym. They repair things. Mendoza says teachers and coaches have worked hard to create a family environment at Bedichekk. That’s why when she learned that the school was closing, she broke down in tears.
April Mendoza [00:15:27] It’s like mourning a friend who just got told they have terminal cancer. You want to honor their life because that’s what they deserve and you want to be happy in their last times, but you know that there’s going to be an end and it’s going to hurt.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:15:39] Mendoza thought she would retire from Betichek. Now, next year, she’ll be at Mendez Middle School. A few days later, the Bedichekk track and field team arrives at Nelson Field. It’s their last chance to get a medal as Bobcats. Gonzalez leads the boys to the track. Mendoza oversees the girls competing in long jump. Competing in long jump. Hernandez is one of them.
Chris Gonzalez [00:16:02] Hopefully we do get first because it’s our last track season, so I’m hoping for it first.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:16:08] Her first and second jumps weren’t as good as she had expected. So after her third jump, she tells Coach Mendoza that she’s scared.
April Mendoza [00:16:16] I don’t think you should be, no, because I’m gonna go confirm and take a picture, but I don’t think you should be scared. Like I’d be willing to bet that those, y’all’s last jumps were all about…
Chris Gonzalez [00:16:24] I think that was my PR for it.
April Mendoza [00:16:25] Four inches further than the other ones. I’d be willing to bet.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:16:30] Now they have to wait for the results to come in. Coach Mendoza sits at the bleachers while girls cheer for the boys’ team who are still competing on track. She keeps refreshing the athletics website on her phone to see if individual results have made it in. And when they do, she goes to Hernandez.
April Mendoza [00:16:48] 13 even.
Speaker 15 [00:16:48] Oh!
April Mendoza [00:16:49] 13-3
Speaker 15 [00:16:50] Wow!
April Mendoza [00:16:51] 14-2.
Speaker 15 [00:16:53] Really?
Chris Gonzalez [00:16:55] For first place. Wait, really? Yes. Oh my gosh, that’s so good. Oh my god.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:17:02] Coach Mendoza continues refreshing the website to figure out if they got a first place as a team. Maybe I should look at the boys and take my mind off of it. But finally.
April Mendoza [00:17:12] Gets the results for the girls. Yes ma’am. That is eighth grade girls first with 185 points. The second place had 136. That’s seventh grade girls first at 160 points, second had 135.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:17:28] When the meet is over, coaches gather students at the center of the field.
Speaker 16 [00:17:32] Again, Benjen, first place. That’s it, Ben. That’s right. Good play, St. Mary, girl!
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:17:37] That’s great girls! The boys get second place. They both get plaques. But now that Bedichekk is closing, coaches don’t know where those winning plaques will go. I think…
April Mendoza [00:17:52] They’ll go up on the wall where they’re supposed to go and where they end up after that, only the coaches will know.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:18:00] Only the coaches will know. Energy is running high as the coaches and students get a chance to celebrate together.
Speaker 16 [00:18:06] I got a call that says, there’s no better check next year. This right here is all we got. That’s all we need. This is all got. That’s what we need! All we need? All we got! Do your job!
Speaker 15 [00:18:15] AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:18:17] This is the last time Bedichek’s students and coaches stepped on a track as Bobcats. But as Mendoza and Gonzalez put it, once a Bobcat, always a Bob Cat. I’m Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vazquez in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:40] Well, the weekend is almost here, and weather permitting, there are tons of interesting things happening in Austin’s art world. For more about that, we are talking with Stephanie Federico. She is KUT’s Art Beat Editor. Stephanie, thanks for talking with us on Austin Signal.
Stephanie Federico [00:18:55] Hey Jerry, how’s it going?
Jerry Quijano [00:18:57] I am pretty excited, I finally have a free weekend, the KUT Festival was last weekend so I’m kind of looking for some things to do this weekend. One thing I saw, there is a performance of Bridger Down happening, what is Bridger
Stephanie Federico [00:19:10] i don’t think you watch bridgerton do you know
Jerry Quijano [00:19:11] I, no I don’t, I don’t
Stephanie Federico [00:19:13] Well, you’re missing out, it’s so good.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:15] And I hear people in the office talk about it, so I feel like I kind of know a little bit about it.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:18] Well, this sounds like it’s a mashup between Bridgerton and Sweeney Todd. Do you know Sweeny Todd? I do know.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:24] I do know Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, something like that.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:29] So there might be a little bit of cannibalism in there, but, um, it’s a play put on by La Fenice. It’s like an Italian theater group here in Austin, a comedy troupe, and it’s at the butterfly bar at the Vortex. And it just sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. That’s going on Friday and Saturday nights. They’re closing the show. Okay. I’m just going to read you this line from the promo. It says. In this meat market dressed in silk, the gentlemen best mind their manners. These ladies have very particular taste. So I don’t know, that really drew me in and I would love to go see that. So that’s Friday and Saturday nights at the Butterfly Bar. Tickets are $30 or pay what you can.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:10] Okie-dokie, okay, you mentioned that that is closing this weekend, but there’s also a show opening up this weekend. What is that?
Stephanie Federico [00:20:17] Well, this is Almost Real Things, the gallery over at the Canopy on Springdale. They have their annual Touch the Art show that’s opening this weekend. And if you’re like me, when you go and see art, you often really, really have to restrain yourself from touching things. But this show is all about the tactile, tactile art. And so you are encouraged to touch the art and they’re going to be over 80 artists participating and people from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. And that sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:49] Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a very different experience, because yeah, I’ve never been able to touch the art and any of the, except when I buy it, except when purchase it, then I can touch it. Okay, so.
Stephanie Federico [00:21:00] I was just going to say that’s running through July and tickets for that are $24 for adults.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:05] Okay, so we have a few options so far for this weekend, what else is on your radar?
Stephanie Federico [00:21:09] If you’re looking for free and you want to bring your kids, Doherty Art Center has their Art Arama show going on Saturday from one to four. This is like an ode to street art. So there are going to be graffiti artists there. There are going be some busking. You’re going to have an opportunity to like participate in creating this huge mural. It sounds like it could be really cool. There’ll be donuts, I’m told. And lemonade. But before that at 12 they’re doing a walking tour along the Butler Trail of some of the public art that’s out there now. So it sounds like it could be a really nice thing for you to take your kids if it’s a nice day out.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:45] Yeah, and our intern Angelina wrote a little bit about those new public art pieces, correct?
Stephanie Federico [00:21:49] Oh, she did. Yeah. You can find that at the Artbeat section of KUT.org.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:53] Very cool, rounding out the weekend, Psych Fest is happening here in Austin, but for people who maybe aren’t into the genre, you’ve got something else in mind for the weekend?
Stephanie Federico [00:22:03] Well, I’m a big Jose Gonzalez fan, and I don’t know if you know him. I don’t Beautiful, beautiful guitarist and singer, songwriter, folk. He’s from Sweden. He is playing at Mohawk on Friday night. It’s the first stop on his new tour for his new album called Against the Dying of the Lights. He sings in three different languages. It is probably going to be very beautiful. And opening up for him is a Canadian folk singer named Abby Sage, and that is Friday night at Mohawk.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:34] All right, lots to choose from this weekend. The most important thing is that you get out there in the community and support the arts and you can keep up with the arts with KUT’s Art Beat. We’ve been speaking with the editor of the Art Beat, Stephanie Federico. Thank you for your time, Stephanie. Thanks, Jer. And thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. That is it for today’s show, but there’s more about the stories and the art happenings that we shared with you in the show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I am your host, Jerry Quijano, we will talk to you tomorrow at 1 o’clock. Enjoy the weather 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.
