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Austin City Council members are usually limited to two four-year terms, but a few folks have attempted to represent their district for a third time. Now Paige Ellis is vying to do the same.
Conservation advocates were in Austin this week, voicing opposition to border construction in the Big Bend region. Former state officeholders and parks and wildlife officials, and everyday Texans, took their protest to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
It’s the final weekend of Austin Sketch Fest, which has hosted many of today’s biggest comedy stars way back when they were just getting going.
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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 Thank you. Austin City Council members usually serve no more than two terms, but a few folks have attempted to represent their district for a third time, and there’s another person vying to do the same. We’re going to tell you who it is and the work they’ve put in so far. And conservation advocates were in Austin this week voicing opposition to development in the Big Bend region. The assembled group was a hodgepodge of former state officeholders, parks and wildlife officials, and everyday Texans. More about the audience that heard them out, we’ve got their stories coming up on Show
Laurie Gallardo The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano Plus, it’s the final weekend of the Austin Sketch Fest, which has hosted many of today’s biggest comedy stars way back when, when they were just getting going. The future stars of comedy right in our backyard. That is coming up next. It’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is Thursday, August 20th. We are expecting another warm one here in Austin. We are starting a heat advisory this afternoon at two o’clock, and that is gonna be in effect until Sunday night at seven o’ clock, so be safe out there and keep an eye out on your community. In November, Austin residents will head to the polls to vote on who to represent, who will represent them in city council, among many other things. One councilperson, Paige Ellis of District 8, is not up for re-election, at least not yet. While council members are typically limited to two four-year terms, Ellis has filed a petition that could allow her to seek another term. As KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano reports, her opponents say it’s time for new leadership.
Luz Moreno Lozano An Austin City Council member can serve up to two consecutive four-year terms. But the city charter states that they can seek another term if they can garner support from 5% of qualified voters in their district. Paige Ellis represents District 8. That includes areas of south and southwest Austin. City officials confirmed she needs 3,044 signatures to qualify. Earlier this week, Ellis submitted a petition with more than 3,400 signatures to the clerk in hopes of getting another chance to run for the seat.
Paige Ellis There’s still a lot of big projects happening in the district like the Mopac South expansion and some work we’re trying to do to help ACC with their campus in the districts. And so it didn’t feel like the right time to step away.
Luz Moreno Lozano Ellis has lived in the district for 15 years. She believes her institutional knowledge could be handy for one more term. But her two challengers think it’s time for a fresh perspective. Jeffery Bowen, who has lived in the District for nearly 40 years, hopes to fill Ellis’s seat.
Jeffery Bowen You have people that have a tendency that they want to make politics a career. And it really shouldn’t be about a career, it should be about going in and doing what you believe is the people’s work. And then move it on after a certain amount of time.
Luz Moreno Lozano Selena Shia, who’s lived in District 8 for two years, is also vying for the council seat.
Selena Shia I think that we need to have more types of perspectives on city council and having somebody serve more than eight years, which is what city of Austin residents agreed to for no real discernible reason.
Luz Moreno Lozano Very disturbing to me. And both opponents say Ellis has already had 8 years to finish her projects. Still, former City Council member Kathi Tovo says being in office has a steep learning curve, and it can take quite some time to make effective change. Tovo successfully petitioned for and won a third term on the Austin City Council in 2018, so she knows first-hand how beneficial that additional time can be. Although she says having unfinished projects It’s just the nature of the work.
Kathi Tovo In my opinion, you know, in my case, I was a much stronger policymaker when I left than I was when I started. And so, you felt like I could really bring value in that third term.
Luz Moreno Lozano Joshua Blank is a research director for the Texas Politics Project at UT. He says there are some benefits to having someone in office longer. Elected officials often develop expertise in sometimes complicated areas. But he says term limits are there for a reason, and people generally support them.
Joshua Blank It allows for new ideas, new representation, but there’s also a negative argument, which is that it keeps a legislative body of any kind or from individuals maybe collecting too much power from being in office for too long.
Luz Moreno Lozano Blank says this election cycle could be risky for incumbents. He says across the country, including in Texas, voters have shown they’re unhappy with the status quo and they are willing to support new candidates. In Austin’s Council District 8, it’s not yet clear if Ellis will be on the November ballot. It’ll be several days before we know if her petition is valid. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Jerry Quijano Opponents of border barriers in the Big Bend region gathered this week at Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters right here in Austin to voice their opposition to proposed border security construction. The protests took place ahead of a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. KUT Energy and Environment correspondent Mose Buchelel was there and he’s with us now for a recap. Moe, great to see you. Good to see ya, Jerry. So first off, tell us, what was this commission meeting about and what role does Texas Parks and Wildlife have when it comes to these national border plans.
Mose Buchele So the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission oversees the Texas Parks and wildlife department, and that department, of course, manages state parks all across Texas. Every year, the commission has an annual meeting that serves as a public hearing. Basically, people can come and share their thoughts about business before the commission. State parks have been used to construct border barriers, the border wall along Texas. The federal government is hiring people, sending in contractors and security to build. Of this border infrastructure. And so these opponents of the wall state very clearly that that gives them obviously a say in some jurisdiction over what’s happening with this border project.
Jerry Quijano Okay, so that meeting was happening. There was also a protest that took place ahead of time. What did you hear from folks that you talked to out there?
Mose Buchele So, you know, the protest was full of people from West Texas, as well as Austin, and from all over the state, really. The Big Bend region is obviously dear to people throughout Texas. And you heard from ranchers who said that this project was going to fragment their ranch. Very practical concerns about how. How you raise sheep that have to cross a vehicle barrier to a ton of concerns about how it was going to destroy the natural beauty of the area. A lot of also people pointing out that really frankly that, you know, unauthorized border crossings in this region are very small. So one person described it as a solution without a problem, right? So all sorts of different voices kind of coming together to oppose this project.
Jerry Quijano Okay, so let’s move on to the meeting itself. You mentioned that there was quite a few people there. Who was there?
Mose Buchele What did they have to say? It was interesting because you had, like I said, a lot of normal folks, a lot people from different parts of the state who just have an interest in this, but there were also a fair amount of kind of like, high profile people from state government and from the parks department, former directors, people who were high up in game warden department and things like that, speaking out against this project. One of them was Lydia Saldana. She did communications for Texas Parks and Wildlife. For decades, now she works for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, and she kind of stated how she thought the commission’s role should be in this fight against the wall.
Jerry Quijano0 No one expects this commission to single-handedly stop the federal government, but you can slow the roll. Ask questions, demand information, require that the federal government follow every process available.
Mose Buchele And in fact, some protesters say this is the duty of the commission, they’ve been kind of derelict in it because the commission does have a stated duty to protect parkland. So far, some protestors say they’ve just kind of been rolling over to the further federal government, but they pointed to instances in the past where the Texas Parks Department has fought the federal government over some of this border infrastructure. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but what these protestors wanted to see was a fight.
Jerry Quijano Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced that they were pausing border construction in Big Bend National Park. What was the reception from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission to these comments?
Mose Buchele Yeah, so, you know, this project seems to be kind of gaining, there’s increasing voices against this Big Ben project. And the chair of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, Paul Foster, well, here’s what he said.
Jerry Quijano1 I think we agree with most of you and we’re doing everything we can. We are working with the governor’s office. We’re working with CBP, with the federal government, and our objective is to minimize damage to the ecosystem out there, to the beauty of not only the parks but the whole area.
Mose Buchele So, you know, no promises there obviously, but certainly some kind of a rhetorical moral support given to these protesters. He wanted to let them know that he basically kind of agreed with them, even without stating what they might do.
Jerry Quijano Okay, Mose, where do you?
Mose Buchele Things, where do they go to from here? So, you know, what these protesters want is not just an end to construction in Big Bend National Park. They want, they don’t want this border project around the Big Bend region. And as I said, there seem to be more and more political voices joining them in that distaste for this project. The CPB announced a pause in construction in the Big Bend National park. There are lawsuits ongoing that are trying to stop construction in other places. And so we’re going to wait and see what the government says about this as this protest movement continues seemingly to gain steam and get more and more state politicians.
Jerry Quijano All right, that is Mose Buchele. He is our energy and environment correspondent here at KUT, and we’ll have a link to his latest story in today’s show notes. Moe, thank you. Thank you, Jerry. All right. Quick headline for you. Travis County reported today its first known human case of West Nile virus. That’s just a day after Williamson County had its first-known case, and Hayes County reported its first human case last week. Dr. Desmar Wachs, the health authority for Austin-Travis County, said in a news release today, quote, we still have several months of mosquito season left to go here in Austin, end quote. Risk can be reduced by using FDA approved repellent and wearing long sleeves and pants, especially around sunrise and sunsets. This is Austin Signal, we’ll be back after a break.
Danielle Hermilia, Hi, my name is Danielle Hermilia, and I’m a senior at Concordia University, Texas. And you’re listening to Austin Signal. So prior to studying finance and business, I actually was a nursing major. And I think that’s a huge part of my college journey because I learned that pivoting is okay if it’s not truly meant for you. It’s okay to do something that you actually like and enjoy. And I left nursing like three semesters ago now and I just found a love for finance and business. It’s funny because I’m Filipino, and our stereotype is like all Filipinas are nurses. So in high school I was taking all these business courses, even joining business clubs. So I knew, deep down I knew my love was always in business, but because of my parents, they were immigrants. So as immigrant parents, they’re like, do this, it’s more safe. There’s a safety net in nursing. So after graduation, I went for nursing. And I tried, I really tried. I mean, for two semesters I did it and just was not working out for me. So I’m like, finally mom, dad, I can’t do this anymore. And I finally bit the bullet, took my first business course. I mean I just immediately fell in love and that was also the time that ex-culture was brought up to me. And all these opportunities were just opening left and right, unlike before, where I felt like I was always hitting dead ends. So X-Culture basically was presented to me through a class, it was a global business class. Companies that want consulting pay X-culture to have consulting done and these are companies that like maybe are new to the market and they want business students like input. I was working as a consultant for X- culture but it was not paid. It was for a class credit. I worked with a team, like global team, so my teammates were from India, Italy, California, and then myself in Texas. And we each had different projects, and then at the end, we, as a class, submitted our different projects and presentations, and the CEO went through all of them and chose the top performers. And not just individual, but individual team and the whole… Presentation itself. After submitting the project, I didn’t think about it for months. I was like, amazing, I got my certificate. Class is over, stress is over. And five months later, I get an email saying, oh, you’re invited to the Italy Symposium. And to me, that was just a dream. I was, like, wow, that’s amazing. Because my performance, along with my team’s performance, I was in the top, I think they chose under 200 students. And so I was now I’m now invited to go to Italy. I’m most looking forward to meeting my teammates in person and just basically being in the room, soaking up the energy, the atmosphere, and learning from people that are different from myself because it’s a global event with global teammates. I think there’s something that someone can contribute to and I can learn from. I honestly love learning like different cultures and… Getting to know who people are beyond like stereotypes and just learning from different people other than myself. My name is Danielle Hermelia, and I’m a senior at Concordia University, Texas, and you’re listening to Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano Austin has built a reputation over the years for its comedy scene. Stand-up and improv may be the first varieties to immediately come to mind, but sketch comedy is carving out its own niche in the city. That scene is on display again this weekend, as the second half of Austin Sketch Fest gets underway at Cold Town Theater. Texas Standard’s David Brown spoke with Austin SketchFest executive producer Ashley Ellis and comedian Mimi Meyer about the festival, and Austin’s growing sketch comedy scene.
David Brown So Mimi, when I think of sketch comedy, I tend to think of like SNL.
Mimi Meyer Of course.
David Brown That’s what we’re talking about here.
Mimi Meyer Absolutely, yeah. SNL is obviously the best sketch writing and what I started watching as a child and I didn’t even realize that there was a formula to sketch comedy. So now that I’m here in Austin taking classes and writing and producing sketch comedy shows, it’s cool to hear these little things that make it work. And once you watch a sketch after that, you’re like, oh, there really is a formula to it.
David Brown Now, how did you fall into comedy?
Mimi Meyer How did I fall into comedy? I was in an elevator once and I told a joke and someone was like, you should do standup. And that was all it took. And then I started writing standup, moved to Austin to pursue standup and through just being open to the comedy community here, I started doing sketch shows with my co-writer for my sketch shows. Her name’s Holly Hart.
David Brown Now Ashley, let’s talk a little bit more about the scene because again, I think that a lot of Texans might be surprised because you think of standup and you think comedy and you think some of these legendary venues in New York and LA. What about in Texas? Is there such a thing as the legendary comedy venue in Texas?
Ashley Ellis Yeah, I mean, I think we have a smattering of options, really. Like I think, we have a little something for everyone. We do have some of those like premiere kind of comedy clubs. You can go to Cap City or Creek in the Cave. Of course, there’s Joe Rogan’s club on sixth. And then we have some really like innovative, artistic, clowny, underground comedy happening at the smaller local theaters, like Fallout Theater or Cold Town Theater. So I think there’s a little, something for every one. And. I think a lot of people are starting to think of Austin as the center of standup comedy in Texas. And then I think sketch and improv is a bit more diffuse, but with Austin Sketch Fest, we’re really trying to bring a lot of people to the Austin area. We have some incredible acts coming in this year from Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston that we’re real really excited about. So Texas is really showing up strong this year.
David Brown Ashley, tell me about some of the acts that you’ll see at this festival.
Ashley Ellis We have had some of the absolute best sketch comedians and comedians at large at this festival. We’ve had people that made it huge. I mean, we’ve had Tim Robinson, Amber Ruffin, we’ve Had Max Stalter, James Adomian. There’s so many acts that we’ve had kind of before they were big, which is really, really cool. So one that I’m really excited for this year is we’ll have SNL’s Andrew Dismukes. He went to UT. His wife is also coming who is hilarious and we’ll have her own show as well. And yeah, we’re so excited to have an active SNL cast member I’m gonna have to try really hard not to be a fangirl when I meet him, but Yeah, it’s it’s so cool to have kind of a hometown hero come and join us on this show
David Brown Mimi, can you give us a sneak peek as to what you’re going to be doing at the festival?
Mimi Meyer Absolutely. I’m going to be doing my solo show, which is called me question mark me exclamation point because my name is Mimi You get it That’s the type of comedy you can expect from But no, I’m really inspired by I love cat Cohen I love you know a little bit of stand-up and character mixing with song So I’m doing some musical comedy along with kind of this essentially like an old Hollywood character telling her story, but she doesn’t realize she’s not famous, which is kind of me as a person.
Ashley Ellis Mimi has a song that I sing to myself like at least once a week getting out of the shower about being 1800s hot.
Mimi Meyer Oh, yeah, my song 1600s hot. It’s like I saw all these old paintings and I was like, those women are kind of pale and lumpy. And I was, like, that’s so me. Yeah, those are some of the songs you’ll hear in my show.
David Brown Mimi, you’ve built a following online making skits and social media content, that sort of thing. I know a lot of comedians who don’t like this aspect of being an entertainer because it’s almost a different skill set than live performance. You feel like social media is more of an opportunity or a burden for you?
Mimi Meyer Well, um, unfortunately, it’s one of those games I have to play, and, um…
David Brown Sounds like a burden.
Mimi Meyer Well, I love I love live performing, but a lot of the clubs, if they want to book you, they want see that you have a social media following. And I could complain about it and be upset and it’s part of promotion. And you know, recently, I’ve had a change of heart where I started posting some of my songs, a lot my sketch comedy work that I’ve done in the past and you know it’s starting to kind of creep up in the views and I don’t know, it’s just, it definitely is a different skill, but instead of trying to be frustrated and not do it and just, you know, wish it was the past, I’m having a change of heart. And I’m more fun.
David Brown Well then, let’s get to something fun, what makes a good sketch?
Mimi Meyer What makes a good sketch? Well, a good sketch for me starts in reality and then they make it insane.
David Brown That’s fantastic. Now, Ashley, when I ask you a similar question, what makes a good sketch, how do you go about picking who’s going to be in this? And are you looking at individual sketches and saying, yeah, that’s a winner. I want this person.
Ashley Ellis Yes, absolutely. We review dozens of submissions every year to pick the cream of the crop, and we’re looking for unique perspectives, fresh ideas. We definitely are not wanting to hear just kind of like the same old rehashed joke over and over again, even if it’s about a concept or a feeling that we all go through, but kind of having a unique take on it.
David Brown Any shows on this festival that you’re especially looking forward to?
Ashley Ellis Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you asked. I’m still excited for Mimi’s show and.
Mimi Meyer I’m shy.
Ashley Ellis And Weekend 2 opening for you is Space Cadets, which is a relatively new sketch quartet out of Austin that is so funny, all female. And I cannot wait to see them live because I’ve only seen their videos online so far. That’s beautiful. Yeah.
David Brown Do you actually do you come from from this world yourself? Were you involved in sketch comedy?
Ashley Ellis No, I mean recently I got involved but like Mimi and a lot of us I just grew up watching SNL, loved it, and then started doing improv and sketch in the last about five or six years. I did it because I thought it’d help me with public speaking. I don’t know that it did but… It sounds like it did. But boy is it a fun hobby. I just think it’s so much fun and I’ve met the coolest people and I mean there’s really nothing like the thrill of putting on a show. The kind of high you get from making people laugh on stage is pretty special.
David Brown Mimi, anybody you want to highlight coming to the festival this year?
Mimi Meyer Um, no one specifically, but I think this festival, I’ve done it for the past, I think, three years. It is such a wonderful place to learn. As a comedian, I’m so inspired by other artists. Seeing what is possible, and I feel like that’s what a festival is. You see what is possibly, you learn techniques and skills. So it’s not only for an audience to have fun. It’s for performers to connect with each other and learn and, you know, have a City.
Jerry Quijano That was Austin SketchFest executive producer Ashley Ellis and comedian Mimi Meyer speaking with Texas Standard host David Brown. The second weekend of Austin Sketch Fest runs tomorrow through Sunday. Well that is it for us today here on Austin Signal. There is more about the protests at this week’s Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting and the other stories we shared with you in today’s podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Jake Perlman is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer, and I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. Austin Signal is gonna be back at the same time tomorrow. We’ll talk to you then. Stay cool 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.
