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The Taylor City Council was set to consider a citizen-led initiative to temporarily ban data centers, but 15 minutes into its meeting on Thursday night, the city released a statement that state law would not allow the effort.
The City of Austin is releasing details on its proposed budget for the next fiscal year as it tries to chip away at a budget deficit. The programs and cuts that are up for consideration.
Enchanted Rock Natural Area is a favorite Austin getaway, and it’s growing in size to provide even more hiking and exploration.
And: We’ve got another anecdote from the Accent Unmuted storytelling series.
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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 data centers are on the minds of many central Texans right now, and tensions were high recently as the Taylor City Council was set to consider a citizen-led initiative to temporarily ban these data centers. That didn’t happen, we’re going to tell you why, and the City of Austin is getting a first look at its budget for the next fiscal year as they try and chip away at a budget deficit. The programs and the cuts that are up for consideration, we’ve got the latest coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:34] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:39] Plus, Enchanted Rock Natural Area is a favorite Austin getaway, and it’s growing in size to provide even more hiking and exploration. We’re going to tell you about the additions, and we’ve got another anecdote from the Accent Unmuted storytelling series. More about these stories coming up next, it’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there. This is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is July 10th. It is Friday. Thank you for tuning in and making us part of your day. Tensions were high last night at a Taylor City Council meeting where the council was set to consider a citizen-led initiative to temporarily ban data centers. That did not happen when Taylor City Communications Manager, Jared Kingery, addressed the media after the meeting. Community members voiced their displeasure.
Jared Kingery [00:01:37] The city is actively pursuing amendments to the comprehensive plan and land development code to address not only the data centers, but all digital infrastructure.
Audience [00:01:49] Why? You knew about this before. We shouldn’t be saying this though. They knew about it before.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:57] All right KUT’s Williamson County reporter Kaylee Hunt was at that meeting and she is joining us now. Hi Kaylee. Hey Jerry So first off, what are the specifics of this data center ban that Taylor City Council was supposed to be considering last night?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:09] Yeah, so the ban was submitted to the city last month in the form of a proposed ordinance along with more than 1,400 signatures from residents, and it basically sought to address some of the concerns residents have about data centers by amending Taylor’s land development code to pause current data center projects and prohibit the approval of any additional data centers until the city created what’s called a dedicated digital infrastructure zoning district.
Jared Kingery [00:02:37] Okay.
Kailey Hunt [00:02:37] And the hope was that if council members didn’t take action on the proposed ban themselves, that they would place it on the ballot for voters to decide.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:45] Okay, now take us through what happened during this meeting last night. Obviously, a lot of folks showed up expecting to be able to discuss this band and had lots of feelings about it. How did it all go down and what was what was the reaction?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:56] That’s right. Lots of folks, some traveling from as far as San Antonio and Houston showed up to the meeting to speak to council members about the proposed ban. And about 15 minutes into the meeting, before people even got the opportunity to begin their public remarks, the city posted a statement on its website and Facebook saying that it could not move forward with considering the ban.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:19] That was before the meeting?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:20] That was 15 minutes into the meeting. Oh my gosh. So once everyone had sat down in the council chamber, in the overflow room.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:28] Driven from Houston, San Antonio, and all these places, yeah.
Kailey Hunt [00:03:31] Yes, that’s how all these folks found out.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:33] Okay, so what explanation did the city offer as to why they weren’t going to address this?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:39] Yeah, so the city says it made the determination to not move forward with the ban after consulting with outside legal counsel. And it says that state law prevents any zoning changes based on popular vote. So what that means is since the proposed ban included language involving zoning changes, basically the city could not take action on it. Here’s the city’s communications manager, Jared Kingery, again.
Jared Kingery [00:04:03] This is not about the judgment on the concerns, it’s the legal process.
Audience [00:04:07] But the way that it happened, this legal process could have been communicated at any point in time. The amount of disrespect to the community. Over and over again.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:19] Okay, well hearing that kingery tape reminds me of the first piece of tape that we played and had a bunch of humming. What was going on there? What was that scene?
Kailey Hunt [00:04:27] Yeah, so this took place at basically what I mean, I don’t know that I would describe it as a press conference, but Jared, the communications manager for the city came out intending to give a statement to media and folks who were there to speak on the ordinance, the organizers, they basically followed us into this room to confront the city spokesperson about the way that the decision was communicated to them.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:56] Okay, so why were they humming?
Kailey Hunt [00:04:58] So they were humming because data centers, they say, emit this humming noise. So that’s what you heard at the beginning.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:04] Okay, so that’s why that was that noise. Okay, so clearly people were upset enough to be humming to to drown out the voice there. So what happens next? Is this initiative completely dead or do we know where things might be going from here?
Kailey Hunt [00:05:17] Yeah, I think it honestly depends who you ask, right? The city would say the initiative at this point is dead, they can’t move forward due to state law. But I actually just got off the phone before the show with one of the organizers behind the petition. And she says they’re currently rallying together, they’re exploring their legal options. And in the meantime, she says they have no plans of stopping their advocacy work around data centers in the city of Taylor.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:47] Okay, well we know that you will continue to follow this story. We spoke yesterday with KUT’s Hayes County reporter Lee Walden about data centers and the reporting that you all have been doing. So we’re looking forward to that reporting and thank you for being at that meeting last night. We have been speaking with Kaylee Hunt. She is KUT Williamson County reporter. We’re going to have more about this story in today’s show notes. Kaylee, thank you.
Kailey Hunt [00:06:09] Thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:17] The Austin City Council is getting a first look today at its budget for the next fiscal year. It’s expected to total about $6.5 billion. City council members have some tough decisions ahead of them as they chip away at a large budget deficit. That includes making close to $17 million in cuts to social service contracts. Those are the agreements that the city makes with local groups that help sexual assault survivors, people experiencing homelessness and low-income families, among others. For a closer look at the budget and the potential cuts, KUT’s Jennifer Staton spoke with our City Hall reporter, Luz Moreno Lozano.
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:55] First of all, why is the city expecting to have to cut about $17 million?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:00] Yeah, actually, that 17 million is part of a larger deficit. We’re looking at, I think, about $26 million. The 17 million comes directly from that social services contract part of it. We heard last year from the city manager that the city wanted to be more efficient with its contracts and find ways to be, yeah, maybe we’re streamlining some of these services. Maybe we’re doubling up and duplicating some of the services. And so finding ways to save money that way as they’re kind of making these. Across-the-board cuts to get to a balanced budget.
Jennifer Stayton [00:07:35] Okay, so $17 million in cuts to social services out of more cuts totaling about $26 million. Right, right. All right, so Luz, are there any other cuts than anticipated to city services? Any word yet on what that additional set of cuts might be?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:49] Yeah, I think we’ve gotten kind of a good look at what that might be. We’ve saw that they’re looking to cut some services like transportation and community planning. I know that they are trying to stay focused on making sure we’re funding things like homelessness, affordable housing projects and those kinds of things. And so they really had to prioritize from top to bottom what needs to still remain funded. And what can be cut for now. And they’re planning to do this over like a two year process. So they’ll cut a little bit of money from the social services contract this year and then next fiscal year they’ll cut the other part of it. So it’ll be kind of a phased in process.
Jennifer Stayton [00:08:32] So the budget is just for one year ahead, but those cuts may be spread out there anticipating over two years. Yes, yes. Right, so Luz, just a little bit of history, a little of context here. Thinking back to about this time last year, we may have been having a similar discussion. Yes. Didn’t the city also have to make cuts for the budget that we are in right now?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:08:50] It did, it did. If you remember last year when we were talking about the budget, they were discussing what needed to be cut. And they hoped that with the property tax rate election, PROC-Q, that they would be able to fill that gap. But voters decided that they didn’t want to raise taxes. And so the city had to go back, I think, like a week before Thanksgiving, and they cut about $95 million from their budget. And that included things for like parks, for emergency services, you know, they did a lot of little cuts around then to kind of get down to the zero balance budget.
Jennifer Stayton [00:09:24] Yes, so Lose Web is going to ask why we’re seeing another round of cuts at all. Is this all related back to that that election last year?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:32] Yeah, I think it’s a part of it. You know, city leaders have been kind of talking with us about this for the last like two years. You know the sales tax revenue just hasn’t been the same since before the pandemic and that has really hurt the city. And then federal funding cuts, a lot of the stuff we were seeing during COVID I would think was also helping fill gaps. And so I think we’re starting to kind of feel the brunt of that.
Jennifer Stayton [00:09:54] Else you’re expecting to see in the city but you’ve been talking about these these potential cuts and we should emphasize this is just a draft that right that we’re going to get later today um anything else that you’re,
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:07] Yeah, I think, you know, the city has made it clear that they’re wanting to continue to fund the marshaling yard. So I think we’ll see some funding for that. They are wanting to hire more firefighters. And I think that they are gonna, we’re gonna see some finding there. There is a lot of discussion. I think when I’ve been talking with council members about this for the last couple of weeks, there’s discussion around affordable housing and permanent supportive housing. So I will see some find there. And I like, What’s top of mind too is like how we’re helping low-income residents, rental assistance, housing repairs, you know, those kinds of things and the programs that fund them. So I think we’ll see some some some funding there as well.
Jennifer Stayton [00:10:45] I know it’s very early, but any sense of how this proposed budget would impact us tonight? We know the numbers aren’t final yet.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:51] Yeah, Kirk Watson a couple of weeks ago made it clear that he did not want to raise taxes for property for property owners this year. Of course, that could change. So, you know, it’s possible that the property tax rate might stay the same. But of course, your property values change every year. So even if the property rate doesn’t go up, your property value does. But I do think that if the City Council wants to fund some of these other priorities, we could see that change over the next couple of week.
Jennifer Stayton [00:11:20] And Luz, just briefly as we wrap up, what is the process? What happens next?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:24] Yeah, so over the next month or so, we’ll have some public discussions with the city council about what that budget looks like and what cuts and programs that they’re going to make. I think that they’ll have a couple of public hearings. I don’t know the dates of those yet, but I will be back for that. And then, yeah, and then they’ll adopt it in August.
Jennifer Stayton [00:11:42] KUT City Hall reporter Luz Moreno-Luzano, thanks Luz. Thanks Jen.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:47] And a federal appeals court on Thursday denied an appeal seeking to restore the Texas Dream Act that leaves in place a 2025 ruling that ended in-state tuition for Texas students without legal status. For more than two decades, the Texas DREAM Act had allowed those students to qualify for in- state tuition if they lived in Texas for at least three years and graduated from a Texas high school or earned a GED. We have more reporting on that story on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. We have Austin Signal coming up for you. That’s after this break.
Nammy Sirur [00:12:29] You’re listening to Austin Signal. I’m Nami Surur, creator of the live storytelling event, Accent Unmuted. They say you don’t know how much you love something until you set it free. Storyteller Humaira Zafar learned that the hard way and had to reckon with it during a blizzard on her way to a fateful appointment to get it back.
Humaira Zafar [00:12:53] I’m driving eastbound on the 401 from Toronto to Ottawa, normally a 5 hour drive, but the snow is falling hard. Each tiny flake hitting my windshield and sticking to it, making it harder and harder for me to see the road ahead. It’s like driving through a blurry white curtain, my eyes are starting to strain. My windshield wipers have given up their fight against the storm several kilometers ago. And they’re now just sitting there, frozen and useless. As my windshield gets murky, a deep panic is starting to bubble inside me. I am going to miss my visa interview to move back to the U.S. This drive is a metaphor for my entire experience in Canada. I moved to Canada three months ago from the U.S., hoping that my job prospects would be much better. I never wanted to leave the U S, but I feel like I had no other options. Coming to the U.S. As a young Pakistani woman all by myself was a huge step, a brave and scary thing. And then navigating the complicated U. S. Immigration process was by far the hardest, most tiring battle of my life. I arrived as a graduate student full of dreams like many other. I study community development and hope… That after graduation I’ll be able to find a job where I can make a meaningful difference in people’s life. But it’s post-9-11 and everything is so much harder for me and my Pakistani passport. My job prospects were bleak and I was running out of time to find work and maintain my legal status. The only post-graduate work I was able to fine was at a gas station in Chicago. I mopped the floor. Clean the bathroom. I worked at the cash register. I even got robbed twice. My American dreams were starting to slip away. So I did what my other Pakistani students, friends did in a similar situation. They were moving to Canada. Canada, moving to canada seemed like the lifeline I needed at that moment, except for one thing. It also require me to give up my US visa status. It also means leaving my friends and family behind. It was a tough decision, but when I think about it, in Canada, I can search for my dream job without the time pressure of maintaining a visa. So I pack up my life in two suitcases and move to Toronto. Three short months is all it took me to realize that I’ve made a huge mistake. My living situation is very stressful. Through some family connections, I’m arranged to stay with a retired Pakistani couple and they watch over me as if I’m sent to them in a prison swap. Secondly, the prospect of my starting a career are even further off than they were in the U.S. I was able to find a job in a department store. There’s intense internal politics and fierce fight over limited hours. It will take me years to make the amount of money I was making in Chicago. And finally, I’m just really lonely here. I miss my friends and family. I miss independence. I miss having my own space. I miss living my life the way I want to. And I miss Chicago. I’m sorry Canada. It’s not you. It’s me. So finally, in three short months, I decided that it’s time to move back to the US. I apply for a visa, a long shot, but it’s the only thing that feels right to me. So here I am, driving through this blizzard in my old, barely functioning, 1994 Toyota Camry with broken wipers, all for a chance to reclaim a life I realized I truly love. As a slushy ice caked my windshield, I remember a verse from the Quran my father taught me to avert hardship. I recited out loud, hoping Allah will overlook how long it has been since my last prayer. I flicked the switch to my windshield wiper one more time. There’s a little shudder, a small, shaky movement in the wiper’s arm, and then a slow, squeaky noise as they dragged themselves across the windshield, clearing a small streaky patch of view. They are alive! I can see the road ahead now! My wipers squeaked on, a tiny rhythm of hope, in an overwhelming storm. The next morning I walked into the U.S. Consulate for my visa interview and drove back to Chicago as soon as they handed me my passport with a shiny new U. S. Visa stamped on it.
Nammy Sirur [00:18:27] Thank you. That was Humera Zappar telling his story to a live audience at a recent Accent Unmuted in Studio 1A here at KUT. I’m Nami Sirur. This is Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:47] One of Austinites top day trip destinations just got a whole lot bigger. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area opened a new back country this week, part of the parks expansion under the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, approved by Texas voters back in 2023. Here to tell us more about the new addition is Maria Malone. She is senior park planner with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Thanks for being on the show.
Maria Malone [00:19:10] Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:12] So Enchanted Rock was already a beloved spot for a lot of people in central Texas and really across the state, but this expansion adds a lot to the park. Tell us a little bit about it.
Maria Malone [00:19:21] Well, the new expansions both with the North and the Southern acquisitions have almost tripled the size of the park, so super exciting for those that already love it or are going to learn to love it. So this North acquisition is what just opened yesterday, actually, and so we’re calling it the back country. It’s going to be more of those wilderness experiences that people have been longing for? And so for now, it’s a hike in experience from the, you come into the existing SNA regular headquarters and you hike in two miles and you get to explore the property.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:00] The purchase that made this expansion possible was part of the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund. Tell us a little bit more about that fun and how this section of the park came to be.
Maria Malone [00:20:08] Yeah, so back in 2023, this fund passed with overwhelming support from the voters. So there was a, you know, a real need for more public lands in the state of Texas. All of our parks, the acreage combined, could fit inside Travis County, which is astounding. Thankfully, we have actually outgrown Travis County now, so we’ll find a new county to make our goal, but you know. With that and the fragmentation of land, roughly a thousand acres of rural land is lost to development every day and so the time to buy land was now. So the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund has made that possible. It is a one billion dollar endowment for the acquisition and development of new parks. So you know we’re using the interest on that fund to sustainably develop parks for generations to come. We’re doing multiple parks all at once. And so Enchanted Rocks expansion is one of the four that we’re currently developing with that fund. So we’re balancing the needs and priorities of all four properties when thinking about what to include in each.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:09] Yeah, and as a senior park planner with Texas Parks and Wildlife, tell us a little bit more about the process that goes into planning this section of the park and into acquiring and planning new areas more broadly.
Maria Malone [00:21:21] Well, as far as acquiring, there’s kind of two different paths here. So when a property comes to us, typically it’s landowners who are interested in adding to the conservation of land in Texas. They’re approaching us. We’re not really going out and finding land, but we evaluate each of these properties and there’s six mission critical areas that we use to evaluate the properties. And so if we determine that a property makes sense for our system, filling gaps in recreation or location. You know, it’s a well-loved park like Enchanted Rock that needs room to grow, then that’s something that we would look into acquiring. And then once we acquire it, we really start with site visits. We want to gain a broad understanding of, you know, what is happening at this site. We want start conducting flood studies, we want to start, you now, doing resource surveys. You know your rare plant, your you know golden cheek warbler surveys, your, you surveys if you’ve got uh… You know water on the site uh… Archeological surveys you know enchanted rock is super rich with cultural resources so we want to make sure to protect those and then we kind of go into the visioning goal developing and we figure out you know okay what are the goals for this park what are these guiding principles that we want to use to define development uh… And then start public engagement and so we are at that is actually still ongoing for enchanted rock right now even though this new portion of the property is open we’re kind of running two concurrent paths here. We’ve got the whole public use plan, which is the, you know, long-term, the 50-year, 100-year vision for the park. And then we’ve got these initial phased openings. And so the public use planning includes that public engagement. And, so that’s when we go out and we have the public meetings in local communities, in metro communities, and talk to the public and see what they want see in their parks. And so that survey for that park, as well as a post oak is still open right now. People can give their feedback and say what they would like to see. And for Bear Creek State Park, a new acquisition over by Garner, we had public meetings this week. And these surveys, the public surveys, the presentation recordings, everything is available on our website. If people would like to go watch those and share their feedback.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:34] So I certainly assume that a lot of people have been out to Enchanted Rock, but I’m sure there are lots of people who haven’t been out there before and maybe might be enticed by this news about expansion at the park. Do you have any tips for getting the most out of a visit to Enchant Rock?
Maria Malone [00:23:49] It’s a stunning, stunning property, and so I think that, you know, you should plan, uh, you know, the whole day. Uh, you can, you, you get there, you’ll arrive at the headquarters, you can see the dome, hike up to the top of the dome and you can look over and you can see new property where you’re about to go. And then after you’ve enjoyed the dome and you’ve gotten, you now, some lunch for the day, gotten rehydrated, you can start your hike over there, and it’s a totally different experience. For those that haven’t been there, or those that have been, and just, you button. It’s very, very hot. And so, safety is one of the most important things that I want when people go out here. The new property, it’s a two-mile hike in and a two mile hike out. It’s just a back country area. We don’t have a lot of development right now and so there’s not those water stations or shade areas that people would be expecting. Not to scare anyone. I just want people to come prepared.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:40] Alrighty, we have been speaking with Maria Malone. She is a senior park planner with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Thank you for your time.
Maria Malone [00:24:47] Of course, thank you.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:48] And thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. That is it for us this week. There’s more from us at kut.org slash signal. Our team is Rayna Sevilla, Alexandra Hart, Kristen Cabrera, and I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’ll talk to you on Monday.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
