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This year, Austinites reached out to 311 with 285,000 requests, covering everything from garbage and loud music to animal bites and scooters. We’ve got more about those requests — and some coyotes.
KUT News launched a new desk in 2025: the Art Beat. We’re talking about the year in arts in Austin, including the return of a beloved outdoor gallery and the venues that are planning for the future.
The Texas Longhorns wrap up their football season tomorrow against Michigan. It’s not the ending fans and pundits predicted at the start of the year, but perhaps things aren’t as dark as they seem.
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 [00:00:10] Here in Austin, you can call 311 to deal with or report a variety of things, and Austinites did that this year, to the tune of nearly 300,000 requests, covering everything from garbage and loud music to animal bikes and scooters. We’ve got more about those requests and some coyotes, plus KUT News launched a new desk in 2025, the Artbeat, the return of a beloved outdoor gallery and the venues that are planning for the future. We’re gonna talk the year in arts here in Austin. That is coming up next.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:43] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:49] And the Texas football team wraps up their season tomorrow against Michigan. It’s not the ending fans and pundits predicted at the start of the year. We’ve got that next on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, and thank you for tuning in to Austin’s Signal. It’s Tuesday, December 30th. We’re glad you’re closing out 2025 here with us. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. Let’s get into today’s show. Austin handles hundreds of thousands of requests each year for services like trash pickup, parking violations and noise complaints, things of that nature. And 2025 was no different. The city handled just short of 300,000 of those requests this year. And KUT’s government accountability reporter Andrew Weber took a look at him. He sat down with host Jennifer Staten to talk about what he found.
Jennifer Stayton [00:01:46] So, Andrew, how many people requested service through 311 this year?
Andrew Weber [00:01:52] A lot. I kind of want to explain just how 301 works. It’s calls for service, stuff like trash pickup, recycling, composting now. And it also is sort of a clearinghouse for APD calls. So for non-emergency calls, things like fender benders and police reports as well. But of those calls that were not handled or transferred to APD, a lot of people, 285,000, more than 285,000 people in this last year.
Jennifer Stayton [00:02:23] And Andrew, do you have a way to know what the most popular asks were? What were people most likely to call 3-1-1 about? Mostly trash.
Andrew Weber [00:02:33] It was a lot of trash related stuff. Uh, 67,000 people called just about refuse. I’ll say, I say that because it could be compost. It could be recycling. It could. Garbage. It could be bulk pickup of garbage. It could also be dead animals. 6,200 people called about dead animals, uh, but it was mostly, mostly that, uh, was the, was a big chunk of a lot of the three or one calls and a lot of people called unsurprisingly, maybe. About live music, 22,000 people, 22307 people, uh, complain about loud noises or loud music, specifically in residential areas, near venues or bars and stuff like that. Also, maybe unsurprisingly, a lot of people called about illegal parking. Nearly 19,000, people called about either illegal parking or towing. Another 8,700 people called about towing a car.
Jennifer Stayton [00:03:23] So, Andrew, what else stuck out to you in the data, like any unusual calls, any calls that maybe you weren’t expecting to learn about?
Andrew Weber [00:03:31] If there’s a lot, there’s a lot here, a lot of people call three on one for a lot of different reasons. 394 people called three on one because they saw a coyote.
Jennifer Stayton [00:03:40] A coyote.
Andrew Weber [00:03:41] A coyote, which we were talking about this just a few minutes ago. Like I just saw a coyote for the first time in years in my apartment complex parking lot. Did you call 3-1-1? I didn’t call 311. It made me think, should I have called 311? Cause a couple of my neighbors have tiny little dogs.
Jennifer Stayton [00:03:57] Well, just to continue the sort of animal theme of 311 calls, I called 311 earlier this year because we had a bird flying around in our backyard and it flew into our window and the bird landed on the ground and could walk around fine, but couldn’t fly and so we weren’t sure what to do. So we called 3-1-1.
Andrew Weber [00:04:18] They get a lot of calls for that. Actually, I’m glad you brought that up because in the numbers, we found 23,684 people were in maybe a similar situation because it’s kind of a broad category, but they called for animal protection services, which is maybe there’s a loose dog, maybe, maybe a bird flew into your window and is having a moment, so you weren’t alone there.
Jennifer Stayton [00:04:40] Now, Andrew, I do want to go back. You mentioned, so in addition to animal calls, noise calls, that people also call 3-1-1 for things that may require police or maybe they’re not sure. You know, things like traffic crashes or you talked about towing or even police reports. Talk a little bit more about that category and what that looked like in 2025.
Andrew Weber [00:05:02] Yes, ma’am. Those calls were just traffic related. So you get an offender bender and you need to work something out through insurance, you need have documentation of that. That was pretty on par with last year, but these sorts of calls for non-emergency services have increased over the last couple of years because just the Austin police department has been struggling to staff. And 301 is sort of, like I said earlier, kind of been like a clearinghouse for some of these non-emgency calls and that’s something that the city has. Continued to lean in as it’s sort of struggled to staff its police department.
Jennifer Stayton [00:05:36] So, Andrew, 311, it’s a city department, folks call 311 and ask all kinds of questions we’ve been hearing about, get those questions answered. Did 311 have anything happen to its budget in this current budget cycle? Do they expect to maintain similar staffing?
Andrew Weber [00:05:53] They do, they expect to maintain similar staffing. I think it was maybe two, three years ago that they had turnover and that was within 301 and within 911, so emergency and non-emergency communications. But the city has done a very, very good job of staffing up that department. And they obviously have a lot of demand.
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:12] Well, and given the types of calls you’ve been describing, noise complaints, animal, trash collection, doesn’t sound like that’s probably gonna abate next year.
Andrew Weber [00:06:21] It would be, it would be incredibly strange if for some reason people stopped complaining about noise, maybe stopped seeing coyotes, um, or, you know, needed a bulk trash pickup.
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:32] I know you will be tracking all of that, Andrew. Andrew Weber is KUT’s Government Accountability Reporter. And Andrew, thanks for joining us with all this 311 data.
Andrew Weber [00:06:41] Yes, ma’am. Thank you, Jim.
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:42] And you can keep up with more of Andrew’s work at KUT.org.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:51] Texas football is ringing in the new year in Florida, where they’ll play the Michigan Wolverines in what typically would be seen as a marquee game. But as the season ends, KUT’s Jimmy Maas reports both teams enter the matchup with perhaps more questions than answers.
Jimmy Maas [00:07:07] If in August, you said Texas would be playing Michigan in December, Texas fans would have guessed, great season, they are in the playoffs. But the season that started so promisingly in Columbus, Ohio.
Football announcer [00:07:20] This is a gift from the football gods take
Jimmy Maas [00:07:22] Meet Awake with the preseason top ranking.
Football announcer [00:07:26] The expectations could not be any higher. They say everything’s bigger in Texas. Well, the expectations for Arch Manning are bigger.
Jimmy Maas [00:07:33] Is ending in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and part of that reason is Texas pressing their luck with the schedule. The school is not shied away from taking on big blue blood schools in non-conference play, beating Michigan and Alabama on its way to the college ball play off the last two seasons. But this year?
Football announcer [00:07:55] Offensive Jim. But in the end. The national champions prevail 14 to 7 Ohio State defeats Texas.
Jimmy Maas [00:08:09] A loss to Ohio State is not irredeemable. All Texas had to do was hold on through conference play.
Football announcer [00:08:26] And a valiant effort from Mark Spanning, Lewis. This is a heartbreaking loss so many expectations for Texas
Jimmy Maas [00:08:36] Despite this, all was not lost. Texas turned the season around.
Football announcer [00:08:39] Red River belongs to Texas for the second consecutive year knocking off their unbeaten arch rivals 23 to 6.
Jimmy Maas [00:08:49] And picked up some bragging rights along the way, beating its rivals and three of the five teams ranked in the top 10 they faced this season, more than any other team in the NCAA. But Texas was down to its last spin, arguing its case to the selection committee.
Football Spokesperson [00:09:13] You want us not to schedule Ohio State? Because if we’re a 10 and 2 team right now, this isn’t a discussion. We’re in the playoff. But we were willing to go up there and play that game. And so now, when you play five top 10 ranked teams in the regular season, and you go three and two, you beat three of them, and your schedule in Ohio State at a conference play, I surely don’t think we want to punish us to do that. Because what are we all going to do? We’re all going get out of those games. Just like a lot of other teams in the country have done. Stop! Oh, you’re out!
Jimmy Maas [00:09:49] Texas was not selected to the college football playoff for the first time since the 2022 season, which meant change for the program. Despite their defense carrying them through several key moments of games this season, defensive coordinator Pete Kwikowski was let go in favor of former Texas coordinator, Will Muschamp. Other assistant coaches were let go. Among the players, many of the defensive starters and featured running backs are opting out of the bowl game to prep for either the NFL draft or the transfer portal, such as Modern College Football. And that may not be all the changes for Texas this off season. And as tumultuous as the month has been since Texas beat Texas A&M, it is nothing compared to what’s happened at Michigan.
Football Spokesperson [00:10:29] The Michigan Wolverines have fired its head coach, Sharon Moore, for cause, citing quote credible evidence, end quote, of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. The woman involved was not identified.
Jimmy Maas [00:10:45] But as word of his termination was spreading, police were called to the home of his executive assistant. Now he faces charges of stalking and home invasion.
Football announcer [00:10:54] Go back and forth between, my gosh, the football aspect of it, but more importantly, the personal aspect of it. Because right now, family
Jimmy Maas [00:11:04] and lives are shattered. Michigan hired its new head coach Kyle Whittingham over the weekend. The Wolverines will be led in Orlando at the game by interim coach Biff Poggi, who has had his hands full. With everything but football.
Biff Poggi [00:11:16] It’s just a lot of listening, a lot of talking, a lot of talking to the kids. And we have we’ve changed basically everything. So both teams.
Jimmy Maas [00:11:28] Take the field New Year’s Eve afternoon looking toward the future looking to press their luck once again Michigan Texas in one of the top snack sponsored bowl games of the season the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl
Football announcer [00:11:43] Who’s ready to show who’s the cheesiest? I woke up feeling the cheeziest, coach!
Jimmy Maas [00:11:48] I’m Jimmy Maas.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:50] And we have more Austin Signal coming up after this break. Thank you for tuning in today.
Rene Chavez [00:12:00] You’re listening to the Austin signal. Hi, I’m Rene Chavez, an audio engineer for KUTKTX. And one of my favorite songs out of Austin from 2025 is Bravo, featuring Ile by Adrian Quesada. Adrienne hardly needs an intro. He is a former founding member of Grupo Fantasma, who has gone on to have a… Very successful and storied solo career, putting out records that explore, celebrate, and fuse various sounds and genres from American and Latin American music styles.
Ile [00:12:31] Bravo!
Rene Chavez [00:12:35] His current frontier is the bolero, the heartbreak love song ballads made famous by groups like Trio Los Panchos, Juan Gabriel, Luis Miguel, and others. Quesada, alongside the other really talented musicians and artists that he collabs with, are bringing a decidedly psychedelic tone to the format and have put out a second record called Boleros Cicadelicos II, on which is Bravo, itself being a cover of a rendition of a classic bolero tune. The arrangement is fantastic on the track, of course, but where the magic really lies is Ile’s vocal performance. It’s an incredibly emotional, heartbreaking delivery. And it guts me every time I hear it in a really great way.
Ile [00:13:18] De odio tanto, que yo misma me espanto De mi forma de odio
Rene Chavez [00:13:28] Now, Ile, who’s an incredibly successful artist and performer in her own right, brings in a depth of pain into the song that makes it heartbreakingly beautiful. Now, those things are defining features of these kinds of songs, but what I really like about this one is the character of the song is applauding their heartbreaker at being so devastatingly efficient and crushing them. And towards the end of the songs, the band chokes when they reprise the first verse and Ile just drops the word bravo. Kind of spoken word. And it’s, it’s just amazing. It’s such a it’s such it’s my favorite part of the song. And she does it so well.
Ile [00:14:08] They all do your
Rene Chavez [00:14:09] The vibe is devastating. But you don’t have to take my word for it, there’s video proof. Adrian Quesada and Ile and the full band came by KUTX’s Studio 1A back in August of 2025 and performed it for us. You can find that video and more of our favorite songs from 2025 over at KUTx.org. I’m Rene Chavez, and this is the Austin Signal.
Ile [00:14:33] El infierno resulta un cielo
Jerry Quijano [00:14:40] This is Austin Signal. Thank you for making us part of your day. As we are bringing 2025 to a close, we’re looking and listening back to some of our favorite things from the year that was. One very fine thing that happened this year was the addition of a dedicated arts desk to the KUT newsroom. Stephanie Federico is the editor of that arts desk and she’s with us now on Austin Signal, howdy Stephanie.
Stephanie Federico [00:15:02] Hey, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:04] Avid listeners of KUT and KUTX are no doubt familiar with how federal budget cuts have impacted local businesses in 2025. The Austin art scene was not immune to those struggles, correct?
Stephanie Federico [00:15:18] Yeah, a lot of arts organizations were notified by the National Endowment of the Arts early this spring that their funding was going to be clawed back. And they were expecting $20,000 grants, whatever size grants. And suddenly, they were told that their mission no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities. And so I think that was a bit of a surprise for a lot of folks, a shock for a lots of folks who were depending on that money to thrive in this year. Out.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:47] I’m not sure if federal funding cuts had anything to do with what happened with the Hideout Theater, but I know they’re having to move their location, right?
Stephanie Federico [00:15:55] Yeah, they are. Yeah, rents went up and that’s a familiar story. A lot of other little theaters that got pushed out over the past decade or so, you know, this is, you know, Austin is one of the wealthiest cities in the country. You know, we had a big tech boom and you’ve got millionaires and billionaires moving here and what that does is it raises the cost of living. And so rents go up and folks who cannot afford to pay those rents are getting pushed out in the hideout theater. They are moving down a little bit south of the river on I-35 on the frontage road there with like Good Dad Studios is over there too. Folks are getting pushed out because rents go up. And, you know, with the lack of funding from the federal government, a bunch of different organizations got letters saying that their, that their priority is no longer aligned. Zach theater, Museum of Human Achievement, AFS, among other folks, women in their work also lost their funding this year from federal government. So it’s been tough.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:00] And on the flip side of that, we’re talking about the tinier theaters. We also have these bigger theaters in downtown Austin, the Paramount and the state side. They are looking for a lot more money as well because they’re gonna be undergoing some renovations, right?
Stephanie Federico [00:17:14] Yeah, they announced back, I think, last month, was it? I believe so. $55 million capital campaign. They’re looking for money to completely redo the state theater and then renovate the Paramount Theater. And when they’re asking for that money and then there are the little organizations that are asking for money, it’s kind of like where, if you do have that money to donate, who are you going to donate to? And everybody wants the same slice of the pie. So. It’s going to be tough.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:45] It’s gonna be a tough choice. Let’s talk about a little bit happier, lighter news. We did lose some things like that federal funding in 2025, but we gained other things, including another return last month of an Austin tradition. What was that?
Stephanie Federico [00:17:58] Oh, yeah, the Hope outdoor gallery reopened down south out near the airport on Dalton Road. And it’s not the same thing. So people can’t go expecting that, you know, you have the same thing that you did over at Castle Hill, where there’s just like these big, you know, slabs of concrete and people just putting up murals left and right and everything. It’s an actual gallery, you you There’s a 6,000 square foot gallery that has curated exhibits and it can be used as an event space. And then on the outer sides of the property, you can bring your spray paint and do your tagging or do your own creations on the outside. But yeah, it’s pretty cool. But it’s not something that you would just stumble over, like just walking along. You have to make a trip out of it and go down there.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:51] And it’s not the same physical space like you’re saying not the old space of people were used to But it sounds like the people behind it are trying to keep the same spirit of what used to be a castle hill, right?
Stephanie Federico [00:19:02] Yeah, they want to keep the same vibe, you know, and like Castle Hill, it’s free. So that’s a great thing. Um, and they want it to be a space where people can try things and be weird. So yeah.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:13] Excellent. Well, Austin is a great place to be weird. And speaking of that, you took on this new role and next to your desk, there’s been a very weird, simple question plastered on a whiteboard. It says, what is arts? I think that’s too big of a question for us to tackle here in Austin signal, but in what new ways are you seeing and interacting with art since taking on your new role?
Stephanie Federico [00:19:34] I wasn’t expecting this question.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:38] Well, that’s okay.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:40] I’ve just, you know, there is so much art in this city and it’s kind of overwhelming. Like I’m getting a million different emails and people are passing along things that I had no idea about. And it’s just such a larger community than I ever realized. And it is just exciting for me. Like it’s so, there’s so many creative people here and there are so many different little facets and theaters and just. Little musical groups that I had no idea about. And it’s really been kind of overwhelming to kind of decide what rises to the level of coverage. What do we wanna cover? But next year, we’re gonna launch a newsletter. And I think that’ll be a way for us to get even more out there to the public, to our audience, just to like, because there are so many things and I’m just like, let’s do this, let’ do this. And I just, I am one person. You know, I have a few freelancers and, of course, people on staff who are interested in the arts and want to contribute stories and everything, but there’s just so much and I would love to share it with our audience and get things out there and get people going to the arts, and finding out about things that they had no idea about, like me. So, yeah, all those little hidden things, the little gems that are out there that are you know, accessible and maybe free and, you know it doesn’t have to be get all dressed up and spend a lot of money and go out on the town. There are just like little, little things like they’re the shed shows which I don’t know if you know about Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:15] No, I don’t
Stephanie Federico [00:21:16] It’s over here near UT campus, um, and it’s just like a shed and there are just exhibits that change every now and again. And it’s something you could stop by for 10 minutes and it is free. And there, there it is. And it is really, really cool.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:30] And it sounds like something you might walk by without knowing that it was even there, right?
Stephanie Federico [00:21:34] Totally, totally. Yeah. So there are a lot of little things going on in this city and I’m excited to share them with our audience.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:41] We’re happy that you’re going to be exploring those and we’ll be getting to take part in them here on Austin Signal. We’ve been speaking with Stephanie Federico. She is the editor of the Arts Desk here at KUT News. Stephanie, thank you for your time and let me be the first to wish you a happy Artsy 2026.
Stephanie Federico [00:21:57] Thank you, Terri.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:00] And you can find more from the KUT Art Beat over at KUT.org. We’ve had a few stories put out on the website since we spoke with Stephanie, and you can more from us over at kut.org slash signal, including all the episodes that we made in 2025. We’ve got one more to make tomorrow, and that’s at the same time, one o’clock right here on KUT News 90.5 on the KUT app and again online. Kut.org. Thank you to Andrew Weber, Jennifer Stayton, Jimmy Maas, Rene Chavez, and Stephanie Federico for their help with today’s episode. Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer and Rayna Sevilla is our technical director. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. Have a great day and we’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
