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TxDOT is pouring billions of dollars into I-35 through Central Austin, adding more lanes and eventually sinking parts of the highway up to 60 feet below ground level. This could make it possible to build parks above the highways — but that comes with a hefty price tag. We’ll dig into why Austin city staff are urging elected officials to hold off on those plans.
And a New York Times investigation is prompting new conversations about the legacy of labor leader Cesar Chavez across the country. We’ll look at how that ultimately led to the decision to remove a mural in East Austin and how the community feels about it.
The Austin-based group Dorio is performing at Rock the Park tonight. We’ll hear more about their journey and plans for the future on today’s show.
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.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:08] TXDOT is pouring billions of dollars into I-35 through Central Austin, adding more lanes and eventually sinking parts of the highway up to 60 feet below ground level, which makes it possible to build parks above the highways. But that comes with a hefty price tag. Find out why Austin City staff is urging elected officials to hold off on those plans. And a New York Times investigation is prompting new conversations about the legacy of labor leader Cesar Chavez across the country. Find out how that ultimately led to the decision to remove the mural here in Austin and how the community feels about it.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:41] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Miles Bloxan.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:47] The Austin-based group D’Oreo is performing at Rock the Park tonight. Hear about their journey thus far and their plans for the future. That’s all coming up right here on Austin Signal. Hello, Austin! It’s Friday, March 27th. I’m Miles Bloxson, and this is The Austin Signal. Txot is pouring billions of dollars into I-35 through central Austin, adding more lanes and eventually sinking parts of the highway up to 60 feet below ground level. That open-air highway canyon will run from Holly Street to Airport Boulevard, creating a rare opportunity to build parks over the highway. But those parks don’t come cheap. Austin has already committed more and a hundred million dollars. Towards the plan and at least half a billion more is needed to build them all out. But as KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports, city staff are urging Austin’s elected leaders to hold off warning the plan is too risky without private money to help pay for it.
Nathan Bernier [00:01:53] This is a splash pad. Kids are running around and playing on a hot summer day. A few steps away, a father and son are having a game of ping pong. Not far from them, a young man and woman are playing UNO on a blanket.
Miles Bloxson [00:02:06] A little picnic, playing a little card games, eat some lunch, you know.
Nathan Bernier [00:02:09] Beneath them all are ten lanes of highway traffic. This is Clyde Warren Park in Dallas. It sits on top of the Woodall Rogers Freeway. The park is only five acres, but it attracts more than 1.5 million visitors a year. And when I visited Clyde-Warren Park on that hot day in 2024, I spoke to one of the guys who helped bring it to life, Dallas attorney Rob Walters. And he had some advice for Austin, which back then was early in the process of trying something similar over I-35.
Rob Walters [00:02:44] Everything you see on this park, everything we’re sitting on, all of this was paid for out of the private sector. There are tremendous naming opportunities. They shouldn’t have to pay a penny for what goes on top. If Austin doesn’t do this, this will sound offensive, I don’t mean to do it. It will be an utter, colossal failure of collective leadership.
Nathan Bernier [00:03:06] Last May, Austin’s City Council agreed to pay more than $100 million just for the support structures that would hold up concrete decks over sections of I-35. That’s after TxDOT lowers the main lanes. The biggest of those so-called caps would effectively tunnel I- 35 from Cesar Chavez to 7th Street. But here’s the thing. Austin is not doing it the way Dallas did. I think this is a transformational park. It changes a city. This is an old promotional video.
Excerpt [00:03:37] It’s going to bring all of us together as a community, as a family.
Nathan Bernier [00:03:41] More than anything, it’s going to give Dallasites something to be proud of. In Dallas, Clyde Warren Park started with the private sector, specifically wealthy people who wanted to help pay for it and have their names stamped on it. Like Chase Bank Promenade, or the Ginsburg Family East Lawn, or even Moody Plaza. By the way, it was not just Clyde that relied mostly on private funding. Same for the Rose Kennedy Greenway over I-93 in Boston and Southern Gateway, which is a second highway park being built in Dallas.
Excerpt [00:04:13] You’re watching a meeting of the Austin City Council.
Nathan Bernier [00:04:16] In Austin, the city is leading the effort, and so far, no one from the private sector has stepped up with any money. So city staff are delivering a very different message to the city council than they were just a couple years ago.
Kim Oliveras [00:04:29] At this point, we just can’t recommend that that we that you move forward with such a decision because that does create such a significant risk.
Nathan Bernier [00:04:36] That’s Kim Oliveras. She’s the City of Austin’s Director of Financial Services. And city staff are now making this formal recommendation that Austin not spend any more public money on the caps beyond the $100 million already devoted to pay for those support structures. For those who were always skeptical of building parks over I-35, this feels like a moment of vindication. Crystal Lane represents Austin City Council District 6.
Excerpt [00:05:02] When we as council committed $104 million to the I-35 Roadway Elements last year, I, along with many of my colleagues, raised serious concerns about the projected cost estimates, also about the limited funding partners that we had at that time and that certainly I thought was realistic that we might secure by now.
Nathan Bernier [00:05:24] Those on the City Council who want to build 14 acres of parks over the highway are also frustrated. Ryan Alter represents Austin City Council District 5.
Ryan Alter [00:05:33] It just feels like every time we have this conversation, we’re expecting one of two things to happen. Either someone to drop off a $50 million check, which is never going to happen, or for the DAA to come to us and say, hey, we’ve put together all the downtown partners, and here’s your $200 million you’re looking for.
Nathan Bernier [00:05:50] The DAA is the Downtown Austin Alliance.
Ryan Alter [00:05:53] We have to have an aggressive capital campaign if this is gonna be successful. And that requires someone to be in charge.
Nathan Bernier [00:06:01] Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers told council members that attracting that kind of private money does not happen overnight, and he spent three years in Dallas as a top city official.
Mike Rogers [00:06:12] By the time somebody knocked on my door when I was in Dallas, you had funding stacks that had already been generated. And so we’re talking years of conversations that have taken place, but they had the money before they came to the city, which is a little bit different than this situation.
Nathan Bernier [00:06:36] And that difference might determine whether Austin’s vision for parks over I-35 ever becomes a reality. But for now it appears a majority of the city council is ready to build those support structures and wait and see if more funding becomes available, either from a new administration in the White House after 2026, or from those with money who want to give it up and have a little piece of Austin named after them. I’m Nathan Bernier in Austin.
Miles Bloxson [00:07:15] For years, a mural of Cesar Chavez welcomed people into East Austin. Now that wall is blank. The mural was painted over this week following a New York Times investigation outlining multiple allegations of sexual assault against a labor leader. Joining us now to talk about the decision and reaction is Luz Moreno-Lezano, KUT’s City Hall reporter. Great to have you here, Luz. Thanks for having me, Miles. For folks that are not familiar, where was the mural of Caesar Chavez located and how long was it actually there?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:44] Yeah, so if you’re driving down Cesar Chavez going east, this mural was facing west of a building at the corner of Cesar chavez and Waller Street. So when you basically enter the East Austin neighborhood, that’s where that mural stood. Now there has always been a mural of César Chavez there, but it had been plagued with like vandalism and things over the years. And so when this new building owner came in, They asked to work with the community to restore it, and that happened in 2023.
Miles Bloxson [00:08:15] Okay, and a New York Times investigation is prompting new conversations about the legacy of labor leader Cesar Chavez. This is across the country. How did that ultimately lead to the decision to remove the mural here in Austin?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:08:28] Well, so I talked with one of the co-owners of the building, Eric Barth, yesterday. He basically kind of talked a little bit about just having to make this really tough decision to kind of believe what we heard from the women who spoke up, but also kind of work with the community. And we have a little of a clip here from him.
Eric Barth [00:08:47] With the recent news and revelations about Cesar Chavez, we felt like it was no longer something that we wanted associated with the business, and that was a discussion we had, again, with the community leaders and the neighborhood leaders.
Miles Bloxson [00:09:02] And when you think about the community, right, I know it’s affecting a lot of people because they’ve seen this mural for like most of their lives, right?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:09] Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the the community, the Latino community has had such a really tough time trying to wrap their head around this news, you know, for a long time this man has been an icon and a voice for people who didn’t have one. You know, I spoke with Bertha Urendo-Nortiz, she is the co-founder of this group, Arta Texas, and they’re the ones who restored the mural. And she kind of talked a little bit about how Cesar Chavez had been part of who they identify with in East Austin. And she gave me this really emotional testimony that we’ll hear here in a second, but I think that people are still grappling with how to respond to this. And we’ve seen a lot of movement over the last week or so in this. And here’s a little bit about what she kind of showed with me yesterday.
Bertha Rendon Ortiz [00:09:57] I’ve been there 46 years, going to be 47 years in August. We’ve always saw that mural. When you enter Cesar Chavez and enter the East Austin neighborhood, you would always see that mural to the left. You would see Cesar chavez face, you would see a field, you will see farm workers, and you would see the message Cesar Puede.
Miles Bloxson [00:10:21] Iconic wow 46 years she said going on 47 so a long time long
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:26] Long, long time. She has been an activist for her community. She’s run for city council. I mean, she is an organizer and she has a really good pulse on her community and what her neighborhood is feeling about this.
Miles Bloxson [00:10:38] Yeah, I’m from the east side of Austin, so of course I saw that mural growing up a lot. Any plans of what will actually be painted in its place?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:46] Yeah, you know, when I talked with Eric, he he talked a little bit about not, you know, even though they own the building, this wall isn’t theirs, you know, that this wall belongs to the community. And so they’re going to leave it blank until they can work with the neighbors and with city leaders to figure out what should go there. So I don’t think we’ll see anything there for a while, but it sounds like they are, they do want to do something and you know what that looks like is still to be determined.
Miles Bloxson [00:11:11] How does a business owner feel? I mean, to know, like that was a part, you know, when he started the business, that was the part of his business, essentially, right?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:18] Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, he seemed to know that this mural, this neighborhood has gone through a lot of change. And just because they bought the building, it doesn’t mean that they, you can like own the side of the wall that welcomes neighbors and that has been there for so long. And so I think he’s really kind of embraced the East Austin community and he wants them to be part of this decision. I think we’re starting to see that all across the city as city leaders respond to this and we might see name changes to the street and we’ve seen celebrations canceled and I think that’s all part of like how the community is responding. That was KET City Harbor.
Miles Bloxson [00:11:59] Reporter, Luz Moreno Lozano. Great talking with you. Thanks, Miles. Of course. We’ll have links to that story at KUT.org slash Signal and in the podcast show notes. Coming up next, you’ll hear from the group Dorio about their performance tonight at Rock the Park. This is Austin Signal. We will be right back. This is the Austin Signal, welcome back. Our sister station, KUTX, is back with a new season of the award-winning, good time for all happening, that is Rock the Park. This latest go-around kicks off tonight with Bananerman and is headlined by Dorio. This is Chad, Dorio Court, and Rachel Roscoe, who are joining us now in the studio. Welcome to the show, y’all. Hey. Hi. Thanks for having us. Of course. For our listeners who may not be familiar with y’all, who is Dorio and how long have y’al been making music together?
Chad Doriocourt [00:13:01] So I guess we’ve been making music since 2019. And yeah, we’re three albums in, I guess, right now. But yeah, the project compromises of me, Chad, and Rachel.
Rachel Roscoe [00:13:14] Yeah, I’m Rachel and we’re a musical duo based here in Austin and we make, I would say like, our music has pop and rock and a lot of different influences, but we produce everything ourselves so it’s kind of just what we hope the inside of our brains to sound like coming through on D’Orio.
Dorio [00:13:52] What I need, I’ll try my best
Miles Bloxson [00:13:57] I’d better I love that, so your album, Super Love 3, has been out for almost a year, right? So what are y’all most proud of, looking back on the album and the tour that you were on last year?
Rachel Roscoe [00:14:11] Yeah, it was our first time going to the West Coast and our first-time playing like LA and a bunch of cities out there. So it was really fun to bring the album out last summer. And I feel like it had a really warm reception in Austin too. We got to do a KUTX Studio 1A taping. That was fun to get those live recordings.
Chad Doriocourt [00:14:36] And I feel like, so that was our third album. And I felt like it was, we kind of talked about it a lot where we’d been working with the same people up until this album. And we really felt like, just because of the relationships we’ve formed, like with friends and stuff that have helped us out, I feel that was kind of the culmination of the project and kind of like seeing all like the work and relationships that we kind of built upon leading up to that album. Yeah, I don’t know, it felt really good to keep working with the same people and then see the project kind of keep snowballing.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:29] Speaking of recording new stuff, what do y’all have planned for this year?
Chad Doriocourt [00:15:33] So, this might be the, I guess the announcement, but we do have a new album coming out this summer. We have some new music coming out the summer. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, but later in.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:49] Can you tell us anything?
Rachel Roscoe [00:15:52] I’m laughing at Chad because he told me not to say that we had a new album, and then that was the first thing that he just said. We definitely have new music coming out this summer that we’re really excited about, and we are going to play some new songs tonight at Rock the Park for the first time. So we’ve been practicing those and figuring them out in a live format, and we’re really excited about that. Exactly, yeah.
Chad Doriocourt [00:16:17] Debut in some new songs on Fresh.
Rachel Roscoe [00:16:20] Yeah, at the park. I think it’ll be the perfect place.
Miles Bloxson [00:16:24] You know what, I love this for y’all, that y’alre gonna be at Mueller and rock the park. But you know, that’s all about the kids too, right? Like there’ll be a lot of kids there. It is family friendly. And recently we got some, a little bit of criticism from the kiddos that we needed to be a little more fun on the radio and that we don’t need to be so serious. You know, they tell us what’s on their minds and we listen. So I need to ask you all, what is your first concert that you remember from your childhood?
Rachel Roscoe [00:16:53] You know, I grew up going to a lot of public arts events, like free concerts in San Antonio that my mom was really good at keeping up with. So that’s why I’m really happy to play stuff like Rock the Park because I have really sweet memories as a kid of just kind of rolling up at these big downtown events and kind of getting to experience what performers are and all that stuff. But I don’t really. We weren’t like a super musical family, so I don’t have historically a first concert, but I know the first memorable Austin concert that I was taken to was in middle school. My friend’s parents took us to see cake at Stubbs, and I didn’t know anything about cake and I did know anything Stubbz. I learned that you’re not allowed to bring umbrellas in, I remember it was raining. But I feel like that started off. This kind of obsessive journey of like seeing shows at Mohawk and going to fun, fun, fun fest and just being obsessed with coming to Austin for concerts when I was in high school and stuff. So I, I do really, I remember that, that cake show.
Chad Doriocourt [00:18:04] That’s a pretty epic, uh, for sure. What about for you, Chad? Um, why was a former emo kid? Well, I’m still like emo, but emotionally, but I guess on the music taste I have, um, well, I still like, but anyways, um it was, um taking back Sunday with my sister, um in Dallas and she took, it was our favorite band growing up and yeah, I don’t know. It was cool. I grew up in a small town and I feel like go into a concert. Arena concert with Taken Back Sunday in Dallas, was just like, well, this is cool. And yeah, I don’t know. It was intimidating, but it was also fun, I think, being around people that had similar music taste as you. I don’t know, I think I was just pretty insecure going there, but then when I got there, I was like, okay, cool, there’s people like me that exist, even though I might listen to this music that maybe my friends think I’m weird for listening to. Important to go out to shows, I think, and find people that are like you.
Miles Bloxson [00:19:07] Find your tribe. What advice do you all have for up and coming artists out there?
Rachel Roscoe [00:19:15] I mean, I was a kid who was like in choir and I was in orchestra at school, but I didn’t, I think I was too shy to like make my own music and like I was writing songs, but I wasn’t ever like thinking about recording them until I was, a lot later, like in my late twenties. So I think kids should just, if you want to make music, just start doing it and don’t be too like scared to share it or just record it for yourself. And don’t share it for a while and develop it that way. But I think with everything you can do on your computer now, it’s both nice, the accessibility, but it’s also overwhelming that anyone can record stuff at any time.
Chad Doriocourt [00:20:00] Yeah, and to go back on like being scared to release something or even scared to write music, I feel like that feeling, I always think that feeling is going to go away every album, every song we release, but it never goes away. So I’ve just kind of learned to, you know, that feeling’s always going to be there. So might as well just embrace it in a way and just, or maybe not embrace it. But it’s never going to go away. But it’s just fun to make music for yourself and maybe not worry about anything else, which is easier said than done.
Rachel Roscoe [00:20:33] Yeah. I would also, this is kind of a different point, but I also think there is never too much music in Austin. Chad and I really were, he’s from Bryan and I’m from San Antonio, and we really were drawn to Austin by the music. And I think even though it’s such a discussion now that like, oh, Austin’s not as creative anymore, there is still like, I think the music community, the community of people here that are interested in going to shows and checking out smaller records is still pretty unbeatable.
Chad Doriocourt [00:21:04] And I think staying in a community for a long time is just a great way to kind of meet like-minded people.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:14] We’ve been chatting with Chad and Rachel from Dorio. They’re headlining Rock the Park tonight at Gerard Kenny Park at Mueller. It’s a free and family friendly event that starts at 6 45, but our friend Jackie Fuller over at KUTX says it’s best to arrive around six o’clock. If you want to nab your ideal spot, trust me, you don’t want to miss it. Thanks so much for being here, y’all.
Chad Doriocourt [00:21:35] Thank you for having us.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:50] Don’t forget, if you miss an episode of Austin Signal, you can catch up by listening to the podcast. Stream it or download it. Austin Signal is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, that’s it for us right here on Austin Signal. It’s been so much fun being your host these past couple of days and giving our good old friend Jerry Quijano a break, which is much needed. But don’t worry, he will be back on Monday. I wanna thank Luz Moreno-Lazano for her reporting and joining us in the studio today, Nathan Bernier for his I-35 story and Dorio for chatting with us before their Rock the Park performance tonight. A special thank you to Rayna Sevilla, our technical director, and Kristen Cabrera, our managing producer. And a special shout out to our showrunner, Jimmy Maas, who is doing a thousand things around here, including being our board op today in the KUT Studio. I’m your host, Miles Bloxson. This is Austin Signal. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 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.
