Immigration and customs enforcement
operations in Minnesota have caught
the attention of the nation and the
world in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, such operations here in
Texas have been taking place at the
same time.
We're going to check in with folks
from Elgin just outside of Austin
to hear how it's impacting them.
And the city of Austin paid out more
than one hundred and forty three
million dollars to its employees in
twenty twenty five.
Five city departments regularly
account for the bulk of overtime
spending.
Which are they?
That's coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, a spot in East Austin is
building community beyond its menu,
bringing folks together with chess
and doodle nights.
Come hear more about the community
garden that's growing out there.
That's today on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, this is
Austin Signal brought to you by
listener-powered public radio KUT
News.
Thank you for tuning in.
It is Tuesday, January 27th.
We are glad to be part of your
day.
We will start the show by reminding
you that while things are certainly
warming up around the Austin area,
it is still quite slippery in
some spots out there.
The ice was enough of a concern
to cancel classes again today for
UT Austin and for the majority
of Central Texas school districts.
Temperatures are forecast to dip
below freezing again overnight,
meaning any melted ice will
freeze again.
So be mindful and keep it
tuned in to KUT News for
the latest updates.
There's been lots of attention
focused on immigration enforcement
in the U.S.
As of late, particularly in
Minnesota, understandably,
but that attention and that
enforcement has intensified in many
other parts of the country too.
That includes Texas.
People who live in Elgin, just
outside of Austin, are torn
over the presence of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement in their area.
KUT's Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez
has been talking with some of them.
On a normal day, laborers gather
around the downtown gazebo in Elgin,
hoping to pick up a gig.
But since early January, people in
this small central Texas town say
they haven't seen any workers at
their usual spot.
Tracy Elamia works at an insurance
company across the street from that
gazebo.
She says Immigration and Customs
Enforcement came to get the workers
one morning.
I don't know how many they took, but
they took a few of them, and I don't
think that's okay considering
they're not doing anything, and if
they're there, they're primarily.
Look for work.
Like many other residents in town,
Alameya found out through social
media.
They got another Impala over here
taking somebody else.
And there goes a white truck too.
So they're here.
She saw the video where workers are
being taken away by men with covered
faces and tactical gear.
KUT reached out to ICE to ask about
the detentions, but has not heard
back with specifics about it.
Elgin residents had reported seeing
ICE around Highway 290, the main
road through the city.
But this was the first time many of
them heard about ICE being in
town.
Many felt the same way as Alameya.
They're part of the community.
Let them work.
But others like Jason Keene, who
owns a gun shop across the street
from the Gasebo, say
Well, if you're here illegally,
that's the very first thing.
You circumvented a system.
There's a check and balance.
It doesn't matter about your
opinion.
Keane says he hasn't heard of
anybody in his community being
affected by ice.
In fact, he says his clients seem
pretty on board with it.
As far as the immigration
enforcement, everybody that I know,
everybody who's doing business here,
everybody I'm involved with with the
community is really happy because
that's what we voted for.
A few other business owners in
downtown Elgin declined to talk to
KUT on the record because they
feared backlash from the community
for their opinions.
Nikolai Finley lives in Elgin.
He says he has stopped having
political conversations with people,
unless he knows them very well.
I know people, even myself
included, who may
have what I would say are just very
general middle-ground opinions,
that I would see people that I even
know within my community here
calling other people Nazis.
Finley says the community has been
polarized over the last few years.
First, it was about COVID, then
about politics, now about
immigration, and it gets worse
when it's on social media.
Since ICE started showing up in
Elgin, residents have been posting
about it in Facebook community
groups.
Finley said maybe that's why
everyone is on high alert.
When I walk around every single day
and I'm out in my community,
I don't see half of
the things that are making everybody
freak out.
But for many, the fear is real.
Especially for undocumented people.
Melissa Perez works at a store in
Elgin. She is undocumented and
says now she's avoiding being on
the streets as much as she can.
She does the basics.
Takes her kids to school, goes to
work, picks her kids up and heads
back home.
And whenever she's driving, she's on
the lookout for state police or
unmarked white and black SUVs
known to be used by...
She says maybe there's people
who don't pay much attention because
they don't have to worry about their
immigration status.
But those who don't have vapors...
She says, they have to be on
high alert.
In a town where 44% of the
population is Hispanic or Latino,
the fear spreads beyond the
immigrant community.
Last year, the Supreme Court allowed
immigration enforcement agents in LA
to use race and other profiling
factors to decide who to stop and
potentially detain.
Alamilla, the woman who works at the
insurance company, says even for US
citizens like her,
It's scary to wonder in what
direction it could go
for any of us Hispanics,
whether you're here legally or not.
After the workers at the gazebo in
Elgin were detained in early
January, the community organized a
protest.
Then, they also showed up at city
council wanting clarity on where
city officials stood.
The mayor issued a statement last
week saying the city did not condone
actions by that are making people
feel unwelcome.
I know that there's not much they
can do when it comes to helping
someone in that situation because
they're federal officers, but it's
comforting to hear from someone
who's in authority that not
everyone hates us.
With the town divided and some
feeling like ICE is always around
the corner, Ferre says she's
constantly questioning who is
trustworthy.
Yo la verdad no confío
en nadie, ni más que yo, porque
tengo dos niños.
She says she has two kids who depend
on her, so she'll continue to be
cautious and will keep paying
attention to her surroundings as
much as she can.
At least until all this is
over.
I'm Greta Diaz-Gonzalez Vazquez
in Elgin, Texas.
Last year, the city of Austin paid
city workers $143
million in overtime,
that's according to records obtained
by KUT News.
That spending could come under a
harsher focus this year as the city
is vowed to trim back its
spending.
To help us go over what these
millions in overtime pay means for
the city, we are speaking with
Andrew Weber, he is KUT's Government
Accountability Reporter.
Thanks for coming on the show,
Andrew.
Yes, sir. Thank you for having me,
jerk.
So, uh, overtime pay,
I'm guessing that's something that
all employers kind of account for.
Does the city of Austin account for
that as well?
Yeah, you know, they account for
this.
Obviously, city work is difficult
work, and particularly for
emergency services, police,
and fire.
Those departments have been
short-staffed for a few
years now.
So overtime is kind of a necessity
to get things done.
Yeah, as we are sort of experiencing
right now, you know, UT Austin
canceled classes for a couple days,
as did Austin ISD and a lot of other
school districts, but not the
case for Austin Police,
Austin First Responders, things
like that.
So $143 million seems
like a pretty big number.
How does that compare to payouts in
years past?
Well, it's been kind of increasing
over the last few years.
We looked at from 2021 to
2025 and it went
from around $86 million to
what's now $143
million. So it's something the
city is definitely relying more and
more on.
Well, speaking of that, which
departments tend to make up
the bulk of the overtime that
is paid out?
You know, like I said, police, fire,
and EMS usually are the sort of
big three.
This past year, that was different.
Austin Energy employees got
paid out more than $20 million,
followed by fire, firefighters
got $22 million.
And police make up, as they
often do, the largest share
of this overtime.
In this past year, they got
paid almost $53 million.
And since those numbers have
remained somewhat consistent,
does the city kind of plan ahead
into its budget for this overtime
pay?
Yeah, this is kind of baked in.
Like I said, it's kind of a
necessity, but I will say,
you kind of hinted at that at the
top of the intro there,
that this is an interesting
year because Overtime
was a part of the discussions ahead
of Prop Q with EMS,
with police, and with FIRE,
and with just departments across the
city were asked to sort of
pare down these expenses and
Overtine being one of them.
With Prop Q's failure, it's going
to be interesting going forward to
see how the city sort of tackles
that next budget cycle.
Yeah, what are the ways that
the Prop Q's failure could affect
the next budget cycle?
You know, it's funny, there was,
I believe it was council member Ryan
Alter had a measure that would
have done sort of monthly breakdowns
for how the city is spending
overtime with the focus on
those big three, the police, fire,
EMS.
That didn't go anywhere.
They ultimately didn't adopt that,
council members didn't.
And so now it's kind
of up in the air. Like I said, it
obviously the
city wants to pare down that
spending to sort of be in line
with what voters wanted in rejecting
Prop Q.
But we will have to wait and see
on it.
Ian, we're talking about numbers
here for 2025.
We're only a month into the new
year, maybe a little bit more time
for the fiscal year.
Do we know what
part of the, you know,
budget of the overtime budget has
APD kind of reached already for this
new fiscal year that we're in?
Yeah. Like I said, APD
is very much the lion's share,
about 36% of
the $143 million that
we're talking about.
So far, at the last update
at the Public Safety Commission,
that was on January 5th, APT said
they'd already spent $7
million in overtime out of
their budget of around $26
million.
So it's a department that
regularly runs over that budget,
right, because we're talking about
53 million from the previous year.
They're budgeted this year for $26
million, and they've already spent a
sizable chunk of that.
Obviously, ACL is a thing,
SXSW is a things, police overtime
is a necessity, and
we'll again have to kind of wait and
see how that shakes out this year
with the post-Prop Q Austin.
All right. Well, we have been
speaking with KUT's government
accountability reporter, Andrew
Weber. Andrew, thank you for coming
on the show.
Appreciate you, dear.
You can read more of From Andrew's
Story at KUT.org.
We have more there and on the KUT
app, including Governor Greg Abbott
directing all public universities
and state agencies today to freeze
new H-1B visa applications.
This latest move escalates his
administration's scrutiny of foreign
workers employed at taxpayer-funded
institutions.
We have about that story at
K-U-T.org,
and we have more Austin Signal
coming up after this break.
Hi, I'm Madison Stidham, owner of
Dead or Alive Cloth, and you're
listening to Austin Signal.
Well, I was born
with the view of I-35, so
I am as Austin as
they come.
It started out as like,
Oh, I want to find like old
historical clothes.
And then it was like, oh, I'm
leaving behind stuff that doesn't
fit me, but it's really cool.
I bet you I could sell these.
And then, it just went off from
there.
It was just like, I took a
gamble on this Goodwill and they
didn't have anything that I
really thought I
could pick up.
And so I was like.
Oh. That's so weird, look at these
old yearbooks.
And I just naturally have a
fascination for like really, really
old things.
But I just happened to like look
at it and there's
actually like
a note that came in it.
And it's like a high school
reunion speech that
was given in like 80 something.
And it talked about how,
you know, they had gone through
personal struggles like murder
and suicide.
And I was like, I wonder who was
murdered at Yellow Jacket High
School.
So I left the Goodwill
to, you know,
to leave because I was just like,
oh, there's just a whole bunch of
yearbooks, but oh, let me look up
who was murdered at Yellowjacket
High.
I looked up Yellowjackett High
57 and immediately
that yearbook popped up.
And then I saw that Lee Harvey
Oswald was in it.
And so I did the fastest
U-turn in the whole world.
And I whipped over there and
found the yearbook.
I didn't think I should keep it.
I've gotten a lot of comments about,
you know, you should have kept it,
and things like that.
But I feel like I
don't have any
sort of resources to keep
that book, like,
protected and perfect.
So I was like, I need to just
give it to somebody who would
cherish it and, like protect
it and put in, like some case or
something.
Um, so I was like...
Alright, they need to go to the
auction house, so that's what
happened there.
Yeah, it's like, I think in like,
January 30th, the catalog will
go out.
Um, it, so
it's really just a waiting game.
Um, I've never
done an auction.
Like I, I have never done like a
real auction, like eBay.
Yeah. But I mean, this is
completely different.
Um, they have four
sites that they're going to have it
on. So it's going to reach as far as
possible. And um
The book will be on
AustinAuctionGallery.com
I posted the story on
TikTok and Instagram,
and collectively, they gathered
around 30,000 views.
So we've got a lot of comments,
a lot of questions, and a
lot people interested in it.
The auction house actually wrote
back and said that
people had been contacting them
about the book.
And he basically said that
you have a far reach.
So that video went to whoever
I needed it to go to.
Shortly after Community Garden
opened in East Austin,
staff started putting out butcher
paper and markers for customers
to just make art.
Three years later, doodle nights are
a regular Wednesday night activity
at the cafe and wine bar.
Ella Kopeikin reports the owner
wanted to create an environment made
for connection.
On Wednesday nights at Community
Garden, the energy feels more
like an elementary school art class
than a wine bar.
I caught Maria Vargas as she was
starting on a watercolor.
It's like this place in the
neighborhood you can just walk,
relax, decompress, and then just
work on whatever projects and have
good conversations.
The crowd ranges from couples on
first dates, to friends catching up,
to regulars like Francesca Hymas.
I live like two houses down
from here, so I've been
coming here for a while now.
I would come here and draw because
there was like nothing really else
to do.
These Doodle Nights, soundtracked by
local DJs, are weekly staples.
This is Corbin Carey, a frequent
Doodle Night DJ who runs the record
shop inside Community Garden.
It kind of just started putting
out butcher paper on all
the tables and a bunch of
markers.
And even within the first couple of
weeks, I mean, there were people
bringing like typewriters
and all sorts of different artistic
activities.
Tucked away in the Chestnut
neighborhood of East Austin, the
space operates as a coffee shop,
wine bar, and performance venue.
Here's co-owner and manager, James
Harcrow.
It was always important to
me to have Community Garden be
a home for a lot of different people
that are into a lot different
types of music or events.
Before Community Garden, Harcrow
had never been involved in
hospitality, but music was a
constant.
I was working in
a screen printing shop and
making electronic music and
I wanted to create
a platform, the label Growth
and Decay, so catalog,
underground electronic music from
Texas.
The record label, which he founded
in 2015, introduced him
to new local music and expanded his
network of fellow artists.
Then, when the pandemic halted live
events, Harcrow made an unexpected
pivot to keep in touch with his
growing community.
I just started making acai bowls at
home. I would have friends come
over. They would eat these bowls.
We would hang out. We would catch
up.
Two of these friends were Brian
Almaraz and Cole Evans, owners
of the Coconut Club downtown.
When club staff began to discuss
reopening, they asked Harcrow to
cater the meetings.
After a few months, they had a
proposition.
Brian and Cole had approached me
and just said, hey, we think these
are really tasty.
And if you were ever interested in
doing something outside of your
studio apartment, we would be
really stoked to
chat more.
Harcrow felt a cafe would provide
him the opportunity to create an
environment that encourages
connection, especially connection
through music.
It was going to be a place that
we could do the record release
parties and the art shows and be
a hub for the city for
interesting things that are going
on.
Community Garden opened its doors in
spring 2023, offering
acai bowls and coffee during the
day, wine at night, and music
from open to close.
Within the first few weeks, a friend
proposed doodle nights.
Had suggested that it would be
really neat to do some type of
doodle night. People would show up
and would just draw and hang out.
And so from there, we gave it a try.
They would also have a DJ or curated
playlist to make the evening feel
relaxed and encourage the artistic
flow.
Here's Corbin Carey again.
Sometimes there's DJs, sometimes
there's not, but even when there's
no DJs usually James is playing
records or someone's playing good
records.
Francesca Hymas was part of a small
group that started coming early on.
Some usuals would be here and
we would draw and then we started
making like games out of it.
I was drawing with a friend and we
would always like make like fun
characters and we'd play like
Pictionary and stuff.
I try to come as often as possible.
Over time, the word spread.
Maria Vargas found out about Doodle
Night through Instagram.
I lived in a neighborhood for years
and I just had always seen on social
media that they had a doodle night
and so I texted these guys
and I was like, hey do you want to
check it out?
Almost three years later, the
event has become a Wednesday night
tradition.
I think it's like a lot of first
dates and then a lot of just cool
creative people that come and like
having, you know, an outside space
to come and draw or
do whatever kind of art they
would like to do.
And there's good music.
Although rooted in music, Community
Garden now hosts all kinds of
creatives. No two weeks are the
same.
Whether it's a food pop-up or
a market, zines,
book pop-ups, vintage pop- ups,
there's always going to be something
new and interesting.
But Wednesday doodle nights, where
DJs cultivate a different theme or
vibe, and Tuesday listening room
sessions where DJ's play full
albums, are mainstays,
drawing big crowds on slow nights,
and showcasing the diversity of
music played at Community Garden.
This is Marshall Spaulding, an
employee and DJ.
We are so good at being a
canvas for like any
type of person or music that
wants to come here and express
themselves.
And as the venue has grown as a host
for artists, the business itself
has grown, much to Hargrove's
surprise.
I would have never thought that the
space would then go into be a wine
bar that also served espresso,
that also then turned into a spot
that's serving these elevated
small plate.
But for Harcrow, the greatest
achievement is that people keep
coming in.
You know, I think at the core of it,
it was my love for all
the people that were around me and
wanting to create a home that would
foster a bit more connection.
And the community of Community
Garden keeps growing.
For KUT News, I'm Ella
Kopaken in Austin.
And that is it for
today's show.
Thank you for tuning in and spending
some time here with us.
Don't forget that you can find more
from today's show in the show notes
wherever you listen to your
podcasts, as well as over at
kut.org
slash signal.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director and Kristen Cabrera is our
managing producer.
Special thanks today to Casey Cheek,
Greta Díaz, González Vázquez,
Andrew Weber and Ella Kopeikin.
I'm your host Jerry Quijano.
Austin Signal is going to be back on
the radio at the same time tomorrow.
We'll talk to you then.
Be careful out there.
Stay warm.