Austin has the chance to fix this physical barrier

Interstate Highway 35 (also known as I-35 and IH-35) cuts right through the heart of the city of Austin, Texas. Why it is located where it is and how it was put there is rooted in a racist, segregationist past that the city and its community are still trying to grips with.

The Texas Department of transportation TXDOT says it’s time to replace I-35 as it is nearing the end of functional life and beginning to crumble. The plans they are putting forward would call for a drastic expansion of the existing facility, requiring a massive destruction (the taking) of additional neighboring property, somewhere in the range of 32 acres, if not more.

On the morning of September 1, 2021 community members in opposition of this planned expansion held a press conference at one of the businesses that is slated for destruction (Star’s Diner). This video represents the entire press conference, which featured speakers that were community members residing in the threatened neighborhoods, business owners, representatives from local advocacy organizations, and several elected Austin City Council Members.

Speakers in order of appearance:

0:00 Intro

0:08 Luke Metzger, Executive Director, Environment Texas [served as MC] https://environmenttexas.org/

2:41 Kathie Tovo, Austin City Council Member, District 9 https://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-9

5:19 Greg Casar, Austin City Council Member, District 4 https://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-4

8:37 Natasha Harper-Madison, Mayor Pro-Tem and Austin City Council Member, District 1 https://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-1

12:42 Paige Ellis, Austin City Council Member, District 8 https://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-8

15:07 Sinclair Black and Heyden Black Walker, Co-Founders, Reconnect Austin https://reconnectaustin.com/

17:08 Adam Greenfield, Co-Founder, Rethink35 https://www.rethink35.com/

19:49 Nelson Linder, President, NAACP Austin Branch http://www.naacpaustin.com/

22:01 Jim Walker, Board President, Cherrywood Neighborhood Association https://www.cherrywood.org/

24:23 Shannon Sedwick, Owner, Stars Cafe https://www.starscafeaustin.com/about

25:29 Jaime Cano, Assistant Director, Escuelita del Alma https://escuelitadelalma.com/

28:27 Matt Rutledge, Cherrywood neighborhood resident and Escuelita del Alma parent

31:17 Jay Blazek Crossley, Central Texas Families for Safe Streets http://www.ctfss.org/

33:00 Yasmine Smith, Board Chair, People United for Mobility Action (PUMA) https://www.puma-atx.org/

36:24 Closing Remark

All video and audio production by me, John Simmerman

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Background: Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman. I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time I’ve been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a “Culture of Activity” for “All Ages & Abilities”.

This is my personal Active Towns Channel and it features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in, I hope you find this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022

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