Hello Neighbors,

As we head deeper into May, our community faces a critical crossroads. The upcoming I-35 Capital Express Central project represents one of the most massive infrastructure overhauls in Austin's modern history. While its stated goals include modernization and increased mobility, the physical reality of this corridor will fundamentally alter the edge of East Cesar Chavez for generations to come.

This month, two separate I-35 decisions tell a familiar story. In one, the City is debating whether to walk away from the very infrastructure that could one day reconnect our neighborhood to Downtown. In the other, TxDOT made a decision on a sound wall along our border while deliberately excluding the neighborhood from the discussion.

Different agencies, different decisions. But the same underlying patterns I wrote about in March and April. Now more than ever, our neighborhood requires vigilant, proactive leadership and advocacy. We cannot afford to sit back and treat the outcomes of state and city planning as inevitable. 

Please continue reading below for this month’s agenda, a discussion of each I-35 issue, and where your voice still matters.

Note: today’s meeting will again take place at the new Dwell Coworking, 1201 E. Cesar Chavez.

Next Thursday, May 28th, the Austin City Council will consider a new proposal from Mayor Watson. The Mayor is proposing that the City pay for a single, targeted 160 foot wide "stitch" at Third Street (near Palm Park) for $41.3M. However, his proposal simultaneously eliminates all funding for the foundational infrastructure needed to support future caps along the rest of the downtown segments.

Eliminating the caps infrastructure for other downtown caps also means paying a $2.25M re-design fee to scale back engineering plans. This adjustment will permanently alter standard safety profiles, retaining wall designs, and cross-street layouts between Cesar Chavez and 7th Street to ensure they cannot support caps in the future.

While securing the 3rd Street stitch adjacent to our neighborhood sounds nice, the reality is that TxDOT is already building a pedestrian crossing at 4th Street. Eliminating the continuous cap also eliminates most of the benefits and is too small to protect pedestrians from sound and negative effects of the highway. Stripping out future-proofing framework now saves relatively minor upfront capital but permanently seals our neighborhood off from ever achieving a continuous, cap layout that unites East and Downtown Austin.

We cannot retrofit caps onto a finished highway. Sacrificing the structural capability for all other future caps is short-sighted, at best.

Fortunately, a block of five Council Members is still fighting to preserve the full funding for all cap infrastructure. However, Mayor Watson currently has three solid votes and is actively looking to secure more.

If you live, work or have roots in East Austin, we need your support to advocate for preserving the Caps. Please fill out this form to quickly help organize efforts.

As part of the I-35 rebuild, TxDOT studied the noise our stretch of highway will generate and found it exceeds federal limits. After redesigning the frontage road, they determined a noise wall was feasible along the northbound retaining wall between East Cesar Chavez and Holly Streets — a 14-foot wall running about 1,229 feet. A neighbor, Ian Wilson, put together an excellent plain-language summary of the proposal and what the highway will look like here.

Under federal rules, only "benefited" property owners, those who would see at least a 5 decibel reduction and directly adjacent to the wall, are eligible to vote on whether it gets built. TxDOT held a workshop at Sanchez Elementary in February, ran two rounds of voting, and in the end did not reach the minimum 25% response rate required to move forward. As a result, no noise wall will be built. Instead, TxDOT will install a standard safety fence, with construction folded into the Downtown segment beginning late 2026.

Our concern is that TxDOT intentionally excluded the ECCNA/NPCT from the engagement process entirely. With the support of the broader community, voting would have reached the 25% threshold. We’ve asked why TxDOT elected to exclude the broader community and are awaiting a comprehensive response.

TxDOT has discretionary decision-making authority on what happens next. I’ve shared our concerns, and TxDOT are holding internal meetings to discuss next steps. We’ll share the outcomes of those meetings here.

The application for a state-level Cultural District designation along East Cesar Chavez is advancing and we want the district's goals to reflect the people who actually live and work here. Jordan Nelsen, Gallery Director at Women & Their Work, is helping gather broader community input.

Please take a few minutes to fill out this brief survey and share it with your networks: forms.gle/HpXuCnfuSubKok967

Following the plan I outlined in April, we continue to move toward forming a nonprofit stewardship organization spanning East Cesar Chavez and Holly. I recently presented the proposal to the Holly Neighbors, where it was well received with a healthy Q&A. The main piece of feedback was on the proposed name: specifically, whether "East Austin Alliance" is too broad. That is exactly the kind of input we want, and we will keep working through it together. We will discuss progress at the meeting.

Thanks to a timely letter from the Holly Neighborhood Association, the Historic Landmark Commission has pushed its decision on the demolition to June. City staff will present their evaluation and recommendation at the meeting. We will discuss this at today’s meeting.

The City has finally explained how and why portions of our neighborhood's Parking Transportation Meter Funds were allocated to cover CapMetro shortfalls — the issue I flagged in March. The short version: allocating those funds without engaging us first was a mistake, and the City has committed to creating a more formal meeting structure going forward. They are also helping allocate planning funds and support the Redline Parkway funding request. On balance, a positive step.

Ryan Saunders and I met with the Executive Director of Movability, who has proposed leading a community engagement study to get placemaking and the long-overdue update of Plaza Saltillo moving. This is genuinely good news after years of stalled progress

Pranati Kompella, a research assistant at the UT Austin School of Information, is recruiting Austin community members for a workshop on how new transportation technology — air taxis and drones, known as Urban Air Mobility — might distribute noise across neighborhoods, and who gets to decide what "fair" looks like. Given everything in this newsletter about noise and who sits at the table, it feels especially relevant.

No technical background is needed — they want lived experience and community perspective. The workshop is in late June at the UT iSchool (parking provided), runs four hours, and compensates participants $50/hour. If you are interested, fill out the short screening form: utexas.qualtrics.com.

Here’s the final letter we sent to Council. Thank you to everyone who has supported this effort.

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center welcomes the community back to its newly renovated facility with Juntos de Nuevo — a day of reconnection, celebration, and cultural expression. This free, family-friendly event is open to all.

Register here

Preservation Austin is hosting a workshop to help residents care for older homes — inspecting and maintaining your home through the seasons, building a toolkit of must-have supplies, and knowing when to connect with a contractor. Registration is $20 for Preservation Austin members, $30 for non-members.

Register and learn more here

Eric Pace, Chair
ECCNA/NPCT