January 17, 2025 • 32 mins
TOPICS FOR TODAY INCLUDE:
- Light Rail is Happening in Austin, Finally!
- Ready, set, Legislate! The 89th session is open!
- City outlines proposed code changes to regulate short-term rentals
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber Podcast where we chat all things local and national business. Join Tina, Colton, and Amy every Friday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce podcast. I'm Tina Cannon, your host and CEO
(00:16):
of the Chamber. On today's pod, we're going to talk about local business news. And in
the headlines this week, light rail is happening again in Austin, finally. And then ready,
set, legislate. The 89th legislative session is open. What it means for you and the city
is outlining proposed code changes to regulate short term rentals. We'll be back. Howdy
(00:46):
all. I'm joined, of course, with Amy Colton and Fiona. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hey y'all.
She's Texan. I've been fixing to become Texan a long time. My favorite words. I grew up
(01:14):
on the West Coast when I was younger, much younger. And we would say, oh, yeah, it was
a finna go to the store. I finna go here. I get finna go there. And then when I moved,
when I was driving into Texas to meet a friend of mine, she's like, well, just pull over
at a gas station and give me a call. This is like pre cell phone days kind of world.
(01:34):
And so I was like, okay, I'll pull over. And she goes, where you at? And I said, I'm at
a finish station. She grew up with me. She's like, are you going to be at the station or
I'm like, no, the station is called Fila. I'm at a gas station. Yeah. I'm finna get some
gas. Yes. Well, how's everybody? Yeah, pretty good. Yeah. You should be pretty freaking
(01:56):
good. No, sorry. What? Start a job two weeks before the holidays and then bugger off on
a vacation in January. It's kind of like the perfect start. It really demonstrated to me
your negotiation skills in the interview. Like, like, I could start, but I already have
(02:18):
a vacation plan. So there we go. But the levels of guilt I was feeling, you know, I was raised
Catholic, so I did feel really guilty. And I felt the shame. I did like, and then I nearly
was going to cancel or tell my friends I couldn't go. But then I felt guilty about letting them
down and then I felt guilty about letting y'all go. I'm sure you felt very guilty. I
(02:38):
felt guilty. Joining the team meeting with a pool in your background. I know. And then
I sipped a margarita or five. That's okay. She did every hour. She did like she's supposed
to though. She brought us back booze. I did. I realized like from day one that chocolate
was not the right choice. Yeah, you're still working on yours. That was a teeny tiny baby
(02:58):
sip. Yeah, I've got a tickle in my throat. I'm afraid if I drink it, it'll either heal
all. Maybe, maybe so we'll see. Well, we're glad you're back for many levels, but also
glad you're back for the fun facts with Fiona that we'll do here in a little bit. But let's
take a look at some local headlines. So the light rail is finally happening. It is back
(03:21):
on the draft plan, technically known as a bunch of noise that happened with the FTA
was submitted. All the things happen. All the I's got dotted and the T's got crossed,
but it was back from the transit plan that was approved by the voters back in 2020. Since
then, as you know, if you're a loyal listener, a bunch of curmudgeon's got in the way and
(03:42):
sued a couple of times, wound this thing up in court, spent a bunch of money that we didn't
need to have. And so but we are we're good to go. Of course, the curmudgeon's will be
back in an email. One of those curmudgeon's wrote that he's going to try it again. He's
going to, of course, make some more noise this time at the FTA to see if he can't stop
(04:04):
the bun boondoggles as he calls it. I mean, he's just one of those old guys is just like,
get off my lawn. Oh, my. What is a boondoggle? Oh, boondoggle is when you have nothing else
to call something. I call it a boondoggle. And then people go, oh, is that what it is?
Yeah, it was my local hot back home. It's called a boondoggle. It's called boondoggles
(04:24):
pub. That's a better use of the word. And we looked it up. And I forget it is like a
it's like a space that is it's a it's a structure or a thing or whatever that takes up space.
It's like has no function. Yeah, as opposed to a rail line that will actually move people
like he thinks he thinks that this is basically what he's saying is it's has no function and
(04:45):
it's useless. Right. That is asinine. I kind of want to do like a snide Lee. What were
those old cartoons where they would tie somebody to the track and quickly run run off and then
adjust their mustaches and run back? We can do this. This sounds fun. You know, there's
loads of rails in Austin still that are exposed that go nowhere. Perfect. Like over by St.
(05:10):
Elmo's. They've got the old rail line that's been like paved over in sections, but they
left the rest exposed. Oh, I can't wait for this. There's you're all invited. Austin public
Austin Transit Partnership is hosting four different public meetings this month. You can
find out more at their website. Also, our friends over at the actually has had a random
(05:31):
story on this. So you can look for the proposed meeting dates if you have any comments. Of
course, this rail line has pretty much been decided where it's going to go. It will start
downtown ish kind of bleeding off the existing line and it'll run up kind of where most the
student body and younger population is along West Campus up to about 45th. I think it stops,
(05:52):
but they've got some real rendering so you can see what the proposed line is going to
look like, what the experience will look like that rendering with the people on the train
with downtown in the background. It made me so happy. You look like like the happiest
place on earth. I need to check this out because I am now curious to what degree of accessibility
(06:14):
for people with disabilities, people using mobility devices to get around. You're going
to have the ease of using this. It will be easy because it has to as part of the in order
for them to have pulled down federal grants. Okay, so about half of the projects paid with
FTA dollars and the other half is paid by the local penny tax that we did her back in
2020. Yeah, that will be so cool to know. I had a weekend with a friend who lives, excuse
(06:39):
me, who gets around using a mobility device like a scooter. We did a weekend in Denver
to see what it was like to be able to use public transportation and yeah, oh my gosh,
we had some challenges. You know, there's a lot like, like in the vein with that, with
the new developments, housing developments that are going up. And have you seen how like
short the driveways are? No, the ones that perplex me are the ones that are like at a
(07:01):
42 degree angle. Oh yeah. Coming out the front where you like break a sweat trying to walk
up 10 feet of your driveway, drop your can of soup. You're like, ah, screw it. So I,
yeah, you fall backwards and crack your head all the time. But I also have a friend who
like uses a scooter to get around and you can't park a sedan in these driveways and
(07:24):
not block the sidewalk. Oh yeah. And so when she tries to like go out, just get some fresh
air. That's no good. And it's because the sidewalk is on the, the, what's that called?
The right of way for the city. It's easement. It's easement. That's the word I'm looking
for. Like it's not your place. It's not your, it's not your property. Yeah. It's not your
property. You can put all the decor and decorations and stuff on the side. Make it look nice.
(07:45):
Sure. But know that the city, county where it needs to come through, like they're going
to come through and make, you know, clean up whatever pipes they need to. I say it starts
laughing people with tickets, like just for my friend. And I like, I don't know, it sucks,
but yeah, to your point, it'd be interesting to see what we've got. Yeah. Planned. We will
be mindful about that. We'll be on it. Yeah. The current line that's got, that runs right
now from downtown out to McCalla is what the route I always take, although it goes further
(08:08):
than that. Completely mobility accessible. What I don't know is if it has, I don't know
from the visibility side. So I know like there's, there's boards that say when you're coming
in and going where you're going, how far you have, how many stops, of course, wheelchair
access for the doors and seating. But I don't know what it does for somebody who's visually
(08:31):
impaired. I don't know what that experience would look like. No pun intended. Yeah. We'll
look into it. Yeah. Cause they don't pull back. Cause I don't think that they say like,
you know, stop number four. I don't think there's an audio, like an audible sound coming
from it. There's gotta be dings or something. Right. It's just really loud when I'm on it
(08:51):
going to the, to the soccer matches. That's what I was trying to think of too. Screaming.
Yeah. Yeah. Cause public transportation should make getting around easier for everyone, especially
with accessibility. And I'm here for it. I think this is great. Yeah. We had a speaker
at our luncheon this week. It was from the Austin Transit Partnership and was loads of
(09:14):
information for our attendees. So you, if we were not making yourself available to these
chamber luncheons, you're missing out on some really juicy details or as my curmudgeon friend
calls it boondoggle. Aleshire, Aleshire, the agitator he is called. That is like his, I
think he's just embodied it as his identity now. He just sees the city all the time. The
(09:34):
neat thing is he loses the vast majority of the time. So that's good. It just costs us
time and money, you know, boondoggle. He's like one of those that like skim both thumbs
when he, when he thinks he's really making his point. Like both. Yeah. I don't think
that's a finger he's using. Both thumbs.
(09:55):
Speaking of curmudgeons, the Texas legislature opened this week. The 89th session has begun
and they are coming out swinging on school vouchers, immigrations, women's health, gender
discrimination. Oh my, it's going to be a session to remember. Expect socially conservative
legislation such as reclassifying abortion drugs. Also as controlled substances. Who
(10:18):
knew? And expanding restrictions on sex education, furthering rules on gender in schools and
sports as the legislature moves a little further to the right following the November elections.
Governor Abbott appears to have the votes he needs to pass legislation that provide
for the vouchers. He tried this, what, the last two sessions to get vouchers through
and he thinks he's got the votes nowadays. The budget, there is a surplus yet again,
(10:43):
perhaps they could focus on that this year, perchance. And of course school funding and
border are going to be top top subjects. If you live in Austin, you're very familiar with
recapture. If you're a property owner, recapture is about 42 or 48% of every, every sense of
every dollar that you pay in school taxes goes back to the state. And then they redistribute
(11:04):
that to communities that need it. Right, so the whole Robin Hood recapture. But the problem
is like our schools here in Austin are failing so bad that we now had to run our own bond
so that we could subsidize the schools that we have here in town. But it's an unfortunate
system to recapture. I think it had a time and a place. I think it's over. But if they
(11:24):
would focus on the budget surplus, focus on what they need to do at the border, right?
I'm a first generation American. My mother was an immigrant, right? There's a way to
get here. You got an immigrant sitting right here too. Yeah, we need everybody to be a
part of the global economy that is the United States economy. This should not be hard. It's
(11:45):
very simple math. And it is like something that is driven into you, me being a public
administration student. Okay. And Poli Sci has to take this. We all have to take finance.
If you're in the Poli Sci department, you have to take finance and accounting. It's
simple math. And when you see those little parentheses, you got a problem. Yeah, you
(12:08):
got a real problem. What do you mean? Like when you have a deficit. Oh, okay. So like,
just allocate things appropriately, right? Am I on the budget? Yeah, on the budget. Like
budget. The budget is so simple. Or use the funds for what people want you to use them
for. I don't know our failing electricity grid. There's a load of people who sit in
(12:33):
a planning meeting to go over this. I mean, buy some foam noodles and wrap some shit up.
Yes. Spend it. Spend it please somewhere. Yeah. Cause you just said we've got a surplus.
Yeah. Okay. So what would we spend it on? What would we spend it on? I'm a huge proponent.
Spend money to make money. Reliability in the grid. Not only is it for the individual taxpayer
(12:57):
and to have reliance at home, but imagine if you've got medical devices that you were
relying on for your health and wellbeing and to survive. But also as companies are looking
into Texas, which is one of the greatest economies in the world, right? Especially when we're
talking about these big fabrications, whether it be chip manufacturing that is now being
reshored or it's battery production now that's happening out in Bastrop, access to critical
(13:20):
infrastructure, whether it be water or utilities is enormous in their decision making, whether
or not they choose to be here in Austin or in Texas in general. Spend it to thrive. I
say like that's how you can't go wrong with infrastructure. You just can't go wrong with
infrastructure. Well, we'll see how we go next week. When we, when it gets, we know
how it's going to go. It's going to be the rainbow bashing. Yeah. All my plants are already
(13:44):
inside. That's great. They're going to spend 18 degrees. I think is the 18 is a low 25,
25. Yeah. 20 something is a high low low low. Yeah. Which is like minus nine or something
way down there by the South pole in Lockhart though. So there you go. Yeah. Last I checked
it was like 15, 18. We've got listeners like all over the U S in the globe that tune in
(14:08):
because I go through and nerd out and look at all the data. Like my dad, who are probably
like listening to us going, what a bunch of wankers. Yeah, I know. I know. It's, it's
real cold. It's fine. I did read something really sweet happened in the chamber on the
opening text led to opening this week. Apparently a Texas rep, Venton Jones from Dallas popped
(14:30):
the question to Gregory Scott jr. On Tuesday, right before the lawmakers were set to be
sworn in the gays are unleashed. So cute. I bet that I wonder how the relaying like
the queer folk everywhere. The whole capital agenda. Yeah, it's working. I mean, my wife
and I were married there. It is our wedding venue. We do have a special affinity toward
(14:55):
the state cap 2015. The first lesbian couple married in the capital. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Well,
who else who followed you? Who's who's a close first? Do you know who they are? The right
after us? Yeah, there was a actually is a local Austin guys in government relations
and I cannot think of his name and he's probably listening and he'll ring me and let me know.
But he and his husband were married. The lines are open. Please give us a call. 512-761 LGBT.
(15:21):
Did you know that? Yes. It's so cute. It is super cute. I don't know who managed to get
that phone number for us years ago. I'm just gonna give CC all the credit for doing that.
I'm sure she had something to do with that. Well, the city is outlining proposed Cochran
(15:41):
code changes to regulate short term rental rentals. Wow. That's that tequila hit. All
right. Some shit's going down with short term rentals. We've had this come up years ago.
I remember that I worked back in City Hall back in the days when short term rental plans
were changed and overhauled. So doing another overhaul. The idea is to discuss the different
(16:02):
amendments to manage the industry and ultimately collect the hotel occupancy tax from the more
than 10,000 short term rentals believed to be operating in the area. The changes are
going to be hearings for this on February 4th, 11th and 27th. So that if you have a
short term rental or you live next to one, you can make your voices heard. But the idea
(16:22):
is to allow the short term rentals to be used in accessory dwelling units which are now larger
in the city and available much due to the home initiative. But ultimately we want to
be able to know who's doing them and make sure that we are collecting the taxes from
them and they are abiding by all of the rules that everybody else is. I don't know. I've
(16:46):
just split the difference on short term rentals like how I feel about them. A, I'm a personal
property rights person. Right. It's my dirt. My dirt. It's my dirt. And I hear that. I
hear that. As long as I'm not being obtrusive or too loud or obnoxious, it's my dirt. But
(17:06):
we have a short term rental that's in our neighborhood. And I've heard some horror stories
having been working at City Hall of houses that are purchased by investors and they're
just party houses. And so I get that. I get there is a fine line of when it's too far
when it's no longer a neighborhood. I think there could be a caveat. Like we have a rule
(17:27):
in Lockhart where you're grandfathered in, you can have a rental on your property in
an ADU as long as you live in one of the dwellings. If you live there, you should be able to have
a short term rental. I think. And that's one of the big changes now that accessory dwelling
units kind of those grandmother lots are now more available through the new code changes.
(17:49):
You will have a primary resident living there, but you could rent out your back house. What
I will say like Lockhart, Fredericksburg, all these like hot shot towns that are up
and coming, we are now faced with a housing crisis. Right. And these houses need to be
rented long term. And so it's it sucks when you see all these empty houses and people
(18:13):
are having to leave town. They're having to move south. They're moving to Martindale or
they're moving to Gonzalez or they're moving like Luling because those towns aren't on
the map. I mean, they are, but they're not really on the map yet for destination. Yeah.
Yeah. I like the owner occupied accessory dwelling unit as an option for the short term
rentals in neighborhoods. I'm not a big fan of the I bought a house to use it as a full
(18:37):
time short term rental rental because it's really just a hotel at that point. And that
becomes a nuisance. And you're like we live by Zilker. So we know that technically like
we're not supposed to use any of our condos for short term rentals in our H.O.A. rules.
But people do. People do. And as long as nobody's being a dick about it, like just just just
live and let live. Yeah. But it'll be interesting how much they go up with hot tax being added
(19:01):
to that. Yeah. And now they're going to ask. So before it was the homeowner that that had
to collect the tax and remit to the city. So now the changes that they are asking organizations
like the Airbnb and VRBO to be the ones that are collecting and remitting the hotel occupancy
tax. But why is every cleaning fee like a stinkin make ready fee? Like no one is moving
(19:24):
in there. Why is my cleaning fee three hundred dollars? I will tell you with somebody who
owned a short term. So we had a primary residence and short and a short term rental in Wimberley
and the S.T.R. that we would rent when we would have to have housekeeping come like my
fee was about eighty five bucks. OK. And then if you broke shit ruin shit, I replaced it.
(19:45):
You know, so we would charge, you know, about kind of a pass through with a 20 bucks more.
You were paying about a hundred dollar cleaning fee. Yeah. Otherwise, can you not just write
it into the contract? If you break something, we're going to charge you for the place.
But there's just normal wear and tear. Like I remember we had one renter that made me
want to just stop altogether. Oh, God. They had mixed sangria in this giant like igloo
(20:08):
cooler thingy that you see on job sites and apparently water, jelled it like the big ones
at Home Depot, the big orange one. Yeah. And apparently spilled it in the house and they
were trying to clean it with my white towels. So my white towels were red and orange. It
looked like a murder scene. And Keith Morrison was going to swing around the corner and lean
against the post with a leather jacket. It was looking gnarly. I was living. I mean,
(20:35):
I get it. It's risky. It's risky. But is the return even worth it? It was. Yeah. So that's
a trade off, right? So and then those that use a property management company, I'm like,
you know, when someone's using a property management company, because when you look
at the cost and then you get when you show up on site and you open the door, you're like,
(20:57):
what in the hell? Like this is not worth what we did it ourselves. And then we switched
to a property management company just because it was nice for us to be able to every once
in a while, something would happen on Airbnb that somehow somebody would double book and
you're like, oh, shit, you know, these guys are in from out of town. And so the first
couple of times that happened, I paid out of pocket for them to go find another place.
(21:18):
And then after that, I was like, we got to get with a property because at least that
way they can rehouse them in an available unit somewhere in their inventory. Yeah. And
they fixed a little onesie twosie things. It was all right. Sure. But like the cleaning
fees, honestly, what really needs to happen is they just need to raise the nightly rent
so that it covers some of that. And the cleaning fee is more of a nominal like 25 bucks. Yeah.
(21:39):
You know, flip fee. Yeah. But just raise the price of the nightly. But it's the same way
that airlines are doing right. Thirty nine dollars. But you're paying 85 bucks for your
bag. Yeah. I just remember the days where Airbnb was like a deal. Well, yeah. And there
was no fuss. Like if you when you look at the pictures, it didn't have to be this cutesy
cottage getaway. I do love that. But it was really just an alternative to the hotel that
(22:03):
was like, oh, we have a place to park our car in a driveway. And there's a patio if
you want to use it and like simple furnishings. No sweat. Little cheaper. Yeah. Nothing to
break. Nothing to worry about. Like nothing. So it was pretty sketch, though. Nothing
from like restoration hardware that's going to cost me two thousand dollars to to replace.
Yeah. Wayfair. You got just what I need. And yeah, all of that. So does Wal-Mart and Target.
(22:29):
My brother and his wife have built a cabin on their property in New Zealand. So if anyone
wants a place to stay in New Zealand, just let me know. Waipu on the North Island, a
couple of hours north of Auckland, right right near the beach. And they are collecting stories
of their Airbnb guests. And one of them, there's clearly a couple that's having an affair.
(22:50):
Oh, my God. This is great. I love it. I love it. But those hunter cams, like I used to
have like the wildlife cams on the trees outside. Yeah. I wonder how many of those Airbnbs have
creepo owners that have them like little pinhole cameras in the air vents. That is not my brother
and his wife. Dearie me. There was a documentary on a guy who owned a small kind of like a
(23:17):
Schitt's Creek motel situation. I love this. Yeah. And he actually was a voyeur. And I
think that's what's called Netflix. So he installed cameras in every single room. And
then kept video cassettes like a warehouse. It was just a voyeur. So now when I check
in, I got my little flashlight. I'm looking everywhere. I'm checking. You're gonna see
(23:41):
me brushing my teeth. I'm gonna know about it. So who's is your brother that lives in
say that again? My brother? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. New Zealand and he knows he's having locals
or yeah. So his his wife is the one that does the cleaning. And so I don't know what cleaning
fee they charge. But yeah, she said like they have this couple that's come back a few times
and they typically leave a mess everywhere. Jesus. She just leaves in separate cars. Yes,
(24:06):
exactly. I am here for the drama. I am definitely here for the drama. I love it so much. Oh
my goodness. All right, we'll switch over to fun facts with Fiona. What do you got for
us? Okay, so this time I decided to go with the theme of the text like opening and knowing
that we're in for God knows how many bills that are not going to get passed, but they
(24:28):
just do it for drama or whatever they're doing it for. And so I was focusing on trans kids
in sports, serious topic. And in December, the NCAA president Charlie Baker testified
before Congress and it was revealed get this this is how the percentage of kids who were
trans playing sports in the NCAA. Do you want to guess before I say what percentage I watched
(24:53):
that hearing so I'll let you all guess. So I watched that hearing it was good. One to
2% ready? 0.002. Yeah, yeah. We're talking about out of 510,000 athletes. They know less
than 10. That's less than 10. That's just the NCAA. Yes. Less than 10 less than 10.
(25:21):
And also, so you could just say barely over five could roll in so many fun facts. Okay,
so trans people have been allowed to play sports in the Olympics since 2004. They've
now been changing the rules because oh my god, people have discovered trans people exist.
But if trans people could compete in sports in the Olympics since 2004, the only person
that has ever won a medal is Quinn who's trans non binary and is on a soccer team. Like no
(25:47):
other trans people have ever won medals. Yeah. And so it's just absolutely ludicrous and
just stoking people's like fear and lack of knowledge of how many zeros be trans 0.002.
Wow. And all this kerfuffle all this kerfuffle all this noise on on the state legislature
(26:10):
every year or every session, all the noise of the national level, all the noise on certain
secular news programs that shouldn't remain unnamed foxy piece of shit. Like that whole
that whole side of it is just they've made money has become a financial complex of fundraising
is all it has really become because what percentage like 96% of the bills don't pass anyway. Is
(26:33):
that correct? Yeah. Like because you I remember you said something bills every session that
are filed and of that about like a thousand make it through and of that thousand like
half of them probably end up in court. Yeah. It's just it's just ridiculous. All the big
fuss about it's all about fear and fundraising off of fear. Yeah. It's really sad. Yeah.
(26:54):
It's hitting the most marginalized. Yep. Yes. And speaking of that, you can go to Austin
LGBT chamber dot com slash advocacy to read through our legislative agenda. Yes, you can.
Thanks for getting that up. We will be at the pink down the session again if you're
interested in advocacy work never done it before we will we will put you under our wing,
(27:16):
our rainbow wing and teach you what you need to know. Definitely get engaged and involved.
We have to look out for our emails coming this session as well. What other fun ways
can people get engaged involved in the ZChambell? We have a rainbow ribbon cutting tonight.
You all can join us at Voltex physical therapy for their grand opening. The grand opening
(27:41):
celebration starts at five and the ribbon cutting will be promptly at six o'clock. Lovely.
Yeah. There is an RSVP for that event on our website. You can also volunteer or register
for our happy hour on January twenty third. This happy hour sponsored by just works and
we will be at ACL lives brand new PNC Hall. Super fun. I'm ready for that one. Free light
(28:09):
bites free drink. Free free free free free free and a brand new remodel. I haven't seen
it yet. I'm kind of holding out even though I can see it from our office window. Yeah.
And there's a bunch of cars lined up there yesterday. Yeah, they are. It looks like Toyota
is doing some kind of some kind of fun thing down there. So that's for me to stay away.
(28:29):
Why are we not there? Let's go. We will go when it is happy hour time. Amy, talk to us
about our members. What do you got for us? We have three new members. Yeah. Since the
last time you heard us on the podcast, one line wellness is the place to check out for
(28:53):
chiropractic care. Welcome to the chamber. Crack your bones. Oh, yeah. Those videos are
wild. I go down such a rabbit hole. I can't. Oh, I can't. I cannot. Can't hope rising
pelvic health is another one. You know, to treat your pelvic pain, which is a real thing.
(29:18):
It was when my kids were little. Woman owned establishment. Welcome to the chamber. And
then another small town big pride member. Plum Creek records and tapes and Lockhart.
Welcome to the chamber. Love records and tapes, records and tapes. OK. You asked, I think
(29:38):
on the last pod was last time I bought a record. Yeah, we are into our records. We actually
have so best little wine and books. Another small town big pride member. They have a B.Y.O.V.
Bring your own vinyl. Oh, that's slick. Mossimo will will be there and Alex will be spinning
the vinyls that you bring into the shop. So you can buy them at Plum Creek Records. Our
(30:01):
neighbor, he's always playing vinyls, but he's a musician here in town. So I think he likes
that sound and that purity of it. I love it. I mean, I finally got some of my equipment
hooked up in my new house and man, I got I got a stack of vinyls that I've been listening
through, like just plowing through them. So like I don't trust myself. Carol King's at
the top of the stack right now. Oh, well, tapestry. Yeah, definitely. Just melt. I'll
(30:25):
melt into my couch and be like, this is this is what living looks like. I should bring
my hits five vinyl for you. Heck yeah. That's one of the first vinyls I got. I will buy
one every now and then, but I do not have a player. I just like them. They just sit
(30:45):
there. Fascinating. You just hold them up to your ears. Oh, where are they currently?
Do you have them on display or? The cats are using them part time. Do you use them as like
dinner plates, like little charger plates? Do you know what a charger plate is? It's
the plate that your plate sits on. Yeah, very good. Debbie Taunt's coming out. Debbie Taunt.
(31:06):
Yeah, so welcome. One Line Wellness, Hope Rising Pelvic Health and Plum Creek Records
and Tapes to the Chamber. We can't wait to hang out with you. Let's do a rainbow ribbon
cuttings. They are the best. Heck yeah. Nobody else has rainbow ribbon and scissors in this
town but us. You want a rainbow ribbon cuttings? Do you remember the Aunt Chippy video that
(31:31):
I showed y'all? This was not this last. Is it Kimmel's aunt or something? Yeah. She's
like, give us this is a very, very East Coast accent. Loved it so much. Oh my goodness. Well,
on that note, thank you all for joining us. Be sure to follow our show on anywhere you
(31:54):
get your podcast. If you want to know more about what's happening, visit awesome lgbtchamber.com.
If you want to be a guest or a sponsor, email us at info at awesome lgbtchamber.com. As
always, we thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.
Welcome to the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce podcast. I'm Tina Cannon, your host and CEO
(00:16):
of the Chamber. On today's pod, we're going to talk about local business news. And in
the headlines this week, light rail is happening again in Austin, finally. And then ready,
set, legislate. The 89th legislative session is open. What it means for you and the city
is outlining proposed code changes to regulate short term rentals. We'll be back. Howdy
(00:46):
all. I'm joined, of course, with Amy Colton and Fiona. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hey y'all.
She's Texan. I've been fixing to become Texan a long time. My favorite words. I grew up
(01:14):
on the West Coast when I was younger, much younger. And we would say, oh, yeah, it was
a finna go to the store. I finna go here. I get finna go there. And then when I moved,
when I was driving into Texas to meet a friend of mine, she's like, well, just pull over
at a gas station and give me a call. This is like pre cell phone days kind of world.
(01:34):
And so I was like, okay, I'll pull over. And she goes, where you at? And I said, I'm at
a finish station. She grew up with me. She's like, are you going to be at the station or
I'm like, no, the station is called Fila. I'm at a gas station. Yeah. I'm finna get some
gas. Yes. Well, how's everybody? Yeah, pretty good. Yeah. You should be pretty freaking
(01:56):
good. No, sorry. What? Start a job two weeks before the holidays and then bugger off on
a vacation in January. It's kind of like the perfect start. It really demonstrated to me
your negotiation skills in the interview. Like, like, I could start, but I already have
(02:18):
a vacation plan. So there we go. But the levels of guilt I was feeling, you know, I was raised
Catholic, so I did feel really guilty. And I felt the shame. I did like, and then I nearly
was going to cancel or tell my friends I couldn't go. But then I felt guilty about letting them
down and then I felt guilty about letting y'all go. I'm sure you felt very guilty. I
(02:38):
felt guilty. Joining the team meeting with a pool in your background. I know. And then
I sipped a margarita or five. That's okay. She did every hour. She did like she's supposed
to though. She brought us back booze. I did. I realized like from day one that chocolate
was not the right choice. Yeah, you're still working on yours. That was a teeny tiny baby
(02:58):
sip. Yeah, I've got a tickle in my throat. I'm afraid if I drink it, it'll either heal
all. Maybe, maybe so we'll see. Well, we're glad you're back for many levels, but also
glad you're back for the fun facts with Fiona that we'll do here in a little bit. But let's
take a look at some local headlines. So the light rail is finally happening. It is back
(03:21):
on the draft plan, technically known as a bunch of noise that happened with the FTA
was submitted. All the things happen. All the I's got dotted and the T's got crossed,
but it was back from the transit plan that was approved by the voters back in 2020. Since
then, as you know, if you're a loyal listener, a bunch of curmudgeon's got in the way and
(03:42):
sued a couple of times, wound this thing up in court, spent a bunch of money that we didn't
need to have. And so but we are we're good to go. Of course, the curmudgeon's will be
back in an email. One of those curmudgeon's wrote that he's going to try it again. He's
going to, of course, make some more noise this time at the FTA to see if he can't stop
(04:04):
the bun boondoggles as he calls it. I mean, he's just one of those old guys is just like,
get off my lawn. Oh, my. What is a boondoggle? Oh, boondoggle is when you have nothing else
to call something. I call it a boondoggle. And then people go, oh, is that what it is?
Yeah, it was my local hot back home. It's called a boondoggle. It's called boondoggles
(04:24):
pub. That's a better use of the word. And we looked it up. And I forget it is like a
it's like a space that is it's a it's a structure or a thing or whatever that takes up space.
It's like has no function. Yeah, as opposed to a rail line that will actually move people
like he thinks he thinks that this is basically what he's saying is it's has no function and
(04:45):
it's useless. Right. That is asinine. I kind of want to do like a snide Lee. What were
those old cartoons where they would tie somebody to the track and quickly run run off and then
adjust their mustaches and run back? We can do this. This sounds fun. You know, there's
loads of rails in Austin still that are exposed that go nowhere. Perfect. Like over by St.
(05:10):
Elmo's. They've got the old rail line that's been like paved over in sections, but they
left the rest exposed. Oh, I can't wait for this. There's you're all invited. Austin public
Austin Transit Partnership is hosting four different public meetings this month. You can
find out more at their website. Also, our friends over at the actually has had a random
(05:31):
story on this. So you can look for the proposed meeting dates if you have any comments. Of
course, this rail line has pretty much been decided where it's going to go. It will start
downtown ish kind of bleeding off the existing line and it'll run up kind of where most the
student body and younger population is along West Campus up to about 45th. I think it stops,
(05:52):
but they've got some real rendering so you can see what the proposed line is going to
look like, what the experience will look like that rendering with the people on the train
with downtown in the background. It made me so happy. You look like like the happiest
place on earth. I need to check this out because I am now curious to what degree of accessibility
(06:14):
for people with disabilities, people using mobility devices to get around. You're going
to have the ease of using this. It will be easy because it has to as part of the in order
for them to have pulled down federal grants. Okay, so about half of the projects paid with
FTA dollars and the other half is paid by the local penny tax that we did her back in
2020. Yeah, that will be so cool to know. I had a weekend with a friend who lives, excuse
(06:39):
me, who gets around using a mobility device like a scooter. We did a weekend in Denver
to see what it was like to be able to use public transportation and yeah, oh my gosh,
we had some challenges. You know, there's a lot like, like in the vein with that, with
the new developments, housing developments that are going up. And have you seen how like
short the driveways are? No, the ones that perplex me are the ones that are like at a
(07:01):
42 degree angle. Oh yeah. Coming out the front where you like break a sweat trying to walk
up 10 feet of your driveway, drop your can of soup. You're like, ah, screw it. So I,
yeah, you fall backwards and crack your head all the time. But I also have a friend who
like uses a scooter to get around and you can't park a sedan in these driveways and
(07:24):
not block the sidewalk. Oh yeah. And so when she tries to like go out, just get some fresh
air. That's no good. And it's because the sidewalk is on the, the, what's that called?
The right of way for the city. It's easement. It's easement. That's the word I'm looking
for. Like it's not your place. It's not your, it's not your property. Yeah. It's not your
property. You can put all the decor and decorations and stuff on the side. Make it look nice.
(07:45):
Sure. But know that the city, county where it needs to come through, like they're going
to come through and make, you know, clean up whatever pipes they need to. I say it starts
laughing people with tickets, like just for my friend. And I like, I don't know, it sucks,
but yeah, to your point, it'd be interesting to see what we've got. Yeah. Planned. We will
be mindful about that. We'll be on it. Yeah. The current line that's got, that runs right
now from downtown out to McCalla is what the route I always take, although it goes further
(08:08):
than that. Completely mobility accessible. What I don't know is if it has, I don't know
from the visibility side. So I know like there's, there's boards that say when you're coming
in and going where you're going, how far you have, how many stops, of course, wheelchair
access for the doors and seating. But I don't know what it does for somebody who's visually
(08:31):
impaired. I don't know what that experience would look like. No pun intended. Yeah. We'll
look into it. Yeah. Cause they don't pull back. Cause I don't think that they say like,
you know, stop number four. I don't think there's an audio, like an audible sound coming
from it. There's gotta be dings or something. Right. It's just really loud when I'm on it
(08:51):
going to the, to the soccer matches. That's what I was trying to think of too. Screaming.
Yeah. Yeah. Cause public transportation should make getting around easier for everyone, especially
with accessibility. And I'm here for it. I think this is great. Yeah. We had a speaker
at our luncheon this week. It was from the Austin Transit Partnership and was loads of
(09:14):
information for our attendees. So you, if we were not making yourself available to these
chamber luncheons, you're missing out on some really juicy details or as my curmudgeon friend
calls it boondoggle. Aleshire, Aleshire, the agitator he is called. That is like his, I
think he's just embodied it as his identity now. He just sees the city all the time. The
(09:34):
neat thing is he loses the vast majority of the time. So that's good. It just costs us
time and money, you know, boondoggle. He's like one of those that like skim both thumbs
when he, when he thinks he's really making his point. Like both. Yeah. I don't think
that's a finger he's using. Both thumbs.
(09:55):
Speaking of curmudgeons, the Texas legislature opened this week. The 89th session has begun
and they are coming out swinging on school vouchers, immigrations, women's health, gender
discrimination. Oh my, it's going to be a session to remember. Expect socially conservative
legislation such as reclassifying abortion drugs. Also as controlled substances. Who
(10:18):
knew? And expanding restrictions on sex education, furthering rules on gender in schools and
sports as the legislature moves a little further to the right following the November elections.
Governor Abbott appears to have the votes he needs to pass legislation that provide
for the vouchers. He tried this, what, the last two sessions to get vouchers through
and he thinks he's got the votes nowadays. The budget, there is a surplus yet again,
(10:43):
perhaps they could focus on that this year, perchance. And of course school funding and
border are going to be top top subjects. If you live in Austin, you're very familiar with
recapture. If you're a property owner, recapture is about 42 or 48% of every, every sense of
every dollar that you pay in school taxes goes back to the state. And then they redistribute
(11:04):
that to communities that need it. Right, so the whole Robin Hood recapture. But the problem
is like our schools here in Austin are failing so bad that we now had to run our own bond
so that we could subsidize the schools that we have here in town. But it's an unfortunate
system to recapture. I think it had a time and a place. I think it's over. But if they
(11:24):
would focus on the budget surplus, focus on what they need to do at the border, right?
I'm a first generation American. My mother was an immigrant, right? There's a way to
get here. You got an immigrant sitting right here too. Yeah, we need everybody to be a
part of the global economy that is the United States economy. This should not be hard. It's
(11:45):
very simple math. And it is like something that is driven into you, me being a public
administration student. Okay. And Poli Sci has to take this. We all have to take finance.
If you're in the Poli Sci department, you have to take finance and accounting. It's
simple math. And when you see those little parentheses, you got a problem. Yeah, you
(12:08):
got a real problem. What do you mean? Like when you have a deficit. Oh, okay. So like,
just allocate things appropriately, right? Am I on the budget? Yeah, on the budget. Like
budget. The budget is so simple. Or use the funds for what people want you to use them
for. I don't know our failing electricity grid. There's a load of people who sit in
(12:33):
a planning meeting to go over this. I mean, buy some foam noodles and wrap some shit up.
Yes. Spend it. Spend it please somewhere. Yeah. Cause you just said we've got a surplus.
Yeah. Okay. So what would we spend it on? What would we spend it on? I'm a huge proponent.
Spend money to make money. Reliability in the grid. Not only is it for the individual taxpayer
(12:57):
and to have reliance at home, but imagine if you've got medical devices that you were
relying on for your health and wellbeing and to survive. But also as companies are looking
into Texas, which is one of the greatest economies in the world, right? Especially when we're
talking about these big fabrications, whether it be chip manufacturing that is now being
reshored or it's battery production now that's happening out in Bastrop, access to critical
(13:20):
infrastructure, whether it be water or utilities is enormous in their decision making, whether
or not they choose to be here in Austin or in Texas in general. Spend it to thrive. I
say like that's how you can't go wrong with infrastructure. You just can't go wrong with
infrastructure. Well, we'll see how we go next week. When we, when it gets, we know
how it's going to go. It's going to be the rainbow bashing. Yeah. All my plants are already
(13:44):
inside. That's great. They're going to spend 18 degrees. I think is the 18 is a low 25,
25. Yeah. 20 something is a high low low low. Yeah. Which is like minus nine or something
way down there by the South pole in Lockhart though. So there you go. Yeah. Last I checked
it was like 15, 18. We've got listeners like all over the U S in the globe that tune in
(14:08):
because I go through and nerd out and look at all the data. Like my dad, who are probably
like listening to us going, what a bunch of wankers. Yeah, I know. I know. It's, it's
real cold. It's fine. I did read something really sweet happened in the chamber on the
opening text led to opening this week. Apparently a Texas rep, Venton Jones from Dallas popped
(14:30):
the question to Gregory Scott jr. On Tuesday, right before the lawmakers were set to be
sworn in the gays are unleashed. So cute. I bet that I wonder how the relaying like
the queer folk everywhere. The whole capital agenda. Yeah, it's working. I mean, my wife
and I were married there. It is our wedding venue. We do have a special affinity toward
(14:55):
the state cap 2015. The first lesbian couple married in the capital. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Well,
who else who followed you? Who's who's a close first? Do you know who they are? The right
after us? Yeah, there was a actually is a local Austin guys in government relations
and I cannot think of his name and he's probably listening and he'll ring me and let me know.
But he and his husband were married. The lines are open. Please give us a call. 512-761 LGBT.
(15:21):
Did you know that? Yes. It's so cute. It is super cute. I don't know who managed to get
that phone number for us years ago. I'm just gonna give CC all the credit for doing that.
I'm sure she had something to do with that. Well, the city is outlining proposed Cochran
(15:41):
code changes to regulate short term rental rentals. Wow. That's that tequila hit. All
right. Some shit's going down with short term rentals. We've had this come up years ago.
I remember that I worked back in City Hall back in the days when short term rental plans
were changed and overhauled. So doing another overhaul. The idea is to discuss the different
(16:02):
amendments to manage the industry and ultimately collect the hotel occupancy tax from the more
than 10,000 short term rentals believed to be operating in the area. The changes are
going to be hearings for this on February 4th, 11th and 27th. So that if you have a
short term rental or you live next to one, you can make your voices heard. But the idea
(16:22):
is to allow the short term rentals to be used in accessory dwelling units which are now larger
in the city and available much due to the home initiative. But ultimately we want to
be able to know who's doing them and make sure that we are collecting the taxes from
them and they are abiding by all of the rules that everybody else is. I don't know. I've
(16:46):
just split the difference on short term rentals like how I feel about them. A, I'm a personal
property rights person. Right. It's my dirt. My dirt. It's my dirt. And I hear that. I
hear that. As long as I'm not being obtrusive or too loud or obnoxious, it's my dirt. But
(17:06):
we have a short term rental that's in our neighborhood. And I've heard some horror stories
having been working at City Hall of houses that are purchased by investors and they're
just party houses. And so I get that. I get there is a fine line of when it's too far
when it's no longer a neighborhood. I think there could be a caveat. Like we have a rule
(17:27):
in Lockhart where you're grandfathered in, you can have a rental on your property in
an ADU as long as you live in one of the dwellings. If you live there, you should be able to have
a short term rental. I think. And that's one of the big changes now that accessory dwelling
units kind of those grandmother lots are now more available through the new code changes.
(17:49):
You will have a primary resident living there, but you could rent out your back house. What
I will say like Lockhart, Fredericksburg, all these like hot shot towns that are up
and coming, we are now faced with a housing crisis. Right. And these houses need to be
rented long term. And so it's it sucks when you see all these empty houses and people
(18:13):
are having to leave town. They're having to move south. They're moving to Martindale or
they're moving to Gonzalez or they're moving like Luling because those towns aren't on
the map. I mean, they are, but they're not really on the map yet for destination. Yeah.
Yeah. I like the owner occupied accessory dwelling unit as an option for the short term
rentals in neighborhoods. I'm not a big fan of the I bought a house to use it as a full
(18:37):
time short term rental rental because it's really just a hotel at that point. And that
becomes a nuisance. And you're like we live by Zilker. So we know that technically like
we're not supposed to use any of our condos for short term rentals in our H.O.A. rules.
But people do. People do. And as long as nobody's being a dick about it, like just just just
live and let live. Yeah. But it'll be interesting how much they go up with hot tax being added
(19:01):
to that. Yeah. And now they're going to ask. So before it was the homeowner that that had
to collect the tax and remit to the city. So now the changes that they are asking organizations
like the Airbnb and VRBO to be the ones that are collecting and remitting the hotel occupancy
tax. But why is every cleaning fee like a stinkin make ready fee? Like no one is moving
(19:24):
in there. Why is my cleaning fee three hundred dollars? I will tell you with somebody who
owned a short term. So we had a primary residence and short and a short term rental in Wimberley
and the S.T.R. that we would rent when we would have to have housekeeping come like my
fee was about eighty five bucks. OK. And then if you broke shit ruin shit, I replaced it.
(19:45):
You know, so we would charge, you know, about kind of a pass through with a 20 bucks more.
You were paying about a hundred dollar cleaning fee. Yeah. Otherwise, can you not just write
it into the contract? If you break something, we're going to charge you for the place.
But there's just normal wear and tear. Like I remember we had one renter that made me
want to just stop altogether. Oh, God. They had mixed sangria in this giant like igloo
(20:08):
cooler thingy that you see on job sites and apparently water, jelled it like the big ones
at Home Depot, the big orange one. Yeah. And apparently spilled it in the house and they
were trying to clean it with my white towels. So my white towels were red and orange. It
looked like a murder scene. And Keith Morrison was going to swing around the corner and lean
against the post with a leather jacket. It was looking gnarly. I was living. I mean,
(20:35):
I get it. It's risky. It's risky. But is the return even worth it? It was. Yeah. So that's
a trade off, right? So and then those that use a property management company, I'm like,
you know, when someone's using a property management company, because when you look
at the cost and then you get when you show up on site and you open the door, you're like,
(20:57):
what in the hell? Like this is not worth what we did it ourselves. And then we switched
to a property management company just because it was nice for us to be able to every once
in a while, something would happen on Airbnb that somehow somebody would double book and
you're like, oh, shit, you know, these guys are in from out of town. And so the first
couple of times that happened, I paid out of pocket for them to go find another place.
(21:18):
And then after that, I was like, we got to get with a property because at least that
way they can rehouse them in an available unit somewhere in their inventory. Yeah. And
they fixed a little onesie twosie things. It was all right. Sure. But like the cleaning
fees, honestly, what really needs to happen is they just need to raise the nightly rent
so that it covers some of that. And the cleaning fee is more of a nominal like 25 bucks. Yeah.
(21:39):
You know, flip fee. Yeah. But just raise the price of the nightly. But it's the same way
that airlines are doing right. Thirty nine dollars. But you're paying 85 bucks for your
bag. Yeah. I just remember the days where Airbnb was like a deal. Well, yeah. And there
was no fuss. Like if you when you look at the pictures, it didn't have to be this cutesy
cottage getaway. I do love that. But it was really just an alternative to the hotel that
(22:03):
was like, oh, we have a place to park our car in a driveway. And there's a patio if
you want to use it and like simple furnishings. No sweat. Little cheaper. Yeah. Nothing to
break. Nothing to worry about. Like nothing. So it was pretty sketch, though. Nothing
from like restoration hardware that's going to cost me two thousand dollars to to replace.
Yeah. Wayfair. You got just what I need. And yeah, all of that. So does Wal-Mart and Target.
(22:29):
My brother and his wife have built a cabin on their property in New Zealand. So if anyone
wants a place to stay in New Zealand, just let me know. Waipu on the North Island, a
couple of hours north of Auckland, right right near the beach. And they are collecting stories
of their Airbnb guests. And one of them, there's clearly a couple that's having an affair.
(22:50):
Oh, my God. This is great. I love it. I love it. But those hunter cams, like I used to
have like the wildlife cams on the trees outside. Yeah. I wonder how many of those Airbnbs have
creepo owners that have them like little pinhole cameras in the air vents. That is not my brother
and his wife. Dearie me. There was a documentary on a guy who owned a small kind of like a
(23:17):
Schitt's Creek motel situation. I love this. Yeah. And he actually was a voyeur. And I
think that's what's called Netflix. So he installed cameras in every single room. And
then kept video cassettes like a warehouse. It was just a voyeur. So now when I check
in, I got my little flashlight. I'm looking everywhere. I'm checking. You're gonna see
(23:41):
me brushing my teeth. I'm gonna know about it. So who's is your brother that lives in
say that again? My brother? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. New Zealand and he knows he's having locals
or yeah. So his his wife is the one that does the cleaning. And so I don't know what cleaning
fee they charge. But yeah, she said like they have this couple that's come back a few times
and they typically leave a mess everywhere. Jesus. She just leaves in separate cars. Yes,
(24:06):
exactly. I am here for the drama. I am definitely here for the drama. I love it so much. Oh
my goodness. All right, we'll switch over to fun facts with Fiona. What do you got for
us? Okay, so this time I decided to go with the theme of the text like opening and knowing
that we're in for God knows how many bills that are not going to get passed, but they
(24:28):
just do it for drama or whatever they're doing it for. And so I was focusing on trans kids
in sports, serious topic. And in December, the NCAA president Charlie Baker testified
before Congress and it was revealed get this this is how the percentage of kids who were
trans playing sports in the NCAA. Do you want to guess before I say what percentage I watched
(24:53):
that hearing so I'll let you all guess. So I watched that hearing it was good. One to
2% ready? 0.002. Yeah, yeah. We're talking about out of 510,000 athletes. They know less
than 10. That's less than 10. That's just the NCAA. Yes. Less than 10 less than 10.
(25:21):
And also, so you could just say barely over five could roll in so many fun facts. Okay,
so trans people have been allowed to play sports in the Olympics since 2004. They've
now been changing the rules because oh my god, people have discovered trans people exist.
But if trans people could compete in sports in the Olympics since 2004, the only person
that has ever won a medal is Quinn who's trans non binary and is on a soccer team. Like no
(25:47):
other trans people have ever won medals. Yeah. And so it's just absolutely ludicrous and
just stoking people's like fear and lack of knowledge of how many zeros be trans 0.002.
Wow. And all this kerfuffle all this kerfuffle all this noise on on the state legislature
(26:10):
every year or every session, all the noise of the national level, all the noise on certain
secular news programs that shouldn't remain unnamed foxy piece of shit. Like that whole
that whole side of it is just they've made money has become a financial complex of fundraising
is all it has really become because what percentage like 96% of the bills don't pass anyway. Is
(26:33):
that correct? Yeah. Like because you I remember you said something bills every session that
are filed and of that about like a thousand make it through and of that thousand like
half of them probably end up in court. Yeah. It's just it's just ridiculous. All the big
fuss about it's all about fear and fundraising off of fear. Yeah. It's really sad. Yeah.
(26:54):
It's hitting the most marginalized. Yep. Yes. And speaking of that, you can go to Austin
LGBT chamber dot com slash advocacy to read through our legislative agenda. Yes, you can.
Thanks for getting that up. We will be at the pink down the session again if you're
interested in advocacy work never done it before we will we will put you under our wing,
(27:16):
our rainbow wing and teach you what you need to know. Definitely get engaged and involved.
We have to look out for our emails coming this session as well. What other fun ways
can people get engaged involved in the ZChambell? We have a rainbow ribbon cutting tonight.
You all can join us at Voltex physical therapy for their grand opening. The grand opening
(27:41):
celebration starts at five and the ribbon cutting will be promptly at six o'clock. Lovely.
Yeah. There is an RSVP for that event on our website. You can also volunteer or register
for our happy hour on January twenty third. This happy hour sponsored by just works and
we will be at ACL lives brand new PNC Hall. Super fun. I'm ready for that one. Free light
(28:09):
bites free drink. Free free free free free free and a brand new remodel. I haven't seen
it yet. I'm kind of holding out even though I can see it from our office window. Yeah.
And there's a bunch of cars lined up there yesterday. Yeah, they are. It looks like Toyota
is doing some kind of some kind of fun thing down there. So that's for me to stay away.
(28:29):
Why are we not there? Let's go. We will go when it is happy hour time. Amy, talk to us
about our members. What do you got for us? We have three new members. Yeah. Since the
last time you heard us on the podcast, one line wellness is the place to check out for
(28:53):
chiropractic care. Welcome to the chamber. Crack your bones. Oh, yeah. Those videos are
wild. I go down such a rabbit hole. I can't. Oh, I can't. I cannot. Can't hope rising
pelvic health is another one. You know, to treat your pelvic pain, which is a real thing.
(29:18):
It was when my kids were little. Woman owned establishment. Welcome to the chamber. And
then another small town big pride member. Plum Creek records and tapes and Lockhart.
Welcome to the chamber. Love records and tapes, records and tapes. OK. You asked, I think
(29:38):
on the last pod was last time I bought a record. Yeah, we are into our records. We actually
have so best little wine and books. Another small town big pride member. They have a B.Y.O.V.
Bring your own vinyl. Oh, that's slick. Mossimo will will be there and Alex will be spinning
the vinyls that you bring into the shop. So you can buy them at Plum Creek Records. Our
(30:01):
neighbor, he's always playing vinyls, but he's a musician here in town. So I think he likes
that sound and that purity of it. I love it. I mean, I finally got some of my equipment
hooked up in my new house and man, I got I got a stack of vinyls that I've been listening
through, like just plowing through them. So like I don't trust myself. Carol King's at
the top of the stack right now. Oh, well, tapestry. Yeah, definitely. Just melt. I'll
(30:25):
melt into my couch and be like, this is this is what living looks like. I should bring
my hits five vinyl for you. Heck yeah. That's one of the first vinyls I got. I will buy
one every now and then, but I do not have a player. I just like them. They just sit
(30:45):
there. Fascinating. You just hold them up to your ears. Oh, where are they currently?
Do you have them on display or? The cats are using them part time. Do you use them as like
dinner plates, like little charger plates? Do you know what a charger plate is? It's
the plate that your plate sits on. Yeah, very good. Debbie Taunt's coming out. Debbie Taunt.
(31:06):
Yeah, so welcome. One Line Wellness, Hope Rising Pelvic Health and Plum Creek Records
and Tapes to the Chamber. We can't wait to hang out with you. Let's do a rainbow ribbon
cuttings. They are the best. Heck yeah. Nobody else has rainbow ribbon and scissors in this
town but us. You want a rainbow ribbon cuttings? Do you remember the Aunt Chippy video that
(31:31):
I showed y'all? This was not this last. Is it Kimmel's aunt or something? Yeah. She's
like, give us this is a very, very East Coast accent. Loved it so much. Oh my goodness. Well,
on that note, thank you all for joining us. Be sure to follow our show on anywhere you
(31:54):
get your podcast. If you want to know more about what's happening, visit awesome lgbtchamber.com.
If you want to be a guest or a sponsor, email us at info at awesome lgbtchamber.com. As
always, we thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.
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