Redford for Green Spaces

Here's how Robert Redford championed a natural Barton Springs

Robert Redford at a press conference near Barton Springs

Robert Redford spoke out against development that would harm Barton Springs and even led a ballot initiative.

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Austinites are remembering actor Robert Redford, who died in Utah on Tuesday morning at the age of 89. While the Hollywood legend grew up in southern California, he had deep ties to Central Texas.

Redford learned to swim at Barton Springs during childhood summers spent visiting his mother’s side of the family in Austin and San Marcos.

“I remember very clearly the first time I went in, about five years old,” Redford recalled while speaking to reporters outside of Barton Springs in the early 1990s. “I think I had a subliminal understanding of what cardiac arrest was. I certainly knew what cold was.”

At that time, Redford was campaigning in support of the Save Our Springs Alliance’s efforts to limit harmful development.

“One of the things he always said was, ‘You have to make it personal,’” said Bill Bunch, executive director of Save Our Springs Alliance, during an interview with KVUE on Tuesday.

Bunch led that ballot initiative, called the Save Our Springs Ordinance, which Austin voters approved in 1992.

“The flows and the quality remain threatened, but the waters remain incredibly beautiful and safe for swimming and for aquatic life in significant part because of his work,” Bunch said.

Redford was also an executive producer of the 2007 documentary The Unforeseen, which chronicled the battle over Barton Springs.

He stopped in Austin to promote its release.

“It’s a very special film for me,” he told reporters during that visit.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

barton springs celebrities environment activism civic issues history

income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major cities like Austin, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Austin — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Central Texas, however, is slightly more expensive. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $24,118 to raise a child in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family