Item 16: Back to Boyhood Alley! Shall we name the alley after the film, Boyhood?
Jane Hughson still thinks Boyhood Alley sounds dirty, which still cracks me up. She offers up an amendment. “How about Boyhood Film Alley”? she offers.
Saul Gonzalez likes it.
Max points out that “Boyhood Film Alley” sounds even dirtier than whatever someone is misconstruing Boyhood Alley to be.
Jane concedes this point, and backpedals from “Boyhood Film Alley” to “Boyhood, the Movie Alley”, which is hilariously clunky. We’re almost in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series territory for winky-awkward names. How about “Boyhood, the Movie, Not the Porno, the Alley”? I’m here for it!
The vote on “Boyhood, the Movie, the Alley”:
Yes: Jane Hughson and Saul Gonzalez
No: All the councilmembers under 60 years old
So it fails.
Should we call it Boyhood Alley?
The vote on just plain “Boyhood Alley”
Yes: Everyone except Jane.
No: Jane
I will say this for Jane: she takes defeat in good humor. She merrily says, “It’s not the first time I’ve lost a vote in public!” and shrugs it off.
…..
Item 27: Library fines will go away! This was fast and unanimous.
Item 36: Eco-friendly burials are now going to be allowed at San Marcos cemeteries.
People are just dying to have them!
(Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.)
…
Items 28-29: We’re going to trade some land with Texas State, right at Sessom and Loquat. Trying to get a map of what’s going on is a disaster, because they didn’t include it in the packet, but here’s where we’re talking about:
So if you’re driving west on Sessom, then Loquat Street is on your right while campus is on your left.
I am not sure I’ve ever been on Loquat before, but I’d better check it out soon, because they’re closing it, as part of this deal. Jane Hughson was kind of bummed out about closing it, since it makes a useful shortcut.
Google streetview tells me it looks like this:
which is probably why I’ve never ended up on it.
So, we’re giving Loquat street to Texas State, and they’re closing it down. In exchange, they’re giving us some land along Canyon Road, which we’re using to stabilize Sessom Creek without polluting it.
Would you like to see a good map of what’s going on? So would I. Unfortunately, the presentation was not included in the packet, so I only have a screenshot of it:
City council videos are the WORST quality. I mean, seriously. Sessom is running along the bottom of the diagram here.
- The thick red line is Loquat Street, which we’re giving to Texas State.
- Green is the land along Canyon, which Texas State is giving to the city.
- Blue is staying as the city property
- Yellow is fragile environmentally
So, what is Texas State planning on doing in that big red area? NOBODY ASKED.
Here’s the problem: Texas State University does not have to follow city flood mitigation rules. In our land development code, we have a million rules about floods: limits on impervious cover, catching run-off water, water quality treatment zones, flood zones, recharge zones, and on and on. Texas State follows exactly ZERO of it. By state law, Texas State University does not have to give one whit about city ordinances.
This is insanely sensitive land, and it drains directly into Sessom Creek. It’s uphill from most of the entire city. It should not be paved and it should not be developed. In fact, this is more-or-less where there was a huge fight circa 2013, when a developer wanted to build apartment complexes around there. It’s a TERRIBLE SPOT to build.
Some more googling tells me that the blue part below is owned by the city, called the Sessom Creek Natural Area:
I assume that blue part is staying put. But what about the other side of Loquat?
I am extremely worried that Texas State is going to put dorms or something high intensity on it. There is nothing in the council packet, and no one asked. We just gave them the final piece they needed.
Maybe I’m wrong! But maybe this is a big fucking disaster and we just waltzed into it.
The San Marxist 