November 6th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Hoo-boy. We’ve had a big election and a little council meeting.  Let’s dig in.

The Little Meeting: It was only 50 minutes long.

Hours 0:00 – 0:50: Parking bans by the river, the new HEB, and more.

Bonus! 3 pm workshops: We’ve got $250K of Covid money left, and time is running out.

The Big Election:

Nationally: I’ve got the same grim despair as you do.  There are a lot of people whose lives will be harder, sicker, poorer, and more abused because of this shit-for-brains president-elect. 

I feel hopeless, but not helpless.  American voters have revealed what they are, but there’s still work to be done. So as shitty as it is out there, we can compartmentalize and work on San Marcos. 

Onto the local scene: 

  • Mayor: As you’ve probably heard, Jane Hughson won re-election.  This will be her 4th term – she’s won in 2018, 2020, 2022, and now in 2024.  This means she’s term-limited, and the mayor will be an open seat in 2026.
  • Place 6: Amanda Rodriguez won Place 6!  I’m so glad.  We’re starting to get a progressive bloc up there that can actually win votes.
  • Place 5: Lorenzo Gonzalez and Roland Saucedo are headed to a run-off. Here’s how it shook out: 

That is extremely close. All you can conclude is:
– Lorenzo did a little better than the rest, and Atom did a little worse.
– Roland got a little lucky. and Griffin got a little unlucky.

The run-off: Saturday, December 14th.

I’m backing Lorenzo Gonzalez in the run-off election! His main message has been to be available and responsive to people, redirect more money towards mental health, and focus on housing.

Listen: After I posted my candidate write-up, people came out of the woodwork to warn me that Roland Saucedo is super problematic.  The formal documentation is limited – mostly this and this – but sufficiently many people are telling me a consistent story about his disregard for others. It’s troubling.

If you ever wanted your vote to count extra, a local runoff election is your sweet spot. Barely anyone will show up, and it can easily be decided by 50 votes. Or 15 votes. Or even 5!

Leave a comment