Category: Meetings

August 20th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Council races get exciting! We have a five hour meeting! So much to talk about, guys.

First: Last Tuesday’s meeting:

Hours 0:00 – 1:54:  Malachi Williams, the SMART/Axis road annexation, and School Resource Officers

Hours 1:54 – 5:32:  A lot on the budget, a little on tax rates, our utility assistance program, and the Homelessness Action Plan

Onto the Council Elections

Candidates have all declared themselves. These races got EXCITING, everybody. As your trusty local politics nerd, I cannot wait. What do they stand for? What will they fight for? Tell me, tell me! Do they read this blog???

I’ll share my opinions as I form them. (But seriously, so excited.)

Mayoral Candidates

  • Jane Hughson, the encumbent: Centrist, three terms, very careful and pays good attention to details.
  • Juan Miguel Arredondo: Has been on the school board since 2015, although he took a term off along the way. He ran for Mayor before, and I do have questions about the rhetoric he used in that race. His voting record is generally progressive.

Place 5

  • Griffen Spell: Has been on P&Z for years, so I’ve heard more from him than the other candidates. Thinks for himself and generally sensible, although he’s more libertarian than I am.
  • Roland Saucedo: Often speaks at City Council and serves on many committees. I believe he works with homeless communities on housing? I’m not totally sure, looking forward to learning more.
  • Atom Von Arndt: Has run for council for the past two years. Last year, he spoke pretty well on issues, and he has spoken at city council meetings a few times this past year. So he is staying involved.
  • Lorenzo Gonzalez: I believe he ran for constable as a progressive? I really don’t know much about him. Not to be a broken record, but looking forward to hearing more from him!

Place 6

  • Maraya Dunn: She joined P&Z last spring, and has still been getting her footing, so I haven’t formed a strong opinion of her yet. I believe she owns a business downtown.
  • Amanda Rodriguez: She’s spoken at city council a number of times on progressive issues. I believe she’s very active with Mano Amiga, El Centro, and groups around town. I am very interested to hear what she has to say!

I will cover debates as I hear about them, so please let me know if you hear about events!

August 5th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Aaaaaannd we’re back! Kicking the new season off hard with some SMART/Axis gobbledy-gook. Plus CBDG money, Hays County Health Department, and the last of the Covid money.

Elections:

Things have actually gotten less exciting – Jane Hughson’s one competitor has withdrawn from the race. So we have three races, each with one candidate running unopposed.

Mayor: Jane Hughson
Place 5: Griffen Spell
Place 6: Maraya Dunn

The last day to register to run is Monday, August 19th! This is where you can check if anyone has signed up.

Onto the meeting!

Hours 0:00 – 2:19:  Distributing CDBG money, and the SMART/Axis monster is back in full force.

Bonus! 3 pm workshops:  We hear from the Hays County Health Department, and the last bit of Covid money is getting doled out.

That’s all I got. Smell ya later, kids.

July 2nd City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Hello from the dregs of summer! Council meets once in July, and you lucky duck: it was this week. Lots of talk about low-income housing, we hear from the city on Malachi Williams, Dunbar is getting some new pipes, and Mano Amiga is taking on Civil Service. Plus some new City Hall details are materializing.

Let’s do this:

Hours 0:00 – 1:32:  Malachi Williams, a new LIHTC project, and some smaller items

Hours 1:32 – 2:23:  Mano Amiga submits an unsuccessful petition to repeal Civil Service, and we talk about LIHTC projects a lot.

Bonus! 3 pm workshops:  Where are we going to build the new city hall? And fixing the sidewalks.

That’s it for July! Regular meetings resume in August. Enjoy your summer.

May 21st City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

What are our zany Councilmembers up to this week? Lots of little things: noise complaints, new low-income housing, that crazy storm, tiny homes, and more. Also, our budget is in trouble, which is definitely a bummer.

Let’s dive in!

Hours 0:00 – 1:36: In which we discuss the Dunbar-Heritage Area Plan split, a noisy warehouse, and two more low-income housing projects.

Hours 1:36 – 2:17: A wee bit of eminent domain, that crazy storm from May 9th, some new developments, Green Guy, and Tiny Houses

Bonus! 3 pm Workshops:  Our budget is not okay.  😦

See you next time.

May 7th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Hey there kiddos! I hope everyone is safe from the storm on Thursday. Big citizen comment time – mostly Malachi Williams and a call for ceasefire resolution – and then lots of little city business topics.

Here we go:

Hours 0:00 – 2:03:  Two hours of citizen comments! The biggest topics are the SMPD killing of Malachi Williams and a call for a resolution on a ceasefire of Palestine.  (And a bit on Bro-dozers, the resurrection of SMART/Axis Terminal, and some other things.)

Hours 2:03 – 3:58: La Cima, baseball and soccer youth scholarships, selling more water to Kyle, speed cushions, bringing more grocery stores in, concrete, and a new wastewater treatment plant.  Lots of little items. 

Bonus! 3 pm workshops: Three interesting presentations: Equity Cabinets, the Point-in-Time homeless count, and those orange scooters are spreading. This was my favorite part of the meeting!

See you all next time!

March 5th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

San Marcos! I got your zoning cases, your Buccee’s, and I gripe at the Neighborhood Commission. Also the Lindsey Street Apartments, recycling, and SMPD.

Happy Spring Break to those who celebrate. Here we go!

Hours 0:00 – 1:00:  Gaza ceasefire,  two zoning cases, and some criticisms of Buccee’s.  

Hours 1:00 – 1:42:  Power lines, and the Neighborhood Commission pushes my buttons.  

Bonus! February 27th P&Z meeting:  The winds are changing on P&Z?  And also we look at those Lindsey Street apartments.

Bonus bonus! 3 pm workshops: Updates on the city contract with Green Guy Recycling and SMPD

One final note:

The results of the VisionSMTX survey came out, and were shared here on FB. Some thoughts:

  • There were about 160 responses.
  • 39 voted for the original plan, and 101 voted for the revised SMTX++ version. 5 wrote comments without choosing. 
  • 129 of them own property, 17 are renters, and 4 said neither or left it blank.  So this is not a representative sample of San Marcos whatsoever.

Kind of a bummer.

February 20th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

This week at City Council: it’s Buc-ee’s time! Should we accept them on their terms?  And also the can ban makes it across the finish line.

Let’s do this:

Hours 0:00 – 1:00:  In which we discuss Area Plans for Dunbar and the Historic District, and the River View apartments in Blanco Gardens.

Hours 1:00 – 1:57:  It’s Buc-ee’s time!  Should we accept them on their terms?  And also the can ban makes it across the finish line.

Bonus! 3 pm workshops:  Someday, there will be a new city hall.  Where shall we put it?

(I learned this week, over and over, that Buccees is actually spelled Buc-ees. Every time I see it with the hyphen, it looks weird and awkward, but here we are.)

February 6th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

Welcome back! This week, we’ve got a gas station by the high school, details on the river can ban, PDDs, and emergency sirens. 

Don’t forget! The VisionSMTX survey is open until Friday, February 23rd! My cheat sheet of recommended language is here for your cutting-and-pasting pleasure.

Onto the meeting! 

Hours 0:00 – 1:30: A new gas station, and the can ban moves closer to the finish line.

Hours 1:30 – 2:50: Bringing PDDs back! And some emergency sirens, and P&Z re-appointments.

I just want to note: lately no one talks besides Mayor Hughson. Jane takes her job super seriously. She reads everything carefully and offers up improvements. But no one else ever has any amendments to anything, nor much discussion to Jane’s amendments.

I think there’s a number of reasons:
- General indifference to details. (Saul, Shane, Jude)
– Thinking it’s futile. (Alyssa, being the only progressive)
– Sincerely agreeing with everything Jane says (Mark Gleason and Matthew Mendoza)
– Having a full time job on top of council is too much (Probably all of them)

But even if the reasons are sympathetic, it’s not great. If you watch a P&Z meeting, everyone seems prepared to ask good questions and weigh the decisions carefully. If you watch a city council meeting, there is barely any discussion of ideas or improvements to policies. It feels like things get rubber-stamped without scrutiny. It’s not great.

January 30th City Council Meeting

by The San Marxist, posted in Meetings

This week, we’re giving $800K to repair homes, we’re writing new rules for short-term rentals, and I’ve got your cheat sheet for the VisionSMTX survey. Get it all while it’s piping hot!

Hours 0:00-0:54: EV Parking Space fines, and allocating $800K of ARPA money to Mission Able and Operation Triage. It was a mini-meeting.

Bonus! 3 pm Workshop: New rules for Short Term Rentals.

Double Bonus! Cheat Sheet: My recommendations for the VisionSMTX survey. Take whatever suits your fancy!

The meeting was extremely short, but that survey cheat sheet took me forever to write up. Please feel free to share it far and wide.

Finally, next week is another Council Meeting. These are the back-to-back meetings they scheduled last December. So I will see you right back here, same time next week. Bye for now!