Tag: signs

Hours 0:00-0:52, 1/16/24

by The San Marxist, posted in Hour summaries

Citizen Comment

  • A few people spoke in favor of a city resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza
  • A few people spoke against high rises along the river

Neither topic comes up during the actual meeting tonight, but both might in the future.

Item 1: Gateway Signs

Other cities have gateway signs, like so:

So we want one, too. 

Back in November 2022, city staff brought forward a few options:

Council smiled politely and sent them back to do more work.

So in April, staff showed these options:

Council hemmed and hawed, and asked staff to bring two more final choices back.

So these are the two finalists:

I like these rocks better! These look like river rocks, not suburban masonry. But the new heron is worse. It was better off-center with the blue outline, I think. 

The one on the left reads: “State Park, but make it Business-Professional.” I’m okay with that vibe.

They will be located at these two locations:

I always enjoy it when staff draws the city sideways.  Look at that wonky compass in the corner:

What’s reality anyway, man? Time is a construct! North is an illusion! You’re not the boss of me!

What does Council think?

Mayor Hughson, with a pained expression: So these are our only two choices?

Staff: You literally told us to only bring back two.

Mayor, deep sigh, clearly repressing the urge to say, “But I didn’t mean this crap.”

Matthew Mendoza: Maybe it’s because I live in Rio Vista, but I love the heron!  It symbolizes conservation and the environment.  Option B for Bird.

Alyssa Garza: I like the bird.  Ever since I first visited San Marcos, I’ve seen those beautiful white birds. Option B.

Jane Hughson: The bird does not represent the whole city. It could be a neighborhood sign, but I don’t like it here. Option A.

Mark Gleason:  The bird is not the mascot of San Marcos. It’s distracting. Option A.

Saul Gonzalez is also for Option A.  (Jude and Shane are absent.)

So it’s 3-2. Council argues about whether to wait until Jude and Shane are back, so that one option can get a full four votes.  Alyssa weighs in: “I truly don’t care. We are spending way too much time on this. I’ll switch my vote.”

So the State-Park-But-Business sign wins with a clean four votes. And City Council gave the bird to the bird.  (Ba dum ching.)

….

Matthew: Can we cycle through different colors for the lighting? Purple on Rattler nights, Maroon on Bobcat nights, holiday colors around the holidays?

Answer: Yes! As long as it’s static. TxDOT just says no moving parts. 

So there you have it. At some point this year, these harmless little welcome signs will appear on I-35.

…

Item 9: Rezoning 18 acres behind the outlet malls.

This has come up before.  It’s part of a larger chunk of land:

In 2016, someone wanted to build houses there, so we annexed it and called it the Gas Lamp District. The houses were never built.

In August 2022, it got rezoned:

Mostly light industrial, but with this one little piece for apartments. These were never built, either!

The current owners want to change the yellow square to Light Industrial, to go along with the rest.

Saul is the only one who asks questions:

  1. What is the expected tax revenue for this?

Staff says, “We can’t give an estimate.”   

  1. What is the impact on the neighbors?

Answer: They’re all doing the same thing.

It passes 5-0.

…

Item 11:  We are fiddling with little parking details, as discussed here.

Among other things, we are raising the parking ticket fees, for the first time in 50 years:

I didn’t really know what to make of this.  Are the little cities price gouging? Or are the big cities subsidizing bad behavior? So I emailed the chair of the parking committee (Rosalie Ray), who tells me:

– By state law, your fine for illegally parking in a handicap spot must be at least $500. So those cities with cheaper fines in that category just haven’t updated their fees since 2009, when that law was passed. (We hadn’t updated ours since 1974!)

– To avoid price-gouging, the committee has a couple things in place: 

  • you can opt for community service instead of a fine,
  • you can get a payment plan, and
  • you can get your fine cut in half by responding within 14 days. (Council could extend the 50% discount to double-parking and blocking alleys, if they want.)

– The main targets are things like FedEx and delivery trucks. They’re the ones blocking alleys and bike lanes or double-parking. So we want them to pay their fair share.

There you have it. 

Hours 2:03-2:59, 4/4/23

by The San Marxist, posted in Hour summaries

Item 13: Opioid settlement

Obviously there is a massive opioid crisis right now, with severe addiction, Fentanyl overdoses, and all the rest of it.  I’m pretty sure anyone reading this site is pretty aware of the scope of the crisis. (Hays County made the New Yorker, even.)

If you really want to go down a dark path, read up on the Sackler family and how intentional it was that pharmaceutical companies worked to ramp up addictions, in order to make grotesque amounts of money. (Or watch the three part John Oliver version.)

But if you don’t want to go down a dark path, just know: there were eventually national lawsuits, and now there are settlements which cover a tiny fraction of the destruction of the wake of the opioid crisis.

Which brings us to:

And

So we’ll get around $300K from this settlement.  Alyssa Garza makes the case that this should go towards evidence-based treatment solutions.

Will this help the opioid crisis? Yes, in the sense that jumping up and down gets you closer to the moon.  There’s a lot still to be done.

…

Item 15: We are buying a Pumper, Midship, 1250 GPM, Aluminum Body, Spartan Metro Star, 4-Door, Tilt Cab, Single Axle Spartan fire truck.

Shane Scott jokes, “Wouldn’t the $300K from the opioid settlement just about cover the shortfall here?” 

Haha, it’s funny because fuck those community members wrestling with addiction and overdose! Shane is a funny guy. 

…

Item 19: We talked about Gateway signs before. The choices before were…questionable:

To me, they were very corporate-lobby.

Today city staff presented four new options, and I think they’re all better!

I love the heron.  Easy, done.  NEXT!

Council is split.  They argue over the “Est 1881” for a while, because that date is wrong. It should have been 1851 but maybe 1808, and if you look on our seal, it says 1877. Or maybe tens of thousands of years ago! So that will change.

Mayor Hughson doesn’t like any of the overhang bits – the tree, the words “San Marcos”, etc.  And she also wants the rock to be more horizontal and less angled.

Mark Gleason advocates, “The simpler, the better.”

In the end:
We ❤ the heron:  Matthew Mendoza, Alyssa Garza, Shane Scott
We ❤ the simplicity of Option B: Jane Hughson, Mark Gleason, Saul Gonzalez
That tree, tho! Option D for Jude Prather

City manager Stephanie Reyes and Jane Hughson both worry that locals don’t actually identify those big herons with San Marcos very much.  I suppose it comes down to how often you get to the river.  

Here’s where the signs will go:

It’s always odd when they draw I-35 going left-right instead of up-down. (But who declared that North was oriented Up anyways? I’m not going to defend the Big North Industry. We can let North go to the right and West point up for a change.)

Hours 5:08-5:30, 11/1/22

by The San Marxist, posted in Hour summaries

Finally! A lighthearted item!  

Item 22: You know how Kyle, Buda, and New Braunfels have these groovy signs introducing themselves to you?

We want one too!  And we have some TxDot money that’s begging to be used (on I-35).

City staff want feedback on some preliminary plans, so they offer up these ideas to council as a launching off point:

Here’s what council has to say:

First is Jude: They’re all nice! I don’t know if I could pick just one. They all look sort of similar. But YES!

Then Mark goes: Well, I can certainly pick! I love E. That one is the best. The depth, the motion…yes.

Next is Max: I kinda think the whole concept is dumb. My phone tells me when I get to a city.

(I tell you, writing this blog is so much fun.)  

Then Alyssa speaks: They’re all hideous. It looks like a retirement village.

And then Saul: Could we get a mermaid on it? Or a rattler? Or a bobcat? 

(Yes! How about a mermaid wearing a rattler, while riding a bobcat?)

Finally Jane: They’re all terrible. Those don’t look like river rocks. River rocks are smooth. Why would the river be floating up in the air like that?! The words “San Marcos” should be horizontal.

Everyone likes “established 1851”. Max points out that we could go way back, and use that we’re the oldest continuously inhabited place in North America.

They decide that staff will bring back something so innocuous and bland that when the city re-brands itself, it won’t clash with this milquetoast excuse for a sign.

So what’s the official Marxist take on city welcome signs? 

We could do a whole lot worse! Bring it back!!