San Marcos In Running For ‘Strongest Town’ Award

Strong Towns is a national media nonprofit whose mission is to advocate for a model of development that allows America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient.

Monday, city officials announced San Marcos was one of 16 towns for the title of “Strongest Town,” an online vote-driven contest hosted by Strong Towns.

Strong Towns is a national media nonprofit whose mission is to advocate for a model of development that allows America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient.

The first round of the contest pits San Marcos against Kent, Ohio. To vote, visit here and find the polling tool at the bottom of the page.

From March 5 – 30, readers of the Strong Towns website will be invited to vote for the strongest town in daily bracket-based match ups, much like the NCAA’s annual basketball tournament.

First round voting will be based on answers to a short series of questions, and subsequent rounds will include photo essays, podcast recordings and a final webinar showdown for the championship.

Katie Orr, Chris Salazar, Phoenix Castilla, Deputy Mayor Pro-Tem Scott Gregson, and Mayor John Thomaides submitted San Marcos’s first round entry answering questions about the city’s “economic resilience, citizen involvement, land use and more.”

The 16 towns selected for the initial competition are:

1. San Marcos
2. Brewton, Alabama
3. San Bruno, California
4. Pensacola, Florida
5. Palmetto Bay, Florida
6. Twin Falls, Idaho
7. Westmont, Illinois
8. Mishawaka, Indiana
9. Annapolis, Maryland
10. Marshall, Michigan
11. Muskegon, Michigan
12. Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
13. Tupelo, Mississippi
14. Niagara Falls, New York
15. Kent, Ohio
16. Greenville, South Carolina.

Strong Towns reaches an audience of more than 150,000 readers and listeners per month, and has over 2,000 members in all 50 U.S. states and around the world. Learn more at StrongTowns.