San Marcos Neighborhood Commission Discusses Litter Cleanup, Murals And More

Amelia Vasquez | Reporter

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, the San Marcos Neighborhood Commission held their meeting and received updates from city staff on various topics.

First on the agenda was guest speaker Amy Thomaides, Community Enhancement Initiatives Manager.

This debriefing discussed the two anti-litter murals currently being completed at the CM Allen Bridge and the Cheatham Street Bridge locations. 

The City of San Marcos Mural Arts Committee said they are hoping to complete these two murals by the end of next week, depending upon the weather. 

Thomaides stated, “We are trying to find a wall on the East side of town.” 

The Mural Committee is seeking a wall with high visibility. Residents should contact Thomaides with suggestions so that she can pass those potential locations to the Mural Committee.

In other news, on Feb. 6 from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, “Hot Spot Street Sweep” in Victory Gardens organized by the city.

The volunteers will pick up litter in the right-of-way. The city will issue flyers as public outreach inviting volunteers to help pick up litter. 

Later that day, Keep San Marcos Beautiful, and the Urban Forester will be having a “tree giveaway.” 

Thomaides stated, “there are only one hundred trees, and it will be first-come, first-serve.” This will occur from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Victory Gardens Park on Roosevelt Street. There will be Native Texas trees such as Oaks and fruit trees available at this event.

March 06, 2021, is the 37th Annual Great Texas River Cleanup. Thomaides explained to the Neighborhood Commission, “We will be doing it COVID style the way we did the fall river cleanup.” They are seeking volunteers to help keep the River and tributaries clean.

Willow Springs Park Victory Gardens will have Melanie Howard, the Habitat Conservation manager, and (Thomaides) will conduct a Native Prairie “grow zone” pilot area. The signs are now up to encourage the restoration of native habitat, and they hope to expand to more community areas.

This April 16, 2021, will be the annual “LCRA Steps Forward Day.” LCRA chose San Marcos as a project location. LCRA will bring 50 volunteers; the project site’s goal is to restore the old train depot. 

The city departments will repaint it and do some plantings around the old depot to make it more appealing.

They are seeking donations from a company so they can fix the roof on the old depot. Officials are hoping for a metal roof. They are also looking for donations so they can buy solar lights. 

In her updates to the San Marcos Neighborhood Commission, Thomaides explained that LCRA awarded her and Melany Howard a USDA grant for Victory Gardens. They will work at the Senior Center to install a rainwater system, a harvesting system, a community garden, and a pollinator.

They should complete the community garden by March for the production of produce.

The team should complete all projects by August. They will install a fence to keep the deer from eating the produce.

The Neighborhood Commission’s Chair, Roland Saucedo, pointed out, “We are going with the 8-foot fence because we don’t want any deer to jump over or get caught in the fencing.”

Tiffany Harris presented the Vitality Coordinator Report explained that the city is working on renewing the contract with Austin Tenants Council “folks that are facing eviction and also landlords that are dealing with folks not paying their rent.”

They will work on a short YouTube video on what residents can do to avoid eviction.

She stated that on January 19, “We have recently on Jan 12 a meeting with the university and all the apartment complexes in the area.”

Texas State University requires students to get a negative COVID-19 test in order to return to the Residence Halls. March 15-19 will be Spring Break. They do not require freshmen that have all virtual classes to live on campus.  

“Director’s Report” by City of San Marcos Director of Neighborhood Enhancement Greg Carr was an update on the Rental Property Registration.

In his presentation, Carr provided details where people can register online at Sanmarcostx.gov/rental. He stated the program costs nothing.

Since 2008, the program has been voluntary. He stated that this year, as of Jan 01, it became mandatory. 

“It’s hard to get people to register if you don’t know who they are.” Carr explained, “We sent postcards to people we paired up with the address from the assessor’s page with our utilities department.” 

He further explained, “There is probably a renter in the house if there is a totally different name. We will send those out to the management companies.”

Carr also told the Neighborhood Commission that the City officials have also been posting this information on Facebook. 

“The biggest thing that comes about is that people want to know why we should register?” Carr explained, “The city has money for utility assistance from the COVID funds. They (The San Marcos City Council) just granted a contract last night for rental assistance. If we have a list of landlords, we can get that out to them for their tenants. It’s a good way for us to get out information that we have for tenants and landlords.” 

Carr also provided an update on city facilities closures. “They are closed until the first of February.” He further clarified, “The committee is meeting Monday to determine if they will be closed for a little longer. There is a good chance we will be closed in February. That means the Activity Center will be closed.”