Downtown Association hosts quarterly meeting

The Downtown Association of San Marcos hosted a quarterly meeting where businesses south of the Square were highlighted.

Monday’s meeting featured business updates from THRC Downtown, Industry, The Davenport San Marcos and Stinky Dawg - Self-Serve & Professional Grooming. City Parking Advisory Board Chair Carina Boston Pinales, City Planning Manager Andrea Villalobos, Downtown ​​San Marcos Mainstreet Program Senior Administrative Assistant Freddy Medina and San Marcos Police Department Night Commander Tiffany Williams also highlighted ongoings within their respective departments and boards during Monday’s meeting at Aquabrew.

Pinales highlighted an employee parking program for those who work downtown that is currently being developed.

“We will be reaching out to business owners and employers to delegate locations as a designated parking lot so that your employees have a designated parking spot,” Pinales said. “This is a federal program that provides funds to the city to do half of what the cost will be for these parking spots.”

She also invited those in attendance to attend a parking advisory board meeting to provide feedback or citizen comment.

Villalobos spoke about an upcoming Downtown Plan Community Workshop, which will kick off the city’s Downtown Area Plan. The community event takes place Wednesday, June 22 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Price Center, 222 West San Antonio St., where community members can provide feedback about what they like about downtown and what they want to see differently in downtown San Marcos. The event will discuss multiple topics including  historic and cultural character, multimodal connectivity, public spaces, streetscapes, housing, small businesses, and building design.

“Essentially what it is, is it’s a time to stop and pause as a community and really think about the downtown area,” Villalobos said. “So, the last time we actually talked about downtown in a real way was 2008. We did a downtown master plan at that time so it’s really old. We’ve seen a lot of changes happen since then.”

Medina spoke on recent downtown improvement projects completed, which included landscaping, pavers and tree lighting. Medina also highlighted an ongoing facade grants program.

“This is an ongoing program that Mainstreet offers to downtown businesses,” Medina said. “If you have an issue with your facade that you would like to address like a broken window, or if you have a vision for a new business sign. We can help you make that happen. We have a matching grant that pays 50-50 of the cost of the sign or improvement.”

Medina added that the LBJ Museum, Smoothie Warriors and Valentino’s have all taken advantage of the facade grant program.

Williams spoke to the crowd about criminal trespassing warnings, highlighting that businesses downtown have brought up concerns about individuals entering their establishments and making them feel uncomfortable. Williams also said businesses are seeing an influx of homeless individuals around their locations.

Williams reminded businesses to call SMPD if any issues arise.

The Downtown Association meets quarterly with its next meeting set for September or October, according to DASM President Jean Baggett.