City Council candidates showcase differences at debate
Baker, Gleason contend for place 1
Maxfield Baker and Mark Gleason, both San Marcos Planning and Zoning Commissioners, are up for election for San Marcos City Council Place 1.
Gleason and Baker debated each other at the League of Women’s Voters Debate on Thursday. Here’s what they had to say:
Q. What is your opinion of the law enforcement assisted diversion, which is also referred to as LEAD, and the cite and release policies?
Baker said cite and release, which under state law allows peace officers to issue citations for Class C misdemeanors, as well as certain Class A and Class B misdemeanors, instead of making an arrest, is an integral path forward for the City of San Marcos as it deals an overpopulated criminal justice system.
the decision to use cite and release.
“All of us, I think, are very sympathetic to anyone that gets caught up in the criminal justice system and the negative impacts it has on their lives,” Gleason said. “I have seen personally, with family and friends and my wife being an elementary teacher, I’ve seen the impacts that it has on children of those families also. State government has given us as municipalities and local entities the ability to do some cite and release. I do like the flexibility that it gives law enforcement to do those kind of things for small-time misdemeanors that are not violent. I do like the ability of it being non-mandatory.”
Q. According to the San Marcos housing needs assessment 65% of city residents cannot afford their living ex-
“It is unfortunate to hear the numbers that we have seen come out of the reports recently regarding how it has been used in an inequitable fashion for people of color,” Baker said. “We need to make sure that as a community, we’re standing up for our neighbors. We’re not having such a wasteful impact on somebody’s life for a non-violent crime. The most important part of cite and release is that these are people who have a small misdemeanor crime. They did not hurt anybody in that process and to put them in jail removes them from our society and impacts them beyond just a simple fine and fee and a waste of time. It impacts their ability to have their family close by and make it to their job the next day.”
Gleason said cite and release should be used where it is up to the flexibility of law enforcement to make penses. As a council member, what measures would you support to address the needs of low income San Marcos residents?
Gleason argued that the need for good-paying jobs would help San Marcans afford their living expenses.
“One of the things I think all of us in the community and the needs assessment talked about was the need for jobs, good-paying jobs,” he said, adding that improving income will help people afford to remain in the San Marcos market and purchase a home. “We need to do something about property taxes. The only way we can do that is by diversifying the tax base in the community … I property taxes keep going up, it will force a lot of us out and I think that we desperately need to try to do something about that.”
Baker said that his biggest concerns when it comes to housing is displacement.
“When we look at how people who have bought their homes back in maybe the 80s, they have now become what they have considered called ‘house poor,’ where they would not have the ability to enter the housing market again, even if they sell their own homes,” Baker said. “So, we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to keep displacement from happening. That happens to our renters and it happens to our homeowners when we see our rents go up over and over an expected amount from one year to the next that is going to force people to look at moving to a different place.”
Q. What alternatives would you suggest for improving public safety and transportation in our downtown area?
Baker said people may be frustrated with new changes downtown but safety is key in a dangerous area.
“So when we look at the necessity for bicycles and sidewalks in our community, I think it really comes down to prioritizing those in the downtown area to make sure that citizens feel welcome in that area and then it’s connected to other parts of the community as well,” Baker said.
Gleason, however, said the integration and expansion of bus services would help improve public safety and transportation in downtown.
“I think not having access to the buses downtown on the weekends and nights would help out a lot,” Gleason said. “I like some of the advice that the parking advisory board has come forward with some of the ideas they have — not necessarily the biggest fan of paid parking downtown. But as long as that money goes to some solutions to try to find a parking garage or something along those lines, I think I can support that. I do like the idea of maybe some co-parking, where we can utilize some shuttle services to shuttle people around downtown.”
Q. How do you feel about Cape’s Dam and the city working with the county to restore it?
Gleason said as a planning and zoning commissioner he voted to recommend to give Cape’s Dam a historical designation.
“There is a lot of history down there,” Gleason said. “It is a neighborhood and I do understand that the dam, something needs to be done with it. It is extremely dangerous … I watched the presentation the other night that the county put on, I think it was very good. I think it gives more access to the east side of town where I live. I really enjoyed watching the presentation on the use of that lake as a community pond.”
Baker argued that the dam should be removed.
“Years ago, the city council voted to remove the dam based on scientific evidence that was available at that time. I believe we should move forward with that plan and continue to consult the organizations that are in charge of green lighting that plan to move forward,” Baker said. “So we can make sure that we are doing what we have already established is the right thing to do for the natural state of our river. But, at the same time, recognize the fact that if we get through the process, or as we’re going through the process and those organizations recommends that we rebuild the dam or rebuild some sort of brackets in its place then that’s what we should do.”
Gonzales, Coppoletta vie for place 2
Saul Gonzales, City Council Place 2 incumbent is facing a challenge from Lisa Marie Coppoletta and Devin Barrett.
Gonzales and Coppoletta shared differences of opinions during the League of Women’s Voters Debate on Thursday. Barrett did not attend the debate. Here’s what they had to say:
Q. According to the San Marcos housing needs assessment 65% of city residents cannot afford their living expenses. As a council member, what measures would you support to address the needs of low income San Marcos residents?
Lisa Marie Coppoletta said she would first implement a tenets council in San Marcos and then ensure the effective tax rate stays stable.
“First of all, for our taxpayers, we need to make sure that we’re staying in our houses,” Coppoletta said. “How many of you had to go to a tax protest hearing? I’ve had to do it three years in a row. I’m a professor, I’m on a fixed income. I don’t get a merit rate every year. Now additionally, since I was 19, I’ve been civically engaged here in the community. And I’m concerned that we don’t have at tenants Council. This is not only relevant for people who are struggling with fixed incomes, or unsavory practice from landlords, but also are flood victims. They need somewhere to go and when I was advised by city council, officials said they would have to go to the Austin tenants council. Now how is that easy for someone to do, whose car has been flooded out, they’re having difficulty getting back in their houses or running a hotel and have to go to Austin to take care of that.”
Saul Gonzales said the key issue is good-paying jobs.
“And right now the city council is working on those jobs and we’ve got several companies in and they’re paying a lot more than other companies that came in the past. That’s one of the biggest concerns I have is make sure that we get those good paying jobs. What I see now is our taxes going up. And it’s really affecting our senior citizens on the east part of town ... Their taxes are frozen. We have to step up and do something about that. We’re gonna have to learn to live within our means and help our senior citizens. I’m devoted to start that project and I think we gave direction to our Council, I know we did, to bring back some numbers.”
In a rebuttal, Coppoletta said the incumbents track record on taxes is antithetical to the statement he made.
“It’s imperative that we keep this spending in check on the dais,” she said. “We need to stop spending too much money on consultants. We spend too much money on some of these programs. And oftentimes, if you look at how the vote on those taxes have gone up. As a fiscal conservative, you can count on me as an elected official to make sure that the spending is indeed kept in check.”
Gonzales then offered an additional rebuttal and said, “Actually what’s going on is what’s going up is our property taxes. And the city of San Marcos doesn’t have any control over that. That’s for the central appraisal district. But I do advise and to challenge those property taxes.”
Q. What alternatives would you suggest for improving public safety and transportation in our downtown area?
In response to the question, Coppoletta said the community saw what happened downtown.
“It took five years to fix that road and what happened?” Coppoletta said. “The road wasn’t wide enough. Right and they couldn’t get the fire trucks through so they had to redo it in the process we had small business owners get flooded out. Now we work a lot about multimodal. My concern is that there are no sidewalks downtown when we need them. We’ve got students walking over there by that — where I like to get my favorite taco — right there by the university and they’re walking in the street and yet they’re going through people’s neighborhoods and they’re putting sidewalks. So I think it’s imperative that students are not put in the position where it’s unsafe because we’ve had student recently very severely injured. So that would be one thing. I think the other thing we need to make sure is that we have accurate areas where the bus stops go, not just start putting them out all over town where they don’t need to be, but have accurate data.”
Q. How do you feel about Cape’s Dam and the city working with the county to restore it?
Gonzales said he supports the idea of the County working with the City to create a park in the area.
“I grew up about a block away from Cape’s Dam. And I had to walk all the way down the road east of the falls to swim. This should have happened 60 years ago, or I wouldn’t have to do that,” he said. “But I support the idea of the county came up with, I think they’re great ideas. I think we need a dam for that part of the community, not a dam but a park. And that area is so beautiful. I’ve been there several times. As far the dam, I just want some real scientific opinions, where I can make the best decision possible for all our community.”
Coppoletta said she thinks the County’s plan is wonderful.
“The incumbent has had three years to do that,” she said in response to Gonzales. “And I think the county’s plan is wonderful. And I appreciate all the hard work that they’ve done. It’s going to provide us some wonderful green space and I’m also a very strong historical preservationist. ... I appreciate the hard work of those who have made sure that we preserve our history with that dam.”
