Vote 2020: San Marcos mayoral race sees crowded field
Editor's note: the Daily Record sent questionnaires to each of the five candidates running for San Marcos mayor. Two candidates did not originally participate: Randy Dethrow and Michael Hathaway. This article has been updated to include Dethrow's responses.
Jane Hughson
Q. What did you learn from your past term as mayor and what will you do differently if you are elected again?
Hughson: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic required much thought and research in order for the city to do as much as possible to assist our residents in handling the pandemic regarding their health and for business.
The Mayor receives many more questions and demands which require much more time by the Mayor and staff than I would have thought.
There is nothing I would do differently.
Q. What issue most inspired you to run for office and how would you address it as Mayor?
Hughson: The position of mayor has the opportunity to make life better for San Marcos residents, along with the city council. These are the issues I work on every day with staff and others. The mayor is privileged to be able to speak for San Marcos and represent San Marcos across the region.
Q. COVID-19 will affect San Marcos residents for months to come, if not their health and daily activities, in their economic outlook. What do you propose going forward to prevent the spread while preserving economic vitality for the City of San Marcos’s budget and its residents?
Hughson: The city council chose to spend $105,000 of the federally funded Community Development Block Grant–Covid funding to partner with Hays County to provide on-going testing services and $200,000 for business grants to provide for protective equipment and more. City staff have assisted with most of the Covid testing done. We are also providing relief for utility bills for residents and businesses through local funding and grants available through the Community Action agency. In addition, we have set several parking spaces downtown for curbside pickup as businesses are finding new ways to economically survive the pandemic. We will continue to provide what the city can do with additional federal funding such as the almost $100,000 for technology devices for our public school children. The city will continue to find ways to do city business safely and provide relief to our businesses and residents. If everyone will continue to wear face coverings and social distance, we can recover from the pandemic.
Q. How will you advocate for economic opportunity and preserve affordability in San Marcos? How would you amend the new City Development Code if given the opportunity?
Hughson: I am currently a member of the multi-county Workforce Solutions Development Executive Council. There are a number of training classes on many topics for people to learn and/or enhance their skills for or upward mobility or a new career, many of which are available at no cost. We must continue our participation with the Greater San Marcos Partnership. With more jobs that provide good pay and benefits, we can better afford available housing whether renting or owning.
The city council recently completed the first update to the Code adopted in April of 2018. There were improvements for water quality, administrative updates, and amendments I initiated to create two new zoning districts to provide for the type of housing that developers are seeking to provide. We continue to see how we can improve the characteristics of several zoning districts to provide for a more attractive San Marcos.
Q. How will you address a changing climate in a city with risks of flooding and protect a beloved river projected to turn semi-arid?
Hughson: The City Council made a number of changes to our ordinances several years ago to improve resiliency against flooding in new development and further improvements were made with the new Land Development Code.
We need to continue to protect the Edwards Aquifer regions in and around San Marcos to ensure the continuation of the San Marcos River.
Since we already live in Flash Flood alley, for their own safety everyone should sign up at WarnCentralTexas.org to receive notices of impending flooding and other disasters.
Juan Miguel Arredondo
Q. What experiences most qualify you to represent the residents of San Marcos as Mayor?
Arredondo: As a fifth generation San Marcos native and proud product of our San Marcos CISD schools and Texas State University alumnus, I am uniquely qualified to represent and advocate for the historically underserved and underrepresented citizens of San Marcos. For the past five years I have advocated for ISD students, staff, and families on the east side of San Marcos. I’m running for mayor to amplify the voices of the citizens who are too often unheard by our current mayor.
Q. What issue most inspired you to run for office and how would you address it as Mayor?
Arredondo: My motivation to run for mayor is centered on our city’s inability to respond to the three crises currently affecting the San Marcos community — the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis, and our housing the housing affordability crisis — issues that, in my opinion, follow racial fault lines of health inequities and toxic economic inequality, disproportionately impacting Latinx communities and people of color. I will respond to and address these three crises through a combination of good governance, political courage, and fiscal clarity.
Q. COVID-19 will affect San Marcos residents for months to come, if not their health and daily activities, in their economic outlook. What do you propose going forward to prevent the spread while preserving economic vitality for the City of San Marcos’s budget and its residents?
Arredondo: The City must ensure rapid emergency support for our residents and small business owners, especially their employees, and other vulnerable low- and moderate-wage hourly workers affected by social distancing policies by reducing property taxes and decreasing fees and utility rates. Strict enforcement of local mask orders and adherence to CDC guidelines will also allow our San Marcos economy to safely remain open and for our residents to safely return to work.
Q. How will you advocate for economic opportunity and preserve affordability in San Marcos? How would you amend the new City Development Code if given the opportunity?
Arredondo: San Marcos is not affordable for most of its residents. If we want to address this issue council must stop ignoring the recommendations made by the SMTX4ALL Taskforce and take appropriate steps to reform our municipal zoning code to allow the construction of more affordable, accessible homes in our walkable, transit-connected neighborhoods. We must also establish a COVID-19 Economic Recovery Taskforce focused on policy and economic stimulus, mental and emotional health, and marketing and business development. Because when it comes to recovering from the current economic crisis there can be no half measures and no cutting corners.
Q. How will you address a changing climate in a city with risks of flooding and protect a beloved river projected to turn semi-arid?
Arredondo: As your next mayor, I will prioritize the creation of a true city-wide Sustainability Plan (Science-Based Decisions) that lays a roadmap for climate change action and improved quality of life for our entire community. I will also work with our city manager to align city departments, investments, zoning, and development processes to streamline the development of safe walkable neighborhoods connected by efficient transit and Low Impact Transportation (LIT) to combat climate change and protect our unique and sensitive natural environment.
Justin Harris
Q. What experiences most qualify you to represent the residents of San Marcos as Mayor?
Harris: I am a USMC infantry veteran with two deployments to the Middle East.
Q. What issue most inspired you to run for office and how would you address it as Mayor?
Harris: Why am I running for mayor of San Marcos? The answer is simple. I want to Make San Marcos Great Again!
How do I intend to do that? Let me count the ways:
1. Put an end to this Wuhan virus nonsense. That means no more masks and no more social distancing.
2. Back the Blue. As mayor, I will substantially increase the amount of funding allocated to the San Marcos Police Department. We need more officers and they need bigger paychecks.
3. Address the Homeless Crisis. More and more people are resorting to panhandling and living in makeshift camps in along our rivers. Let’s get these folks off the streets and back into the game.
4. Put potholes before pet projects. As mayor, not a single pet project will be funded until every single pothole is filled.
Q. COVID-19 will affect San Marcos residents for months to come, if not their health and daily activities, in their economic outlook. What do you propose going forward to prevent the spread while preserving economic vitality for the City of San Marcos’s budget and its residents?
Harris: This Wuhan virus nonsense has got to end. Face masks requirements and social distancing mandates are unnecessary, unhealthy and unconstitutional. Forcing people to live in a perpetual state of fear and economic hardship is downright un-American. We need to get back to work, back to school, and back to living the good life.
Q. How will you advocate for economic opportunity and preserve affordability in San Marcos? How would you amend the new City Development Code if given the opportunity?
Harris: The new city development code is an affront to the good people of San Marcos. No amount of amendments, adjustments, tweaks or edits can salvage it. As mayor, I intend to throw it out and start from scratch.
Q. How will you address a changing climate in a city with risks of flooding and protect a beloved river projected to turn semi-arid?
Harris: I’m not sure I can answer this question because I quite certain that the mayor of San Marcos does not have the power to control raging rivers or bread dead ones back to life.
Randy Dethrow
Q. What experiences most qualify you to represent the residents of San Marcos as Mayor?
Dethrow: I am running on a Democratic Socialist platform of economic equality, criminal justice reform, and lifting up the least among us: the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the addicts. It’s one thing to say you care about these things. It’s quite another to have lived it. I’m not an outsider looking at these problems without firsthand experience. So I don’t plan on representing everyone. The middle-to-upper middle class are doing fine while those who fall through the cracks are being ignored. I didn’t go to Hell and back to forget those who are still in Hell.
Q. What issue most inspired you to run for office and how would you address it as Mayor?
Dethrow: Our entire country is at a crossroads. The murder of George Floyd sparked protests not just in America but worldwide. Our country is facing an avalanche of evictions that could spark riots that make the Black Lives Matter protests seem quaint. The police and landlords are two of the most despised groups of people in the country right now. We need drastic criminal justice reform and some kind of rent relief for the 70% of the people in San Marcos who rent, some of whom are unemployed or living paycheck to paycheck. Our entire country is at a crossroads. The murder of George Floyd sparked protests not just in America but worldwide. Our country is facing an avalanche of evictions that could spark riots that make the Black Lives Matter protests seem quaint. The police and landlords are two of the most despised groups of people in the country right now. We need drastic criminal justice reform and some kind of rent relief for the 70% of the people in San Marcos who rent, some of whom are unemployed or living paycheck to paycheck.
Q. COVID-19 will affect San Marcos residents for months to come, if not their health and daily activities, in their economic outlook. What do you propose going forward to prevent the spread while preserving economic vitality for the City of San Marcos’s budget and its residents?
Dethrow: I believe we are doing an OK job of social distancing and masking up. I realize that some businesses have been hurt by Covid-19 while Jeff Bezos is raking in billions. But as per my answer to the previous question, if people weren’t handing more than 50% of their income to landlords they could spend the extra money on small businesses. As far as the city budget goes I’m just going to come out and say it: defund the police.
Q. How will you advocate for economic opportunity and preserve affordability in San Marcos? How would you amend the new City Development Code if given the opportunity?
Dethrow: Once again: we need rent relief and an affordable wage. A few business owners I have spoken to have agreed a gradual increase of the city minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour is not an unreasonable ask. As far as the Development code goes if some environment-destroying developer or corporation tries to raise rents or tries to build a pipeline through an orphanage or something I would use every bit of influence to stop them. We don’t need more development. We need affordable housing for the already existing housing.
Q. How will you address a changing climate in a city with risks of flooding and protect a beloved river projected to turn semi-arid?
Dethrow: Climate change is a worldwide problem threatens to wipe out the entire human race, so I think of this as a global problem not just a local one. But having lived through Hurricane Katrina one of the few places that flooded least was the French Quarter which is right on the Mississippi river. This is because they have a superior drainage system that pumps the rain water elsewhere. Right back into the Mississippi I believe. No reason we can’t do this. San Marcos is not as filthy and trashed as the French Quarter by any means.
