Where San Marcos will go?

[Scoop]

As of late, there have been several discussions about our downtown businesses. San Marcos is continuing to grow, although not as rapidly as Kyle or Buda. As I sit in on these meetings, I wonder, what this forum would say about where they want San Marcos to go? Are we heading in the direction of Fredericksburg, being more of an Americana/Tourist attraction? Should we head in the metropolitan direction of our big sisters Austin and San Antonio?

It seems to me, on the side note, that business owners either love or hate the university. Honestly, if you don't like the City/University relationship, MOVE! Texas State isn't going anywhere and students have more disposable income than you do.

Back to my original question. What kinds of businesses would you like to see move into the "downtown" area?

[semi-native]

We're not going anywhere either and we're growing faster than the university. It is in the best interest of both to get along, it is not all on the residents to get along with the university.

BTW, the students do not have more disposable income than the residents. You may blow through every penny you've got, but you don't have all that much to begin with and very little of that disposable income actually flows into the larger community.

Your money largely goes to a handful of business owners (some are local and some are not) and their college student employees. That and out-of-town apartment owners. I put $5000 into the local economy in property taxes alone last year. I'd wager that I match 5-10 students for the money I spend locally overall each year.

[semi-native]

As for the original question, if, by "downtown area" you mean the area on and around the square, I'd like to see a couple more restaurants and local retailers, along the lines of those in Fredericksburg.

If you're asking about businesses that I'd like to see come to town, which would have an impact on the economy, I'd like to see something like the Toyota plant or maybe some software development companies (there is one that I know of now).

If you're just asking what direction the town ought to take, we ought to be doing more to get local residents into the university, we ought to be doing more to improve the local schools and we ought to be doing more to keep the graduates as permanent residents.

We ought to be doing more to encourage people to take pride in where they live. The litter problem in this town is ridiculous and not something that is going to help us to attract more tourism, that's for sure.

The town ought to be more pedestrian friendly, too. I can spend the day on foot (and on rail) in Boston, New York or any number of other cities, as well as plenty of smaller towns. San Marcos is not one of them. It seems to be following in the footsteps of Austin, which is no place I'd want to get around without driving.

The concerts in the park and things like that are great and we need to have more activities like that.

We also need to do more to encourage interaction between residents and students. There should be more effort to involve students and residents together in community building activities, like Bobcat Build, blood drives, Habitat for Humanity, Blue Santa, whatever.

[Scoop]

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http://ci.san-marcos.tx.us/departmen...MasterPlan.htm