Mark Gleason:
Mark Gleason, retail manager for the city of San Marcos, has a platform for environmental preservation, improved student transportation and increased resident consideration as developers grow San Marcos.
Gleason is the vice president of the Planning and Zoning Commission and has served on the Neighborhood Commission. As San Marcos grows, Gleason wants to ensure the river is protected from commercialization.
“We have to be able to grow the city but not damage the river,” Gleason said. “There’s a balancing act to utilizing (the river) as a resource and promoting it as a resource. We have to have growth, but it needs to be done appropriately and done with care. The developers kind of ram things through and don’t really care about the neighborhoods.”
Rick Henderson:
Rick Henderson, Texas State political science senior lecturer, has a platform for reliable student and residential housing, improved public transportation, environmental preservation and increased police and fire protection.
Henderson has served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the last four years. He supports the Lyndsey Hill Project, designed to create more residential apartments available for San Marcos residents, and wants to reduce rent for off-campus student housing.
“Whether it’s money from (financial aid), parents, or their own, if (students) are spending so much money on housing, they’re not contributing to the sales tax base,” Henderson said. “That’s not good for the city and not good for students, because students want to spend money. You want to buy clothes, you want to be able to eat out.”
Jocabed Marquez:
Jocabed Marquez, Texas State university seminar lecturer and doctoral recipient from Texas State, has a platform for promoting river and environmental stewardship, and resisting developers complexes built near the river, displacing residents. With only two women of color elected to City Council in the past, Marquez wants to diversify the council’s representation.
Marquez also plans to create more affordable residential housing, revitalize legacy neighborhoods, support local businesses and make the animal shelter a no-kill pet shelter. She also plans to implement a more sustainable transportation system for citizens, especially in regards to the CARTS system’s limited hours of operation.
“My platform is to prioritize what the people’s needs are over the developers who don’t live in this town (and) make millions of dollars off of the developments here in town, which include apartment complexes,” Marquez said.