Photo courtesy of Alyssa Garza

City Council Place 4 candidate Alyssa Garza.

San Marcos City Council Place 3 will appear on the ballots for the Nov. 7 election. City Council Place 3 is an elected office that serves alongside the San Marcos mayor and other city council places. The incumbent for Council Place 3, council member Alyssa Garza, is running unopposed, meaning she will be reelected for the 2023-26 term.

Garza, a sociology graduate of Texas State, works for the local political advocacy group Mano Amiga and was previously elected in to city council in 2020. Garza credits her time at Texas State with helping her realize how policy impacts local communities and her interest in playing a bigger role in the community of San Marcos.

“I interned for the Office of Community Relations at Texas State, which no longer exists,” Garza said. “I was able to learn more about municipal government, and [my adviser] connected me with more volunteer opportunities within the community, which helped me understand how policy impacted the wider San Marcos community, not just Bobcats.”

After serving her first three-year term Garza feels more experienced and believes she can now make more informed votes and more impactful decisions for her community.

Garza believes some of her peers are out of touch with the average member of the community, not understanding the lives of working class individuals.

Garza feels the current structure of city council prevents her from fully being able to voice the desires and needs of the community, which she said has resulted in her disliking being in office.

“I hope that [voters] don’t take that as me saying I’m not going to show up for them 110%. I want to be authentic about the experience of a regular person being in office,” Garza said. “For people that have heard me say I hate being in office, or that I am miserable in office, that’s true, but I love serving my community.”

Although Garza dislikes being in office, she feels her position on city council is necessary, as it has given her a platform from within to make council more accessible for the general public and has put an increased focus on community outreach.

“To me, the power of the people should always be stronger than the people in the power, but I perceive there to be many barriers to engagement,” Garza said. “I have been working to create a space where a broad range of voices and perspectives are brought to the table.”

One of Garza’s major goals for her next term is to understand the conversation around affordable housing in the U.S. and implement solutions in San Marcos.

“I have been challenging myself to seek different resources, materials and I have been attending virtual zoom conversations happening in San Antonio, Austin, the state of Texas and even nationally,” Garza said. “Just really trying to understand the different theories and strategies that folks have applied to tackling affordable housing in their communities.”