VOLUME 103, ISSUE 37
www.UniversityStar.com
THURSDAY
Defending the First Amendment since 1911
NOVEMBER 14, 2013
SPORTS | B3
PHOTOS | UniversityStar.com
Basketball season preview: Men’s basketball is now 0–2, marking the first time Coach Kaspar has begun a season with two losses since his second year at Stephen F. Austin.
Flickr: To see more photos from Fun Fun Fun Fest as well as other coverage, visit the link to the Star’s Flickr account on UniversityStar.com.
CITY
Proposed downtown parking plan considered by city councilmembers By Drew Castillo News Reporter
Local business owners and city employees are weighing the pros and cons of what a downtown parking plan could mean for San Marcos. A proposed Parking Management District was discussed at the city council meeting Nov. 5. The plan is intended to encourage diversity of transportation options, help businesses have adequate parking for customers and address the issue of employee parking, said Matthew Lewis, director of Planning and Development Services. A metering-rate system would be developed for lots in and around the downtown area, Lewis said. Prices of parking would vary in certain areas based on the location of the spots and their proximity to campus. The university suffers from the current utilization of downtown parking, Lewis said. The Edward Gary Street Garage struggles with profits because while it is located in a prime spot right across the street from downtown, no one is going to pay to park when free parking is located nearby, Lewis said. Lewis said he believes the parking problem is not a lack of surface lots, but a management problem with the current space. Longtime San Marcos business owners have seen a metered system fail in the downtown area before and are reluctant to return to that form of paid parking, Lewis said. If the city can manage the public and on-street parking, businesses with tow-away lots will be encouraged to utilize spots to their full po-
“People are lazy, people are running late for work. They’re not going to park (at the old county justice center). They’d rather chance it.” —Kyle Mylius, Root Cellar owner tential, he said. Local businesses are affected directly by the current parking situation, said Kyle Mylius, owner and operator of the Root Cellar Café and Gallery. “I think it will benefit my business and ultimately businesses downtown when people have the confidence that they can conveniently park,” Mylius said. Mylius said the restaurant’s lunch hour business has been affected by disorganized parking. “If people feel like they can’t come down here on their lunch break and get back to work in a timely fashion, they’re going go somewhere that they maybe wouldn’t rather eat, but they know they can park and go in right away,” Mylius said. The city is working on a temporary alternative to employee parking because of the number of tickets being given to individuals who work at establish-
See PARKING, A2
Reynaldo Leaños | Staff Photographer University President Denise Trauth converses with Sean Quinones, political science sophomore, and other students about issues on campus Nov. 13 at the LBJ Student Center during the ASG Round Table.
UNIVERSITY
Campus concerns voiced at round table By Kelsey Bradshaw News Reporter
S
tudents discussed issues including teaching assistant salaries, the campus smoking ban and football game attendance with university administrators at the Associated Student Government Round Table Wednesday. The round table session offered students the chance to ask questions or discuss concerns with university officials in the LBJ Student Center ballroom. The event consisted of groups of six to eight students rotating from table to table between administrators. President Denise Trauth said she knows how important the round table sessions are for progress at the university. “I think it’s important on both sides,” Trauth said. “I always learn something. That’s one of the ways you get educated. We always learn something. The other side of it is students get the benefit of learning how the university works. I think it’s mutually beneficial.” Cynthia Opheim, associate provost of Academic Affairs, met with students at the event. “We don’t always know what the
students are thinking, so this is good for us,” Opheim said. A common subject discussed at the round table was the university’s ban on tobacco, which was implemented in summer 2012. Some students expressed concern with how the ban is actually being enforced on campus. Enforcement of the tobacco ban was planned to have a soft rollout on campus, Trauth said. Educating people, helping them cope with their addictions and not harshly enforcing the rule was a part of the initial implementation, she said. “Do we have a bit of a problem? Yeah, but I think we’re handling it in the right way,” Trauth said. Joanne Smith, vice president of Student Affairs, said she is working with other administrators to implement specific policies for reporting smoking on campus and the exact repercussions for offenders, Opheim said. “I think peer pressure or near peer pressure is important,” Trauth said. “If you see anybody smoking on campus, you need to go up to them and say ‘I’m sorry, I have to tell you this. This is a tobacco free campus, and you shouldn’t be smoking.’” Another topic discussed with
Trauth and Opheim was the matter of increasing TA salaries. In the past three years, every academic department raises the issue during talks, Trauth said. “I think everybody who has examined this issue knows we need to do something about this,” Trauth said. The issues surrounding TA salaries is a problem, but there are competing demands such as low staff salaries and faculty seeking raises, Opheim said. “It looks like the money we’re going to have available is $1.2 million,” Trauth said. “To raise TA salaries by $1,000, which isn’t that much, it would take $800,000 of the $1.2 million. So it’s a very tough issue to deal with when you’re in a constrained environment.” Another topic discussed at the round table with administrators was football game attendance. This year has been an “exciting one” for Texas State football, but the stands still are not filled to maximum capacity, said Larry Teis, director of Athletics. “I was here 15 years ago when we were lucky to have 3,000 people in
See ROUND TABLE, A2
TRANSPORTATION
Business owners, residents discuss parking at ‘Coffee Talk’
survey about their thoughts on parking downtown. The majority liked the current parking model as it was while the minority wanted a change, Armbruster said. Of the 64 respondents, 45 thought offstreet parking would be the most important “tool” in creating a downtown conducive to parking. Planning Manager John Foreman explained what a parking management structure would mean for downtown. He said the structure would set up a similar framework for parking downtown, though the management would work differently. Downtown parking spaces belong to customers, not students, Danielle Charles | Staff Photographer who should be parking in places Proposed meter systems downtown would aim to provide adequate parking for like the Edward Gary Parking businesses in the area. Garage, Foreman said. He said students would be deterred from people with interest in downtown parking downtown with the introBy James Carneiro San Marcos. The bulk of the meet- duction of meters. News Reporter ing was used to discuss the issues “If students continue to park Local businesses owners, resi- of business employees being tick- downtown, so be it. At least the dents and parking coordinators eted for parking downtown, safety city gets something out of it,” met inside the Hays County at night and details on a proposed Foreman said. Courthouse Wednesday to discuss parking management structure. Another challenge would be Samantha Armbruster, Main asking business es to pay for downtown parking and concerns Street Program manager, led the downtown parking for their emwith upcoming plans. The groups gathered for the meeting with Kayli Head, Main ployees, Foreman said. bi-monthly “Coffee Talk,” an in- Street Program coordinator. “Once we start talking to Armbruster said 64 San Marcos businesses, we’ll have a better formal meeting held by the city to prompt discussions amongst residents participated in an online
idea of what we want to do,” Foreman said. The final issue the structure tries to address is the lack of longterm parking downtown, Foreman said. People are not able to spend the day shopping downtown because they are worried about getting tickets, and a solution to this might be the placement of parking meters, he said. Any revenue generated by the meters would be used for street improvements or some other kind of downtown maintenance. City councilmembers gave Foreman and his department instructions to work on outreach with the community. He said residents are very supportive of the parking management structure, with the exception of putting parking meters downtown, Foreman said. Parking Coordinator Regina Ruiz said parking meters are a great idea. Ruiz said she is from Austin, where there is an established parking meter system. Downtown could use some parking garages as well, Ruiz said. Kyle Mylius, owner of the Root Cellar Café, said parking garages would have to charge less before students would want to park there.
“(Those prices) are so outrageous,” Mylius said. “It’s not a viable option for anybody.” The discussion then turned to the subject of employees being ticketed for parking near their businesses downtown. A solution could be found with a trolley system, Mylius said. There are two “slick, really cool looking” trolleys sitting in a city garage and not being put to use, he said. “If you don’t pay for parking, you’re at the mercy of enforcement,” Mylius said. Ruiz said she liked the trolley idea for safety reasons, especially because young female students are afraid to park in dark garages like Edward Gary. “In my office, I get a lot of calls about people afraid to park,” Ruiz said. “That’s the reality I’m facing every day. You wouldn’t believe how many calls I got during that abduction incident.” The meeting ended with an agreement between the three parking workers who attended the meeting and some other members. “We’ll make sure our employees park around the corner if you guys go easy on the tickets,” Mylius said.