09.17.19 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council spaces in and around cities. Meeting Minutes September 17, 2019 Urban agriculture (intra- and peri- urban) may improve both food intake and the nutritional quality of the food. Locally produced food is fresher, more nutritious and diverse than food products bought in supermarkets or in fast food chains. This is of crucial importance for young children, the elderly or sick household members (e.g. HIV/AIDS and TB patients) and pregnant and lactating women. Urban agriculture also can play a role in the social inclusion of marginalized groups (the aged without a pension, unemployed youth, persons with disabilities, those afflicted by HIV -AIDS, refugees, female -headed households etc.) by providing them an opportunity to feed their families and raise an income, while enhancing self-management and entrepreneurial capacities. Short food supply chains and associative value adding enterprises in many respects represent a promising approach for the generation of income streams and socio-economic tissue — social cohesion, and beneficial social networks. Apart from creating economic livelihood opportunities for urban food producers, short food supply chains and related agro-enterprises also are an important mechanism for building local food economies through spin-off to local shops, weekly markets, and food -related services (input supply, transport, animal health services, credit supply). An additional positive outcome of short chains is that the quality and availability of fresh locally produced food products increases at lower prices, making nutritious food better available for less endowed urban consumers. Finally, the shortening of food supply chains also potentially improves the resource efficiency of urban food systems by contributing to the closing of nutrient and energy cycles at city region level. Council consensus is to have staff look into this further and look into money that may be available for this iniative. Also have staff assist the Sustainability committee in creating a policy and ordinance for Council to consider on land banking for small urban farms. 26. Hold discussion regarding the Belvin Street sidewalk installation between Bishop and Dixon Streets and the Sidewalk Gap Program, and provide direction to the City Manager. Steve Parker and Tom Taggart provided an update on this project and how it initially began. Tom Taggart discussed the project expenses and why this went over budget. Discussion was held on having porous concrete in an effort to protect the tree routes. City of San Marcos Page 21