06.02.20 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes June 2, 2020 It's that same mentality of not caring about impacts to others that got us into this whole Cape's Dam problem in the first place. Mr. Thompson cared about money. He cared about it so much that he forced the people he enslaved to dig a huge trench and build a structure to block the natural flow of the San Marcos River to divert 1/3rd of it's flow to his mill to power it to make money. Nevermind that for tens of thousands of years the river had sustained life for thousands of species. Nevermind that it builds up sediment and methane and bacteria. Nevermind that it was wrong. What seems to matter to *some* of you is that the dam is "historic". (Reader, please note the quotation marks around historic.) NOT THE DAM. The river needs to be preserved and protected. NOT THE DAM. Now, you're discussing the proposal presented by the county. The company they contracted with sent in a snake -oil sales guy wearing a plantation owner's suit(who hadn't read the science) to present a grand proposal and here it is: It's a park! A park! But wait ... the only way they can make this park is if they have a dam! That's weird. There are so many parks and parklands that serve communities very well, and they are not contingent upon destroying the river. We could very well have a park that not only the residents of the east side could enjoy, but we could all enjoy --locals and visitors alike. We would LOVE to have our park back. But we do not want a park at the expense of destroying our river. Their plans include *raising the water level* of the mill race, and THAT MEANS DIVERTING MORE OF THE RIVER FROM ITSELF. You KNOW this is a bad idea. Please FREE THE RIVER and the parkland. Do not continue to hold it hostage to developers and business interests. I believe your November elections will be counting on this decision. Alexander Arlinghaus: Mayor and Council, My comments tonight regard item 27. You are being asked to make decisions on a project that has huge impacts for our river without any hydrological studies, and no studies regarding the impact of our endangered species. The pictures in your presentation look lovely, and the platitudes about balancing recreation, historic preservation, and the environment are well crafted, but there has been no research into the implication of this design to support these claims. Furthermore, we are having a one-sided discussion about cape's dam. The option of dam removal dam and redevelopment of the surrounding parkland has been pushed aside, and it seems we are only considering parkland rehabilitation if it includes restoration of cape's dam. Please make informed decisions. PRESENTATIONS Receive status reports and updates on response to COVID-19 pandemic; hold council City of San Marcos Page 8