A Constant, Change

By; Jim Mikula

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with the popular phrase “change is constant”. Change was at the center of the city council candidate forum last week. We asked the citizens of Fredericksburg to send us questions to ask the candidates. The top two topics our citizens wanted the candidates to talk about were Water and Development. The third most asked question was about Affordable Housing.

Based on these key issues we informed the candidates that the first question would be on these three topics and the candidates would have four minutes to share their position on these topics. You can watch a recording of the candidate forum at: https://www.youtube.com/live/pieh7i4y75w.

Thank you to Security State Bank & Trust for sponsoring the forum which allowed the Chamber to hire FBG.Live to broadcast the forum live and provide the recording on YouTube. Also, a shout out to all the citizens who sent in questions—40 in all. The questions that were submitted and not asked will be sent to the candidates so that they can answer the questions through various social feeds or on their websites.

Earlier in my career, I had regional marketing responsibilities for a global company and part of my job was to identify current and emerging trends. The research we did included looking back in time at decisions which were made that led to the current success, failure or new problems. We also looked at the actions governments and companies were taking. Let’s take a look at Fredericksburg and Texas…

In 1988 the Market Square Development Commission was formed, and we have our renovated Marktplatz thanks to the work of the commission which continues to work on improving Marktplatz. Around the same time, the ordinance nick-named “no chains on main” was passed. We can also thank the leaders who designed the codes for our historic district. I believe it is the combination of these and other actions that is key to why we enjoy living in Fredericksburg as well as the reasons tourists enjoy visiting here.

Texas is a pro-business and pro-growth state as evidenced by the number of companies moving their headquarters to Texas. This has led to significant population growth. From 2020 to 2024 the Texas population grew by 2.1 million. In the same period, many people moved to the triangle of DFW—Houston—Austin/San Antonio from West Texas reducing the population of that region. Two of the fastest growing counties in the USA are Comal and Hays. Fredericksburg is in the middle of this growth (figuratively).

Here we are: Fredericksburg is a popular place to visit and for many reasons why we all enjoy our town.

So, what’s next? It’s virtually impossible to maintain the status quo – there is an old adage, “if you’re not growing, you are dying.” What action should we take? Using the Market Square Redevelopment Commission as an example, get involved. It was a group of citizens that helped the city government redevelop Market Square back to Meusebach’s original design for Markplatz. Work with city staff to develop ordinances that reduce landscape irrigation (the significant consumption of water). Meet with city staff to get accurate information about various issues we all are concerned about. Meet with city council members to learn more about the issues.

History tells us that when citizens get involved and collaborate with government officials we can effectively manage the ever constant, change.