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A group of grassroots San Antonio advocacy organizations that formed the No! Project Marvel Coalition called on Monday for a delay in the ongoing downtown sports and entertainment district.
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Pueblo over Profit, Domesticas Unidas, COPS/Metro, and the Coalition for Dignified Housing are all coalition members.
Members held a press conference in front of the Alamodome on Monday to publicize their demands.
“Citizens call on our mayor and councilmembers to postpone allocating any related expenditures to accommodate Project Marvel until after the residents of San Antonio have had the opportunity for a full public discussion of the merits and drawbacks of Project Marvel,” coalition organizer Annalisa Peace said.
The coalition called on the city council to delay the project so that an environmental impact study, racial equity assessment, and a new economic impact study could be conducted.
Community advocates have criticized a slideshow presentation version of a Project Marvel economic impact analysis the city released last week.
They said the presentation, created by consultant CSL International, lacked substantial information about how a new Spurs arena could generate $318 million in annual positive net economic impact.
The report includes an estimate that the Spurs arena will generate over $300 million in annual net economic impact. Some councilmembers find the figures encouraging, while others on council and in the community doubt their legitimacy.
CSL cited other unnamed consultants as being responsible for the Spurs estimate in the presentation.
The Spurs arena itself has an estimated cost between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion. The city has floated contributing between $300 million and $500 million from what it said are largely tourist-funded tax sources for the arena.
Graciela Sanchez, the executive director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, said she believed CSL had too close a relationship with the city and the Spurs.
“It should be an outside, independent person that is not friends of the San Antonio Spurs or even the city,” she said.
Sanchez said she doesn’t think the city will listen to community organizations calling for an independent study, but that if they did, it would prove that the project isn’t worth it.
“It hasn’t stopped being a poor city,” she said. “I grew up in District 5, and I live in District 5, and it’s gotten worse than when I was a child 65 years ago, right? So when is this going to change? When will city and county and state elected officials and the support staff pay attention to the community?”
Coalition members will attend Wednesday’s Citizens to be Heard council session to reiterate their demands directly to the city council.
The city council will be briefed on Wednesday afternoon on the economic impact report and a public engagement report performed by consultant Able City.
The city has scheduled the council to vote on a non-binding terms sheet with the Spurs on Aug. 21. The council also has until Aug. 18 to call an infrastructure bond election for the fall. That bond’s passage is essential for any of the Project Marvel development.
Great Job Josh Peck & the Team @ Texas Public Radio Source link for sharing this story.
