SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones took over a Wednesday rally organized by business leaders who were openly supporting the Spurs arena term sheet.
Participants in Wednesday’s rally included prominent business owners, like Pete Cortez of La Familia Cortez Restaurants and chef Johnny Hernandez of La Gloria Group, and social media personality Spurs Jesus.
They were advocating for the council to move ahead on a deal for Project Marvel when Jones took the microphone.
During the rally, Jones spoke for more than 10 minutes and advocated for a pause in the city funding deal.
“The Spurs have never said, ‘hey, City Council, if you don’t vote on a term sheet on Thursday, we’re leaving.’ They’ve never said that,” Jones said, talking to Spurs Jesus.
She called it a “fearful comment.”
Business owners and hotel and restaurant industry representatives held the rally to “stand in solidarity and advocate for the City Council to move forward with a positive vote on the city’s negotiated term sheet with San Antonio Spurs,” a news release states.
Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeff Webster called it an “exciting time” for the city.
“We are standing at step one. Step one is this arena we’ve been talking about,” he said. “I am very confident and you’re going to hear from some people today that are going to tell you that we know and we have seen the studies. We have seen that the reality that the time is now to move forward.“
Hernandez called the project “a true gift to the hospitality industry.”
“You know, in the four years that I’ve been at the Frost [Bank] Center, you know, I’ve seen where we have hundreds and hundreds of part-time employees. Moving this arena downtown will transition these part-time employees into full-time jobs,” he said.
Hernandez owns Burgerteca, Casa Hernan, La Gloria and other restaurants around San Antonio. La Gloria and Burgerteca have locations in the Frost Bank Center.
The mayor has continued to push for the city to hold off on approving a non-binding set of terms for funding the $1.3 billion arena until it has an “independent economic impact study” and meetings in each council district to get community feedback.
Jones said the only information on an arena’s possible benefits has come from a study commissioned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment.
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