SAN ANTONIO – Seven months after the City of San Antonio unveiled its vision for a multi-billion-dollar sports and entertainment district, residents are being asked for their feedback.
Not all of it is good.
The city is hosting a series of two-day community planning workshops in each of the 10 city council districts over the next two weeks to gather public input on the proposed district, which the city dubbed “Project Marvel,” and how it should be implemented.
Skepticism and apprehension filled early discussions at one of the first workshops on the East Side. City officials and the architectural and planning firm hired to run the meetings say public feedback, positive or negative, won’t be ignored.
“We’re not here just to check a box,” Assistant City Manager Lori Houston told reporters. “We’re here to get that input, present it in a report to council, and let them make the decision if they feel like the input was adequate enough for them to make the decision to move forward."
Houston framed a possible bond vote as the first test of the council’s support. City staff have said a $220 million to $250 million bond is needed to improve infrastructure around Hemisfair to make the vision of a larger district possible.
The new city council would need to act by Aug. 18 to put the issue in front of voters on the November ballot.
A new Spurs arena is the centerpiece of the proposed district, which also includes expanding the Henry B. González Convention Center, building a new convention center hotel, renovating the John H. Wood Jr. Federal Courthouse into an events venue, upgrading the Alamodome, constructing a land bridge over Interstate 37 and facilitating private development.
The city has hired architectural and planning firm Able City to run the workshops, though city staff are also involved. The workshops are a combination of presentations, focus group discussions on specific issues such as transportation and local business and exercises where residents can draw their ideas directly onto maps of the area.
At one of the first meetings on Tuesday in District 2 — a focus group on housing issues — general skepticism and pushback dominated the discussion.
The roughly two dozen participants expressed frustration with how the community engagement process was set up and organized, fear of further gentrification and displacement in their neighborhoods and an overarching question of whether the new arena or district was necessary.
“Why should all of the people put forward their energy behind a multi-billion-dollar project that’s not gonna benefit them at all? Period. Never,” asked CJ Gaylord.
The specter of other unfulfilled expectations, such as the growth that failed to materialize around the Spurs’ current home, the Frost Bank Center, also hung over the discussion, as did the problems the district already faces.
“We’ll give as much time as you need and we’ll work hard to make sure this is a great project,“ Beverly Watts said. ”But, you guys, we can’t ignore what’s already in existence here now that hasn’t been fixed, that will only be exacerbated when you put all these other things on it."
Pegy Brimhall, a partner with Able City Communities and leader of the focus group discussions, said she was not surprised by all the negative reactions.
“There have been decades worth of understandings that have not come to fruition,” Brimhall said. Is this going to be one that will have the same sort of output? I don’t think anyone is intending that.”
Brimhall said the conversations “happening now and over the next few weeks and few months” would help form a “guiding principles” document to determine how Project Marvel moves forward.
“Everything is open, which is why this is the time to form it and to make it what it is that the community needs and wants to see and wants to enjoy,” she said.
A larger meeting of approximately 40 people on Tuesday night, during which Houston presented an overview of Project Marvel and community members worked in groups on proposals, was much less combative than the earlier forums; however, similar concerns still arose.
“Fifty-six years, I’ve seen the Alamodome. I’ve seen the AT&T Center. And now we want to move again,” said longtime East Side resident Debra Seward. “It has to be something that’s done for this East Side community before we, you know, have another broken promise to this community."
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
The two-day community planning workshops are happening in each of the 10 city council districts over the next two weeks, and all follow the same format.
DAY 1
- 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. — Housing Focus Group
- 3 - 4 p.m. — Transportation Focus Group
- 6 - 8 p.m. — Community Forum and Hands-On Mapping Exercise
DAY 2
- 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. — Public Community Space Focus Group
- 3 - 4 p.m. — Local Business Focus Group
- Noon - 7 p.m. — Guiding Principles Open House (interactive stations)
The city is encouraging residents to attend the meeting in their own district, but they are also welcome to attend any of the meetings.
The full list of meeting dates and addresses is below:
Tues - Wed, June 24-25
- D2 — Wheatley Heights Sports Complex, 200 Noblewood Drive, San Antonio, TX 78220
- D4 — Palo Alto College Legacy Room (Ozuna Library), 1400 W. Villaret Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78224
- D5 — Progreso Hall, 1306 Guadalupe St., San Antonio, TX 78207
- D7 — St. Paul Community Center, 1201 Donaldson Ave., San Antonio, TX 78228
Mon - Tues, June 30 – July 1
- D3 — Southside Lions Senior Center, 3303 Pecan Valley Drive, San Antonio, TX 78210
- D10 — Morgan’s Multi-Assistance Center, 5210 Thousand Oaks Drive, San Antonio, TX 78233
Tues - Wed, July 8-9
- D1 — Oblate School of Theology, 285 Oblate Drive, San Antonio, TX 78216
- D6 — Darner Parks & Rec. Headquarters, 5800 Historic Old Highway 90 W., San Antonio, TX 78227
- D8 — Phil Hardberger Urban Ecology Center, 8400 NW Military Highway, San Antonio, TX 78231
- D9 — Walker Ranch Senior Center, 835 W. Rhapsody Drive, San Antonio, TX 78216
SURVEY
The city also has an online survey in which residents can offer feedback.