Jalen McKee-Rodriguez poses for a photo. Credit: Jade Esteban Estrada

District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is alleging that a council colleague retaliated against him after he voted against using tax dollars to subsidize Project Marvel, the proposed $4 billion downtown sports and entertainment complex.

In a series of Instagram videos posted Friday, McKee-Rodriguez indirectly accused District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran of delaying a vote on an East Side senior center McKee-Rodriguez had fought for in retaliation for his vote against funneling property tax dollars to project Marvel.

In the clips, McKee-Rodriguez also described a “cartel-like” mentality he said some on council have adopted as they defend Project Marvel and the proposed Spurs arena that would anchor the district.

Viagran’s office declined to comment on McKee-Rodriguez’s accusations.

Retaliation?

McKee-Rodriguez posted his videos the day after council approved transferring $166.3 million from the MidTown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to the Hemisfair TIRZ so the city can buy a 13-acre parcel from the University of Texas System at Hemisfair. That land is intended to serve as the site of the proposed $1.3 billion Spurs arena.

Council voted 7-2 in favor of the controversial proposal, with McKee-Rodriguez and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones opposing it. District 4 Councilman Edward Mungia and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo abstained.

In his videos, McKee-Rodriguez alleges Viagran, who voted for the transfer, intentionally pulled his item calling for approval of a new East Side senior center from the same meeting’s consent agenda. Items on that agenda are typically approved unanimously without further discussion.

“This person wanted to teach me a lesson because she was mad that I didn’t support the MidTown TIRZ … So, because I dared challenge the use of MidTown TIRZ, she pulled my item,” McKee-Rodriguez said.

McKee-Rodriguez didn’t identify Viagran by name in the video, but he did identify her in the comments section of the videos as the person with whom he was voicing frustration.

According to the councilman’s accusations, not only did Viagran pull the item for further discussion, she also called for the orders of the day — a maneuver that meant the senior center would be among the last items discussed during Thursday’s marathon meeting.

McKee-Rodriguez said that angered him because his office bused in East Side seniors to watch the motion pass.

“That means by the time we get to this item, my seniors will have been sitting in the crowd in this cold-ass building for six hours,” McKee-Rodriguez said.

City Hall tension

Although the proposed senior center ultimately passed, McKee-Rodriguez said vindictive behavior has become the norm on the dais as council debates Project Marvel.

“If [Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones] mentions Project Marvel, they tune out,” McKee-Rodriguez said of some of his colleagues on the dais. “If [District 4 Councilman] Edward [Mungia] or [District 8 Councilwoman] Ivalis [Meza Gonzalez] happen to vote the same way as the mayor, you have council members saying, ‘Why did you vote with the mayor?’ As though they don’t represent their own constituencies. If I were to bring up Project Marvel, or try to share any ideas to make the deal less shitty, it had to have been Gina’s idea funneled through me, as though I haven’t been successful compromising and making deals for five years.”

The accusations of flaring tempers at City Hall come as the council is set to meet Thursday to vote on a new city budget and whether to raise property taxes by 3.9%.

The quarreling over Project Marvel also seems to be far from over. A bond to fund $200 million in infrastructure improvements at Hemisfair related to the massive downtown development is expected to go to voters next year.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...