San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks after a recent town hall about the Spurs arena project. Credit: Jacob R. Lopez

In a narrow vote, City Council on Monday rejected Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ proposal to add the city’s $489 million contribution towards a new $1.3 billion Spurs arena to the November ballot.

Members Sukh Kaur, Phyllis Viagran, Marina Alderete Gavito, Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, Misty Spears and Marc Whyte voted against the measure, narrowly beating out Jones and four other members, all from the dais’ progressive wing.

The majority of speakers during the open-comment session were in support of letting city voters decide the fate of the funding package. But, at the end of the day, most council members opposed to the vote, saying the matter had already been decided.

“This project is not about the games that are played on the court,” Whyte, who represents District 10, said during the meeting. “It’s about creating a project that benefits all of San Antonio for years to come. It’s about being good partners with the San Antonio Spurs, the preeminent NBA organization in the world.”

During the meeting, Jones and her supporters on the dais argued that although Bexar County voters narrowly approved the county’s $311 million contribution to the arena project last year by raising the county’s Hotel Occupancy Tax to 2%, city voters specifically did not get a say on the city’s $489 million contribution.​

“I just simply cannot explain to my folks in my own way that I would be against a public-participating vote for this,” said District 4 Councilman Ed Mungia, who voted in favor of council’s non-binding term sheet on the arena project with the Spurs last year.

However, District 1’s Kaur said San Antonio is city voters already had their say during the county vote and that big-ticket items are sometimes best be left to the elected officials to decide on.

“Saying that we’ve already voted as a county and haven’t voted as a city is actually disingenuous,” Kaur said amid boos from the audience. “The city as a whole voted 52% [in favor]… Trust me, if I could go back and do a revote on the President, I would love to. But, unfortunately, we can’t do that. We are a representative democracy.”

Much of the discussion during Monday’s meeting clung to familiar rhetoric.

Pro-arena council members and speakers argued that a new arena will bring economic development and jobs to San Antonio — notion about sports arenas that many economists view with skepticism.

​Meanwhile, those backing a public vote continued to argue there wasn’t enough transparency in the original process and that public money should be spent addressing San Antonio’s other critical needs.

​Although Jones’ motion didn’t pass, as of press time, it appears San Antonio voters will get different form of say on the project at the ballot box.

​For the Spurs’ downtown arena to move forward, more than $220 million in infrastructure improvements are needed at Hemisfair to support the proposed facility and surrounding economic development. By state law, a bond to support that construction would need to receive voter approval.

​What’s more, a clause in the city’s non-binding term sheet with the Spurs includes a stipulation that the city’s $489 million in funding — which comes from a mix of hotel taxes, sales taxes and property taxes at and around Hemisfair — can’t be disbursed until voters approve such a bond measure.

​City spokesman Brian Chasnoff told the Current last week that staff will brief city council on that bond measure next month, including when it might be put to a vote.

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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,...