Members of San Antonio council scoff at mayor's proposal to ask Spurs to pay for more cops

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks during a Town Hall on Monday. Credit: Michael Karlis

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ newly floated idea of asking the San Antonio Spurs to help pay for additional city police personnel is already garnering pushback from her colleagues on City Council.

Jones’ made the proposal during a Monday town hall held with District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete. The mayor offered up the idea after a resident inquired about the status of Project Marvel, the proposed $4 billion sports-and-entertainment complex at Hemisfair anchored by a new Spurs arena.

“We need revenue sharing,” Jones said of the team’s planned arena, while avoiding specifics about the status of Project Marvel’s many components, which include a convention center expansion, two new hotels, Alamodome renovations and more.

“You know how much [the Spurs] get paid to put a company’s name on the side of the arena? Millions of dollars,” the mayor continued. “We have real needs in our community. I want to fund cops too. But I want to fund all the other things, and that means you have to ask and negotiate [with the Spurs].”

Jones was referring to a looming City Hall battle over the hiring of additional police officers.

Alderete Gavito, District 9 Councilwoman Misty Spears and District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte want the city to hire an additional 65 officers this fiscal year, something recommended in a 2023 report from a consultant tasked with analyzing the city’s public safety needs.

However, the city has pledged to fund just 40 new hires of police officers this fiscal year as it grapples with budget constraints.

Although Alderete Gavito said she’s eager to see more money to put cops on the beat, she dismissed Jones’ proposal to negotiate cash from the Spurs as unrealistic.

“Revenue sharing on this first deal is not going to happen,” Alderete Gavito told the Current after the town hall. “We can’t ask the private sector to open up its books to us. That’s like telling H-E-B, ‘Hey, for every gallon of milk you’re selling, give $1 to the city.’ It’s just not going to happen.”

Whyte told the Current he considers Jones a “hypocrite” for taking the advice of San Antonio’s fire chief when it came to requiring the Bonham Exchange to install a new sprinkler system yet ignoring the advice of a city consultant when it comes to hiring more cops.

“You remember what the mayor said on the Bonham Exchange, right? ‘I must listen to the fire chief,’” Whyte said. “Well, why doesn’t she listen to the police chief here, in addition to the study, the UTSA hotspot data, etc?”

Members of San Antonio council scoff at mayor’s proposal to ask Spurs to pay for more cops

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