SAN ANTONIO – The ballot boxes are just beginning to cool down after Tuesday’s election, but some people are already feeling a wave of sadness from the results, particularly when it comes to the passage of Propositions A and B.
The two Bexar County measures together clear the way for the building of a new downtown arena for the San Antonio Spurs and allow the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo to take up year-round residence on the grounds where the team’s current home exists.
The arena will be paid for through a combination of private funds and a 2% increase on hotel and rental car taxes.
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“With them leaving the neighborhood, you know, it’s sad,” said Elizabeth Shropshire, whose home sits in the shadow of the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum.
Shropshire bought the home nearly 20 years ago in an effort to move closer to her mother.
She said she also had expectations for the area, believing there would be significant economic development as a result of the team playing nearby.
“It didn’t bring in what we thought it was going to bring to the neighborhood or just the community,” she said. “That brought traffic, but it didn’t bring the right traffic.”
Home games for the Spurs usually mean Shropshire will have trouble getting to her home.
She said cars line up along her usually quiet street, sometimes blocking her driveway. Still, she doesn’t want to see the team leave the area.
Kenneth Barnes, meanwhile, is glad for the traffic.
He regularly opens up his driveway on East Houston Street to fans headed to the games.
“We can offer people parking spots, earn a little money,” Barnes said. “(The planned move is) not really cutting into my hustle. It’s just giving me one less hustle.”
Adell Beechum has a different kind of concern about business.
She said she feels the planned move has her feeling the team and city are abandoning her community.
“We’re trying to make money here on this East Side, trying to develop,” Beechum said. “They want to take everything and move it on a different side of town.”
Brian Cruz, whose shop on East Houston makes container homes, is a bit more optimistic about the future.
He believes business on the East Side will not only survive — but thrive — even after the move.
“The Spurs is one attribute. It doesn’t have a stronghold on whether businesses succeed around the East Side area or not,” Cruz said. “If anything, the East Side is starting to be recognized as a place where people want to come put businesses.”
With the rodeo and other events continuing to use the grounds, Cruz said, it all should add up to a win.
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