Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What it was Tony to move to the Animal though
san Antonio did with it what was necessary.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Same now with the Frost Bank Center.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
So it's just it's it's needed.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's going to do so much.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Think about all the jobs.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That was Avery Johnson yesterday speaking at the San Antonio
Sports Hall of Fame, and thank you to Kids five
for that sound. And Avery Johnson's putting it best. You know,
San Antonio has stepped up for the Spurs in the past,
for their own city of San Antonio, to create jobs
and to create everything else like that. And I want
to bring in our good friend counselman Mark White, and
(00:43):
he's joining us over the phone today and countsman Mark White.
First of all, welcome back into the fanatics, and we
appreciate you always being available for us and to be
able to talk about you know, not only Project Marvel
but also the Spurs Arena.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So how are you doing this morning?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I'm doing great, guys, Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And so I you know here we are.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And the reason why I wanted to bring you back
on is I feel like I don't want this conversation
to die between now in November. I mean, how important
is it for San Antonio to step up for this
project for the city of San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, it's very important and I'm glad you said it
at the outset that we're dealing with the Spurs arena here, okay,
And there's been a lot of confusion over is this
project Marvel, Is this the arena? What are we doing?
Project Marvel is a ten to twenty year vision for downtown.
But all we're doing right now in the immediate is
(01:40):
dealing with this Spurs arena. And as your listeners know,
there's going to be a vote on November fourth. We're
actually now less than a month away from early voting,
and this vote is going to determine whether or not
the arena deal moves forward. And this is really important
for San Antonio for a number of reasons. Number one,
(02:02):
of course, are San Antonio Spurs. It's the best NBA
franchise in the world and we have to keep them
right here in San Antonio. And number two, for economic
development purposes. This is an opportunity, if done properly, where
San Antonio could really benefit in terms of hundreds of
(02:23):
millions of dollars coming into our city, into our city,
into our businesses, the creation of jobs, all of it.
So it's a big opportunity if done correctly.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And let me ask you this because Avery Johnson yesterday,
I mean we or last night, speaking the way he did,
I mean we moved to the Alamodome, the Spurs moved there,
and then we also moved to the Frost Bank Center.
I mean, I feel like this is such a great
move for the city of San Antonio. I get that
there's a lot of people that say this Mark. They say, well,
they have an arena, and it's a great arena. But
(02:56):
don't you think it's important for these guys to come
back to the city of down town because every other
franchise is downtown.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And this would be great for not only you know, the.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Spurs, but this would be great for the city because
you've got the Convention Center, you got the river Walk,
You've got this potential ten to twenty year thing.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
It's just gonna be a beautiful thing, is it not.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, it really could be. And what a lot of
folks don't know is that it was the city that
approached the Spurs about coming downtown, not the other way around. Okay,
And the reason being is is, yes, the Spurs have
a nice arena right now, but the reality is it
is no longer a state of the art NBA arena.
(03:37):
But more than that, it's about putting this franchise downtown
where it can be more than just a place where
basketball is played. It can be an economic driver and
revitalize that side of downtown. And one important difference that
people need to know from what we did out with
(03:58):
the Frost Bank Center to what we're doing here right
is when we put it out on the East side,
there there was no plan, unfortunately, as to how we
were going to develop around the Frost Bank Center. So
a lot of the promises of the on the economic
development side never came true because there really wasn't a
good plan. This time, the Spurs are committed themselves to
(04:22):
investing one point four billion dollars in development around the arena,
so it's a much better plan this time. They're acting
in good faith as a good partner with the city
because they want to see this work not just for
themselves but for the city as a whole and for
all of our citizens.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Councilman Mark White is joining the fanatics.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I've got to ask you this too, because there's
always since We're in Halloween, it's trick or treat season.
What should these voters be looking out for, as far
as any tricks that could be played from any other
members or be misled in this whole new arena.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, I'm glad, I'm glad you're asking that. So there's
been a ton of misinformation, So let me try to
lay it out as simply as possible. Okay, people's taxes,
number one, are not going up. Everybody needs to know that.
Believe me, if taxes were going up in any shape,
form or fashion because of this deal, I'd be the
first guy at the top of the mountain yelling against this.
(05:22):
Your taxes are not going up. Number two, The money
that's being spent on this thing cannot, by law, be
used all around the city for everything else that we need.
It can't be used for streets, sidewalks, public safety, anything.
By law, this arena is being funded by visitors. Number one. Okay,
(05:45):
if you stay in hotels and you use rental cars,
you know, which is ninety eight percent visitors. That's the
first part of the funding. Secondly, the spurs are putting
in five hundred million dollars plus everything over all, all
construction overruns over the one point three billion dollar arena cost.
And then the third part is what everybody's calling the
(06:07):
city portion, and that's being paid for, you know, with
ground leases and everything, and this PFZ money, Okay, Projects
Finance Zone dollars where the state legislature has said this
money can be used in this three mile radius downtown
and only four entertainment purposes, like for convention centers or arenas.
(06:30):
It cannot be used anywhere else around the city for
infrastructure needs or anything like that. And there's folks out
there that are purposefully spreading wrong information about this. They're saying, well,
why are we spending money on an arena when it
should be going to streets and sidewalks and all of that.
That is a false narrative. It's untrue. It really ticks
(06:54):
me off when folks say that people need to understand
how this deal is being funded. It's really a sound
financial structure and it does not put the citizens in
San Antonio. It does not put their money into the deal.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So let's be clear here.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
This deal isn't it And I don't want to say it,
you know, offhanded or anything. It doesn't really affect the
San Antonio citizens, it's only gonna make us a better city.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
No. Yeah, I mean, listen, you're not paying for this
thing unless you're one of the developers that's doing the
work downtown. Uh, or you're standing in uh you know,
hotels or using rental cars. You're you're not You're not
paying for this. This is being done in what I
(07:42):
think is a in a fiscally responsible way. You have
to invest in your city, uh, if you want your
city to grow and develop and really be all that
it can be. So again, there's a lot of potential
here for this to do wonders for San Antonio. Uh.
Make it such that everybody can be proud of it
(08:04):
and everybody can benefit from it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, and let's I want to be very clear to
the San Antonio mayor. Has something changed with her during
this time. I know it's a lot of back and
forth in the chambers, and of course the news is gonna,
you know, catch those clips. But I just don't understand
how how we don't want to be part of such
an important part of San Antonio history.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The Mayor's position on this has been extremely puzzling, not
just to you and me, but to a lot of people.
Folks are wondering whether she she wants the deal, whether
whether it matters to her at all, whether you know,
this is an economic development idea that that she's going
(08:49):
to support. I wish I could sit here today, uh
and tell you, but if I'm honest, it is frustrating
some of the messaging that's that's coming from the Mayor's office.
You know, this notion that well, you're going to have
to pay for the county portion, and you're paying for
the city portion, and all the citizens are on the
hook for this money and this money should be used elsewhere.
(09:13):
Very very frustrating because, like I said, people are not
on the hook for this new arena, and this money
cannot be used for other things. So my hope is
that the mayor, over the course of the next month
will come to realize that this can be a very
good thing for San Antonio. Yes, it started before her,
so so you know, I don't know that she feels
(09:35):
ownership of it because again, the majority of the work
happened before she got here. But even though it started
before her, the mayor could really help us, you know,
in pushing out the right information again, because that's what
it's all about. It's just let the citizens have the
correct information and let them make the decision. It's democracy
(09:55):
in its purest form. The citizens are going to go
to the polls in a month and they are going
to say yes or no to this thing, but they
need to have the right information before they do it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And I would love for you to pass on a
note to her from me.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
I've asked, you know, a couple of times for her
to come onto the show, open discussion and just let
her know that, you know, like Ticket seven sixties started
before me. I'm on it, and I'm part of a
great sports station, you know. And that's the thing is
this might have started before her, and it's okay, but
this is something that could put her name out there
for the history books of the city of San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, again, we all hope we
can get on the same page and she can help
again get the right information out there, get it over
the finish line. But you know, she's got her own agenda,
I guess, and I'm okay with her having her own agenda.
But what I'm not okay with is the spreading of
(10:52):
false information about the deal, which reminds me, please tell
your listeners. Go on to the city website. The term
sheet is on there. If you can't find it, call
my District ten office. We will get it to you.
We had community we're having community meetings as you know.
Last week we had over two hundred people come to
(11:13):
the Northeast Senior Center where we had our city manager there.
We had the General Counsel of the Spurs there to
answer questions for an hour about this project. Everybody needs
to get their questions answered, review the term sheet so
that they can make an informed decision in a month.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And you're going to continue having those meetings.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
In fact, this coming Tuesday, you're actually going to join
me on the Trending with Trudy show and we're going
to be out there to discuss this. So we want
people to come on out and ask you the questions.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Absolutely, I hope everybody can can join us for that.
There's also I know this coming week District eight they
are having a community meeting where anybody can show up
and get their questions answered there. All the districts are
doing it. We're going to do a couple more in
District ten as well. Again because this is the people's decision.
(12:09):
You know, there was so much confusion. Why does city
council want this? No, Look, City Council has only approved
the term sheet so that now everybody can review the
deal and make the decision for themselves. So over the
next thirty days, people need to go on the website,
look at the deal, look at the community benefits package.
Right the additional seventy five million that the Spurs are
(12:31):
going to put in, that's going to include I think
a lot of discounted tickets and things like that. Everybody
go and review it, make up your own mind. If
you have questions, call my office, we'll answer them. Attend
one of the community meetings and let's have a big
voter turnout and let the people's voices be heard.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
And you know, Mark, I couldn't let you go because
I know it's football Sunday.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
You know, we've got you know, some NFL.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Teams playing today, and I've got to ask you who
is your NFL team?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
So my team is the Houston Texans, And you know,
you can, you know, let out a sigh for me
because it's been a it's been a rough what twenty
three years for this franchise. We we seem to always
get in our own way at precisely the wrong times.
(13:25):
It hasn't been a good start to the year zero
and two, but hopefully we're gonna turn it around today
and beat the Jags.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
All right, So you've got them beating the Jags, and
you know what, I'll say, this Countsman White. I'll be
cheering for the Texans today because I do hope they
turned it around. But I do want to thank you
for your time on this Sunday, and I'm looking forward
to Tuesday and talking to you then about more of
the Spurs Arena.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, me too. Thanks for everything that you guys do
and getting the word out to your listeners, and I
look forward to seeing you tuesday.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
All right, I appreciate that was counselman Mark White joining
us on the fanatics. Guys again, he's preaching, he's opening
the door.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
He's saying, Hey, you want to know more. You called me.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I'm gonna be out there to do it and don't
be misguided. That is the important part here. There are
people out there, There are bloggers, podcasters, everybody out there
that seems to be on the side of the mayor
here to kind of divert you away. From other things.
The basic matter of the truth is is know the facts.
Encouncment Mark White is going to give you those facts.
(14:26):
You just have to call his office. It doesn't matter
where you live in San Antonio. You want the facts,
you call him and you'll get it. And trust me,
come out this Tuesday to the Hollow and we'll have
more of that one on one. But coming up next,
let's get back into some sports shallowing. That's all next
on the Fanatics ticket seven sixty