[Excerpts]

The black, white and yellow yard signs blaring “No! Project Marvel” first appeared outside two houses in King William.

Then more cropped up in other neighborhoods farther from downtown…

The signs are part of a grassroots effort to derail the development of the city of San Antonio’s proposed downtown sports and entertainment district at Hemisfair, a multibillion-dollar undertaking that staff initially code-named Project Marvel…..

For more than a year, city staff discussed plans to transform downtown behind closed doors. They talked about building a new Spurs arena with franchise executives and required developers, consultants and Bexar County employees to sign nondisclosure agreements to talk about elements of Project Marvel....

No! Project Marvel is joining a much bigger and older organization in opposing Project Marvel.

COPS/Metro Alliance, a prominent interfaith community group, first came out against the district in December. It’s currently collecting signatures from voters who commit to rejecting any ballot measures that seek to use city or county dollars for the project. The organization’s leaders are knocking on doors and talking to parishioners at their 32 member churches and nonprofits.

“We don’t need to provide a $4.5 billion playground for tourists and billionaires that does not provide economic development for our city,”

said COPS/Metro leader Father Jimmy Drennan of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Southeast San Antonio.….

COPS/Metro aims to collect tens of thousands of signatures from registered voters who oppose using public dollars for the proposed district.

“The city and the county have not really given any place, any forum where individuals can express their opposition to this and what they want to see happen,” Drennan said.

COPS/Metro leader Mike Phillips, a member of First Unitarian Universalist Church in Balcones Heights, said signing the petition is a way to do that.

“When I tell people, ‘Would you like to sign in opposition?’ they grab it out of my hands to try to sign it,” Phillips said. “And they’re excited to sign it."

[Photo Credit: Christopher Lee, San Antonio Express-News]

As Likely Election Looms, is Opposition to Spurs-Anchored District Mounting?, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

Project Marvel Receives Backlash from Community Yard Signs and Petitions, Sports Business Journal [pdf]

Silence Marking Advisory Group for East Side, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]