San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks at a anti-Project Marvel press conference attended by COPS/Metro members last month. Credit: Michael Karlis

Community watchdog COPS/Metro will hold a public summit this weekend as a first step in undertaking its own independent economic impact analysis on Project Marvel, the city’s proposed $4 billion downtown sports-and-entertainment district.

The meeting will feature input from Geoffry Propheter, a professor of economic development at the University of Denver, and UT-San Antonio professor emeritus Heywood Sanders, according to statement from COPS/Metro. Organizers said they expect 500 people to attend.

For the sake of transparency, Sanders — a public policy scholar who’s spent decades studying San Antonio — writes the Current’s Cityscrapes column.

Even though Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has repeatedly called for a second economic impact analysis on a proposed Spurs arena and the rest of Project Marvel, she told the Current that she won’t be attending Sunday’s town hall. She didn’t say why.

Jones and COPS/Metro have both argued that the one economic development report the city commissioned on the massive project isn’t substantial enough and was conducted by a consulting firm too closely tied to the Spurs.

COPS/Metro’s Project Marvel meeting will take place at 3 p.m. at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 1314 Fair Ave. All community members are welcome. 

During the meeting, Propheter and Sanders will provide insights on the economic costs, benefits and consequences of the proposed new arena and surrounding development, according to COPS/Metro. The pair will draw on their own research and studies.

The COPS/Metro gathering will take place fewer than 24 hours after Spurs Sports & Entertainment will host its own pro-Project Marvel pep rally at Idle Beer Hall & Brewery at 6 p.m. Saturday. 

The Spurs’ rally aims to boost support for a November ballot initiative, which will ask voters whether they want the city and county to throw $800 million behind the NBA team’s proposed $1.3 billion downtown arena.

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Spurs Jesus, whose real name is Cordero Maldonado, works for Centro San Antonio as a membership and sales coordinator.