As we enter the final days of early voting, San Antonio stands at a crossroads that will define our downtown for generations to come. From the vantage of the Market Street Bridge, you’re able to look down on a simple yet stirring message painted atop our umbrellas: “Go Spurs Go.” It’s a statement of solidarity with the team we love and a vote of confidence in our city’s future.

In 1946, after floods and setbacks closed his appliance shop near Joske’s, my great-grandfather, Al Beyer, took a gamble on something unproven: a restaurant along a sleepy stretch of river. He poured everything into it—time, savings, faith—and nearly lost it all twice before Hemisfair in 1968 put both the River Walk and San Antonio in the spotlight.

We’ve survived floods, recessions, and changing tastes. But the greatest threat isn’t change – it’s stagnation. Cities that stop believing in themselves become museums instead of living, breathing, and life-sustaining communities. The only thing worse than a few years of traffic, is for our next fifty years to have continued declining traffic. Think about that for a moment. Someone might argue, “so what if we have less traffic? Better for my commute.” So long as you still have a job to commute to.  

For our part, we are wanting to continue to invest in downtown through our upcoming upstairs rooftop bar and restaurant concept, The Night Heron, which is designed to attract new generations of locals and visitors alike. Yet even we find ourselves at a crossroads. We have one plan that includes an expanded event space, symbolic of confidence in a bright and growing downtown, and another scaled-back version that reflects the uncertainty many local businesses feel right now. That hesitation isn’t unique to us. Countless small and family-run enterprises are quietly weighing the same question: do we build for growth, or brace for contraction?  

Election Day is right around the corner. The propositions may, at first glance, look like wordy and confusing jargon that leaves you having more questions than answers. But if you stare through the soul of these propositions, you will see that at the heart, these propositions provide us with our next chapter. If we falter in this moment, the risks ripple outward: stalled momentum, missed opportunity, a weakening of vitality.

Thus, the umbrella message: “Go Spurs Go.” A rallying cry for belief: belief in the team on the court, but also belief in this city and our shared future. When you read that message in this iconic location; when you see Wemby change the sport forever; when you see the investment this team makes in our community; I want us all to feel that same feeling we have when rushing the streets of downtown after winning a Championship: We voted. We stepped up. We said yes. And we won. 

Some say this project “isn’t meant for us.” But who is us? If you live in San Antonio, it’s meant for you. When more people visit, more people dine, stay, and spend. That ripple effect sustains local jobs. When downtown thrives, so do the communities around it. When you go to the ballot, cast your vote not just for today, but for the story you want the next generation to tell. Please, vote yes because you believe San Antonio’s best days are ahead, not behind. Vote yes because you want your kids to inherit a city that’s proud, not paralyzed. And vote yes for our Spurs, our downtown, and the city of San Antonio. So when we say “Go Spurs Go,” what we really mean is, “Go San Antonio Go.” Because we believe.