CBS 11's Sarah Dodd
                             

02/27/06  Those with the Gold Rule!

Have you ever seen the big monstrosity on Beverly that Grandpa Jerry Jones calls home?  It was a lovely house before the Arkansas Freak had it redone to suit his family's needs or wants.  He has every right to make his property the way he wants it.   He has every right to expect to live out his days in that house and pass it on to his heirs, even Janine Turner's daughter.

Because he's rich and powerful, it is very likely that Grandpa Jones will be able to keep his property and that it will stay in the hands of his family.  Because some fat cat like Jerry Jones can get some scum bag politician to help him take another man's property for less than its true value, Joe Taxpayer can have no certainty that his heirs will benefit for his sacrifices and planning.

Her property is adjacent to commercial development, including a Wal-Mart, but it is being appraised as residential property, although it's future use will not be residential.  As DMN's Jeff Mosier reports, her property is just OUTSIDE the football stadium's footprint.  Still, she has to leave her home and sell her land for less than its true value, because Grandpa Jones wants it.

This is America.  This is Texas.  With the way Tarrant County and Arlington officials are treating Arlington homeowners and landowners, we might as well be living under some egomaniacal dictator.  I guess we are.

Property value is in eye of the beholder; Arlington case illustrates how opinions can influence estimates Saturday, February 25, 2006 by ANGELA SHAH / The Dallas Morning News

Numbers may never lie, but an exact truth can be hard to find in real estate appraisals.    Location, personal sentiment and potential uses of the property are all also taken into account.    And that could inflate values already assigned by an appraisal district.    "This is the economics of real estate," said Dallas real estate appraiser Chuck Dannis. "It's the eye of the beholder. This is an opinion, based on data."    The more-art-than-science process of property appraisal is highlighted anew as the city of Arlington attempts to acquire a final piece of property to make way for the Dallas Cowboys stadium.    Homeowner Evelyn Wray recently rejected a court-appointed panel's offer of $1.2 million.    She believes her location at a busy Arlington intersection on East Randol Mill Road should fetch at least twice as much, primarily because it's surrounded by a Wal-Mart Supercenter and other businesses.    The Tarrant Central Appraisal District, however, values her 5-acre property at about $350,000.    There is no question the property's potential commercial uses inflate its value, said Glenn Sodd, the Corsicana attorney representing Ms. Wray.  ... "Anything across the street from a Wal-Mart has that potential." ... On paper, the land-acquisition process is fairly straightforward, experts said. ... In cases such as the Cowboys project, a condemning authority offers what it considers a "fair market value" ? based on findings from a third-party appraiser ? to the property owner. If the owner doesn't agree with the price, he can hire his own appraiser and make a counteroffer.    If the two sides still disagree, a court-appointed panel hears the case and makes a nonbinding offer. If that doesn't satisfy the parties, the next step is a date in state court.     Mr. Sodd said he has filed suit to petition that Ms. Wray deserves more compensation for her land. ... "When you see these vast differences in price, that big of a spread, you know somebody's off base," he said. "Somebody's wrong, and we're pretty comfortable with who's wrong here." ...

Had she not died first, 82-year old Maria Villarreal was being forced from the home where she raised her family.  It may not have been the house you would want for your home, and certainly it doesn't compare to the Jones mansion, but it was Mrs. Villarreal's home.  If you have ever cared for an elderly person, you know moving and change is life-threatening for them.  The most mentally and physically healthy senior can go South on you when their routine is changed by forced moves -- even for their own good.

When you tell some old lady that she is to be evicted from her home where she raised her children, you are all but guaranteeing her early demise.  Please don't think it matters one iota to Grandpa Jones or the morons on the Arlington City Council.  Wonder if all those jock sniffers who supported the Jones sales tax election in Arlington have any remorse now when real faces are attached to properties to be confiscated by the powers that be for delivery to Grandpa Jones?

Moving out of stadium's way; Family last to exit Arlington neighborhood set to be razed Tuesday, February 7, 2006 By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News

ARLINGTON ? Maria Villarreal planned to move recently to make way for construction of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.    Instead, the 82-year-old lived her last days in the house where she raised a dozen children and stepchildren from the early 1960s to her death two weeks ago. Some of her adult children, who had been staying with her, moved from the house on Vine Street last week ? marking both a beginning and an end. ... "All my memories of growing up are from that house," said son Troy Villarreal, 36. "Not only is that now gone, but my mother is gone, too."    A few days after her death, the hearse carrying Mrs. Villarreal's body drove down Vine Street as a final farewell to a once-familiar neighborhood that has become a ghost town.    The family's departure marks the latest stage in the development of the Cowboys' 75,000-seat retractable-roof dome, scheduled to open in 2009. Tarrant County officials, who are demolishing houses, apartments and businesses that will be in the footprint of the stadium, are hoping to finish the teardowns by the end of February. ... The number of houses and apartments demolished was not immediately available. Officials are assembling those figures for a report that will be released soon to the City Council. ... The land where the stadium "bowl" will be was once a quiet, hidden neighborhood near Collins Street and Randol Mill Road. Now, it's a checkerboard of vacant lots and empty houses. Barricades discourage drivers from turning onto many of the streets, and front doors sometimes stand wide open at the remaining houses. ... Evelyn Wray, who lives in a house on Randol Mill Road, adjacent to the Villarreals' neighborhood, said she's nervous about having the vacant structures nearby. A second house on her property has been virtually gutted by vandals and by looters looking for building materials to salvage. ... "I keep my porch light on all the time."    Mrs. Wray, 72, hopes the light will be a signal to passers-by that someone still lives there.    But sometime this year, a county bulldozer will remove her home, too. Her houses and nearly 4 acres, bought by her family in the late '30s or early '40s, are just outside the stadium footprint area and not an immediate priority. She said her attorney and city negotiators are not close on the price. ...  The City Council has frequently used eminent domain to acquire property for the stadium. Arlington officials said they have offered fair market value for the homes, while many residents, including Mrs. Wray, wanted to be paid for the commercial value of their property. ... The number of vacant buildings in the area has attracted a large police presence. The department has increased patrols, and officers have arrested several people who broke into empty houses, despite the bright yellow "No Trespassing" signs. ... One couple tried to steal deer sculptures from Mr. Villarreal's front yard. When he yelled at them, they drove away.    Mr. Villarreal's family also struggled with phone, electricity and water problems because of the dismantling of local utilities.    Mrs. Wray said her mail service has been sporadic, apparently because of the shrinking number of residents near her. Often, letters or bills have been returned to the senders or have disappeared. ...

Mrs. Wray may have resigned herself to losing her home, but it should not have been forced on her.  This is a complete abuse of eminent domain.

My husband and I voted early in the Republican primary to get our 2 votes counted for Toby Shook.  On our ballots were 4 propositions to determine voters opinions.  One proposition dealt with eminent domain:

It is essential that we change our laws to prevent rich tycoons and crooked politicians from continuing to abuse the right of eminent domain for private development and private enrichment.

I am not willing to be treated like a sub-citizen by elected officials.  I do not accept that someone like Jerry Jones has more rights than you or I have.  Jerry Jones has the right to spend his money any way he wants or to make his home as tacky as he wants it.  Jerry Jones should not be able to take other people's homes or lands.  He doesn't have the right, but he gets to do it anyway.

Speaking of Jerry Jones and his football stadium, are you getting tired of hearing about Laura Miller letting the Cowboys get away? 

What if Jerry Jones had decided on Fair Park for his ego-monument of a stadium?  What would the stories be today when African-American families were being uprooted from their homes around Fair Park to accommodate the new stadium like what is happening to Whites and Hispanics in Arlington?  Many of the homes around Fair Park are owned and occupied by senior citizens who have been in the same house for decades.   Most Fair Park area homes are modest at best, and their "fair market value" as residential property is minimal when compared to their value as land needed for a football stadium.

It wasn't Mayor Laura Miller who let the Cowboys get away.  It was the late Mayor Annette Strauss who let her husband do such a Bad Deal with Starplex.  It was such a Bad Deal , so bad for the city and so convoluted, that it was cost prohibitive to buy out the contract.  The land where Starplex/Smirnoff is located was not just needed for the Jones stadium, it was essential.

The City of Dallas had no money to offer Jerry Jones.  We had no sales tax deal to offer Jerry Jones because former Mayor Ron Kirk and City MisManager John Ware cut a Bad Deal with Ross Perot, Jr. and Tom Hicks to build their basketball/hockey arena.  Don't forget Kirk and Ware's deal with the arena folks prohibits the city from offering tax incentives or participating in the development of any covered facility that would seat over 5,000 without the arena folks' permission, which would have come at a high price.

We would have to buy out two Bad Deals to enter into another Bad Deal.

There was never a chance the Cowboys were coming to Dallas or locating in Fair Park.  It was the Bad Deals cut by two previous mayors that killed a new football stadium at Fair Park. 

It may turn out to be good for all concerned that Fair Park neighborhoods are not being subjected to bulldozing and eradication as is happening in Arlington.  It would have been a golden opportunity for race-baiters like Old Al Lipscomb and his cronies to regain the stage of notoriety.

Don't kid yourself, Old Al would have been happy to turn hundreds of old people out of their homes after he had been bought off.  That's always been his specialty -- pretending to speak for the African-American community while taking money from Our Downtown Betters (the very White ODB).   What he really does is steal the limelight and thunder from others who might actually get something done for the little guy.

Chip Northrup says he will only back candidates in November who support school vouchers.  I'm only going to endorse legislators who agree to support a constitutional amendment prohibiting using eminent domain for economic development.

It's time for Joe Taxpayer to rule this country again.

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