05/23/05   Arlington drew the short straw.

Dallas dropped out early of the extortion scam (aka New Cowthugs Stadium bid) for multiple reasons, but mostly because Jerry Jones did not want his ego monument built in South Dallas or at Fair Park.

It will be a few years, but Laura Miller's a young woman and she will not be an old woman when people realize what a good thing she did for Dallas by not prostituting our city for that Arkansas freak, Jerry Jones.

There's an entire neighborhood in Arlington where 97% of the homeowners and residents wish their mayor, city council and any of the bureaucats at their City Hall had half of Laura Miller's good sense regarding the empty promises the city will reap from building a football stadium for Grandpa Jones.

Notice anything about Arlington's City Hall?  Just a dry spot on the road.  Nothing to attract a visitor to linger.  Sort of like a Dallas-less? 

The movers and shakers of Irving put a pencil to the numbers and decided that some prime real estate would be available for real property tax revenue as soon as the Cowthugs make their move to Arlington.

Their campus has all sorts of amenities to one to stop and stay awhile.

Which city will Cowboys' move benefit? 09:30 PM CDT on Saturday, May 21, 2005 By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News

ARLINGTON ? The city of Arlington firmly established its identity in 1972 when it landed a major league baseball franchise.    During the next three decades, the popularity of the Texas Rangers and Six Flags Over Texas cemented its reputation as a town built on fun. Today, city leaders say they are following that same path with the addition of the Dallas Cowboys and hope that it leads them into the top ranks of tourism hotspots. ... In the triangle created by the Rangers' home at Ameriquest Field, Six Flags and the new Cowboys stadium, officials imagine a pedestrian-friendly town center with shops, restaurants and perhaps even a towering four-star hotel. They can even picture the proposed George W. Bush presidential library acting as a fourth anchor in the city's thriving entertainment district, which already attracts more than 6 million visitors each year. ... But for now, all but the stadium is still a dream.    The Texas Rangers are working on a commercial development, possibly modeled on the Southlake Town Square, but that project hasn't been green-lighted. ... Mayor Robert Cluck said there are some risks in building the stadium. ... If the city's sales tax revenue dropped significantly and little new development sprung up around the stadium, Dr. Cluck said, Arlington could struggle to pay off its share of the debt. ... "Looking at the risks and rewards, it's very significantly tilted toward the rewards," he said. ... City officials told voters that such a bold move was needed to push the city's economy forward after several years of struggling with budget deficits. They argued that Arlington needs to move forward or risk having its tax base stagnate. ... Some opponents who fought against the tax increase are skeptical. ... They point to construction of Ameriquest Field during the 1990s. City officials then hoped for a San Antonio-style riverwalk development nearby to help boost tourism. That failed to materialize, and economic development in that general area has been inconsistent.    Diane Brandon, a spokeswoman for the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the stadium gives the city much more flexibility than ever. ... "If you have one theater, it's an attraction," Ms. Brandon said. "Two theaters are competition. If you have 20 theaters, it's a destination." ... But to be a destination, tourists have to know you exist. While Arlington is not necessarily a household name outside this region, Mr. Rivera said, that is likely to change in the years after the Cowboys stadium opens in 2009. Tens of millions of football fans will see the city's name over and over during the season, and blimps will show overhead shots of Six Flags and Ameriquest Field. ...

Here's some quick questions.  When was the last time you went to Arlington?  Was it to have dinner?  Or, maybe it was to shop at Six Flags Mall? 

Following that same train of thought -- When was the last time you had dinner in Irving after a Cowthugs game? 

The promises made by Grandpa Jones and his hired hands on the Arlington City Council were just like the pig in a poke Arlington voters bought with the Ball Park.  Just give us the money, and we will all prosper.  It hasn't happened anywhere, and it certainly has not happened in Arlington since they bit off the Ball Park.

For a town with a major university, there are bunch of dumb people living on either side of the Tom Landry Freeway aka the Dallas/FW Turnpike.

Did the Six Flags people need taxpayer support to build their facility?  Have they asked for it since with all of their expansions and renovations?  If so, they have certainly have been circumspect and quiet about it. 

Comparing a football stadium to Six Flags or a baseball park is like comparing fruit to vegetables.  Football stadiums are not used with the same frequency as a theme park or baseball park.  A stadium the size Grandpa Jones wants would preclude its use for high school playoff events.

Families hit Six Flags at the crack of dawn and start spending money -- all day into the night. 

Baseball fans go to a couple of games (more for the few season ticket holders), get there and find a place to park their car within the County and start walking for miles to get to the stadium.   When the game's over (or as soon as the fans think they know the outcome), they start hauling their rears to their car to beat at least one or two other cars out to the freeway and get out of the area promptly.  They don't stop to dine or have a cocktail in Arlington because there's nothing there they can't find closer to home.  

Irving's politicians have a closer relationship with reality than the Arlington politicians determined to waste the people's tax dollars.  Irving politicians know a football stadium is not such a good deal after all, since they've had one for 30 something years.  Even with a prime location, Texas Stadium has not been the catalyst for any new development (unless you count mini-warehouses).  The land necessary to park all the people who refuse to use mass transit (when it's available) precludes any accessory entertainment areas.

Arlington officials think a football stadium will put it on the national map.  Irving had national exposure for 30 years, but no one calls (or called) the Dallas Cowthugs the Irving Cowthugs. 

Irving sees loss of stadium as gain; 09:16 PM CDT on Saturday, May 21, 2005 By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING ? When the Dallas Cowboys pack up and head to Arlington, it'll be an end of an era for Irving.    But while the city licks its wounds, many see a golden opportunity. Many Irving City Council members feel they can use Texas Stadium land to significantly boost the city's tax base and create civic pride.    The possibilities seem endless: upscale apartments, shops and businesses. A swanky mall. A convention center and hotel. Even the presidential library for George W. Bush. ... City officials want to create a project that will fill city coffers in a way the stadium and football team never did. While they're grateful that Irving has been the team's home since 1971, they say the city will survive ? and even thrive ? without the team. ... "It's not the worst thing in the world, to be without the stadium," she added. "In fact, it might be a tremendous opportunity." ... The site is near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Las Colinas and surrounded by state highways 114 and 183 and Loop 12. Interstate 35E is nearby. In addition, a DART rail line is to run near the area in about five years. ... A study commissioned by Irving last fall concluded that a new stadium would have a $51 million annual economic impact on the city. The study was in sharp contrast to another report that states that a new Arlington stadium would generate $238 million a year in economic impact in that city. ... Some city officials have said that Irving's prominent businesses create a larger economic impact than the Cowboys. And they say the stadium never sparked development nearby. Land surrounding the stadium is practically empty. ...

A new stadium will not generate any more economic impact for Arlington than Texas Stadium did for Irving.  Without a football stadium and related parking fields absorbing everything, that land in Irving would have developed and created real jobs.  It is a prime location that has been mothballed for 30 years with Texas Stadium sitting there idle more often than used.

Several people criticize Mayor Miller for letting the Cowthugs go to Arlington.   Well, she really didn't have much say in the matter.  We didn't have much to offer Grandpa Jones.

We would have had to payoff Tommy Hicks, Ross, Jr. and Bangs Cuban to even participate in a domed stadium.  Thanks to John Be Ware and Con Jerk/Ron Kirk, there's a clause in the arena deal forbidding the city from offering tax incentives or participating in a public/private joint effort with a domed facility.  There was the exception for remodeling and doming the existing Cotton Bowl.  We told you it was a Bad Deal!

Then there's the Starplex contract that Mayor Annette Strauss's husband got under her watch whereby they get to lease the land for 99 years at a very, very small return to the city.  Grandpa Jones needed the Starplex site for his Jerryland complex.  We would have had to buy out the Starplex lease.

Then there's the issue of Fair Park being a park.

Last but not least, are all those poor African-American residents who would have lost their homes like the people in Arlington.  Since many Fair Park area homes are small frame houses in various states of disrepair, the residents would have been offered little or nothing and would not have been able to find another home to own, not to mention having to leave their neighborhood.  Many Fair Park area residents are seniors and have lived in the neighborhood for generations.  Can you imagine the hue and cry?

It was a no win for Mayor Miller.  If she were able to secure the Cowthugs for Fair Park, the African-American community would have screamed she was trying to destroy South Dallas and force them out.  When Grandpa Jones picked Arlington (because their mayor and council are idiots), Mayor Miller was blamed for not negotiating hard enough or offering enough to lure the CowThugs to Dallas.

Got news for any fool who thought Fair Park was ever an option for Grandpa Jones -- you are not working with a full deck.  I realize jock sniffers function with a different part of their cerebral area than others who grow up and develop full lives.  That said, it is still frightening to think about these people voting, much less driving a car to or from a game or anywhere else.

When there are countless examples of failures and pitifully few examples of success for sports facilities delivering on their promises of economic development and sales tax gain, people who vote to tie up a city's limited tax resources in a sports facility rather than in infrastructure needs and expanded police departments are just too dumb to reason with, much less be allowed to operate a car.

Think about what Arlington voters have done over the years.  They turned down mass transit, so they are landlocked with vehicular congestion.  Arlington is the cork holding back the genie of booming economic development for the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.  They turned down much needed repairs to Johnson Creek, that would have protected homes and truly created a tourist attraction. 

They are there every day of the week to see WHAT DID NOT HAPPEN with the Ball Park, but they went right out again and voted to put their city in financial peril to build a new place of business for a billionaire who has the resources to build it himself.

That is the understatement of the year!  Arlington is headed for big struggles because they don't have the money to do this bad deal!

It will not matter one whit to Dallas whether the Cowthugs play in Arlington or Irving.  The people who attend the football games will leave Arlington after the games and dine and drink closer to home.  Can you just imagine all the drunks on the Tom Landry if just half the attendees stayed to party in Arlington?  The only good thing would be the natural winnowing out of the cerebrally-challenged as they crashed and burned on their way home. 

Unfortunately, some good people will be sacrificed in the process if they get in the way of the drunken jock sniffers -- much like the two good Samaritans who were killed on I-35 (Stemmons) a couple of years ago by a CowThug heading home after an evening with the hookers at a couple of naked lady clubs.  See Silver City Mayhem. 

Even the sex club owners aren't likely to move their clubs to Arlington to be near the jock sniffers because they know they will be getting out of Arlington as fast as everyone else after the games.

It looks to me like Irving and Dallas won in this event.  Dallas may have won by default just because we didn't have anything to field a team with and nothing to lay at the greedy alter of sports worship.  Irving officials actually weighed their options and withdrew from the game to focus on the real ball of economic development.

Arlington drew the short straw, but there's no reason to pity the people in Arlington.  They are right there and have a huge monument to remind themselves that sports promises are puffs of hot air, but they bought another big lie.

sb