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11/28/05 ... Just make
sure you spend your money in Dallas!
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Since our
council seems determined to give property tax abatements to Robber Baron
Billionaires, we need to be spending our Christmas money inside our city
limits. |
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| It's been years since I
ventured into a retail establishment on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but a
whole bunch of buyers did this year. Saturday evening, I did hit Sam
Moon's because a niece in Lake Charles loves the funky purses you can only find
there. It was a mob scene, but a friendly mob scene. We stood in
lines to plunk down our money, and there were lines behind us. I couldn't
help but think of the city's share of all those sales transactions. |
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11/30 Tim
Dickey:
Once again you hit the nail on the head with your praise of
Sam Moon and what he's doing, unsung, for the city and citizens of Dallas,
while the ODB billionaire beggars are never sated by their
incessant supping at the public trough.
There's a constant sound of our
civic life blood being sucked dry by these arrogant leeches and their
council minions. How is giving millions to
billionaires is good for business?
What about doing something
that's good for middle-class Dallasites, of all races?
When was the last time any of these business leeches and their
council minions checked a book out of the public library? Walked in a
Dallas park? Rode public transit?
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Councilman Steve Salazar likes to remind everyone how much sales tax revenue
is generated on Harry Hines. (He's not talking about sales tax revenue
from the increasingly rare shady ladies because they don't collect sales
taxes or report revenue). He's talking about all the retail and
wholesale stores located on Harry Hines.
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There are new shopping malls
are going up on both sides of Harry Hines. The ones on the East go through
to Denton Drive because there are big changes happening on that street. DART's lite rail gets North of Walnut Hill on Denton Drive
about the same time Denton Drive gets widened to 4 lanes, those smart
shop owners and mall developers are going to be in a position to cash in on
their entrepreneurial risks.
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Besides Councilman Salazar, no one at City Hall seems to think much about
the incredible retail world happening on Harry Hines. The shops look
cheesy and "foreign", but the people shopping in Sam Moon's with me looked
very Dallas -- the same faces you normally see at fancy malls with
big name stores. |
Sam Moon's was not the only
Harry Hines shopkeeper doing big business Saturday evening. There were
full parking lots in front of most stores up and down Harry Hines. It was
great!
Know what's even greater? That's pretty much the way it is every Saturday
on Harry Hines.
We've got big plans to create an inland port in South Dallas. Last week,
Ch. 11's Sarah Dodd (broken bones and all) interviewed Councilman Ron Natinsky
about the big plans and potential partnership with China. At a breakfast
meeting of the Stemmons Corridor Business Association last week, Councilman
Salazar also told us about the port plans. It is very promising for
Dallas, but we've already got big news that no one seems to appreciate.
| My fellow shoppers Saturday represented many ethnic groups. Most were well
dressed. Lots of young teens. I guarantee you a big percentage of
them are from the suburbs. |
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11/28/05 Bob
Hosea:
The ultimate Christmas present would be the arrival of
Aliens who would scoop up City Hall and its
occupants, including Ed Oakley, and give them a
forever vacation on some out of the way planet. Next stop, the school
board. |
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I've never met the man, but if Sam Moon is a U.S. citizen and lives in Dallas, I
hope he will consider running for Mayor at some time in the near future.
He's not planning pie in the sky inland ports. He's just generating
millions in sales tax revenue for us right now. It's not like he's keeping
it all to himself and his employees. There are scores of other beads and
bags, etc. shops up and down Harry Hines who benefit from customer overflow
after they have done all the stores in Sam Moon's mall.
The South Dallas port seems like a very do-able project that will certainly
benefit our city. We are already seeing some of the promise. It's
exactly the kind of public-private arrangement that we should be doing.
New businesses, new jobs, new money!
That's why it was so ludicrous to give away tax money to a business that's
already here whose Robber Baron owner blackmailed (without much effort) the
council! "Give me $6.3 million or I'll take my employees to Irving
where they won't give me a tax abatement either." Hunt was never
leaving Dallas, but we will be working with $6.3 million less in property tax
revenue that you and I will have to make up with higher taxes on our homes and
businesses.
| Then, there's Arlington's City Council wiping out an entire neighborhood to
build a football stadium for Jerry Jones. Irving not only didn't take
Grandpa Jones' bait, they are already making post-Cowboy plans for Texas stadium
and the land it sits on. Even more fun -- Irving is about to hit Grandpa
Jones with a bill to paint the roof on Texas Stadium. Don't you love those
guys? Grandpa Jones has not taken care of Irving's property, and they are
going to hold that Arkansas creep to their contract. Irving's city council
knows how little development a football stadium generates.
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11/28/05
Michael Davis:
The thing about the Dallas Cowboys stadium vote that always
makes me scratch my head is that people really
believe all that retail will
spring up. Have they looked at the Irving 183 frontage road lately? Car
dealerships and motels. Some economic boon!
Who's going to stay in Arlington with
no decent hotels, no public transportation and awful traffic? I repeat,
AWFUL TRAFFIC that will only get worse when Cowboyland
opens!
Drive 360, I-30 or I-20 during rush
hour, and let me know what you think.
Still, the
DFW Metroplex has enough people who don't give a
damn and will line up for hours to buy tickets when the stadium opens.
I doubt I ever set foot in that
stadium unless I get free tickets. To yell and cheer on top of land that
was stolen from poor senior citizens makes my skin crawl.
When they built casinos
in Atlantic City, Steve Wynn and Donald Trump had the decency to either give
the people a free condo or pay them enough to buy a decent house.
Not Jerry Jones.
One displacement of an entire
neighborhood = one more plastic surgery for the football-team owning freak. |
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They are still the Dallas Cowboys. Never have been the Irving Cowboys.
Never will be the Arlington Cowboys. We just don't have to pay for
Grandpa's new stadium.
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| It's ironic that Arlington has never seen the economic boon promised by the Ball
Park, but they are ready to step up and screw up again. Guess hope springs
eternal in the hearts of small time politicians! Grandpa Jones and the
Arlington Council certainly dimmed hope in the hearts of over a hundred families
for a false promise. |
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11/28 Rad Field:
The EPA has problems with Texas air emissions.
One idea is to close "drive thru's" (like
burger joints,
banks and who knows perhaps gas lines).
I'm not sure business owners will like closing their drive through
facilities. Look at the line of vehicles on LBJ
and 114 going to DFW. Perhaps the air
emissions folks would like to close airport parking lots and force everyone
to ride the Trinity Railway.
This subject could become a "hot" one early next year, because the area
does not meet air quality requirements. Maybe
Texas Stadium will have to close a couple of years early, and
Jones' new
stadium will never open. |
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We have a business man in Dallas who creates jobs, stimulates our local economy,
generates huge sales tax revenue and encourages new entrepreneurs. Did I
miss something? Did our city council give Sam Moon a tax abatement?
Did he even ask for one? Or, wonders of all wonders, did he become a
retail tycoon on his own without government assistance?
Here's an early New Years resolution -- don't do business with any company that
demands or accepts a tax break to come to or stay in Dallas. Spend
all your Christmas gift-buying money in the many stores on Harry Hines.
The men and women who own and work in all those stores are living the American
dream.
Don't know about you, but I'm very thankful we still have people who venture
their own money and sweat in America. I'm even more thankful a bunch of
true Americans (from wherever they came originally) have decided to cast their
lot with us. They have more confidence in our city than does our city
council.
I'm glad I broke my rule about no shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I had a lot of fun and got a real shot of hope and optimism just seeing one
man's success story in action.
sb
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