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03/01/04  So why does he need our money?

According to Forbes Magazine (www.Forbes.com) Grandpa Jerry Jones is a Billionaire - No. 552 richest man in the World.  That's in the World.  I don't know how many Billionaires we had in Dallas County, but we have another one now.

Unfortunately, our Billionaires tend to be Robber Barons.

Even when Dallas Billionaires give us something, it costs we serfs a fortune to accept the gift, maintain the gift and upgrade the area where they are going to put their gift to us.  Of course, the politicians love them.
 

Price: Fair Park no place for Cowboys 08:40 PM CST Tues, 2/24/04 By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

Commissioner says stadium development would not fit into area    Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said Tuesday that he would oppose the construction of a Dallas Cowboys stadium in Fair Park, dissenting from Dallas City Council members who are warming to the idea.    Mr. Price's position, delivered just a few days after the Cowboys agreed to consider a move to the city commons, conflicts with the hopes of the local City Council member, Leo Chaney. The Cowboys, according to Mr. Price, have described a massive development that would not fit into Fair Park. ...  Without the development, Mr. Price said, the project is not viable. Taxpayers would not derive much benefit from a stadium that hosts eight games a year.    The hotel, shops and other attractions promised by the team's owners would generate sales-tax revenue for the city and property-tax revenue for the county, Mr. Price said.    "I am looking for something with an economic stimulus," Mr. Price said. ...  Stephen Jones, the team's executive vice president, told officials about three weeks ago that the team prefers a location off Industrial Boulevard near downtown Dallas, said County Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield. ... The Cowboys, who now play in Irving's Texas Stadium, have said downtown Dallas and Irving's Las Colinas are the top two locations for a new stadium.   "Those would be the preferred sites," Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels said Tuesday. ... Mr. Mayfield, like Mr. Price, described Fair Park as too cramped with buildings to accommodate the project described by the football club.    But County Judge Margaret Keliher and Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said a Fair Park site would require less public subsidy than a completely new stadium. ...  County commissioners think the team will share its preferred site in March. Commissioners will then begin negotiations over the public investment, which could include a 3 percent tax on hotel rooms and 6 percent tariff on rental cars.    Voters would have to approve new taxes, perhaps as soon as November. ...

Now, tell me why we are supposed to believe this city or region needs another empty hotel or another overblown (mostly empty) shopping mall, particularly on Industrial Blvd?  Admittedly, I don't know exactly where on Industrial Blvd. Grandpa Jones and his boys have decided is the right place to spend our tax money.  According to my Mapsco on Map 45 (which may be different from yours, because mine's a 1999 edition), the most logical site would be between RL Thornton (I-30) and the Corinth St. Viaduct, not too far from the Convention Center. 

As you've been hearing if you are listening to this stuff, the area is so polluted it will cost over $200 million to clean it up before construction.  Even if they take it down to bedrock, it's an environmental mess over there -- not to mention the ugliest part of the city.

You can argue it would be good for our convention business to have the new stadium and all the other goodies Grandpa Jones and Commissioner Price are promising if we will lose our collective elective minds one more time.  The problem with such an argument is after we pile another tax on Dallas hotels and car rental agencies, there will be no convention business left to be good for.

Who goes to a convention because a town has a new football stadium?  Maybe the same people Our Mayor says will come to Dallas to see her String Thing Bridges.

If we land a 75,000 person convention after Grandpa Jones gets our money to build his stadium, I will take back everything I have ever said against public funding for sports facilities that are controlled by a private company, which receives all the revenue and benefits produced by our tax money.

Dave Capps has organized an opposition group to Grandpa Jones's plans to rip us off.  You can contact them at NoJonesTax.com.  Granted, Dave Capps is a rich guy who owns a car rental agency in Dallas and doesn't like having his customers overtaxed so Billionaires can have bigger playpens for their hoodlum teams.  Dave has several businesses.  Even if he has a vested interest in stopping this tax, Dave's still a rich guy whether his Dallas car rental agency goes under or prospers.  Not as rich as Grandpa Jones, but still a rich guy!

Dave Capps puts his money where his mouth is, and he truly believes it is wrong (if not un-American) to tax one industry to enrich another private business.  Dave always points out that no one coming into DFW Airport will pay Ron Kirk's arena sales tax (or Grandpa Jones's proposed sales tax) on their rental cars if they get them at the airport because all DFW car rental agencies are on the Tarrant County side of the airport. 

People paying Grandpa Jones's tax will be the same ones paying Ron Kirk's car rental tax -- you and me, not tourists.

You won't just be paying more to rent a car in Dallas, you will be watching a lot fewer Cowboy games.  As Chip Northrup mentioned recently, there's no way Grandpa Jones will sell out a 75,000 seat stadium on a regular basis, and local games will be blacked out more often than not.

But, we were talking about Grandpa Jones making the Billionaire List and Commissioner Price trying to kill the momentum for the stadium to be built at Fair Park.  We don't need to be subsidizing another Billionaire when we are still being hit up so Marc Cuban can play hotshot on our dime. 

Since he participated in the great theft of '98, poor Tommy Hicks isn't doing so well.  The Lord moves in mysterious ways.   

Why is Commissioner Price carrying water for Grandpa Jones?  Well, that's what John does.  Talks like a big racist, but loves those Rich White Guys.  We regular people who make up the serf class don't rate much of his concern. 

Commissioner Price and Ken Mayfield are playing tag team trying to accommodate the Jones family.  If they are opposing Fair Park for the site, it's on orders from  Grandpa Jones.

Fair Park would be perfect for a new stadium.  By the time the stadium is finished, DART rail would be into the Park.  A stadium would be a great revitalizer for South Dallas and East Dallas, since we might lose the Oklahoma/UT game in the next few years.  Our Mayor refuses to spend money to upgrade the Cotton Bowl.

If thousands of people can get to Fair Park for sports events in the Cotton Bowl and the State Fair, they can certainly get there for a Cowboys' game.

We own the land and a lot of abandoned land near Fair Park (back taxes).  Land that's not on the tax roles now.  We donate the land as our contribution, and Grandpa Jones builds the stadium at his own cost.  That's a legitimate public/private enterprise.

As for the hotel and other arena-like promises, we should not be taxed to build something we don't need. 

If Grandpa Jones needs any more revenue (tax money) to build the stadium after we donate the land, the Brimer Bill allows USER TAXES.  That means taxes on event tickets, taxes on parking charges and taxes on locker rooms.  Locker room taxes are on the millionaire players.  Team owners don't like any of those taxes.

No one who doesn't use the stadium should have to pay a tax to subsidize it if Grandpa Jones is going to control it and effectively own it on our back.

There are so few things in this city we have saved from our past.  The Houston St. Viaduct and the Cotton Bowl are two them.  Our Mayor's Trinity Project will destroy the Viaduct.  Doesn't look like there's anything that can save the Cotton Bowl.  It certainly is not high on Our Mayor's list of priorities, but then she's not from here so it would not have the same significance as some structure that reminds her of the East Coast or someplace else.

Darryl Jordan tried to save the Cotton Bowl, but his effort got derailed when Con Jerk took us down the 2012 Olympics looney road.  Oh, for the good old days when Laura Miller was one of us and would take a stand against absurdity. 

If we can't maintain the Cotton Bowl or bring it up to reasonable standards, we should at least do something to make Fair Park a year round entertainment destination. 

The city's neglect of Fair Park has always been racial.  It's ironic that the Ace Race Card dealer would try to block something that would make the area a major entertainment center.  Commissioner Price claims the stadium and the other arena-like promises will create jobs.  No part of the city is more in need of local employment opportunities than Fair Park.

Sad days for Dallas, but at least we have another Billionaire in the County.