03/04/04  Fair Park Site for Football Stadium?

Last week, I attended a meeting titled, "Why Texas Stadium Should be at Fair Park," City Councilman Gary Griffith the speaker pushing for that site.  I took notes at that meeting.

1.  The Cotton Bowl is old and needs to be replaced by a new stadium.  Fair Park is also about one mile east of downtown.  Revitalizing downtown is as important as what surrounds it.  From what Councilman Griffith said, it sounds like City Hall wants to unite downtown with an entertainment center.  This is a great idea if they have a good Master Plan to work with.  Various unnamed community leaders want a year round entertainment center at Fair Park.  Seven million visit it. 

Plans are for two new DART stations:  First one on Exposition at the Main Entrance to the park near the Music Hall.  Second one in the neighborhood as part of a new transit center (per DART's website).  Some feel that by placing the stadium at Fair Park many small businesses will relocate nearby and revitalize the surrounding areas.  Sounds good, but we are years away from this happening because of the crime in the area.  Crime is everywhere, but some areas are worse than others.  Fair Park is one area most people avoid because of the surrounding blight.

2.  Area's crime image.  Councilman Griffith said a new strong Police Chief should be selected by the end of May.  He indicated this person will be a top notch person who would have the respect of citizens and police officers.  I look forward to a great Chief of Police.  I hope this time Dallas gets the most qualified person and not another Bolton.  But, we must face the fact that we do not have enough police officers.  No tourist will go to that "entertainment center" once they see the surrounding areas.

3.  City hopes Jones family will be like Ft. Worth's Bass family (they single-handedly revitalized Ft Worth with gifts of their own money).   I say "good luck".  Up to now Dallas, has not had many "gifts" to make Dallas a better place.  I only know of Raymond Nasher as giving millions of his own wealth to make Dallas a world class city with the Nasher Museum.  Where are the other wealthy people in Dallas on this?  A City needs men and women like Mr. Nasher who are willing to share their wealth to make Dallas a better place.  I congratulate Mr. Nasher for sharing his wealth because he knows he cannot take it with him.  Until Dallas has more men and women like Mr. Nasher, it is at a standstill.

The meeting was good because all questions asked were answered.  The main question and problem is where is the money for a stadium going to come from.  Many people bring up the money Houston made during the Super Bowl game (a city hosts such events at least every seven years).  The money and publicity Houston made is impressive. 

Unlike Dallas, Houston does not have high taxes on hotel and car rentals.  It is also a fun place to visit with all of its interesting neighborhoods and tourist attractions.  The high taxes Dallas has for people who come to our city is crazy.  Outside of our great malls and stores, we do not have enough places for conventions and tourists to come to visit and spend money.  The taxes visitors pay is like when you invite someone over to dinner at your house and expect them to pay for the meal.  Who in their right mind wants to go to that type of city?

Our city leaders need to understand it all starts by taking care of our streets, police and firefighters and neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, we have a long way to go because there are too many selfish people in leadership positions who only "their" projects pushed instead of working together to make Dallas a better place. 

Until we ALL work together to improve our city, Dallas will fall behind Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.   We all deserve better.

                  Mary Lou Montes Zijderveld