05/15/02  The Agony of Victory

Been Downtown lately?  I didn't think so.  

Nobody goes there, except the requisite daytime workforce and some hungry tourists fresh from a shell case hunt at Dealey Plaza. 

Nobody even talks about downtown, the mother of all city center failures.  Of course, downtown is in the news these days, since Perot/Hicks have got their periscope up for yet another handout.  Only $43,000,000.00 this time, a paltry sum when you consider we already have given these billionaires $150,000,000.00.  

Like stray cats, this will hardly be the last we see of them.  

If you've been around Dallas longer than 20 minutes, you know the city council will give them whatever they want, whenever they want it.  Besides, those irate constituents bitching about their property tax bill can stay on hold.  Tell them I'm in a pothole meeting.

This Victory situation is an interesting one, though.  Not if, but when, the keys to the kingdom get draped around the necks of the boys from the Park de Highland, downtown is doomed.  Done.  Finished.  Never more.   

Victory, when developed, will do to the CBD what DFW did to Love Field.

Why in the world would someone believe a downtown that is in rigor mortis now will ever have a chance if all the city's assets pour into Victory?  And that, of course, is the plan.  A vibrant community enjoying it's central library, city hall, shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes, promenades---forget about it.  Will not happen.  

Just tell me when and where the funeral is to be held.

Don Abbott