| Though we tend to put these
Dallas Cowboy Stadium Comments in no particular order, we
decided to put the latest one near the top, because it is one of
the few that aren't anti-Cowboy, anti-Jerry Jones. Instead
this commenter thinks all of you below are a bunch of
whiners.
Wow what
a bunch of whiners... I bet in the long run the people who
object about the stadium are probably trying to get something
out of Jerry Jones. Why don't you guys just give up and go on
about your business. The stadium will be built and nothing you
can do or say will stop it now. It's beautiful~ and I'm proud
it's in my city. If you live in Arlington you should be proud
as well. We live in a society of the majority rules (unless
it's the Presidential Election) and the majority of people in
Arlington want the stadium exactly where it is being built. You
whiners probably live in Dallas anyway and can't figure out
how Arlington Texas outmaneuvered in the stadium deal. I'm
only hoping Jerry Jones has the balls to change the name to
"The Arlington Cowboys" ~ Maybe I'll bring that up
at the next town hall meeting.
keeton-jack@att.net
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And here's another piece of
feedback who thinks nothing was wrong about what was done in
Arlington to build a stadium.
There was an election on this issue right? So if a
majority of the community thought that the stadium was a good
idea, then why are you demonizing Jerry Jones? The
people who are unhappy that they were forced out should be
complaining about their neighbors, not the team and its owner.
The city of Arlington figured that putting a
revenue-generating stadium in the place of a crime-ridden
neighborhood would be a wise move. The new stadium will
bring in new money for local businesses and new jobs for the people
of Arlington. The needs of the many outweigh the needs
of the few. This is what eminent domain is all about,
and I don't see any "abuse" in this case.
James
Austin, TX
Eyes on Texas: Some
of the people in what you think was a crime-ridden
neighborhood had lived there for decades. The people of
Arlington voted to help fund a stadium. Using eminent domain
to take people's homes and evict apartment dwellers was not
part of the vote. If having the Dallas Cowboy stadium is such
an economic boon, generating revenue, why did the city of
Irving not try to build the new stadium? And why is the area
around the current Cowboy stadium in Irving so undeveloped and
a bit of a blight? And you are erroneous about this being a
proper use of eminent domain. That's why there are still
dozens of cases in court.
WE
BLOGGED ABOUT THE ABOVE FEEDBACK
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March 14, 2008 FEEDBACK
from one of the Jerry Jones/Dallas Cowboys/Arlington
victims
Due to ongoing litigation I am not able to 'spill all of the beans' that I would like to.
But the citizens of Arlington have been duped by the greediest, richest people in the land grab business.
Three months prior to the election, Arlington's highest elected official requested a 'one-on-one' closed
door meeting (so that this meeting could be denied in the future) and in this meeting I was asked if 'my people' would be willing to 'donate' our property to this project. I was stopped 'dead in my
tracks' on how to respond to such a request. Those of us paying for this monster will never be able to afford to
go see a single game.
I don't think they ever believed that my wife and I and another owner would be willing or able to
carry this out this far without 'throwing in the towel.' But we are prepared to ride this out until
we are victorious!! They have illegally made law to benefit a specific person or entity, law that if
you or I requested to use ourselves, would be told this would be illegal to do. But we are dealing with a portion
of society that believes that they are above the law and us 'peons' of the world.
This process is just now reaching the level of the first appellate
jurisdiction. I am not a lawyer so my understanding of the levels is limited. I am told that after this level is passed, the parties
go on to the final level, appeals to the state supreme court, at which we will appeal using a
precedent case.
I am told many get discouraged by the time they reach this level. My resolve just seems to strengthen
as this reaches new levels.
Charlie S.
Arlington, Texas
Eyes on Texas: As
these cases progress to venues outside Texas one can't help
but wonder if these civil lawsuits might end up evolving into
criminal charges of conspiracy being brought against Jerry
Jones and his co-conspirators in Arlington. What jury outside
Texas would not agree that what was done was a criminal act?
If Mother Nature did what Jerry Jones did it would be seen as
a disaster. If an individual wreaked such damage on so many
people, without the benefit of abusing the law to do so, that
person would be arrested and likely spend the rest of his life
behind bars. Which is where Jerry Jones and his
co-conspirators need to be. |
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| Is anything being done to right
this bizarrely shocking wrong? What if an individual forced
hundreds of people out of their homes, paying them what he
arbitrarily thought was fair market value, with the victims
having no say in the matter, as if being robbed at gunpoint,
then destroying their homes. Would this not be considered an
outrageous crime of the most despicable sort? To do this to
build a football stadium? Where is the conscience of these
people? I'm not much of a Christian, but I do believe in a lot
of what is attributed to Jesus---"what you do to the
weakest of my brethren, you do to me." In the
Buckle of the Bible Belt was there not a Christian anywhere
who acted on the behalf of Jesus to protect those who could
not protect themselves from this predatory outrage? Is it too
late for a clever lawyer somewhere in the nation, a lawyer
with a conscience and with a clear feeling of what is right
and wrong, to bring some sort of civil, if not criminal
charges, against the perpetrators of this crime? Including the
mayor of Arlington and the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry
Jones. Seems for certain if an individual committed this
crime, that person would be looking at life in prison. And a
huge fine. That this crime was committed while hiding behind
the cover of a likely corrupt local government does not make
it any less a crime. This stadium needs to be razed to the
ground and the land returned to its owners.
Alan S.
Tempe, Arizona |
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The Cowboy
Colosseum
On Thursday, September 20, 2007 at the North
Texas Commission's annual membership meeting, held in Dallas
at the Hilton Anatole, Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones opined
regarding his new stadium, "It
happens to be the biggest stadium on Planet Earth. This is the
Colosseum of Rome in sports. Size does have something to do
with it. This building, it does have the opportunity to be, I
guess, next to the White House or the Capitol."
Below are excerpts from 2
letters to the editor that appeared in the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram Saturday, September 22, 2007. |
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Dallas
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones couldn't have been more correct when
he compared his new stadium in Arlington to the Colosseum in
Rome. When the Colosseum was built, the
citizens of Rome had become soft and lazy and were demanding
more entitlements and more ghastly forms of entertainment. The
Roman Senate had become totally corrupt, and political influence
was openly bought and sold in the forum. I'm reminded of the
recent exploits of such politicians as former House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay and Rep. Duke Cunningham. Rome
had extended its legions far beyond their capacity to protect
the homeland, which allowed tribes from the north to sweep down,
conquer and take what they wanted with minimal resistance. The
comparisons go on and on, but I hope the point has been made. I
love our country and fervently pray that someday the ruins of
the Cowboys stadium, like the Colosseum, will not stand as a
bleak monument to a nation that was destroyed by its excess. Don
Martin,
Arlington
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Jones
compares the "Cluck Dome" in Arlington to the
Colosseum in Rome? The stadium in Rome has been standing for more
than 2,000 years. I'll bet that Jones or his son Stephen will be
demanding a new stadium at taxpayer expense by 2020 because new
technology will have made the "Cluck Dome" obsolete.
Peter Garland
Granbury
Eyes on Texas:
For
those wondering why "Cluck Dome"? The mayor of
Arlington, Texas is Robert Cluck. Robert Cluck lobbied long and
hard to get the people of Arlington to go along with the Dallas
Cowboy's plan for doing drastic urban renewal in his city.
| It
seems Arlington Mayor Cluck has come to realize that
Arlington's outrageous misuse of eminent domain to
acquire land for a football stadium may do harm to
Arlington's reputation in other parts of the nation. At
a Mayor's breakfast the issue of what to do with the
closed Six Flags Mall was discussed. An Arlington native
suggested to Mayor Cluck that eminent domain be used to
condemn the mall. Mayor Cluck looked a bit stricken by
the suggestion and declared something along the line of
"No, we will not be using eminent domain
anymore". |
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|
click
here for a guided tour of the controversial new
Dallas Cowboy
Stadium by the franchise owner |
Source: Letters
to the Editor, January 31, 2008 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Diners’ Lament
When professional football robs mom-and-pop businesses,
something’s wrong.
When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decided to build a
monument to himself in Arlington, construction activity made
it very difficult for our favorite non-franchise restaurant to
stay in business.
For 20 years, my husband and I have enjoyed the delicious food
and quiet atmosphere at a particular restaurant in Arlington.
To accommodate projected traffic going to and from Jerry’s
behemoth stadium, reconstruction of the Interstate 30-Collins
Street interchange has made it very inconvenient for us and
other customers to support one of Arlington’s few fine
restaurants.
I hope Jones is happy with his Cowboys. I hope he’ll sleep
well knowing the adverse affect he’s having on the dining
community in Arlington.
Ann Schrader,
Arlington
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Shame on you Mayor Cluck for taking those old people and poor people’s homes to build a football stadium! Who is he to Judge them? It does not seem right to me, I mean for a non public building. Oh wait, It belongs to the city for a few years and then it is “sold to the Cowboys”. Then the city gets the money after charging us to build it. I wish I could find a deal as good as that one. No, I wouldn’t do it. Jesus is watching me and I don’t want to have to answer for that one.
I am a long time Arlington resident. I am a working man in a working class neighborhood. I raised my kids here. All three are grown and none of them chose to stay in Arlington. I guess Arlington taught them a thing or two.
I feel a little better after writing; you see the city did not steal my home for Jerry. Now where do we go from here? It is a done deal. I can speak for my self. I tell all my friends. I vote against Mayor Cluck and vote NO every time the city wants money. I did that today. Don’t worry about me going to a football game. I am a working class man and I won’t even be able to afford the tickets and parking with the new rates.
Mark D.
South Arlington, Texas
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I
do not feel the land for the new Cowboy Stadium was acquired in
any way that hurt anybody. The land and homes that were acquired
were all run down and the area was just plain ugly. There was no
pride of ownership in the area before so why is everybody mad.
They were all given a minimum of 20,000.00 above the fair market
value of their homes. The renters in the area were also given
5,000.00 plus moving expenses as well. This is more money than
they would have ever been paid for their homes.
Everybody always wants to receive some sort of money windfall
and these people received one. Now everybody across the world is
talking like it is some sort of crime, well it isn’t. All
those people are doing fine and we here in the DFW area are
excited about the new Stadium. I would rather park my car in
this area than anywhere around the Dallas fair Park area like
some bone head stated.
I owned a home in Arlington Texas and the land values were
dropping. The schools, shopping and hospitals were horrible
everybody was rude and did not care about anything but
themselves and spreading gossip. Most of the town only cared
about “drama” if there was no “drama” in their live they
would not know how to function. Thank You.
Bill C.
I just moved to Denton Texas from Arlington Texas Eyes on Texas:
You
sound like a very compassionate Texan. The Texan in the letter
to the right seems to have quite a different point of view
regarding what happened to the area you think to have been run down
and ugly. |
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Source: Letters to the Editor, December 28,
2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
An
old joke tells of an elderly man who approaches a young woman at
a party and asks her if she'd sleep with him for a million
dollars. "Sure," she giggles. When he asks if she'd
sleep with him for $1, she indignantly asks: "What kind of
girl do you think I am?" The old man replies: "That's
already been established. Now we're just haggling over the
price."
So Arlington wasn't satisfied with simply
forcing some of its most long-term and loyal residents to
relocate to make way for a new football stadium. Now the
Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau is selling small bags
of dirt from the construction site for $1 each.
This means that land that once bore the feet
of children at play, land that each spring gave birth to the
brilliant colors of hundreds of wildflowers, land on which
people lived and worked and dreamed and fought and wept and
laughed for decades, land that heard the sweet sound of
songbirds, land that felt the rumble of lawn mowers and the
brush of garden rakes, land that witnessed the thrill of first
loves and knew the step of first-time parents carrying home
their tiny bundles and supported the last steps on this earth of
countless mean, women and children---this land that was home for
so many for so long---has been reduced to a souvenir.
Hey, Arlington, the kind of city you are has
already been established. Now we're just watching to see exactly
what you're willing to do for the money.
L. Edward Smith II
son-in-law of Evelyn Wray, the last homeowner to vacate her
property for stadium construction
Alvarado, Texas
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|
click
here for a guided tour of the controversial new Dallas Cowboy
Stadium by the franchise owner |
| So.
I read in the NY Times this morning that Dallas is going to make
a bid for the 2011 Super Bowl. To atone for this most despicable
abuse of eminent domain I've ever read about will the Cowboys be
giving free game tickets to the victims of this atrocity? Will
former homeowners be able to park for free on the site of their
former driveways? Will there be a historical marker on the spot
where the home was located of the elderly lady who died of a
broken heart in her condemned home?
Seth M.
Jersey City, New Jersey
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I
am one of the victims of the Cowboy greed and insensitivity.
Thank you so much for putting such a clear voice to the pain so
many of us have suffered. Many of us felt so abandoned by the
community, there seemed to be no one speaking up for us and what
was being done to us. I am still not back to feeling settled and
secure. I feel like I'm the victim of a crime, like I have been
burglarized, vandalized and raped, with everyone ignoring the
crime with the criminals using the corrupt Texas legal system to
declare WAR on people's lives and homes. What if it were the
homes of the football players and owners that were destroyed?
How would they feel about that? The law is supposed to protect
the weakest among us, that is what it is supposed to do, not
allow the strongest and richest among us to bring destruction to
those with no resources to fight back.
Anonymous out of Fear
Mansfield, Texas |
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I owned a house that was in the Cowboy Stadium
buyout and still have not settled with the city. I also own and
live in a house less than 1/2 mile west of the Stadium site.
I'll be delighted if the entire neighborhood south of Randol
Mill, west of Collins, north of Division St and east of Center
St is mowed down and they put up a parking lot. I say, run the
crackheads that roam those streets, out of town. Check out the
crime stats for that area, they indicate some of the highest
percentages in Arlington! I think that the Dallas Cowboy Stadium
can only help this part of town. I can't imagine how it could
get worse?! Kelli T.
Arlington, Texas |
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Record
breaking rains of June have flooded much of North Texas,
including Six Flags, which was forced to evacuate due to Johnson
Creek over flowing its banks. Johnson Creek borders the area
razed for the Cowboy Stadium. It will be interesting to see how
the Cowboy Stadium parking lots affect this flood prone zone.
Of course there is a multi-million dollar proposal to fix the
Johnson Creek problem prior to the Cowboy asphalt being poured.
We'll see if that happens before a Biblical flood of epic
proportions wreaks havoc.
Wade H.
Grand Prairie, Texas
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Source: Letters to the Editor,
February 14, 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Skewed Sentiments
The tearful owner of the Dallas Cowboys
stood before TV cameras on Thursday to announce his new
head coach. How unfortunate that he couldn't muster that
same tender-hearted compassion before he and the leaders
of Arlington conspired to displace all those families
and flatten their homes and memories for his new
stadium.
For crying out loud (no pun intended),
he's emotional about announcing the coach? I think some
of the chromosomes that control his feelings are turned
sideways. He needs to take an aspirin and call Dr. Laura
for an appointment to get his sentiments prioritized.
J.T. Rayburn
Euless, Texas
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And
now they want the Super Bowl to be in Arlington. On the local
radio last week, I heard the NFL wants just one more little
thing guaranteed before they will consider this proposal. They
want the bars to be open until 4 AM after the game. But, Texas
state law prohibits the sale of alcohol after 2:00 AM. Guess
we'll just have to pass a "special law" that will
allow bars in the DFW metroplex to stay open until 4:00 AM. Or,
should we extend that throughout the state? I suggest we also
change our "Public Intoxication" and DWI laws just for
this one day so that the drunken celebrants of the
multi-millionaires club otherwise known as the NFL won't be
inconvenienced by our local law enforcement officers.
What a crock.
Dave Farrar
Highland Village, TX
Eyes on Texas: May
22,2007, Dallas won its bid to host the Super Bowl. Only now
that a sucker (Arlington) was found to pay for it the headline
in the local paper was "NORTH TEXAS WINS SUPER BOWL
BID".
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| This destruction in
Texas is the worst abuse of eminent domain I have ever read
about. Such a thing could never happen in my state.
Del S.
Portland, Oregon
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Have any of the
elderly who were forced to move suffered heart attacks or
strokes from the stress of this outrage?
Sally M.
Chandler, AZ
Eyes on Texas: We only
know what we've read in the local papers. So far we've read of
no heart attacks, just plenty of heart ache and one death*. |
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*Read Dallas
Morning News stories about the Cowboy Stadium Project,
including Maria
Villarreal's story, an 82 year who died before she could
move from her condemned home, which was the last to be destroyed
in her neighborhood. |
| I have visited the
Dallas, Fort Worth area. I remember being surprised at how much
open land there was in such a heavily populated urban area. So,
why would they build a stadium in an area where so many people
lived and so many business existed? This makes no sense to me.
Jim F.
Chicago, Illinois
Eyes on Texas: It makes
no sense to us either. Which is why we've webpaged what we've
seen and been shocked by. |
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You
must not believe in progress and hate anything new.
David H.
Mansfield, Texas
Eyes on Texas:
Yes,
that must be it.
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| It
shocks me that this can happen in America. It reminds me of the
type of disregard for human rights that my former nation of East
Germany practiced.
Gunther H.
Berlin, Germany
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I have attended more
than a dozen Super Bowls. I will never attend a football game in
this stadium in Arlington. What a shameful way to go about
building a new stadium.
Peter B.
Schenectady, New York Eyes on Texas:
Well,
it appears you will not be able to attend the 2011 Super Bowl.
It is going to be held in the billion dollar monument to greed
and insensitivity with its stunning views of the world's most
deluxe Super Wal-Mart. |
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| Outrageous.
Totally outrageous. You can't help but wonder though, has there
been outrage expressed where this is happening?
Dennis M.
New Westminister, British Columbia
Eyes on Texas: Well we
are very near to where this is happening and we've done our best
to express our outrage.
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I
live in Arlington and I voted no on the stadium. Thanks for
showing the rest of the world what has happened here. I
resent that my taxes have gone up to pay for this thing. Maybe
it's time to move.
Martha F.
Arlington, Texas
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| With
the Six Flags Over Texas parking lot, plus the Texas Ranger's
Ballpark parking lot, plus the new Dallas Cowboy's parking lot,
all contiguous, is Arlington maybe trying to get in the Guinness
Book of Records for the World's Biggest Parking Lot?
Gerry S.
Bedford, Texas
Eyes on Texas: To break
the record the parking lot at the Super Wal-Mart would need to
be included. Guinness has not ruled as yet if the parking lot
collection is a new world record.
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I
can't imagine how awful it would feel to be violated in this
way, as bad if not worse than being burglarized or mugged, to be
ripped out of your home, what a horribly traumatic thing. If it
were for some project needed for the public good it might
somewhat mitigate the pain, but to do this to people for a
sports building? How would those football players or the owners
of that football team or any of the politicians who pushed this
project feel if it were they who were forced out of their homes?
Patty M.
Denver, Colorado
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| America's
Team? When the
Cowboy's owner demanded a new stadium to replace the
existing one, that being a stadium that also is not in
Dallas, but in Irving, Dallas could not come up with a
plan to build a new stadium, even with a badly run-down
Cotton Bowl blighting an other wise beautiful Fair
Park, providing the perfect location and a potential
huge boost to downtown Dallas. So with Dallas not
wanting the Cowboys, the small town of Arlington voted
to build the new stadium. So, when it comes to paying
for and building a house for the Cowboys they are not
only not America's
Team, they are not
North Texas's team, they are not the Dallas/Fort
Worth Metroplexes team, they are not Dallas's
team, they are Arlington's team.
D. S.
Fort Worth, Texas Eyes on Texas:
As
of May 22, 2011 winning Super Bowl bid has the Cowboys
are back being North Texas' team, at least according to
the local papers. We doubt they will ever be America's
Team again. America as a whole has a pretty strong sense
of right and wrong, of justice and fairness. We get
between 3-5000 visitors a day to these pages. We're
gradually showing America what was done by the Dallas
Cowboys in order to get a new stadium. |
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Regarding the person from Texas
who made the point that when paying for a new stadium the
Cowboys are pretty much a team without a town and seeing you've
pointed out how Seattle built two stadiums, adjacent, without
displacing any Seattleites from their homes, I thought you might
be interested in how the new Seattle stadium was funded, as
compared to the Cowboy stadium. First off, in a referendum
the entire state voted on the stadium proposal. The principle
behind the funding method was that the cost should be primarily
born by those who benefited, i.e. football fans and the team
owner. With owner Paul Allen responsible for 1/3 (plus any
overruns) and the public covered 2/3's of the estimated cost.
The public portion was funded via a special sports lottery game,
parking and admissions taxes at the facility, a portion of the
state sales tax collected in King County (where Seattle is) and
a hotel/motel tax in King County. It
is baffling to me that the funding for the Cowboy
Stadium fell on one municipality. I've been to the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The population of that
urban area is about the same as the entire state of
Washington. You'd think that since a new stadium
benefited the entire region that the entire region would
have been involved in the process. How in the world were
those people convinced to vote for such a proposal? William
G.
Seattle, Washington |
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| Checked
out the Cowboy Stadium and Scarbo
Faire stuff, I can only say that you live in a CRAZY place. Are they all just totally nuts in Texas?????
Michele S.
Tacoma, Washington
Eyes on Texas: There
are somewhere around 23 million Texans. It is highly unlikely
that all Texans are totally
nuts.
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We
have a long history in the Dallas area of taking people's homes
away from them and selling the land to a private business. When
a mall in Hurst wanted to expand, private homes were taken by
eminent domain. When Radio Shack wanted to build a new corporate
headquarters the land under a housing project called Ripley
Arnold was needed and so hundreds of low income people were
moved out so a corporate palace could be built. Radio Shack
eased its troubled conscience by giving the poor people
computers. I suspect they would have rather just been left alone
in their homes.
Suzanne R.
Dallas, Texas
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| My
country suffered manmade damage like this Dallas Cowboy
Hurricane from another form of grabbing land from people and
destroying lives. It is known now as World War II and came to us
courtesy of German fascists. This American practice of eminent
domain seems like a form of fascism to me and seems to me this
would be the type thing America's much talked about
"freedoms" would protect its people from. Shouldn't
you be free from the threat of having your house taken from you
by greedy capitalists?
Petra W.
Warsaw, Poland Eyes on Texas:
Oh,
what do you know about football you soccer loving Commie? And we
agree this scandalous misuse of
eminent domain does smack of fascism, does seem un-American and
does seem to violate one of our nation's founding principles,
that being the right to be left alone. |
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Building
this ball park in this way is like building on a graveyard. It's
just wrong. The point you make comparing this to
hurricane/tornado type damage seems very apt. We'd do anything
possible to prevent damage from an incoming hurricane. But it is
okay to force hundreds or is it thousands of people from their
homes and businesses and then to level the buildings just like
the worst of Mother Nature's tantrums. I know Texas is not the
only place in the U.S. that this takes place, but this is the
worst example I've read of. So wrong.
Don H.
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
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