Open Letter to Laura Miller

[Pony Soup]

If you want to blame someone, your ire at Laura Miller is misdirected. Blame Ron Kirk and John Ware. The lopsided deal they gave Hicks/Perot i.e Center Operating Company (COC) to build the AAC is why the Cowboys are not in Dallas.
The DMN did a very poor job of reporting that the contract between the city of Dallas and COC gave COC the right of first refusal to ANY new structure that would compete with AAC. The non-compete specifically included Reunion Arena and that's why even though COC gave up control of Reunion Arena, the city could not book events on their own. AAC always had first dibs on ANY show, game, etc.
The Cowboys could not negotiate with the city of Dallas because the city was not allowed by COC to make any concessions for a football stadium. That's why they tried to work through Dallas County - and we see how that worked out.
So while I don't always agree with Laura Miller (and her stupid bridges), blame Ron Kirk and John Ware for the sweetheart deal they gave up to get the AAC built.

poor analysis

Actually, its a very good analysis. A large part of the blame rests at the feet of the Dallas County Comissioners Court. They were the ones that blocked the potential land deal on the west side of Stemmons.

All this said, at the very minimum Laura Miller should have used her position as a bully pulpit to push through a new stadium.

In the end, Laura Miller is a 'ho (she can't even afford the w, r, or e)

yeah, not so much on the first one. LM is just plain awful, no question. The stadium should be in Dallas, but a number of other factors affected the outcome. The most absurd thing is that no one in charge had any foresight - the whole world knew the lease was expiring and not a single person thought to plan ahead. THe whole thing was doomed before they even discussed it.

As for blaming LM - Vote for a strong mayor, anyone??

[PonySoprano]

We can debate where ultimately who should shoulder the blame on this, but this helps prove the point that Dallas is the most disfunctional large city in the US when it comes to management/government.

[Pony Soup]

We can debate where ultimately who should shoulder the blame on this, but this helps prove the point that Dallas is the most disfunctional large city in the US when it comes to management/government.

STROOONGGG MAYOR.

Also, let's spinoff south dallas.

[OR-See-Nee]

Any truth to the rumors that Jerry wasn't interested in placing his stadium in Dallas, but was using Dallas to get a better deal with Arlington?

[Pony Soup]

Any truth to the rumors that Jerry wasn't interested in placing his stadium in Dallas, but was using Dallas to get a better deal with Arlington?

Dallas should demand they call themselves the arlington cowboys

[couch 'em]

Blame the voters of Dallas for electing a woman Mayor when everyone knew negotiations with the Cowboys was going to start soon.

[Peruna88]

Come on, man. That is ridiculous. There wouldn’t be any pro teams in Dallas if it weren’t for Ron Kirk. The Mavs and Stars would be in Arlington too….and there would be no Victory Park. He may have gave a nice deal, but at least Ron Kirk got it done. Laura Miller could have shown foresight and leadership by bring everyone together to make the Cowboys stadium happen but she tried to bluff Jerry thinking he would come back and of course he didn’t. Some people get things done, and some people don't.

Ron Kirk "got it done" by giving away the store to keep the Mavericks and Stars in Dallas and the city pretty much gave up any hope of getting the Cowboys back because they gave away the right to negotiate for a new stadium.

So, with hindsight, would you rather have Victory Park and a bunch of overpriced restaurants and condos or JerryWorld?

And, for the record, I'm a Stars STH and have been for 10 years. So, I'm a frequent visitor to AAC. And, I'm no Laura Miller fan either.

[Pony Soup]

Come on, man. That is ridiculous. There wouldn’t be any pro teams in Dallas if it weren’t for Ron Kirk. The Mavs and Stars would be in Arlington too….and there would be no Victory Park. He may have gave a nice deal, but at least Ron Kirk got it done. Laura Miller could have shown foresight and leadership by bring everyone together to make the Cowboys stadium happen but she tried to bluff Jerry thinking he would come back and of course he didn’t. Some people get things done, and some people don't.

Ron Kirk "got it done" by giving away the store to keep the Mavericks and Stars in Dallas and the city pretty much gave up any hope of getting the Cowboys back because they gave away the right to negotiate for a new stadium.

So, with hindsight, would you rather have Victory Park and a bunch of overpriced restaurants and condos or JerryWorld?

And, for the record, I'm a Stars STH and have been for 10 years. So, I'm a frequent visitor to AAC. And, I'm no Laura Miller fan either.

Kirk did screw the whole eminent domain thing up. I know people were taken to court to determine fair value on their property since Dallas refused to pay what they asked. Instead, the city paid 4x or more what they asked, as mandated by our friendly local judges. Nice.

[gostangs]

Given a choice between Jerry world (8 events plus a superbowl/NCAA final every twelve years) and AAC - 85 events plus 30 concerts - it defiantely makes more sense for the city to have done AAC. The deal was sweet - but so is every one of these deals that gets done -

Of course we should not have to choose - we should have both - but its what happens when you put two women in charge of negotiating for a sports venue.

For the record - there was probably no way Jerry would have done it in Dallas - we just didnt have the ability to finance it - Arlington did because they were not in Dart and still had their sales tax to offer.

There were other ways to try of course - but nobody really wanted to try and fail - there was no trust on either side since neither side was trustworthy.

By the way - Jerry is struggling big time on his tickets - could get interesting now that sales have virtually stopped due to the economy and the uninspired location - yet another nice stadium REALLY far from all of your best customers.