The Dallas Cowboy Stadium Is Not Open To Former Residents

That's the west side view of the recently opened new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It does not seem all that long ago that I took photos and video of all the houses and apartment complexes that were destroyed in this, the worst abuse of eminent domain in American history, so that a stadium could get built.

Several of the cases are still in court, with victims fighting to get properly compensated.

I have often mentioned, in this very venue, my thinking that the victims should get invited to some event once the stadium opens. I don't believe Jerry Jones invited any of his victims to the grand opening concert with George Strait and Reba McEntire.

For that opening concert Jerry was charging people $40 to park on the land that used to be owned by others before he took it from them against their will. One of the cases still in court is arguing that the value of the property must be compensated for at whatever that land's greatest value is. Since a $1.1 billion stadium now sits on that land, that becomes the figure used to assign a value to the stolen property.

One thing about the new stadium, that strikes me eye, is the total disconnect between the architect's rendering of what the stadium would look like and the actual finished product. In the drawing the stadium looks to be sitting, like a futuristic spaceship, in a park-like setting. In reality the stadium does look like a futuristic spaceship, but instead of a park-like setting, it sits in run-down industrial, commercial, residential (for the most part) squalor. It is not an attractive setting. It is definitely not like the setting I have ever seen any other major professional sports stadium sit in.

And this morning I was pleased to see I am not alone in my thinking that the victims should have had some gesture made towards them, allowing them into the building that now sits on top of where their homes once stood. A letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram verbalized the same thought about the victims.

Below is that letter......

A gift to whom?

Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck’s comments in a story regarding the "gift" of a suite from Jerry Jones’ Cowboys to the city said it will be used for "personal use by city officials and city employees."

What crust! It reminds me of the way that gas royalties from city property were swept into a fund, without resident input, only to be doled out through applications by the very people whose idea it was to encapsulate it. (And now the city is crying poor and screaming budget cuts.)

I’ve thought all along that the ’Boys should give the city some seats, maybe four in the end zone, to be distributed lotterylike to the residents who are helping to pay for the stadium, but a suite? How sweet! I still think the seats should be made available to taxpaying residents, with the first ones going to those who were displaced by this project.

At the very least, let’s have an open meeting and input regarding this "gift to the city."

— Jill Wesstrom, Arlington