Gazing Into Lake Tandy Thinking About Moving Back To Washington Where Voters Get To Vote

In the picture that is me and my shadow standing today on the Tandy Escarpment, above Dry Tandy Falls, looking down at the crystal clear water of Lake Tandy.

Looking at Dry Tandy Falls and Lake Tandy had me thinking about Dry Falls and crystal clear Sun Lakes in the state from whence I came, Washington.

I've blogged about Dry Falls and Sun Lakes a couple times on my Durango Washington blog in bloggings titled Sun Lakes State Park & Dry Falls and Dry Falls, Sun Lakes, Wind, Riots & Streakers.

I've been thinking about Washington a lot lately. It has been almost 5 years since I've visited the Pacific Northwest.

When I renewed my Texas driver's license, last summer, was the first I realized I'd been in Texas for over 12 years. I was a bit mortified when I realized how quickly 12 years had passed, and how old I will be after the passage of another 12 years.

If I still had a house in Washington I think I'd be moving back. But, my house in Mount Vernon was sold in 2002. There was a house waiting for me when I made the move to Texas, which made moving easy.

When I moved to Texas I knew I was moving to a much more conservative, much less progressive state than  Washington. In the years since I moved to Texas, Washington has become even more progressive and even more liberal. While Texas has sort of regressed.

The depressing, non-progressive, regressive state of being in the state of Texas was brought again to mind a couple minutes ago when I got a blog comment from Dannyboy in response to a blogging I blogged yesterday morning.

Dannyboy has left a new comment on your post "The Befuddling Mystery Of Tarrant County & Texas Public Transit": 

Durango:

You are a bit wrong about Tarrant County mass transit. When it was proposed some decades ago, every city in Tarrant County had the vote to join in. Most did not, including Arlington. So it wasn't that there was "no effort" made to include the whole county, it's just that most of the county said "no" and continues to do so. It is a fact of life in North Texas. Mass transit is considered something that poor people use, and consequently, the funding and improvement of such transportation plans are not seen as important in any way. So it is a conundrum that has no simple fix. People don't use mass transit unless they have to because it is crappy in FW, but they don't want to spend anything to make it better because it is for the crappy poor people. Get it? It will never happen in FW until those attitudes change and I don't see that happening anytime soon. 

If I am understanding Dannyboy correctly, at some point in time individual towns in Tarrant County voted for or against funding mass transit. With only Fort Worth, apparently, voting yes.

Why would this not be a county wide vote, rather than having each town vote regarding its mass transit participation?

The lack of cohesive mass transit in Tarrant County affects the entire county. Why let Arlington vote no and thus make it impossible for Fort Worth residents to take mass transit to Six Flags? Or to watch the Rangers play baseball at The Ballpark in Arlington?

I remember being very perplexed when the Dallas Cowboys were demanding a new football stadium, with how, when it came time to fund the building of a new stadium, the Cowboys ceased being America's Team, the Cowboys were not North Texas' team, not the D/FW Metroplex's team, not the Dallas County team, not the Dallas team, but instead somehow it was the voter's in little Arlington, in Tarrant County, upon whom it fell to help fund a new stadium and proudly engage in one of the worst acts of eminent domain abuse in American history.

By the 1990s congestion had grown into gridlock territory on Washington's Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge. That  infamous bridge connects Tacoma to the Kitsap Peninsula. I remember shortly before I moved to Texas, in 1998, voters in the Washington counties affected by the congestion voted on whether or not to support building a second suspension bridge. The voters voted yes and have been driving over the new bridge since 2007.

If I remember correctly the new Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge cost around $1 billion, about the same cost of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with key differences being that voters voted on the bridge.

Construction began in 2002, completed 5 years later.

Meanwhile, voters have not voted on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, and well over a decade since this incredibly important Fort Worth flood control project was begun, very little can been seen of the vision. And what can be seen ain't at all pretty, visions like the Cowtown Wakeboard Park, the world's pre-eminent urban wake boarding facility.

So, why is it in Texas the voters in a county can not vote on a county-wide project? Why can't all the voters in all the counties that make up the D/FW Metroplex vote in a project that benefits everyone?

Like mass transit for poor people.....

A Cloudy Cold Tandy Hills With The Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Back Haunting Me

The drop in temperature has arrived. It is currently a chilly 61 degrees in the outer world at my location.

The brisk chill made for some brisking hill hiking on the Tandy Hills today.

As you can see, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, there is a layer of clouds blocking the clear blue sky.

The clouds were very interesting looking in the noon time frame. They looked like snow clouds.

Changing subjects from the weather to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal.

Way back in 2004 when homes, apartments and businesses started being taken from their owners and destroyed, often via abusing the perfectly legit concept of eminent domain, to build a football stadium, I was totally shocked at such thing happening and the idea that a community (Arlington) would go along with doing such a thing to their neighbors.,

I documented the destruction and the building of the new stadium.

Today I heard from someone associated with something called NFL Films. This is what someone asked me...

Hi! I work with the Footage and Photo Acquisitions Department at NFL Films. I am looking to see if I can get copies of the photos on your site that show the demolition of the home in Arlington.  Do you own these photos?  I am looking to possibly license the photos for use in an upcoming segment that will be produced for the show NFL Films Presents. The segment is on Fred Jackson, whose childhood home was demolished. If you do own rights to the photos, I do have a standard release that I can email over to you for your review.

Several years ago a magazine called Backpacker paid me $100 for a photo of a Longhorn surrounded by wildflowers on a hill by Lake Grapevine.

I wonder why, after all these years, NFL Films is going to film a segment about the destruction of one of the homes demolished during the worst abuse of eminent domain in American history?

Are 58 MPH Gusts, Snow, Ice & 8 Degrees Wreaking Havoc With The Temporary Super Bowl Buildings Surrounding The Dallas Cowboy Stadium?

The sun has now arrived, lighting up the icy morning of the first day of the second month of 2011.

As you can see, looking at the view through the bars of my patio prison cell, a layer of white has descended on my zone of North Texas.

The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is covered in white. I don't know about the rest of North Texas.

Small snow pellets are now falling. Landing on top of a layer of ice.

The National Weather Service WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect until 4 in the afternoon tomorrow.

The low today is scheduled to get down to 8. Tomorrow the low will supposedly be 4. If it gets down to 8 it will be, by far, the coldest since I've been in Texas. The only time I've experienced colder temperatures was one winter while going to college in the Eastern Washington town of Ellensburg. I came back from Christmas vacation to see a bank's temperature sign say it was -18.

Wind gusts are blowing the snow into little drifts. AccuWeather is reporting gusts as high as 58 mph.

I wonder how all those temporary tent-like Super Bowl structures are faring down by the Dallas Cowboy Stadium? How much snow and ice can those roofs handle before collapsing? What level of wind are they engineered to be able to handle?

Is Mother Nature meting out some sort of Divine Retribution for the Worst Case of Eminent Domain Abuse in American History?

The Faith Tabernacle Church by the Dallas Cowboy Stadium is canceling Super Bowl Sunday's church services so they can sell parking spaces to football fans.

I'm not what one would call religious, but I think God might get you for that type behavior.

Arlington City Officials Get Big Payoff For Helping Jerry Jones Abuse Eminent Domain For New Cowboy Stadium

I am really starting to feel sick and tired of feeling sick and tired of all the goofy stuff I see and hear here in this Orwellian Occupied zone of Texas I'm currently seeing too much of.

The sense of right and wrong that governs other parts of the civilized world is reversed way too much in these parts.

The latest example is the latest chapter in what for about 6 years I have called the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal, due to what many, myself included, believe is the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

Where Jerry Jones, conspiring with the City of Arlington, abused the perfectly legal concept of using eminent domain to acquire property for the public good. Like a road, hospital or school. That type thing. In Arlington eminent domain was abused to take homes, apartment complexes and businesses.

For a football stadium, a building that is pretty much a monument to one strange man's strange sense of entitlement.

Now, what did I learn today? Well, the Arlington city officials who conspired with Jones to abuse eminent domain to build the stadium have been rewarded.

Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys have given Arlington city officials the private use of one of the stadium's luxury suites. I believe the technical term for this is Payoff.

Since the stadium opened, Arlington city officials, like city council members and Mayor Chuck Cluck and their family and friends, have received free tickets to attend Cowboy games and other events, like the Paul McCartney concert. So far the comping has totaled almost $80,000.

The City of Arlington suite users also get to be additionally bribed with $1,000 in free food, when they use the city's luxury suite.

And they get special, close to the stadium, parking spots, that go for $75. For free. And if they want, the city officials can get coveted sideline credentials, for an up close look at the game, for which some fans would be willing to pay a small fortune.

There are some wise heads in Arlington who are complaining about Arlington city officials receiving this particularly onerous payoff for cooperating with Jerry Jones.

Have any of the victims of the storm that leveled their homes been invited to experience the City of Arlington luxury suite, high above where their homes used to stand? I suspect not.

I suspect the only Cowboy perk the victims could maybe obtain is making use of one of the 100s of custom made outhouses that surround the new $1.1 billion stadium.

Something besides those outhouses is really stinking in Arlington.

The Dallas Cowboy Stadium & the Seattle Seahawk Stadium

I got an email from Seattle this morning, from Janice Taylor. Janice had been reading my webpage about the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal where she came to a comment made by William G. in which William G., apparently, left out a few key facts.

Most of what Janice has to say resonates with my memory of how the new Seattle football stadium and baseball field came to be.

Except Janice makes one statement that even I, non baseball aficionado that I am, know to be wrong, that being where Janice claims that the Seattle Mariner's Safeco Field is too small to host a World Series. Well, a World Series goes back and forth between the ballparks of the teams in the World Series. If Seattle ever made it that far in the playoffs, their home games in the World Series would be played at Safeco Field.

Another thing, my reason for ever mentioning the Seattle sports palaces was to make the point that no one in Seattle lost their home due to the use of eminent domain, this in an area with way less open land than Texas, while in Texas, eminent domain was abused flagrantly, resulting in thousands of people being displaced, dozens of homes taken, a dozen, or so, apartment complexes taken and many businesses taken.

Anyway, below is the email from Janice...

You've prominently placed a comment from one William G. regarding the funding for stadiums in Seattle. Obviously, he was a supporter because he omitted a couple of key facts. First, the people of Seattle voted not once, but twice on the baseball stadium. Each time, the "no" vote prevailed. The second time, one week after the vote, our elected officials overturned the public's decision, saying we "didn't understand the source of funding." (I have letters from all I wrote using that same quote.) Democracy be damned.

As for the football stadium, it went to a state-wide vote because our governor, Gary Locke, knew the citizens of King County would never vote it through. (Gov. Locke reminded me of a 15-year-old groupie at a Motley Crew concert the way he cuddled up to Paul Allen to "Save Our Seahawks.") Only King County pays for it, though, and election results showed King County majority voted "no". The sports-only lotteries were terminated due of lack of sales. So the lottery money earmarked for education is now laundered to help pay for the stadium.

All totaled, Seattle spent over $1 billion in stadiums. Both are too small to host either a World Series or a Super Bowl. (But we sure got that argument when the pols were stumping.) And the first sell-out at Seahawks stadium was a soccer game. Today, I think Paul Allen realizes he picked the wrong "football" to support.

The Seattle Sonics basketball team then tried to bully its way into a new facility even though its home, Key Arena, had recently gone through a multi-million tax-payer dollar remodel. This time, all the politicians realized it would be political suicide to back a new stadium. One small city, Renton, toyed with the idea of hosting the stadium, but that idea died at the outcry of the residences.

So please do not hold Seattle up as any shining beacon on how sports arenas should be built. We citizens will be paying for decades. Hell, they'll probably demolish them for new before they are paid off, like our King Dome. I hope all the displaced citizens have found homes. The bigger issue is declaring eminent domain for private enterprise.

Janice Taylor
Seattle, Washington

A Comment From One Of Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboy Stadium Eminent Domain Abuse Victims

This morning I got an interesting comment from Mad Mom about the above YouTube video. Mad Mom is one of victims of Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys and the City of Arlington's abuse of eminent domain in order to take people's homes for the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It has been a long time, now, since all those homes and apartments were destroyed.

At the time, and I guess it still is, it was shocking to me that this took place. I empathized with how I'd feel if I was told I had to sell the house I'd built and lived in for decades.

To me it all seemed like using and abusing the law to commit a crime. That being the destructive of American citizen's homes without their consent.

I have gotten a lot of comments from clueless sorts who opine along the line that people had to agree to sell their property or Jerry Jones couldn't have bought it, indicating total ignorance of the concept of eminent domain.

Below is the comment from Mad Mom....

I lived in Arlington for years, born and raised. My childhood home was one of the ones that was destroyed by Jerrytown. I'm sorry but there is NO amount of money that makes it ok for someone to take your home and your land for a FOOTBALL Stadium. Those people could not replace their homes for what little they were given. And that "last holdout" was paid for 4 acres of land and 2 houses, not just one like most people, 1.5 mil isn't that much for that much acreage and houses.

Mad Mom

Tony Romo's Backwards Cap & America's Dallas Cowboy Team's Eminent Domain Abuse

I found some good letters to the editor and comments in this morning's Dallas Morning News about Dallas Cowboy, Tony Romo, he being the team's quarterback and former boy toy of Jessica Simpson.

Tony Romo often wears a baseball cap backwards. I have read negative comments about this previously, and again this morning in the DMN letters to the editor.

The cap backwards umbrage commenter also mentioned the Dallas Cowboys being America's Team. That got a good comment. I also have commented before about the Dallas delusion of being America's Team.

Another letter to the editor was regarding the abuse of eminent domain crimes that were committed in Arlington to get land for the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. This letter was written in reaction to a Dallas Morning News article about America's Team and the corrupt Jones family.

I'll copy the letters and comment below, followed by the YouTube video I made of the homes and apartments destroyed in Arlington for the new stadium.

Turn that hat around

If Tony Romo wants to turn the Dallas Cowboys around, he needs to turn his hat around first.

Romo is the quarterback for the Cowboys, not a street musician. He should wear the uniform properly until he has earned the right to assume the casual nature he projects with his various hat-wearing contortions.

Perhaps if he wins a Super Bowl, he will have earned the respect needed before he can take a casual approach to dressing for America's Team.

Patrick Gallagher, Fort Worth

The Dallas Cowboys are NOT America's team. There is no such thing. And get a little perspective here. They are a private entertainment company like any other sports team or league. Sports teams do become part of our culture like musicians and other entertainers but they are not any more deserving of respect than any other private enterprise.

Comment Posted by Mike D

The right to take away homes

Re: "Behind America's Team and its home, an American family -- State-of-the-art facility a labor of love for Joneses," Monday news story.

How do the Jones family and Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck justify the use of eminent domain to seize homes and businesses in order to build the stadium where they wanted?

The Jones family and Cluck always have pat answers that voters voted for it, the stadium brings tourists, the city owns the stadium or the owners were paid, but these homes and businesses were not for sale.

Heir Stephen Jones is correct -- this stadium was built on the backs of families -- the working class and elderly former owners whose homes and businesses were condemned and destroyed.

Linda Lancaster, Arlington

A Concerned Citizen In Arlington Fears Jerry Jones, The Dallas Cowboys & Arlington May Try To Steal Her Home

Over the past 4 or 5 years I've gotten a few messages from those directly affected by the abuse of eminent domain that was perpetrated in Arlington, with the city in cahoots with Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, to force thousands from their homes, destroying hundreds of homes and apartment buildings and businesses.

The City of Arlington, via Mayor Chuck Cluck, has said there will be no more use of eminent domain in Arlington for the Dallas Cowboys and their stadium. It took awhile, but those who helped Jones perpetrate this, well, crime, came to realize, to many observers, it gave Arlington a big black eye.

This morning I heard from a Concerned Arlington Citizen, worried that Jones has his sights on her husband's old family home and the land it sits on. I told the Concerned Citizen from Arlington that Arlington has said no more eminent domain use to get land for the Cowboys. I assume this to be true. I know that Jones has had to buy land for more parking lots the old-fashioned way, by negotiating a deal with the owners, rather than forcing them out via eminent domain.

I have seen the property that Jones is buying for more parking lots. You can see there are a couple holdouts, with most of the land razed, the holdouts stand out.

All those people remaining in that area used to live in a fairly quiet neighborhood. Now a gigantic, futuristic space ship, that looks totally out of place, has plopped down as an unwanted neighbor, making the residents nervous and feeling insecure in their homes.

The Concerned Citizen from Arlington feels Jones will get his due when he stands before God and hears "what you did to the least among you, you did unto me." And then shoves the man to hell.

Below is the message from the Concerned Citizen from Arlington (and Rome) Texas...

We have heard that Jones and his cowgirls want more land near the stadium for parking, even after buying out and bulldozing homes on Webb Street near the stadium, very recently. We live very close to the stadium about a block from it, in my husband's old home - the one he grew up in and of course don't want to see our old street turned into an ugly parking lot. However, if we have to move we will, but only for the right price for our home and land. Do you know if there are any more plans for the acquisition of more land for parking?

We hate the stadium and all that it represents - greed, selfishness, power and corruption. In my opinion Cluck, the chicken man, (you know, cluck cluck, it's what chickens do) should be in jail along with the rest of the Arlington City Council, and as for Jones, well he'll get his some day, either before or after he stands before GOD to be judged.

Concerned citizen, Arlington/ROME, Texas

More Texas Citizen Abuse, This Time In Arlington, Again

My bizarre run-in with the Fort Worth Gestapo a couple days ago has had me thinking about how bit by bit freedom can erode, and if you let little freedoms erode, the erosion can eventually reach a Grand Canyon depth level. Just consult a German to see how that can happen.

I think I've not been paying close enough attention to how badly freedom has eroded in my zone of Texas.

Yes, I did clearly make note of how appalled I was by the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history, when thousands of citizens and hundreds of homes and apartments were taken from people against their will, in an extreme violation of that basic American idea that when we are in our homes we should be safe from the government.

Instead, in Arlington, the government took homes and replaced them with a private business in the form of a football stadium. In the famous words of a wise philosopher named Jesus, "What you do to the least among us, you do to me."

And now, this morning, I learned that Arlington is employing a method loved by the old Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That being, having citizens, in the form of "Code Rangers," spy on their fellow citizens and report serious violations impacting the public well being. Like putting your garbage out a day early. Or parking your car on your lawn. Yes. Your lawn. You own it. But, in Arlington, you can't decide to park your car on your lawn, if you want to. The Code Rangers will get you.

I might find some sense in this if Arlington was some sort of pristine city, with well paved streets, sidewalks everywhere, no eyesores. Instead, just look at the majority of the area around the new Cowboy Stadium. It is Eyesore City, for the most part. Or drive Division or Pioneer Parkway in Arlington and make note of the number of eyesores you see. They must be more difficult to go after and generate easy revenue.

Oh, I forgot to mention, if you put your garbage out one day early in Arlington, you will get a $132 fine, no warning. Within hours of putting out your garbage on the wrong day, a City of Arlington KGB/Gestapo Agent will show up at your door and hand you a ticket.

The civic sense in Arlington is so twisted that they are actually proud of running this KGB/Gestapo inspired program. They even have a city website that sort of brags about the miscreants they have played nanny too, with Violation of the Week "Before" and "After" photos illustrating the wonderful results of this corrective behavior. People in free parts of the World, and America, I'm not making this up, click the link "city website" link above and see for yourself.

A letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this morning, put me on to this latest bizarre thing in Arlington. I had no idea about this, prior. The KGB/Gestapo victim, in this instance, has decided he has had enough of Arlington and is taking his family and saying bye-bye.

What really gets me is the attitude here, in this extremely repressive part of America, of treating perfectly good citizens as if they are criminals. You put out your garbage on the wrong day and you get a fine? How about being neighborly and simply pointing out to the person that this is not garbage day, and there is this darn city code about not having your garbage out til garbage day.

Or like I said before, if someone is driving real slow in a residential neighborhood, without wearing his seatbelt, for good reason, why not simply stop that person, ask why they were driving slow, tell them they need to put on their seatbelt and send them on their way, once you realize this was not a hardened criminal you stopped.

Instead, in the ham-handed KGB/Gestapo manner in which one simple matter was handled, Arlington is losing one good citizen and his family, and Fort Worth has another citizen having fun expressing his umbrage, in various forms, about the various forms of umbrage-worthy ridiculousness, in this city I live in, that makes the World Green with Envy.

I am almost to the point of leaving myself. I am ready to live in the land of the free again. I hear Austin is quite nice.

Anyway, below is the letter that set me off this morning.....

I’m a concerned citizen who finds he is living among a secret society that the City of Arlington calls its "Code Rangers."

While I was working in South Texas for 60 days, my wife mistakenly put out the trash for pickup on Thursday instead of Friday. Within four hours, she received a ticket. Not a warning — a $132 ticket issued by a code enforcement officer.

My wife, grandson and I have lived here only six months and had no prior incidents. When I brought this to the attention of the local code officer, he said Arlington issues no warnings; it’s an automatic citation. When asked how he found this egregious violation, he said he was not at liberty to discuss how he was notified.

Through research, I found that Arlington trains residents to be "Code Rangers," and it is these fine upstanding residents, sitting in the shadows waiting for flagrant violations to happen, who inform city code officers.

Farewell Arlington, my taxes are going elsewhere.

Robert Reuland, Arlington

Eminent Domain, YouTube, Dallas Cowboy Stadium & Texas

When someone comments on this blog I get sent an email with that comment, with the option to publish or reject. When someone makes a comment to one of my YouTube videos I also get an email, but it is to an email address I seldom check.

So, I was surprised, yesterday, to see how many comments there have been to the video I made that showed some of what was destroyed to build the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. The building of which I characterize as a scandal, due to the flagrant abuse of eminent domain to acquire the land for the stadium. An abuse so flagrant that a bill was introduced in the recent session of the Texas legislature to put an end to this type eminent domain abuse in Texas. I don't know if the bill made it into law. I doubt it.

One thing I've long made note of, regarding comments to the blog or YouTube, the more ignorant the person is, the more likely they will verbalize their ignorance in a hostile fashion. I've never understood how it is that someone who is ignorant is so oblivious about their ignorance that they are confident to advertise their ignorance in comment form. One would think if one was ignorant one would be a bit shy of verbalizing an opinion. Or, maybe part of being ignorant is being ignorant of being ignorant.

Of the YouTube comments the most ignorant was one where the commenter opined that what was done in Arlington is not a scandal because "nothing illegal happened. Jerry Jones bought the land, and built on it. All the people and business that were there would have had to agree and sell their property for him to build it. Who ever made this is kinda dumb?"

Whoever made this is kinda dumb? While this ignorant moron has no awareness that dozens of people did not willingly sell their land and homes, hence the scandal, with many of the cases still being argued in court.

Anyway, below are most of the YouTube comments, with the video that got them commenting below the comments.....

yikeroo3
Thank you for this. My family were among the Dallas Cowboy's and Jerry Jones victims. We were forced out of our home of over 25 years. I will never forgive or forget this. A stadium could have been built without doing this to people. There is plenty of open land in Arlington. The shame of this will forever stain the town of Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys with Jerry Jones answering to God, in the unlikely chance that that it is to heaven he is going when he dies.

Blu53
I assume by "Don't ever do this again," you mean don't ever abuse owners of private property again like what was done in Arlington. Well, Arlington is already shell-shocked enough by their growing national bad rep for their part in emiment domain abuse that Arlington is telling Jerry Jones they will not be party to more eminent domain use for his project. The power of the internet to enlighten and inform is amazing.

M2200
I'm as disgusted as you are about what was done in Arlington to get the Cowboys a new stadium. Don't these morons realize this isn't how this type thing is done in the rest of the country? Eminent domain exists so that the public can take private land for the public good. Like roads, hospitals and schools. Not for football stadiums. A person should be secure in their home and should be removed from their home for only the best of reasons.

robabyluv
And NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!

blue99blue
Stadium name: Hickville
Welcome to Hickville.

Mikey78418
It's "inbred", you quasi-literate buffoon.

alanpetsche
I've lived in Arlington since 1966 and the apartments that were the vast majority of the buildings that were torn down were havens for criminals and crack dealers. That area of town was responsible for the highest total cost of police calls in all of Tarrant County. The last holdout homeowner received $1.5 million for her house. Everyone who lived or owned a business there got paid well. Scandal my ass.

IronMaidenBeast1982
Then try and get a loan to try and buy a ticket for a game, loser...

Mikey78418
Woah, lookit the internet tough guy! Bruce Dickinson's a fag.

IronMaidenBeast1982
..and you are still a tool!

Mikey78418
That may be true, but at least I'm not a pathetic internet tough guy.

IronMaidenBeast1982
How am I being an "internet tough guy", you douchebag?  Because I called you a loser, a tool, and a douchebag? That`s not being tough--that`s being honest!

turduckens4u
You meen built of the ruins of slums i think. Old run down, even though they were your homes. You have the right to protest and i feel for you but the new stadium will also bring millions worth of buisness and jobs to the state year round. I say make another.

PowrSurge
I lived in Arlington when it all went down. Jerry did get this built legally. But I have to side with the fellow who made this video. If he is such an idiot, why did 13 states immediately pass laws restricting the use of eminent domain? It should be used for public use, i.e., airport, freeway, etc., but not for a private entity.

trendsetter74
destroyed property my ass, they bought the land from ever person there so quit your bitching, this will bring a lot of extra revenue into arlington and in these times, more revenue and more jobs are a great thing.

theonetitty
this guy must have lived in one of the homes destroyed to build it. its not really a scandal cause nothing illegal happened? Jerry Jones bought the land, and built on it. all the people and businesses that were there would have had to agree and sell their property for him to build it. who ever made this is kinda dumb. sorry

69SoccerMVP69
Why the Hell did this guy make this video. Who cares what was destroyed to make this stadium. When this opens its going to be Bad Ass. I live in Dallas and this staduim is BEAST!!

allpeeps4me
ATTENTION all DALLAS fans!!!**!!! WITH THIS NEW STADIUM NEEDS TO COME NEW FANS!!!!! WE HAVE TO BE LOUDER, ALL WEAR THE SAME COLOR AND START CHANTS LIKE NO NFL STADIUMS HAVE EVER DONE... WE NEED A CRAZY FIGHT SONG THAT WE ALL SING AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS, WE NEED TO HAVE TOWELS AND FLAGS AND BANNERS..... WE NEED TO BE MORE LIKE COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS AND HARDCORE EURO SOCCER FANS......if you are truly a fan of the ALMIGHTY COWBOYS OF DALLAS copypaste this on every COWBOYS video spread the word

blue99blue
Stadium name: Hickville
Welcome to Hickville.

blue99blue
Dallas is full of inbread hillbillies.

tscon55
aww boo hoo

TYX91101
The stadium is a major upgrade to the Arlington neighborhood. Combined with the Ballpark, Six Flags, and the hotels and restaurants on Lamar Blvd it forms a family friendly destination for year round recreation and sporting events. There's no shortage of real estate in Texas.

K80blogfan
L
O
L

copznrobbas
yay no more ranger's field fireworks blasting off right outside my window. city kickin us out had to be the greatest day off my life. mansfield is such a better city

thomasuras
you said 'However it is still sad that all those memories took place in a small run down neighborhood that no longer exist " yea its real said to see those run down neighborhoods in detroit that are still run down with out a new stadium , look up some of those videos

furrflys
wow thats wierd to watch. we were relocated due to the new cowboy stadium. we were some of the last to leave. it's very surreal to watch your nieghbor hood where you live be torn down around you. I'm not whining about it, we are now much better off for having moved. However it is still sad that all those memories took place in a small run down nieghborhood that no longer exists

phatmattcowboys
pussies stop compaining

SFFOOL76
tell u what, im gonna get enough money to build a poop factory where your house is.

Oh Canada, Oh Canaduh

Last week. Or was it the week before, I blogged about some of the dumb comments I get, to this blog and to my YouTube videos. With the dumb comments usually being in reference to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup or the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal.

I was motivated to comment about the comments due to a comment I got from a 28 year old Canadian calling him/herself diflorio007, in which phrases like "you taxas rednecks" and "how stuped they are" were used.

And then yesterday I got another YouTube comment to the same Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup video from yet one more product of the Canadian public school system.

This Canadian called himself (I know it is a him, or assume so, due to his name being Neil) ExodicSnakes. Note the exotic spelling of "Exodic."

Neil, aka, ExodicSnake's comment was...

"im all down for catcking rattel snakes but y do they kill them maby for food but ok kill it dont exploied the snake.. when thay milk the snake it is just useless they dont do it in a stairl invirement so it is all junk venom."

Now, Canada does have some different ways of pronouncing and spelling some words. Like they add a "u" to humor, making it humour. Stuff like that.

Maybe I have fallen behind the times and Canada has gone to some new futuristic, phonetic, fractured, abbreviated, punctuation-free spelling method, hence Neil's "rattel" for rattle and "catcking" for catching and "y" for why and "maby" for maybe and "exploied" for exploited and "stairl" for sterile and "invirement" for environment.

I dunno. Maybe Neil/ExodicSnakes is simply spelling challenged and the fact that I've received two of these type things, from Canada, in a week, is just a fluke and has no reflection on the bad job Canada may be doing teaching its kids.

Or, like I sort of alluded to in the previous blogging about this serious subject, could the bad education Canadians are getting explain why, in ways we can measure a nation's accomplishments, such as number of Nobel Prizes, America wins so many and Canada wins so few?

It is a conundrum that may have no easy answer.

In the meantime while we ponder that conundrum, below is the YouTube video that causes too many Canadians to sound so stuped, I mean stupid.....

The Last Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Court Case

I've gotten some rather idiotic comments regarding what I call the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal. One recently said something like, "How can it be a scandal that those homes were destroyed? The owners had to agree to sell their homes or Jerry Jones wouldn't have been able to buy them."

Now, I've longed learned that once a person let's it be known that they are an idiot, there is no point in trying to alleviate them of some of their idiocy. There would be no point to explaining what the concept of eminent domain is. Or what abusing the concept of eminent domain means. Or why its abuse is a scandal.

Anyway, yesterday the last of the holdouts in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Land Acquisition Scandal has settled, with Arlington's City Council agreeing to pay $325,000 for Paul Jordan's 3 properties, after a long court battle over the properties condemnation by eminent domain.

Not happy with the black eye the eminent domain abuse has given Arlington, Mayor Robert Cluck won't go along with Jerry Jones' attempt to get the city to abuse eminent domain again so as to acquire land for parking lots.

Another reason why this particular use of eminent domain is of the abuse/scandal nature is people's homes were bulldozed prior to the owner's getting their day in court. Paul Jordan was ordered off his property, was told how much he would be paid, he objected, brought the city to court. But the bulldozing of his property went ahead, in the rush to build this stadium.

Originally the city had figured it'd cost about $40 million to take people's property. It ended up costing twice that amount, due to more people fighting the condemnations in court than the city figured on.

Paul Jordan still feels the sting of the scandal, made evident when he talks about his old neighborhood and the new stadium that hovers above it like a misplaced giant UFO. He said his old neighborhood reminded him of a Norman Rockwell painting, with a sense of community, where he knew everyone on a first name basis.

Paul Jordan may wax nostalgic about his lost home, but he can also verbalize anger over the scandalous stadium, complaining that "We are paying more taxes than the Cowboys will ever pay. That's such a lop-sided, one-sided, bad deal for anybody but Jerry Jones."

The City of Arlington owns the stadium, so it will generate no property tax revenue on the land that formerly did generate property tax revenue.

The picture at the top was the last house standing, Evelyn Wray's house. The city offered her $351,000 for her property. She fought back. And got a lot more money. Her property, 4 acres and a house, which was on Randoll Mill Road, across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, was obviously worth more than the city offered after condemning her property to build a sports facility. The courts agreed. Evelyn Wray eventually settled for $2.75 million.

You can read Evelyn Wray's story and a lot more about the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal, with photos of all that was condemned and destroyed. While the owners tried to fight to protect their right to feel safe, secure and happy in their own homes, by going here.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal: Part VII

Sometimes reading what people think is really depressing. Depressing because when you read what some people think, you are reading what they wrote to express what they thought. And from reading what they thought, well, their thinking, as written, is, well, sad. Sad and stupid.

I like to believe, but I think I'm probably naive, that there are fewer really stupid people out there than there really are.

And then I read comments to my blog. Most of the comments are from people who are obviously well informed, smart, sophisticated, understand nuance and the concept of difference of opinion.

And then I get comments to something like the YouTube video I made of the eminent domain abuses that were done in Arlington to build a private business a football stadium. The comments are like a sad window into some very undeveloped, ignorant minds. Why is it the less someone knows the more sure they are of what they know? While smart people always seem to leave a window open to the fact that maybe there is some bit of information that might shed a different light.

So, the comments. This morning I got one from someone calling him/herself (I'm gender confused because he/she used "titty" in the name) "theonetitty."

Here is the comment...

"this guy must have lived in one of the homes destroyed to build it. its not really a scandal cause nothing illegal happened? Jerry Jones bought the land, and built on it. all the people and businesses that were there would have had to agree and sell their property for him to build it. who ever made this is kinda dumb. sorry."

Let's just ignore the shooting fish in a barrel part of the irony of someone saying someone else is dumb when that person can make so many errors in one short paragraph.

First off. Jerry Jones did not buy the land via negotiating with the property owners. The land was condemned by using the concept of eminent domain, where the government can condemn property for the public good and decide what you will be paid for your property after forcing you to negotiate. You can't just say NO, I don't want to sell. Usually this is used to build highways, hospitals, schools, airports. Using eminent domain to disrupt the lives of thousands of citizens to build a sports stadium is not the norm where eminent domain is non-scandalously used.

Second off. All the people who were victimized by this abuse of eminent domain did not agree with the hurried condemnation of their property. They fought it in court. Dozens of those cases are still in court.

Third off. How can anyone be so clueless as to think that absolutely everyone upon who's property this stadium was built agreed to sell their property so Jones could build a stadium?

Fourth off. The stink from this scandal has been so strong that when Jerry Jones tried to get Arlington to abuse eminent domain again, so that he could take some more houses, so he could build a parking lot, Arlington and Mayor Cluck said no, that they would be party to no more eminent domain abuse. With the city of Arlington refusing to help Jones steal houses he has had to go about it the old-fashioned way, by offering deals to homeowners to get them out of their houses. Several are saying NO. Which is what would have been said by many who's land was taken to build the stadium. Which might have been for the greater good. Forcing Jones to look elsewhere to build his stadium.

Somewhere like Dallas, perhaps, that's seems a logical location for a Dallas Cowboy stadium, at Fair Park, maybe, instead of in a lackluster Arlington neighborhood surrounded by a lot of industrial blight.

Trust me, when this stadium opens, the national press is not gonna be pretty. Like I've said before, the stadium looks like a giant thing from outer space that's been plopped down in a poor American neighborhood.

The one thing "theonetitty" said that sounded like it might be sort of true is "who ever made this is kinda dumb. sorry." Obviously I'm kinda dumb. But it was sort of rude to be so blunt about it. Below is the "dumb" video that riled up "theonetitty."

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Part 8

The Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal has sort of faded from my memory. I don't remember when I last drove by the new stadium.

The Dallas Cowboy organization was in the news this morning due to announcing plans to build a parking lot west of the stadium. I assume they have successfully bought the houses to do so. I know months ago there were a few holdouts and the City of Arlington made clear there would be no more eminent domain abuse by the city on the Dallas Cowboy's behalf.

This morning I got feedback from someone in Austin who thinks what was done in Arlington was a perfectly legit use of eminent domain. But then the guy didn't know how to spell eminent, so, I'm thinking he likely could not explain how it is properly used. The feedbacker also thinks the new stadium will be a huge economic engine for Arlington, generating jobs and new money.

Somehow that type revenue generating boon didn't happen where the Dallas Cowboy stadium is currently located, in Irving. It's a bit of a blight around the stadium. In all the years that stadium has sat in Irving it hasn't spawned hotels or restaurants or much of anything that I've seen.

One of the feedbackers comments was really wrong-headed. And I've heard it stated before in various ways. That being that the area where eminent domain was abused was crime-ridden. And thus deserved to die. This "crime-ridden" area had many homes in which people had lived for decades. People tend not to remain living in crime-ridden areas. And right in the midst of this "crime-ridden" area sits one of the nicest Super Wal-Marts I've ever seen. I don't think Wal-Mart builds its more high-end Superstores in crime-ridden areas.

The feedbacker does not understand why Jerry Jones gets demonized when it was the people of Arlington who voted for this stadium. However, the part about using eminent domain was not on the ballot. Jerry Jones has been demonized because he has shown absolutely no sympathy for the thousands of lives his private business disrupted.

Anyway, below is the feedback from a guy in Austin. I didn't fix his misspellings below. On my Eyes on Texas website version I did fix the misspellings....

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 tam 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 pepole of Arlington. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This is what emminent domain is all about, and I don't see any "abuse" in this case.

James
Austin, TX

Dallas Cowboy Con Job

Yet one more letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from a disgruntled Texan cranky at what was done in Arlington to get Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys a new stadium.

I particularly liked the heading on this letter. "Cowboy Con Job."

Here's the letter.......

Cowboy con job

The latest Pacman Jones debacle has the silver-tongued Jerry Jones describing it as a personal thing. This is the same silver-tongued mega-wealthy man who conned the Arlington taxpayers into paying for a new mega-stadium for him. No matter that eminent domain displaced many out of their homes for a mega-stadium parking lot. The emperors of Rome offered free bread and games to keep the masses happy, so it follows that the Arlington taxpayer will get the same benefits.

Jones will charge mega-prices to watch his band of not-so-merry men, and not one dime will arrive in the taxpayers’ mailbox in the form of a royalty check. It seems that Jones will hire anybody if it means winning a Super Bowl.

-- Alexandra W. Wolf, Fort Worth

Arlington Sued Over Dallas Cowboy Stadium Land Steal

Four Arlington landowners got their day in the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth on Wednesday, arguing that Arlington acted unconstitutionally when it obtained their land through eminent domain for the new Cowboy stadium.

One of the attorneys also argued that the city's lease with the Dallas Cowboys was illegal.

One of the Cowboy's victims, Walter Herrington, said "You can't take my land for a private individual like Jerry Jones."

The landowners want the previous rulings overturned, hopefully forcing the city to re-negotiate the lease with the Cowboys and the land deals.

17 lawsuits were heard on Wednesday. 20 more cases are waiting to be heard.

Charlie Scott had 11 parcels of land taken from him. He said, "I want to see the little man treated fairly."

I don't think that is going to happen until somehow these lawsuits reach a jurisdiction outside of Texas, if that is possible.

No Eminent Domain Abuse in Washington

In the Washington town of Ballard, which is pretty much part of Seattle, a little old lady named Edith Macefield became a local legend when, at age 84, she refused to sell her little old house to developers.

Edith died June 15th at 86 years old. Her house still intact, as you can see in the photo. During the course of fighting the construction that surrounded her, Edith befriended many of the construction workers, including the construction's superintendent, Barry Martin.

Edith's last will and testament put Barry Martin in charge of her estate. During the course of constructing buildings that put concrete walls on 3 sides of her house, Edith charmed those building the walls. Barry Martin would drive Edith to appointments and help her with all sorts of things.

I've long said that the eminent domain abuse that occurs regularly in Texas to the benefit of private business, like the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal in Arlington or the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters in Fort Worth or the mall parking lot scandal in Hurst would not occur in the more, well, progressive states on the west coast. Or the rest of America.

The survival of Edith's house is a prime example of how different things are in Texas compared with the rest of the United States. Edith was offered more than a million bucks for her $120,000 house. Which she refused. There was not even the remotest suggestion or attempt to abuse the concept of eminent domain to steal Edith's house, like what was done dozens of times in Arlington to get the land to build Jerry Jones his stadium.

Edith lived in a place that respected the basic American concept that one should be secure in ones home, safe from predators misusing the law for their own private gain. I still foolishly hold out the hope that the lingering court cases against the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones and Arlington will somehow reach a courtroom outside Texas and result, somehow, in criminal charges being brought against those who committed crimes against citizens of Arlington, with jail time and huge fines being imposed on those who did the dirty deeds. I know it won't happen, but I naively cling to the concept that justice prevails in America, while I now it often doesn't.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Feedback

I got fresh feedback this morning from a Dallas Cowboy/Jerry Jones Stadium victim. I thought I'd share....

I own a small restaurant in Arlington. I can't imagine what the restaurants and other small businesses near the new stadium are going through. It is simple to figure out!! It DOES NOT BENEFIT anyone WITHIN MILES of this stadium because the locals won't go when there are games, it will be too crowded...the visitors on the other hand, are not going to patronize these businesses, all they want to do is go to the game and leave.... We have to pay for this, us taxpayers, and Jerry (Jones) and his gang are so wealthy... I don't get it...What idiots voted for this? There is no benefit to anyone, but maybe some motels and hotels (only at major play off games). The streets will wear out faster, the locals stay away, so tell me....Somebody got something at our expense...Also, if people (fans) were not so crazy, paying so much to see the games and maybe boycotting them....they could reduce those crazy salaries of those players...Also, all the money the players make, is spent mostly out of our state because most of them are not from here...duh....

Suzanne Kucera
Arlington

Dallas Cowboy Construction Scandal

A few months ago I made a video of the then current state of construction of the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium, interspersed with photos of the houses and apartment buildings that were stolen from their owners and then destroyed, in what is believed to be the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

This morning one of the victims of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys and the City of Arlington commented on the video.

Below is that comment. And the video being commented on.

"wow thats wierd to watch. we were relocated due to the new cowboy stadium. we were some of the last to leave. it's very surreal to watch your nieghbor hood where you live be torn down around you. I'm not whining about it, we are now much better off for having moved. However it is still sad that all those memories took place in a small run down nieghborhood that no longer exist."

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Pending Lawsuits

There are still 22 lawsuits against the city of Arlington brought by homeowners who did not appreciate having their homes taken from them for a private business that wanted a football stadium built where their homes were.

I've never understood how the people could be kicked out of their homes and those homes destroyed, before they had had their day in court. That just seems wrong. And somehow sort of criminal to me.

It is as if the city of Arlington and Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys did commit a sort of criminal conspiracy that direly effected citizen's lives in no less a manner than if an arsonist had burned down their house or a terrorist exploded it.

At least with the lawsuits there is some hope that some sort of justice will win out in the end. The city of Arlington's own attorney, Jay Doegey says the lawsuits are about challenging the constitutionality of the city's actions.

Go here to see what was done in Arlington go get a place to play a few games a year.

Go hear to read comments from around the world regarding what people think of what Jerry Jone's and the Dallas Cowboys did to some people in Arlington.