Why Care About Fair Park: Because Dallas North of the Trinity Foots Most of the Bills
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NOTE NEW VENUE: KING OF GLORY LUTHERAN CHURCH, 6411 LBJ FREEWAY, NORTH SIDE ACCESS ROAD, WEST OF HILLCREST, EAST OF PRESTON ROAD
My husband often asks me about news from City Hall, how tax dollars are spent, things like that, because I am supposed to be the one “in the know”. He sticks to the grindstone of his daily (and nightly) professional life. He doesn’t have time to watch or read much more than headlines. So when he grilled me about the Fair Park plan that Mayor Rawlings has endorsed, I realized I didn’t have many answers for him.
Question: How much will this Park plan cost the city?
Answer: $21 million plus another $75 million in bond funds plus another $50m in bonds in 2020/2022
Question: What do we get for that?
Answer: That’s the management fee. They are going to re-vamp the existing buildings.
Question: Does the city make any money off the State Fair?
Answer: Doubtful. The State Fair contract (which lasts until 2024) would be assigned to the Foundation. Any rental revenues would go to the Foundation.
Question: Can we fire the management of this new entity if they screw up?
Answer: There is a “Remediation Plan” if the Foundation doesn’t meet their TBD performance measurements. BUT the plan doesn’t say firing, it says they’ll implement a plan to fix. Hiring and firing resides with the Foundation. They kinda have a lot of power.
Question: Are they going to try to use Fair Park year round?
Answer: They say they’re looking to create a year-round venue. The Fair stays where it is.
Question: Are we getting a park?
Answer: No guarantee. They definitely have to PLAN for a park, but if they don’t feel they have enough money, they don’t have to build it.
Question: Then what are they using the money for?
Answer: “Expanding Fair Park staff and operations and maintenance; funding and creating new departments, including communication and donor relations; and funding new projects.”
“The Foundation hereby commits to fully and completely support Fair Park as a public park, maintaining and managing the events, historic grounds and facilities, and grounds of Fair Park as a vibrant, year-round location for events, daily activities, cultural enrichment, and place for quiet enjoyment.
(See why I am so glad we are having a Panel Discussion tomorrow evening?)
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These are all good questions. And whatever answers you get will lead to more, and more detailed, follow-up questions. Is there time to answer all these questions so that a proper analysis of the contract (and the relationship) can be made? Not on the Mayor’s timetable. Not on Mr. Humann’s timetable. The answer to the question of “Why the rush?” appears to be that if you give citizens time to look closely, they will see things that the proponents do not want them to see.
I believe that the City has not been a good steward of this valuable asset of ours. I am convinced that Fair Park will never rise above its present state if the City continues to manage it. But I do not agree that turning over the keys to Fair Park to this Foundation on the terms that this Foundation has dictated is the solution. In fact, it would be irresponsible for the City to do this at this time. The City has a fiduciary responsibility to manage its assets for the benefit of the citizens of this city, and to agree to the contract conditions that are presently on the table would be a gross breach of those obligations.
Rather than agree to what has been offered, I think that the City needs to determine what it wants and needs with regard to Fair Park, with the help of experts in the field of park management and administration, but without the help of people who would stand to gain by the process of privatization. Then it should either invite interested parties to bid for the city”s proposal, or negotiate with interested parties to conclude a fair, arm’s-length agreement. When they were in business, neither Mr. Rawlings nor Mr. Humann would have conducted their business in the manner that they are proposing the City of Dallas conduct its business. Why subject us to a lesser standard of conduct now?
Sounds like a jobs program. Why don’t we just call it what it is and judge it on that basis.