After voting unanimously to put a new Texas Rangers stadium funding measure on the November ballot in May and again last week, the Arlington city council did so a third time yesterday, which means the referendum will really truly happen now.
The stadium campaign promises to be more of a battle than it sounded at first — I haven’t seen any polls yet, but there’s an opposition group organized called Save Our Stadium (no website, only a Facebook page, because Zuckerberg owns our public commons) that recently confronted Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams over his support for the $500-million-plus public subsidy plan and his role in banning opposition comments from a Facebook page about the stadium. They then posted a video about it (shot in portrait mode, because the future will also be shot in portrait mode) that ends with the mayor getting steamed at a question about a stadium opponent being threatened with arrest, at which point he tries to grab the phone of one of his questioners, which isn’t something you see every day from a mayor:
I’ve also been sent video (no permission yet to post it, sorry) alleging to show a stadium supporter trying to smash the car window of some people handing out anti-subsidy flyers. With emotions running this high with three months to go, I’m honestly a little anxious about where this will go by November, this being Texas and all.
Mayor could’ve saved himself a lot time by saying “Listen, this is Texas. The stadium’s gunna pass. No need for all this wishy washy.”
The mayor needs to play the sympathy card for the Rangers, what with Prince Fielder, unable to ever play again, but still owed about a $100 million by the Rangers. We can’t expect Rangers’ ownership to be responsible for their stupid long-term contracts, can we? The taxpayers should be euphoric to help out!
The Mayor of Arlington seem like a giant asshole.
The opposition to this billion dollar boondoggle in Arlington DOES have a webpage! http://www.citizensforabetterarlington.com Be sure to check out our “projects” page on our site. We’re only a few years young with our PAC, but we’ve accomplished quite a lot!
Home page Facebook link is broken. (“Permissions expired.”)
Welfare for billionaires, I vote NO.
Judging by these letters to the Editor, these fans have never heard of cost overruns, stadium boondoggles or Field of Schemes. However, they do believe in intangible benefits of taxpayer funded stadiums, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.
http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article96780577.html