The thing about the Ballpark deal, to me, is that it was no more sweetheart than many deals, including the one made by the Democratic Mayor of Dallas with Hicks' other sports property and Ross Perot, Jr. The implication is that the land/stadium giveaway that ended up enriching Bush was a political exchange - Greene is in trouble with the RTC, Bush wants a Ballpark. A deal is struck. So what did Tom O. Hicks or Ross Perot, Jr. have on Ron Kirk? Even though the land giveaway was a smaller acerage, it was downtown Dallas land rather than Arlington cow pasture. But it was still a massive giveaway of public money. And why can't I find a date on when Mayor Greene settled his case? It's never mentioned in these articles that I can find.
I would disagree that his capitulation was abject. It was nearly two years, along with the same threats we always hear (We're moving the team to Tampa. We're going to go to Dallas, etc) that we hear every time a team wants a new stadium. And heck, $5 million in rent is high compared to some facilities. It is a giveaway, no doubt about it, but it's not an unusual deal for a sports facility. You could say the same thing about the Save Our Rockets campaign and the 2nd arena referendum, though it was a tourist tax rather than a sales tax hike (though even with the Ballpark tax, which has now ended, by the way, the sales tax rate in Arlington was lower than in cities in Dallas County). Damn that Democratically-Controlled Texas Legislature and Democratic Governor. Nothing but Bush cronies. And, technically, the legislation did no such thing as it would be unconstitutional (and the Mathes family wouldn't have won a judgment against the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority). The condemned land was supposed to be used for public parking lots for the still-publically-owned Ballpark rather than for the private development thereof. Interestingly, the land, as far as I know, is currently used for public parking (and, as is usually the case in these giveaways, the development has failed to materialize).
