{"id":340023,"date":"2025-10-29T05:23:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340023\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T05:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:23:16","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-downtown-dallas-state-fair-prices-holiday-mansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340023\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the Editor – Downtown Dallas, State Fair prices, holiday mansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recommit to downtown<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cSame crossroads but a changing map \u2014 Fading downtown Dallas now is grappling with the potential kick to the gut of losing AT&T, Comerica, the Stars and Mavericks all at once,” by Robert Wilonsky, Sunday Opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Downtown Dallas is in crisis, and pretending otherwise is how you lose a city.<\/p>\n

Right now we face the possibility of the Mavericks and Stars walking away from the central core, AT&T eyeing the suburbs and even talk of abandoning and demolishing our own I.M. Pei\u2013designed City Hall after decades of deferred maintenance. <\/p>\n

If our major employers and our major teams and City Hall leave the central business district, that is not just a real estate story. That is Dallas surrendering its identity and its economic engine. Research is clear: Healthy central business districts concentrate higher-paying industries, drive regional competitiveness and signal the strength of the whole metro.<\/p>\n

Opinion<\/p>\n

Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Other cities have refused to surrender. Washington, D.C. turned the once-neglected Navy Yard\/Anacostia waterfront into a thriving mixed-use district around Nationals Park. That area has added billions in investment, millions of square feet of housing, office and retail, and nearly two million annual visitors, with the neighborhood\u2019s residential population up more than 30% since 2010.<\/p>\n

Minneapolis leaned into its Warehouse District\/North Loop, reusing historic buildings, investing in street activation, nightlife, housing and entertainment, and using targeted public support to keep people and dollars downtown rather than watching them drift outward. Baltimore did it a generation ago with the Inner Harbor, proving that coordinated public\u2013private reinvestment can flip a decaying urban waterfront into an economic and civic centerpiece.<\/p>\n

Dallas must do the same \u2014 together. That means corporate leaders, civic leaders with no direct development carve-out and City Hall in the same room, with the same near-term goal: keep our teams, modernize our public assets, activate our streets and recommit to downtown as the heart of Dallas. As downtown goes, so goes Dallas.<\/p>\n

Tom Gresback, Dallas<\/p>\n

How about some fair perks?<\/p>\n

This year, my wife and I joined thousands of others in doing the unthinkable: We skipped the State Fair entirely. Not because we didn\u2019t want to go. Not because we\u2019ve outgrown the thrill of rides, pig races, Big Tex photos and agony of defeat by the bottle ring toss. But because dropping $150 to $175 for a single day of nostalgia felt less like entertainment and more like financial self-sabotage.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the math that made me wince: one day at the fair, or 12 months of Netflix, plus my annual Dallas Morning News subscription. When you\u2019re forced to pit corn dogs against journalism, something\u2019s gone terribly wrong.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the beautiful thing about problems \u2014 they\u2019re just solutions waiting for their moment to shine. Fair officials, I\u2019m throwing you a lifeline wrapped in cotton candy: Reimagine the ticket itself. Transform it from a glorified gate pass into an experience passport. <\/p>\n

What if every full-price admission came loaded with treasures \u2014 one free carnival game (because everyone deserves a shot at that oversize teddy bear), one complimentary ride (Ferris wheel excluded, we\u2019re not asking for miracles), and a 50% discount on one food item.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s smart business disguised as generosity. It\u2019s the difference between \u201cyou may enter\u201d and \u201cwelcome back, friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2026 fair doesn\u2019t have to be another casualty of inflation. With creative solutions that add genuine value, fair officials can transform the narrative from expensive to \u201ctoo good to miss.\u201d <\/p>\n

Give people a reason to believe their money goes further, and watch them return in droves. Because at the end of the day, we want to come back. We want the sticky cotton candy fingers, a Big Tex selfie and a Fletcher\u2019s corny dog. <\/p>\n

We just need you to meet us halfway. Make it fair to attend the fair, and we\u2019ll make it worth your while.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bLawrence Swicegood, Coppell<\/p>\n

My favorites, too<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cThree cheers for three columnists,\u201d by Carol McNatt, Saturday Letters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thank you to this letter writer for expressing my exact thoughts about these three columnists: Robert Wilonsky, Christopher de Vinck and Peter Johnson. They are my favorites as well, and all of these mentioned columns of recent have truly touched me. <\/p>\n

I have been saying repeatedly \u201cWake up America!\u201d Our divisions have almost undone us already, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too late if we can get back to our roots. We are all God\u2019s children and the golden rule can reunite us. Yes, may we see each other as God sees us.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Carol, for putting my thoughts into words of wisdom.<\/p>\n

Kay Martz McKinney, Dallas\/Little Forest Hills<\/p>\n

Decorations pose a risk, as well<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cBright lights, big controversy \u2014 Neighbors take dim view of mansion\u2019s outsize holiday decor,” Friday Metro & Business story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story glosses over the real issue: the absolute chaos and gridlock. I live one block north of the Deloache house and experience the disruption and mayhem firsthand. I think the extravagant decorations necessitate an update to the city\u2019s nuisance code. <\/p>\n

Saturday night (20 days before Halloween), my daughter had difficulty leaving home because of the cars in line to see the decorations. Christmas will be significantly worse. Last Christmas, we drove home along Edgemere Road but had no way to get to the house by car due to the overwhelming number of vehicles and pedestrians clogging our street. After 45 minutes of gridlock, my husband entered our street from Preston Road and drove against traffic, with people shooting the finger and honking until we reached our driveway. For weeks, we were literally trapped in our house. <\/p>\n

People left parked cars, walked through our yards and left trash almost daily. In an emergency, first responders would have extreme difficulty responding. And a child walking to see the decorations could easily get hit by a car.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not opposed to holiday decor, but I\u2019ve contacted the Dallas City Council and my HOA in search of a solution.<\/p>\n

Ann Pask, Dallas\/Preston Hollow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recommit to downtown Re: \u201cSame crossroads but a changing map \u2014 Fading downtown Dallas now is grappling with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":319508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14841,14052,17810,7281,7348,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-340023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-city-hall","11":"tag-downtown-dallas","12":"tag-halloween","13":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","14":"tag-state-fair-of-texas","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115455787241677297","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}