Essence Festival in Dallas?
I was listening to the Willis Johnson Show on KKDA Soul 73 last week and he posed an interesting question: Why didn’t the Essence Festival choose Dallas instead of Houston. I suppose this is a fair question. So I then asked myself; Could Dallas successfully host the Essence Festival? It took me two seconds to answer, of course not.
Look, to say I don’t care for Houston is putting it mildly. I’ve gone through varying degrees of a Hate/Hate relationship with H-Town, and my boys and I constantly debate the viability of each city. Nevertheless, I must give credit to Houston for making a mild rebound from stinky city by the Gulf, to being rated the #1 city in the U.S. for African-Americans by Black Enterprise Magazine.
Back to the question at hand, why would Essence choose Houston over Dallas? The overwhelming reason is Reliant Park/Reliant Stadium. Reliant Stadium is the only facility this side of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta that could serve as a concert venue with the same atmosphere as the New Orleans Superdome. So when Dallas let Jerry Jones pack up his ball and take his new football stadium to Arlington, it will cost the City of Dallas the chance at hosting major events like the essence.
Most of the city’s residents blame Mayor Laura Miller or the County Commissioners for poorly planned and executed negotiations with Mr. Jones. And while the negotiations may have been poorly planned and executed, that is not the reason why they failed. Senator Royce West and Commissioner John Wiley Price pitched serious bids at the Cowboys on behalf of Fair Park. I can’t say that the Cowboys entered the talks with any true intentions of moving to Fair Park, giving more details about the architecture of building than its financing.
The true reason the Cowboys chose Arlington over Fair Park: PUBLIC TRANSIT.
Yes I know that sounds odd, but it’s true. The reason Dallas, and the rest of the area’s munici
