What do you say to $5 million to rename the Esplanade Fountain at Fair Park?

Even as talk heats up that Jerry Jones is about to cash in to the tune of $15-20 million annually in naming rights for the Arlington Cowboys' new stadium, there's more naming rights talk a little closer to home: Fair Park's Esplanade Fountain.

That's where city officials, quietly according to a DMN story Sunday, are casting about for around $5 million to help defray an expected $11.7 million renovation/restoration of the 700-foot reflecting pool and accompanying fountains. Typically, talk from the city about seeking corporate money for city assets brings out angry citizens who don't want to see Pizza Hut or Papa John's or AT&T (if they have any money left for this type of thing after Jerry gets his share) slap their name on city parks.

But the sad truth of what's happening at Fair Park is that we, as a city, don't seem to have the collective will or political backbone to spend enough time or money fashioning a realistic plan to resurrect this dying asset, which seems viable only during the State Fair's run every October. So if we aren't going to commit the money to protect the facility ourselves, why not get it from some big company looking for a naming opportunity?

Comments

[AC]

I have lived in Dallas all of my 53 years. Fair Park has always been one of the great but unappreciated features of this city. There have been numerous examples where citizens, patrons and leaders of Dallas have either ignored FP, or even more heinous, treated it with contempt. While I believe a good portion of this neglect is due to the "part of town" its in, I chalk much up to an ongoing and consistent lack of true sophistication, foresight and aesthetic in this city. I have given up with trying to convince people of what we have in FP, in many other cities I believe this would be accepted as self-evident and treated as a rare jewel. I have also tired of numerous bond elections over the years where promises are made and all I see is maybe some paint and a few brick walkways. FP continues to suffer from apathetic leadership in both the city and with the FP board. At this point I can only hope for a miracle that our populace will wake up before it is too late. If there is some success in selling this renovation idea maybe interest will rise, just too bad that the only salvation maybe the banal necessity of naming rights.