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A packed house listens to plans for repairing Dallas City Hall during a May 20, 2026, City Council meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Steve Nurenberg\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a painful and embarrassing week for this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s how Sana Syed, president of the Farmers Market Stakeholders Association and a downtown resident, described the back-to-back announcements this week that the Dallas Mavericks and Stars plan to leave the city\u2019s core<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fromer Dallas City Council candidate Sana Syed, who is president of the Farmers Market Stakeholders Association.<\/p>\n Lynda M. Gonz\u00e1lez\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Speaking at the Dallas City Council\u2019s public comment portion of its meeting Wednesday, Syed was one of several residents who unloaded on city leaders, blaming them for driving the teams out.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “Downtowns rarely die from a single blow,” Syed said, listing AT&T, Neiman Marcus and KDFW-TV (Fox 4) as among the major employers and institutions abandoning downtown.<\/p>\n “They fade when vision is replaced by complacency, when short-term politics outweigh long-term stewardship and when each loss is treated as an isolated event rather than a warning,\u201d said Syed, a former council candidate.<\/p>\n Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, whose district includes downtown Dallas, said the area has seen significant growth under the current City Council and is now home to roughly 15,000 full-time residents.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, at a Commissioners Court meeting, supports the “Save Yes to Downtown” campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Staff Photographer<\/p>\n “Dallas has done well,” said Price, who supports the newly created “Say Yes to Downtown” campaign. “This council has done well in terms of making sure that growth of downtown Dallas is on the plan.”<\/p>\n The mixed reviews came after the Mavericks announced Monday they had executed option agreements to purchase most of the former Valley View Mall site<\/a> in North Dallas for a new arena and entertainment district.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next day, the Stars revealed they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to build a new arena at The Shops at Willow Bend<\/a> in Plano.\u00a0<\/p>\n The announcements mean Victory Park could lose both of its major professional sports franchises when their American Airlines Center leases expire in 2031.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Carol Bell-Walton said the hockey team\u2019s departure “falls squarely at the feet of the City Council” and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys lost us the Dallas Stars and that\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tolbert and Mayor Eric Johnson, who attended the council meeting, did not respond to the criticism during the public comment portion, which is customary.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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