Duncanville makes right decision on StarCenter

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

CARROLLTON — That headline didn’t say Duncanville makes the popular decision, or the decision that makes things easy for them. The Dr Pepper StarCenter was a key component of efforts to spur economic development in the city. Duncanville’s leadership isn’t happy to see things turn out this way.

The StarCenter was at one time the crown jewel of the city’s Main Street Vision. Ironically, it turned to cubic zirconia while businesses such as Costco, Pappadeaux, and L.A. Fitness sprung up around it and prospered. A large part of that was some catastrophic mismanagement by the Dallas Stars organization.

A couple of weeks ago while trying to resolve these issues, Duncanville City Manager Kent Cagle went to the StarCenter on a Monday afternoon around 1 p.m. To his surprise, he found it closed. So he called Stars management. They assured him the building was open. Since he was standing in the parking lot, he informed them that he was quite certain it was closed.

He’s got a million of these stories, folks. The families who have been supporting the facility believe Stars management when they say things were going to change. Duncanville officials have heard this song before and they can be forgiven for not sticking around for the chorus.

Through their own actions (or inactions, to be blunt) the Stars organization brought this upon themselves. For the partnership to work, the Stars would have to do everything their contract with the city specifies and then some. The franchise wanted to re-start that commitment with Duncanville cutting them a $20,000 a month break on the rent they’re supposed to pay.

I speak from experience when I say city leaders pushed this facility at every chance they got. They went above and beyond the call of duty because they didn’t want to inherit an ice rink. It’s really not the city’s job to run the StarCenter, any more than you would expect Duncanville to step in and run Tom Thumb if things weren’t going well there.

Look, I understand the Stars are in a financial pinch. Who isn’t these days? I even understand why. But it’s not anyone in South Dallas County’s fault that Tom Hicks bought more sports franchises than he could afford. The Stars aren’t even the only team in the National Hockey League having these issues, as evidenced by the Phoenix Coyotes’ bankruptcy.

I won’t go any further into the numerous blunders of the NHL since their 2004-05 lockout season, because that’s an entirely different column. But suffice it to say that the league’s aggressive plans for United States expansion are going south -- and not in the way the NHL intended.

Even if you take the trust issues with the Stars off the table, it’s hard to call a facility so intimately tied to the success of the NHL a safe bet right now. The basketball facility Duncanville is planning is a better prospect for the area.

Could things have played out differently? Sure they could have. But hindsight is always 20/20. I hate the StarCenter saga ended as it did, but now I’m ready to learn more about Bob Knight Field House.