It's not the biggest news in Irving...yet. But if W decides to plop his presidential library across the street from Texas Stadium (or, by then, the former site of Texas Stadium) it will be the Irving news of the century.
But it looks like the news will have to wait...longer. Originally, the three finalists contending for the library (
University of Dallas in Irving,
Southern Methodist in Dallas, and
Baylor in Waco) expected a decision in March. Things in Washington are running a little behind. And this week First Lady Laura Bush said the wait will continue possibly into 2007.
From yesterday's
Dallas Morning News:
"The first of the year would be my guess," she said in an interview during a
campaign fundraising stop for a Republican congressional candidate in northern
West Virginia. "Or, maybe, the end of the year."
The delay is inconvenient for Irving where several new developments are in early planning stages, all casting a hopeful eye toward the 400-acre tract of prime land in Las Colinas. Obviously, a presidential library on that spot (bordered in part by Highway 114, Loop 12 and Tom Braniff Drive) would have an enormous impact on nearby developments including retail and entertainment venues in the Las Colinas Urban Center and
redevelopment plans for the Texas Stadium site.
But while the First Lady's comments didn't reveal much, the most disconcerting quote was the last in the Morning News story.
In the interview, Bush described the search as a complicated process
involving "a lot of negotiations" and "give-and-take from all the sites that are
interested."
"It just takes a lot longer than you think it might," she said.
"There's a lot of legal parts that are associated with it."
The land in Irving is free of legal encumbrances. The university owns it free and clear and it's ready for bulldozers to start knocking over mesquite trees tomorrow. So, too, the site in Waco is unentangled. Mrs. Bush could be referring to what is surely a substantial process involving deeds, due diligence, etc.; but if legal issues are the primary concern facing the White House, that points to the site in Dallas where SMU officials have been up to their eyeballs in
problems finding, owning and clearing enough room for the project.
Of course, SMU is also considered the front runner because of its political connections (not the least of which is the First Lady's status as a trustee) and its
financial prowess. Still, though, the site in Irving is the largest, most accessible and (non-objective editorial warning) most attractive site for a presidential library of the three. Irving just has to wait to see if the White House considers the land itself as important as the cash and connections. If it works to read between the lines of the First Lady's statements of Wednesday, the selection committee will follow the old political adage - follow the money.
