The Texas budget includes $3 million to remove a parking lot at Fair Park south of Cotton Bowl Stadium. City and state officials celebrated the funding at an event on the parking lot Friday.
"Today marks a special moment not just in the progress of Fair Park but in the future of southern Dallas," says State Senator Royce West.
West grew up in the area and says the southern part of Dallas has been "neglected."
"This community park will allow citizens to come together right here on these grounds to make sure families have an opportunity to walk, kids have an opportunity to play," he says. "This is going to be a gathering place for meetings or picnics right here on these grounds, this asphalt we're standing on today."
State Representative Venton Jones says he would walk across the lot to get to events at Fair Park and Dos Equis Pavilion.
"Today is more than just a press conference. It is a reckoning," he says. "It is a long awaited turning point, a promise finally on the verge of being fulfilled. More than 50 years ago, our community was told this park, this sacred space, would be restored. It would be honored. It would serve once again serve as a place of joy, for connections, for memory making, for healing."
The project would remove the parking lot to replace it with green space and 400 new trees. Fair Park First will receive $3 million from the state budget, but the organization still needs to raise an additional $6 million.
"This is not a moment for delay or division. It's a time for unity and for a shared purpose," says Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua. "Special interests and personal agendas must not stand in the way of progress our community has earned which is why the City of Dallas made a necessary change here in recent weeks."
Earlier this month, Dallas terminated its contract with Fair Park First, which will take effect in three months. The city says it hopes the change can lead to a more direct relationship between the park's management and city. The city and Fair Park First say the end of the contract will not affect plans to replace the parking lot.
The city says Fair Park has 18,000 parking spaces, and other areas can make up the difference during large events. The city hopes to raise the rest of the money and start construction after the World Cup in 2026 and finish before the State Fair of Texas in 2027.