Politics
Plano Residents Keep Up Arena Fight After Prop A Defeat, as City Hall Stays Silent
Days after voters rejected a venue tax for a new Dallas Stars arena, Plano residents packed Monday's council meeting with 'Puck No' signs, while the city manager said the financing plan must be reassessed. Dallas leaders are now courting the team to stay downtown.
PLANO, Texas â Days after Plano voters decisively rejected a venue tax that would have helped pay for a new Dallas Stars arena, residents returned to City Hall on Monday night to make clear the election result was no accident.
Proposition A failed on November 3, with roughly 55% of voters casting ballots against the measure. Had it passed, the city would have used venue taxes on car rentals, hotels, parking, admissions and other items to help fund an arena at the current Shops at Willow Bend Mall site.
The Plano City Council did not address the proposition's defeat during Monday's meeting, the first since election day. Residents did.
Several attendees held up signs reading "Puck No," and speakers who had opposed the project before the vote said they were frustrated that their message still needed repeating.
"They don't want to subsidize a new hockey arena for the Stars' billionaire owner," said Kyle McGeehan, a resident opposed to the arena. "One would think their voices would finally be acknowledged, but yet here they are with visual aids to boot just to make sure you hear them yet again."
A chant of "puck no" broke out at the end of the meeting, according to reporting from the council chamber.
Not everyone who spoke was against the project. Warren Casteel urged the city to keep pursuing the arena and to search widely for funding.
"This is the best thing we can do there. Find the funding, look everywhere you can. This is a good thing for Plano. It's good for you, good for the city of Plano. We need this," Casteel said.
The vote leaves the project's financing in uncertain territory. Plano has committed $700 million toward the new arena, but City Manager Mark Israelson said in a statement that the city's financing approach would "need to be reassessed before City Council considers any actions."
Meanwhile, Dallas leaders are making a renewed push to keep the team in Downtown Dallas now that the Plano tax measure has failed. Stars leadership say they remain focused on building the new arena in Plano, with an expected completion date of 2031.
The outcome in Plano reflects a broader skepticism among voters about using public money to support professional sports facilities, particularly when the beneficiary is a billionaire team owner. For a fast-growing suburb that has spent years trying to establish its own identity in the region, the fight also raises questions about what kind of development residents want at the Willow Bend site and who should pay for it.
Monday's meeting offered no clear signal that the council plans to revive the venue tax or bring a revised package forward. Until it does, the arena's future â and the $700 million the city has pledged â remains an open question.