Irving woman wants court-ordered power to question city about proposed casino dealings, old Texas Stadium site
Ada Pimentel did not file a public records request to learn more about a proposed destination casino resort in Irving. However, when a law firm drafted two letters of exception to send to Attorney General Ken Paxton, she could get copies.
The Irving homeowner wanted to know more about what looked like breadcrumbs of uncertainty connecting the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Sand Corporation.
Cliff Riley, Pimentel's attorney, told CBS News Texas about the letters.
"The Irving Chamber of Commerce is effectively an agent for the city of Irving to negotiate on behalf of the City of Irving," Riley said. "They are given – they are allowed to represent and speak on behalf of the city. They're given special access to information that is not publicly available, and they indeed share a privity of interest with the City of Irving."
Riley references a portion of the letter where the two entities become synonymous to prevent the release of information surrounding the ongoing negotiations, as written by an attorney for the Chamber:
"This letter is submitted on behalf of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce a/k/a the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce and Village Walk RE 2 LLC(collectively, the "Chamber").
"I cannot imagine a situation in which parties that are across the bargaining table from one another would have an attorney, one attorney representing both of them," Riley said. "When the public interest is at stake, and the Chamber is tasked with representing the city of Irving and safeguarding the citizens' interest."
The Sands Corp. pulled the casino portion of its proposed destination resort in Irving. The company owns lands located at State Highway 114, Loop 12 and Spur 482.
However, the wording in the public record requests mentions the storied, historic and valuable grounds owned by Irving.
"These letters not only show that there's a potentially very serious conflict of interest occurring between the Chamber of Commerce and Sands, but also that there could be a potential sale of the Texas Stadium site to Sands without any disclosure to the public and potentially without any competitive bidding process for what could be an extremely, tremendously valuable parcel of land," Riley said.
CBS News Texas contacted Irving's mayor, the city's Chamber and the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
In a statement, Mayor Rick Stopfer said old Texas Stadium is not up for sale:
"There have been no negotiations and there are no current negotiations between the City and Las Vegas Sands Corporation for the sale of the former Stadium site. The City of Irving is not selling nor has it authorized anyone to sell the former Stadium site. Any sale of the former Stadium site would require compliance with applicable state law and require the approval of the Irving City Council."
Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Beth Bowman did not mince words about the filing and the Chamber's work:
"Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this baseless and factually erroneous Petition. The Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce has consistently proven itself as a successful and reliable economic development conduit and partner with our contractual partners at the City of Irving. The Chamber proudly represents the City in actively recruiting economic development opportunities that reflect the goals and initiatives outlined in the City's 2025-2030 Economic Development Strategic Plan. The goals in the City's Plan reflect the significant fact that more than two-thirds of the City of Irving tax base comes from businesses to the benefit of all Irving residents. The City's Plan and its partnership with the Chamber are designed to bring high-quality jobs and impactful capital investments to our community to lessen the impact on residential taxpayers. One of the primary strategic initiatives identified in the City's Plan is attracting a global destination to the PUD 6 area to make a major, transformational impact in terms of investment, jobs and the City's tax base. There is nothing unusual or surprising about this important priority. The Irving-Colinas Chamber of Commerce works diligently to serve the best interests of its member-investors, economic development partner the City of Irving, as well as the entire Irving community, by facilitating exploratory conversations between various interested parties and identifying mutually beneficial solutions. We can unequivocally state there have not been any nor are there any current negotiations underway for the sale of the former stadium site. Any claim to the contrary is erroneous."
The Las Vegas Sands Corporation said they don't plan to negotiate:
"Sands is not negotiating, nor does the company have any plans to begin negotiations related to the Texas Stadium site. The company is focused on the real estate it already has ownership of in Irving."
Pimentel's filing in a Dallas County court happened Wednesday afternoon.
