ALL’S NOT FAIR AT THE PARK

Dallas made history, raked in millions of dollars, and attracted a steady stream of tourists in 1936, when the city hosted the Texas Centennial with a world-class fair.

Unfortunately, Dallas is about to muff its chance to cash in on a similar wingding in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Texas’ founding as a republic. And if the State Fair of Texas and the Dallas City Council don’t get their acts together soon, Dallas may just miss out on the yearlong sesquicentennial celebration-and the big bucks that go with it-in 1986.

A recent consultant’s study on the park reported -not surprisingly -that the 50-year-old facility is delapi-dated and deteriorating fast. The park attracts far below the number of people who throng to similar parks in other cities. To be saved, the consultants said, the park needs an immediate infusion of about $51 million worth of improvements.

Before endorsing such massive spending, the city wants to take control of the park’s management. But the State Fair of Texas has a contract for the management of the park until 1991, which the State Fair administration understandably is reluctant to give up. State Fair officials and the city council are stalemated, and the improvements are on hold.

While Dallas is sitting on its heels about planning a sesquicentennial exhibition, other cities are grabbing their shares of the celebration’s pie, which means Dallas may have nothing to celebrate in 1986. All this seems rather ironic since the chairman of the state’s Sesquicentennial Commission, State Rep. Chris Semos, is from Dallas.