C.A.V.E. men accomplishments have long lasting affects on city

We were a Don Woodard fan before we saw this, we are even more so now. Due to his determination and common sense, Fort Worth has saved millions over the years, too bad the City has stopped listening. Read below some of his accomplishments that have benefited the citizens/taxpayers. As for the letter, well no one says it better...

Fort Worth Business Press
June 4, 2007

C.A.V.E. Man-in-Chief

In his May 21 letter, Eric Fox asked if the opponents of the Trinity Uptown believe the recent City Council election was a referendum. Judging with the alacrity with which people are signing the Steve Hollern petition mandating a vote on capping the project at the promised figure, the people are answering: No!

Fox calls opponents of the Trinity Uptown C.A.V.E. men (Citizens Against Virtually Everything). Since I am undoubtedly the chief letter writer against the boondoggle, I suppose he considers me, who he has never met, C.A.V.E. Man-in-Chief.

It ill behooves one new to the scene to label with cute ridicule those who question the wisdom of this Trinity Project, those who years ago caught the torch from failing hands and have held it high so that Fort Worth today ranks as the 19th most glittering jewel in the diadem of America.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, the world will little note nor long remember what we do here, so for those who don't recall or never even knew, let the record show that I have been for, and I have been against.

Having in the late 1950s thought building a downtown overhead was a mistake, I, at the request of Bob Bass appeared before the City Council in the 1980s and argued for the demolition of the monstrosity.

In the 1960s I campaigned for the creation of the downtown convention center. In 2003 my wife and I circulated the Steve Hollern petition that prevented the building of a city-owned convention center hotel. Today private money is building the hotel.

In the 1960s I campaigned for the creation of a no-frills Tarrant County Junior College to benefit students unable to attend a distant, expensive four-year university. Today I oppose squandering $300 million on a megalomaniacal, Trinity-straddling Taj mahal campus.

Decades ago I campaigned for the creation of Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers reservoirs when the Tarrant Water District was focused on ensuring a plentiful water supply rather than misusing eminent domain and spending hundreds of millions to build Fantasy Island on the Trinity.

In 1981 I was appointed by Mayor Woodie Woods to chair a city street bond campaign. People all over town now rush to and fro over streets built from that bond money.

In 1990 I opposed spending $20 million of the taxpayers' money on converting Will Rogers Auditiorium to a music hall. Today Bass Hall stands as a tribute to private funding.

And what shall I more say? For time and space would fail me to tell of all the campaigns, drives, letters and speeches over half a century. Call me a C.A.V.E. man if you will, Mr. Fox, but let it be an acronym for Citizens Against Vast Expenditures.

Don Woodard