"Boneheads"

A letter writer in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram makes some interesting points. 

What it all really boils down to is, they can't add.  Well, they can, they are just betting on YOU not doing the math.  WHAT would happen if YOU started adding it up?  WHO would the city councils and "news" answer to then?

Ask where YOUR money is going.  Then ask, WHY?

In addition to the letter, here are more examples of questionable math -  having to be pointed out by THE PEOPLE.    Isn't that what a newspaper should do?

From Durango and a letter writer concerning streetcars -

The TRV Boondoggle Drive-In propaganda promoters are saying they anticipate around 300,000 TRVBDIT (Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Drive-In Theater) movie goers a year.

That works out to about 822 paying customers a day.

That sounds believable. Sort of like how the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its propaganda co-horts claimed 7 to 8 million visitors a year to the Fort Worth Cabela's sporting goods store would make Cabela's the top tourist attraction in Texas. With apparently no one doing the math to see how unlikely was a daily average of around 22,000 visitors to a sporting goods store.

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Granger could have said 10 developers; it would sound better. He also said they expect 15,000 to 25,000 residents. Why not say 250,000? That's a number pulled out of the air, too.

Another Monday article said 40 units were sold in the past year within blocks of the Trinity Project. (See: "Rising to the challenge," Monday) How do you get from 75 people to 15,000? Oops; it's "streetcars."

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Z Boaz costs

The Wednesday story by Bill Hanna had some frightening money facts. (See: "Council votes 6-1 to close Z Boaz")

The bonehead move by the Fort Worth City Council will cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

How? Follow the money. The current annual loss for Z Boaz is $250,000 per year. The capital cost to convert Z Boaz to some kind of park is at least $6 million.

The cost to run the park will be $150,000 annually. Amortize all that over 30 years, and here is what they have done to you: The 30-year cost for a park will be $10.5 million. The 30-year cost for Z Boaz as a golf course would be $7.5 million. The increase is $3 million.

Spread that cost increase over the same 30 years and note that your City Council just saddled you with $100,000 per year in extra costs.

Well done, politicians. And they wonder why we voters say, "Throw the bums out!"

Maybe the Fort Worth voters should let their council member hear their voices.

-- Ken DuBoise, North Richland Hills