WHY all the cops?

WHY would the Mayor need 5 policemen and cars (one not pictured) to meet with residents in a park?

A couple of weeks ago Mallard Cove residents stood up to city council again.   That was on Tuesday.  On Wednesday the paper wrote an article about it and on Thursday they wrote an editorial.  By Friday some residents in the area were receiving robo calls about the Mayor visiting their neighborhood (for the first time, said many) on Saturday.  Apparently she doesn't travel alone.  Wonder what that costs?

Even with the short notice and bad weather, there was a good turnout.  Some residents took video of the meeting on their Ipad's and cell phones.  Many people asked very pertinent questions, including a boy scout, concerned with compressor stations going in his neighborhood.  There were questions about flooding and the poor conditions of the roads in the area. Mayor Price was asked about an open gate on a well site, she didn't really see the issue with the gate being open. 

If that's the case, why do they fence them in? 

Read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial -

The people who live in Fort Worth's Mallard Cove subdivision, on Randol Mill Road just east of East Loop 820, have good reason to be mad at their City Council and the employees on its legal and zoning staff.

Those neighbors have played by the rules, tightly organized themselves, brought in allies from the nearby River Trails and River Crest subdivisions and successfully fought off a natural gas industry plan to locate a huge 15-unit compressor station adjacent to their homes.

Or at least they successfully fought it 15 months ago. But this phoenix of a project keeps coming back to haunt the neighborhoods, and they find themselves still pouring time and energy into fighting it.
They won again a month ago, when the Zoning Commission turned down another industry request to build the compressors. As industry representatives saw momentum shifting toward the neighbors, they pleaded with the commission to give them more time to come up with alternatives.

On Tuesday night, after the neighbors organized yet another large turnout for a City Council hearing on yet another industry appeal, the council members decided to prolong the agony. They sent the appeal back to the Zoning Commission for more work.

The commission is supposed to hear the case again in April, and it's scheduled to come back to the council May 7.

That has to be a big disappointment for the people in Mallard Cove, River Trails and River Crest. It takes a lot of effort to fight City Hall, and most people don't want to spend years doing it.

Councilman Danny Scarth, whose east/northeast-side District 4 includes these neighborhoods, said the council had received worrisome information during a closed meeting about possible legal ramifications of limiting placement of compressors.

Scarth blamed delays partly on the Texas Open Meetings Act, which limits council action to public meetings with agendas posted at least three days earlier.

That scapegoat won't work. State law does not restrict the city staff in its preparation of proper ordinances to lay before the council.

City Hall owes everyone in Fort Worth a well-crafted zoning ordinance. But it also owes the residents of these neighborhoods an answer that will allow them to get on with their lives.