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We had been sitting back watching the TRVA Panther Island drama, but if the circus is going to come to town, clowns and all, we decided to take a trip down memory lane.

Here are a few gems for you:

“Whether it’s an abatement, TIF, public/private partnership, getting favorable changes in the law to reduce private risk – it never stops,” Picht said. “TRV is in a class by itself for getting so much public money from so many sources while having no transparency, no hope of keeping within budget, no competent management, and no hope of producing the product that was advertised in the original concept plan.” he said.

Water district officials say the criticism is unwarranted. The idea behind the TRV always has been to reintegrate the Trinity River back into the city and make it a centerpiece of economic development, they say.

Funny, we thought the plan was always "flood control".  Oops. 

And there's this from way back in 2011, when the Boondoggle also know as: Panther Island, Trinity River Vision & Trinity Uptown, went by Central City.

With the current congressional moratorium on earmarks, Trinity River Vision Authority officials have been told not to expect any federal funding in the current fiscal year for the flood control and economic development project.

I'm curious when we reach the tipping point where we don't have to be worried," said Maenius, who added that he has been unable to receive a clear-cut answer. U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who has secured earmarks for the project since its inception, cannot seek funding for the project since Congress has instituted a moratorium on earmarks. Her son is J.D. Granger.

Since the Senate joined the earmark moratorium, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison also can no longer seek an earmark for Central City, the Army Corps of Engineers portion of the project.

The Fort Worth project is not in President Barack Obama's budget -- nor was it in President George W. Bush's budgets -- but has been funded through earmarks championed by Rep. Granger.
From Show us the money.

And then there's this, straight from the horse's mouth...or the Manager's nephew...

Our favorite might be the the blurb below, as you know, the Trinity River Vision was touted as a "flood control" project, to secure federal funds. WHERE do you see the words flood control in this statement?

(Durango) In the Trinity River Vision's website we get to read what I think must be the Trinity River Vision Mission Statement:

The Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA) is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. It is underway now - connecting every neighborhood in the city to the Trinity River corridor with new recreational amenities, improved infrastructure, environmental enhancements and event programming. The TRV will create Trinity Uptown, a vibrant urban waterfront neighborhood, expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation and enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails.

Do you see the words, flood control anywhere in that statement?

We could do this all night. But you get the point.  SSDD.  The only difference is, the "news" showed up today.  But they brought Bud Kennedy with them so, you know...

Welcome back, Fort Worth Weekly

Nice work on the run down. Now explain a 50 year TIF...

Buddy, Can You Spare A Billion?

Are YOU downstream?

The maps should be online. There is no legal reason for them not to be. There are powerful public safety reasons why they should be. The maps are not online because of resistance from the real estate development industry, abetted by local officials and USACE, in direct violation of the public interest and public safety.

Feds Know Who Will Get Flooded Here, But Try Getting Them to Tell You

Vote NO

How many voters actually read a proposed proposition from start to finish?

I think most voters probably take for granted that the blip we read on our ballots accurately reflects the true use for the money.

Well...so much for that!  I think whoever writes those blips are banking (pun intended) on our trust in their leadership and our ultimate ignorance.  These people should be prosecuted for misrepresenting the voters.

Case(s) in point.

The ballot in the picture was recently mailed out in anticipation of the vote on May 5th.  The proposition is from the Tarrant Regional Water District and claims to be for flood control and drainage facilities.  Please refer to the link below which documents that the Tarrant Regional Water District needs the money to fund the Panther Island project north of downtown....AKA Trinity River Vision (TRV), the project is a proposed 800 acres of economic development in downtown Fort Worth. Why doesn't the ballot blip reflect this?  

Fort Worth Voters Beware of Proposition Propaganda

Panther Island = Beached Whale

Letter to the Editor: Panther Island or Beached Boondoggle?

Feb 23, 2018
The business of the Water Board is two-fold: Flood control and water supply. Not economic development. Yet they are asking the voters to approve a $250 million bond to salvage Panther Island, heretofore known as Trinity Uptown. When I started writing letters to the editor 15 years ago about this uprooting, heartless eminent domain economic development boondoggle, we were promised that Fort Worth's total obligation would be $26 million – no more.

Consider this: In 1990, the city asked voters to OK a $20 million bond to replace Will Rogers Auditorium with a new modern state-of-the-art Music Hall. The voters said No! Loud and clear! Now we are asked bald-faced by the Water Board for more than 10 times that amount to salvage the mother of all shameless, nepotistic boondoggles, Panther Island.

Panther Island! Seemingly a more appropriate name would be The Beached Whale.

Don Woodard
Fort Worth

Sucker$$$$

Panther Island Straight Talk Per Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Request

Complete the project by 2028? The Star-Telegram drops that embarrassing bit without editorializing regarding the absurdity of what was originally touted as being a vitally needed flood control and economic development project, of such import that it warranted the abuse of eminent domain to steal property, but is so totally not vital that the project is now projected to possibly be completed almost three decades after it was foisted on the Fort Worth public, without the public having the opportunity to vote for the project.

Til now.

After years of burning through bucks wasted on things like failed wakeparks, exorbitant salaries, junkets, ridiculous signage and tons of expensive mailed propaganda, the TRWD is asking voters to approve a quarter billion bond bucks so that new waterfront property might be created by 2028.

Fort Worth Underwater Again

With Mary Kelleher keeping a watchful worried eye on Fort Worth: Part 2. DR Horton's Dirty Drainage Deed---

On December 19, 2017, I took this picture and sent it to the City of Fort Worth's Storm Water Management Division.....if you look at your water bill, we pay some pretty hefty fees for storm water drainage fees.

This is a photo of one of DR Horton's "retaining" walls located on the same property where DR Horton violated their Urban Forestry permit and destroyed over 100 mature, protected trees.  The "retaining" walls are supposedly designed to promote effective drainage of storm water.  I think the engineers may have underestimated the power of water. 

Despite the recently cleaned out drainage ditches on Randol Mill Road, the storm water drainage overflowed DR Horton's "detention" pond and covered Randol Mill Road which made it impossible for motorists to tell where the road ended and the drainage ditches began. Very dangerous and a huge liability for the City of Fort Worth. 

Dumb and Dumber

We’ll let you decide WHO is WHO.

From the People Who Brought Us Dallas' Fake Rapids, Collapsing Concrete Trails

At some point after Dallas recovers from the current crisis of life-threatening 40-degree temperatures and snow dustings, work should begin on removing the fake kayak rapids that the city built in the Trinity River near downtown in 2011 at a cost of $4 million. And our struggle to figure out exactly where we are on the planet shall continue.

Oh, sorry, no, I didn’t mean to say the removal will cost $4 million. That was the cost of building the fake kayak rapids in the first place in the middle of the Trinity River near downtown in 2011. This year’s removal, which will be only partial, will cost a mere $2 million.

Now you see it, Now you don't

Mary Kelleher has something to tell you about---

Fort Worth: DR Horton's dirty tree deed.

DR Horton is the greedy developer in this case.  Ironically,  DR Horton named this development Trinity Oaks, perhaps as a memorial to the over 100 trees DR Horton bulldozed down....in violation of their Urban Forestry permit.   

DR Horton destroyed more trees than they were permitted and got busted when a concerned citizen called Urban Forestry and complained (and no, it wasn't me).  And in the typical Fort Worth Way fashion, the developer appeared before the Urban Design Commission in November 2017, after-the-fact, asking for a waiver of the requirement to preserve 25% of the existing canopy of trees they already destroyed.   

WHO in their right mind?

WHO would try and cheat during an election  when many cases of election fraud are being investigated in your county?  We can’t wait for a TRWD election.

CHALLENGER ACCUSES INCUMBENT OF FAKING SIGNATURES TO GET ON BALLOT

Water Monopoly

About the TRWD Water Monopoly Mr. Durango had a few words---

Fort Worth's Perplexing High Water Bills & Possible Bypass Ditch Bond Vote

Regarding the TRWD's defense of its water billing problems there is this paragraph in the Star-Telegram article...

“We want to be fair about this,” said Fran Peterson, the Water Department’s customer relations manager. “You always want your customers to feel that we’re not a monopoly. We want to have a good, respectful relationship. This is a way to show we’re there for them. If there’s a problem, we need to identify the problem.”

The TRWD wants its customers to feel they are not a monopoly? But, the TRWD is a monopoly. And the TRWD acts like a monopoly with no competition. The TRWD imposes upon its customers things like the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, without its customers allowed to vote on whether they want to support this pseudo public works project touted as a much needed economic development flood control scheme, where there has been no flood for well over half a century, due to levees already preventing such from happening.

Who did YOU vote for?

What did it cost YOU?

Mr. Durango asks questions about who you are paying how much to do what? And why?

Anonymously Wondering If J.D. Granger Is Paid Enough To Direct America's Biggest Boondoggle

The salaries of the public servants working for the public on the TRWD (Tarrant Region Water District) are surprising, at least to me. As in I am surprised at how many public servants are being served so well, salary wise, by the public employing them to run this public agency which delivers water to the Tarrant Region.

The top salary earner in the TRWD, Jim Oliver, earns $304,990.40 a year....