Tired of the "news"paper propaganda?

Then you are not alone, Fort Worth.  San Antonio firefighters and residents feel the same about their paper.  So they did something about it. 

Insert all our normal players names into this story and you've got the same old, same old.  They also "glossed over the 35-50 percent hike".  

Doubling down with City Hall on a controversial water project, San Antonio’s daily newspaper delivered a Page One attack on efforts to review the $3.4 billion deal.

Express-News columnist Brian Chasnoff abandoned any pretense of news reporting, writing that a petition drive seeking an independent review by the Texas Public Utilities Commission was designed to“undermine” and “sabotage the pipeline project.”

“You know you are doing the right thing when they attempt to vilify you on the front page for  standing up for the taxpayer and motivating others to do so,” Moody said.

“If this project is so wonderful, why are they scared to let the Texas Public Utilities  Commission review it?”

Greg Brockhouse, a spokesman for the firefighters, said the Express-News was “culpable with its silence — and its attacks on those who are defending the rights of taxpayers. This is a big story on the abdication of responsibility by the media.”

Chasnoff’s snarky column contrasted limply with solid reporting by his colleagues.

Earlier, they broke the story the pipeline contractor had applied for an $885 million low-interest state loan to finance the project.

Around the time of its editorial, the newspaper reported the parent company of Abengoa Vista Ridge had filed for bankruptcy.

Another inconvenient truth surfaced when an environmental consultant for Vista Ridge made a maximum $1,000 contribution to Mayor Ivy Taylor following her vote to support the project.

http://watchdog.org/261407/nuts-water-ratepayers/

Star-Telegram Slacking

We know with all the cuts the 'news' paper ain't what it used to be. But they continue to make it so easy for those who would like to point that out. Case in point, take today's Bill Hanna Tarrant Regional Water District opinion piece for example.

Take for instance Marty Leonard saying the board has done a good job preparing for water needs. How much did they spend suing Oklahoma to take their water? $6 million? Of OUR dollars...in case you were wondering, they lost.

Marty also talked about the Corp of Engineers pitching in $17 million for their pet project. Does she know where 'the Corp' gets that money?

For those of you keeping count at home, that's $23 million of YOUR dollars in just one paragraph.

The opinion piece goes on to say the Water District spent the 'majority of their last board meeting explaining its budget and what role TRWD plays in local water rates. Explaining to who?? The board? Marty and Jim who have served 9 years each on the board? (Remember last year they postponed the election and extended their term by a year.  Even though when the last water board crew did that, Jim Lane voted against it).

Lane goes on to say that the board has used eminent domain responsibly, which is in direct conflict with what every group and business owner who has been affected has told Texas Lone Star in recent and past interviews.

Lane also goes on to say the Integrated Pipeline (over $2 billion dollars) will basically solve all our problems. He fails to mention the TRWD's own report that says the pipeline will take water to Dallas NOT Tarrant County. WHY wouldn't he or the 'news' mention that?

Former Mayor Moncrief, the one who sold out FW to Chesapeake, is heading up the incumbents PAC (remember those calls to Dallas begging for money we told you about? Now you know who is making them). Along with Fox, who works at one of Congresswoman Granger's favorite places in FW.

This race will be the hottest race in Tarrant County. Here's hoping the people are tired of the insanity (look up definition) and try something new, like voting for real people (Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner) instead of those owned by the water district contractors.

Also, someone let Hanna know the Texas Supreme Court has picked up the latest case. We know their short staffed over there in the building they share with JD Granger and the Trinity River Vision.

Sexist Pig??

Durango calls out the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and their least favorite columnist, again.

Can some woman, preferably employed at the Star-Telegram, tell us how Bud Kennedy is still working there?

And here's to hoping the 'Dallas Boogey Man', who owns businesses in Fort Worth, is looking to buy a newspaper.

Cheers!

What he said

A letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram made us laugh.

Usually the columns do too.  Isn't that all they are good for?

Bud bias

With nearly every Bud Kennedy column clearly aimed at insulting Christians, Tea Partiers, Republicans, etc., I have to wonder if we’re getting a fair and unbiased review of his hamburger and chicken-fried steak columns.

With his strong distaste for anything even slightly conservative, does he vet his cafe owners before determining if their food is up to his liberal standards or even worthy of a plug?

What if the cafe owner is selling beef from a conservative rancher’s herd, maybe even a rancher who might own a gun? What if the bread delivery guy goes to church? Could these factors muddy the waters for a food critic like Bud Kennedy?

No doubt his annoying anti-everything sells newspapers. Otherwise, his column would be pro-liberal rather than anti-conservative.

Only in podunk towns and the Star-Telegram could you have a political column and a food column written by the same guy.

— David Houk, Fort Worth

Once a Watchdog,

Always a Watchdog.

Dave Lieber, the 20 year Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, who was laid off, is still watching out for you.  On his Facebook this week he posted the following:

Pet peeve: When officials running for reelection use public money to send out a glossy 12-page "annual report" that arrives one week before the election. That's what the Tarrant Regional Water District did. Campaigning disguised as public business. And these are the same dudes that postponed their own election for a year. Unchallenged power on an issue of major importance. WRONG.

To be honest, maybe it's a good thing Dave doesn't work for the paper anymore. 

The Fort Worth Weekly had the best article on Dave's departure.  We noticed we got a shout out over there from a reader.  Thanks, LA!

Thank heavens for the F W Weekly and the Star Telegraph website – you both are the best source of real news happening in this area.

And another one had a great point about the paper and politics -

The Weekly continues to surge past the Startlegram as the voice of the people. Time for the Star Telegram to recognize that its political intrigues on behalf of the Fort Worth power structure has caused it to go the way of the dinosaur.

Wanted - Newspaper in Fort Worth

Durango got an email that had him blogging a post titled France's Millau Viaduct vs. Fort Worth's Phyllis Tilley Bridge that made the case that the reason so many things go badly awry in Fort Worth is because Fort Worth lacks a real newspaper doing what a real newspaper does, as in investigative journalism and being the voice of the people speaking to power.

Below is a short excerpt....

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper, something like the Cowtown Wakepark, Santa Fe Rail Market, Cabela's tax breaks and the Trinity River Vision would never get off the ground, because an informed public would not put up with the foolishness. 

With no real newspaper, most of the Fort Worth public is oblivious to the foolishness.

Oblivious to the foolishness, while Rome burns, I mean, the Trinity River Vision parties. In private. And in inner tubes floating on the polluted Trinity River.

Which is another thing. What did you think of that investigative reporting the Star-Telegram did into how safe it is to float in the Trinity River? 

I'm sure that report is coming soon....

A picture is worth a thousand words?

A recent editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has us asking again, WHAT?  We were reading along, agreeing and wondered, what's the catch? 

While we agree with some of the content and are glad the paper realizes there are more neighborhoods than just downtown, we noticed this was the second article without a mention of their beloved Trinity River Vision.  The article says if Fort Worth can't fix its mangled budget, it should stick to the basics.  You know, those things your tax money is supposed to pay for - infrastructure, police, fire...

And then, there it was, the picture for the article shows the failed, costly streetcar that the Trinity River Vision had brought to Fort Worth and put on display like a pig at the county fair.  We have to ask, is it really a basic? 

Or is this just another commercial?

The meaning of quality of life in Fort Worth depends on where you live.

Unfortunately, we still have areas in Fort Worth where even the essentials are lacking. A good quality of life in these neighborhoods would mean curbs, sidewalks and access to a grocery store that doesn't take two bus transfers and three hours to reach.

The city is faced once again with a massive budget shortfall in the fiscal 2013 budget, in the neighborhood of $45 million. That is about twice the size of the hole the council had to fill last year. Closing that $23.1 million gap required $5.8 million in cuts and money transfers from the enterprise and capital budget funds.

This just may be the new normal, folks. Wishing for the good ol' days of sizable increases in property and sales tax revenues is not a sustainable solution.

Sure, it would be great if urban villages were blossoming like springtime irises, with wide tree-lined boulevards sporting sidewalk cafes, free Wi-Fi and a streetcar to whisk patrons hither and yon. It would be great if every council district had a family aquatic center and a modern library and a dog park.

But it'd also be great if local government would focus on making sure the essentials -- safe neighborhoods, drivable streets, functioning waste and storm water systems -- were part of everyone's quality of life.

It's only lobbying if someone else does it...

We found the most interesting pieces of Bud's column to be quotes.  One of those being his own.

On the group's website, he posted a statement saying that the group's contact with lawmakers is not lobbying and that the Texas Ethics Commission enforces what is "probably an unconstitutional law."'

He also took a rhetorical swipe at Truitt's Republican political consultant, Bryan Eppstein of Fort Worth, saying Eppstein "promotes higher taxes and burdensome government."

In a rarity, Eppstein did not return a call.

Don't miss the reader comment below.  Did Connor say such a thing?  What does he say now? 

I like what former Star-Telegram publisher Richard Connor said about Bryan Eppstein:

This man is a pig at the trough, and Fort Worth is his barnyard.

"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.

_____________________________

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."

_____________________________

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

One month before the Fort Worth tornado -

In 2000, Councilman Clyde Picht wrote a letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  At the time he was the only one in town advocating for emergency sirens.  The mayor, city council and Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board all were against spending money on sirens that protect people.

What was he basing his position on?  History. It tends to repeat itself. 

A month after Clyde wrote the letter, the tornado hit.  Lives were lost, just like he said. 

Currently, this mayor, council and paper disagree with what Clyde says about the Trinity River Vision.  What's the next Editorial Board going to say? 

Clyde's comment after rereading the commentary he wrote in 2000 - 

It’s too bad we had to wait for the disaster we knew was coming before we made a decision to upgrade our warning system.

Sounds familiar.  The following will too, read about Fort Worth, twelve years ago, before the tornado.

Two million for warning sirens?  A bargain at twice the price!
 
            When German bombers attacked London during the Second World War they lacked the precision guidance of today's weapons. On the other hand, the British radar showed only the general direction the bombers traveled so throughout the city air raid sirens wailed to warn the people of impending attack.

                Now, sixty years later, the National Weather Service has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in high tech equipment that can tell with a degree of precision the path a tornado will follow. The detection of severe weather is in the 21st century but the Fort Worth warning sirens are more suitable for the Battle of Britain. Our sirens will blare throughout our 250 square mile city, if they blare at all. Because of their age replacement parts are not readily available. Ten to fifteen percent of the system fails when tested, and on occasion, the whole system has been known to fail. With the rapid growth of our city some areas on the developing fringe are totally without warning sirens.

                Some things are fact. We live at the Southwest end of what weather experts call "Tornado Ally." Tornadoes have caused massive destruction and loss of life to the West, South, and East of Fort Worth. Severe weather caused major destruction in Fort Worth, pelting us with hail the size of baseballs in 1980 and 1995. Weather experts say that we will be struck by a killer tornado similar to the one that raised havoc in Moore, Oklahoma, last year. It's not a matter of whether, but when.

                In a recent commentary (2/21/00), Star-Telegram writer Jack Z. Smith reported that as a consequence of the Moore disaster that city is going to double the number of sirens. In my own conversation with Emergency Management Director, Gayland Kitch, he told me that even though the tornado occurred during rush hour, with plenty of radio and TV coverage, some residents didn't take cover until they heard the warning sirens. Smith reports Kitch said he feels that sirens help save lives and that Fort Worth would be wise to invest in them.

                Some things are fiction. According to Smith, the Mayor and some Council members feel that warnings sirens are not worth the $2-$3 million cost. They think radio, television, Internet, cell phones, E-mail and weather radios will substitute for sirens. It is not uncommon to have power outages during severe weather. With the power outages go your radio, television, Internet, and E-mail. Few computer owners are foolish enough to operate them during thunderstorms without UPS. A battery-powered radio will still work, provided the batteries are good and you have it with you. Cell phones might work if you've got them, but they don't always perform well even in good weather. First-hand reports from Oklahoma demonstrate that cell phones fail when tornadoes are near. Weather radios, like cell phones, are fine if everybody has one. Not everyone can afford or will want to buy a weather radio for $40-$80 (cost according to Smith). Most people probably wouldn't have one nearby during severe weather, in any case. Twenty-two people lost their lives when tornadoes hit Georgia in mid February. They came at night when folks were tucked safely in their beds. Or so they thought. Computers, cell phones, radios - all off. 

                A state of the art warning system has advantages that all the aforementioned devices don't have. The per capita cost is very nominal. A system will last many years and perform with high reliability. It can be used to warn residents in the path of severe weather without alarming those in safer areas. It can be localized to warn of hazardous spills on freeways and rail lines. It has a voice capability to describe circumstances that may require residents to take cover or remain in their homes and can warn children playing outside. With correct placement they are likely to be heard inside the home as well as outside.

                Lives will be lost in the event of a major tornado transiting Tarrant County. Adequate warning will save many lives, which might otherwise be lost. Ironically, the City Council was presented a proposal by the Fire Chief for the 1998 Capital Improvement Program that would have replaced the current warning system. The council turned it down and chose to use some of that money for park improvement. Pity the poor folks in the park who might be whisked away to Oz because they don't own a cell phone or weather radio, and live in a city where they are expected to take more "personal responsibility" for their safety.

                Like the unfortunate homeowner who installs a burglar alarm after the family heirlooms have been stolen, the City of Fort Worth will some day upgrade its woefully deficient disaster warning system after a major storm wreaks death and destruction. It willstill be cheap at twice the monetary price but what's the value of a life?

Come again?

Did the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board just criticize the former Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board?

Did they say the lone voice that spoke out was right?

Today that lone voice is still speaking out putting the citizens safety above the popular vote.

WHAT will the next Editorial Board say about the current one?  WHAT will they say about that same voice continues to speak out?   Maybe YOU should listen.

No one cares, until the next storm comes.  History repeats.

An Oct. 21, 1997, Star-Telegram editorial decrying Fort Worth's sporadic storm-warning system as not worth modernizing because it was "redundant" with other modes of communication made Editorial Board members cringe Wednesday when they read it.


Did the collective "we" really say, "The sirens [that] blare out the warning of an approaching tornado or hailstorm are about as useful today as fenders on a compact car"?


If anecdotal evidence is any indicator, the warning provided by sirens was remarkably useful Tuesday in keeping North Texas residents safe as tornadoes bore down on the region. Facebook posts and online comments credited Arlington's warning system in particular for alerting residents to the nasty weather headed their way.


Images of the damage leave one amazed that no one was killed and only injuries that weren't life-threatening were reported.


The Editorial Board's 1997 skepticism about updating Fort Worth's siren system was shared by then-Mayor Kenneth Barr and other members of the City Council who thought money would be better spent on a traffic light system that expedited firetrucks getting through intersections.


Then-Councilman Clyde Picht was the lone voice calling for additional and more reliable sirens.


Talk about the storm-warning system quieted down -- until the March 28, 2000, tornado upended lives and businesses in downtown Fort Worth before flattening homes in southeast Arlington and southwest Grand Prairie. Five people died and more than $450 million in damage was reported.


By 2003, the Fort Worth council had approved $3 million to upgrade and expand the city's sirens.


Read more here: Broad-based storm-warning systems proved their value during North Texas tornadoes

More Startlegram Censorship

The Fort Worth Weekly gives you the scoop. 

Good thing there's a real paper in town.

Give it up

Instead of saying, “we can’t add”, the Star-Telegram chooses to call the call out on them “grumbling”. 

And don't miss the comments on Durango's boondoggle post.  They keep getting better.

Drive-in grumbling

A "back to the future" drive-in movie theater promises to reap a profit of $1.7 million over a 10-year contract with the Tarrant Regional Water District. The enlightened Star-Telegram Editorial Board says this "sounds like a way to jump-start activity along the Trinity River -- and at no risk to the taxpayer."

A 1.8 percent return on $909 million may sound like a good deal to the dim bulbs at the water district, Trinity River Vision Authority and Star-Telegram, but it sounds to me like yet another departure from a flawed Trinity Uptown plan that includes a flooded wakeboard park (what is the profit from that?), and a no-bid, one-time good-deal restaurant lease. And at no risk to the taxpayer, you say?

A couple hundred million to remediate flood potential caused by a half-billion-dollar rechanneling of the river, all to return far less than it costs. That's visionary?

-- Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

Hush Money?

More than a few readers have noted the glaring differences in the news coverage of the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in Trophy Club. This follow-up article should provide some clarity on how two news sources can publish such radically different stories about the same event.

By way of history, this story was broken by the Star Telegraph on November 12th and 27th of this year. The Star Telegram article was not published until weeks later on Dec. 13th.

The Star Telegraph Article cites the relevant court case and provides details about all the participants.  The Star Telegram article only provides details about former Town Councilwoman Kathleen Wilson's defamation claims and her Pyrrhic judgment obtained against former citizen of the year Steven Kohs.

Most importantly, the Star Telegraph article identifies the lawsuit by definition as a SLAPP action.  As previously noted, the Star Telegram article focuses solely on the former Town Councilwoman's claims and completely omits that the actions instigating this lawsuit occurred on a political website during a local election campaign.

The reason for these glaring differences can be summed up in one word. That word is money.

The Star Telegraph receives no income from the Town of Trophy Club.  By contrast, the Town's online check register indicates that Trophy Club paid the Star Telegram $1,363.76 in the last 30 days alone.

Shame on Trophy Club's elected officials for suing the people they represent and covering it up with newspaper hush money.  But above all, shame on the Star Telegram for taking the money and pretending to be an unbiased source of news.