The Pirates are Coming

Oh wait, they're already here.  They are throwing the Party in Fort Worth this year. They even put a rig with their flag on the invitation. 

The Fort Worth Promotion and Development Fund throws this party every year with a theme and a sponsor.  Radio Shack hosted the River of Dreams back in 2006, highlighting the Trinity River. Mayor Moncrief asked Chesapeake to sponsor 2012 before his reign was over. 

The purpose of this group is basically to "promote" Fort Worth to national media. Where is the group promoting the citizens?  Those who should be will be at the party.

The Fort Worth City Council will be Honorary chairs.  At up to $25,000 a table (that level does come with parking, there are other options in the thousands that do not) WHAT is that costing us?

We noticed many familiar names on the "list".  The circle of Fort Worth.

We noticed an unofficial list too, looks like Durango will be in attendance, maybe it will be THE Party in Fort Worth after all.

Mayor Moncrief rides away in new Rolls????

Today, Betsy Price will be sworn in as the new Mayor of Fort Worth. 

We wonder if Mayor Moncrief and Rosie will be rolling in their new ride to the ceremony.  Seems they drove their 2011 Rolls Royce to Betsy's campaign gathering on election night.  We hear it was quite a sight to see, with no tags, plates, etc. 

We also hear the price tag was close to $500,000.  Pretty good change for a Mayor.  Then again, it could have been a gift from some of his "friends". 

Let's hope this Price brings some change.  We're gonna need it.

We're told the City Council meeting tonight will be moved to the Convention Center.  We were then asked, "Aren't most circuses held at the Convention Center?"

Promises - Part 2

Betsy Price has been making many promises.  Let's hope she doesn't follow Moncrief's Fort Worth Way with those.

Read about those promises in the Fort Worth Weekly.

However, Static must point out that Moncrief (who endorsed Price over his longtime friend Jim Lane) said the same thing when he was seeking the job in 2003. Back then, the average person felt excluded from the local political process; city officials wanted to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on a questionable downtown project (a luxury hotel); the school board was wrapped in turmoil; voters were pissed off. Any of this sound familiar?

(Brink said Moncrief had a solid record as a state senator, and the most controversial thing about him was personal rather than professional: He’d sued his uncle Tex Moncrief over the family oil money.)

Moncrief told Brink he had no “hidden agenda” (his staunch support for unfettered urban gas drilling would become quickly and painfully obvious). He wanted more collaboration between the city council and the school board (didn’t happen). He agreed with tax abatements in certain cases but said they should be hard to come by (ha!). He looked forward to moving from the legislature to the city council because local politics is “closest to the people” (many of whom he would later bully or ignore when they disagreed with him). He listed his priorities, beginning with a “user-friendly” city hall.

Name your Price...

Mayor Moncrief has announced his support for Betsy Price.  What does that tell you? 

THE PEOPLE have plenty to tell you, read the comments on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.

Well if Mongrief says Price is the man, then that's enough for me. I'm voting for Lane.

So are we.  Don't be sheep -

VOTE!!!

How much did that cost YOU?

An excerpt from the Texas Weekly in 2001 concerning redistricting.  Funny how things change.  Or how they don't...

It's the Fort Worth Way.

Sen. Mike Moncrief, D-Fort Worth, railing in the Austin American-Statesman about redistricting plans that put him in a Republican district with Dee Kelly Jr., son of the well-connected attorney and political player: "Representing almost 700,000 people is serious business. Senate District 12 is not a toy for your boy. You need to earn your stripes, not just purchase your title."

Roundabout alright...

The Trinity River Vision is still going in circles...

Read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about the bridge delay and the roundabout.  We'll share Howie's comments with you below.  They might just make your day. 

And we have a question, WHY is the wakeboard park the first part of this project?  How many lives will be protected from flooding by a wakeboard park?  WHO asked for a wakeboard park?  THE PEOPLE?  THE VOTERS?  Yeah, that's what we thought.  Talk about going in circles...

Here's a good quote from the article, what's wrong with this picture?

The new Henderson Street bridge will not replace the one over the Trinity River. It will span a bypass channel that will be completed after the bridges are built.

"Howie's comment" -
From a future Startle-Gram newspaper:

"TRINITY RIVER VISION OPEN TO PUBLIC"

Fort Worth, TX --- The long awaited Trinity River Vision development was unveiled at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 5th, 2057, at the Kay Granger Memorial Roundabout, Mayor Mikey Moncrief, great grandson of former mayor Mike Moncrief, presented a key to the city to Granger's own great grandson, Grady Granger, Jr., who is president of the TRV project's board of directors. The project's final cost was $536 billion dollars. Cost to taxpayers was $500 billion. "It was well spent tax payer money," Granger gushed as he used a big fake pair of scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon that stretched from one side of the roundabout to the other. Protesters, who were kept inside a pig pen one mile away as required by state law, demanded transparency and a federal investigation into waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money. "We're positive the taxpayers are getting their money's worth," Granger quipped while getting a high five from Moncrief III.

Show us the money!

Read about the Trinity River Vision and their shortfall of earmark funds (again), in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Tell us again, WHO pays?  Be sure and read the comments from THE PEOPLE.  The ones the politicians and developers want to foot the bill.

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.

"Do I hope we can get some money this year? Yes," said J.D. Granger, Trinity River Vision's executive director. "Do I know if we can get some money? No. I do know we've been told that earmarks are not being accepted for the Fiscal Year 2011 continuing resolution."

"As a board member, we have always known the only hard stop on this project is if federal funding is not available," Maenius said. "Is it a concern if the federal dollars stop? Obviously it is."

"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.

"Obviously, when the question of funding arises, we are dependent on what happens in Washington," Moncrief said. "But I'm confident that Kay Granger, in her leadership role, and her colleagues and both of our senators in their leadership roles will prioritize this project and continue to focus their energies on completing the task."

Although both Granger and Hutchison are on the appropriations committees in their chambers, the earmark moratorium is intended to keep members from using their influence to target funding.

Hey Hey ~ Goodbye

Read what Mayor Moncrief has to say about the state of the city in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  If growth hasn't paid for itself, WHY would we expect the Trinity River Vision to?  How is the Vision different from the streetcar?  On that subject, the mayor said he couldn't commit the citizens to something he didn't know how much it would cost.  So, why has he committed you to a billion dollar boondoggle?  What's the difference?  Does that mean he knew when it was presented as $360 million it would be a billion?

With the expansion come challenges that the city can no longer meet on its own, Moncrief said. To date, the growth has not paid for itself.

Sales tax collections, though rising dramatically the past year, suffered for two straight years. Property values, too, dropped significantly.

Increasing budget deficits that peaked at $77 million last year were the result.

An aging infrastructure in need of upgrades has been among the casualties. While the city has grown by hundreds of thousands, its leaders have not increased spending on infrastructure in 10 years.

Timing is everything...

Last week Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief said he would not seek reelection. 
This week the air quality tests are in. 

And as expected, it ain't all sunshine and roses as the industry and their benefactors would like you to beleive.

Read about it on WFAA.com.

The story seems backwards doesn't it?  Testing AFTER allowing thousands of wells in densely populated areas.  Thank your city "leaders" today.

Finally...

Mike Moncrief says he won't run for reelection as Fort Worth's mayor.  Some say he wants out before everything blows up...literally.

That sound you hear are champagne corks popping all over town.  33% of people voting in the online poll are "thrilled".

Read about it on nbcdfw.com.

Additionally, Moncrief says he is exiting public life. "I will work to pave the path of success for my successor. That's how we roll in Fort Worth, thank God."

Paving the Fort Worth Way...no surprise.  Be careful WHO you vote for in May.  Earlier this week Jim Lane said he wants to be Mayor.  In the nbcdfw.com article when told Moncrief wasn't running, he said, "That's interesting".  We thought so too.

We received this comment in an email supporting Cathy Hirt this week:
TCU winning the Rose Bowl was great. Super Bowl XVL coming to Arlington was great. Our current mayor revels in both of those accomplishments, but the city’s long term accounting problems, budget deficits, pension fund liabilities, infrastructure deficits, and failed public/private development projects will haunt us long after the glow of athletic achievements has faded. We need a mayor who will attack the problems that affect all residents of Fort Worth.
(Don't forget ethics issues).

Do you want what you've been getting?  Or a mayor that will listen to THE people?

Good vs. Bad

In a Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today, a writer states the following...

I'm for streetcars, but finally someone had the courage to state financial stability and responsibility. Mayor Mike Moncrief said, "Try as I might, I cannot in good conscience support a project when I am uncertain of the future cost to our taxpayers."

So, is it in bad conscience that he supports the Trinity River Vision?  ASK.

USS Fort Worth

Or should it be SOS Fort Worth?

Now WHY would gas drillers be attending the christening of the USS Fort Worth with Mayor Moncrief and Congresswoman Granger?

ASK.

And read about it on FWCANDO.

Fort Worth Streetcar Meeting Update

Over 300 people and guess what, they all have an opinion.  Sounds like the majority say no way.  Funny, that's what they say about most of the things that are done the Fort Worth Way. 

Lots of great speakers last night!  Kudos to you all!

There was information in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the pre-meeting meeting and the meeting as well as on NBCDFW.com.  Too bad we weren't invited to the behind the scenes meeting, sounds like it was a good one.  We'll give you some highlights below.  Consider it your incentive to be informed!  We noticed neither news source said the consulting company HDR is where a lot of the story information came from.  Does the price tag jump from the original plan, remind anyone else of the Trinity River Vision scheme?  We did notice, the majority of Fort Worth is left out of the loop...

Question to you WHO support and want to spend the Trinity River Vision TIF on the streetcar, WHERE do you think that money comes from? 

Fort Worth takes pride in resolving disagreements behind the scenes and presenting a united front. So nobody is talking publicly about the clashes that played out Monday, when about 15 heavy-hitters met in two sessions, for almost six hours, to try to hash out their differences.


Skeptics, including leaders from Downtown Fort Worth Inc. and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, insisted that they were just asking questions and vetting the numbers. Streetcar supporters, including the Trinity River Vision Authority and Fort Worth South, said that they felt ambushed and that the challenges were a pretense for killing the project.

Tempers flared, and some cautioned that the attacks were getting too personal.

We're talking about three miles of track at $85 (million) to $86 million," said Paul Rudisill, a business owner opposed to the project. "When it was first proposed, it was about $53 million. So 22 percent have access to it, while 78 percent will be paying for operational costs of it. That's ridiculous."

"Expensive? Yes. It's an investment for the future. A lot of the things that we do today hopefully will pay for themselves in the future. But we've got to start."

A good number of people Thursday at the Fort Worth Convention Center were skeptical of the $88 million estimate presented for the total cost of the project and the notion of adding expenses during a slow economic period.

One speaker pointed out that the estimates of the Trinity River Vision, which started out at $320 million in 2003, have soared to near $1 billion today. Many others said the project would benefit too few people.

Cleveland Harris said he believed that to be true but objected to the proposal because his neighborhood is not part of the plans.

"If it leaves us out of the loop, we're against it," said Harris, the director of government affairs for the Morningside Neighborhood Association. "They need to promote the whole city, not just a portion of the city."

New Mayor in Fort Worth

Rumors have been swirling for months now about the candidates lining up for the Mayor's race in Fort Worth.

The FW Weekly Static on this is excellent.  Read it all!  Be sure and read to the bottom about Fort Worth's animal control, Oprah and the Fort Worth Cheerleader. 

We love when the citizens (even if it's "one woman") exposes the Fort Worth Way for what it really is. 

You good ol' boys better pay attention, the women are on their way.  You ever pissed off a Texas woman?  Not recommended.  Our advice?  Run, Forrest, Run.

Thinking about Hirt’s candidacy reminds Static of a time in 2003 when Hirt and Mike Moncrief battled each other for the mayor’s job. Moncrief quit the Texas Senate and came home to Fort Worth seeking a job. Coincidentally, every gas driller in Texas was also honing in on Cowtown, angling to exploit lax regulation to suck the most money possible from the Barnett Shale.

“Government must be a partnership between the people and their elected,” he told Fort Worth Weekly seven years ago (he stopped talking to the Weekly once he got elected).

He’s become the least inclusive mayor in living memory.

When people disagree with him, he tries to remove them from the conversation.

A picture is worth a MILLION words

Check it out on TXSharon.

What do YOU say?

Good Letters to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram concerning the Streetcar Silliness.  Read them all here.

If Mayor Mike Moncrief and the City Council force the taxpayers to pay for a dream they have -- a streetcar that we taxpayers will not use -- we (the conservatives) will stand up and ensure they will never hold any office again.

Stop spending our money. It is not yours to spend. We put you in office to do our business; to do what we want. If you think this is such a good idea, put it up for a vote by the people.

-- Paul L. Rudisill, Keller

BS Update

We have been so busy with streetcars, tax dollars and ethics we haven't been able to update you on the Barnett Shale Hell in awhile, so in no particular order...

What is Steve on Carter Ave up to?  Well, Channel 11 caught up with him last night.  Don't miss this story.  Good information from Lon Burnam and more BS statements from Mayor Moncrief.  Something about regulators not doing their jobs so Fort Worth will do it.  WHAT?  The profiting Mayor and council are mostly to blame for getting us in to this mess and putting our citizens at risk.

Congratulations to Josh Fox!!  Word on the street is Gasland is shortlisted for Academy Awards!!  Go, Josh, Go!

Grand Prairie has announced a gas drilling moratorium on all new permits.  THE PEOPLE are listening!

Not only are property values plummeting around gas drilling locations (that would be most all of Tarrant County) now some banks won't finance properties in those areas either. Uh oh...better save your huge royalty checks, then you can pay cash.  Read about it here.  You can also read the letter from the Bartonville Mayor to Senator Nelson on their site as well. 

If you missed the 60 Minutes gas drilling story, here is a recap.

What do THE PEOPLE say about the gas drilling meeting in Fort Worth last night?  "It was another waste of time, another industry dog and pony show.  WHO did the majority of the talking?  The industry, of course". 

It's your turn!  Make some noise!

Fort Worth Streetcar causing a Scene

We have to give NBC 5 credit on their streetcar story last night, they said they wanted to get BOTH sides.  What a refreshing change.  They interviewed a streetcar saleslady and Fort Worth City Councilmember, Jungas Jordan.  Did he really say he is worried about the cost?  Wait, one more surprise, Mayor Moncrief says he is undecided on the streetcar. Really?  The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said he was talking to folks about the streetcar the city hopes to get.  Why would you hope to get a streetcar if you were undecided?
Check out NBC 5's story here.

Another good article on the Fort Worth Streetcar issue "What Fort Worth’s Political Class Means by ‘Financially Viable’ on Whoplanswhom.com brings up some interesting players in the game, such as HDR Engineering and are you ready for it, the COG.  (North Central Texas Council of Governments).  Imagine that.

Granted, part of the problem with this claim is the source of the funding for the study in the first place. The consulting firm, HDR Engineering Inc., is widely known for government transit planning and has a reputation to maintain among government bodies. If HDR began releasing findings that predicted the overall unfavorable consequences of government meddling, then HDR might begin to receive fewer government contracts.

Making this even more suspect, the original source of funding for the Fort Worth study came from the Regional Transportation Council, an arm of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), totaling approximately $1.6 million. Nearly one million dollars went to HDR. For those who do not already know, the NCTCOG has been on a tear in recent years to push for tolled lanes on existing free highways and for an extension of existing government-managed mass transportation.

So is it any surprise that the city council of Fort Worth and the NCTCOG got exactly what they paid for?

Granger No-brainer

Do YOU believe the streetcar hype is worth the millions YOU will pay for it?  THE PEOPLE don't either.  Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Be sure and read the comments from THE PEOPLE.

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority and two other agencies spent a combined $25,000 to ship a streetcar from Portland, Ore., to downtown Fort Worth, where the car will be displayed while city officials debate whether to commit millions of future tax dollars to electrified rail.

Officials said using public funds to bring the streetcar here is not an attempt to buy support for the proposed three-mile, $88 million streetcar system. Instead, they said, it's an effort to educate residents about what a modern streetcar looks like and how it might serve their neighborhoods.

Of course that is what THEY say.  THAT would be illegal and unethical.  And things like that never happen in Fort Worth, right?  WHO's money is it again?  Oh yes, THE PUBLIC's.

The T contributed $8,000 to the display, Ruddell said. The Trinity River Vision Authority paid the largest share, $12,000, and Fort Worth South paid $5,000, Trinity River Vision Authority Executive Director J.D. Granger said.

"It's a no-brainer," he said. "We're being asked to invest $30 million" just for the Trinity River Vision portion.

Someone ask J.D. Granger WHO WE is?

What do THE PEOPLE say?

Check out the Letters in the FW Weekly.  Good ones on YOUR water supply and bullying in Fort Worth.

Our favorite? Check it out.

The Rest of the (Ethics) Pie


To the editor: Clyde Picht’s letter in response to “Has Fort Worth Lost Its Moral Compass?” (Sept 22, 2010) was so comprehensive in detail that it reminds us of Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.” Clyde is articulate and knows his politics, especially when it concerns the Moncrief Mafia.

Thank you, Clyde, for giving us the “rest of the pie” (not just a slice), and thanks to Fort Worth Weekly for publishing his letter.

Sharon R. Stroud

Fort Worth