When will 820 be complete?

Better yet, what's it going to cost YOU?

Those lanes in the center of the picture above are what the new "managed lanes" will look like.  What is a "managed lane"?  Read it and weep...

Managed lanes are toll lanes in the middle of an existing freeway, unlike traditional turnpikes that are brand new roads where every lane is tolled. Congestion pricing is where the toll rate varies based on the level of traffic using the road. If the speed of traffic slows below 50 MPH, Cintra can hike the toll rates for the purpose of bumping cars out of the lanes in order to guarantee a speed of 50 MPH. So the price of the toll varies based on the time of day.

Since it costs so much to drive in those lanes, people can't afford it.  So what is the Spanish company that owns them doing?  Partnering with people like the NCTCOG to use taxpayer dollars and make commercials.  Not to worry, they say it's "educational". 

Where does Texas rank in schools again?

Pay attention, people. 

See the article on the Cintra commercials here.  And here's a good take on the Terri Hall meeting from last week. 

Notice the names of the players never change. 

TxDOT and the North Texas Council of Governments (NTCOG) and its Regional Transportation Council have been promoting the contest using taxpayer resources. Amanda Wilson, Communications Supervisor for the Transportation Division of the NTCOG said the contest is also “an educational effort, not just naming the lanes.”

Still don't believe it?  Check out the North Tarrant Express site.  Read between the lines.  You'll see it.

Want to get out of dodge?

It will cost YOU.

Did you hear the latest joke?  HOV lanes will be converted to toll lanes. 

Don't think it's funny?  Then you better speak up now, or forever pay the price.

Read about it here. 

Speaking of creeks...

And Haltom City...

A Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asks a good question about a recent article on parks in Tarrant County.

High-water mark

The Monday front page shows builders working on a "low-water crossing" along Whites Creek in "Haltom City's new park." (See: "Splendor in our backyard is increasingly accessible")

Please help me understand why they would not build a high-water crossing. It seems like that is the more dangerous condition. Just how low is the crossing going to be? And how will they close the crossing when the water gets high?

-- Howard M. Cornell III, Arlington

That's a good question, sir.  Especially since just yards away from the park, is where the child drowned in one of the Haltom City floods.  We didn't see any mention of that in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram park article. 

We did see every city around has their hand out for park grants.  Why do we have a feeling the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is involved in them all?  The paper didn't mention that either.

The 20-acre site, whose working name is Whites Branch Park, will have a 20-by-30-foot picnic pavilion and separate playground structures for children 5 and younger and for 5- to 12-year-olds, all surrounded by a hike/bike trail system. Perhaps most important, given the North Texas climate, the park will feature the city's biggest splash pad.

The $1.25 million park project will be partly funded by $700,000 in grants from Texas Parks and Wildlife, Henry said. The city is making up the difference.

The city also plans to join the new park to Buffalo Ridge Park by acquiring 120 flood-prone properties. When the project is completed, park visitors will have access to the Buffalo Ridge hike-and-bike trail, eventually linking to a 15-mile trail system through Watauga and Fort Worth.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/15/3885821/tarrant-county-cities-are-adding.html#storylink=cpy

Republicans Sustainable?

Apparently the State Republican Committee has arrived to the party.  They finally read Agenda 21.  We can hear it now, the whole party will be called conspiracy theorists.  Those who speak the truth are usually called something...

Check it out on Arlington Voice.com.  Again, it doesn't matter what "party" you belong to, YOUR kids will be the ones who suffer.  Educate yourself, if nothing else, for them. 

On March 31, 2012, the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) adopted, as part of the Texas Republican Party platform, a resolution in “opposition to United Nations Sustainable Development and all entities involved in the implementation of such programs.” In the two-page document, the SREC outlines the threat posed to our fundamental American rights by Sustainable Development and Smart Growth programs, most notably, the right to the ownership of private property.

The resolution states that Sustainable Development is intended to “abrogate and overthrow the natural individual rights and liberties of the people,” and describes it as a “European style of socialism.” In the European model, privately held property is not viewed as an absolute right, but rather as a privilege granted by the government. The resolution further explains that the United States was conceived, and has sense prospered as a nation, due to its dedication to individual rights, including the right to own and enjoy property. It affirms that the people of Texas “subscribe entirely to the vision of freedom and property and self-government under Nature and Nature’s God.”

In the resolution, the SREC takes aim at many organizations that are coming under growing public scrutiny, including the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the Council of Governments, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work with local municipalities to implement the goals of a United Nations program titled “Agenda 21.”

Don't worry

If you missed the presentation on the NCTCOG this week.  It's coming soon to everywhere near YOU.

Apparently many people are interested in WHO they are and WHAT they do.  For a stormy night, less than a week before Santa arrives, the house was packed!  And more people were visiting that post than you could shake a stick at.

We'll keep you posted.

WHO pays WHO?

Alex Mills is the President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.  We're not really sure what that is, but if we had to guess we'd say that was an organization similar to those like the Trinity River Vision Authority, NTTA, the NCTCOG...you get the picture.  Created, appointed and paid for by local politicians and the Tarrant Regional Water District, or in this case, the gas drilling industry.   

He also writes frequently in the Business Press about gas drilling.  Not so much writing, as defending.  In small print at the bottom it tells you his title, and that "the opinions expressed are solely of the author".

So, if the gas drillers pay him to defend them and he writes his "Opinion" for the Business Press, WHO is paying WHO?  Are the drillers paying for a half a page in the paper or is the paper paying Mr. Mills to write for THEM too? 

What's it costing YOU?

What do THEY do, again?

WHO appoints them?  WHO pays their salary? (YOU guessed it).

Want to know more about THE COG? (The North Central Texas Council of Governments)

Then don't miss this meeting.  YOU can't afford to miss it. Neither can your local "news".

Monday, December 19, 2011
 6:00 pm Social Hour
7:00 General Meeting FW 9-12
Elks Lodge
3233 White Settlement Road
Fort Worth, TX

Come join us and meet our Speaker, ZACK MAXWELL....you will be amazed at the information he has to share....

 "I will draw back the curtains on the biggest scheme our country has seen since the Federal Reserve. This system has been in the making for over 40 years and has spread rapidly across our nation like a cancer. You will be amazed at the how the majority of your locally elected officials are working day after day to radically alter the American Dream and your future.

This network is so intricately woven into the fabric of our government's operations that if America was to collapse tomorrow, I'm convinced there would be a fully-functional system ready to replace our current government."

NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS [NCTCOG]

YOU pay

Over and over again.

Teri Hall and TURF spell it out for you, the Dallas Observer lays it out for you.

WHO's involved?  Oh yes, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Army Corp of Engineers, TXDOT and the Trinity River.  No, not Fort Worth, this time in Dallas.  YOU get the drift...and the shaft.

Notice how the cost escalates, as usual.

It's a total OUTRAGE to build this road 100% with federal and state tax money and then charge drivers a toll, a second tax, to use it! This is a tax grab, plain & simple.

But he didn't need to make much of a case; as Michael Morris, the head of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and TxDOT and city officials explained earlier this week, the Horseshoe Project is a slam-dunk. The $700 million is there, courtesy the state Legislature and myriad other funding sources that will pay for the bridges -- the other two Calatravas the city so desperately wants running over the Trinity River, for which there's $92 million in federal funds. (Pensock did say, at one point, that the project will more than likely cost closer to $800 million when it's wrapped in five years, fingers crossed.)

There are, of course, a few issues to deal with before the traffic jam, including finishing a design and getting a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, since, as Pensock said, the bridges go over the levees, which presents "a particularly sticky issue due to flooding.

"I don't know if we'll ever be able to truly solve congestion in Dallas." 

THEY "found" some money...

Yeah, it's YOURS too.

Another $15 million, that will keep the Trinity River Vision afloat, for now.  They needed to do something, people are starting to ask questions and put 2 and 2 together.  Sometimes that adds up to a billion.  But that's ok, it's YOUR money.

Read along with us about the Trinity River Vision bridges and their funding in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The first of three new bridges connecting downtown Fort Worth to the planned Trinity Uptown project is on course to be under construction by next fall, after officials disclosed Thursday that they had found $15 million more in federal funds to pay for the project.

* They FOUND $15 million?  WHO lost it in the first place?

"It allows us to stay on budget. In the next few years, we can build these bridges before we build the lake," said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth.

Granger, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and other dignitaries gathered Thursday at the Fort Worth Club to thank regional planners for setting aside $15 million in federal mobility funds for the new Henderson Street and North Main Street bridges. The money, approved last week by the Regional Transportation Council, will be combined with $23 million in federal funds previously arranged by Granger and $24.8 million in local funds, enough to ensure that the bridges can be built, they said.

* WHO are the "other dignitaries"?  WHO are the "regional planners"?  WHO is on the Regional Transportation Council?  If you guessed part of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, you were right on the money.

(Remember WHY TURF was created?)  You may notice on their website, the August meeting would not be recorded.  WHY?

Transportation construction is part of the initial focus of the Trinity Uptown project, a $909 million effort to convert the near north side of Fort Worth into a walkable neighborhood with dense residential areas, shops, museums and night life.

* Key word, dense.

The project would accomplish many goals that city officials have long touted -- flood control, economic development, ecological restoration, and increased recreation on the river and its banks.

* This has been touted as a lot of things, looks like the list is expanding.

Thursday's funding announcement is the latest example of how aggressively local leaders are working to start construction of the Trinity Uptown bridges.

Those figures, however, don't include land acquisition, relocation, cleanup and other costs that could push the total to $110 million, officials have said.

* This is the part in a commercial when they talk real fast at the end and tell you what all is NOT included.

The original plan was to use some of the state's voter-approved transportation bonds, but the Regional Transportation Council instead found $15 million available in federal surface transportation funds, Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan said.

*  When it starts off with "the original plan was...but"  YOU know you're in for it.  Again, WHERE did they find this money?

The city is responsible for construction of the bridges. Partner agencies include the Tarrant Regional Water District and Tarrant County. Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation and Army Corps of Engineers were also on hand Thursday.

* The partners are WHO YOU thought they were.  They always are. 

There were some interesting comments on the article, too:

Is this the same Kay Granger that rails against the spending of taxpayer money on pork? The same Kay Granger that voted against the stimulus but gladly takes stimulus dollars for her pet projects and to benefit her special interest donors? The same Kay Granger that spends taxpayer money railing the President faithfully on every GOP talking point, but whose actions don't follow those words? Yeah. Same one. Go figure.

It worked on YOUR kids

So WHY wouldn't it work on you?

The NCTCOG (yes, the COG that held the TDML meeting last week and the Recreational Use Attainability Study meeting this week) is sponsoring a video contest with TREES and WFAA to solicit YOUR ideas to clean up the Trinity River.

Does that mean those responsible for doing so have no idea of their own?

While we support public participation in matters that concern the public, we ain't buying it.

The commercial for the WFAA Project Green is ironic and amusing.  It opens with pictures of trash in the Trinity River in Fort Worth, as they say "You may have heard about the problem."  Problem?  WHAT problem?  The local paper, city staff and elected officials, the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Trinity River Vision Authority say there's no problem.  If they say anything at all, it's jump on in, suckers.

(Isn't the local paper and WFAA owned by the same folks?)

The commercial for the WFAA Trinity River video contest goes on to say, "Now it's time for this generation to stop pointing fingers..."  Really, that is what they said.  "...to save the Trinity.  We can do it".  Where have we heard "save the Trinity" before?  Oh yes, the Trinity River Improvement Partnership.  www.savethetrinityriver.org. Those that recently made the video, Up a Creek. THE PEOPLE who are trying to save the river and YOUR money.  For YOU and YOUR kids.

If you have an idea, sounds like they need it.  YOU could win $1,500.  $1,500 is nothing, printing had to cost more than that.

Somebody help 'em out already, would ya? 


Due to the WFAA site asking us to disable security to view contest information, we didn't link to it in the above references.

What's more important?

Flooding or recreation?

A program sponspored by the COG and TCEQ.  WHAT could possibly go wrong with that?

A public meeting to discuss the preliminary results of the Recreation Use-Attainability Analysis (RUAA) Study for numerous streams in North Central Texas will be held August 16, 2011. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m. at the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), Centerpoint II (Tom Vandergriff Conference Center) Regional Forum Room, First Floor. The NCTCOG offices are located at 616 Six Flags Drive, Arlington, Texas 76011.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will be soliciting public comment on a Recreational Use Attainability Analysis Report for a project conducted on streams in the Trinity River basin in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. If you would like to comment on the report or have information on current or past recreation activities occurring on the water body, comments will be accepted until September 9, 2011. The report is located on the TCEQ website at http://www.tceq.texas.gov/waterquality/standards/ruaas/ multitrinity08. Comments can be submitted via email to Joe Martin at Joe.Martin@tceq.texas.gov or mailed to Joe Martin, MC-234, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711.

Please share this information with other interested parties.

List of Streams
Sycamore Creek, 0806E
Cottonwood Branch, 0822A
Grapevine Creek, 0822B
Walnut Creek, 0838C
Copart Branch Mountain Creek, 0841E
Cottonwood Creek, 0841F
Dalworth Creek, 0841G
Delaware Creek, 0841H
Estelle Creek, 0841J
Fish Creek, 0841K
Kirby Creek, 0841N
West Irving Creek, 0841U

Again, WHO owns the roads?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article speaks volumes - HOV lanes in DFW being converted to tollways

"HOV lanes were a stupid idea to begin with, and in practice they have been a disaster," said Coughlin, a real estate broker who lives in downtown Dallas. He said he has never heard an argument in favor of HOV lanes, other than from "the bureaucrats, consultants and blow-up-doll manufacturers who defend it."

And there they are again...
 
"We have recognized over the years that HOV lanes have transitioned beyond their initial purpose," said Dan Lamers, senior program manager for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. 

"The economic advantage of HOV lanes has changed," he said.

You won't believe this #$@%

We'll let Durango tell you about it.  As you laugh along, ask yourself, WHO paid for this?  WHO paid for the four page color mailer of pictures of people floating in the TRINITY RIVER?!?  YOU did.  It's not as funny now, huh? 

While the Trinity River Vision Authority and the Tarrant Regional Water District are laughing up and down the "banks" of the Trinity River where people are "having the time of their lives"...the Fort Worth Star-Telegram front page headline reads - Water, water, nowhere.  (We'll get back to that and we'll link to it when we can find it online - best line "Those lakes also supply the Tarrant Regional Water District , which is finding it increasingly difficult to meet cities demands".)

As you read along with Durango, notice the names, all the same.   (There's that COG again). 

Also, notice the pictures.  They're clues. Play along.  YOU can't afford to not be paying attention.  Wake up, it's YOUR money.

New 7th Street Gang?

The Fort Worth Weekly does a good job shining the light on some of the issues 7th street and the surrounding neighborhoods face.  

We've had the same parking problems there.  If you want to visit those businesses in the area that are growing without the help of the NCTCOG or tax abatement's, you'll have to find somewhere to park.  Those garages on Morton Street aren't for the Morton Street customers...

By the way, where does the COG get all this grant money?  WHO approves what it is spent on?

Afterward, the group spent about 45 minutes at Capital Bar, listening to music and having a few drinks. When they went back to the garage, the car was gone.

“When we asked where our car was, the security guard said he saw us going into Capital Bar right after we parked,” Turner said. “But then we told him we were at Delaney’s. He said ‘You didn’t go there.’ We showed him the receipt from Delaney’s, and he still said we had violated their policy. He was extremely rude.”

Turner and her husband saw a Fort Worth Police patrol car on the street and asked for help. The officers intervened and convinced the security guard that he’d had the car towed illegally and should get it back for the Turners. The security guard agreed, and the towing charges were dropped. But the Turners had to pick up the car at a lot in east Fort Worth. The whole ordeal took about two hours, she said.

“I was seven months pregnant at the time, and here I am traipsing through a tow yard in the dark to get my car,” Sarah Turner said. “My husband and I have decided we won’t go to any restaurant or bar in the development because of what happened.”

State and federal public funding comes from “sustainability grants” through the North Central Texas Council of Governments. To qualify, projects must include higher-density housing and mixed-use retail, which in turn is expected to improve pedestrian mobility and get cars off the road.

So7 received $4.3 million from NCTCOG for construction of Museum Way for better access from West 7th, plus sidewalk improvements. Of that, $1.7 million is paying for a pedestrian bridge now being built over the Trinity River just to the east.

Museum Place received $2.4 million from NCTCOG for the reconstruction of West 7th Street in front of its property, along with streetscape improvements. The development also earned $192,000 in city tax abatements for 2011 on its completed first phase, the eight-story office/condo tower and the new 7-Eleven store with five housing units above it. The next phase, involving the apartment complex, must be finished by the end of 2012 to meet the abatement agreement terms, and Pettigrew said he expects to make that deadline. However, phases three and four — which will include another apartment mixed-use development and a hotel — must be completed by the end of 2013, and that is unlikely.

“We will probably ask the city for an extension for those phases,” he said.

Fort Worth is providing help through two other programs, one involving grants to bridge funding gaps and ensure that projects get completed and the other involving enhanced infrastructure. In both, developers negotiate terms with the city, involving the number of jobs to be created, the percentage of work that will go to local firms, the amount of private money to be raised, and completion dates on various parts of the project.

Montgomery Plaza has a 21-year tax-abatement agreement covering all property and sales taxes. This year, those benefits will total $835,000. In addition, the development got $172,000 for the infrastructure improvements.

Cypress Equities negotiated a 15-year tax abatement on 75 percent of its property taxes but won’t realize any of those savings until the whole project is finished, by the end of the year.

What does a Texas Hero look like?

Like her.

Teri Hall. 

A mother of 8 who travels all over the state speaking up for taxpayers.  That calls these un-elected (appointed) non- government boards out for what they really are.  (They have ARMA, we have the COG).   One of these ARMA non-elected (appointed) board members insults Mrs. Hall by claiming she doesn't even live in the county she is speaking in.  Mrs.Hall reminds the childish board member 281 is a state highway, running from one end of Texas to another. 


Watch the video below, it's worth a few minutes of your time.  Unless of course, you and your kids want to pay Spain to drive on every road in Texas.  Notice WHO is in the audience, not average citizens (which should be) but those WHO (more than likely) helped get the board members appointed and who have a financial stake in the game.  We can assure you there would be more looks and comments if it weren't for the cameras rolling and, some of the good ol' boys have met Mrs. Hall before.  On occasion, you can teach old dogs new tricks.

It's 8 minutes long, but remember it's only the beginning.



Want to learn more?  Check out Truth Be Tolled.  YOU can't afford not to.

Condos in Limbo

The Montgomery Wards condos are still in legal limbo, more importantly they are still sitting empty.

They say "Build it and they will come".  WHO says?  WHO is coming?  WHERE are they?

The Trinity River Vision should take a lesson from the Montgomery Wards condo fiasco.  Not more of the how do you switch money around and take people's stuff for less lesson, a don't put your cart before the horse lesson.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Business Press.  Notice the Fort Worth Way at play.  Also, notice the word Vision and tax abatement...and there's that name again, the North Central Texas Council of Governments.  Yeah, they are everywhere.  WHO are they again?  WHAT is their purpose?

Be sure and read the article, YOU can't afford not to.

That group is owed millions by some of the project’s developers.
In all, the contractors were left holding the bag for about $6.5 million, he said.

A grand vision

Despite protests from historic preservationists, and with the help of a city tax abatement, the eight-story behemoth was gutted and a six-story hole carved out of the facade’s center, opening up a brick-paved plaza with space for outdoor dining, parking and shoppers. Stores and restaurants opened at street level and pricy condos were laid out on the upper floors.

“An example of preservation in the context of urban redevelopment,” the North Central Texas Council of Governments gushed when it awarded developers of the 46.19-acre Montgomery Plaza, Weber & Co., one of its 2007 Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence Awards.
   
“The bottom line is the majority of the money owed is from a insurance incident: Pipe busts, floods multiple floors, insurance company pays, owner takes the money, doesn’t pay the bills, allows bank to foreclose on property voiding all liens, then buys the property back under a different name, lien free,” owner Kip Wadleigh wrote in a message posted on the website of Hardwood Floors Magazine.
 
“That company declared bankruptcy and bought it back,” “Bought a $50 million property for $18 million and did away with all the liens all the subcontractors had taken out. Hard to believe that’s legal in the state of Texas, but I’m told it is.”

River of Denial

Guess there is a reporter in the county, and his name is Dan McGraw.

Don't miss the Fort Worth Weekly article, Unleashing a Flood of Questions.  You know how we love questions. 

This isn't a PR piece brought to you courtesy of the Trinity River Vision or the Tarrant Regional Water District or the Congresswoman's office.  YOU can't afford to miss it.  After all, it's YOUR $909 million.  Every penny of it.

Projected costs for the project have ballooned to about $909 million. The economy is still in the Great Recession, and federal, state, and local governments are all facing severe budget shortfalls that will leave their mark for years to come. Congress has put a temporary ban on earmark bills, the strategy by which local project funding was routinely added to unrelated bills and that U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth used to get about $60 million for the TRV in the past. And the Corps, faced with continuing fallout from the Hurricane Katrina debacles in Louisiana and this year’s massive flooding along the Mississippi, is dealing with many projects much more critical than improvements in Fort Worth to a river section that hasn’t seen significant flooding in half a century.

The Trinity River Vision Authority is the governmental agency created specifically to oversee this massive project, but the officials on its governing board are appointed, not elected by the public.

WHO was appointed to head it?  Oh, that's right, JD Granger, son of the Congresswoman.

The federal funding component of the TRV is now $487 million of the $909 million. That includes the Corps’ flood control work, along with contributions from federal transportation, economic development, housing, and environmental protection agencies.

In the convoluted world of Washington, as in Fort Worth, it is hard to get clear answers on where the Trinity River Vision stands. The Corps has ruled that the project is “technically sound and environmentally acceptable,” but the funding must be approved on a year-by-year basis. In the past five years, about $29 million has been appropriated for it. But that is nowhere near the Corps’ $466 million price tag to finish it.

“I think this is becoming a bait-and-switch plan, something private businesses would be prosecuted for if they did it,” said Steve Hollern, a local accountant and former chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party. “What the TRV is doing is buying property, tearing down buildings, using eminent domain, and having very little chance of getting the federal funds they need to complete it.

Granger wholeheartedly disagreed. “I am not concerned about the federal funds drying up, because this is primarily a flood control water project, and those have been a top priority in Washington,” he said. “This is not a short-term solution to flooding issues on the Trinity River, but a long-term plan that solves a very real problem.”

There are a number of opponents to this project, but they are very much in the minority,” Granger said. “Most citizens of Fort Worth I talk to see value in this project. It will change this city in so many ways, all of them for the better.”

JD should get out more (we don't mean on 7th street).  The minority is growing.

A new one...

A Fort Worth Star-Telegram Letter to the Editor has a new name for the Trinity River Vision.  We like it.

Stay tuned for more Star-Telegram letter writing info coming soon.  YOU won't want to miss it.

Fort Worth's mayoral candidates are running against Mike Moncrief's record and all sound alike. Fiscal responsibility, gas drilling precautions, yada yada. I want two things from a candidate:

(1) Oppose the police and firefighters, most of whom live outside Fort Worth, in their attempt to bankrupt us taxpayers with their overtime-inflated retirement pay.

(2) Believe that the Trinity Mud Puddle is a stupid idea or, at the very least, that we cannot afford it.

It's not easy to tell, but as far as I can discern, Cathy Hirt comes closest to meeting my requirements, so she will get my vote.

-- George Michael Sherry, Fort Worth

Hey, Arlington!

Check out the new website!

http://www.savearlington.com/

PCBs everywhere...and not a drop to drink

Read about the Trinity River contamination in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Oh goody, another "study". 

Some of these items were discussed at the recent NCTCOG TDML meeting (they didn't have an answer either) and the TRIP meeting Saturday.  

WHO says it's safe to swim in?  Just how contaminated will the Town Lake be?

PCBs have been in the Trinity for decades and have led to bans against consuming fish caught in the Clear Fork below the Benbrook Lake dam and the West Fork below the Lake Worth dam to the confluence of the Trinity in downtown Fort Worth. The ban then extends downstream all the way to the Freestone-Anderson county line.

PCBs degrade slowly and, if consumed over a long period, they can cause cancer and developmental problems as well as problems with the immune system, reproductive organs and liver.

Other than dredging, which would likely cause as many problems as it would solve, there have been no options for displacing them.

"It is also not seen as environmentally advantageous to dredge/remove the existing sediments especially in a river system," Grundmann said in written responses to the Star-Telegram's questions. "For these reasons, the state may look at other alternatives to a TMDL for PCBs in the Trinity River."

EPA Region 6 spokesman Dave Bary said finding an answer to PCB contamination in the Trinity "may take many years and will be resource-intensive."

"At the present time different program areas within EPA and TCEQ are working together with multiple stakeholders to address this problem in the Trinity River and other water bodies [creeks and streams] across the state," Bary said.