Panther Island Pipe Dreams

If YOU ain't got the money, sit down and shut up already.

Changing the name of the Trinity River Vision won't help, if it walks like a boondoggle...

From the Fort Worth Business Press---

Moving Forward: Schedule, name in flux, but TRV work rolls on

You can take that to the BANK

When a long serving city councilman/community leader, fire fighting, plane flying, purple heart earning man says something, LISTEN.

Just had a brief conversation with Marty, the pot calling the kettle black, Leonard.

Ms. Leonard is a member of the board of the TRWD. Marty sent a letter to voters decrying the qualifications and character of challengers, Basham, Nold, and ...Kelleher and she complained of their "negative" campaigning.

I reminded Marty the she was no more qualified than B, N, & K when she first ran. Her claim to worthiness was that she read and saved a lot of articles on water. Whoopee!

She didn't get upset over the threat of eminent domain against a couple of her wealthy neighbors, to use their land for Trinity Uptown though she criticizes a BNK backer for wanting to keep a TRWD pipeline off his property. It seems to irritate Marty and the rest of the board that the challengers are complying with TRWD and state ethics commission requirements for candidacy. Frankly, I'm tired of their whining and complaining because they can't have a free ride to re-election.

Go vote Saturday for Basham, Nold, and Kelleher. Share this with your voting friends.

Down in flames

That's how one water board incumbent seemed to go last night at group meeting last night.

There was some confusion on his part to whether or not the Tarrant Regional Water District owned a hunting lease or not.  Apparently that depends on if you call it a deer lease or call it something else.

If you were confused by it, you can read an old article from the FW Weekly on it.  They were reporting on the Water District back in the day (2006).  Too bad no one was listening.  You hear them now?  Did you hear Julie Wilson, (yes, that one) say, “We’re not going to condemn any land for economic development,”  We know several people downtown WHO know that ain't true.

Seems lots of folks at the meeting were upset with Jack Stevens as some of them helped him get elected, now they can't get him to do what he promised, which was look after them and their property. 

The three candidates, John Basham, Timothy Nold and Mark Kelleher fared much better.  Do yourself a favor and vote BNK for the water board.  Otherwise, it's business as usual. And from the looks of it, the locals have had about enough of that.  Hunting season's over.

The water board, as most people call it, has been a low-profile agency for most of the 80 years it’s been around, taking care of four dams and the lakes behind them, selling water to local cities and towns, looking out for flood concerns, and choosing its leaders in elections that often generate anemic turnout. But from time to time, especially when one of the agency’s construction projects requires the taking of private property from those who don’t want to sell, people start getting more curious — and critical — about how the district operates.

“It’s there for the recreational use of our employees,’’ says Board President Victor Henderson. “I think it’s a good thing.”

When an existing board member grew weary of service, he (and until recently all were men) would typically quit before the term was over, allowing the remaining directors to appoint a replacement who could then run for election as an incumbent. Water board elections were often held on days when public interest and turnout was light. In the late 1970s, for example, one election drew fewer than 300 voters.

But district officials say those days are long gone. In recent years, at least three board members have been elected without first having been appointed. And at least one incumbent has been defeated in a recent election. That was in 2004, when businesswoman Gina Puente-Brancato, the only woman and Hispanic to serve on the board, was defeated by retired engineer Jack Stevens.

What’s more, even if they did know when elections were being held, only a fraction of the residents served — or affected — by the agency are eligible to vote for the people who oversee it.

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?

All the newspapers...

Are finally talking about the Tim Love Woodshed deal, part of the Trinity River Vision.  (Which means more finger pointing and story changing).

The other restaurant owners in town are wishing the "news" would have done so sooner. (Kind of like the tubers of the Trinity Rockin the River events wish the "news" would have tested the water sooner).  What will all the businesses in Fort Worth say when the Trinity River Vision promotes their own over the current, established ones?

Check out the Fort Worth Business Press article.  Is it just us or do some of the answers given by J.D. Granger and Jim Lane sound different than the ones they gave in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just a little over a week ago? Last week, neither J.D. or Love could remember WHO asked whom.  Read the latest below.  Jim Lane told the S-T that the Tarrant Regional Water District board voted on it...now it's clear, no one voted on it.

Lane compares the Trinity River Vision to Lockheed Martin and Alliance Airport.  Apples and oranges.

The Trinity River Vision is all taxpayer funded (that's YOU) and has nothing to do with defense (aside from "news" articles) or planes. Nice try though.

And someone please tell these boys, this ain't San Antonio. 

After behind-the-scenes negotiations, without public input or competitive bidding, the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) has spent $970,000 of public money to build a restaurant near a popular trail head along the Trinity River. Along the way, the Water District signed a 10-year lease with celebrity chef Tim Love to run it, without a competitive bidding process.

The lease was drafted and approved by Ken Brummett, the water district’s general counsel, but not voted on by the district’s board.

TRVA Executive Director J.D. Granger, who helped search for a tenant for the restaurant, said Love proposed the profit-sharing lease rather than a standard rent agreement because fixed rents often cause problems for open-air, climate-sensitive venues.

The behind-the-scenes negotiations with Love and the terms of the lease, not to mention the lack of competitive bidding, aren’t doing much to change critics’ views that the water district is more interested in creating an economic windfall for downtown developers via the TRV than it is in doing its real job of finding new sources of water for a rapidly growing population, preserving current resources and managing flood control projects, says Clyde Picht, a former city councilman who ran for the water board opposing the Trinity River Vision plan.

___________________________________________

The Fort Worth Business Journal  "Water District takes heat over no-bid lease deal"article  also makes note of the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP) award winning documentary, Up a Creek. 

Watchdogs everywhere

The Texas Watchdog is sniffing around the Woodshed too.  Wonder what they'll turn up? 

More dirt on the dealings of the Tarrant Regional Water District or the Trinity River Vision Authority? 

Step right up and place your bets.

Taxpayers foot $970K bill for celebrity chef's smokehouse on Trinity River

Love has competed in Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters. The latter was exposed last month as being part of a pay-to-play scheme, extracting fees from cities in exchange for being used as a Top Chef location.

 

Earlier this month, Granger was derided for failing to show up at a forum at which he promised to explain the $900 million Trinity River Vision project.

 

Granger is the son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, who has been a supporter of the Trinity River development but has also been subject to nepotism accusations.

 

One question leads to another

From a concerned observer....

I have a few questions about Tim Love's new restaurant and how it relates to the TRV. I attempted to get some info from TAD. The business is listed as 3201 Riverfront Dr., but that address is not listed with TAD. Numerous properties in that area show to be owned by the water board. Was the land purchased or leased from the water board? If so what was the purchase price or how much is the rent? What is the taxable value of the land? Why is the water board involved in commercial development? I thought their purpose was flood control and water management. This deal seems as stinky as the river itself. If you do not know the answers to these questions, could you please tell me where I should direct them?

Thank You,
P B

We're waiting.....

Tell it like it is

Trinity River Vision's Cowtown Wakepark

Not just what they want to hear.

That’s what a letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram did.

A few weeks ago they asked for your opinion (as long as it matched theirs).  Kudos for Libby Willis to pointing out the obvious.

Shared sacrifice in the quest for federal fiscal sanity

Easy: Cut remaining earmarks and other federal funding for the Trinity River Vision project. And yes, that affects me personally. The project impacts negatively on Riverside Park, six blocks from where I live, and other city parks. We just learned that the city of Fort Worth must find $95 million to build a police and fire training facility because the old one is in the way of the TRV. And the $95 million will be unavailable for other city needs, including street construction and repairs, and that affects all of us.

When 15 percent of Americans are living in poverty, when unemployment is at 9.1 percent, when teachers, policemen, firemen and other public servants are being laid off because of budget cuts, it is obscene and morally repugnant to spend federal dollars on things like TRV's Cowtown Wakeboard Park. Let the private sector pay for the lavish real estate development known as TRV.

Hard choice: Incrementally raise the minimum age for Social Security retirement benefits to 68. That would affect me personally since I would begin drawing benefits three years later. Folks now have a longer life expectancy than when the 65-year age qualification was set.

-- Libby Willis, Fort Worth

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

BE THERE.

EVERYONE is invited.

Be at the Tarrant Regional Water Board Sunday March 14 to protest THE BOONDOGGLE ON TRINITY, the $1.0 billion gift of your tax dollars to wealthy developers known as the Trinity River Vision. Despite misleading claims from city officials, the federal government has NOT authorized this project ...or agreed to fund it.

Stop the madness now, before it's too late. The protest is being organized by the United Conservative Coalition of Texas and starts at 2:00 pm. Address:

800 East Northside Drive, Fort Worth

Dallas vs. Fort Worth

An anonymous donor gave $10 million dollars to the Trinity Trust Foundation and the City of Dallas for the Trinity River project.

Perhaps Fort Worth should start taking donations for their Trinity River Vision.
In a way they are, how much have YOU donated?

TIF'd off

We weren't the only one who enjoyed Martha Walker's explanation of the TIF for TRV and what it means for the community.

Another letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today.

Tarrant County needs more Martha's.

It was rewarding to see Martha Walker’s Aug. 19 letter about tax incremental financing. Martha is the kind of "straight arrow" that local government needs so very much. Her views on TIFs are informed and forceful. It is a shame that most elected officials will give away their tax power to private interests and then claim budget shortfalls and crises. Martha knows the inside story.

— Jerry Pikulinski, Arlington

Gateway to where?

Read Don Young's latest. Trust us.

A way with words

As usual, we enjoyed Durango's honest opinion about the Trinity River Vision Boondoogle. You will enjoy it, along with the interesting picture.

Read all about it on Durango's blog.

Is this thing on?

In May, we sent an email to a local news channel to their "Ask the manager" email after their TXDot story about how HOV lanes are unsafe.

We never received a response.

While we applaud you for doing the story, we wonder why you act shocked that our government puts public safety behind dollars? It happens in cities everyday. They do "virtually nothing" once problem known. They all "look at" what can be done. If you push them, their response will be, we don't have the money or it's someone else's responsibility.

How is that any different from what is going on in Fort Worth? Gas drilling...flooding...TRV. Why do you not report these issues?

And reporting on the election only on election day is a shame. Our local races affect us all directly, daily.

Gateway to ???

Gateway Park is looking to build an amphitheater on top of the abandoned water treatment plant as part of the Trinity River Vision. There were several comments from the article that stood out to us.

To build the amphitheater as designed would require $11 million to $13 million.

For $11.86 million, the city could build a 6,500-seat venue -- 3,500 permanently covered seats and 3,000 lawn seats. That would require about 2,000 parking spaces, at an additional cost of $4.43 million.

"I'm pretty confident we can raise the dollars," Harwood said. "We talked informally with people prior to our economic collapse. I think there was a big interest from name sponsors, and I think it will be there when the economy turns around."

Of the five venues, two are profitable, two have yearly losses, and the fifth did not provide information, according to the study.

The study said the Gateway amphitheater would turn its first profit, $29,861, in the seventh year. It is projected to host 26 events in the first year and 36 by the 10th year

As part of the ecosystem cleanup of the Riverside Oxbow along the Trinity River, 3 million cubic yards of dirt will be moved, with 1.5 million of those placed on top of the old Riverside Wastewater treatment plant, which is contaminated.

It doesn't seem to be the only thing contaminated around here.