Heritage Park Update

Courtesty of Durango. 

And the Amon G. Carter Foundation.

Jeers to OUR Water District

Saturday in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Cheers and Jeers we noticed one for the Tarrant Regional Water District.

This isn't the only reason they need a jeer.  And sorry, dear Jeer writer, they are too busy with the Trinity River Vision and partnering with "semi-governmental groups" to promote floating in the river they should be cleaning up.  Priorities.

Jeers: To Tarrant Regional Water District for not fixing a signage problem after a week's worth of calls, texts and photos of a dangerous construction site located on the Trinity River bike path.


-- Sherri Smith, Fort Worth

In the news...

The Tarrant Regional Water District popped up in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram twice today.  We are betting we see it more in the near future.

The low-water dam is one of three in Trinity Park that feature chutes or channels. The dams are maintained by the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Water district officials are gathering facts surrounding Monday's drowning.

"As we do with all tragedies of this nature, we will gather facts and evaluate how the public accesses this low-water dam," spokesman Chad Lorance said.

The district maintains 16 low-water dams throughout the Fort Worth floodway, which covers the Trinity River from downtown to near Camp Carter on the West Fork, and to Southwest Boulevard on the Clear Fork. The three low-water dams in Trinity Park are the only ones to feature chutes.

The chutes are used by kayakers, but the district said they weren't built for recreation.

"The low-water dams are built to slow the flow of the river and to serve as a sediment retention area," Lorance said.

The water moving through the chutes appears to move more quickly than other areas of the river, but whether the chutes played a part in Monday's drowning is unknown.

"We are still gathering the facts of this tragedy," Lorance said. "We don't know what if any part the chutes may have played in this incident."

Adelaide Leavens, executive director of Streams and Valleys Inc., a nonprofit that helps fund recreational development along the Trinity, said the river varies from wading depth to as deep as 10 feet. Storm runoff can increase flows greatly.

Water district officials said that on Monday the flow was minimal through the section of the river in question.

And again when the Fort Worth Cats are mentioned, the Water District isn't far behind.

The move comes after the bank was paid from Bell's $17.5 million sale last month of 38 acres south of the stadium to the Tarrant Regional Water District. Amegy had posted the property for the March foreclosure auction in the wake of the default.

The water district said it will use some of the land for rights of way, canals, easements, parkland and levee work as part of the Trinity River Vision flood control and economic development project.

The water district also bought 4 acres from Michael Balloun of Arlington. Bell sold that tract to Balloun in March and used the proceeds to begin paying tens of thousands of dollars he owed to vendors and others.

Bell also has a 10-year lease with the water district on some land to be used for stadium parking.

"We have put things in place going forward that ensure LaGrave Field and the Cats will be a part of the development and part of Trinity Uptown for decades to come," Bell said.

Bell bought the greater LaGrave tract in 2007 from the city of Fort Worth. He once planned a multimillion-dollar residential and retail development, but the recession and other factors halted that development.

Imagine that...

The Fort Worth Business Press has an article today that you can't afford to miss.

Tarrant County may be eminent domain capital

In Tarrant County, eminent domain is a way of life.

“It really goes to the growth of the region,” O’Brien said. “Meaning the infrastructure that is needed now to support that growth has to be built and it’s happenstance that TxDOT has gotten its funding for this region. Then when you add in Trinity River Vision and Barnett Shale, you have a lot of eminent domain coming this way.”

Don't Mess with Durango

Durango has been having a time with either a city, industry or water shill as of late. They informed him he was uninformed, so in usual Durango fashion he went out to learn more. That's when he learned he is not uninformed and a few other things.

To you boys out on the levee, like we said...Don't mess with Durango.

When nothing is ever done...

It just gets worse.

And WHO is informing you? The media? Nope.
Durango. Again.

Check it out.
It's happening everywhere.
No one is exempt.

Watchdogs and Horned Frogs

Dang it! I want a replay.

The mighty TCU Horned Frog football team lost the Fiesta Bowl to Boise State last Monday causing purple tears to flow like a river in Dirty Ol' Town. But don't blame the team. They were jinxed by Mayor Moncrief and cheated by the Barnett Shale.

Mayor Mikey's dumb idea to dye the Trinity River purple in honor of the Frogs was bad enough. Any scientist could have told him that. They could have also told him that Fort Worth air is so polluted from Barnett Shale gas drilling it's a wonder the team made it to the bowl game.

But, in his defense, Mayor Mikey can't help it. He's science-challenged.

Even though he was raised on oil and gas, his income depends on oil and gas and he's the mayor of the largest city in the USA to allow urban gas drilling he was dumfounded to recently learn that natural gas drilling is dangerous to human health.

He was shocked to discover that benzene and other toxic by-products of drilling are polluting north Texas air on a massive scale (not to mention our water and land). But he claims to be very concerned about the residents and quality of life in Fort Worth. He wants more testing done, dadgumitt, and he wants the State of Texas to do it with help from the polluters.

But, sorry, no moratorium on new drilling permits, says the mayor. We can't risk getting sued by the drillers. Besides, his income depends on the drilling. (Uh-oh!)

The university itself deserves some of the credit for TCU students and players getting a daily dose of benzene. They have been cheerleading the Barnett Shale for years. Maybe that's because several alumni own one of the largest drilling companies in FW.

As a result of their influence and the lure of Dirty Dollars, TCU set up the TCU Energy Institute, basically a lobbying group for gas drillers opposed to regulation and drilling reform.

If we keep waiting for drillers to do the right thing, we will all end up like the endangered Texas Horned Lizard. Don't it make your purple heart blue?


DY


PS: After you've had a good cry, write a letter to or call TCU Chancellor, Victor Boschini and tell him how you feel about TCU's support of gas drilling.

Chancellor@tcu.edu
817-257-7783


Still mad? Tell Mayor Moncrief to stop issuing drilling permits until the industry learns how to Drill Right:

Mike.Moncrief@fortworthgov.org
817-392-6118



Don Young
FWCanDo
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147
http://www.fwcando.org
"God bless Fort Worth, Texas. Help us save some of it."

What happens when the levees break?

You don't want to know.

Why would levees not be maintained in the first place?

Years later Louisiana residents are still asking that question. Those in Combine, TX are asking it now.

Check out CBS11 for the scoop.

"If it's not fixed, no telling what would happen" says resident Floy Ballantine.

City officials say board members who were supposed to maintain the levee left their positions, leaving nobody in charge.

Now, the town is scrambling to get help from the county and the Army Corps of Engineers.

More Trinity Trash

WFAA had back to back stories on the Trinity River in Dallas and Fort Worth. The stories don't seem to be online yet, so we'll give you the rundown.

In Dallas, the levee collapse at I-35 and Regal Row seems to be causing some concern. The culprit? A water leak in the city utility line.

Two other sections have collapsed in the upper West levees in the past few weeks, but that is blamed on Mother Nature herself.

Over in Fort Worth, money is being given to improve Riverside Park, IF the neighborhood is willing to let it flood. Trinity River Vision wants to excavate the parkland 16 feet lower than it already is.

Neighborhood leaders are concerned about the already limited green space and the contaminants that would be left behind. The city isn't.

The Trinity River Vision Authority and the City of Fort Worth are holding a meeting Tuesday for residents. They say if they really don't want it, they will find other land to use as flood storage.

They said WHAT? Is that part of the Trinity River Master Plan? What other land? How will they obtain other land?

The meeting details are listed below. Lots of meetings tomorrow. Be there! And then share your story with Texas Lone Star!

Share your ideas about a new master plan for Riverside Park, 501 Oakhurst Scenic Drive, at a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at Fort Worth Harvest Church, 620 N. Chandler Drive. Residents can discuss and help determine recreational features that would be most desirable to the community. A Spanish interpreter will be available.

Reasons...

Part of the reason we started a blog - We were tired of the news not telling the truth.

We aren't the only ones...read about the failed purple river project and it's contradictions here.

If the head of the Tarrant Regional Water District "doesn't know" specifics about what he's dumping in the Trinity/Horned Frog river, do we really want these people rerouting it?

Another reason...

We are thankful for Durango.

He's always out and about showing us what is going on in the city.

We didn't realize he had yet to have the honor of hearing Mayor Moncrief speak in person until today. Today being the day the Mayor poured chemicals into the Trinity River that he renamed Horned Frog River.

Read what Durango had to say about this close encounter here.

Trinity on TV Monday

Check out KERA for the schedule. Or read some here, Living With the Trinity. Interesting stuff.

Texas Flooding Again

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has reported the Trinity River will rise above flood stage by early Thursday morning. It will then crest at 34 feet. The last time this happened was 9-11-2007.

They also said streams and creeks are already full from the earlier rain and heavy downpours are expected through midnight.

We hear they are having some flooding problems on Northside Drive in Fort Worth as well as in Keller, and part of the Haltom City trailer park was evacuated, again. Same places as in 2007.

Remember what happens when, nothing was ever done.

Another day

Another sewer line break in Fort Worth. Only 20,000 gallons of sewage and 200 fish dead so far. We'd give you more information, but there isn't any. Maybe the Trinity River Vision leaders can answer your questions.

"Boundaries don't protect rivers, people do"

If you haven't checked out
Citizens Who Care

on our link list, you should.
We don't know WHO they are, but we like them.

Father's Day Flood

If you don't remember the Father's Day floods, you're not from around here. Two years ago it started raining and didn't stop for weeks. If you weren't flooding, you knew someone who was. Lives and homes were destroyed. It should have been a wake up call to local governments to correct the issues, we don't think they were listening.

Interesting video, don't miss the credits. We believe this home is close to the location of the Extreme Home Makeover home that was also destroyed in this flood.

Letter to the Editors

We know you are out there (at least a couple of you are) and we want to hear from you.


Send us a letter, take your choice of topics: recent city election, Cleburne earthquakes, area flooding, gas drilling, Trinity River boondoggle, eminent domain, City money mismanagement...there is never a shortage of topics around here.


We won't share your email address (our sources remain confidenital unless noted), though if you are concerned about it, leave your letter as a comment and we'll post it for you, no email required.


See yesterday's post for an example of an excellent letter. Tell us more!

Cheers...

to George Michael Sherry and his excellent letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper.

Nothing ever changes

Are most of us content with government?

Are those who complain a small minority? Or do we fail to hold individual officeholders responsible for their collective actions?

This applies to all levels of government, but I’ll cite the Fort Worth City Council.

Letters to the editor criticize the Trinity Uptown boondoggle, neglect of Heritage Park, tax breaks to businesses, favoritism toward gas drillers and the fiasco of the Texas Motor Speedway mineral rights — and say, "Throw the bums out."

The Star-Telegram criticizes years-late audits, granting special negotiating rights to the police and firefighters, and failures of the housing department that may lead to loss of federal funds. Yet when we have a chance to throw the bums out, the Star-Telegram recommends re-electing them all, and the voters do so.

Do we recognize that as a group the City Council is screwing up miserably — but when we examine the records of the individual council members, neither the voters nor the Star-Telegram Editorial Board holds them accountable for those failures? Or do most people think that none of the screw-ups are important, and that everything is just spiffy?

All I know is, we say, "Throw the bums out" a lot, but when we have a chance, we don’t do it.

— George Michael Sherry, Fort Worth

We hear ya.

Another case of -

"Nothing was ever done, it just got worse".

Dallas neighborhoods near the levees were flooded due to pumps not working.

The city council voted earlier this week to spend $26 million dollar on a study of the levees. Sylvia Lagos says, she "doesn't need a study, its been flooding since she was a kid, FIX IT".

There's a thought.

The river is suppose to crest at its highest point since the 1970's Friday.