How do you figure?

The editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram left us shaking our heads, again.  The editor says this is the only Private/ Public Partnership (P3) that won't work.  Although, it is a project that is a direct result of their fist-pumping, paper-loving Trinity River Vision (a completely taxpayer funded project). 

They go on to say a good thing about P3's is "no bond election needed".  An election concerning a project in Fort Worth?  Not building something until you have the money?  YOUR own money?  Foreign concept around these parts.  (See the accompanying article," Fort Worth working to find $3.3 million dollars to redevelop Hunter Plaza" . )

A citizen commented on the way the Police and Fire Training Academy could be funded.  They get it.

They may try to get "Junior" Granger and "Mama" to front the deal as the citizens will pay when they're through with "Mama's Legacy"!!!!

Of all the capital projects on Cowtown's ever-expansive list of wants, this is the only one with a clock ticking.

The city sold the fire and police training building and the firing range at 1000 Calvert St. in 2011 to the Tarrant Regional Water District. Both departments still have access to those facilities under leases, but the contract on the firing range runs out Dec. 31, 2013. (The lease for the training building doesn't expire until the end of 2019.)

Texas Vs. Oklahoma

Politex quoted an Associated Press article concerning the Tarrant Regional Water District and their lawsuit against Oklahoma to take their water.

The same Tarrant Regional Water District that is committing you to a billion dollar economic development project and just voted to give themselves another year in office.

Seems THE PEOPLE in Oklahoma may get to vote on what their state does with their water.  What a concept.

And what do you know?  The Fort Worth Way doesn't work across state lines.

Ellis, who is based in water-rich Southeastern Oklahoma has been one of the most vocal opponents of water sales to Texas and said the future of Oklahoma water should not be decided in private meetings between politicians and Texans.

Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/politex/2012/01/bill-would-give-oklahomans-the-right-to-vote-on-any-texas-water-sale.html#storylink=cpy

More Culture of Corruption

From the Tarrant County breeding ground.  Via Watchdog Nation.

And in the Watchdog's column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth retirees double dipping is described as "common".  Well, these folks learn from the best. 

UPDATE: In January 2012, federal prosecutors announced that Spencer Barasch, formerly chief enforcement officer in the Fort Worth, Texas office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had agreed to pay $50,000 to settle charges that he violated federal conflict-of-interest standards by providing representation for financier R. Allen Stanford, the Associated Press reported.

Barasch is now a partner with the Dallas law firm, Andres Kurth LLP.

Malcolm Bales, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said the fine, the maximum amount allowed under law, shows that the government is serious about cracking down on former federal officials who attempt to us their influence in the private sector, the AP reported.

Bales said, “There should be zero tolerance for people who serve the public and then go into the private sector and use [that service] for personal benefit,” he said, according to the AP.

Remember when

We said Place your bets on WHO will end up with LaGrave field?

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, your bet is about to pay off.  Notice there is always a "but".  The taxpayers will then own a restaurant and a ball field.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, reiterated that the authority and the water district have no interest in running a team or owning a stadium. But he said the agencies might consider buying the property if it is auctioned on the courthouse steps.

That wasn't even in the article about the Cats and LaGrave field.  That was in the article about the contaminated site clean up.

The environmental director for the TRWD talks about long term health risks.  Is this the same one WHO forgot to test the water in the Trinity River before promoting to the citizens to float with filth?

How much was budgeted for environmental clean up, again?

As part of a "dig and haul" project, crews are loading heavy metals buried years ago at the site of the former American Cyanamid chemical plant and trucking them to a landfill in the Hill County town of Itasca.

For the Tarrant Regional Water District and its political subdivision, the Trinity River Vision Authority, this is the first of at least 15 environmental projects that are expected to be completed within five years to make room for the $909 million flood control and economic development project.

"If you want to have residential use, then you need to clean it up to higher level so that long-term risk at the site is minimized," said Woody Frossard, the water district's environmental director.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, reiterated that the authority and the water district have no interest in running a team or owning a stadium. But he said the agencies might consider buying the property if it is auctioned on the courthouse steps.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/05/3573053/contaminated-soil-being-removed.html#storylink=cpy

WHO do you Love?

The Fort Worth Business Press has a follow up article on the Tim Love Woodshed on the Trinity River.  We've added our own questions.  YOU should too. 

Calls to David Hall and Randal Harwood at the Fort Worth planning and development department requesting information about the code compliance issues were not returned. Love also did not return calls.

WHY is that?  Hello...?  Anyone there?

The Woodshed was scheduled to open on Labor Day, then in October, and then last week, but Love told questioners on Twitter that the opening is several weeks away and that the outdoor deck “might” be opened in mid-January to attract visitors to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.


“He’s a world-class chef; he’s famous,” Lane said. “This was a business proposition, trying to stimulate interest in the river and in Fort Worth. Sit and watch, there’ll be money made for the regional water district.”

Was Lane elected to promote famous people or protect those WHO elected him?  WHEN did the Tarrant Regional Water District change its mission to "make money"?

That might answer a few questions about why a water district – without competitive bidding or a vote by its board of directors – would spend nearly $1 million to build a restaurant and sign a 10-year contract with Tim Love to manage it.

Information about the deal was made public after Texas Public Information Act requests by the Fort Worth Business Press and was featured in a story in the Dec. 5 edition.

WHY would that be?  Wonder WHAT else could be learned from more requests?  Ask YOUR local media. 

The Woodshed restaurant is located at 3201 Riverfront Drive, near the Fort Worth Zoo and University Park Village shopping center, on land the water district owns. Instead of paying rent on the building, Love will pay a percentage of the restaurant’s total sales to the Trinity River Vision, a subsidiary of the TRWD. Love also is responsible for utilities, maintenance and upkeep of the building.

A taxpayer purchased, risk free restaurant in a floodplain, next to the contaminated Trinity River, on land owned by the Tarrant Regional Water District...WHAT could possibly go wrong with that?

He was recruited for the deal by J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority and the son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth), a proponent for the TRV development and flood-control project along the river.

Proponent made us laugh.  The following says it all:

“Whether it’s an abatement, TIF, public/private partnership, getting favorable changes in the law to reduce private risk – it never stops,” Picht said. “TRV is in a class by itself for getting so much public money from so many sources while having no transparency, no hope of keeping within budget, no competent management, and no hope of producing the product that was advertised in the original concept plan.” he said.

Water district officials say the criticism is unwarranted. The idea behind the TRV always has been to reintegrate the Trinity River back into the city and make it a centerpiece of economic development, they say.

Funny, we thought the plan was always "flood control".  Oops. 

Taxpayers aren’t footing the bill for the restaurant, Oliver said. “The project was paid for with oil and gas revenues so it didn’t impact the portion of our budget funded by taxpayers,” he said.

Those revenues, however, come from gas wells located on public land owned by the water district. 

Duh.  

That's weird...

FW Weekly wonders why the Fort didn't make the weird list.  Yeah, us too.

City leaders took such pride in Fort Worth being named one of the country’s most livable large cities of the 2000s, and then invited gas drillers to invade neighborhoods. That’s pretty weird.

Or how about those Trinity River Vision players inviting residents to come swim in the Trinity River near downtown and watch concerts? That’s odd seeing as how the water has long been considered feces infested and filthy and was untested at the time of the invitations.

Now WHY would that be?

The Lone Star International Film Festival is currently taking place in downtown Fort Worth.

We checked everywhere and couldn't find a listing for Up A Creek, the locally made, award winning film about downtown Fort Worth.

Ironic?

Trinity River Safety

Another idea from THE PEOPLE.  These people should be involved in planning the Trinity River Vision.  Sounds like they need some help.

Read the letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

River safety

The next dime spent toward developing the Trinity River must include safety equipment to assist the rescue of people drawn to the river. State law requires a public pool to have a life preserver, rescue pole and phone; all inexpensive safety equipment, compared to a human life.

"Trinity Guardians" can be anyone who can throw a life preserver or extend a pole to save a drowning person. Reach out to fraternities, sororities, scouts, environmentalists and rescue groups. Install several small but strategically placed safety stations, sponsored by local businesses that donate the needed equipment. Float purple frogs in the water; just do something besides studying the issue.

I am ready to donate so that no other child will lose a parent and no other parent will lose a child.

-- Gail K. Tidwell, Fort Worth

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.

It Can Happen Anywhere

Two more children dead due to an amoeba they contracted by swimming in a river.  A teenage girl in Florida and a young boy in Virginia.

Last year in Texas, a young boy died from the same brain eating amoeba, Primary Amoebic Meningoecephalitis (PAM).  This amoeba thrives in slow moving and stagnant water, including rivers. His parents have started a foundation in his name. The Kyle Lewis Amoeba Awareness Foundation.

Bless all these kids and their families.  And bless Kyle's family for trying to protect others.

Let's hope no one who's "Tubing the Trinity" (or Rocking on the River) contracts this deadly disease which has no cure.  Seems a "news" station was going to do a story on that very thing last year.  Wonder WHO told them not to?

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.

Trinity River Sewage Water

A Texas Tribune story about the Trinity River made the New York Times a few weeks ago.  Too bad Texans aren't listening.

Thank goodness the Watchdog was.

Next time Granger and Company - the Trinity River Vision Authority, City of Fort Worth, the Tarrant Regional Water District, the 7th Street gang, tells you to come on down and tube the Trinity River, you might want to remember this...

The state has a number of projects that send treated sewage water back into major water systems, albeit somewhat less directly. One of the newer ones is in the Tarrant Regional Water District, which serves Fort Worth, Arlington and a few other cities. The project, in operation since 2009, sends some water from the Trinity River (which is highly polluted, due partly to discharges from wastewater-producing plants, including Fort Worth’s) through a specially constructed wetland area and into a reservoir, where it will be reused in the water system. That project is set to expand over the coming decade.

You might also notice, the above mentioned tend to stay on the banks on the river.