WHO is the COG?

Earlier we said we'd tell you WHO the NCTCOG was. We figured we'd let them do it.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is a voluntary association of, by and for local governments, and was established to assist local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit, and coordinating for sound regional development. NCTCOG's purpose is to strengthen both the individual and collective power of local governments and to help them recognize regional opportunities, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and make joint decisions.

NCTCOG serves a 16-county region of North Central Texas, which is centered around the two urban centers of Dallas and Fort Worth. NCTCOG has over 230 member governments including 16 counties, numerous cities, school districts, and special districts.

Each member government appoints a COG voting representative from its governing body. These voting representatives make up the General Assembly, which annually elects the Executive Board. The Executive Board, composed of 13 locally elected officials, is the policy-making body for all activities undertaken by the Council of Governments, including program activities and decisions, regional plans, and fiscal and budgetary policies. The Board is supported by technical, study, and policy development committees and a professional staff headed by Mike Eastland, Executive Director.

Membership in the Council of Governments is voluntary and is determined by passage of a resolution and the payment of dues, and is open to the following eligible members:

1. Any county in the North Central Texas State Planning Region as determined by the Office of the Governor, State of Texas.
2. All incorporated cities, municipalities, towns, and villages within the North Central Texas State Planning Region, as determined by the Office of the Governor, State of Texas.
3. Independent School, Hospital, Water and Sewer, and other
special-purpose districts within the North Central Texas State Planning Region, as determined by the Office of the Governor, State of Texas.

Each member is entitled to one (1) voting representative, but may send as many delegates as desired to Council meetings. The voting representative is an elective public official appointed by and from the governing body of the member government.

NCTCOG is a political subdivision of the State of Texas, but has no regulatory power or other authority possessed by cities, counties or other local governments. NCTCOG's decisions are not binding on member governments, but are considered and adopted as members' needs require. As a political subdivision, NCTCOG is subject to state laws governing open meetings, access to public records and conduct of public officials.

While their mission makes sense, some things don't. If we are reading this right, this is a non-government entity made up of local governments in which they must pay to be a part of. (With your money). They then make desicions which are not binding nor funded?

Where will you be?

The Quad cities fireworks show will be held in the same location as years past.
It's usually been a good show, providing somewhere close for those living in North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, Watauga, and Haltom City to watch fireworks. The show seemed to improve last year, we wonder what this year will bring since the fireworks will be set off next to a gas drilling rig.

(Is this safe?)

If you are going, you can park at the Wiley G. Thomas Coliseum on Broadway, or the Richland Plaza shopping center on Hwy 26. The Coliseum sells refreshments and a church in Richland Plaza usually has something for the kids to do.

If you go to Coliseum, look towards Arlington. On a clear day, you can see the "8th Wonder of the World", also known as the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Happy 4th of July!

Cleburne shakes again...

Friday night there was yet another earthquake in Cleburne. For those of you keeping score, that's six in a month.

Arlington had one in May and Irving had two in October.
Before these, the last earthquake in Texas was in 1997.

SMU researchers are in Cleburne trying to determine whether or not gas drilling is the culprit for the quakes. The industry says it's not. Some seismologist disagree. It will be interesting to see how this one shakes out.

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.

Housing Department Shrinking

We recently mentioned the Fort Worth HUD fiasco and the questionable companies formed by city council members and Housing department employees. This was all thanks to the work of the FW Weekly.

They have done a follow up as another one bites the dust.

Another Head Rolls in Housing Dept

by Jeff Prince

This post written by Betty Brink

In the ongoing saga of the Fort Worth Housing Department scandal, another of fired director Jerome Walker’s cohorts has been shown the door. City communications staffer Diane Covey wrote in an email today that the latest person to go is Donald Cager, once the right-hand man to Walker and his partner in a controversial deal in which the two formed a non-profit construction company, first called City Construction, Inc., and then Fort Worth Construction Company, under the umbrella of the non-profit Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp., a city-owned financing mechanism that used federal funds to build or rehabilitate housing for low- to medium-income families, and to provide low-interest loans to the occupants under a plethora of federal programs aimed at reducing poverty.

Cager resigned on Friday, she wrote. That makes him the fifth person in the department to either be fired or to resign, including Walker. Several more are on probation, according to Jason Lamers, head of the city’s communication department.

Sources in the department, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told the Weekly that Cager was forced out. One also said that an investigator from the U. S. Housing and Urban Development Department’s Office of Inspector General announced to the staff last week that the OIG was investigating the department and that anyone with information about fraud should call him. He promised that their jobs would be protected, the source said.

As Walker’s second-in-command, Cager oversaw the construction or rehabilitation of houses for low-income families using the city-sponsored construction company to do the work and financing the construction or repairs with federal funds. The company has been accused by whistle blowers from the department of getting work that was not put out for bids, as required by state and federal regulations, and completing jobs without city permits or city inspections, another violation of HUD rules as well as the city’s regulations. Shoddy construction practices and bypassing the city’s own permitting regulations were two of the reasons given by Walker’s boss, housing and economic development director Jay Chapa, for firing him.

Cager, a former employee of HUD, could not be reached for comment.

Al is back

Al Armendariz had a very interesting article in the Dallas Morning News today. (Actually two years ago, though the only thing changed so far is the EPA directors listed below).

The entire article is informative, you can read it here, for our readers that like the highlights only, see below. Especially the last section - send it to everyone you know that breathes.

"Why is the ozone problem going away? The state of Texas said so".

The state's short-term data show that ozone levels are actually increasing in Tarrant, Denton and Parker counties.

•The state has submitted numerous failed ozone plans for our area, including in 1976, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Each has not only been a state failure but also a failure by the federal government, since the EPA approved each plan.

It is time for the failure to stop. We pay high taxes and deserve better service from our government administrators and scientists. The EPA should not approve the plan submitted by the state and instead require a new one with emission reductions that ensure that our area will meet the ozone standard.

Everyone who breathes should contact Steve Page, EPA director of the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards and Richard Greene, EPA regional administrator and tell them that it is time for the state to submit a real clean-air plan for our area.

Texas Earthquakes

Here's a new item from one of our regular contributors. It's not just Cleburne, there's a whole lot of shaking going on...

Here's something new. Kind of a Jules Vernian true story that connects fracking and earthquakes, this time with clean energy drilling. There's even some conflict of interest and corporate shenanigans involved and new fears that California could fall into the sea.

A couple of key comments near the end:

"But the obscure nature of earthquakes always gives companies an out."

"If they were creating tornadoes they would be shut down immediately. But because...you can't see it...they keep doing it."

The interactive graphic is interesting and educational. Read today's New York times article here.

America's Crumbling Infrastructure

"America's infrastructure is collapsing. Tens of thousands of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of the nation's highways are in poor or mediocre shape. Massively leaking water and sewage systems are creating health hazards and contaminating rivers and streams. Weakened and under-maintained levees and dams tower over communities and schools. And the power grid is increasingly maxed out, disrupting millions of lives and putting entire cities in the dark. The Crumbling of America explores these problems using expert interviews, on location shooting and computer generated animation to illustrate the kinds of infrastructure disasters that could be just around the bend." This is the description of the History Channel's documentary. We can only hope elected officials watched last night, if not tell them to watch the rerun.

Below are a few comments from the program you might find interesting.

Levees:
"No one really knows how many bad levees there are in America, incredibly the United States didn't begin compiling a national inventory for levees until after Katrina. It will take years to complete. Meanwhile officials have no reliable way knowing where the levees are or what condition their in. If we cant even identify who is responsible for all these levees we can't begin to fix them, maintain them and upgrade them to provide protection to the general public".


Leaking sewer lines:
"No one notices underground water pipes until they burst. Cities are sitting on time bombs, people have to die before it becomes national agenda".


Bridges:
A survivor of the I35 bridge collapse said, "To think a thing like that could happen in a major metropolitan area is beyond belief".

Mayor of Dover said:
"It's unfathomable that any group of people would say, no we'll wait til later to fix it when lives are in danger. It would be absolute catastrophe".

Sounds like another case..."Nothing was ever done, it just got worse".

WHO's responsible?

Classic example of something going terribly wrong and all the agencies meant to protect, just pass the buck while pointing and blaming each other.

The cows that died in LA from drinking water that had to do with gas drilling, well it looks like nothing will be done...

Sad isn't it?

Veto Governor Perry?

Governor Rick Perry vetoed many things today. It must be the gas drilling industry's birthday. Read what the word on the street is below.

When will it stop?

"HB2572 does nothing more than remove a city's right to refuse access under or along public streets and/or rights of way. With this legislation (as I read it) makes the pipeline under properties on Carter Avenue....or any city street....a certainty. This legislation even removes the necessity of the "gas corporation" to be a public utility".

"Remember we warned you, and you can bet with the current city leadership, we will not sue the state over this BS!"

"I think you are exactly right. It sounds to me like this also includes parkland or any other public property. No more getting council approval for anything to do with pipelines. By signing one bill and vetoing the other Perry gave the best gift possible to the industry."

You can read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper here.