Got Water?

The Fort Worth City Council is scheduled to approve a revised Drought Contingency Plan Tuesday night, April 1, at the 7:00 PM City Council Meeting.  The plan will make the current inflexible designated watering day restrictions year-round, in addition to making other immediate and future changes to your interior and exterior water use.  Some friends stopped by my office Saturday with a document they had to sign just to add a bathroom in their California home.  In California, you must get a permit from the local water agency to add any water fixture, even a toilet, and to get the permit you must modify the deed on your house to bind yourself and any future purchasers to the water agency’s water ordinances.  It’s extreme government control.  I think that is where Fort Worth is heading and will be in 20 years.

Government does not have to be this heavy-handed to promote water conservation.  There is a better way.  I will speak against the part of the Drought Contingency Plan that makes the current restrictions year-round and recommend the Council postpone the vote to consider the Woodard Plan, which is attached.  I only get three minutes unless 9 others agree to show up and actually do show up. They must arrive before the meeting starts at 7:00 and stay until after the issue is decided.  To be safe, they should plan on being at the meeting until 10PM.

Please let me know if you or family members will definitely commit to attending Tuesday night’s meeting.  If they will come, please give me their names and e-mail address.  I must enter their name in my registration on the city’s website, and I would like to do that by 7PM Monday night.  Even if you decide to show up at the last minute, I will appreciate your attendance and support.

Regards,
Blake Woodard

Don't be a Dud!

Come to the event tonight and hear from local candidates!  Ask questions!  Get educated!  Hear what "the media" doesn't want you to hear!

Disposal wells in Texas

WHERE are they?  Is there one near YOU?

Check it out here.

No "news"

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and WFAA are teaming up to "share" news.  More pack reporting, we can hardly wait.

Good thing those in DFW don't expect much in the way of "news".

One of the comments on ST sums it up pretty well:

Not good for the news consumer. Sharing eats into the overall product. There was a time when no self-respecting newspaper would do this. But, yeah, times have changed. I question the use of the adjective "heavyweights" as referenced in this story. The S-T is an okay paper, at best, and WFAA, itself, is not what it used to be. JMHO...

Hey, Star-Telegram, your bias is hanging out...

Again.

We've given them a few days to get caught up on the "news" but somehow they just don't.  We're betting that's why they don't get more customers.

The Fort Worth Weekly and The Fort Worth Business Press both reported on the ongoing Tarrant Regional Water District lawsuits, at the Texas Supreme Court and Federal Appellate levels.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram?  They reported on permanent water restrictions and an eminent domain pipeline that will take water to...Dallas.

Seriously?  WHO runs the paper?  HOW long will it last?

Read the news in the FW Biz Press here -

After suffering recent setbacks in state and federal district courts in Fort Worth, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Texas Supreme Court have both ordered expedited document filings in the two separate lawsuits seeking elections.

“This is very unusual,” said Christopher Kratovil, who is representing the Rev. Kyev Tatum and his relatives in the federal appeal and John Basham and other activists in the state lawsuit. “It’s unusual to get an expedited briefing in one appeals court but I’ve never seen it happen in two courts in essentially the same case.

“I think it shows there are some questions about how the TRWD has been operating,” he said.

“We believe that the federal court erred and that the seats should be filled by election rather than selection,” Kratovil said.

YOU are invited

Bring YOUR friends.
And YOUR kids.
They will thank you.

Trinity Failure

Trinity Boulevard has been shut down in Fort Worth due to 'road failure'.

What's going to happen when they try to move the river?

Free. Today!

Come on out!

What's the difference? Part 2

What's the difference in Fort Worth and Denton?

Fracking everything.

Kudos, Denton!

Thanks for the Memories

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your many years of support. As many of you already know, after 17 years in the Texas Legislature, my campaign for re-election for a 10th term as your State Representative came up short by just 111 votes. The last minute influx of pro-charter school money into my opponent’s campaign through the front group Education Reform Now—run by Wall Street hedge fund managers—was the silver bullet that ended my tenure of staunch support for our public schools and quality education for our children.

Every Session I spent as your Representative we made great strides towards equality and justice for the people of District 90 and Texas. Now more than ever, it is important that we keep a watchful eye on the Texas Legislature. Education Reform Now has a specific agenda—to help private companies make profit by redirecting public education dollars to charter schools. With so many billions of dollars at stake here…what they put into elections in Texas is chump change.

Because of the over $35,000 Education Reform Now poured into the campaign against me, my opponent will receive significant pressure to vote to undermine our public schools by redirecting the money towards charters.

But I am not finished and I will be spending the coming months holding Romero, Education Reform Now and other special economic interests accountable.

Please help me do this by making a contribution to my severely depleted political account so I can bird-dog and raise the alarm about those who see this time as an opportunity to dismantle our public education system.

Beyond that, rest assured that I do not intend to "go quietly into the night". I have ten months left as a state representative and I intend to use every bit of it. Even after I leave office, I will continue to fight for public education, healthcare for all, civil rights and environmental justice as a public citizen.

It has been my distinct honor to serve in the Texas House, even when the Texas House wasn't always honorable. Thanks for the memories, you'll be hearing from me again soon. You can count on it.