As if

The story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, of the TRE leaving folks stranded in downtown Fort Worth wasn't enough, the comment left  by meganr1975, took the cake. Bravo.

Well, if the T apologized, that's all Gordon needs to be satisfied.   No need in digging any deeper into the story to see exactly what happened and what the T did to assure it doesn't happen again.  If it has to do with public transportation, Gordon, Bud, Labbe and Norman lead the charge to defend the Keystone Cops who manage the T and TRE. 

Who holds the T accountable for how they operate public transportation?  Certainly not the Star Telley.  Certainly not the Fort Worth City Council, even though they spend millions in citizen tax dollars to fund the T and TRE.  No...if its the sacred "Public Transportation Cow", our fearless elected officials and our crack team of ST reporters stick their heads back where they generally keep them.

Media MIA

If thousands of people gather at the Capitol and no one reports it, did it happen?

You bet your sweet behind it did.

Thanks to people like TXSharon, Calvin Tillman, Josh Fox and the like.

Average folks willing to protect YOUR air, water and money. 

YOU might want to pay attention.  YOU are already paying.

That boat won't float

People have asked us before why the Stockyards would be so interested in supporting the Trinity River Vision when it's very existence is supposed to bring people from all over the country to a small, polluted lake in Fort Worth?

The only answer we could ever come up with is because some of the players down there want a boat.  You know, the gambling kind.

Word on the street is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram will have an editorial tomorrow telling you how great it will be.  We're sure everyone else will be "green with envy" and the streets leading to the boat will be paved with gold.

As for the gambling, here we go again, how many years has this debate been taking place in Fort Worth?  What do you think the work around will be?  Taking bets now.

As for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial board, J.R. Labbe will no longer be at the helm.  We'd say we're going to miss her, but ...  And we shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch, that would make us like the TRVA.  WHO knows who the next Editor will be?  For once, we'd like it if the new one wasn't from Cowtown, we'd like to see how an outsider takes to all the Fort Worth "news".

Same Players...same game

We'll give you one guess WHO is being played?

In our most recent posts, the names TXDot and the U.S. Department of Transportation keep coming up.  In our posts over the years so does the Corp of Engineers, North Central Texas Council of Governments and a certain congresswoman from Texas. 

WHO do you think had a meeting and "found" some more money for what THEY wanted?  Yes, all of the above.  And WHERE do you think that money comes from?  YOU guessed it.

Somewhere in this project, flood control became an afterthought.  So did private property rights.  If you have business to do on White Settlement Road, we hear you better get it done.

All the while, the local "news" tries to sell you and cheers them on.  Anyone know the going rate for a kick back these days?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram calls it "amazing news".  They also think you are a bunch of idiots.  Someone should prove them wrong.  Notice, they "pledged to back the project".  With YOUR money.  But the "funding sources haven't been publicly identified".  Say WHAT? 

And when did flood control become a footnote?  Wasn't that the whole reason for the Trinity River Vision? 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Texas Department of Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows, Maribel Chavez, Fort Worth district engineer for the state transportation department, and Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, met late last week with U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, in Washington where they pledged to back the project, bumping its construction from 2016 to next summer.

The new funding sources for the White Settlement Road bridge have not been publicly identified.

To add insult to injury, they wrote an editorial telling you how good the Trinity River Vision and bikes are for you.  WHY would such programs increase so drastically worldwide?  It's called an agenda.  We're just sayin.

Just five years ago there were 60 such programs worldwide, according to CNNMoney.com. Today there are almost 450, including one in San Antonio.

There is no one solution to transportation problems, and urban planners must be creative and nonconventional when addressing those issues.

As federal dollars -- our dollars -- become available for some of these innovative projects, local and state officials must be in a position to apply for them and, when granted, put them to good use.

They don't read

Apparently the only thing those in Washington, D.C. read is this blog.

Therefore, we thought we'd share what some are saying about the latest Trinity River Vision Boondoogle funding scheme.

Read the comments in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Some people are paying attention. 

Where's that "Tea Party" when you need them?

That's codespeak for "we'll keep Kay and Son, along with others who will benefit from eminent domain, nepotism, and sweetheart deals in the loop"

Great project for Fort Worth, funded by state and FEDERAL money.  Gee, deep in the heart of Tea Party land where "no more federal spending" is the cry, comes the federal government to help the good folks in Cowtown improve our infrastructure.  Anyone care to complain?

More pork for the Trinity Drainage Ditch Vision and Kay and her boy.

The reasons will be many but the prime responsibility will lie at the feet of Kay Granger.

Comment from gmsherry1953...

The only time we seem to get bipartisanship any more -- in this case, an almost nauseating unanimity, among politicians and the press -- is in support of conspiracies to abuse the public.  Mommy Granger, Republican, gets the money from Ray LaHood, Republican serving for a Democratic administration, for Sonny Granger to spend in his nepotism job that should be illegal, or at least should create a conflict of interest that would bar his Mommy from even voting on bills that appropriate money for the Trinity Mud Puddle, much less taking the lead role in fetching the cash.   Money we do NOT HAVE, money that will increase deficit spending.  We are borrowing money from the Communist Chinese to build a bridge.  Not a NEEDED bridge, but a bridge that is part of a completely unnecessary boondoggle of an "economic development" program whose faulty premise is that downtown Fort Worth NEEDS to be twice as big as it is, with further faulty sub-premises that the confluence of the Trinity can be improved, and that anyone will want to be near the newly expanded waterfront of stinky green water.  All of this siphons money away from infrastructure additions and improvements that we actually NEED, for the sake of a pie in the sky scheme that, even if it succeeds, will enrich only developers.  I am still so mad about this whole deal that I could spit.  And the Star-T remains out front, cheerleading this travesty all the way.

What do ya know?

You are next.

Blue Mound is having to boil their water.

Wasn't Blue Mound the same town that feared losing businesses due to the water rate increases last year? 

Pay attention.  YOU can't afford not to, and YOU could be next.

Are YOU next?

What happens when it's YOUR water?

WHO owns YOUR water? 

In a-round-about way (some of you will get that) the Tarrant Regional Water District owns your water.  What have they been up to lately?

All things TRV. 

Read about those in Fort Worth with no water.  And "no recourse". 

Made us laugh

A Jeer in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Bait and switch is right on the money, ma'am.

Jeers: To the city of Fort Worth and the Trinity River "Vision" Project for taking what is normally an extraordinary fireworks show and turning it into whatever that was July 4. Thirty tickets purchased for the Cats game = bait and switch. Won't make that mistake again.

-- Alicia C. Miller, Arlington

Corrupt Money and politics...

In Tarrant County?  You don't say.

The letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says it all.

Reading Linda Campbell's column on Bill Bradley took me back to my 2000 race for Congress against Kay Granger. (See: "Can't Obama and Romney talk solutions?" Thursday) Young and idealistic then, I was all about political campaign reform and envisioned myself viable in a year featuring mavericky reformer John McCain (R) against fellow reformer and policy wonk Bradley (D).

Clearly, I wasn't adept at reading political tea leaves, but I still believe this is the most serious issue facing the nation, particularly following the dreadful Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

Respect for Congress and government in general are at all-time lows, and much of this well-earned disdain is attributable to the public perception that our governmental and political processes are rotten to the core, corrupted perhaps irreparably by vast sums of money injected by wealthy individuals and corporate interests.

I am particularly discouraged that the Democratic Party, which claims to represent America's working families, has not made this a paramount issue of this election cycle. I can only believe that money corrupts, and massive money corrupts massively.

Please join me in letting candidates from all parties know that we will no longer tolerate this unacceptable state of affairs.

-- Mark Greene, Fort Worth

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/20/4114551/money-corrupts-the-us-political.html#storylink=cpy

Pay attention

They are all playing the same game.  Guess WHO pays?

TTC eminent domain abuse continues

And the eminent domain abuse doesn't stop with pipeline companies. TxDOT just released a Request for Information, June 22, seeking assistance from developers to build ancillary facilities inside the SH 130 tollway in Travis County, including a gas station, garage, store, hotel, restaurant, railroad tracks, utilities, and telecommunications facilities and equipment.

In fact, the deadline for interested developers is this Wednesday, July 23. Though the Legislature thought it took care of this by removing the Trans Texas Corridor from statute last year, Section 228.053 lives on and grants TxDOT the same ability to lease out the public's right-of-way for a private, commercial use.
The naturally occurring economic development alongside our interstate freeways will disappear if the state gets away with picking the winners and losers and monopolizes all the economic development by containing it within public rights-of-way on tollways rather than among private landowners. This also has impacts to local governments who will lose their potential commercial tax base alongside our highways.

Read more on TURF.  You better protect yours.