That's me, on my new bike seat, today, on the River Legacy Park paved trail, on the north side of Hurricane Creek.I had the biggest surprise at River Legacy Park today since a guy laying out Barnett Shale seismic testing equipment almost killed me with his Off Road Vehicle, riding fast, the wrong way, on the one way River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail.
Previously to almost being a Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling fatality I'd been surprised on the same trail by my first encounter with a Bobcat. At that point in time I did not realize a Bobcat is as harmless as a house cat. So, I biked away at top speed, probably screaming like a school girl. That Bobcat encounter was the scariest critter encounter since 2002 when a Snapping Turtle tried to kill me in Lake Grapevine. I have also had an armadillo encounter or two at River Legacy. As well as some close calls with snakes. Neither the armadillo or snake encounters have been life threatening.
Today's shocking surprise at River Legacy was not an animal or human trying to kill me. Instead it was human activity of a different sort.
I know I've biked at River Legacy within the past 3 months. I'm sure of that. But, in the short time since I'd last been there, much has changed. All was fine as I pedaled along the trail that runs along the south side of the Trinity River. As I pedaled across the bridge to the north side I saw that the boat launch that had been under construction the last time I saw it, was now finished and about 20 from the low water river.
About a quarter mile from that point the trail crosses under the Collins Street Bridge. As soon as I came out the other side I was startled by what I saw. Chain-link construction fencing right up against the trail. And bulldozed dirt as far as I could see. The chain-link fencing along side the trail continued for several miles. It is aesthetically displeasing.
But even more aesthetically displeasing is all the dirt that is being moved around. It appears roads are being built. I knew there was to be a development near the Bird's Fort area towards the end of the paved trail, where there is a big buffer of trees. But, this development I saw today is right up against the River Legacy Park Trail.
There are huge piles of huge pipes laying on the ground with the trench for the pipeline being dug. You can clearly see where the pipeline is going to run. Right under the River Legacy Park trail and then across the Trinity River and under a golf course.
One of the reasons I like this trail is it feels like you've left the city. But today I heard loud screeching noises that I thought were some sort of siren. The noise turned out to be coming from a piece of heavy equipment. There were several bulldozer, earth mover type things, with several of them busy working today.
Where this development is taking place I thought was a flood plain. There are several lakes that are the result of when the river floods. Those lakes are all low due to the drought. Both Hurricane Creek and Boyd Branch have been totally dried up for a long time. But when the Trinity River floods I've seen an incredible amount of water running through those creeks to the flood plain. Or what I thought was a flood plain.How did this come about without me reading about it? How could Arlington let such a special area be ruined? What did the River Legacy Park people have to say about it? I mean, I got a scolding letter from some lady who works for River Legacy Park because she thought I was promoting environmental damage to the park by pointing out the Off Road Trails that are outside of the park. It is the area around the Off Road Trails that I thought development was to take place.
Not out in the open. And not right up against the River Legacy Trail.
Arlington is a town where dirty dealings seem to take place with nary an eye batted. You want to build a football stadium? Well, Arlington will help you pay for it and will go along with abusing the perfectly legit concept of eminent domain to kick thousands of people out of their homes and apartments in the single worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.
And now, somehow plans got approved that it seems will totally alter what may be the best park in the D/FW Metroplex. Why did the city not buy this land? Or at least a buffer? That land could not have cost much. It's like a wasteland. A beautiful wasteland. That isn't so beautiful anymore.
4 comments:
I've been enjoying River Legacy Parks since about 1993. I too am appalled by the new construction. I don't understand how this area can be approved for construction as it's in the river bottoms and surely a flood plain. It's also right across from the city dump! Do you have any details about this construction. I can't believe they'd build houses here, but I'm afraid that's exactly what's going on. Once the residents move in, no doubt they'll sue the city and force the city to move the dump!
Yours is the second message today about what's going on at River Legacy and asking me if I knew what's happening. The other was an email from my www.durangotexas.com website.
What I don't get is how did this rather massive construction project slip by without public notice?
And, like you, I thought that was all flood plain with all those water retention ponds.
It will forever alter River Legacy. That part of the paved trail that runs 4 miles east of Collins Street was the best part of the paved trails. You felt like you were out in the country with that expanse of what I thought was flood plain to the north.
And what is that big pipeline for that is cutting across the trail around the 6 mile mark?
Amen to the comments of astonishishment and add a healthy dose of outrage.
Like others, I've marveled at how this park, especially the trail east of Collins, was an oasis of natural beauty in the metroplex. Imagine, bobcats, egrets, even an active beaver lodge right smack in between Dallas and Fort Worth. In the summer, you'd swear you were cycling through the jungles of Costa Rica, it was that beautiful.
Now, though, it has been raped. Bulldozed into a moonscape, with all signs of life now dead.
If the people of DFW accept this kind of devastation, then they deserve the hell of parking lots and industrial parks that their home is becoming.
One last thought...I remember ten years ago a developer (now bankrupt?) trying to start construction of a housing project in this area. The advertising signs, just opposite the dump on Collins, proclaimed it to be "The last unspoiled land in the metroplex." Well, I guess it has now been spoiled.
Mystery no more. The land is being developed (read: destroyed) for...can you believe this...an environmentally friendly 'green' community: Huffines' Viridian. That's rich. Devastate 2000 acres of phenomenal natural beauty and claim to be environmentally friendly and 'green' in the process. Their marketing team must spend its Sundays at the church of Supreme Hypocrisy. Next week they'll paint their bulldozers green.
http://www.huffinescommunities.com/images/communities/viridian/viridian-aerial02-big.jpg
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