What fresh hell is this gonna be, I sat and thought to myself?
Checking my email I found the email from Elsie Hotpepper, with the email consisting of a link and a message saying...
"It must be something in the water. Lead? Total BS with one of the worst articles ever in the Fort Worth Business Press."
I clicked the link to the During hearing, Army Corps officials express Trinity River Vision support article and soon understood what was appalling Elsie Hotpepper.
The Fort Worth Business Press usually does not spew Fort Worth Star-Telegram type propaganda. Usually the FWBP asks cogent questions of the responsible journalism sort.
Let's look at some of what is in this article, but to get the full picture, click the link and read the article in its entirety.
First paragraph...
During a hearing in front of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on March 27, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers testified to Congress about the Central City project, also known as the Trinity River Vision project in Fort Worth.
Also known, in all its multiple names glory as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or more commonly as America's Biggest Boondoggle.
So a couple officials from the Army Corps of Engineers did some testifying. And in the following two paragraphs we learn the basic gist of what the officials are testifying to...
Responding to a question from Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, two Army Corps officials voiced support for the project and for other projects that have yet to be funded.
“I very strongly support the project and I’m not sure the administration doesn’t support the project,” said R.D. James, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “They’re trying to elevate projects based on their priorities, economic return to the nation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."
So, the official is not sure the administration does not support the project? That sounds definitive, something you can really bank on. And they are trying to elevate projects based on their priorities and economic return to America?
Well, that criteria alone should doom this hapless project which has been limping along most of this century.
And then there is the statement released from Rep. Kay Granger regarding her commitment to the project...
“The Central City project is my top priority, it is vital to the future of Fort Worth,” she said in a statement. “Assistant Secretary of the Army, R.D. James, expressed his strong support of the project and the Army Corps of Engineers committed to completing Central City.”
An accurate statement from Kay Granger on this subject would be "The Central City project is my top priority, it is vital to the future of my son..."
And then there are the final three paragraphs in this article...
James said he had talked to Granger about the project.
“I have talked with Ms. Granger before and intend to do so again to see if there are other ways or other authorizations this project needs. At this time I don’t know of any.
"It’s a good project. There have been misunderstandings about the project.”
Now that is earth shaking news. James, he being the Army Corps of Engineers official who testified in front of a house sub-committee, reveals he has talked to Ms. Granger, and will do so again. Because talking to Ms. Granger is the avenue to finding other ways or authorizations this project needs, while at the current time he is unaware of any needs.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe someone has not told this James person that this project has never been fully funded, that it has limped along for years, with little to show for the effort. And that Ms. Granger's son, J.D., was given the job of being the project's Executive Director, a job for which years of embarrassing incompetence have made clear J.D. was not qualified.
This is a good project? Really? Then why is this project progressing in ultra slow motion? There have been misunderstandings about the project? Such as what? Not understanding why it was not scandalous nepotism to give Kay Granger's job a high paying job to motivate her to secure federal funds? Misunderstanding why it is taking so long to build three simple little bridges?
Maybe if that sub-committee meets again, with this James guy testifying, he might be asked why the project did not go along with the Army Corps of Engineers design for the Boondoggle's three simple little bridges, with the Corps design mirroring the design of the West 7th Bridge? A design we learned a few months ago was thwarted by J.D. Granger, for what seemed ridiculous, unfounded reasons, because the J.D. engineering and design whiz thought bridges supported by V-piers would really be something cool.
The design mirroring the West 7th Bridge design was approved by the Army Corps. The Corps was slated to cover the costs. Costs which were estimated to be way less expensive than the three simple little V-pier bridges, which have turned into a construction nightmare, beginning construction in 2014, with a then astonishing four year project timeline, which has now been stretched into the next decade.
It would also be a good idea for the members of that sub-committee to ask why, if this project is a vitally needed flood and economic development project, why has it been developed at a snail's pace?
If this project is so vital why was it not sold to the Fort Worth public, asking for support long ago in the form of approving of the project via a bond funding vote, in the manner towns wearing their Big City pants get projects done. Particularly projects touted as being vitally needed flood control.
And one would also think it would behoove that sub-committee to ask why this is a vitally needed flood control project, in an area of the Trinity River which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to flood control levees which have worked ever since they were installed.
Why should money be wasted on flood control where there has been no flooding, while other areas of Tarrant County have serious flooding issues, deadly, property damaging flooding issues, which are not being addressed, while those who will financially benefit from this bogus flood control project continue to drag this Boondoggle along, underfunded, begging for federal dollars?
Yeah, I can see why Elsie Hotpepper was offput by this article and what appears to be the FW Business Press's dereliction of their journalistic duty...
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