If I remember right I've annoyed a person or two when I compare something in Seattle to something in Fort Worth. It is only natural that I would make note of things that seem so different, to me, in the two towns, because they are the two plus-sized towns with which I am most familiar.One really big difference between Seattle and Fort Worth is the way public works projects come about.
Currently Fort Worth's biggest public works project is building a little lake and an unneeded flood diversion channel, obliterating the historic confluence of the West and Clear branches of the Trinity River. This project goes by various names. Mainly, Trinity Uptown Project, Trinity River Vision or Fort Worth's Latest Boondoggle.
Fort Worth's Latest Public Works Boondoggle is using eminent domain to take property for this public works project about which the public has little say and no vote.
Meanwhile, up in Washington, on Monday the State Senate sent to Governor Gregoire SB 6292 for her signature. This bill approves the almost $5 billion State Highway 520 Floating Bridge replacement. The 520 Floating Bridge is one of 2 that cross Lake Washington.
Seattle has a lot of lakes, so there is no need to have a public works project to build a fake lake. The existing 520 Floating Bridge is about 60 years old. It's near the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced before Mother Nature sinks it. Mother Nature has previously sank 2 other Washington Floating Bridges.
The new 520 Floating Bridge is going to be quite a bit bigger than the current one and will fix several problems that have been a bottleneck for way too long. The final routing has yet to be determined. Eminent domain may need to be used to route part of the new road through the area made famous in Sleepless in Seattle, that being an area on Lake Washington with a lot of houseboats.
Now, as I read the article about Washington's new Floating Bridge what is it that really popped out at me as being way different than the way things are done in Fort Worth? Well, in Seattle it's sort of a joke/truism, that before anything gets done, everyone who wants to have a say, gets to.
I'll copy a paragraph from the Seattle P-I article by way of illustrating the HUGE difference between these 2 towns.
"Critics from business and labor - as well as Eastside city leaders - have complained that the debate over how to replace 520 has already taken too long and it's time to move forward. Powerful Seattle neighborhood groups have hired an attorney as they continue to press their case."
Did you spot what I am focusing on? "Powerful Seattle neighborhood groups...".
I can tell you what would have happened in Seattle if something occurred as absurd as a private company abusing eminent domain to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under a Seattle neighborhood. I can tell you, it just would not happen.
If Carter Avenue were in Seattle, in a Seattle neighborhood called Meadowbrook, the powerful Meadowbrook Neighborhood would have collectively come together to demand the pipeline project cease. The powerful Seattle Meadowbrook Neighborhood would have pooled their resources to hire legal help to help Carter Avenue.
I have seen time and again, in Seattle, where a group will band together in some common cause. Object to Paul Allen's plan to make a sort of Seattle Central Park running from Lake Union to downtown? Stopped by forcing the issue on to a ballot. Object to a voter approved plan to build a new monorail line? Force another vote. Five elections later the monorail is dead.
Is Seattle better or worse off than Fort Worth due to having all this citizen input and participation? Well, if you've ever been to Seattle you know the answer to that one.
No one could get away with shoving down the voter's throats, in Seattle, something as goofy as Fort Worth's Town Lake Boondoggle.
Did Paul Allen give up on his Seattle Central Park plan? Not really, it just sort of morphed into something else, as in a re-vitalized South Lake Union and things like SLUT (South Lake Union Transit). Fort Worth sent a task force to Seattle to check out some of those South Lake Union developments.
So, is it too late for the Meadowbrook Neighborhood to turn itself into a powerful Seattle-like neighborhood? It really is not just Carter Avenue that is under attack and facing the danger of a potentially explosive pipeline. The streets running parallel to Carter Avenue are also in harm's way. Streets like Bomar & Scott Avenue.
It would take a very small donation from the neighbors of the Meadowbrook Neighborhood to raise enough money to hire legal help. I really think this is the time and this is the issue where the people of Fort Worth buck it up and start exercising their rights like Americans in other parts of America do. Like Seattle.
You sure love your Seattle, Dango! :P Just a random question: does that mean that the bridge to Mercer Island is also a floating bridge!? I DROVE ON A FLOATING BRIDGE!?!?! Seattle sure does things differently!
ReplyDeleteOn to the subject. Can the residents of Carter Ave get an injunction while they appeal the decision or something? I know that requires legal action, but hey, Texas DOES have at least those options, haha. Tie it up long enough and maybe they'll scrap the plan! I think a lot of cities look to Seattle for inspiration. I mean, it's a great place. But what works there (as far as politics goes) doesn't seem to go over well here. How about we just hire Erin Brockovich, lol.
PS: don't even get me started on Fart's stupid lake plan. It's even worse than the neighbor to the East's plan for the ditch.
I really can't believe that some old fart lawyer hasn't jumped on this. If it went big, it would be massive media coverage since oil and gas is such a huge deal 'round these parts.
Jovo---
ReplyDeleteI can't figure out your FART acronym.
I dunno if injunctions work in Texas.
Yes, that is a floating bridge that connects Mercer Island with Seattle. The original floating bridge in that location is one that sank. It was being worked on when it sank. It was due to be replaced, with a new one already in place. I-90 across Mercer Island was the last section of I-90 to be completed. It was a record breaking section of road, cost-wise. If I remember right $5 billion, back when a billion meant something. That tunnel you thought you were in was actually a lid over Mercer Island upon which a park was built. Those rich Mercer Islanders did not want a big ol' freeway slicing their island in half.
Jovan--I think that sly old Steve D. will find some other legal way to fend off Goliath and his friends because I'm convinced he has the facts and the law on his side (and now "We the people", but certainly not the TRADITIONAL media)since what's he managed to do is extraordinary, if not unprecedented. Remember the whole point of Eminent Domain power is using "state power/dominion" to QUICKLY/IMMEDIATELY seize property from unwilling citizens (and pay them "just compensation" per Fifth Amendment of U.S. Constitution)since a crucial "public good" is being pursued. Well. it has been almost 1 and 1/2 year now since CHK went after his property using (really ABUSING/MISUSING) this state power in its grimy hands, thanks to the hundred$ of million$ O$G had spent to grease the dirty hands of politicians over the years. In 3 words: IT AIN'T OVER, esp. with Billy Mitchell, Durango, and others coming to aid of this modern day Alamo-like battle!!
ReplyDeleteDango,
ReplyDeleteFart = Fart Worth. It's starting to smell from all the drilling. See why I always call it that?
I still can't believe I drove on a floating bridge. Kinda creepy. I knew the tunnel was a park because we were going TO Mercer Island and once you get off, you notice how gorgeously landscaped the freeway and decks are. Even the stinking onramps have like trails and trees, haha.
Anon,
I sure hope SD finds a way. This isn't an unprecedented event, which is why I know something can be done. Maybe it's revolutionary as far as O&G is concerned. So let's hope whatever we come up, works!
I don't think there's a time limit on what's considered "just." They only have to pay you "fair market value" which is normally altered on tax rolls several years before, so it's never much. Texas really HAS put lots of mechanisms in place to allow ED (haha) abuse.
PS: we don't want it to be an Alamo. We lost that one. I'd rather it be a battle of Mycale or Plataea. They won those through unlikely alliances, lol.
Jovo---
ReplyDeleteHow could you now know that bridge was floating! This is the silliest thing I've heard since Gar the Texan told me he didn't know he was on a boat when he was in a casino in Shreveport, or when the same Gar the Texan told me he did not realize Fort Worth had once been a Fort, this realization coming as he stood on the site of the Fort, well, actually camp, but Camp Worth does not sounds as good as Fort Worth.
Regarding those paved trails over Mercer Island, you can begin biking from a park on the Bellevue side and pedal over the Mercer Island lid and then across the Floating Bridge and then into the bike tunnel that goes through what's called Mount Baker ridge, so it's the Mount Baker Tunnel.
Ain't no adventurous urban bike trails, like the I-90 across Lake Washington one, in the zone I'm currently doing duty in.
Ugh. How was I supposed to know that a bridge could float!? You could go ride your bike down Katy trail in Dallas and have pretty views. Or the levees in Downtown. That's good views and it's long. So. :p White Rock Lake has a beautiful bike trail(s) as well. So. Don't lose hope lol. Plus, we lack the gorgeous glacial lakes and sounds, hills and valleys. Meh.
ReplyDeleteI dunno Jovo, didn't you notice the bridge bouncing up and down from the waves? Or see the sign telling you you were on the world's longest floating bridge? Or notice the Emergency Lifejacket kiosks along the route?
ReplyDeleteThe pontoons for the new floating bridge are being built in Grays Harbor. That's on the Pacific, then floated through the Straits of Juan de Fuca, then through the Ballard Locks, with very little room to spare. It should be quite a spectacle, the pontoons are huge.
I have pedaled around White Rock Lake in Dallas several times. It's almost scenic, particularly when a lot of water is running over the dam.
Hmmmmm. I didn't notice any unusual undulations. It felt pretty stable. And there is so not a sign proclaiming the longest floating bridge, since that bridge is not. A quick wiki says the I-90 bridges are the 3rd and 5th longest. So :p. Haha. I'm sorry I'm oblivious!!!
ReplyDeleteJovo, I'm starting to know where your go buttons are. I was pretty sure if I said the I-90 Floating Bridge was the World's Longest that you'd go into research mode. But now you've got me curious, but not so curious that it'll put me in research mode, but how can the I-90 Floating Bridge be both 3rd and 5th longest? It is one bridge that runs from Mercer Island to Seattle. Washington used to have all the world's floating bridges, but you've got it up to, at least 5. I may have to go to Wikipedia if I can't shut being curious off. Oh, it's already starting to fade.
ReplyDeleteThe I-90 bridge is definitely not one bridge, Dango. When's the last time you crossed??? There's two bridges. One has an arch bridge at one end and the other does not.
ReplyDeleteYet mas research says that the older one (the one you're prolly thinking of) is the 3rd longest floating bridge in the world. It carries the eastbound lanes of 90 and is called the Lacey Murrow Bridge. The second bridge is much, much newer as it built in '89. That one is the Hadley Memorial Bridge and is the 5th longest floating bridge in the world. You for real had me worried that my map and city skillz were fading! But anyways. I have nothing to worry about!
Random info, but the Evergreen Point Bridge is the longest floating bridge. It connects Seattle to Medina. Maybe that's the bridge you were thinking of? I think the top 5 longest floating bridges are in Washington. So there. ^_^
Jovo---
ReplyDeleteYou are talking crazy talk. The I-90 Bridge is one bridge, called, like you said, the Lacey Murrow Bridge, unless some new bridge naming has taken place, with me never having heard of it.
The section from Mercer Island to Seattle has 2 spans, both with an arched bridge at the end so boats can cross. You've got your info all mixed up. The newer span of the I-90 bridge was added after the original sank. A new span was already in place when that happened during what is known as the Thanksgiving Day Storm. I've never heard of this Hadley Memorial Bridge of which you speak. If you have actually crossed the I-90 Floating Bridge did you detect 2 distinct bridges of varying length? I last crossed in August of 2008.
I said I didn't know what the longest floating bridge was, but that I knew if I said the I-90 one was the longest that would set you off in research mode. The Seattle to Medina one is the one that is currently being replaced. I had no idea it was the longest. If I'd been forced to guess I would have gone with the Hood Canal one cuz it seems to take a long time to get across.
As for there being 5 floating bridges in Washington, I've no clue. Have new ones been built without me being told? As far as I know there is the I-90 Floating Bridge, Evergreen Point and Hood Canal. What are the other 2 floating bridges? The long bridge that crosses the Columbia River to Astoria? Is that one?
Dango! Lol. Listen. I-90 is two separate bridges, and you're right, there's 2 arches, on the same bridge. The eastbound is considered one (one with arches) and the westbound is another (no arches, much wider). I guess they're the same bridge colloquially, but it's two separate bridges built at different times, with different structures. They seemed very different to me. But I'm not a Washington native. And WA only has 4 of the 5 longest. I think wiki said the 4th longest is in ... Hungary maybe? I don't remember.
ReplyDelete1. Evergreen Point
2. Hood Canal
3. Murrow
4. What ever Hungary bridge or what have you
5. Hadley
Washington shouldn't have more, but I have no clue. Maybe they're just shorter so less famous.
Google maps it and check out the satellite view! You can also street view, and it'll agree with me. Lol. But had I never looked it up, then I'd believe you since you're a washingtonian. I was all interested (I'm a giant architecture fan). I'm sorry I'm such a scientist. Lol!
Okay, Jovo, you argumentative little kumquat, I floated over the I-90 Floating Bridge via Google Earth. I can see where the northern span, it being the newer one, may be slightly longer. As for one span being eastbound and the other westbound, actually, the northern span is both eastbound and westbound. It has reversible lanes. If you look at the satellite view you can see the reversible lane. I've never heard of the Murrow bridge being referred to as two different bridges. Anymore than the Tacoma Narrows Bridge's two bridges being referred to as two bridges with different names, even though the first of the current Narrows suspension bridges was built years ago, after Galloping Gertie failed, with the new one opening just a couple years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of liking architecture, checking out the ongoing building of the new Tacoma Narrows Suspension bridge was the weirdest, most impressive, scary looking construction thing I've ever seen, the caisson dam things to hold out the salt water so the support towers could be built, the stringing of the cable before the roadbed went in, and standing on the beach underneath this, looking up, made my knees wobble.
Now, if you tell me that the Tacoma Narrows is known as 2 bridges with 2 names I'm gonna have to hunt you down & shut you up somehow. The how of that somehow is currently a mystery to me.