I was astonished to learn this morning that $821,000 was spent on the now aborted study.
That is a lot of money. Who got that money, I could not help but wonder? They could have paid me $500 and I could have told whoever needed to know that the Fort Wort Steetcar was not a viable idea at this point in time.
How much did Fort Worth spend studying the obviously flawed Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle before that long defunct project actually went ahead to its fruitless fruition? For $500 I would also have gladly told whoever needed to know that the Santa Fe Rail Market was a seriously flawed idea based on erroneous misconceptions.
The thing that really caught my eye in this morning's news about last night's Fort Worth City Council streetcar vote, was that Mayor Mike Moncrief had to break a 3/3 tie due to District 8 Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks being out of the country.In Europe. On City of Fort Worth business.
I think I live in Ms. Hicks' district.
What in this impossibly strange world could Kathleen Hicks be doing in Europe that is somehow City of Fort Worth business. Who is paying for this junket in this city that can't keep its libraries and swimming pools open?
Is Kathleen Hicks over in Europe studying European Public Markets, getting ready for a Part II of the Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle? Remember how that particular boondoggle was supposedly modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market. Yet somehow what Fort Worth ended up with bore no resemblance to anything in Seattle. Or Europe.
Maybe Kathleen Hicks is over in Europe studying how it is that no European city has an embarrassing eyesore across the street from its courthouse, like Fort Worth's Heritage Park, with Heritage Park being one of the few unique things that used to be a good embellishment to downtown Fort Worth, but is now a boarded up, rundown mess overlooking the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.
In Hollywood you can go on a bus tour of the scenes of various Hollywood areas of notoriety and scandal. I wonder if any tourist dollars could be made by taking tourists on bus tours of Fort Worth's various boondoggles? Maybe Molly the Trolley could be used in this endeavor.
Very interesting observations, historical facts, and questions Mr. Durango. This situation could just be coincidence= not likely with this mayor and his crew.
ReplyDeleteA theory based on past history and pattern is that this was a cynical ploy involving political calculations. Remember elections are just around the bend for the mayor and Ms. Hicks. She serves as some kind of member of big bother big sister version for cities, mainly FW and European cities. So this may be the official city business for which she's deployed, during a crucial vote on a major issue for the city. Not only are travel related expenses much higher during this busy holiday period, but then to be absent while knowing ahead of time that there will very likely be a tie vote (an unusual thing for this group) is awefully fishy. Going with the calculated politically-motivated theory, this scenario benefits both the mayor and the councilwoman.
With a strong challenger already in place (see FW Weekly, forget the S-T for real news), the mayor wants to be able to point to this "difficult decision" and his decisive and courageous tie-breaking vote THAT SHOW HIS RESPECT FOR THE CITIZENS WISHES AND FOR RESPONSIBLE USE OF TAX MONEY.
After a rough two years, mostly from her mistake in taking the side of a bullying gas corporation Chesapeake in a very high profile and intense battle of wills between this corporate Goliath and a sickly immigrant man (who won, by gosh!!), the council rep. needed no more "political damage or liability" going into the may 2011 election. Not really known for courageous votes or strong leadership, this conveniently time trip gives her that political cover.
So either the mayor has felt that she has gotten over her punishment from him last year, and deserves his "protection" now, for not getting that CHK pipeline down Carter Ave. in the form of a blindside straight out of "Survivor" in which he publicly stripped (and embarassed her and her supporters)away her precious title as mayor pro temp without the usual courtesy of letting her know in advance OR she has not not gotten over that public humiliation and took the trip in order to force him to be the deciding vote and pay whatever political price for his decision.
Or, once again, it's all just a perfect set of coincidences. I'd like to feed you some fish from the Trinity River if you bite on that explanation.