The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Bridges To Nowhere Built In Slow Motion

Two TRV Boondoggle Bridges Are Now Fully Funded

This afternoon someone calling him or herself "DP" emailed me TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE VOLUME VI - ISSUE 3 - WINTER 2011.

This is the pdf version of what I assume will be the TRV Boondoggle's latest snail mailing.

"DP" pointed out an item he or she found of interest in the mailing, that being the following...

"Need a Speaker?"

Do you belong to a community organization that would be interested in learning more about the Trinity River Vision? TRVA staff is happy to provide a project overview and update to your group! To schedule a speaker, please call Matt Oliver at 817-698-0700."

"DP" goes on to say....

That doesn't really make sense does it? TRIP contacted them to speak at their forum so they could "learn more about the TRV" and they were a no-show. I guess they are only interested in "certain" groups.  

"DP" is correct. The TRV had agreed to send someone to the TRIP Forum at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, but the TRV representative failed to show up. I blogged about this the very night it happened, in a blogging titled "Boos Greets News That J.D. Granger Bailed At Last Minute On Tonight's Trinity River Vision Open Discussion Forum."

This J.D. Granger travesty has been mentioned in a few subsequent bloggings, including one titled "The Trinity River Vision's J.D. Granger Wins A Coveted FW Weekly 2011 Turkey Award."

In the TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE we learn that not only are two of the bridges now fully funded, we also learn that construction on the Henderson Street Bridge is to begin by the end of 2012 and take 3 to 4 years to complete. While the other funded bridge, the Main Street one, is slated to start being built by the end of 2013 and also take several years to complete.

I remember, when I first moved to Texas, being perplexed over the slow construction of the now long completed downtown Fort Worth Mixmaster. I remember being astonished when I learned construction had begun years earlier.

Now, I realize some find it tiresome when I compare Fort Worth to Seattle. But, you have to understand, Seattle is the other big town with which I am familiar.

Currently Seattle has three HUGE projects underway that dwarf the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. One is a multi-billion dollar project to build a massive tunnel under downtown Seattle and re-do the Seattle Waterfront by removing the dangerous Alaskan Way Viaduct. Another project underway is boring another tunnel to take light rail from downtown to the University of Washington. The third big project is to replace a floating bridge across Lake Washington. 

I believe the pontoons for the new floating bridge are currently being built. I believe the estimated completion date of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel is in 2015. I believe the rail link to the UW is to be completed before that.

So, how is it in Fort Worth that building 2 non-signature, simple bridges, takes so long?  Is it the piddly panhandling way projects are funded here that makes them go so slow? If the project is of such great import why not put more of an effort into getting it done?

I wonder if having the public vote on projects, voting to tax themselves to fund them, helps with the process? Rather than being all happy that funding for two Trinity Uptown Bridges has now been pieced together. By who knows what nefarious earmarking means.

It's sort of pathetic.

And sort of perplexing.

But, when your local method of governing largely depends on nepotism and a corrupt good ol' boy network, this is what you get.

Bridges to Nowhere Built in Slow Motion.