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| Dog Wall Watcher |
Upon first arriving at Facebook to see what had tagged me I saw a photo of a tall wall with a tall dog looking like it was standing guard. The text with the photo explained that in the 7 months that this wall has been in failure mode only in the past few days have the worried person's three dogs been acting like something is up. Or about to come down.
From a series of comments I was able to glean that this wall has been posing a threat to a neighborhood, with those who own the wall doing nothing to fix it. I wondered where this disaster waiting to happen was located, so I made a comment....
Durango Jones: Have you informed the city officials of whatever city this dangerous wall is crumbling in of this potential disaster? The city has a responsibility to act to fix such a problem. Should the disaster occur the city would be guilty of some type of criminal negligence, if they had been informed of the problem, pre-disaster.....
Well, imagine my shock when I was told this crumbling wall was crumbling in Fort Worth. Multiple attempts to get help from the city have been ignored. Attempts to talk to Fort Worth's mayor, Betsy Price, have failed.
The lady whose dogs are on wall guard duty then commented...
Krissy Harmon Irizarry: Oh, Durango, they could care less! Just as Layla stated. I've YET to speak to Betsy ONCE in 7 months via email or otherwise. I have invited them all (city council and city heads) out to see the wall in person...no one has come. We had a big meeting with the city in August where lots of promises were made to try to "help us" but it was all lip service. I've only heard from each of them once since then. And David Cooke...city manager...don't get me started. I've NEVER been spoken to so disrespectfully by anyone in my life. Rude is a huge understatement. Oh, did I forget to mention that the city never inspected the wall? Issued a permit, never inspected a 15 foot retaining wall bordering a home and holding back tons of pounds of earth, and then says that even if they didn't inspect they are not responsible. We are so thankful for Rep. Krause and his office...they have been our ONLY ally in this!
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Fort Worth's esteemed mayor has been impossible to reach.
Apparently the city issued permits to allow the building of the wall, then did no building inspections. The crumbling wall is at the Golf Club Fossil Creek, also known, apparently, as Eagle Golf.
I think I have gleaned that the neighborhood where homes are in danger is known as the Pulte Development, hence the Pulte Wall of Shame.
Below is a screen cap from the Pulte Walls of Shame Facebook page.
There has been some news coverage of the Pulte Wall of Shame. Nothing in the Star-Telegram, due to that newspaper's policy of not covering anything crumbling in Fort Worth. The local NBC affiliate was the first local TV station to show any interest in the crumbling wall. However, nothing ever made it to air, and NBC5 ceased responding to emails and phone calls.
Now why would NBC5 decide not to cover the story of the crumbling wall after they checked into the details? Well, I think the advertisement below might provide a clue....
In the Capital of Cronyism one can't help but wonder about NBC5's relationship with Eagle Golf Club Fossil Creek.
I wonder if Betsy Price takes phone calls from whoever owns the Golf Club Fossil Creek?
Last week Fort Worth Weekly released their highly anticipated Best of Fort Worth 2015 edition. That's the edition where a few readers submit their choices of what they think is Best in Fort Worth.
Who did those few readers think is the Best Public Servant in Fort Worth?
If you guessed Betsy Price you guessed right.
I would have thought the readers would have picked Betsy as the winner in the Best Old Gal category.
Now, why would Betsy Price show no interest in a crumbling wall which poses a threat to some of her constituents she has been elected to serve? Is Betsy Price not aware of the Pulte Wall of Shame? If not, why not? Why does Betsy Price ignore attempts to contact her about the Pulte Wall of Shame?
If the City of Fort Worth issued the permits which allowed the wall to be built. And then did no inspections of the construction of the wall to make it sure it was being built to code. And if that wall fails catastrophically, doesn't the city have some liability? The golf course is responsible for the wall. But who is responsible for allowing the wall to get built?
Wouldn't you think Fort Worth's Best Public Servant would show some concern over the Pulte Wall of Shame crumbling in her town?
Very perplexing.
3 comments:
It looks like the engineer may have been Carter & Burgess which is now Jacobs. Wonder what liability the designing engineer has and whether Jacobs professional liability insurance comes into play?
The only time I did see the news it showed that the Golf Course and the city argued who was responsible. The city stated it was property of the golf course and theirs to fix. The golf course argued that it wasn't part of their property line and the builders responsibility. They decided that if they played not it long enough homeowners insurance would cover it. So homeowners are the only screwed party.
This is all so obscene but what can the homeowners do? Is there a chain of command they can climb to go over the heads of the local public officials?
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