In slow motion.
No, what you are looking at here is not a Trinity Trail along the Trinity River in the aforementioned desolation zone of inactivity now known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.
What you are looking at above is a spur trail off the Trinity Trail in River Legacy Park, in Arlington, not Fort Worth. This spur trail leads to the massive development known as Viridian.
Way back in 2007 I was biking along the River Legacy Trinity Trail when I saw a guy doing some surveying alongside the trail. I stopped and asked the guy what he was surveying. He told me he was doing some measuring for something called Viridian, which was to be a big development of lakes, homes, schools, stores, restaurants, and other things, such as a lake with a public access beach.
Infrastructure work on Viridian soon began, quickly altering the landscape one saw whilst biking along the River Legacy Trinity Trail.
And then the Great Recession hit.
Work on Viridian ground to a stop. That stop lasted for several years, and then a couple years ago the Viridian development went into boom mode, a boom which continues to boom.
Since I last biked through Viridian new paved trails have been added, one of which took me to an overlook looking over the marina you see below, with a collection of kayaks, canoes and sailboats.
Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, that flood control economic development, touted as being vitally needed, has been limping along for most of this century, with little, unlike Viridian, to be seen for the effort.
The Viridian development has been developed without abusing eminent domain. While in Fort Worth eminent domain was abused to take dozens of properties. With some properties bulldozed while the property owner was still trying to get justice in the corrupt Fort Worth courts.
Property was taken in Fort Worth, supposedly for the public good, for a pseudo public works project the public has never voted for, with this pseudo public works project not bringing the project to fruition within any reasonable time frame, with those stolen bulldozed properties just sitting there with nothing happening on them.
Some of those properties taken by eminent domain abuse are where America's Biggest Boondoggle has been trying to build three simple little bridges, for years now, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.
Viridian is a private development. No federal funds involved. No local congressperson's offspring hired to help grease any wheels.
There are several lakes in the Viridian development. None of which feature a cable powered wakeboard attraction.
One of the Trinity River Vision's early failures, one of the early boondoggle indicators, was known as Cowtown Wakepark. Touted by Kay Granger's boondoggling boy, J.D., as providing the sport of wakeboarding in an urban environment, this was obviously doomed to fail. It did not take professor of economics to see the problem with the business model. As in, only a few people at a time could be wakeboarding. It'd be like a Six Flags ride which could only handle four people at a time.
And then there was the location, at the edge of the Trinity River. Which floods, Apparently it never occurred to anyone involved that a flood would wreak havoc. Extremely ironic early on mistake, what with this being part of a project touted as being, in part, flood control.
Cowtown Wakepark did not last long. There was no investigation into how this mistake happened. Who was responsible? How much money did the Trinity River Vision spend to dig the pond for the Cowtown Wakepark? How much was spent to re-route the Trinity Trail around the Wakepark? Why is no one ever held accountable for any of the nonsense associated with America's Biggest Boondoggle?
Perplexingly pitiful...
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