Saturday, April 28, 2018

Bonds Being Played The Fort Worth vs. Wichita Falls Way

In about an hour I go on the long five mile trek north to the Hooterville, I mean, Wichita Falls airport to get on a plane to fly east so I can fly west to Arizona.

I refer to the local airport with that Hooterville name because I was amused last week to see an opinion piece in the local Wichita Falls newspaper referring to the local airport as such.

Hooterville, if it has an airport, its one plane would likely have be a single engine WW1 vintage plane, not the super modern super small jet I fly to DFW.

So, prior to flying I took a walk on the Circle Trail this morning along with dozens of fellow walkers, bladers and bikers.

In front of the Endurance House sporting equipment store, which one quickly comes to when one walks south from my abode on the Circle Trail, I saw that which you see above, a sign suggesting voters VOTE YES for a Better Wichita Falls.

I already did so, yesterday.

I will be in Arizona on May 5 when we find out if Wichita Falls voters did the smart thing and voted to approve what seems to me to be well planned plans for the Wichita Falls future.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth some voters will be allowed to vote in the May 5 vote, saying YES or NO to a fraudulently worded ballot measure trying to trick those few voters into voting YES for a quarter billion buck bond for imaginary flood control and drainage issues, when the money is actually an attempt to rescue the Trinity River Vision from its current status as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

This morning I saw that former Tarrant Regional Water District Board Director, Mary Kelleher, had eloquently opined on her blog about this latest election fraud being perpetrated by the perpetrators behind most of the shenanigans which have long kept Fort Worth an American backwards backwater full of corruption of various sorts.

Absurd nepotism. Justices of the Peace booted for rigging their own elections, eminent domain abuse. That type thing.

Mary Kelleher opines about some of this corruption in Fort Worth Bonds....We Are Being Played the Fort Worth Way!

I do not understand how the results, either YES or NO, of this Fort Worth vote would not be considered fraudulent, due to the fraudulent wording on the ballot.

But, like Mary says, it's the Fort Worth Way.

So bizarre...

Friday, April 27, 2018

Biking With Goslings After Sikes Senter Voting Before Flying To Arizona

A couple days ago I blogged about Wichita Falls Sikes Lake Primrose Duck & Litter Exhibit in which I mentioned seeing some Sikes Lake litter littering up a small section of Sikes Lake.

And that I expected that litter to be gone when next I rolled my wheels by that location, because de-littering litter seems to be the Wichita Falls norm, unlike my previous Texas location.

Today that prediction proved accurate. The littered location you see if you click the above link is now cleaned up, with a white swan, or swan-like bird, floating by, whilst another white bird rests on the nest of leaves washed up against the concrete wall.

And no litter visible to my eye.

And then a short distance later I saw this Sikes Lake scene.


A few days ago I came upon a flock of five goslings floating on Sikes Lake with parental supervision.

Today I came upon a flock of nine or ten goslings being land lubbers grubbing for food, whilst being gosling-sitted by a full size goose, who I assumed to be a parental unit, likely the mother.

To the right, out of the photo, what appeared to be a male goose honked aggressively non-stop whilst I took pictures. I am fairly certain that goose would have goosed me if I got too close for his comfort.

Prior to rolling my wheels to my favorite Wichita Falls goose habitat I rolled my mechanized wheels to Sikes Senter to early vote YES on all seven of the bond proposals the May 5 ballot.

After voting I rolled my mechanized wheels a few miles further north to the Wichita Falls Public Library to stock up on reading material to take with me to Arizona when I fly out of Texas tomorrow.

Oh, I must explain to those who might wonder what Sikes Senter is. It is a mall, which for non-clever reasons not fathomable to me someone thought it alliteratively clever to name the town's mall with an "S" instead of a "C".

Sikes Center would be so much better, name-wise. The mall itself is a bit outdated. Built back, I think, in the 1970s. The interior, where one early votes, looks as if it has been upgraded. The outside, not so much.

Way back in the 1970s the town I lived in before moving to Texas, Mount Vernon, Washington, built two malls of the Sikes Senter sort. The first one on the north side of College Way. The second on the south side of College Way. One called the Mount Vernon Mall, the other the Skagit Mall.

Those malls lasted a couple decades before both were demolished and replaced with more modern strip mall type business venues, whilst a way more modern mall was built in the next town north, Burlington.

Burlington was the town I grew up in. The new mall in Burlington was named Cascade Mall. Burlington was/is a small town, population around 5,000 back in the 70s, a little bigger now. Mount Vernon population was and is around 30,000.

Due to the big changes in the retail industry, brought about my things like Amazon, the Cascade Mall in Burlington is gradually closing, having lost most of its tenants.

In addition to the Cascade Mall, stores like Costco, Pacific Edge Outlet Center, Fred Meyers, Target, K-Mart and even a Krispy Kreme opened in little Burlington. The town became a sort of shopping mecca, swelling the town's population with shoppers, many of them Canadians.

But, nothing ever remains the same in dynamic fast growing, fast changing parts of America and the planet....

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Spencer Jack Shows Fort Worth Real Islands While Ditch Digging

Incoming this morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason and Favorite Great Nephew Spencer Jack...

FUD,

Today’s PNW heat wave resulted in FNSJ suggesting that we travel to Washington’s first state park to seek marine air for cooling.

FNSJ really wanted to engineer a stream route on this beach.  

It was a good idea.  We are both slightly sun burnt though, as we have had only cloudy days in recent memory.

This is his fourth, perhaps fifth Spring as a stream engineer at this exact location.

He has mastered the science of diverting water.  

I see a potential career as an Army Corps Engineer in Spencer’s future.

Thought you’d enjoy the pictures.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to roast here in the valley.

Fans are ready.  

FNJ & FNSJ

They have been having themselves a record breaking heat wave up northwest in my old home zone. Meanwhile at my location in the South, I have yet this year felt HOT enough to turn on my air conditioning. I have turned on one of my ceiling fans a couple times this year.

Let's take a look at some more of the photos of Spencer Jack being an Army Corps of Engineer flood channel builder at Washington's first state park.


When I read that Spencer Jack had taken his dad to Washington's first state park in order to escape the heat and have some beach fun, I did not remember which state park was Washington's first. Deception Pass State Park? I Googled Washington State Parks to find it taking a few link clicks to finally learn which state park was Washington's first.


The scenery in the photos of Spencer Jack digging a creek channel did not look like Deception Pass to me. I do not recollect any sandy beaches on any of the Deception Pass State Park beaches. The Deception Pass beaches are rocky beaches, covered with little pebbles.


I went to the state's Washington State Park website's History page figuring that surely would tell me which Washington State Park was the state's first. Nope, no luck there.

From Wikipedia's Washington State Park's page there was a link to another Wikipedia page listing all Washington's State Parks.

On that list of Washington's State Parks I saw another suspect within easy driving distance of Spencer Jack's Mount Vernon home location.

Larrabee State Park.

And that was it. Washington's first state park was Larrabee State Park.

This sort of surprises me. Larrabee is an incredible location. But I would think that way back when it became a state park in 1923, the Larrabee location would have been quite an adventure to drive to. Even well over 100 years later the drive to Larrabee, called Chuckanut Drive, is one adventurous road, full of tight corners high above steep cliffs.

But, maybe back when the Larrabee became a park the Interurban already existed, that being a train which connected Mount Vernon in the south to Bellingham north of Larrabee. The rail bed of that long abandoned Interurban still exists, currently as a fun trail to hike and bike, taking one all the way from Larrabee to the Alaskan Ferry Terminal in Bellingham.

If I remember right the last time I biked the Interurban from Larrabee to Bellingham was with Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey.

Trying to find out which state park was Washington's first I learned a thing or two in addition to that bit of information. Such as what the word "Chuckanut" means. I've heard that name all my life and never thought to wonder what it meant, beyond assuming it was a Native American word.

The Wikipedia article about the Chuckanut Mountains educated me as to the meaning of the Chuckanut word and also includes the Larrabee being the state's first state park info...

The Chuckanut Mountains (from "Chuckanut", a native word for "Long beach far from a narrow entrance", or Chuckanuts, are located on the northern Washington state coast of the Salish Sea, just south of Bellingham, Washington. Being a part of the Cascade Range, they are the only place where the Cascades come west down to meet the sea. The Chuckanuts are considered to be a part of the Puget Lowland Forest Ecoregion. The range contains Larrabee State Park, the first State Park to be designated in Washington (1923).

The article about the Chuckanut Mountains lists all the mountains considered to be Chuckanuts. One can drive to the summit of several of them. Or mountain bike on the mountain's logging roads. I do not think there is any location within hundreds of miles of where I currently am located where one can go from playing on a beach to climbing a mountain.

Well, there is the shores of Lake Wichita and the trails to the summit of Mount Wichita.

For anyone who may be reading this who is located in the landlocked Texas town called Fort Worth. In the photos above those outcroppings of land you see rising out of the water behind Spencer Jack? Those are what are known as islands.

Islands are chunks of land surrounded by a large body of water. The water can be either the saltwater or fresh water variety. As in the island can be surrounded by the saltwater of an ocean, sea, bay or sound. Or a lake.

Digging a cement lined ditch and filling this ditch with polluted river water does not an island make. Thinking such makes anyone thinking such appear to be either foolish, or ignorant, or both. Building three simple little bridges over dry land to connect a town's mainland to an imaginary non-island and thinking this makes sense to so, also makes one appear to be either foolish, or ignorant, or both.

Vote NO on May 5 if you are among the few allowed to do so in Fort Worth, to put an end to the Panther Island madness.

And if you want to get an idea of what it is like to drive on Chuckanut Drive to Larrabee State Park, watch the video below...

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Miss Tess Takes Me Home To Skagit Valley Tulips

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook, via Miss Tessie Sakuma.

Miss Tessie's comment is "We lived right near there. Our whole area was beautiful."

The caption below the tulips...

"Only in Washington".

And...

"An abundance of colorful tulips in Mount Vernon. I can almost smell the sweet air".

When Tessie says she lived right near there, that is sort of accurate. The precise Tessie location was a bit to the northwest from the location in this photo, with most of the Sakuma Farms Empire being located on the Skagit Flats on the other side of the Skagit River from this location.

Mount Vernon was the town I lived in prior to moving to Texas.

That mountain in the background is known as Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a volcano. I was able to see Mount Baker from my kitchen windows at my Mount Vernon location.

I can not see the Mount Wichita pseudo volcano from my current kitchen window. Or any other mountain.

A few days ago I saw an article on CNN about America's scenic wonders that Americans might not know about. I scrolled through the 25 examples of such, some of which I had been to. And then a click popped a familiar sight into view which I had seen multiple times over multiple decades. That being the Skagit Valley Tulips.

Currently I believe the month long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will soon be underway, or maybe already is underway.

The Tulip Festival draws around a million tourists to the valley, creating a bit of a traffic nightmare at many locations in the valley. The traffic jams have improved over the years with better control of the vehicle flow, bus tours, toads turned into one-way traffic flows, helicopters overhead to monitor and spreading the attractions to various locations on the Skagit Flats, such as Tulip Town.

This morning I am driving to the D/FW Metroplex. On the way there I do not expect to see any tulip fields. I may see some wildflowers. For sure I won't be seeing any mountains or volcanoes...

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Biking Smooth Red Brick Wichita Falls Speedway

Today I went on a long rolling of my bike's wheels. Twice around Sikes Lake, through the MSU campus, north on various roads til eventually reaching Hamilton Park and the Circle Trail return to my starting location.

The furthest north part of today's trek was on a road called Speedway. I don't remember if this is Speedway Road, or Speedway Drive, or Speedway Avenue, or what.

I suppose I could look at a map and find out, but finding out whether Speedway is a road or a drive, or an avenue, or something else seems un-important right now.

Okay, I shall go find out the precise name of this Speedway.

All right. Speedway Avenue is the winning name.

So, that is Speedway Avenue you see my bike parked on above.

Note the red color of this avenue.

This section of Speedway Avenue is made of red brick. There are several roads in Wichita Falls with sections make up of red brick.

No big deal, you are thinking. And I agree.

Except early on in my time in Texas, before I learned that being perplexed by various things in Fort Worth was going to be a chronic condition, I was bum puzzled by this road called Camp Bowie Boulevard, in Fort Worth.

A long section of Camp Boulevard is made of red brick. At the time of my first exposure to this red brick road I was appalled by the bone jarring bumpy experience of driving on it. This has since been somewhat made smoother.

When I verbalized to Fort Worth locals my being appalled at this bizarre bumpy red brick road I was told that this road was unique, one of a kind, of special historic significance.

I remember this as being the first time I wondered do these people ever visit any other parts of America? Because a red brick road did not seem at all unique to me. Other than the fact the Fort Worth version was in the worst shape I'd ever seen such a road.

I thought, at the time, maybe the Fort Worth red brick road is the only one in Texas, hence the Fort Worth locals thinking it to be something special.

And then I attended the Ennis Polka Festival and Parade, where I  saw that the Texas town of Ennis had a well maintained, not jarringly bumpy, red brick road.

Since Ennis I have seen many a red brick road in Texas towns, including the one I was rolling my bike on today...

Monday, April 23, 2018

Wichita Falls Sikes Lake Primrose Duck & Litter Exhibit

Bike riding today eventually took me to Sikes Lake where I saw that which you see here.

I must say, that which you see here has been a rare sight to see in Wichita Falls.

I refer not to the ducks or the pink primroses.

I refer to the litter collection washed up against the concrete structure which crosses Sikes Lake, the purpose of which I do not know.

A litter collection of this sort was a frequent sight in my former Fort Worth location, particularly when the Trinity River was in flood mode.

Heavy rain flushes litter into the creek and storm drains which send water to Sikes Lake. I have seen one extreme littering example of this, with so much litter it made the local news. I recollect getting interviewed about the subject by a TV news lady. She stopped me whilst I was on my bike, asked what I thought about the litter, to which I told her that it was cleaned up almost as soon as it arrived.

I did not understand why she was asking me this, so I pointed out the fact that I was seeing no litter.

Apparently that TV news station had received calls complaining about the flood of litter. I recollect telling the TV news lady that I had been impressed with how litter-free Wichita Falls is compared to my previous Texas location, and that I had no clue as to the reason for the difference.

Maybe the litter difference between the two towns is caused by the same phenomenon which causes Fort Worth to have so many streets without sidewalks, parks without running or modern restrooms, but plenty of outhouses and which serves as host to America's Biggest Boondoggle, which has sort of become litter on a grand scale...

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Finding Sunday Dry Blue Spot Above Mount Wichita

What with Saturday's torrents of precipitation precipitating in copious amounts I figured a day after the deluge wheel rolling on the Circle Trail along Holliday Creek would see the creek roaring running rapids in flood mode.

And that by the time the Lake Wichita Dam spillway came in to view I expected to see water spilling over the spillway.

Instead on this Sunday after yesterday's extreme drippage one would think not a drop of rain dropped the day before, with Holliday Creek barely moving any water and the Lake Wichita Dam spillway bone dry.

The sky condition predictors had predicted limited clouds and mostly clear sky for today at my location on the planet. However, the clouds seem reluctant to leave, as witnessed by the photo documentation of what the sky above Mount Wichita looks like today, with a tiny spot of blue managing to peak through the dark threatening looking clouds.

This is now the third Wichita Falls North Texas weekend in a row where winter has rudely made a return visit, thought this weekend's visit was delivered without freezing.

On Wednesday I make my monthly return trek to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone. Rain and wind is in the forecast for that day. On Saturday I return to D/FW via the flying method, to get on a plane to fly to Phoenix.

I am hoping Arizona is warmer than what I have been feeling in Texas. I suspect it will be. And that day after day, for several days, I will be having myself a morning swim with the Ladies of Sun Lakes Swimming Club...

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Is Fort Worth The Vancouver Of The South Yet?

Saw this Is this the future of Seattle transit? A look at Vancouver, B.C. — a city that figured it out years ago article in yesterday's Seattle Times and thought, for more reasons than one, this is the type article I would never expect to be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

First off, the article is well written, detailed, full of facts, maps, photo documentation and intelligent analysis comparing public transit development in Vancouver and Seattle.

Oh, and the article is totally honest and reality fact based, with no embarrassing chamber of commerce type Fort Worth delusional puffery.

Both Vancouver and Seattle have a transit problem for similar reasons. Limited land due to the towns being hemmed in by mountains and water. And being fast growing boomtowns.

Seattle made a big goof way back in 1969 when a rail transit proposal failed with the voters, delaying for decades light rail coming to Western Washington.

Meanwhile Vancouver opened its first rail transit line, called Skytrain, by the time of their world's fair, Expo 86. Over the decades since, the Skytrain has greatly expanded.

By the 1990s Seattle voters knew something had to be done, and so voters began approving transit measures, one after another, with the latest passed a $54 billion bond approved in the November 2016 vote.

Seattle is now playing catch up with Vancouver, public transit-wise.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier in this century a bizarre public works project was foisted on the public, without a vote, called the Trinity River Vision, which, in its original propaganda, was supposedly gonna turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

I am not making that up.

Landlocked, saltwater-free, mountain-less Fort Worth was gonna be the Vancouver of the South.

The pitifully pathetic effort eventually became America's Biggest Boondoggle.

In all the years of boondoggling, Fort Worth has not even managed to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island which was/is supposed to be part of the Vancouver of the South.

And now, this week, we have learned that that imaginary island is so contaminated with toxins it makes workers sick to work on it.

And something of concern to modern locations in North America, like public transit, is not even remotely on the Fort Worth radar screen, as the city builds more and more sprawl without adequate modern transportation infrastructure.

Another huge difference in this Seattle Times article as compared to anything one would read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is the number of comments, intelligent, thoughtful detailed comments. Not dozens of comments, hundreds of comments. The comment flood happens over and over again in Seattle Times articles.

A Star-Telegram article may generate a comment or two, sometimes, and often the comments are, well, embarrassing in their ignorance and wrongheadedness.

Methinks that until Fort Worth gets a real newspaper the town has no real hope of ever lifting itself up from being an American backwards backwater.

Seattle has more than one newspaper, in a town smaller than Fort Worth. I don't know how many newspapers Vancouver has...

Friday, April 20, 2018

Fort Worth's Imaginary Island Boondoggle Makes Workers Sick

I first saw that which you see here via a blog post comment...

Matthew Hunter has left a new comment on your post "Questioning Fort Worth's TRWD Imaginary Flood Control Bond Levee Vote":

This is in addition to a story that came out in today's Star-Telegram and was buried among various fluff-pieces on their Facebook feed. It seems the company hired to widen the North side of the river for this project ran into some toxic oil refinery waste, which has contaminated groundwater that now flows right into the river. The city, meanwhile, blew it off, and has apparently tried to cover it up. Because, of course, they don't want people to know that they're tubing in a toxic toilet that cost over a billion dollars to build. What benzene? Oh, THAT benzene...oh, that's nothing. Here, look at the pretty fireworks and have a beer! See? Fun! 

Contaminated soil made construction workers sick. Fort Worth's river runs alongside it
_________________

Over the years of this current century, years where what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along, I have opined a time or two or three that if the point in time is ever reached when actual construction begins on Fort Worth's imaginary island that serious ground pollution will likely be discovered, most likely of a level requiring an EPA Superfund cleanup.

A couple bloggings from years ago verbalizing this contaminated pollution concern...

From July 19, 2009, Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Gets Contaminated and from December 15, 2014, Tacoma's Foss Waterway Development Authority vs. Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Authority Boondoggle.

I am not much of a fan of saying I told you so, but I told you so.

The first few paragraphs of the Star-Telegram Contaminated soil made construction workers sick. Fort Worth's river runs alongside it article...

FORT WORTH 

About 30 construction workers were exposed to hazardous materials in their work as part of the Panther Island project, and it all could have been avoided, the company's CEO said.

But as the agencies involved point fingers at each other over who is to blame for not telling the PennaGroup that the soil contained cancer-causing benzine, among other things, CEO Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga still waits for $2.9 million he said he's owed for cleaning up the mess in the area just east of downtown nearly eight years ago.

At the very least, Evangelista-Ysasaga said, the soil condition should have been included in the bid announcement. Instead, Evangelista-Ysasaga said he was told only after he pressed the issue.

That was after a construction supervisor alerted him when some of the workers began feeling nauseous and dizzy and he pulled them from the site. To date, none of the workers has suffered any illness, he said.


_______________

An apropos comment on Facebook this morning about this latest iteration of Fort Worth's ongoing massive boondoggle....


Blake Woodard: Thanks to Sandra Baker for writing this story. It’s a miracle it made it past Star-Telegram management, as the Star-Telegram is TRWD’s unpaid public relations department. Bud Kennedy must be on vacation.

On Bud’s next vacation, maybe Sandra would like to write an article on what a scam the IPL is. I will be happy to show her the TRWD’s own consulting engineering firm’s report on how IPL will bring no new water to Fort Worth.

_____________

The IPL referred to is the Integrated Pipe Line, I think. Yet one more TRWD boondoggle.

Regarding the contamination on Fort Worth's imaginary island. Is this not yet one more good reason for a big NO vote on May 5?

The pollution cleanup cost should long ago have been figured into the budget for this boondoggle. If this ineptly mismanaged project goes forward who knows how many more millions, or billions, will be needed to clean up this mess?

And at this point in time what investor is going to be willing to invest in building anything on the imaginary, polluted island? Even that relatively puny $55 million apartment complex which J.D. Granger has been touting for years as being about to be under construction, would this investor proceed with construction with this contamination debacle looming with its extent unknown?

Isn't the TIF related to the May 5 quarter billion buck bond somehow predicated on development on the contaminated imaginary island somehow generating enough value to pay for the bonds?

Methinks this May 5 vote is just the latest, most blatant iteration of what has become, and will likely continue to be, America's Biggest Boondoggle.

That is, unless somehow responsible qualified adults take over the project and somehow turn this embarrassing mess around. And that process may start with that big NO vote on May 5...

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Voting YES May 5 On Honest Texas Town Bond Propositions

And vote NO on fraudulent, misleading Texas town bond propositions.

This upcoming May 5 I know of at least two Texas towns which are putting bond measure propositions before their voters.

The two Texas towns I speak of are Wichita Falls and Fort Worth.

In Wichita Falls every voter in town, gets to vote on seven propositions, should they choose to do so.

In Fort Worth only a select few in a select area get to vote on one proposition, for a quarter billion bucks.

The Wichita Falls ballot specifically details seven propositions, A to G. The Fort Worth ballot erroneously claims the quarter billion bucks is for flood control and drainage. When the quarter billion bucks is actually a last ditch effort to rescue what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Responsible adults seems to be in charge in Wichita Falls. Not so much in Fort Worth, a town where the local congresswoman's unqualified son was made director of the project he has turned into an embarrassing boondoggle. With river floats in the polluted Trinity River, ice rinks, failed wakeboard parks and a litany of other nonsense.

Yesterday's mail delivered a simple one page mailer asking me to VOTE YES to FINISH THE TRAIL. That mailer details Wichita Falls Propositions A & B....
.

Proposition A
One of our most unique assets is the Circle Trail, and it’s so close to being finished.  Proposition A will get us 99% of the way there (and Prop B will finish it).  With your approval we’ll finish the segments from Loop 11 to Lucy Park, from Seymour Highway near Smith’s Gardentown to Barnett Road along the railroad tracks, and from Lake Wichita Park to Larry’s Marine.  We’ll also build two new trail connectors, one from Holliday Creek up to Sikes Lake at MSU, and one from the Ohio Street Bridge out to the main gate at Sheppard Air Force Base.  This will give thousands more people at MSU and on base access to the trail and everything else connected to it.  Proposition A also includes new turf fields for the Sports Complex and a resurfaced parking lot at Lake Wichita by the trail.

Proposition B
Proposition B picks up where Prop A left off, finishing the last segment of the Circle Trail from Larry’s Marine to Barnett Road.  This will provide many more people with access to Lake Wichita, connecting to the trail from points all over the city. Once they get to the lake, Prop B will provide them with a new boardwalk at the site of the original one lost to us many years ago.  Finally, this proposition will develop a new veterans memorial plaza next to the Kemp Street boat ramp, complete with a brand new Vietnam Memorial.  The boardwalk and veterans plaza both have matching grants that will pay for the majority of their costs; we just need to find the rest.  If we don’t, those funds are lost forever and we’ll have missed out on a great chance to improve our community.
_______________________

I have not seen it, but I have been told that those few voters allowed to vote on TRWD Trinity River Vision issues have been mailed an over the top publication full of misleading propaganda urging those voters to vote YES to the May 5 $250,000,000 bond issue to pay for imaginary flood control and drainage in an area which has not flooded in well over half a century.

Vote NO on the Fort Worth bond proposition, Vote YES on the Wichita Falls multiple propositons....

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

The Windy Cold Caribbean Route To Sikes Lake With Five Goslings

Once again a cold wind from the north is blowing into North Texas, blowing out the hot air which had blown in recently from the south.

Yesterday was hot, I think in the low 90s.

Today, when I went for a bike ride, the outer world was barely 60.

And blowing hard, real hard, making, I am sure, for a chilly wind chill factor.

So, I rolled around my Caribbean neighborhood, past Haiti and Grenada, and then took the Montego route direct to Sikes Lake, where, for the first time at this location, I saw recently hatched birds floating with what I assume were there parental units.

The flock of five goslings seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the floating adults paddling against the wind.

I heard no gosling honking or whatever the communicative noise baby geese make. Then again, if they were honking I likely would not have been able to hear it over the howling wind...

Will Fort Worth's Panther Island Madness End On May 5?

A couple days ago I read this What will $250 million bond for Panther Island project mean for property taxes? article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

And was appalled by what I read. That and the bad writing I was reading. Typos, spelling errors.

And erroneous information.

It has been a couple days. Maybe the Star-Telegram found itself an editor who cleaned up this article's mistakes. Then again, as recently as yesterday, I read this article's bad grammar referenced in comments to a Facebook post by the Star-Telegram's food critic and resident apologist for the Fort Worth Way.

Read the article yourself by clicking the What will $250 million bond for Panther Island project mean for property taxes? link and see if the mistakes have been fixed.

I will share some of the appalling erroneous information, and out and out misleading propaganda, which existed when I read and copied the article. First example....

Plus, the improvements are needed to improve the flow of flood water through the heart of Fort Worth. When the existing levee system was build in the 1960s, Fort Worth only had about 350,000 residents, but today there are nearly 900,000 residents and suburban development upstream has dramatically increased the flow of storm water during severe storms, said Jim Oliver, water district general manager.

Those levees were built in the 1950s, not the 1960s. (Note I typed "built" not "build"). Jim Oliver, paid around $300K a year to mis-manage the TRWD, doesn't know when those levees were built?

And then there is the following gem, also from the TRWD mis-manager, Jim Oliver...

If the bond election were to fail, the first option would be to simply delay the Panther Island project by a few years, which could lead to higher construction costs, Oliver said. But ultimately, if Panther Island were not built, the water district might eventually have to consider building higher levees and buying more private property for water storage, something that not only could lead to higher property taxes but would be a missed opportunity to build a beautiful new neighborhood with a river walk, he said.

So much absurd nonsense in the above paragraph. If the imaginary island is not surrounded with water the water district might have to raise the levees?

Raise the levees?

Those levees have prevented flooding in the downtown Fort Worth zone for well over a half century. Has anyone ever seen a flooding Trinity River ever get anywhere near topping those levees? And Oliver is threatening even more private property may be taken? Adding to all the property stolen via abusing eminent domain in the area where America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for years with little to show for all the money already wasted and property damage already done.

Well, to be fair, we did get to see a little wakeboard park for a short while before it failed. And there are those Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion at an imaginary world class music venue, with outhouses, and the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, sporting an ice rink for a few weeks during the winter. And other wonders which have nothing to do with flood control.

Or drainage.

Speaking of which. Here are another couple gems in this article...

A proposition on the ballot seeks permission to issue $250 million in bonds to cover the remaining unfunded portion of the $1.17 billion project, including among other things the acquisition of land, the re-channeling of 1.5 miles of the Trinity River and the construction of flood gates and water storage areas.

On the ballot, the measure is listed as Tarrant Regional Water District Proposition A, and is described as a measure for “flood control and drainage facilities.” Panther Island isn’t mentioned by name.

Okay, this article first points out what the quarter billion bucks is actually for in one paragraph, and then the next paragraph mentions how the measure is described on the ballot. Without any sort of mention made of the fact that this would seem to be fraudulent, to mis-describe a ballot measure so egregiously.

What a shocker. Panther Island is not mentioned on the ballot. Maybe the measure was run by some sort of lawyer who made some sort of point about it not being a good idea to mention an imaginary island which does not exist and never will be an island in any real sense of that island word if the Trinity River Vision ever does become something anyone can see.

When will this madness end? Maybe with a big NO vote on May 5...

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Wichita Falls Hamilton Park New Hammock Included Playable Park Art

A few days ago I made mention of the fact I had not seen any kids playing on the new piece of abstract looking playground equipment in Wichita Falls' Hamilton Park.

Well, today that phenomenon of not seeing kids playing on this abstract looking playground equipment came to an end as soon as this work of playable park art came into view.

Two barely post toddler sized kids were having themselves a mighty fine time climbing on the conveyor belt type straps strung between angled posts.

While what appeared likely to be the kid's maternal parental figure used one of the wider conveyor belts as a hammock.

This is one cleverly designed piece of playground equipment.

In that previous blogging about this serious subject I opined that maybe a sign with directions explaining how to play on this thing might be needed. Apparently, as I often am, I was wrong. Kids can figure out how to play on this, and mom's can figure out how to relax whilst the kids play.

Unscheduled Wichita Falls May 5 Texas Bond Election Interview

Yesterday, Monday, the first day of a new week, winter left, once again, from North Texas, with balmy warmth blowing in from the south.

And so, what with once again no need for excessive outer wear I took off in the noon time frame to have myself a mighty fine long bike ride which eventually took me to Mount Wichita, that being the towering, currently snow cap-free, mountain you see here.

When I rolled under the shadow of Mount Wichita I suddenly found myself participating in an unscheduled interview with Wichita Falls Channel 3 TV News, with the interviewer being a perky young lady who asked me if I would answer a few questions on camera.

I am a pathologically shy person, and so I declined the on air request, but agreed to answer questions.

I do not think the Channel 3 TV News young lady knew I am the un-official Wichita Falls Convention Center and Visitors Center Outdoor Adventure Guru. I thought it best to not share that fact. Such info made have made her more insistent I agree to be interviewed on camera.

What the Channel 3 TV News young lady wanted to ask me about was my thoughts on the upcoming May 5 Propositions voters are being asked to approve.

No, this was not about Fort Worth's fraudulent vote hoping to approve a quarter billion bucks via a ballot which misrepresents that which is being voted for, making it seem as if one is voting to prevent floods and fix drains, when the funds are actually directed to rescuing America's Biggest Boondoggle from its financial ineptitude.

Unlike Fort Worth, Wichita Falls is a Texas town which puts ballot measures before its voters in a straightforward, non-corrupt, honest, normal, American democratic way.

In other words Wichita Falls does not ask voters to approve some fool thing by asking voters to approve a dollar rental fee for a livestock stall. That type thing. Wichita Falls puts a measure before its voters in a clear, direct way, not the confused dishonest Fort Worth Way.

In that same upcoming May 5 election where Fort Worth voters, well the few allowed to do so, are being asked to approve a quarter billion bond misrepresented as being for flood control and drainage issues, Wichita Falls voters well be voting on a precise, succinct series of propositions honestly describing that which is being proposed.

Let's look at a short summation of the $131 million worth of seven propositions Wichita Falls will be voting for or against on May 5...

Proposition A is for park improvements. That would entail circle trail improvements, including the aqueduct trail, the spur from the Ohio Street bridge, and replenishing turf at the softball complex.

Proposition B is an issue for shoreline improvements at Lake Wichita this includes projects such as the Veteran's Memorial Plaza and a pavilion and boardwalk for the lake.

Proposition C will be for street repairs, which could help fund the Maplewood extension, widen parts of Taft Boulevard and drainage improvements.

Proposition D will help fund a new municipal government center in the downtown area, and police and fire department facilities.

Proposition E is created for renovations and upgrades at the MPEC, including ticket scanners at the coliseum, camera and surveillance upgrades in several portions of the MPEC.

Proposition F is for Memorial Auditorium upgrades. This includes lighting and sound system upgrades for Memorial Auditorium.

Proposition G — the last proposition — with go towards downtown improvements, such as sidewalk renovations, parking lots and other beautification improvements in the area.

Above you are seeing the short summations of the various Wichita Falls propositions. The actual details are much more specific, unlike that which happens in that aforementioned American backwards backwater known as Fort Worth...

Monday, April 16, 2018

Questioning Fort Worth's TRWD Imaginary Flood Control Bond Levee Vote

A thing or two about a thing or two has me thinking a thing or two about this upcoming May vote when voters, well, those few allowed to do so, are being asked to approve a quarter billion bond to funnel funds to what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, originally officially known as the Trinity River Vision, later morphed to being the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Also known as an ineptly implemented, ill-conceived embarrassment which could not take place in other, well, more developed locations in America.

By developed I mean locations in America populated by informed citizens who have had some contact with how the more modern, more advanced, more progressive locations in America operate in what is sometimes characterized as the Democratic Way, rather than what is known as the Fort Worth Way.

You know, locations in America where a public works project is approved by the voters, after a thorough vetting of the project's plans.

You know, a location in America where something like nepotism is a big NO NO. You know, nepotism. Giving a job to someone with exploitable connections with that connected someone having zero qualifications for the job nepotistically given.

And who then proceeds to botch the job nefariously nepotistically corruptly given. Hence one of the reasons nepotism is frowned upon in democratic locations in America and the world.

You know, sort of why many Americans are currently appalled at Ivanka Trump pretending to be the acting Secretary of State at some international meeting in South America.

The Trumps are a text book example of why nepotism is considered corrupt and unethical.

Back to the main subject. So, we have this Trinity River Vision bond vote for a quarter billion bucks. On the ballot the verbiage indicates these bucks are for flood control and drainage, specifically, right from the ballot...

Tarrant Regional Water District, A Water Control and Improvement District, Proposition A
The issuance of $250,000,000 bonds for flood control and drainage facilities and the levy of taxes to pay for the bonds.

Recently, in a blogging about Fort Worth Weekly Asking If You Can Spare A Billion For America's Biggest Boondoggle mention was made of the ongoing criminal investigation into Election Fraud alleged to have been perpetrated by the parent of America's Biggest Boondoggle, the Tarrant Regional Water District, the same parent behind putting this quarter billion buck bond before the voters.

How can an entity under investigation for criminal election fraud be allowed to put measures to a vote when the entity is under investigation?

Is there not a lawyer with imagination in the Fort Worth Way zone who could file some sort of injunction to stop this obviously fraudulent ballot measure, touting flood control where there has been no flood for well over half a century due to flood prevention levees long in place, long ago paid for?

And another thing.

The issue of who it is who gets to vote in a TWRD election.

If you live in Haltom City, a town with actual flood issues, and other towns and locations in the TRWD service area, you don't get to vote in a TRWD election.

When this who gets to vote issue has been raised previously one of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's well regarded, by some, apologists, repeats, as explanation, that only "Stakeholders" get to vote in a TRWD election.

With the "Stakeholder" area being that area which was covered by the initial originating of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

When I lived in Fort Worth I was a "Stakeholder" even though I was a recent immigrant who happened to move into the magical "Stakeholder" area.

How does it make any sense that all who are affected by the TRWD's shenanigans are not allowed to vote on TRWD issues? Isn't this just one more type of Election Fraud?

This is all perplexing, and like many of us have already said, Vote NO On TRWD Fraudulent Water Control Bond...

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Windy Cold Lucy Park Adventure To Wichita Falls

What with winter deciding to make yet one more weekend return to North Texas, blowing in extremely cold overnight, there was no way I was in the mood to layer on the outerwear to venture out into the outer world to roll my pedal powered wheels anywhere.

So, I opted to roll my mechanized wheels to Lucy Park, a location I formerly frequented frequently but in recent times, not so much.

I thought what with me being the semi-official Wichita Falls Outdoor Adventure Guru I would have myself some waterfall adventuring at Wichita Falls today.

As you can see Wichita Falls is running in full fall mode today. The Wichita River was also running a lot of water. Seems odd since not much rain has fallen of late.

Well, let's take a look at some views some have never seen of Wichita Falls, including a video which you will come to as you scroll down the photos.


Above we are hiking the serpentine brick trail which meanders to the top of Wichita Falls. You can see a peak at the falls through the foliage.


Now we are at the top of the falls, looking over the watery precipice, getting soaked from the windblown mist.


Another look at the roaring waterfall that sort of gives this town its name.


Another view from the top of Wichita Falls, looking down on the new Circle Trail bridge across the falls and the aforementioned Wichita River.


Above we are at the bottom of the falls, about to run up those steps to get up close to the top of the falls.


There we are, as far as one can go on those steps, up close to Wichita Falls.

And below you can join me on a video run up those steps to the view you see above...

Friday, April 13, 2018

Tomorrow April Iceman Cometh Again To North Texas

Last weekend North Texas dropped into an April deep freeze, with the temperature several degrees below freezing at its chilliest.

By Monday the deep freeze retreated.

By Thursday the outer world in North Texas found itself heated into the 90s, with thousands of A/C units on and cooling for the first time in 2018.

While the air was being heated into the 90s the warmth was blowing in from the south at high speed.

Those high speed winds, gusting at time to speeds nearing 40, made for a challenging bike ride yesterday when I rolled my wheels to Lake Wichita to do some dock floating and rocking and rolling.

At one point a gust removed my new sunglasses and sent them to a watery grave.

And now, this morning, I learn via the Wichita Falls Times News Record, we are once again heading into a freeze.


A windy freeze tomorrow, as you can see via the screen cap above. I suppose I will go on a warm windy bike ride today, and likely fore go that pleasure tomorrow....

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Fort Worth Weekly Asks If You Can Spare A Billion For America's Biggest Boondoggle

A couple days ago I mentioned the fact I thought it was time to Let Us See The Texas Attorney General TRWD Criminal File.

The mentioning of that fact ended up on Facebook, generating some interesting comments, including the following two..

Clyde Picht: Remind me sometime to tell you about the 2006 water board election where 6 precincts in minority neighborhoods suddenly got so interested in the election that they produced 50-70 mail ballots each. Enough to tilt the outcome of the election. Yet two years later when Barack Obama was on the ballot no one voted by mail in one of those precincts.

Aaron Harris: I'll say this....this is a good time for Durango to stock up on ink....the next month or two are going to be interesting.

I need to stock up on ink? What fresh hell is about to descend upon us?

Meanwhile, the closest thing Fort Worth has to a legitimate newspaper of record, Fort Worth Weekly, has gotten on board with the 20/20 sight see-ers seeing the Trinity River Vision for what it is, or isn't.

The first paragraph of some FW Weekly Static about what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle...

Fort Worth officials and Tarrant Regional Water District personnel have more nerve than a bum tooth, or else they don’t realize the gall it takes to seek a $250 million bond referendum to pay for “flood control.” The election is May 5, and approval means the bond money is expected to go to the Trinity River Vision plan, now referred to as Panther Island. This could raise the total cost of that project to more than $1 billion.

Read the entire Buddy, Can You Spare A Billion? article...

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Texas Wildflowers In Bloom Including Pink Evening Primroses In Wichita Falls

It was decades ago.

Well, the next to last year of the last century, when I first saw the pink Texas beauties of the type you see here.

It was early May, heading towards DFW from the northwest, driving southeast on Highway 287, somewhere between Amarillo and Wichita Falls I started to see patches of pink along side the road.

After a few miles of seeing this I felt the need to stop for an up close look at the delicate flowers.

This was my introduction to Texas wildflowers.

I do not remember when it was I learned these wildflowers were called something like Evening Primroses.

The patch of pink I stopped and photo documented today were one patch among many one rolls by whilst biking around Sikes Lakes.

Windy today, extremely so. I was happy the Evening Primroses were able to rigidly pose long enough to take their picture...

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Let Us See The Texas Attorney General TRWD Criminal File

Interesting incoming information came in late Monday afternoon.

Source?

Let's call this source Deep Moat II.

Deep Moat was the name used by a person who, years ago, emailed me information from inside the offices of what was then known as the Trinity River Vision, which years later is now known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or, more commonly, America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The interesting info from Deep Moat II is also about America's Biggest Boondoggle, specifically the parent which birthed that ongoing fraud, the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Deep Moat II has been doing some Open Records requesting with the Texas Office of the Attorney General Law Enforcement Division.

Among the Open Records requested and received are email exchanges between a notorious Fort Worth politician, up for re-election, and her son who was given a special job for which he had zero qualifications.

Among the Open Records requested, which were denied, was an Open Records request requesting the records of the Texas Attorney General Law Enforcement Division investigation into criminal activity of the aforementioned TRWD (Tarrant Regional Water District). Supposedly, this Open Records request was denied because this is an open, ongoing criminal investigation.

A paragraph from the Open Records request denial...

On 3/23/16, Texas Attorney General (OAG) SERGEANT (SGT.) WAYNE RUBIO was assigned this investigation. This investigation was referred by the Texas Secretary of State's Office and involves multiple allegations of election code violations, including, but not limited to; Illegal Voting, Unlawful Assistance, Carrier Envelope Action by Person Other than Voter, Method of Returning Marked Ballot, Assisting Voter, Assisting Applicant, and Providing False Information on Application. Specifically, it is believed several suspects committed the various election code violations on or around the May 9, 2015 Tarrant County Joint Elections and the March 2016 Primary Election.

I am assuming the election being investigated is the TRWD Board Election with results so obviously fraudulent it was astonishing the results did not instantly erupt into a scandal, with an outraged outcry from Fort Worth's responsible newspaper of record. Unfortunately Fort Worth does not have one of those.

And so crooks get away with stealing elections, because, apparently, or so I have been told, that has long been the Fort Worth Way.

And now, in 2018, in the coming month of May, there will be another TRWD sponsored election, likely with shenanigans and fraud involved, so desperate is the TRWD to get their hands on a quarter billion bucks to try and rescue the sinking mess which is now known as America's Biggest Boondoggle....

Monday, April 9, 2018

Warm Wichita Falls Ride To Hamilton Park Playground Art

No, that is not some sort of hang glider flying type contraption you see my bike looking at here.

What you are seeing is the new playground installation in the Wichita Falls park named Hamilton.

This looks more like some sort of art installation than something for kids to play on.

I have yet to see any kids playing on this. I have seen kids crawling around on the padded ground cover upon which the playground installation sits.

I think maybe kids are not able to figure out how they are supposed to play on this. Maybe there should be a sign with instructions.

My last bike ride was on Friday, when the outer world was heated to nearly the 80 degree zone. Then later that day a cold front arrived, dropping the outer world temperature to below freezing for most of the next two days.

That return to winter left by this morning. Let us hope this past weekend was finally the death rattle of the coldest winter since I have been in Texas.

If I remember right it was in December of 1998 I arrived in Texas. I left Washington in a heavy rainstorm and six days later arrived at my new Texas location in an even heavier rainstorm. With flooding. My weather intro to Texas was harsh. That wet entry was followed two weeks later by the first Ice Storm I've ever slipped in.

I moved to my first Texas domicile without having previously seen it in person. I only saw multiple photos. I remember when I first saw the pool I was appalled by how small it looked, not realizing my perspective made it look smaller than it actually was, which turned out to be plenty big, with a deep end and a diving board.

Currently there is an operation underway to find me a new domicile, in a state out west called Arizona. I am heading to Arizona, again, in a couple weeks.

There is a fairly good chance Durango Texas will soon become Durango Arizona.

Time will tell....

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Will April Freeze Kill The Flowers Of May?

Yesterday when I went waving to the summit of Mount Wichita I was rolling my wheels against a balmy wind heated to somewhere in the high 70s low 80s zone.

That semi-hot bike ride was to be the hot highpoint of the last 24 hours.

Friday as the afternoon progressed the outer air chilled cooler and cooler, til eventually it became as cold as a frigid winter day.

And overnight we froze, as you can see via the screencap. Freezing with the wind making the air feel as if it as 16 degrees.

So, I won't be doing any bike riding. Or swimming. Today.

I do not recollect this type chill happening any April previous during the years of my Texas exile.

Will this freeze wreak havoc of the blooming buds and the wildflowers starting to sprout? And my tomato plants? What will happen to my tomato plants?

UPDATE: As this Saturday morning has progressed, the temperature continues to fall...

Friday, April 6, 2018

Waving To Mount Wichita Summit

With thunderstorming on the menu for today, and with a good strong warm wind blowing I decided to risk dodging lightning bolts to take myself on a multi-mile rolling of my bike's wheels.

As you can see via the view of the Mount Wichita mini-volcano, Lake Wichita was doing some white cap wave rocking and rolling when it came into view.

The waves do not look to be quite surfing worthy, but getting close.

I can not remember the last time, if ever, I went surfing. I do recollect doing what is known as body surfing in the Pacific Ocean.

I am currently thinking about locating myself closer to that aforementioned Pacific Ocean.

I am also currently thinking about getting myself in better shape in anticipation of hiking to the summit of Camelback Mountain with my Sister Jackie and Brother Jake, of course with the caveat that their various hiking issues are in full abatement.

With that getting in better shape concept in mind when I reached Mount Wichita I decided to park my bike and take a quick run to the summit of the highest mountain within miles, though not nearly as high as Camelback Mountain.

In the view above we are at the summit of Mount Wichita, looking southeast at Lake Wichita, and my bike being that small dot at the bottom of the mountain.

So far today I have seen zero lightning bolts and have hear no thunder rumbling.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Almost Freezing April In Texas

The outer world at my location was chilled to only a few degrees above freezing this morning when the sun arrived.

The outer world was a little warmer when I layered up and ventured forth on my non-mechanized wheeled transport device.

I do not remember it taking so long in the new year for warm air to arrive in Texas. It seems, if my memory is serving me correctly, that previous years a few cold days were always followed by non-cold days.

And don't get me started on the wind.

I am blogging for the first time on a new computer. Windows 10 is not as vexing as I thought it would be, but there has been a vexation or two or three.

I forgot to mention, in the photo documentation, above, my bike and I stopped at one of the sculpture works of art one finds on the west side of Sikes Lake.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Vote NO On TRWD Fraudulent Water Control Bond

In February whilst I was not in Texas I thought my gullibility was being tested when a well known Tarrant County-ite emailed me that America's Biggest Boondoggle was putting a bond proposition before those few voters in Tarrant County who are allowed to vote in a Tarrant Regional Water District election.

When I lived in Tarrant County I was included in the zone of those allowed to vote on TRWD issues.

I've never had it sensibly explained to me why all those effected by what the TRWD does are not allowed to vote on TRWD issues. Such as those Tarrant County voters who vote in Haltom City.

Haltom City is a town which has had some deadly flooding issues.

Unlike the area being disturbed by America's Biggest Boondoggle, that being an area which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to levees preventing the river from misbehaving.

That which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has never directly been put to a vote where voters approve or disapprove.

How a town's landscape can be so drastically altered without the town's citizens voting to approve of the landscape alteration has long seemed bizarre to me, what with such shenanigans not being anything I ever witnessed whilst living out west in modern America, where no public agency would dare to do something so stupid as hire the totally unqualified son of a local politician so as to motivate that politician to secure federal funding.

Apparently that federal money has not been flowing into Fort Worth fast enough. And so on May 5 those few who are allowed to vote in a TRWD election are being asked to approve a $250,000,000 bond proposition.

The wording on the ballot seems like it would be considered fraudulent in a sane location in America...

Tarrant Regional Water District, A Water Control and Improvement District, Proposition A
The issuance of $250,000,000 bonds for flood control and drainage facilities and the levy of taxes to pay for the bonds.


Flood control? Drainage facilities? Like I already said there has been no flood to control in the area sporting America's Biggest Boondoggle since way back in the 1950s when levees were built to contain a high rising Trinity River.

Former TRWD board member, Mary Kelleher, who has seen the TRWD madness up close, has articulated her concerns about this "election" in Fort Worth Voters Beware of Proposition Propaganda.

I have read it claimed that this quarter billion dollar bond issue won't cost taxpayers anything. Who is getting taxed then to pay for these bonds?

I have read that this bond will be paid for via a TIF.

You know,  "Tax Increment Financing which enables municipalities to self-finance its redevelopment programs. TIF funds can pay for public improvements and other economic development incentives using the increased property tax revenue the improvements generate."

So, apparently the money to pay for these bonds would come from the property taxes accrued from all the valuable property built on America's Biggest Boondoggle's imaginary island.

What responsible developer is going to risk developing anything on that imaginary island, what with its latest project completion date being in 2028?

For what seems years now the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision's project manager, J.D. Granger, has been claiming a Dallas developer is soon going to be building a small apartment complex on the Boondoggle's imaginary island, with the developer also digging a ditch to tie into the imaginary canal system traversing the imaginary island.

Why would any developer develop anything on that imaginary island in its current state? With three simple little bridges being built in ultra slow motion over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island.

And what happens to America's Biggest Boondoggle if those few who are allowed to vote do not get conned into approving this bond proposition? Will the Boondogglers use the bond failure as their excuse for the project failing?

When is 60 Minutes coming to Fort Worth to do a Granger expose?