Yesterday, the day known as Sunday, Steve A, currently watching Texas from a luxurious vantage point in Ocean Shores, Washington, posted a comment to a blog post which was posted earlier on that yesterday sunny Sunday.
Steve A's comment...
Steve A has left a new comment on your post "Kay Granger Says Fort Worth's Boondoggle Will Get Buckets Of Federal Funding...":
Can we expect a story of the extra cash approved to Oliver ($300K) and Granger's kid ($60K) before too long? It's rare to see the Startlegram scoop Durango! What's more, are you planning to do one or more stories on the Panther Island Central City Flood Project? Its Executive Director is one JD Granger. As far as I can tell, their main accomplishment to date has been to build 225 feet of sidewalk along a canal. There's a story at https://fwtx.com/news/progress-report/ - and even that sidewalk appears to be three years behind schedule if you look at the "related" blurb about JD from the same publication. Apparently, JD's sidewalk is like a local version of the Trump border wall.
Inquiring minds want to know!
______________
Well...The Panther Island Looks to Unveil First Part of River Walk Before End of Year article, to which Steve A pointed us, has some interesting elements.
The first paragraph...
The Panther Island project has been going on for well over a decade now, and in that time frame, has also become the brunt of both praise and critique from those anxiously awaiting the promised San Antonio-style riverwalk and surrounding developments illustrated in those fancy renderings. In April, what’s considered the first vertical progress on the project finally opened to traffic — the White Settlement Bridge, one of three V-pier bridges offering connectivity to the 800-acre district.
____________
Well over a decade? The Boondoggle has been boondoggling along since this century began. Has anyone heard any of this praise from people anxiously awaiting a promised San Antonio-style riverwalk? The simple little bridges which look like freeway overpasses are considered the first vertical progress?
Continuing on...
But just along North Main Street, behind chain-link fences in the shadow of the five-story Encore Panther Island apartment complex, the fun part of the project — the part everyone’s been waiting for — remains hidden from the public eye.
Well, a 225-foot-long portion of it anyway.
Nestled right in the center of Encore Panther Island is the first part of the Panther Island Riverwalk, now filled with water as it waits to join the rest of what will be about 1.75 miles of canal running along the district.
Why isn't this Encore apartment complex considered vertical progress? Everyone has been waiting for the fun part of this project? With that fun part supposedly being the Panther Island Riverwalk? 225 feet of the 1.75 mile canal has now been filled with water, and is awaiting being enjoyed? Yeah, that illustrative photo of this section of Riverwalk looks real enjoyable.
Continuing on...
But aside from just giving locals something fun to enjoy, those spearheading the project have long touted the canal’s functional purpose — to serve as the main stormwater arterials for the City of Fort Worth and allow for the removal of outdated levees, replacing them with better flood protection via the canal.
Oh, this canal will serve as stormwater arterials, thus allowing the removal of levees which are supposedly outdated, but which have prevented flooding for well over a half century, whilst other areas of Fort Worth and Tarrant County are in dire need of better flood protection.
Looking at that photo of this short section of canal, it is a bit difficult to see how this is going to handle the Trinity River when it goes into flood mode.
Continuing on with a bizarre quote from that gift which just keeps on giving, J.D. Granger...
“Locals will never know it,” JD Granger, executive director of Panther Island Central City Flood Project, says. “Everyone’s walking down with a margarita — might fall in because you’re drunk — [and] they just think it’s pretty. But actually, it serves a very important purpose.”
Local will never know the little canal serves a very important purpose? Really? For most of this century locals have been hearing about a flood diversion channel, whilst seeing three little bridges being slowly built over dry land. So, how and why is it that J.D. thinks the locals will never know what the canal is for while they are drunkenly walking the riverwalk with a margarita in hand?
J.D. Granger has a long history of embarrassing himself. Way back in June of 2014 we blogged about one of the weirdest J.D. Granger embarrassments in This Morning I Learned J.D. Granger Is Promoting Little Kids Cheering For Beer & Going Nuts For Runner's Butts.
Continuing on...
____________
Why isn't this Encore apartment complex considered vertical progress? Everyone has been waiting for the fun part of this project? With that fun part supposedly being the Panther Island Riverwalk? 225 feet of the 1.75 mile canal has now been filled with water, and is awaiting being enjoyed? Yeah, that illustrative photo of this section of Riverwalk looks real enjoyable.
Continuing on...
But aside from just giving locals something fun to enjoy, those spearheading the project have long touted the canal’s functional purpose — to serve as the main stormwater arterials for the City of Fort Worth and allow for the removal of outdated levees, replacing them with better flood protection via the canal.
____________
Oh, this canal will serve as stormwater arterials, thus allowing the removal of levees which are supposedly outdated, but which have prevented flooding for well over a half century, whilst other areas of Fort Worth and Tarrant County are in dire need of better flood protection.
Looking at that photo of this short section of canal, it is a bit difficult to see how this is going to handle the Trinity River when it goes into flood mode.
Continuing on with a bizarre quote from that gift which just keeps on giving, J.D. Granger...
“Locals will never know it,” JD Granger, executive director of Panther Island Central City Flood Project, says. “Everyone’s walking down with a margarita — might fall in because you’re drunk — [and] they just think it’s pretty. But actually, it serves a very important purpose.”
____________
Local will never know the little canal serves a very important purpose? Really? For most of this century locals have been hearing about a flood diversion channel, whilst seeing three little bridges being slowly built over dry land. So, how and why is it that J.D. thinks the locals will never know what the canal is for while they are drunkenly walking the riverwalk with a margarita in hand?
J.D. Granger has a long history of embarrassing himself. Way back in June of 2014 we blogged about one of the weirdest J.D. Granger embarrassments in This Morning I Learned J.D. Granger Is Promoting Little Kids Cheering For Beer & Going Nuts For Runner's Butts.
Continuing on...
The Panther Island project hasn’t gone on without opposition, however, as many remain critical over its hefty price tag (it’s part of the $1.16 billion Central City Flood Project, of which $29 million for utility work is coming from the public), and simply the fact that everything’s taking so long.
To that, Granger has two responses: Regarding the cost, funding for the Panther Island Riverwalk is coming from investors and developers who are paying the Tarrant Regional Water District the amount they would essentially pay to mitigate the stormwater runoff they would create. On the amount of time it’s taken to see things go vertical, Granger cites, in part, the need to clean up the “environmental hot mess” that the formerly industrial property used to be, previously filled with hazardous chemicals like lead and ammonia.
“We were having to buy the property, move the property, demo the property, do the environmental cleanup — all of that had to take place before the bridges could even start,” Granger says, adding that the amount of hazardous materials removed totaled to about 330,000 tons.
According to Granger, funding is coming from investors and developers? If that is the case why is this project constantly in slow motion construction mode whilst awaiting federal funding courtesy of J.D.'s mother's budget finagling, which is what Kay Granger has long been expected to deliver, thanks to her son being given a high paying job for which he had zero qualifications.
Before the bridges could start J.D. says they had to buy, move and demo property? And that added up to 330,000 tons of hazardous material? Anyone remember seeing all those tons being moved? Where did they move to?
And one can not help but wonder how many margaritas J.D. Granger had consumed prior to being interviewed for this article...
___________
According to Granger, funding is coming from investors and developers? If that is the case why is this project constantly in slow motion construction mode whilst awaiting federal funding courtesy of J.D.'s mother's budget finagling, which is what Kay Granger has long been expected to deliver, thanks to her son being given a high paying job for which he had zero qualifications.
Before the bridges could start J.D. says they had to buy, move and demo property? And that added up to 330,000 tons of hazardous material? Anyone remember seeing all those tons being moved? Where did they move to?
And one can not help but wonder how many margaritas J.D. Granger had consumed prior to being interviewed for this article...
No comments:
Post a Comment