What Is Kathleen Hicks Doing In Europe While Fort Worth Loses Its Streetcar?

Last night Fort Worth's City Council voted to stop studying whether or not it made sense for Fort Worth to build a little 6 mile round trip streetcar system, made up of 3 streetcars, carrying around 2,000 people a day.

I was astonished to learn this morning that $821,000 was spent on the now aborted study.

That is a lot of money. Who got that money, I could not help but wonder? They could have paid me $500 and I could have told whoever needed to know that the Fort Wort Steetcar was not a viable idea at this point in time.

How much did Fort Worth spend studying the obviously flawed Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle before that long defunct project actually went ahead to its fruitless fruition? For $500 I would also have gladly told whoever needed to know that the Santa Fe Rail Market was a seriously flawed idea based on erroneous misconceptions.

The thing that really caught my eye in this morning's news about last night's Fort Worth City Council streetcar vote, was that Mayor Mike Moncrief had to break a 3/3 tie due to District 8 Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks being out of the country.

In Europe. On City of Fort Worth business.

I think I live in Ms. Hicks' district.

What in this impossibly strange world could Kathleen Hicks be doing in Europe that is somehow City of Fort Worth business. Who is paying for this junket in this city that can't keep its libraries and swimming pools open?

Is Kathleen Hicks over in Europe studying European Public Markets, getting ready for a Part II of the Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle? Remember how that particular boondoggle was supposedly modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market. Yet somehow what Fort Worth ended up with bore no resemblance to anything in Seattle. Or Europe.

Maybe Kathleen Hicks is over in Europe studying how it is that no European city has an embarrassing eyesore across the street from its courthouse, like Fort Worth's Heritage Park, with Heritage Park being one of the few unique things that used to be a good embellishment to downtown Fort Worth, but is now a boarded up, rundown mess overlooking the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

In Hollywood you can go on a bus tour of the scenes of various Hollywood areas of notoriety and scandal. I wonder if any tourist dollars could be made by taking tourists on bus tours of Fort Worth's various boondoggles? Maybe Molly the Trolley could be used in this endeavor.

Are The People Voting On Big Dumb Boondoggles In Fort Worth & Seattle? If Not, Why Not?

If I remember right I think I've mentioned previously that I find it interesting how differently democracy is practiced in my current location of Fort Worth, Texas, compared to my previous location in the Seattle, Washington zone.

Both towns have big public works projects underway. In Fort Worth the project is known by various names, such as Trinity Uptown Project, Trinity River Vision or simply as That Big Dumb Boondoggle.

In Fort Worth the people who live in the city have not been allowed to vote on That Big Dumb Boondoggle.

Meanwhile, Seattle may have a boondoggle of its own in the making. That being the multi-billion dollar plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep bore tunnel under downtown Seattle.

In Seattle there is growing opposition to the tunnel, coming from various sources.

Now, to show you how differently issues are dealt with in Seattle, compared to Fort Worth, I've taken an article from today's Seattle P-I regarding the opposition to the tunnel. I have substituted "tunnel" with "Trinity River Vision" and "Seattle" with "Fort Worth" and changed Seattle's mayor Mike McGinn to Fort Worth's mayor Mike Moncrief and changed the price tag from $4 billion to a measly $1 billion.

Now, read this and ask yourself why you would never read such a thing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram....

With big questions about potentially huge cost overruns, skeptics are gaining steam to torpedo the Trinity River Vision in Fort Worth.

Some groups want voters to have one final say about the Trinity River Vision -- before it's too late.

The Trinity River Vision is expected to cost nearly $1 billion to construct. But a consultant for the Fort Worth City Council says there's a 40 percent likelihood it'll cost more than that.

With that new ammunition, some Fort Worth groups -- such as the Sierra Club and Real Change -- are pushing for a new referendum that would stop the project unless city taxpayers are protected from cost overruns on the state project.

If that referendum gets enough signatures, Mayor Mike Moncrief -- who does not want Fort Worth on the hook -- says he supports a citywide vote.

Meanwhile, council members say there's still time for a compromise.

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision's Incredibly Iconic New Bridges

You are looking at an artist's rendering of one of the proposed new bridges that will cross the unneeded flood diversion channel that is part of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The original plan was to have unique signature bridges that had been designed by someone or thing called Bing Thom.

The Bing Thom design was deemed too expensive, so to save $45 million, the Trinity River Vision signed off on the signature bridges. I don't know how much Boondoggle money was paid to the Bing Thom people.

The guy who designed the new version of the bridges, Miguel Rosales, says his bridge designs mimic the Modern Art Museum and other structures, like the Omni Hotel.

Huh?

Another TRV Boondoggle member said the bridges V-pier designs have found the right balance between iconic look and cost-effectiveness.

Iconic look? The Golden Gate Bridge, that's an iconic look. The Brooklyn Bridge, iconic look.

In the 2nd artist's rendering of a bridge you are looking at one of the rejected Bing Thom bridges.

When I first saw the 3 Bing Thom bridge designs I thought they looked very interesting. With maybe a chance of finally giving Fort Worth an iconic structure, besides the Fort Worth Stockyards sign, that people in other parts of the world might recognize as being a Fort Worth thing.

The first of the "iconic" new Fort Worth bridges won't start being built until the end of 2011. This Trinity River Vision Project is one real slow motion Boondoggle.

If there was a place taking bets I'd put my money on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle having its plug pulled before the end of 2011.