Downtown Fort Worth's Blind Alligator Pulled From Trinity River So Rockin' The River Can Resume

Today I am reversing my popular series of bloggings about something I read in a west coast news source, online, usually the Seattle Times, that I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That which you see here was screen capped from this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram and is something  I don't think you'd ever see in the Seattle Times getting wrangled out of Puget Sound or any of the lakes in the Seattle zone.

The big alligator which has been terrorizing downtown Fort Worth, like Godzilla terrorizing Tokyo, has been captured and removed to a new home, presumably the bayous of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Wildlife Refuge which is located between Lake Worth and Lake Eagle Mountain.

In the caption below the photo of the captured gator we learn the 10 foot long monster was blind. How was this determined I can not help but wonder?

Did the alligator go blind from too many years of exposure to the water of the Trinity River? Or is it blind from one of the usual old age blinding maladies, such as cataracts or macular degeneration?

Speaking of going blind from too much exposure to the water of the Trinity River.

Now that the alligator has been removed from America's  Biggest Boondoggle's party zone did Thursday's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float take place?

I Googled Rockin' the River to see if I could find out if an alligator free float took place yesterday, to no avail.

But, I did find something else appalling. That being that America's Biggest Boondoggle has gotten itself yet one more domain name and has had yet one more website made touting one of its many parties.

The new domain with a new website is rockintheriverfw.com. Apparently The Boondoggle's other website devoted to its imaginary island and imaginary pavilion, pantherislandpavilion.com did not suffice for propaganda spewing purposes.

Back a decade and a half ago, before America's Biggest Boondoggle turned into one, did anyone think that all this time later all we would basically see produced was a tacky music venue where the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision encourages people to float in the Trinity River and three simple little bridges being built over dry land, taking four years to build, to connect the mainland to an imaginary island?

Oh, and the world's premiere wakeboard lake. I am likely forgetting a product or two.

If the TRWD had hired an actual qualified project engineer as the Executive Director of what, at the time of the hiring, was called the Trinity Uptown Project (I think that is what it was called, it gets hard to remember all the names The Boondoggle  has gone by over the years), instead of hiring a local congresswoman's son to motivate her to seek federal money for the project, do you think we would be seeing people floating in the Trinity River at Rockin' the River and Sunday Funday events?

Do you think the old Tandy Subway's service shed would have been turned into a beer hall called The Shack?

If a real project engineer had been hired would we, all these many years later, be seeing the proposed project actually coming to some sort of fruition?

And another thing. How much of the people's money is America's Biggest Boondoggle spending on all these websites it is making to promote its various shenanigans?

There really needs to be some sort of adult oversight of Kay Granger's son. Don't you think the mountain of evidence makes that sort of obvious?

The 16th May Day Morning With Air Pollution Alerts, Alligators & Questions About Olive The Missing Prairie Dog

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell on this  16th May Day morning it was dark enough to set off the camera's flash, but the sun was up enough to see that this 3rd Wednesday of May is, so far, a totally clear blue sky day in North Texas.

A clear blue sky currently chilled to 63 degrees, heading to a high of 87, with the weather warners warning that the pollution in the air warrants and "Air Quality Alert."

At this point in time the quality of the air is not so bad that I have shut my windows.

This morning I had an email from one of my favorite Southern Belles, asking me if Olive the Missing Prairie Dog was "without a leash or collar?"

I know Olive was not wearing her collar when she went missing. Without a collar, I suspect no leash.

I hope the Olive the Missing Prairie Dog search team put one of her missing posters on the fence at Fort Woof in Gateway Park, a location that attracts a lot of dog lovers.

Changing the subject to something less lovable.

Trinity River Alligator Corpse

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper emailed me asking if I'd seen a disturbing gator picture on the WFAA's Facebook page. I had not.

Apparently the murder of an 11-foot 3-inch alligator is being investigated by the authorities who investigate such things.

The alligator was found by game wardens in the Trinity River at a location between Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth.

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge is between Eagle Mountain Lake and Fort Worth. There are signs in the Nature Center warning visitors to be cautious about alligators.

I know there have been many reports of alligators in Lake Worth. How do the gators get past Lake Worth Dam to get into the lake? On their trip upriver do the gators get out of the river when they come to the dam and walk around it? I've hiked in that location. It'd take a lot of effort, I would think, for a gator to get around that dam.

With this latest alligator incident I am really going to have to re-consider Elsie Hotpepper and me floating in the upcoming Rockin' the River With Alligators Happy Hour.

Breaking The Speed Limit In Hurst's Chisholm Park Wondering Why Fort Worth's Public Pools Are Dry

Do Not Go Over 16 in Chisholm Park

I was up north in the bustling suburb of Hurst today, to go to ALDI.

Before ALDI I went to Chisholm Park to go on a relaxing walk.

On my vehicle's analog speedometer I can easily tell when I'm going 5, 10, 15, 25...etc. But I had trouble telling if I was going over Chisholm Park's speed limit of 16.

I need a speedometer with a digital readout.

I like Hurst's Chisholm Park. Multiple scenes of a mom and dad and kids, often with a dog or two, having fun fishing, picnicking, walking, talking.

When I was a kid my parental units often took me and my siblings to parks. During summer pretty much every weekend we'd take off to go camping at one of Washington or Oregon's State Parks. Once a year we'd go on a long road trip vacation, to places like Yellowstone, Disneyland and Tijuana.

I was still a kid when I realized that many of my peers were not as blessed as I in the parental units taking them to parks, and on trips, department.

When I used to go to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge I'd often see scenes of a mom and dad, with kids, watching the prairie dogs, walking the trails. I more than once thought to myself that this does not look like a family that goes on trips to Yellowstone and Disneyland.

Hurst Chisholm Aquatic Center

And then Fort Worth started charging an admission fee to this park, which should be a free to enter amenity for all the people who live in Fort Worth.

But, Fort Worth decided to reduce the number of visitors by charging that admission fee. I've not been back, as my own little protest. And I mention my disgust semi-regularly.

In Hurst's Chisholm Park, among many other amenities, you will find the City of Hurst's Chisholm Aquatic Center. A large area with large pools and water slides.

Fort Worth closed all its public pools due to alleged budget woes. Yet, somehow Fort Worth found $3 million for a little pedestrian bridge across the Trinity River. And almost a $1 billion for something called the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. But, no public money for public pools.

No public pools might be cool if Fort Worth had a lake or two with a public swimming beach or two, but it does not.

And yet somehow Fort Worth still manages to be the envy of the rest of the planet.

Part of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is a little lake, that has shrunk over time, to now being small pond size. If this little pond were engineered to be filled with clean swimmable water, surrounded by sandy beaches, well, then the silent majority of Fort Worth citizens would actually be getting something that benefited them from the TRV Boondoggle.

But that won't happen, because it ain't the Fort Worth Way.

Questions About Fort Worth's New Pedestrian Bridge Across The Trinity River

River Legacy Park Trinity River Pedestrian Bridge

The bright sun wreaked havoc, last night, with my attempts to take a good picture of the pedestrian bridge in Arlington's River Legacy Park that takes walkers, bikers and bladers across the Trinity River.

But, even my limited photo taking ability shows you that this is a fairly substantial looking bridge. A very heavily used substantial looking bridge.

I do not know how much it cost to build this particular bridge. I suspect it was less than $3 million.

Yesterday I was surprised to learn that Fort Worth has a pedestrian bridge under construction, somewhere near Trinity Park, connecting the Trinity Trail to downtown Fort Worth.

Fort Worth's pedestrian bridge across the Trinity River will cost around $3 million. Of that $3 million, $2.3 million comes from federal grants, with the City of Fort Worth adding $459,000 and Streams & Valleys adding $200,000 raised from private donors.

I am a little perplexed about the building of a $3 million pedestrian bridge at this location at this particular time. When and where was this expenditure debated and voted upon?

How many miles of sidewalk could be installed in Fort Worth for $3 million? It seems like sidewalks would be a higher priority than a pedestrian bridge in the biggest city in America with the most miles of roads without sidewalks.

How many of Fort Worth's shuttered public pools could be opened for $3 million?

How many more hours could the Fort Worth Public Library system be open with an influx of $3 million?

A few years back Fort Worth decided to limit access to one of its city parks, that being the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, by charging an admission fee. I don't know of any other city, with World Class pretensions, that charges an entry fee to one of its city parks. Particularly to a park of this nature.

A month ago I was in several city parks in the Phoenix zone. Enormous city parks that dwarf anything in Fort Worth, both in size and the number of people using them. None charged an entry fee.

How does this new pedestrian bridge in Fort Worth fit in with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? It is downriver from the Woodshed Smokehouse, which somehow became part of J.D. Granger's Vision for the Boondoggle, even though the Woodshed seemed to be too far upriver to be part of the area that the vision originally saw.

What the City of Fort Worth decides to spend money on, and not spend money on, is very perplexing. And how those spending decisions are made is also very perplexing.

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge Made A Whopping $39,885 In Admission Fees Last Year From 45,000 Visitors

Watch Out For Alligators

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge and the Tandy Hills Natural Area are both gems of wilderness of the sort which few large towns in the world are blessed.

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge covers 3,621 acres, with over 20 miles of trails and wooden walkways over bayou-like waterways

Waterways where, as you see on the CAUTION sign, you may come upon an alligator. Or two.

When I first moved to Texas I lived closer to the FWNC & R than I do now. Back then I fairly frequently frequented the FWNC & R. And I've visited quite a few times since I moved further away from the FWNC & R.

But.

I have not been to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge since April of 2006.

Why?

Because the City of Fort Worth started charging an entry free. This I thought was an asinine thing for a city with pretensions of being the Envy of the World, to be doing.

I had been to the FWNC & R many times where I saw moms and dads with little kids, having fun looking at the Prairie Dogs and the Buffalo. These often seemed like families with finances which likely did not allow mom and dad to take the kids on fun trips to Yellowstone or Disneyland or Grand Canyon.

Having park amenities in your town, freely available to everyone, is part of what makes a great city GREAT.

And then yesterday, I read the following in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram....

The center has an operating budget of $664,776. It netted $39,885 from charging a fee at the park entrance and saw more than 45,000 visitors enter the park last year.

The city started charging the fee in 2006.

How much does it cost for admission you may be wondering?

From the FWNC & R website....

$5 Adults (13-64)

$2 Children (3-12;under 3 FREE)

$3 Seniors (65+)

$1 Discount per person (with Military ID)

So, mom and dad and 3 kids in the 3 -12 range can get to see the alligators for $16.

When I first learned that an entry fee was to be charged I wondered how much the cost of the ticket booth would be and how much it would cost to pay someone to take the money.

From the Star-Telegram article we learn the Center has an operating budget of $664,776. That is money that has been collected from you Fort Worth taxpayers. Taxes paid so the city has money to pay for things, like parks, for the benefit of the tax paying citizens.

Charging the entry fee netted only $39,885 last year. I'm assuming that net is after factoring in the cost of collecting the money.

There were more than 45,000 entry fee paying visitors. Let's say the average entry fee paid was $3. A $3 average would bring in $135,000. That is rather heavy overhead to end up netting only $39,885.

Let's take the operating budget of $664,776 and divide that number by the 45,000 visitors. That gives us a total cost per visitor of $14.77.

So, the City of Fort Worth is paying $14.77 per visit to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.

How many visited annually prior to a fee being charged?

Why not remove the entry fee, since it costs such a ridiculous amount to make that puny net of $39,885 and make money by other means?

Popcorn for a buck a bag at the Visitor's Center? Rental canoes? Maybe special events like the Concerts in the Garden that take place in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Surely some means could be found to easily raise $39,885 a year other than charging a ridiculous entry fee.

I had not discovered the Tandy Hills, which is only 4 miles from my abode, back when I still semi-regularly drove to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.

I wonder why the City of Fort Worth isn't charging an entry fee to the Tandy Hills. I think there easily could be a total of at least a 1,000 people who hike the hills annually. Some of those would be multiple visits from the same person, though.

I'd need to get a season's pass.