Anonymously Wondering What Really Stopped Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Bridge Building

Earlier this month, August 10 to be precise, I wrote Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress after reading a ridiculous piece of Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda about Congresswoman Kay Granger's attempt to finally secure funding for her son's embarrassing debacle which has come to be known, far and wide, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Yesterday someone with the relatively common name of Anonymous made an anonymous comment to that blog post about Cataracting Kay Granger out of Congress.....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress":

It occurs to me that the reason the TRV bridge construction was halted was due to a lack of funds. That there was enough money to get construction started on one bridge, with the hope that once that bridge construction was underway that Kay Granger could then manage to secure the federal funds her son was hired to motivate her to get. But that plan failed and has turned sort of desperate, as you noted in this blog post I am commenting on. 

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Now that this Anonymous person has caused me to think about it, isn't it rather curious that the Star-Telegram would have an editorial and article about funding finally being secured for America's Biggest Boondoggle, while at the same time making no mention of the fact that The Boondoggle's bridge construction had ground to a halt for almost half a year?

Almost two years ago a big TNT explosion celebrated the start of construction of the first of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island, with an astonishing four year construction timeline.

Longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge, and other actual feats of actual engineering.

Months ago we were told, by the Star-Telegram, that a design error had brought a halt to the construction of the only one of The Boondoggle's bridges under construction.

How did this alleged design error come to be, what with this being a rather simple bridge? It's not like they were launching a new rocket that had never been launched before.

Was there really a design error which stopped the bridge construction? Or was it more a matter of what Anonymous suggests, that The Boondoggle did not have the funding to actually build the bridges, until J.D. Granger's mama hoodwinked those coveted federal dollars?

One can not help but wonder why, rather than publish embarrassing propaganda puff pieces about imaginary progress of America's Biggest Boondoggle, the Star-Telegram does not send one of its imaginary reporters to the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building, where the Trinity River Vision Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has its offices and an enormous propaganda display of the imaginary wonders this ill-fated project pretends it will deliver, and ask J.D. Granger to answer some rather obvious questions.

Like what's gone wrong with the bridge construction? That would seem to be an easy, logical question a legitimate newspaper of record might ask....

Photo Documentation Of America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridge Debacle

The text at the top of the screen cap of the photo you see here says "The V piers looking mostly the same  as they did in March."

Yesterday I blogged Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress arguing it is time to boot Granger from Congress, fire her son and pull the plug on America's Biggest Boondoggle.

A week ago today, last Thursday, I blogged Imaginary Fun Phase Begins For Fort Worth's Entertainment Boondoggle after Captain Andy sent me a link to an insipidly stupid FOX4 News online propaganda article about America's Biggest Boondoggle.

This morning Captain Andy sent me a link to the Fort Worth Architecture Trinity River Vision Forum in which someone had posted photos of The Boondoggle's stalled bridge construction. You know, those simple signature bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, construction of which has ground to a halt for five months.

The photos of The Boondoggle's bridge embarrassment showed up after someone in the Forum asked "Anyone heard an update on the one month bridge delay that is quickly and quietly closing in on 5 months?"

I have had a person or two of the information challenged sort suggest I exaggerate when I mention how long America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling. At the top of each of the many pages of the Trinity River Vision Forum we learn "Trinity River Vision Forum started by Fire-Eater, May 20 2004."

Obviously Fire-Eater did not start this Forum on the day it was foisted on Fort Worth with a massive Star-Telegram front page headline hysterically screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO THE VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH". I believe The Boondoggle has been boondoggling since 2002. I do not recollect when it was J.D. Granger was put on the dole, I mean, put in charge, in a money raising scheme, to motivate his mama to send some federal pork to Fort Worth. That did not work out as planned, hence this ill-conceived scheme becoming America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I so clearly remember the morning I read that Star-Telegram headline about scenery blah Fort Worth becoming the Vancouver of the South and that being the first time I thought to myself something is dire wrong with this town. Are insane people running the place? It took several more years for me to come to the conclusion that Fort Worth is just a Sick City, in dire need of an intervention.

Below you are looking at a photo you will see if you go back one page from the Fort Worth Architecture Forum page Captain Andy directed me to. In this photo you are looking at the current state of the Damage Zone inflicted on Fort Worth by America's Biggest Boondoggle. You are looking down on the stalled bridge construction and the ridiculous "art" installation at the center of a roundabout that the Forum debaters do not like. In the upper left of this photo you are looking at the location where two forks of the Trinity River come together, where regularly unseemly levels of E. coli collects, along with J.D. Granger and his legion of polluted river aficionados.

Reading the Fort Worth Architecture Forum comments I learned all sorts of appalling Boondoggle ridiculousness.

In one comment I learned...

There are now districts and they have names.

- East Island 
- West Island
- And the Houseboat District 

Houseboat District? Is J.D. Granger a big fan of Sleepless in Seattle? One of the commenters had this to say about the new "island" names...

Maybe they are going to follow the corporate sports model, take tax money to build the installation and then take more money from some company for "naming rights".  Alcon Island, American Airlines Island, Locheed-Martin Island, Frost Bank Island, XTO Island, BNSF Island... If you don't like the name just wait a few years, sort of like Texas weather. The company will go bankrupt and some other company will acquire new naming rights: Texas Central Island, Green Mountain Island, Solar City Island, Hyperpoop Island, etc.

One of the commenters commented about the new 3-D models of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision which have been installed at The Boondoggle's propaganda installation on the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building.

Does no one in the Sick City understand the concept of conflicts of interest? Can we expect factual information in the Star-Telegram about the tenant on the ground floor? We have long known that nepotism being a bad thing is a concept lost on these goobers known as the good ol' boy and girl network which runs the town in what is known as The Fort Worth Way.

As in corrupt. And self-serving.

So, these new models in The Boondoggle's waste of space show all sorts of imaginary wonders. You can push buttons on an interactive map and have imaginary nonsense light up.

How much has all this propaganda cost? How much does it cost to lease space on the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building? Who is making all these 3-D models? And why? And how much do the models cost? How many people are on the TRV dole, in addition to J.D. Granger?

How can money be being wasted on such utter propaganda nonsense at the same time J.D. Granger's mama, Kay, is trying to scam federal money from American taxpayers to pay for Fort Worth foolishness?

Appalling. Disgusting. Perplexing. And Embarrassing....

Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress

I think I may be about to write the longest blog post I have ever written. So much material.

Yesterday Miss B emailed me regarding an email she had received from a Texas Watchdog, who asked Miss B if she knew how to contact that guy who writes that blog that so frequently mentions America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I told Miss B how the Texas Watchdog could contact me. This morning the Texas Watchdog emailed me, asking about something I really knew nothing about, with a link to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article which contained the mis-information I knew nothing about. This mis-information was in a Star-Telegram article earlier this month, August 6, I think.

Then, later in the day, Elsie Hotpepper emailed me with a subject line of "Early Birthday Present". The early birthday present was to yet one more Star-Telegram article, an editorial published, I think, on Monday, August 8, about the same subject as the earlier article, that subject being America's Biggest Boondoggle, which the Star-Telegram still, occasionally, refers to as the Trinity River Vision.

Well, now that I've gotten the prelude out of the way, where to begin?

The Star-Telegram article the Texas Watchdog referenced was titled Fort Worth’s water project is finally on the verge of funding.

Let that title sink in. According to the Star-Telegram America's Biggest Boondoggle, after nearly 15 years of boondoggling, is on the verge of finally being funded.

How is this funding on the verge of happening, you might wonder?

This paragraph from the article answers that question...

Granger, a former mayor of the city “where the West begins,” has, after nearly 20 years as a member of the House of Representatives, helped smooth the way for Congress to approve about $520 million in federal funds from the Army Corps of Engineers for the Fort Worth project. It is estimated that the completed cost, which includes nonfederal funding, will be nearly $1 billion.

The Granger being referred to is Kay Granger, mother of J.D., who was hired to be The Boondoggle's Executive Director in order to motivate his mama to do some pork barreling and attach some earmarks to bills to get money to fund this ridiculous project.

So, Granger, after all this time, years and years and years after her unqualified son was hired to muck up a project he was unqualified to execute, has now supposedly smoothed the way to get some of that federal money siphoned to Fort Worth.

But, the article tells us time is running out for the bill to get passed to add this pork to the president's budget.

(Note to president: If this ludicrious waste of public funds gets to your desk, please veto it, or line item it into oblivion.)

The article spends some time explaining various reasons this Kay Granger scheme might fail.

I particularly found the following paragraph of interest...

There are some differences between the House and Senate bills in funding the Trinity Vision project – the House bill authorizes $526.5 million and the Senate $520 million – and the Senate bill stipulates that the assistant secretary of the army for civil works certify that the project meets cost-benefit criteria.

Certify that the project meets cost-benefit criteria?  This "project" has been touted as a much needed flood control project, with the side benefit of providing an economic stimulus to a blighted section of a blighted town. There are areas of Tarrant County in dire need of flood control mitigation. Haltom City and Fossil Creek come to mind. The area where Kay Granger expects the American people to send Fort Worth money has not flooded for over half a century due to the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers built flood control levees that have kept that zone dry ever since.

This ridiculous "vision" has always been a crooked scheme to line the pockets of those who instigated it. What the federal government needs to do, instead of sending money to Fort Worth for a bogus flood control project, is to investigate who, including Kay Granger, stood to have their property values enhanced if the Trinity River Vision ever became something someone could see.

It also might be a good idea to investigate, on a federal level, how and why it was that Kay Granger's unqualified son, a low level district attorney, was hired to direct this project.

Okay, now let's get to the Star-Telegram editorial about this subject.

I will copy the entire short editorial, in its entirety, with its tortured verbiage intact...

Trinity River Vision nearing reality

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The Trinity River Vision project is one step closer to being a reality.

Thanks to the tenacity of its principal advocate in the U.S. Congress, Rep. Kay Granger, the massive flood control and economic development project is close to receiving the congressional authorization needed to ensure its inclusion in the president’s budget.

Approval would unleash $520 million in federal funds from the Army Corps of Engineers — the majority of the estimated money needed to see the almost $1 billion project to its completion.

Granger, a former Fort Worth mayor, has been working for years to secure federal dollars for the endeavor, which, when finished, would divert the Trinity River and create an urban lake and 12 miles of developable waterfront in the northern quadrant of the city.

The funding still has a few hurdles to overcome: The House and Senate have to resolve slight differences in their respective authorization bills, and then legislators have to pass the bill in the time that remain this congressional session.

_____________________

"Developable waterfront in the northern quadrant of the city"?  Who is on this Star-Telegram Editorial Board? People who have never been to Fort Worth? The northern quadrant of the city is a long distance from the area at the north end of downtown Fort Worth where The Boondoggle is doing its boondoggling.

This editorial was illustrated by that which you see at the top. The infamous TNT explosion which marked the start of construction of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Underneath that explosive illustration was the following blurb...

Officials detonate a blast on Henderson Street at the official groundbreaking of construction of the Panther Island Bridges being built on Henderson Street, North Main Street and White Settlement in Fort Worth, TX, Monday, Nov. 10, 2014. The ceremony included remarks by Congresswoman Kay Granger, Texas Department of Transportation Commissioner Victor Vandergriff and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

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Make note of the date of the TNT explosion. Nov. 10, 2014. Almost two years ago. At that point in time The Boondoggle shamelessly informed us that the bridge construction would take four years.

Longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.

Almost two years after the TNT explosion all that can be seen of the bridge construction is some wooden V-pier forms near the site of the TNT explosion, that being the only one of the three bridges to have had any construction activity.

With that solo bridge construction activity halted months ago due to design problems.

You reading this in sane locations in America. This Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for a long time, Funds have been wasted on parts of the project which have already failed, such as Cowtown Wakepark. J.D. Granger has been making money for years longer than a real project director would have been making money from a legitimate project which should have been long completed, with the legitimate project director having moved on to his next project.

As an indicator of how absurd it is that Kay Granger's son was given this job, do you think, if this project ever does actually come to any sort of fruition, would any other city, anywhere, hire J.D. Granger to be the Executive Director of a public works project, after turning this Fort Worth embarrassment into America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Why is the Star-Telegram still cheerleading this disaster? Are owners of the Star-Telegram among those whose property values will increase if this project ever actually happens? What possible reason would the Star-Telegram have to bring up the subject of those bridges, with no mention made of the fact that building these simple bridges has run into a major snag?

Why does the Star-Telegram not have issue with the fact that The Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for such a long time with so little to show for the effort?

Why does the Star-Telegram not see a problem with a statement such as "Fort Worth's water project is finally on the verge of funding?"

This public works project which the public has never been allowed to vote on  was foisted on Fort Worth almost a decade and a half ago. And now, all that time later this project is finally on the verge of funding? And the local newspaper of record does not find this embarrassing, inept, stupid, irresponsible and, well, idiotic?

And definitely not the way major projects happen in modern locations in America.

Kay Granger needs to be booted out of Congress. Her son needs to be fired. A federal investigation into the various nefarious shenanigans needs to take place. And the plug needs to be pulled on this totally unneeded pseudo flood control project before any more harm is done to Fort Worth.

It's just appalling. 

A Stormy Floating Bridge Has Me Freshly Perplexed By Official Fort Worth Nincompoopery

Someone reading this who is in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone may be thinking what they are seeing here is an artist's rendering of what it may look like if America's Biggest Boondoggle ever finishes its bridges connecting the mainland to an imaginary island, with the flood diversion ditch under the bridges filled by a flooding Trinity River.

Well, that body of water is not the Trinity River, it is Lake Washington, which would make that bridge the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, during the Big Blow that blew in a couple weeks ago, on Saturday, August 29.

I suppose I should now turn this into one of our popular bloggings about bridges constructed in less than four years.

Over water.

For those new to the program, the reason we look at bridge building projects, built over water, built in four years, or less, is due to the amazingly embarrassing fact that America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision, last October, celebrated with a big bang, the beginning of construction of three simple, little bridges, being built over dry land, with a four year project timeline. After which, if funding can be found, a flood diversion ditch will be dug under the bridges.

The propaganda spewing con artists who have foisted this project on the locals have gotten away with claiming the bridges are being built over dry land so as to save money by making construction easier, when the obvious fact of the matter is there will be no water under the bridges until the Trinity River is diverted into the newly dug ditch.

The ditch is not currently being dug because there is no money to pay for it. America's Biggest Boondoggle is not funded in the way most public works projects of this sort are funded, with the funding in place before the project starts, with the project having a project timeline.

America's Biggest Boondoggle has no projected finish date for this supposedly vitally needed flood control and economic development project.

Meanwhile, up north, well northwest, the bridge building project which will replace the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge is well underway. The first of the new bridge's pontoons moved into position on August 11, 2012. The new bridge is scheduled to open in April of 2016. This bridge project is a bit more expensive than America's Biggest Boondoggle's project, with it forecast to cost, when all is done, $4.65 billion. That includes the new bridge, plus improvements to I-5,  I-405 and SR-520.

The bridge the new one is replacing was real cheap. It cost only $21 million in 1961 dollars, around $150 million in 2015 dollars. The original Evergreen Point Floating Bridge opened to traffic on August 28, 1963, taking three years to build. Over water.

I really don't understand why the Fort Worth locals don't revolt against the embarrassing Nincompoopery of their elected officials, like Mayor Betsy Price. Or the Nincompoopery of un-elected officials, like J.D. Granger.

What does it take for the locals to say enough is enough? Is the reason why the locals don't revolt the reason Elsie Hotpepper has suggested to me? As in, way too many locals are un-questioning sheep, willing to follow the leader into floating in an e.coli polluted river?

How have those behind America's Biggest Boondoggle gotten away with the obvious lie that the reason those three little bridges are being built over dry land is to save money?

It is all very perplexing, and I for one do not agree with those who think the explanation is that way too many Texans are poorly educated, and thus a bit ignorant. I think the reason lies elsewhere, but my quest to find the answer really is quite exhausting, and I am not making much headway....

Why No Residential Towers Are Currently Planned For Fort Worth's Imaginary Island

Continuing our popular series of bloggings about something I see in a west coast online newspaper, usually the Seattle Times, that I don't see in my current local newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, we have what you see here, from the aforementioned Seattle Times.

I have mentioned before that rarely does a week ago by where I don't read about some new construction project in downtown Seattle; new skyscrapers, convention center expansion, Pike Place expansion, or, like you see here, new residential towers.

The text under the artist's rendering of the two tall towers says developers are proposing a slew of new residential towers over 400 feet high seizing on the City Council's rezone of South Lake Union to allow for greater height and density. And that developers are high on building Seattle high-rises.

I have not seen a high rise rise in Fort Worth since I have been in Texas.

A  few weeks ago Mr. Spiffy made an observation regarding the current stagnant state of development in downtown Fort Worth. Mr. Spiffy suggested that no developer is going to be wanting to develop anything while America's Biggest Boondoggle has the status of downtown Fort Worth in a state of confusion.

Will the imaginary island be where new growth will take place? Will that be where the focus of downtown Fort Worth will shift? Those are the questions a developer would be asking. That and when is that project slated to be completed?

And then when the developer learns America's Biggest Boondoggle has no project timeline, will that would be a real deal killer?

The Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle is supposedly an economic development project, combined with an un-needed flood control project.

If this project was projected to be such a boon to the economy of Fort Worth, then why is it not already completed? Why is the project being built in slow motion?

Well, we all know the answer.

America's Biggest Boondoggle became such because the project is funded in a piecemeal fashion.

America's Biggest Boondoggle is not a public works project approved by the voting  public approving a bond measure to finance a project for the public's benefit.

It was thought by the Perpetrators of the Boondoggle that hiring local congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., a lawyer with no project engineering experience, would motivate Kay to secure federal pork barrel funding via earmarks.

But, that plan fell apart when the era of earmarks came to an end. So, Kay has not been able to secure as much federal money as was hoped.

Lacking the money to see the Boondoggle's Vision in a timely fashion, the Frat Boy hired to motivate his mother to get money for the project began to initiate events like Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats. Along with goofy things like naming the area where the floating beer parties take place, Panther Island Pavilion, along with calling a chunk of land Panther Island, where there is no island, and where there will only be a pseudo island if the long delayed flood diversion ditch is dug to go under the three bridges being built in slow motion over dry land to connect the mainland to that imaginary island.

The Frat Boy also helped bring the popular sport of wakeboarding to Fort Worth by having the Trinity River Vision build a pond so an enterprise called Cowtown Wakepark could provide the wakeboarding experience to the Fort Worth masses yearning to stand on a board while a cable drags them over dirty water.

As we learned yesterday, Cowtown Wakepark is now closed. The first of what will likely be many failures in the ongoing debacle that is America's Biggest Boondoggle.....

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Does Not Rip Itself Over America's Biggest Boondoggle

What you are looking at here is a screen cap of a section of last week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column. The section screen capped is titled "Star-Telegram Rips Itself".

When Fort Worth Weekly lost its renowned editor, Gayle Reaves, several months ago, the Weekly seemed to rapidly deteriorate. A few weeks columns went missing, such as the Static column.

Well, the past three weeks the Weekly seems to be back firing on all cylinders, with high quality cover articles and with the Static column back also firing on all  cylinders.

For example, two paragraphs from the Static column about the Star-Telegram ripping itself....

The paper also wants to talk to people who have stopped buying the Star-Telegram completely. That conversation is easy to imagine. “I stopped buying the paper because it kisses up to the downtown elite, the Basses, the gas industry, advertisers, and various sacred cows, and it offers mostly superficial, boring articles, mostly about Dallas.”

The Star-Telegram spends way too much time and money on silly consumer surveys. Seems like every other month they’re changing their layout, coverage, paper size, fonts, you name it, based on the latest survey. Here’s some free advice. Write interesting stories. Impact society. Ask tough questions. Take pride in your product. Stop sucking so much. You’re welcome.

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I have long opined that Fort Worth suffers due to not having a real newspaper asking tough questions, conducting what is known as investigative journalism.

That which is known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision likely would not have become America's Biggest Boondoggle if Fort Worth had a real newspaper asking questions from the start of the folly, such as asking, way back when the Boondoggle began, why this public works project is not being put to a public vote so as to secure funding like that which is done in other towns with successful public works projects?

Or when Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, with zero project engineering experience, was given the job of being the Boondoggle's executive director, asking by what criteria was J. D. Granger determined to be the best man for the job?

Or asking why it is going to take four years for the Boondoggle to build three simple little bridges over dry land?

Or asking why it is that America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for a lot longer than it took to build the Panama Canal, with so little accomplished in all the years of boondoggling?

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper editorials would have opined that if the Trinity River Vision is such a vital flood control and economic development plan, why is it being implemented in slow motion?

Another editorial might mention that fact that this vital project being built in slow motion is greatly increasing the cost of the project. Just all the extra years of paying the salaries of employees like J. D. Granger, who would long ago be off to the next job his mama found for him, has greatly added to the cost of the project.

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper that newspaper would have jumped all over the ridiculous claim that the Boondoggle's three simple little bridges are being build over dry land so as to save money and make construction easier.

Why would a real newspaper have jumped all over this ridiculous claim?  Because there will be no water under those bridges until the Trinity River is diverted into the ditch dug under the bridges. The ditch could and should be being dug at the same time as the bridges are being built.

If this project were properly engineered and fully funded, that is what would be going on.

The fact that the digging of the ditch will not begin until the three bridges are built just adds to the folly and is yet one more example of why this inept project has become America's Biggest Boondoggle....

According To The Texas Society Of Architects The Boondoggle's Bridges Over Nothing Were Completed Five Years Ago

Yesterday I blogged a blogging about being Up a Creek again with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

In that blogging mention was made of The Boondoggle's bizarre Three Bridges Over Nothing and those bridge's extraordinary four year project construction timeline.

The extremely erudite Mr. Steve A read that particular blogging, after which I was notified of the following Steve A comment...

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "Up A Creek Again With The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle":

What's all the fuss? After taking up the "Durango Challenge" and Googling "Trinity River Boondoggle" myself, I discovered at the Texas Society of Architects website that the bridges would cost only $53Mil and would be complete in 2010. Accordingly, I want to see Durango pictures of the wonderful bridges designed by the same architect that designed the never-completed TCC River Campus. The article is WELL worth a read if you've never seen it before. Seriously, I guess that makes the project AT LEAST nearly a decade behind schedule and over budget by more than anybody has claimed so far since the bridges cost a lot more even though they "cheapened" them up. 

How time flies. The Texas Society Of Architects' article about The Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing was published in 2007.

Eight years ago.

That article stated as fact, that which now seems to be painful irony, that being that construction on all three bridges was expected to begin in 2009, with completion set for June 2010.

Taking one year to build.

Not four.

And completed five years ago.

Are more and more people beginning to understand that this inept project is a Boondoggle? Those bridges which were to be completed in 2010 are now not scheduled  to be completed until 2018.

Why do the locals, as in those who are not part of the Good Ol' Boy and Girl Network who run Fort Worth as a corrupt oligarchy, not rise up, grab their pitchforks, some tar and feathers, and what ever else is needed to run the likes of J.D. Granger and his mama and others out of town before more damage is done?

So perplexing.

Yes, I know it is known as The Fort Worth Way. I also know I will never understand The Fort Worth Way, having spent most of my life in a democratic part of America where no one would dream of anything as nepotistically absurd as putting a local congresswoman's unqualified son in charge of a public works project so as to motivate his mama to try and secure federal pork barrel earmark money.

Is 60 Minutes working on a Boondoggle expose yet?

The Confederacy Of Dunces First Public Vote On The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

Yesterday after I blogged about the Confederacy of Dunces "My City. My Trinity. Fort Worth finding its way back home" photo exhibit, an amusing blog comment arrived from Ignatius J. Reilly...

Ignatius J. Reilly has left a new comment on your post "J.D. Granger & His Confederacy Of Dunces Is Now Programming Propaganda Photo Exhibit Products": 

Mr. Jones, you did not make note of a part of the TRV's press release that reeked with irony, that being the following sentence.

"A second gallery will feature community submitted photographs, the public is encouraged to vote on their favorite image."

For the first time in its history, that which you call The Boondoggle is allowing the public to vote on some aspect of The Boondoggle, albeit a very minor aspect. 

Ignatius is correct, I did not make note (in my blog post) of this first time ever public vote on any aspect of The Boondoggle.

However, I did make note of this historic fact, when I read it, and intended to mention this shocking development. But, then forgot to.

So, thank you, Mr. Reilly, for noticing this history making event and commenting about it.

As for the Confederacy of Dunces, or Dunce Confederacy, I opined yesterday that maybe we need to make this the new name for The Boondoggle.

That which is known as The Boondoggle has gone through several name changes. From Trinity Uptown, to Trinity River Vision, to Panther Island.

So, I guess it only makes sense that that which we used to refer to as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, eventually to become known simply as The Boondoggle, may now become known as the Dunce Confederacy.

The term "Confederacy of Dunces" comes from a Jonathan Swift essay, in which Swift said, "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

Sadly, there is no loud genius, appearing to be heard, who is speaking truth to the Fort Worth Confederacy of Dunces. Fort Worth has no real newspaper, of the daily sort, printing the results of investigative journalism.

Thus, the Dunce Confederacy basically operates in a vacuum with no checks or balance.

Fort Worth Weekly does what it can, but can not afford to annoy the local businesses who buy advertising.

Come to think of it, I don't think I saw a single ad in Fort Worth Weekly this summer from the Dunce Confederacy, formerly known as The Boondoggle, advertising their weekly Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float Beer Parties.

You reading this outside the Fort Worth propaganda bubble, back in November we had a good example of the Dunce Confederacy in action. The occasion was the ground explosion, I mean, ground breaking, for the Dunce Confederacy's Three Bridges Over Nothing. Three very simple bridges which are scheduled to take longer to build than the Golden Gate Bridge and many other feats of modern engineering.

Only a Confederacy of Dunces would have a celebration to make note of something as lame as the start of this slow motion bridge construction project.

Go to the blogging I wrote that day, titled A Big Boom Begins Boondoggle Bridge Construction Three Months Late and you will see the Dunce Confederacy in action, including video (if the Dunces have not removed it) where you can hear J.D. Granger, his Mama Kay, and Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price, give a good verbal example of what Dunces sound like when they say stupid stuff which has no grounding in reality....

Wondering How Much The Boondogglers Have Been Paid For Their Slow Motion Trinity River Vision

This week's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda mailer has had me thinking anew about The Boondoggle.

The thinking anew has me being freshly perplexed.

Let me see if I can explain the train wreck of my thinking.

So, the people of Fort Worth had a billion dollar public works project foisted on them long ago, I think the beginning dates back to late in the last century.

I first learned of what has come to be known as The Boondoggle when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Sunday edition on a Sunday early this century breathlessly trumpeted, in a HUGE headline, that that which was then called the Trinity Uptown Project, would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

I remember reading that and thinking to myself what fresh ridiculous hell is this. Little did I know, then, how ridiculous.

Okay, so the way public works projects come about  in democratic, non-oligarchy locations in America is that a public works proposal is presented to the public. The merits of the proposal are debated. And then, after much public discussion, the public works project is put to a vote where the voters agree to support a bond issue to finance the building of the public works project. Or vote NO.

If the voters approve of the public works project the project then proceeds to the construction phase, building the project as quickly as possible so as to reap the benefits of the project as soon as possible.

When the voting public can see the benefit to them of voting for a public works project they vote a big YES.

Having the public vote on public works projects and then having those projects built in a timely fashion may be one of the reasons other parts of America seem to be much more advanced than Fort Worth.

Which brings us back to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. Never voted on. Not funded in a way which allows the project to be built in a timely fashion.

So, now to the point of what is bugging me. With The Boondoggle being un-funded, being built on a slow motion indeterminate timeline, does it not occur to anyone, but me, that the way this Boondoggle has been operating, that it has become a strange, sort of permanent job, for people like J.D. Granger?

What I am thinking is if this Boondoggle was done like a normal public works project, the project would have, by now, been completed, with J.D. Granger having moved on to his next construction project, if his mother could find him one.

Does it not greatly add to the cost of The Boondoggle to be paying people, like J.D. Granger, for years longer than he would have been paid had this project been built like it would have been built in, like I already said, if it were a normal, voted on, fully funded public works project?

How much is the total paid to The Boondoggle's employees, year after year, as The Boondoggle boondoggle's along in slow motion?

If I remember right J.D. Granger is paid something like $100,000 a year to mismanage The Boondoggle. I think he began mismanaging in 2004. That is a decade ago. I am not good at math, but I think in ten years, at $100K per year, J.D. Granger has been paid something like one million dollars. Plus he has an expense account. And who knows what other perks.

Well, I have been told about the well stocked liquor supply in J.D.'s office.

How many employees are on The Boondoggle's staff? How many extra millions of dollars have been lost due to paying people boondoggling in slow motion for an unfunded project the public has never voted for, with no end in sight?

Like I already said, if this urgently needed flood control project were funded and built in the way it would be in democratic areas of America, it would have been completed by now. With no more money being wasted paying J.D. Granger and his fellow boondogglers.

The simple Three Bridges Over Nothing, which supposedly explosively began being constructed recently, are being built in slow motion, taking four years to complete. When the Three Bridges Over Nothing are complete, if J.D.'s mama has somehow come up with federal money, then the ditch under the bridges can begin being dug. I don't believe the engineering design for that ditch and its diversion dam have been completed, let alone that actual cost to built it determined.

Or how long it will take to dig the ditch.

If it takes four years for The Boondoggle to build three simple bridges, how long will that ditch take to dig? A decade? Longer?

However long it takes to complete this slow motion project, those in charge of The Boondoggle, as in J.D. Granger and his crew of boondogglers, are being paid, with salaries and perks.

J.D. Granger is in his 40s, I think. His precise age I can not find. I am thinking maybe J.D. is thinking he can milk this lucrative job, for which he has ZERO qualifications, til he hits retirement age. Of course, it goes without saying that J.D. keeps his job only as long as his mama keeps hers, which would seem to be forever, judging by the last election which re-elected J.D.'s politically corrupt, nepotism loving, mama.....

Spencer Jack's Walk Across The Skagit River Has Me Freshly Pondering Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

This morning due to photo evidence I found on Facebook I thought Spencer Jack was in Eastern Washington, east of the mountains in Washington lingo, in the themed tourist town of Leavenworth.

I blogged about this this morning on one of my other blogs in a blogging titled Spencer Jack Taking His Snowy Thanksgiving Turkey To Leavenworth.

And now, late this afternoon, incoming email from Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew, Jason, seems to indicate that Spencer Jack is back in Mount Vernon, with the primary evidence of that being the picture you see above.

The email contained no explanatory text.

Above Spencer Jack is standing on the Skagit River bridge which connects Downtown Mount Vernon to West Mount Vernon. As you can see, the Skagit River at this location is a big river. A big, free flowing river. The size of the river you see here is not the result of any type of dam.

This particular Skagit River bridge was built in less than four years. Built over water. A lot of water. All of the Skagit River bridges were built over water, in less than four years.

I really think it might behoove Fort Worth to send out some sort of task force to more advanced parts of America, like Mount Vernon, to see how those more advanced parts of America manage to build things, like bridges, far faster than Fort Worth's dawdling Three Bridges Over Nothing and their four years til completion before an un-needed flood diversion channel finally can be dug so that water can be added under the bridges.

In the second picture Spencer Jack is still on the Skagit River Bridge. In this view we are looking south at part of the Skagit River Vision's completed riverside walkway. In the picture you can not see the plaza, which is in the distance to the south.

It only took Mount Vernon a couple years to see its Skagit River Vision. Fort Worth began dawdling on its hard to see vision early in this century. Well over a decade later there really is not much to see of Fort Worth's fuzzy vision.

Well, there is the traffic mess being caused by those Three Bridges Over Nothing finally being under construction. I have not experienced the traffic mess. I read about it in Fort Worth Weekly. Apparently drivers who have noted how dangerously bad the detours are have tried to get the city and J.D. Granger to fix the problem.

To no avail.

I recollect J.D. Granger saying words to the effect that he had used his advanced engineering skills to engineer a project which would cause motorists no woes.

Will nothing short of the voters finally wising up and un-electing his mother get J.D. Granger fired from a job he is clearly not qualified to do, as evidenced by the ongoing displays of ineptness?

You can listen to J.D.'s traffic assurances in the YouTube video at the end of a blogging from a week or two ago titled A Big Boom Begins Boondoggle Bridge Construction Three Months Late.....

Fort Worth Really Is Where The Jest Begins As The Funniest Big City In America

Last night Elsie Hotpepper emailed me a link with the message in the email saying "Apparently they didn't factor in our politicians...."

The link was to an article in Texas Monthly titled Where the Jest Begins.

Apparently an in depth scientific study was made by a group of some university's scientists to determine the answer to the important question everyone has always wondered about, as in, which big city in America is the funniest.

And so a Top 50 Funny City List was compiled using a complex calculation method factoring in the number of comedy clubs, comedians and how often a town's people visit funny websites.

The computer went to work and eventually figured out that Chicago is America's funniest town.

The Texas Monthly article has a paragraph about how Texas fared, funny-wise....

Texas cities, however, mostly tanked. Austin, at number 14, was the state’s only reasonably funny locale. Dallas and Houston came in at 36 and 37, respectively; Arlington was 46; and San Antonio was 47. Scroll down to the very bottom of the list and there, at number 50, you’ll find Fort Worth—the unfunniest city in America, according to science.

Well, even though I totally respect the scientific method used to determine that Fort Worth is the least funny of the Top 50 biggest towns in America, methinks, like Elsie Hotpepper thought, that the data used to determine a town's funniness was not broad enough.

Methinks things like Kay Granger being Fort Worth's Congresswoman should have been factored in.  Along with Kay's son being given a nepotistic job for which he had zero qualifications, as in running the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, I mean Panther Island Boondoggle. (I just can not get used to the funny, goofy new name for the Boondoggle)

Which is just another funny Fort Worth factor. How many towns on this Top 50 Funny List  have anything as goofy as the Panther Island Boondoggle going on in their town? How many towns on this Top 50 Funny List are building three bridges over an imaginary flood bypass channel for which no money has been secured to dig an un-needed flood bypass channel?

How many other towns in this Top 50 Funny List have something as funny as the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats going on in a polluted river running past their downtowns?

How many other towns on this Top 50 Funny List have done something as goofy and funny as open the 21st century's first drive-in movie theater?

How many other towns on this Top 50 Funny List has done something as goofy as naming their downtown zone "Sundance Square" and then after decades of there being no square in Sundance Square, finally building a square, but then do something funny like name the new square "Sundance Square Plaza?"

How many other towns on this Top 50 Funny List have had a mayor like former Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief, who would do something as funny as pour grape kool-aid in their town's river thinking it would turn the river purple, and do so in some sort of odd homage to a local school's colors?

I really believe a broader funny city scientific survey would have placed Fort Worth in its proper place on a list of the Top 50 Funniest Cities in America, with that proper place being Fort Worth is clearly the #1 Funniest City in America.

Spencer Jack's Wakeboard Lake Has Cleaner Water Than J.D. Granger's Cowtown Wakepark

This morning when I woke up my computer I saw I had incoming email from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason).

The subject line of the email said "Spencer Wakeboards in Backyard".

The message in the email said....

FUD---

Skagit County is suffering a tropical heat wave.  Highs in Seattle predicted to exceed 80 over the next two days.

Spencer Jack used his earnings from a lucrative Easter Egg hunt to purchase a new backyard swimming pool.

I must explain FUD is short for Favorite Uncle Durango, in case you did not already know that.

Wow! My old home zone is suffering a tropical heat wave while I am here in the Deep South shivering from an Arctic Blast that has brought the temperature down from the 90s to the low 50s.

Spencer Jack's Wakeboard Lake and his other engineering projects got me thinking how much my young great nephew has in common with Fort Worth's J.D. Granger.

Both have zero project engineering qualifications. But both are in charge of large engineering projects, with some key differences.

Spencer Jack's Skagit Valley Vision is fully funded, with the original vision completed, yet continuing to be added to.

While J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has been Boondoggling for well over a decade, underfunded, with basically nothing built.

Well, there is the Cowtown Wakepark. A crowning achievement, so far, of the TRVB.

And I forgot all the property taken by abusing eminent domain for a public works project the public has never been allowed to vote on. Spencer Jack did not abuse eminent domain for his Skagit Valley Vision.

Spencer Jack's Skagit Valley Vision, of which he is the project  manager, is a massive urban village with trains and a monorail, built in his garage.

J.D. Granger has recently been bragging that soon three extremely ordinary bridges, that he thinks will be a signature look for Fort Worth, will be under construction, maybe, and maybe be finished in three or four years.

J.D.'s bridges will be built over no river. They will be built over an imaginary bypass channel that has yet to be funded, or have its hydraulics designed. As in no one knows how much the imaginary flood gates will cost to divert a flooding Trinity River into the imaginary bypass channel.

Near as I can tell, J.D. Granger is much better at playing than is Spencer Jack. J.D. comes up with Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River, while I don't think it has crossed Spencer Jack's mind to float on an inner tube in the un-polluted Skagit River.

J.D. has also come up with pretending to have the world's premiere urban music venue at a location he dubbed Panther Island, which may be an island, I think, if that imaginary bypass channel ever becomes real.

J.D. helped bring about the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, while I doubt Spencer Jack knows what a drive-in movie theater is.

J.D. also helped bring Fort Worth a much needed little ice rink for six weeks during the winter. I don't think such things cross Spencer Jack's mind. He has his ice needs met by being driven up to the snowy Cascades during the winter.

However, like I already said, in the project engineering part of the vision thing, Spencer Jack is way ahead of J.D. Granger. And has now added a Wakeboard Lake in his backyard, which doubles as a boating venue, which you can see video of below....

Mary Kelleher Takes Legal Action To Obtain TRWD Documents

This morning in the Star Telegraph (please note that is Star Telegraph, not Star-Telegram) blog I was surprised to learn that Tarrant Regional Water District Board member, Mary Kelleher, has still not been able to view TRWD documents which she requested access to soon after assuming office.

In the Star Telegraph blog post titled The records belong to THE PEOPLE, part of what we learn is...

Tarrant Regional Water District Board Member Mary Kelleher has begun legal action in her continuing effort to obtain documents detailing business operations at the agency.

Kelleher has filed a petition in district court in Tarrant County seeking to depose key TRWD officials and force them to turn over an extensive list of documents.

How can a public agency stonewall one of its board member's request to view agency documents?

I have no idea what documents Mary Kelleher is wanting to see.

I long ago opined that the TRWD Board documents that I would be curious to read would be the discussions with took place which lead to the hiring of an assistant Tarrant County district attorney named J.D. Granger to be Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle....

We Finally Have A Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Project Timeline

There has been a time or two or three when I have blogged about being perplexed by the fact that I have never seen any sort of Project Timeline in any of the vast amounts of printed  material churned out by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, or its propaganda cohort, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

So, imagine my surprise to see an article in the Sunday, September 15, 2013 Star-Telegram titled Trinity Uptown bridges in Fort Worth will initially span dirt, not water in which there is a link to the extremely detailed "Trinity Uptown" Project Timeline you see above.

From that Project Timeline we learn that in 2014 a contractor will be hired to build a bridge. In 2017 three bridges are scheduled to be completed and in 2021-23 the much needed flood control project will be completed, pending federal funding.

I really do not understand why it is that so many people complain that the Star-Telegram is not a real newspaper, what with hard hitting investigative journalism of the sort evidenced by this particular Trinity Uptown bridges in Fort Worth will initially span dirt, not water article and its detailed Project Timeline.

The dirt the bridges span in this article's title refer to the flood diversion channel, which will be dug after the bridges are built.

Regarding that flood diversion channel in the Star-Telegram article we learn...

The timetable for digging the channel and making the other flood control improvements is less certain. Even by optimistic projections, that work likely won’t be finished until 2023 — two years later than the previous target date.

And why is the digging of this channel uncertain? Once more from the Star-Telegram...

Fort Worth is counting on Congress to eventually provide about half the $910 million needed to finish the sweeping project. But it’s not clear when — some say if — all the federal funds will come. “In this constrained funding environment, we must focus on projects that have the greatest impacts on life safety. The result is, we have insufficient federal funding to continue the project at this time,” said Brig. Gen. Thomas Kula, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Southwestern Division, which includes Texas.

You reading this in other locations in America I bet you did not know that Fort Worth is thinking it is going to stick you with half the tab for this combo flood control economic development project.

I'd hazard to guess you'll be even more perplexed when I tell you that you've already paid for flood control levees which have prevented any damaging flooding in the downtown Fort Worth area for well over half a century.

You reading this in other locations in America, those being locations where the citizens vote on these things called bond issues to fund much needed public works projects, are likely wondering two things, with one of those things being wondering, if this project is so important, why don't the locals vote to pay for it themselves? And you are likely also wondering, if this project is so important, you know, for flood control, why is it being built at a snail's pace?

The Star-Telegram inadvertently sheds some light on to what is behind this boondoggle when it quotes Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., he being the executive director of the boondoggle, installed in this job, for which he has zero qualifications, in order to give his mama a motivation to help get that much needed federal funding. A plan which has not worked out all that well, so far.

J.D. gives the Star-Telegram a typically inane quote the point of which I'm not quite sure I understand...

J.D. Granger, executive director of the authority, said the project won’t need full funding from the corps for many years. Right now, supporters are simply seeking Congress’ approval to build the channel, making it eligible for actual funding. “We couldn’t spend more than $400 million in one year because we’d have to move 800 million cubic yards of dirt,” he said. “It’s impossible.”

I know, you reading this in other parts of America are wondering how it is this boy keeps this job. Well, I'd have to try and explain the Fort Worth Way of doing things, but I really don't understand the Fort Worth Way of doing things, so I can not explain it....

What Phase Of The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Project's Timeline Are We Currently Looking At?

I have mentioned previously that both the town I am now located in, Fort Worth, Texas and the town from whence I came, Mount Vernon, Washington, have downtown river projects underway. With major differences.

Fort Worth's river project is known as the Trinity River Vision. Mount Vernon's is not known as the Skagit River Vision.

Ironically, the Mount Vernon river project is actually visionary, while the Fort Worth river project does not seem very visionary.

Mount Vernon's river project addresses an actual flood control issue, protecting downtown Mount Vernon from being destroyed by a flood, a situation which has come close to happening several times in the past couple decades, with a wall of sandbags and 100s of sandbaggers coming to the rescue.

Fort Worth's river project does not address any actual flood control issue, even though that is the bill of phony goods that has been sold to the apparently gullible Fort Worth public. Downtown Fort Worth has not been threatened by a flooding Trinity River for well over a half a century, due to the fact that huge levees were installed, back in the 1950s, under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, which do a good job of keeping the river under control.

The Fort Worth un-visionary Trinity River Vision's plan is to take down the functioning levees and replace them with a gigantic flood diversion channel, which will likely be like the Great Wall of China, as in visible from the moon.

You reading this in the sane parts of America, I guarantee I am not making this up.

Even harder to believe...

In order to secure federal money to help pay for this new bogus flood control that the federal government, meaning you, already paid for, decades ago, to insure the cooperation of Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, her totally unqualified son, J.D., was given the job of overseeing Fort Worth's screwy river project.

So far, having J.D. Granger oversee this screwy river project has seen the construction of the world's premiere urban wakeboard lake, the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, an imaginary music venue with an imaginary island hosting inner tubing beer parties in the polluted Trinity River.

And a restaurant.

Again. You reading this in the sane parts of America, I guarantee I am not making this up.

Now, back to Mount Vernon's river project. What got me back on this subject was an article I read this morning in Mount Vernon's newspaper online.

Oh, I must mention. My old hometown has an actual newspaper of record functioning with journalistic integrity, which is one of the many reasons I found the Fort Worth Star-Telegram so jarringly different upon first exposure. I was not used to a newspaper functioning as a Chamber of Commerce cheerleader spewing propaganda.

Today's article in the Mount Vernon newspaper is titled "Phase 2 of revetment project is on target." That is a screen cap of the article above.

So, reading that phase 2 of the Mount Vernon river project is on target finally gets me to the point I wanted to make, via questions I have asked before....

Why is there no timeline for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? What phase are we currently in? When is the targeted completion date of any phase of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

Is there a timeline for Fort Worth's river project?

If so, what is it?

If not, why not?

Is the reason the Mount Vernon river project has a project timeline, with targeted phases of completion, with a projected project completion date, because the Mount Vernon river project is being run by an actual qualified project engineer who is not the un-qualified son of the local congressman?

Spencer Jake Riding The Great Seattle Wheel Reminded Me Of The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

No, that is not an artist's rendering of what little Pond Granger will look like if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes something anyone can see.

What you are looking at in the picture is my Great Nephew, Spencer Jack, and his favorite girl friend, Brittney, in Seattle, high above Elliott Bay in a gondola attached to the Great Seattle Wheel.

I blogged about Spencer Jack and the Great Seattle Wheel, this morning, on my Washington blog in a blogging titled Spencer Jack & Girl Friend Brittney Take A Spin On The Seattle Great Wheel.

Looking at the above picture did get me to thinking about the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. To the left of Brittney we can see a small slice of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is getting replaced by a tunnel. The world's biggest tunnel boring machine, christened Bertha by the locals, has started her boring job.

The new transit tunnel is scheduled to be operational sometime in 2015 or 2016.

Does anyone know when some aspect of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, other than a drive-in movie theater, a restaurant, a wakeboard park, inner tube floating parties and a lame music venue, is scheduled to be operational?

Like when is that celebrated flood diversion channel scheduled to finally start protecting downtown Fort Worth from a flood?

Has anyone seen an artist's rendering of what that flood diversion channel will look like?

Is the flood diversion channel, if it is ever built, going to be a big cement lined ditch? Empty of water except when a flood comes to town?

When can we expect to be seeing cruise ships docking on Pond Granger? This decade?

Have any of J.D. Granger's thousands of Magic Trees been planted?

Over two years ago we learned that those Magic Trees had to be in place during a flood to slow down the Trinity River after it shoots at high speed through the flood diversion channel. Shouldn't those trees be planted by now? Giving them plenty of time to get well rooted before they get  hit with a flood?

So many questions. Never any answers....

Why Do We Live Where We Tilt At Windmills When Struggling To Enlighten The Ignorant?

Someone named Anonymous made a comment this morning that is one of the best comments I've seen in months.

As in the comment from Anonymous is thought provoking, provoking me to wonder why I continue to live here where I find myself futilely tilting at windmills.

First the comment from Anonymous and then I'll see if I can muster the energy to do some windmill tilting....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Spencer Jack's Favorite Girlfriend Brittney's Photos From Tacoma's Wedding Of The Century":

I'm a fan. I think the posts here and at the Star Telegraph are beacons of truth and should be read by all. 

Something I think about a lot lately... Why do we live here?

You are from one of the most beautiful spots on the continent. I keep seeing these other lovely places around the globe. Places that are green... have abundant water... have progressive policies... a well informed populace... 

Yet, here we are. And we struggle to inform and enlighten those who are ignorant of the tyranny of local rule.

Some here have spent a lifetime tilting at these windmills, with few, if any, victories. 

Why not find peace and a bit of green and wet? 

A recent opinion piece stated that FW is a place where "A river runs through..." . Well, a river gets dammed up at either end of town and sits there until a rain storm flushes it out. The author of this piece is a tool.

We have an elite ruling class who are not qualified to make policy. Yet they concoct and justify the projects that will benefit themselves and their pals, often without voter approval, or with an agenda buried deep with a bond package that masks their true intent. 

Why do we live here? Why do we let these local bullies give us knots in our gut. It can't be good for us.

Somewhere it is green and wet with clean air. Even if such a place is ruled by the same sort of cabal, would that not be a better way of life?

_______________________________

Yes, Anonymous, I do think being green and wet with clean air would be a much better way of life.

My most recent windmill tilting has been multiple bloggings about the Olivergate Scandal, bloggings such as The TRWD Olivergate Scandal Takes Another Scandalous Turn With Denials, Lies & Cover-Ups, with the Olivergate Scandal being so outrageous, that I really can not understand why the TRWD has not fired Jim Oliver for disgracing himself and the agency he works for.

Local TV has covered the Olivergate Scandal. The Fort Worth Business Press has editorialized in an editorial titled "Outrageous. Infuriating. Unacceptable." that Jim Oliver needs to resign or be fired. While the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has not said a word about the Olivergate Scandal.

Something like the Olivergate Scandal is so confounding to me. It just seems basic common sense that the guy needs to be fired. I am so naive that I think, even though I've had the Fort Worth Way explained to me, that somehow what's right should trump the Fort Worth Way.

Like the Paradise Center Scandal. How can such a thing happen in a modern American city? Without what's right trumping what's wrong?

Then there's the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. A couple times in the past couple months I've wondered why there is no TRV Boondoggle project timeline. The most recent blogging on that subject was The Skagit River Vision Has Me Freshly Perplexed Regarding The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Why aren't the locals perplexed regarding the Trinity River Vision? The TRV Boondoggle has been boondoggling for well over a decade now. Why don't people wonder why we don't see more of the vision, what with its promise of providing supposedly much needed flood control and economic development? Done at a snail's pace.

How come the locals did not rebel at the absurdity of Fort Worth Congresswoman Kay Granger's unqualified son, J.D., being made the Executive Director of the TRV Boondoggle? Blatant nepotism of this sort is frowned upon in the democratic areas of America.

And now, after well over a decade of the TRV Boondoggle, what has J.D. Granger wrought? The world's premiere urban wakeboard lake. The world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st Century. Weekly happy hour inner tube floats. An imaginary world class music venue called Panther Island Pavilion. A 4th of July fireworks extravaganza which lit the Trinity River levees on fire. And a restaurant.

Oh. I almost forgot something else the TRV Boondoggle has wrought, as in dozens of businesses and property owners left in stress and financial straits via the abuse of eminent domain to take property for an un-needed flood diversion channel.

Anyway, like Anonymous indicated, it does seem a bit futile to repeatedly raise issues, as if raising these issues makes any difference.

So, why do we live here?

Of course, I can only speak for myself as to why I am still here.

Before I moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex I'd never witnessed eminent domain abuse. I'd never witnessed nepotism in action. I'd never seen public works projects brought about without a public vote. I'd never observed a corrupt school district. I've never been personally involved in anything as shockingly wrong as the Paradise Center Scandal. I'd never experienced a town taken over by corporate interests, as what happened in Fort Worth when the gas companies wanted to drill. I'd never lived in a town without a real newspaper, had never experienced how corrupting it is when a town's newspaper acts as a propaganda mouthpiece for the town's ruling oligarchy. I'd never lived in a town where the mayor is so stupid he thought he could dye a river purple.

In other words, living in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone is much more interesting than living in progressive, liberal, extremely well educated Western Washington.

I Am Shocked To Learn Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion Is Not An Amazing Outdoor Music Venue

No, you are not looking at an artist's rendering of what the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion music venue will look like after J.D. Granger and his collaborators' mix of initiatives and ambitious goals turn Fort Worth into a live music capital.

The water you are looking at in the picture is not the Trinity River. It is the Columbia River. Which would make the music venue The Gorge Amphitheatre, in George, Washington.

Just minutes ago I came upon an article in CNN online, titled 8 amazing outdoor music venues,

I was sure that Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion would be on the list, remembering that we learned in a blogging titled The Propaganda Panther Rocks Tonight With J.D. Granger's Big Dose Of Hubris that, according to J.D. Granger, the Panther Island Pavilion music venue's “Backdrop is crazy. You’re right in the middle of an urban environment, but you’ve got waterfront [access] — it’s a very unique thing.”

How is it that J.D. Granger remains the Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, one can not help but wonder?

Looking at the CNN list of 8 amazing outdoor music venues we have Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York,  Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, Millennium Park in Chicago, The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, Gendarmenmarkt Square in Berlin and Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I am shocked.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion is not on this particular list of 8 of the world's amazing outdoor music venues. This leads me to think that CNN is not a reliable source of information regarding amazing outdoor music venues....