Searching For Magic Trees Takes Us To Five J.D. Granger Comments

On Wednesday I drove my regularly scheduled drive to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

This information might cause one to think I may have used that occasion to venture into the Heart of Darkness, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, to snap a photo of part of the forest of J.D. Granger's Magic Trees.

Well, one would be erroneous to think such a thing. What you are looking at here is part of a leafless forest I walked in on this first day of the last month of 2018, with this forest located at the north end of Lucy Park, a short distance west of beautiful downtown Wichita Falls.

Regarding those J.D. Granger Magic Trees. Have any of the supposed 60,000 Magic Trees been planted yet? One would think they have been grounded for years, what with the need to be well rooted so as to slow up an incoming flood, playing a vital role in Fort Worth's proposed un-needed new flood control in the downtown Fort Worth zone where the Trinity River has not flooded for over half a century, due to existing flood control levees.

Lately it has seemed as if the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision is falling apart, due to various reasons. Little things like lack of money, and the realization that an unqualified to oversee such a project executive director has made a mess of what has become an embarrassing debacle.

On Friday we blogged it’s about Time For J.D. Granger's Forensic Job Performance Review.

That blogging was motivated by the latest Star-Telegram article about America's Biggest Boondoggle, titled It’s a $1B project, but Panther Island’s head honcho has never had a written job review.

I guess we should sort of acknowledge that after ignoring the sad reality of the multiple problems with the Trinity River Vision the Star-Telegram is now sort of doing somewhat honest reporting on the subject. Still mixed in with ridiculous propaganda.

I have made mention previously of the fact that articles in the Star-Telegram generate few, if any, comments, unlike west coast news sources I read online. This latest article about the Boondoggle is a slight exception to that sad reality, having generated a whopping five comments. I do not know if we can conclude via these five comments that the people of Fort Worth are starting to get totally fed up with America's Biggest Boondoggle, but this would seem to be an indication of such.

Peruse the five comments below...

Fred Bailey: Wonderful thing, nepotism, ay? I despise ALL welfare that is not temporary, including this kind. In fact, this might even be the worst kind.

Beeks Land: What was JD's previous experience in urban planning that landed him this job, who did he interview with and what other candidates were up for the job? 12 years? A private company would have completed this years ago if it was profitable or they would be bankrupt, which is basically what the TRV is without the loans from the TRWD. Also, Jim Oliver should be held responsible. Who hired him and who can fire him? Please keep digging on this, the press is the only thing that will bring it to light and get our roads back open and the project back on track.

Paul King: The only thing Kay Granger has accomplished in Congress is to get her son a job.

Gerrit K Spieker: Time to cut this boondoggle and stop wasting taxpaayers money. JD should have the integrity to step down from a position he got only because of mommy.

Clyde Picht: Jim Lane and I served on thr Fort Worth City Council together and I have to tell you I have great respect for Jim. He's a good man, BUT, as he said, he wasn't concerned about the lack of written evaluations of JD Granger. "Wasn't concerned." Therein lies a real problem with this 90% economic development and 10% flood control project. Jim is not concerned, the TRWD Board is not concerned, Fort Worth City Council is not concerned, the County Commissioners are not concerned, nobody's concerned. When a project that the public is paying 100% of the cost goes from $360M (2003) to $435M (2005) to $735M (2007) to $908M (2009) to $1,150,000,000 in 2018, shouldn't somebody be concerned? The Corps was going to dig the channel for $110M with local funds providing another $110M. Now the federal government has authorized $560M, meaning Fort Worth taxpayers provide a comparable amount? For his $213,000 salary JD Granger must know something we don't. Maybe he'll share. If he won't, maybe he'll just provide his annual evaluations so we can see what he's accomplished. Oh shucks - there aren't any - are there?

Dam Failure Endangers Dallas With No Army Corps Of Engineers Help

What you are looking at here is a screencap from Facebook, a post from former Tarrant Water District Board candidate, John Austin Basham, raising an alarm about that which you see in the photo.

That being a failing Lake Lewisville Dam.

Lake Lewisville is a reservoir at the north end of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Lake Lewisville is currently at full pool, meaning the reservoir is full, thus putting maximum stress on the dam which holds back a 65 foot tall wall of water from careening though the heart of Dallas.

In other words the Army Corps of Engineer's has indicated a Lake Lewisville Dam breech could put some 431,000 people in harm's way.

But, the Army Corps of Engineers says it will need millions of dollars to  repair what is known to be one of the nation's most dangerous dams.

Well.

Meanwhile, a few miles to the west of Lake Lewisville we have the Army Corps of Engineers spending millions of taxpayer dollars on an un-needed flood control project where no flood control project is needed, not needed because over a half century ago the Army Corps of Engineers spent millions to build massive levees which have prevented flooding for decades.

The Army Corps of Engineers has signed on to the absurd idea of taking down those levees, replacing them with a "flood diversion channel" which will fast track a flood past downtown Fort Worth where it will then get slowed down by a forest of what are known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees.

Should not those Magic Trees already be planted, so that they may be well established if that flood diversion channel ever actually gets dug and shoots a volume of water at high speed towards Arlington?

How many millions would it take for the Army Corps of Engineers to fix Lake Lewisville Dam before a disaster strikes?

How many million has the Army Corps of Engineers already wasted on America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Two comments from Mr. Basham's Facebook post I thought worth repeating....

Tony Pompa: If the possibility of a 65' wall of water traveling at 34 MPH right through the heart of Dallas does not get their attention, then I don't know what would! This should be fixed, like yesterday!

Mr. Spiffy: Very frightening. But on the upside we have a new kinetic sculpture in Fort Worth that cost several hundred thousand and millions of taxpayer dollars spent on fun parties and cool marketing campaigns. Meanwhile they have tarp and duct tape holding back a wall of death.

The kinetic sculpture to which Mr. Spiffy refers is that which I blogged about in America's Biggest Boondoggle's Million Dollar Wind Roundabout Ridiculousness.

Near as I can from what I have read, regarding the reaction to Fort Worth's newest sculpture, "disgust" seems to be the thought most frequently expressed in various ways. As in a disgusting waste of money for something that looks like the ruins of a water tower or a garbage can. And which is designed to be a big shiny object casting random bolts of reflected light at driver's trying to navigate around a big roundabout.

Fort Worth's #1 Boondoggle's absurdities are pretty much hopeless at this point. Apparently there are no adults in the room to intervene with the foolishness.

One would have thought that the fact that The Boondoggle's first completed project, Cowtown Wakepark, has been flooded multiple times, shut down, gone out of business, that this first project of something that touts itself as a flood control project, would see its first project destroyed by floods, that whis would cause some sort of backlash where people come to the realization that what used to be known as the Trinity River Vision is now an embarrassing boondoggle.

Why would The Boondoggle dig a wakepark pond where it would get flooded every time the Trinity goes into flood mode? I remember when I first saw Cowtown Wakepark thinking won't there be a lot of damage when the river floods? It seemed sort of obvious.

And I can't be the only one who wonders what calamity will ensue the first time the Trinity floods into that flood diversion channel if it ever gets dug.....

A Walk Through The Forest Of Trinity River Vision Gateway Park Master Plan Propaganda

A few days ago I biked by the Trinity River Vision's Gateway Park Master Plan propaganda installation, stopped to take a picture and later blogged about my wonderment that this signage has been touting the Boondoggle's Master Plan for years now.

With absolutely nothing to show for  it.

Not even J.D. Granger's Magic Trees have been planted, which one would think would be of foremost importance, to give the trees plenty of time to grow strong roots, so as to slow up a Trinity River flood as it races through the un-built, un-needed flood diversion channel before it inundates Arlington.

In the video below I take a long walk through the forest of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Gateway Park Master Plan propaganda signage marveling at the wonder of it all.....

Sticky Trails With A Fallen Tree Led Me To The Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Master Plan Propaganda

I was in a bad mood this morning, an after effect of a raging political printer debate last night on Facebook which left me exhausted.

A long swim, early this morning, under the sliver of light provided by a skinny crescent moon did little to alleviate my bad mood.

So, I decided some fast wheel rolling on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails would be just what the Mood Doctor would prescribe if I had a Mood Doctor.

As I made the left turn into Gateway Park I began to see puddles of water. This did not bode well. While no rain fell on my location yesterday, it appeared that five miles to the west some precipitation precipitated.

As I drove to the bike unload zone I decided if the trails were muddy I would instead pedal the paved trails, trails which I have not pedaled in a long time, not since I discovered I enjoyed the Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

As you can clearly see above, I made it to my favorite Gateway Park photo op location. A scenic look at the Trinity River in its natural state, not needing tricky lighting and special filters to make the Trinity River look good which is what you usually need if you want to take an "enhanced" Trinity River photo in the downtown Fort Worth zone of the Trinity River.

The fact that I made it to my favorite Gateway Park photo op location would indicate the trails were not muddy, which they weren't. But rain had left the trails a bit sticky, thus impacting how freely the wheels roll.

I had already decided I was only going to go one time around the trails due to the sticky trails issue, when I came to the below obstruction.

Getting over the fallen tree was fairly easy, but doing so rendered me a wet sweaty mess. I was already in adrenaline over drive due to an encounter with a big cranky snake stretched across the trail. I slammed to a stop, did not reach quickly for my camera, figuring by the time I got the camera turned on the snake would have slithered off. I  figured wrong. The slithering took long enough that I likely could have taken a picture had I quickly reached for the camera. I think the snake may have been slithering slow due to the cool temperature, as in chilled to the low 80s.

Continuing on I came to one of Gateway Park's infamous boarded up boardwalks, where I saw signage had been added, signage with very tortured verbiage whose meaning my feeble grasp of English had trouble understanding.

ENTERING CLOSED AREAS; HOURS OF OPERATION, IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO ENTER ANY PORTION OF A PARK  OR RECREATION AREA WHICH IS DESIGNATED AS RESTRICTED.

So, is the Gateway Park boarded up boardwalk designated as restricted? Does the AREA CLOSED TO PUBLIC sign you see below designate the boarded up boarkwalk as being restricted? Why use such clunky verbiage on a sign?

An even better question than wondering about clunky verbiage on a sign is to wonder how many more years is this Gateway Park eyesore going to exist? Either fix the boarded up boardwalks or tear them down.

Or are we  waiting on the Gateway Park Master Plan to fix the boarded up boardwalks? Which leads us to the next sign.

The Trinity River Vision may be one of America's top all time Boondoggles, but one thing the TRVB does do well is produce long lasting signage spewing imaginative propaganda about imaginary plans.

Like the Gateway Park Master Plan signage. The forest of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda signs showed up years ago, near Fort Woof in Gateway Park touting the Gateway Park Master Plan. The propaganda on the sign above, under the title "The Gateway Park Master Plan" says...

"The revitalization of Gateway Park is a major component of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. The park's ecosystem will be restored to its natural beauty and over 80,000 native oak and pecan trees will be planted. Community-requested recreational amenities will be added throughout its 1,000 acres, making it one of the largest urban programmed parks in the nation. The master plan will spur economic development and connect the east and southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River Corridor."

80,000 trees to be planted. When? These are known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees. I mentioned the Magic Trees in a blogging in early August and first mentioned the J.D. Granger Magic Trees in a blogging way back in 2011, which included video of J.D. Granger describing the Magic Trees.

Shouldn't a Master Plan have some sort of plan? You know, something like a project timeline?

When are we going to see any of the wonderful things we see on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's propaganda signage about the Gateway Park Master Plan?

More than once whilst reading Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda I have been baffled by the Boondoggle making a claim along the line that something has been requested by the community. In the Gateway Park Master Plan's instance the sign says "Community-requested recreational amenities will be added throughout its 1,000 acres."

I really would like to know how the Boondoggle manages to find out what the "community" is requesting. I'm part of the "community". No one asked me what amenities I'd like to request.

Since, apparently, the Trinity River Vision Boondoggles does what the "community" requests, on behalf of the "community" I would like to request a project timeline letting us in the "community" know when we well be able to start enjoying the amenities the "community" has requested?

It is a puzzling, perplexing mystery to me why more people are not puzzled and perplexed by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's propaganda nonsense....

Searching Fort Worth's Gateway Park For J.D. Granger's 80,000 Magic Trees

Yesterday prior to my regularly scheduled Saturday pre-Town Talk Gateway Park mountain bike ride I asked Has Anyone Seen The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Bridges Under Construction Since 2011?

Thinking about the Boondoggle's Bridges Over Nothing got me wondering about the Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Plan as I rolled my wheels along with a lot of other wheel rollers.

It has now been a lot of years since the Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Plan signage was installed touting the Boondoggle's imaginary Master Plan. As far as I can tell the only thing the Boondoggle has done in Gateway Park is to install the signs showing all that the Master Plan would entail if anyone was ever able to master the plan.

I recollect hearing J.D. Granger himself touting one aspect of the Gateway Park Master  Plan. That being 80,000 trees J.D. claimed were already being planted.

I remembered blogging about J.D.'s trees, so I entered "Magic Trees" into the blogs search tool to find that way back on April 1, 2011 I blogged about J.D. Granger's Army Of 80,000 Flood Protecting Trees Planted In Gateway Park To Save Arlington.

Four paragraphs from that blogging....

But, the strangest, funniest thing J.D. came up with was in response to a guy from Arlington verbalizing his concern that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was going to make flooding worse in Arlington. That, and he asked J.D. if the people of Fort Worth get to vote on this project.

J.D. acted like he's been worn out by all the referendums and votes there have been on this project. Somehow I don't remember these taking place.

As for the flooding in Arlington, J.D. explains that the TRV is going to extreme lengths to make sure not one ounce of extra water goes one second faster towards Arlington during a flood.

With the prime facilitator of that flood control being the 80,000 trees now being planted in Gateway Park.

I've seen no trees being planted in Gateway Park.

Over three years later I've still seen none of J.D. Granger's Magic Trees planted in the Gateway Park zone.

Shouldn't those Magic Trees be in the ground, growing roots, so if the Boondoggle's Bridges Over Nothing actually get built, followed by the un-needed flood diversion channel, followed by a big flood, that those Magic Trees can slow down that rush of flooding water shooting through the flood diversion channel, aiming high speed at Arlington?

What Is The Obstruction Blocking The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Propaganda Plan?

Last Saturday I snapped a picture of what I believe to be the most bizarre example of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signage propaganda.

That being the Gateway Park Master Plan signage near Fort Woof in Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

This massive sign installation was installed sometime in the previous decade, if I remember correctly.

And now, well into the following decade, I don't believe a single thing touted on the propaganda signs is even remotely close to being seen by anyone's vision.

Thinking about the stalled Gateway Park Master Plan brought the current state of Bertha to mind.

Bertha is currently the world's biggest tunnel boring machine. Bertha is currently stuck by an unknown obstruction, about 70 feet underground, after boring about a thousand feet of a new transit tunnel which will run under Seattle, scheduled to be completed by 2015, replacing the earthquake damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct.

I don't believe there are any signs in the vicinity of the Bertha operation touting the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Master Plan.

And yet that plan is well underway, started well after the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle started boondoggling, with Bertha's tunnel slated to be completed before much of anything will be able to be seen, if ever, of the Gateway Park Master Plan's likely imaginary projects.

Is there something stuck regarding the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Plan of a metaphoric Bertha obstruction sort?

Some choice verbiage from one of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Gateway Park Master Plan's propaganda signs....

The Gateway Park Master Plan is an exciting component of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision. The 1,000 acre park will be filled with new community-requested recreational amenities, making it one of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks. With the planting of over 75,000 trees and the restoration of the original river channel, the park will transform into a natural setting the entire region can enjoy. The project is expected to spur economic growth around the park and will connect the East and Southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor.

Long ago, way back in 2011, I blogged about those promised 75,000 trees referenced in the above propaganda, known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees, in a blogging titled J.D. Granger's Magic Trees Saving Arlington From The Trinity River While Not Worrying About Haltom City Getting Saved.

The Gateway Park Master Plan propaganda references "community-requested recreational amenities".

Community requested?

And how are these requests being made, I can not help but wonder?

We know these imaginary community requests are not made via any sort of public vote, because the public is not allowed to vote on any aspect of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

So, how are these alleged community requests for specific amenities being made?

Over drinks with J.D. Granger?

Hubris. Why is it that that word always comes to mind when I ponder the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and any of its various boondoggly aspects?

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....

Biking Gateway Park Freshly Amused By Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Propaganda

A Few Of The Gateway Park TRVB Propaganda Signs

Another beautiful day in North Texas, with Winter scheduled to arrive in about 3 days, with, I hope, continued semi-balmy temperatures and clear blue skies.

Currently, at my location, according to my computer based temperature monitoring device, the outer world is only 25 degrees shy of 100.

The air was heated to around 70 when I did my bike pedaling at Gateway Park today.

If you have not yet been to Gateway Park and Fort Woof you really should pay a visit. Not to see all the dogs, but to see the bizarre collection of propaganda signs that have been installed by Fort Woof by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I have mentioned these signs previously on my blog, but they really never fail to amaze and amuse me when I freshly experience the propaganda.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has been boondoggling for a long time now. I think the TRVB began late in the last century, at some point in time after the citizen's of Dallas had voted for a Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision.

Fort Worth is not located in a democracy, so, unlike Dallas, the citizens of Fort Worth were not allowed to vote on their Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

It is almost 2013. Should we not be seeing more progress? How many more years will it be before the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle installs the flood control measures that are at the heart of the project, protecting downtown Fort Worth from a massive flood, just like the existing flood control levees have done for over a half a century?

Near as I can tell the noticeable progress of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is a number of businesses taken by eminent domain abuse and destroyed, the world's premiere urban wakeboard lake, a possibly soon to open drive-in movie theater, a restaurant in the form of the Woodshed Smokehouse, Trinity River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, quarterly propaganda mailings and an incredible amount of signage.

In the picture above, the sign closest to my camera touts the many imaginary recreational amenities that will  result from the Gateway Park Master Plan. I do not know if this Master Plan is slated to be something built in this century, or not.

In addition to all the imaginary amenities listed on the sign there is also some propaganda verbiage the likes of which I have read elsewhere, courtesy of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda....

The Gateway Park Master Plan is an exciting component of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision. The 1,000 acre park will be filled with new community-requested recreational amenities, making it one of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks. With the planting of over 75,000 trees and the restoration of the original river channel, the park will transform into a natural setting the entire region can enjoy. The project is expected to spur economic growth around the park and will connect the East and Southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor.

Over and over again we read Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda that claims the boondoggle is somehow building community-requested recreational amenities.

Does anyone know how these community requests are made?  And to whom they are made?

75,000 trees? We have heard of these trees before. They are known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees, designed to save Arlington from a Trinity River flood which, post TRVB, will move flood water more rapidly, due to losing the levees and instead diverting flood water into a big, un-needed, flood diversion channel, which will accelerate the speed of the flood, thus the need for J.D. Granger's 75,000 Magic Trees.

Are these special genetically engineered Sponge Trees?

Seriously, with the Trinity River Vision well over a decade old, when can we expect to see something really concrete with the vision?

Is there some sort of construction timeline? I don't believe I've seen any sort of timeline in any of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda mailings.

I have read mention made of the soon to open drive-in movie theater. Everyone knows drive-in movie theaters are big flood inhibitors and are key to any legit flood control project.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Gateway Park Master Plan Propaganda

Today I tried to pedal the Gateway Park FWMBA mountain bike trail, but quickly tired of its semi-muddy state and having to stop to clear fallen limbs off the trail.

Yesterday's storm hit Gateway Park harder than it did at my location, only 4 miles away. I experienced about 15 minutes of wind and lightning, with rain of an amount insufficient to leave lingering wetness.

The storm hit way harder in north Fort Worth, knocking out power to thousands, some still without power today. That would quickly turn very unpleasant, with no A/C.

After bailing on the mountain bike trail I pedaled the paved trail, where it was easier to dodge fallen limbs. Being on the paved trail brought me to the Fort Woof Dog Park and its forest of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signage.

That Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signage is really impressive. If you've not seen it and you're in the neighborhood, it is worth a stop at Fort Woof to check out the signs. This is one of the coolest examples of Orwellian propaganda it has ever been my personal pleasure to experience.

The Gateway Park Master Plan sign, you see on the left, has some of the best of the propaganda. I'll copy it, almost verbatim, below...

The Gateway Park Master Plan is an exciting component of Fort Worth Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. The 1,000 acre park will be filled with new community-requested recreational amenities, making it one of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks. With the planting of over 75,000 of J.D. Granger's Magic Trees and the restoration of the original river channel, the park will transform into a natural setting the entire region can enjoy. The project is expected to spur economic growth around the park and will connect the East and Southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor.

Also on this sign we learn that the Gateway Park Recreation Components are new soccer and baseball/softball fields, site work for disc golf and mountain bike course, outdoor covered basketball courts, expanded trail system (15 miles of trails), splash park, dog park expansion, amphitheater site work and grading to provide the initial infrastructure to create outdoor music venue for Fort Worth, full loop equestrian trail facility, water sports, fishing, rowing, kayak and canoe with 4 white water elements.

Along with those Recreation Components we also learn about the Ecosystem Restoration with the aforementioned 75,000 Magic Trees, gravel pits cleaned up to create a beautiful wetland environment, the old landfill will be compacted and graded for citizens desired recreational needs, lake and wetland creation in the old drying beds of the Riverside Waste Water Treatment Plant and clean up and return water to the historic Riverside Oxbow.

_____________________________________

Where do I start?

Community requested recreational amenities? Have we not seen this odd verbiage previously with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? How does the community go about making these requests?

One of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks? What is an urban-programmed park?

Restore the original river channel? Where will that be?

The park will transform into a natural setting? I don't know of many natural settings with disc golf, soccer and baseball fields, covered basketball courts, dog parks and amphitheaters.

This project will connect East and Southeast Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor? Really? How?

An old landfill will be compacted and graded for citizens desired recreational needs? There is that odd TRVB verbiage again. I have no idea where this old landfill in Gateway Park is. Are we talking about that methane gas spewing mound that is east of Gateway Park, on the other side of the Trinity River?

It is all just way too perplexing. And when is all this magic going to take place? Fort Worth does not seem able to maintain Gateway Park as it is. Washed out paved trails remain blocked by cyclone fence. Boardwalks remain closed, boarded up eyesores.

And that murdered armadillo still lays on the ground a few feet from where it was shot.

According To Anonymous The Trinity River Has Been Tested On More Than One Occasion By Different Organizations And Is No Different Than A Pristine Lake

You are looking at today's HOT noon view of Fosdic Dam at the north end of Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

It was breezy today, but that did not stop the, what may be, record breaking temperature from feeling too HOT.

Minutes prior to exiting air-conditioned comfort and heading to one of Mother Nature's natural sauna steam baths I got a blog comment about a blogging from a few week's back about the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats on the Trinity River.

The commenter was calling him or herself "Anonymous." Anonymous made the very astute observation that if you "swim in the lakes, it's the same thing," as swimming in the Trinity River, I assume Anonymous meant.

Well,  I guess that is true. Fosdic Lake, which drains into the Trinity River has signs around its perimeter forbidding swimming and warning that one should not consume the fish one catches in Fosdic Lake.

Apparently the water from Fosdic Lake must somehow magically transform into pristine water when it enters the Trinity River. Perhaps it passes through a forest of JD Granger Magic Trees.

Among the many well-reasoned points that Anonymous makes is suggesting that "People shouldn't comment when they don't know what they are talking about."

Below is the comment from Anonymous in its entirety....

I have attended more than one of the floats and enjoyed it each time. It was well organized, clean and safe. The stage that was built for the band is awesome and the event has attracted people of all ages. Twenty year olds to Fifty year olds. It was not a drunk-fest, just people having fun. The water has been tested on more than one occasion and by different organizations. There is nothing wrong with it. If you really knew what you were talking about you would know that. If you swim in the lakes, its the same thing. It was cleaner and less drunks than at an out-door music festival and those are held everywhere and hosted by major Cities. And people bring kids to those too. Thats a parenting issue. People shouldn't comment when they don't know what they are talking about. I give them a thumbs-up for trying to educate the people of Fort Worth about the river.