I saw that which you see here on Facebook, yesterday. The Tacoma Narrows Bridges, with Mount Rainier hovering on the horizon.
Unlike those zoomed photos of the Seattle skyline which make it look like Mount Rainier is way closer than it really is, this Tacoma photo of Mount Rainier is pretty much how it actually looks.
When you drive around Tacoma it can seem like the mountain is moving. It's a weird optical illusion.
I was in Tacoma several times during the construction period of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. That would be the span on the right, with more lanes than the original bridge.
I realize it would have been difficult to make the new bridge look just like the much older, original bridge. There seems to have been some attempt to do so, but can't the towers be painted green to match the other bridge?
It was interesting to me to get to see this bridge under construction. Built over deep, fast moving saltwater.
During the same time frame, I marveled at the bizarre spectacle of Fort Worth, Texas struggling for seven years to build three simple little freeway overpass looking bridges, known as the Panther Island Bridges, over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, with the hope that one day a cement lined ditch will be dug under the three bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating the imaginary island.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge does not cross from Tacoma to an island. It crosses over the Narrows to the Olympic Peninsula....
Yesterday a blog comment from Fort Worth's renowned Stenotrophomonas which pointed me to some fresh Fort Worth embarrassing nonsense I had not previously known about...
Excerpt from the article about the stalled bridge naming...
From the names of notable Fort Worthians to the classic “Bridgey McBridgeface,” Fort Worth residents submitted over 1,700 suggestions to rename the three bridges connected to the Panther Island Project.
Henderson Street bridge, North Main Street bridge and White Settlement bridge are all unofficial names. The city solicited suggestions to rename the bridges in February 2022. Submissions closed in March.
Residents submit over 1,700 suggestions to rename three Panther Island bridges
The renaming on Panther Island bridges presents an opportunity to elevate notable figures of Fort Worth’s past, said Peter Martínez, a history professor at Tarrant County College.
“I think that would be huge,” Martínez said.
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For those not familiar with Fort Worth's multi-year bridge building embarrassment. Fort Worth has had an ongoing pseudo public works project limping in slow motion for most of this century. Originally called the Trinity River Vision, eventually to be referred by most as The Boondoggle, whilst adding names to the original official name til it became the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.
Part of that myopic vision was the building of three simple little bridges, over dry land. The building of these three little bridges took over seven years, way longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge over actual deep, swift moving water.
One day it is hoped that cement lined ditches will be dug under the three bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating an imaginary island, already named Panther Island.
Nope, not making this up. Google "Panther Island" and you will find a lot of documentation about Fort Worth's ongoing embarrassment.
Why would any sane city waste time and money on soliciting name suggestions for something like these three simple bridges, currently crossing dry land, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?
Here is a look at one of the simple little bridges, and the dry land under it, awaiting a cement lined ditch...
Isn't that a stunning feat of bridge engineering you are looking at here? Those buildings you see in the background make up the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.
Yeah, it is easy to see why naming these bridges would be huge, just like that Tarrant County College professor suggested...
Yesterday the entity calling him or herself Cowtown Crude, whilst describing him or herself as rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, left a blog comment...
Last night Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to the same thing in a Facebook post about an NBC DFW item about the same subject. Elsie told me the comments were hilarious, to which I replied I saw no comments, to which Elsie screen capped the comments, which you can read by clicking here.
For those not familiar with America's Biggest Dumbest Boondoggle, here's the abridged version.
Near the start of this century it was announced that Fort Worth was going to be transformed into being the Vancouver of the South via something which was then called Trinity Uptown. Within a few years this name morphed into being the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.
In 2014, that which was already being referred to as The Boondoggle, began construction of three simple freeway overpass type bridges, built in slow motion over dry land.
It took til 2021 to finish the building of these three little bridges, which you see pictured in the above screen cap.
The Henderson Bridge, North Main Bridge, and White Settlement Bridge.
Already seemingly named after the roads which cross the bridges.
But now the city of Fort Worth is initiating a bridge naming event, soliciting the public's input for bridge names.
From the two webpages Cowtown Crude pointed us to....
Now that the construction is complete for the three new Trinity River bridges, we want your help in naming them.
The bridges will span the future Trinity River bypass channel as part of the Central City Flood Control Project being designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Given the significance of the Central City project and bridges, Mayor Mattie Parker wants you to help us find the best name for each bridge.
Please provide your suggested name for each bridge.
When suggesting a name, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Promote community pride and connectivity to the Trinity River
Celebrate the culture and history of Fort Worth related to:
Geographic location or neighborhood of the bridge
Outstanding feature of the bridge or area
Commonly recognized event, group or deceased individual
Not be offensive or controversial
Now that construction is complete and traffic is flowing over the three Panther Island bridges, Fort Worth residents are encouraged to help name them.
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Naming these lame bridges to promote community pride? Will this counteract the community embarrassment that the building of these simple little bridges over dry land took seven years? Way longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge over actual water.
And the citizens of San Francisco were not asked to help with the naming of that actual iconic bridge.
Named after an outstanding feature of the bridge? Or the area it is bridging? What is even remotely outstanding about any of these three little bridges?
Name the first bridge finished "Took Too Long To Build". The second bridge completed "Took Even Longer To Build" with the last bridge completed named "Took Longest To Build".
Because the only thing even remotely remarkable about these bridges is that it took seven years to build them. Over dry land. Awaiting a cement lined ditch to be dug under the bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, thus creating an imaginary island.
How does a town like Fort Worth manage to come up with so many ways to embarrass itself? I know it's the Fort Worth Way, but one would think at some point the locals would rebel and insist their town act like a city wearing its big city pants, instead of a clueless toddler of a town....
We learn of this latest chapter in the multi-year Fort Worth bridge building boondoggle via an article in the Fort Worth Business Press.
Below are four paragraphs from this article. Below these four paragraphs we are going to talk about the second paragraph...
TxDOT officials also identified a “malfunction of design” as the cause of delays as far back as 2016.
Built over dry land to save money, the three bridges will eventually span a Trinity River channel to connect with the $1.17 billion Panther Island development north of downtown Fort Worth.
Prior to start of construction, there were suggestions that the design of the 7th Street bridge could be replicated and constructed quicker and less expensively than the V-pier design of Freese and Nichols.
But J.D. Granger, who oversees the Panther Island project and is the son of project champion U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer had signed off on the V-pier design and a change would delay and possibly increase the cost of the bridges as well as possibly jeopardize the $526 million the project is expected to receive for channelizing the Trinity River to improve flood control.
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For longer than seven years we have been told, over and over and over again, that these three bridges were being built over dry land to save money. This article's mention of this is the first time I've seen it not mentioned that the bridges were also being built over dry land to save time.
The being built over dry land to save time claim becomes obviously ridiculous when it took an astonishing seven years to build three simple freeway overpass type bridges over dry land. Longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge, over actual deep, fast moving water.
With the final price tag being way higher than originally projected, the saving money claim is also rendered bogus.
But, what is most annoying about this built over dry land to save time and money claim is that to suggest such is totally idiotic.
I mean, how hard is it to see why claiming the bridges were purposefully being built over dry land to save time and money is totally idiotic?
There never was any other option but to build the three bridges over dry land.
That this must even be pointed out is like a metaphor for the entire Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.
If that cement lined ditch were built first, before the bridges, how would drivers drive to the other side of the channel? How could it ever have been an option to dig the ditch first, and add the bridges later?
I have read so many supposedly responsible adults repeat the bogus, ridiculous "built over dry land to save time and money" claim.
Congresswoman Kay Granger has repeated this nonsense. As has her son, J.D. Granger, currently paid $242,000 a year, to do what? No one seems to know what J.D. does to warrant being paid so much. Former Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price has spewed the "built over dry land to save time and money" nonsense.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has repeatedly repeated the "built over dry land to save time and money" nonsense. As have other supposed news sources, including, now, the Fort Worth Business Press.
Late last night an incoming email from Elsie Hotpepper consisted of a Letter to the Editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I had already read that letter, prior to Elsie sending it to me, even though the Star-Telegram currently denies me access to their server.
Before I show you the Letter to the Editor we need to discuss that bridge you see above. This is the one and only of the three bridges to have opened to traffic, after being a slow motion construction project since 2014,
Would one not think that, after so much time, that somehow whoever designed this hapless bridge could have managed to align the bridge with the existing road in a more straight forward fashion? Those curves look like a head-on crash waiting to happen.
And now the aforementioned Letter to the Editor...
Bike lanes nothing big
Mayor Betsy Price, at the delayed opening of the first of three bridges over dry land associated with the Panther Island project, proclaimed them to be transformative for the city. I agree. Those three bridges, along with the profligate and misguided spending sponsored by our mayor to create miles and miles of unused bicycle lanes, makes us the laughingstock among Texas cities. We are not Amsterdam or Singapore, and simply carving out empty bicycle lanes from those used for autos will not change that.
Cleveland, a city I admire, is called by some the “Mistake on the Lake.” At least it does not boast that three bridges over dirt are transformative. We will be known as the “Obscenity on the Trinity.”
- Roy Browning, Fort Worth
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"Obscenity on the Trinity?" I like that. Has a much better ring to it than "America's Biggest Boondoggle".
I have long been puzzled by why it is that Fort Worth officials, such a mayors, or new sources, such as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, have such a tendency to spout idiotic hyperbole about some perfectly ordinary thing in Fort Worth.
But, this may be a new low, referring to those pitiful little freeway overpass style bridges as being transformative for Fort Worth. Well, that is just embarrassing...
I saw that which you see above last night on Facebook, via Miss Tessie, she being the well known Dancing Queen of Northern California, formerly of my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, where she helped grow the valley's best strawberries.
I have made mention of that bridge you see above, previously, when verbalizing amazement regarding the Texas town of Fort Worth's difficulty in building three simple little bridges over dry land. Construction of which began way back in 2014, with a then astonishing four year project timeline. Still unfinished in 2021.
The Deception Pass Bridge was not built over dry land. It was built over deep saltwater, two passes connecting two tidal zones. Thus when there is a big differential in tides this can create swift moving water of a sort so treacherous boats can not power through it.
Deception Pass Bridge construction began in August 1934, and the completed bridge was dedicated at noon on July 31, 1935. Unlike those hapless, pitiful Fort Worth bridges, being built to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, the Deception Pass Bridge was built to connect an actual island (Fidalgo Island) to another island (Whidbey Island), with a third island (Pass Island), between the two bigger islands, which makes Deception Pass Bridge two separate spans, with one span crossing Canoe Pass from Fidalgo Island to Pass Island, with the second span crossing Deception Pass to connect Pass Island to Whidbey Island.
With those three simple little bridges stuck in slow motion construction in Fort Worth there is no water spanned. Like was already mentioned these are being built over dry land. Basically unneeded bridges to nowhere which for some reason has those behind the ridiculous scheme totally perplexed as to why Fort Worth can not seem to secure federal funding for their ill begotten Boondoggle.
Eventually, if the bridges are ever finished, and if funding can be found, a cement lined ditch will be dug under the three bridges, with water diverted from the Trinity River into the ditch, thus creating the afore referenced imaginary island.
The Fort Worth locals seem numb to the dumb ridiculousness, apparently due to having seen so much such stuff during their years of being Fort Worth locals. So numb to the ridiculousness they can not comprehend how absurd the island making scheme seems to anyone who has lived in a more modern area of America, or Texas.
Could something as absurd as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision happen in Austin? In Houston? In San Antonio? In El Paso?
Dallas has its own Trinity River Vision, which has at least managed to build two actual cool looking, skyline changing bridges over the actual water of the Trinity River.
So perplexing. And again, I repeat, the Deception Pass Bridge was built in less than a year, almost a century ago, over actual deep, swift moving water...
I do not know if you click on the above link that you will be able to read the article, or if you will be blocked by a paywall. For some reason I was able to read the article, unimpeded.
And Elsie was right, sorta, well, I didn't exactly love this article, it is more accurate to say I was appalled and amused by this latest bit of inept Star-Telegram pseudo journalism.
Just the title is amusing. One of those pitiful little bridges is behind schedule, again? All three of those pitiful little bridges being built over dry land to possibly one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island have been behind schedule for years.
All three of them.
Way behind schedule.
Let's go through this article, commenting as we go along. The first paragraph...
The bridge needed to connect White Settlement Road to what eventually will be Fort Worth’s Panther Island is behind schedule, again, this time by a few weeks.
Behind by a few weeks behind the previous multiple behinds? Construction of these little freeway overpass type bridges began with a TNT exploding ceremony way back in 2014. With a then astonishing four year project timeline to build three little bridges over dry land.
Continuing on...
The bridge was first scheduled to open to traffic in 2017, along with two others, but design issues pushed completion back two years. Then in 2019, project officials said the White Settlement bridge would be finished by late summer 2020, but the date was pushed back again to the end of last year. COVID-19 and construction delays pushed the date into 2021, and a Tarrant Regional Water District spokesperson in December confirmed board members were told traffic would flow in February.
Okay, an item in the above paragraph has bugged me for years. "...design issues pushed completion back two years..." What are these design issues that caused such a problem with the building of little bridges over dry land? Does the Star-Telegram not employ a single investigative journalist who might try and find out what these design issues have been?
Continuing on we will skip a couple paragraphs til we get to this one...
“Bridges for White Settlement, North Main and Henderson are being built over dry land for a cost of nearly $90 million. The three bridges are needed to connect downtown to the planned Panther Island, an 800-acre island in the Trinity River that would be formed after a bypass channel is cut between the two forks. The $1.17 billion project has languished without federal financial support for years.
The bridges are needed? So vitally needed they have been built in ultra slow motion? Needed to connect downtown Fort Worth to an imaginary island? An imaginary island which may be formed one day in the distant future when a cement lined ditch is dug between two forks of the Trinity River? And it is a puzzlement to some why this inane insane project languishes without federal support?
And then we come to this doozy...
The North Main bridge is capable of supporting a trolley, a feature that confused Panther Island board members David Cooke, the city manager, and James Hill, a water district board member. Both were interested in understanding if the bridge costs more and why such a feature was included when there is no trolley.
Oh my, one of the bridges is capable of supporting a trolley. A feature which confused various board members responsible for this ongoing Boondoggle. Are there any modern bridges, anywhere, which are not able to support a trolley?
Continuing on, we will skip two paragraphs which discuss Fort Worth's hapless efforts, a decade ago, to build a short trolley line, and get right to the final paragraph in this latest example of Star-Telegram journalistic ineptitude...
Rademaker said he wasn’t sure what the North Main Bridge would have cost without sections designed to hold a streetcar. There is not track on the bridge. Concrete has been poured so that if the city wanted to run a trolley, a new bridge would not bee needed, he said.
Rademaker is a senior project manager for Fort Worth. Perhaps someone in this position not knowing rather germane factual details, such as the cost of various elements of a project, might be an element, among many, why this relatively simple public works project has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle.
And see if you can spot two rather embarrassing embarrassing mistakes, of the erroneous verbiage sort, in that final paragraph, copied and pasted, from this Star-Telegram article.
Does this newspaper not employ any editors? Or proofreaders...
I saw that which see you above this morning on the front page of the online version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I read the headline and thought to myself what fresh ridiculous absurdist propaganda is this?
And then I was surprised to find myself not blocked from reading the article which tries to make sense of that senseless headline.
It has been several months since Mr. Bobalu asked me if I had heard anything of late regarding the status of the bridge building which had wreaked havoc on Mr. Bobalu's life due to how the Boondoggle, known as the Trinity River Vision Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, had abused using eminent domain to take Mr. Bobalu's property in order to build a bridge over dry land, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.
Construction on these three bridges built over dry land began way back in 2014, with a then astonishing four year project timeline.
It is now six years later, with Fort Worth's only newspaper claiming the bridges could be ready sooner than expected.
The Golden Gate Bridge, built over actual deep, swift moving water was built in less than four years. Tacoma's newest Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge was built over actual deep, swift moving water in less than four years.
But Fort Worth has been unable to build three simple little bridges over dry land in four years, in five years, and now in six years. With no actual projected estimate of when the bridges might be of actual use, let alone having water flow beneath them, after a cement lined ditch is dug, channeling Trinity River water to create the imaginary island.
This latest Star-Telegram article about those hapless hopeless bridges and the Boondoggle of which they are only part, contains multiple instances of Star-Telegram type nonsense. Let's start with the first paragraph...
Work on the downtown Fort Worth bridges, needed for the Panther Island project, has moved swiftly enough that officials now say two of the three spans may be done slightly early.
Work has moved swiftly enough that officials now say two of the three bridges may be done slightly early? Swiftly enough? It's been six years. If the completion is already two years behind the original timeline how can finishing any of them, at any point in time, now be remotely considered to be slightly early?
Well, that question is sort of answered by the paragraph which follows the first..
Of course, early at this point is still behind the original completion date and a later delayed schedule, but Doug Rademaker, a senior project manager for the city, said work on bridges for Henderson and North Main streets is moving faster than expected.
Okay, now we are saying we are behind the original completion date, as well as behind the later delayed schedule, but work on two of the bridges is moving faster than expected. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
And then there is this perplexing sentence later in the article...
Traffic may be allowed on the bridges before they’re completely finished.
Did San Francisco allow traffic on the Golden Gate before it was finished? How about NYC's Brooklyn Bridge? Why would you allow traffic on an unfinished bridge?
From the following paragraph we learn the bridge construction has been a beehive of activity...
Contractor Texas Sterling increased workers on site to as many as 120, Rademaker said, and had been running three shifts seven days a week. Sunday shifts were recently canceled.
As many as 120 workers working in apparent slow motion, in three shifts, seven days a week, til recently.
And then there is this paragraph which raises questions...
Earlier this year, project managers increased the bridges’ $69.9 million budget to a little more than $89 million. The North Central Texas Council of Governments’ Regional Transportation Council approved the extra money in the form a $15 million federal transportation grant and another $5 million that will be paid back to the council of governments through a special tax district.
Okay, originally these three simple little bridges were projected to cost only $69.9 million, then increased by another $20 million. How much of that extra cost has come from having those 120 workers working years longer than the original project timeline projection? Why has there been no investigation looking into finding out why Fort Worth has been unable to build these three simple little bridges? Is it problems caused by J.D. Granger's interference insisting on those controversial V-Piers rather than the bridge supporting piers of which the Army Corps of Engineers approved?
And then there is the following...
The three bridges are needed for a $1.17 billion project that would create Panther Island by cutting a bypass between the two forks of the Trinity River as a means to control river flooding.
First off there has been a means to control river flooding in the area in question for well over a half century. This project is fixing a non-existent problem. Which is likely why the project has such trouble getting funding. It can't be sold to the public to vote on and approve of funding. The federal funders looking at it quickly find out it is an economic development scheme, poorly planned, ineptly implemented, which the rest of America should not be expected to pay for.
And please, please, please, drop the Panther Island nonsense.
Surrounding an industrial wasteland with a cement lined ditch does not an island make. It is only gonna end up being one more thing which causes Fort Worth's few tourists to giggle when they ask for an explanation.
Like where is Sundance Square? The answer to that one was an embarrassment for decades.
Where is Panther Island? Uh, it is what you come to when you cross one of those little bridges over that cement lined ditch. Are there panthers on the island? No. Why is it called Panther Island when there are no panthers. And it is not an actual island?
Anyone playing along with this nonsense is like that Emperor having no clothes fable, with the sheep going along with pretending the Emperor is finely dressed, when in reality he is walking around naked. Or, in the Fort Worth case, walking around with the sheep pretending to see a mighty fine island, when all there is is a chunk of wasteland accessed via three little bridges over extremely muddy water.
And one last amusing gem from this latest Star-Telegram article about America's Biggest Boondoggle. See if you can spot what the editor missed...
The progress has been a welcome site for business owners along White Settlement Road, which have taken a financial beating from the road closure, said Steve Metcalf, president of the White Settlement Road Development Task Force.
After six years of Boondoggling along I don't see how the word "progress" fits, let alone be some sort of welcome "sight"....
An article I saw yesterday on the online version of CNN, titled Italy's incredible 'floating ship' bridge reaches for the sky caught my eye. And then upon reading the article what I read instantly provoked the urge to compare this Italian bridge building with Fort Worth's inept attempt to build three simple little bridges over dry land.
With those three simple little bridges over dry starting their Fort Worth construction in 2014 with a TNT exploding ceremony, with a then astonishing four year project timeline. And it is now 2020, and still no bridges completed.
Are those irresponsible for this Fort Worth mess still trying to sell the embarrassingly stupid propaganda that the bridges are being built over dry land to save time and money? When there was never gonna be any water under those bridges til a cement ditch was dug under them with polluted Trinity River water diverted into the ditch.
Anyway, those hapless Fort Worth bridges came to mind last week when Fort Worth's Mr. Bobalu emailed asking if I have heard anything of late regarding the status of those pitiful Fort Worth bridges.
Mr. Bobalu was an early victim of what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle, having his property stolen via eminent domain abuse over a decade ago.
If taking Mr. Bobalu's property was justified as being for the public good, which is the legit use of eminent domain, is it not disturbing, the fact that, a decade later, the public has yet to see any good come from this ineptly implemented project? Shouldn't there be legal remedy after all this time and the obvious fact that the property was not taken for the public good.
I told Mr. Bobalu I have heard nothing about those bridges, for quite some time, and that I suspected most everyone is more focused on other more immediate concerns, like navigating a pandemic. I think I also mentioned looking forward to Kay Granger being booted out of Congress by the incoming, upcoming Super Blue Wave Tsunami ripping the Republican party to smithereens and into the dustbin of history.
And that one can assume that upon losing her job that Kay's son, J.D., would also lose his high paying job, currently overseeing flood control efforts in an area which has not flooded for well over a half century. And paid well over $200K a year to basically doing nothing, for years now.
So, I read this article about the new bridge in Genoa, Italy, with the new bridge replacing the Morandi Bridge which catastrophically failed on August 14, 2018, killing 41 people, and Fort Worth's hapless bridge building came to mind.
Some lines from this CNN article about the building of this new Italian bridge which are not what one might read about Fort Worth bridge building...
That the replacement has arrived less than two years after the disaster is something of an achievement. It was constructed rapidly, in a country rarely considered an exemplar of efficiency. Some of the most challenging work was carried out amid Europe's worst coronavirus outbreak.
If Italy is rarely considered an exemplar of efficiency, how is Fort Worth considered? Okay, I guess the reality is that extremely few people consider Fort Worth about anything. But, efficient sure is not a word one would use to describe Fort Worth.
And then there is info about the cost of this new Italian bridge.
The new bridge was built by Salini Impregilo, an Italian construction company, and Fincantieri, a state-owned shipbuilder. The project cost 200 million euros, about $220 million, not considering the cost of demolition of the Morandi bridge, which cost another 90 million euros, or about $98 million.
How many dollars have been spent so far on those three pitiful little Fort Worth bridges? Is it over $200 million yet? Or more?
And this about the Genoa, Italy bridge building project timeline...
"Normally it would take three to three and a half years to design and build a bridge of this size. This one took a little over a year," says construction manager Stefano Mosconi, who added that up to 1,000 people were working on the project at the same time.
Anyone seen 1,000 people working on Fort Worth's imaginary vitally needed flood control and economic development project, which is how the project was sold when it came to stealing property by abusing eminent domain?
A couple more sentences which give us a clue as to how this feat of bridge building engineering, over water, in Italy, was accomplished in such a short time, whilst Fort Worth flounders trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land...
Piano says that the project attracted a high level of expertise, which makes it less surprising that it could be achieved in such a short time. "It's not a miracle. It's just what happens when competence wins over incompetence. Italy is a special country, with capacity to do things. Work on the site never stopped, continuing at night with tasks deemed compatible with noise regulations.
Competence winning over incompetence. What a concept. Anyone ever heard J.D. Granger speak and think to themselves, now, there is a boy who inspires confidence with his competence. Has Fort Worth been able to attract even a medium level of expertise to help build three simple little bridges over dry land?
Now, for a look at this new Italian bridge, built in a little over a year, over water, actual water...
Maybe Fort Worth could hire the Italians who built the above bridge in such a short time to come show Fort Worth how to do such a thing? I wonder if any Genoans are bragging about this being a "signature" bridge? With "iconic piers"? I would hazard to guess not, whilst in Fort Worth how many times have you heard those pitiful little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island as being "signature" bridges? With iconic "v-piers" making the pitiful little bridges somehow unique when in reality their design looks like an ordinary freeway overpass.
I do believe pitiful is the right word to use when describing the Fort Worth bridges.
I know what you might be thinking looking at the photo you see here.
That being thinking that this photo is a look from a new angle, looking at one of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District bridges, with the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth hovering above one of the bridges which may one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.
Well, you would be incorrect if you were thinking this was one of America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridges which have been stuck in slow motion construction mode since 2014, with the current construction completion date some point in the next decade.
What you are looking at is not a Fort Worth bridge in the making, what it is is an elevated track for a Link light rail line heading into a tunnel in a suburb of Seattle. Which would make that part of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Bellevue you are looking at. The absence of any old buildings in the photo was likely a good clue this was not Fort Worth.
Bellevue is a relatively new town.
There is a good reason this photo was of interest to me. We will get to that particular "falsework" subject later in this blogging, but first I want to make note of the article in the Seattle Times in which this photo appeared.
The article's title is Don’t derail Sound Transit 3, Seattle and is a classic example of the differences I see in a real newspaper, such as the Seattle Times, and the extremely lame reporting I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about similar subjects, such as local public works projects and the ongoing status of those projects.
The subject in this Seattle Times article is the current project status of the Sound Transit 3 part of the ongoing Link light rail construction in the Puget Sound zone.
One does not read any sort of detailed examination of the current stymied status of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision public works boondoggle, which the public did not approve of via the voting method, unlike how things actually get done in modern America.
Fort Worth's pitiful excuse for a newspaper has never told its readers what exactly are the design problems which have caused the multiple construction halts to these simple little bridges being built over dry land.
Read the entire Don’t derail Sound Transit 3, Seattle for the full experience of the difference between a Star-Telegram article and a Seattle Times article, and also make note of the dozens of cogent comments on the subject in the Seattle Times.
Back to that aforementioned "falseworks" subject mentioned above.
Last week, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 to be precise, I blogged yet again about Fort Worth's bridge boondoggle, and in that blogging I asked a question about those bridges which generated an interesting question, which, when I thought about it, raised more questions.
"Why are all those vertical pilings required to help hold up the bridge deck, one can not help but wonder?"
Those supports are called falsework.
Wikipedia says that falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself.
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So, apparently that is falsework holding up that Bellevue section of the Link light rail under construction. And that is falsework holding up the road deck of one of Fort Worth's pitiful freeway overpass-like imaginary signature bridges we see above.
That looks like a lot of falsework helping those imaginary "signature" V-piers hold up that road deck.
Falsework seems like an ironically appropriate term to apply to Fort Worth's hapless slow motion Trinity River Vision project.
So, is removing that falsework the source of one of the many delays in bridge building? Are the project engineers not sure those imaginary "signature" V-piers can hold up the road deck?
Without Fort Worth having a real newspaper there is no legitimate journalist finding out what the actual problems are which have caused these simple little bridges to be a construction congestion nightmare for years.
I remember in the previous century when the now long gone Kingdome was being built in Seattle. There was a point in the construction where there was this thing called an "O ring", which all the ribs which made up the dome's roof came together. The design called for the "O ring" to be removed with the roof's concrete ribs then coming together in compression, holding the dome up.
The original construction company was not confident this would work, and balked at pulling the "O ring" until further design analysis indicated it would work as planned. Eventually the original construction company continued to balk, and was replaced by a construction company willing to pull the "O ring".
And it worked.
But, myself, and many others, really never forgot that controversy and any time I was in the Kingdome I would look up at the high point of the ceiling, where those concrete ribs came together and wondered what would happen in a strong earthquake.
I have long wondered regarding what sort of foundation those Fort Worth bridge's V-piers are built upon. I don't remember HUGE amounts of dirt being removed and big foundations being poured.
I have also long wondered how it works to have these little bridges built, and then to dig a ditch under them, without compromising the structural integrity of the bridge.
These are the sort of questions the citizens in a town with a real newspaper would get the answer to.
I can't imagine a town like Fort Worth building anything complicated, like a domed stadium, or a transit tunnel, without the project turning into a hapless boondoggle...
I saw that which you see above this morning in the Seattle Times. Photos taken from atop the Seattle Wheel. The photo on the left was taken January 13, a few hours after Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct was closed to traffic permanently. The photo on the right, of the same view, was taken May 21.
As you can see a large expanse of the double decker Alaskan Way Viaduct Bridge is now gone, with areas of Seattle out of the shadows and exposed to sunlight for the first time in over a half century.
Meanwhile in Fort Worth, during the same time frame.
Simple little bridges being built over dry land, with construction beginning way back in 2014, can't seem to make much progress. Month after month with little to show for the money and time wasted.
During that same time frame whilst Fort Worth can't seem to build three little bridges, up north a double decker four lane tunnel was built under downtown Seattle, with the bridge Viaduct it replaced now being quickly removed.
I do not understand these Fort Worth bridges. In the above photo you can see one of the infamous cement V-piers, supporting the makings of a bridge deck. Why are all those vertical pilings required to help hold up the bridge deck, one can not help but wonder?
Is that one of the design stalemates? Is the contractor not agreeing that those V-piers are of a design sufficient to support a bridge deck? Or is the concern what will happen to the structures if that forlorn ditch is ever dug under the bridges, with polluted river water diverted into the ditch, finally giving a reason for the bridges connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an industrial wasteland's imaginary island?
Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project is costing a few billion bucks. The project was fully funded prior to going into dig and build it mode. This is an actual needed project, due to the fact the Alaskan Way Viaduct was an earthquake hazard. And removing this longtime barrier opens the Seattle Waterfront, which is an actual waterfront, not an imaginary waterfront.
Fort Worth's simple little bridges are just one part of what used to be known as the Trinity River Vision, before the name morphed into Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or just Panther Island project, or more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.
The Seattle project has been successfully ramrodded by qualified project engineers.
The Fort Worth project has been ramrodded by the unqualified son of a local congresswoman, a low level county prosecutor with no engineering experience of any sort. He was hired to motivate his mother, Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, to secure federal pork barrel funds.
The federal money has not materialized, the hapless project has long been floundering. Yet, J.D. Granger is still being paid over $200K a year, plus perks, and other benefits, such as a cushy job for his most recent wife.
But, this type thing is what is known as the Fort Worth Way. Which, apparently most of the Fort Worth locals are okay with, because they keep electing the perpetrators responsible for multiple ongoing messes, such as non-existent urban planning resulting in actual flooding in areas which actually need infrastructure flood prevention improvements, unlike the area being messed up by J.D. Granger and his co-horts, with claims the project entails much needed flood control where no flood has happened for well over a half century.
From the article: The contractor building three bridges as part of Fort Worth’s Panther Island development says the project has been bungled and "woefully mismanaged from the top."
Bungled & woefully mismanaged is an exquisite combination that is all too typical for the Fort Worth Way. The Fort Worth Way is, frankly, not a gem in this regard.
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I recollect over a decade ago seeing myself being criticized in a Fort Worth publication for referring to the Trinity River Vision as a Boondoggle.
And now, years later, look where we are.
The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision is known, far and wide, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.
And this Fort Worth Boondoggle, known far and wide, is not making anyone anywhere Green with Envy.
When will Fort Worth wake up and put an end to this embarrassing nightmare?
Will the end begin on May 4? Will the results of that day's election, with the re-election of Mary Kelleher and other like-minded reformers, put an end to the mismanagement of the Tarrant Regional Water District board?
What was the result of that biggest Texas investigation ever into election fraud? You know, that investigation trumpeted as having investigators fanning out over Tarrant County gathering evidence.
Well, there was not any result. Nothing of significance happened other than one or two or three low level election workers got in some sort of trouble.
And two of the beneficiaries of all that election fraud, in that previous TRWD board election, Jim Lane and Fort Worth's favorite octogenarian, Marty Leonard, are running again. And the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has bizarrely endorsed one of them, Marty Leonard, for re-election.
Mary Kelleher, running for re-election to the TRWD board, via Facebook, had the following to say regarding the latest revelations about the Panther Island fiasco...
"And when I served on the Board of the Water District from 2013 to 2017 and voted against this project and voted against the use of eminent domain for this project, I was laughed at by my fellow Board members and Water District top administrators. Not so funny now! This project is worse than any of us ever imagined and we need new leadership on that Board. If you haven’t voted yet, please vote on May 4th and vote for me if you really want change."
This last Saturday morning of the 2019 version of April I woke up my computer to soon see I had been pointed to a post on Facebook, or tagged, or whatever the nomenclature is which means someone has stuck ones Facebook handle on a post so as to get ones attention.
This tagging was Elsie Hotpepper pointing me to yet one more article about America's Biggest Boondoggle. This one is in the Fort Worth Business Press, titled Bridge battle: Businesses, local officials grapple with project delays. I read the article, then opined on Elsie Hotpepper's Facebook post something along the line of being really tired of this nonsense. I read these articles to find myself annoyed at mention being made of one thing or the other which just is not true.
At least this article did not repeat the ridiculous assertion that those pitiful little bridges being built in slow motion are being built over dry land to save money, and to make for easier construction, when the fact is there will never be any water running under those little bridges until a ditch is dug under them, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch.
This particular article's worst instance of repeating nonsense without questioning it was repeating the idiocy that that ditch will "add flood control protection as well as carve out an 800-acre center island, which would create waterfront economic development opportunities. The bridges will cross the channel."
Add flood control protection? There has not been a flood of the Trinity River in the location in question since well over a half century ago when levees were built. Waterfront development opportunities? It's a ditch. It's a polluted river. How can anyone think someone this is going to end well, with any sort of viable waterfront opportunities?
I really don't know why I continue to bother opining about this, other than I just find it so aggravating to be eye witness to something so embarrassingly inept. With the nonsense just going on and on, year after year after year.
A couple days ago I blogged about the ridiculous Fort Worth Star-Telegram TRWD board endorsements in a blogging titled Fort Worth Star-Telegram Bizarre TRWD Board Endorsements. That blog post has only had a little over 800 page views when I saw the stats when logging in to write this current post. It feels like preaching to the choir. And never to the numbskulls who might benefit from wising themselves up to their civic reality.
As the Bridge battle: Businesses, local officials grapple with project delays title suggests this latest FW Business Press article about America's Biggest Boondoggle is mainly about the most visible symptom of the problem, that being the simple little bridges being stuck being built in slow motion.
The article points out various elements of the delay, such as "malfunction of design" problems, conflicts with contractors, conflicts with the management of the project. Yet, just like in a Star-Telegram article about this subject, we get zero details about what the precise design problems have been.
The article brings up the the recent revelations posted by the Texas Monitor, about emails discovered from 2016 in which it is clear J.D. Granger mucked around with the design of the bridges, thwarting a preferred design which the state agreed to pay for in total. Read the entire article for all the details, but suffice to say, why is Mary Kelleher the only current TRWD board candidate calling for the obvious? That being the firing of the ineptly unqualified J.D. Granger?
This latest article about America's Biggest Boondoggle is also about all the damage done to businesses affected by the long, messed up construction timeline. In my Facebook comment I opined that in addition to those currently being damaged there were also the hundreds damaged way earlier in this century by the Trinity River Vision's abuse of eminent domain, one of whom is a Fort Worth native, Bob Lukeman, who had his place of business taken, bulldozed whilst still awaiting a hearing in court, left damaged and not whole.
Criminal corruption, in my opinion, on the part of various elements of what passes for government in Fort Worth. And one of the reasons I hold the town in such low regard.
Bob Lukeman also commented on Elsie Hotpepper's Facebook this morning, after I commented.
The Lukeman comment in its entirety...
Wrote this in reply to Mark Greene’s post of the recent FWST article casually calling the levees obsolete and fostering the notion that I guess, we all agree with that.
Well! This is not what the Corp originally said (from the article)...
“The Panther Island project will replace levees the Army Corps of Engineers says are obsolete and pull about 2,400 acres out of the flood plain for what the Corps calls a “standard project flood,” which is the most severe flood considered possible for a region. This is a more traditional flood, such as when a river runs over its banks.”
The first idea about the state of the existing levee system from the Corp came after they routinely examined the current levee system and concluded that they needed to be raised in key areas to comply with the standard project flood requirements. This was budgeted at around 10 million dollars, and if initiated, would have been completed over a decade ago. This plan was disregarded with the ushering in of the TRV development plan and the Central City Corp plan adapted to comply with and compliment the TRV development plan. The statement that the levee system is obsolete is incorrect. These levees work as designed and implemented in the early 1950’s following the disastrous flooding in 1949. It’s the flooding along smaller tributaries and low lying areas that are damaging homes, property, threatening lives and in some cases causing deaths do to high fast flood waters.
I have copies of the Corp maps that show where their studies told them to bolster the existing levees. Anyone who categorizes these levees as obsolete is in the thrall of the development plan that takes down the levees to allow mixed use development right up to the waters edge in the TRV development plan.
Just like the promises of this new urban development, delivered to us via pretty pictures and the illusion of a San Antonio style river walk, the effectiveness of the flood control capabilities of the proposed bypass channel, with its mitigation of large and fast moving flood waters being downstream of the project, are unproven and are part of the same initial plan that submitted bridge designs that needed to be re-engineered at additional cost and are a part of the further delays in getting these bridges built over dry land, with the project claiming that this is a faster and less costly method.
No, what you are seeing here is not an artist's rendering of what one of Fort Worth's Panther Island bridges will look like if they ever become something someone can see, some distant day in the future.
What you see here is one of the spans of the Deception Pass Bridge, connecting two actual islands, crossing a small island, between the two larger islands, with those three islands being Fidalgo Island, Pass Island and Whidbey Island.
This photo appeared to me in Facebook, via former Skagit Valley Girl, Tess Sakuma, with the photo captioned "Tonight's moon and Venus over Deception Pass Bridge." With the photo credit going to Rakan AlDuaij Photography.
The Deception Pass Bridge is an actual iconic, signature bridge, as described in the Wikipedia article about Deception Pass Bridge "The bridge is a commonly photographed landmark of the Puget Sound region."
As you can see, unlike Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges being built over dry land (low bridges which, according to artist's renderings, look like freeway overpasses, yet promoted as somehow being unique signature bridges of the becoming iconic Fort Worth images) Deception Pass Bridge was built over actual water.
Actual water which is deep and which during extreme tidal ebbs flows so strongly ships are not able to navigate against the rushing tide.
Ironically, those Fort Worth bridges are in the process of becoming an iconic ironic signature symbol representing what a messed up, corruptly run town Fort Worth has become.
I almost forgot to mention. Fort Worth's pitiful Panther Island bridges began construction way back in 2014, with a four year construction timeline. That construction timeline has now been stretched into the next decade.
While construction of Deception Pass Bridge began in August of 1934 and was completed in less than a year, on July 31, 1935.
I have blogged about the Deception Pass Bridge a few times on my Washington blog...
Can you imagine, at some point in time in the next century, the 75th Anniversary Celebration of Fort Worth's pitiful Panther Island Bridges?
No?
Me either.
When will the sheep of Fort Worth stampede and demand the shut down of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle?
How much longer can this embarrassing mess continue blighting what could be a reasonably okay town if responsible adults with common sense somehow took over and booted the crooks and charlatans, including one local congresswoman's ineptly unqualified son?
One would think just the bizarre inability to build three simple little bridges part of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle would put a stop to the nonsense before more money gets flushed down the river....
I saw that which you see here this morning via the online version of the Seattle Times.
I saw this and thought to myself, yet one more difference between how things operate in modern democratic America. And how they operate in not so modern, not so democratic, oligarch dominated Fort Worth.
As in, years ago, maybe a full decade, I first came upon massive signage touting the Trinity River Vision Underway. If I recollect correctly I first saw this now totally ironic signage at the location of what became the now long defunct Cowtown Wakepark, which was one of the Trinity River Vision's first boondoggling failures.
Then in February of 2015 I found myself in downtown Fort Worth. While there I took a long walk. During that walk I came upon multiple instances of signage for what by then was turning into America's Biggest Boondoggle. I blogged about this signage in Taking A Look At The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Products.
That blogging included the photo you see below. Four years later this sign is even more pitifully ironic.
Those bridges are now optimistically projected to be possibly finished sometime in the next decade. Yeah, that is some slow motion progress in motion.
Meanwhile, in Seattle, the fully funded public works project which is replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a four lane tunnel under downtown Seattle, along with rebuilding the Seattle waterfront, is due to open the new tunnel to traffic in about a week.
Hence the state spending a few million bucks advertising the new 99 tunnel opening soon to whisk drivers under Seattle from the Space Needle to the stadiums south of downtown.
I do not believe any one spent any money in Seattle, back when the tunnel project began, touting the fact of "99 Tunnel Progress in Motion".
But, now that that tunnel is a reality money is being spent to get drivers used to the idea of driving under downtown Seattle.
That tunnel in Seattle began getting bored about the same time Fort Worth had a TNT exploding ceremony to mark the start of construction of three pitiful little bridges being built over dry land. And now, four years later, with a one year delay due to the tunnel boring machine being injured by an unexpected steel pipe, that Seattle tunnel is finished and ready to open.
While those pitiful Fort Worth bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island are nowhere near being completed. And there has never been any sort of sensible explanation as to what the problem is with these Fort Worth bridges.
Whilst looking for that photo I took four years ago of the sign touting Fort Worth Bridge Progress in Motion I came upon yet one more J.D. Granger embarrassment rendered more embarrassing with the passage of time. Those who are not familiar with the Fort Worth Granger Scandal. Local congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., was hired to be the executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority. J.D. Granger had zero qualifications for such a job, a fact born out by the ongoing embarrassment to Fort Worth which the Trinity River Vision has become.
J.D. Granger was interviewed in an apparently clueless Texas publication. I blogged about this and the stupid stuff Granger uttered in The Real Work Begins To Sink Panther Island & J.D. Granger, including some Q and A such as the ironic question and answer here...
Q. How is the Panther Island project coming along? A.Killing it. We’re about one-third of the way through the project. We are about to wrap up the phase that provides little reward — clearing the way for vertical construction. Now, the excitement begins. Bridges are well underway. The bypass channel is in final design. The first multifamily project and riverwalk section begins this spring. And, we are working with several more developers on some great projects that would extend the Panther Island River Walk in the near future. ________________
Now, in the first month of 2019, those bridges are not well underway, the way has not been cleared for any sort of construction, what with ground pollution not yet mitigated, what with infrastructure, such as drainage, not yet installed. Riverwalk section? Anyone see any Riverwalk section? Let alone anything extending the apparently imaginary Panther Island River Walk?
This is all so perplexing.
If Fort Worth's voters had done the right thing and booted Kay Granger out of congress, would J.D. then be relieved of the job he has so obviously botched?
Will Fort Worth ever become a modern American city?
Likely not.
Not until the town rids itself of what is known as the notorious Fort Worth Way of ruining a town. I mean, running a town.
Last night my phone received a perplexing text message from a message texter I will call "TEXTER".
The text message from TEXTER and followup text messages from ME.
TEXTER: I thought you said Mary Kelleher had filed to run for the TRWD water board again?
ME: Yes, that is correct, she filed on the first day it was possible to do so. Why are you asking me this?
TEXTER: Because I read a good article about Fort Worth's embarrassing boondoggle and it mentioned other people running, with no mention made of Mary running.
ME: Well, that makes no sense. Was this in the Star-Telegram? I think we have fairly well established that that make believe newspaper is not to be relied on.
TEXTER: No, I read this in an article in the Fort Worth Business Press.
ME: Really? That publication is the closest Fort Worth comes to having a real newspaper. Can you email me the link to this article?
Well, reading the article I first have to say, it is a good article detailing much of what is so wrong about what used to be the Trinity River Vision, til it morphed into being America's Biggest Boondoggle.
The article mentions that two men have filed to run in the May 4 election for a spot on the TRWD board. And the article mentions that the pair of current board members up for re-election, Marty Leonard and Jim Lane, have not yet filed.
But the article makes absolutely no mention of former TRWD board member, Mary Kelleher, having filed to run again.
However two comments to the article do point out this odd omission. I'll get to those comments later.
First let's look at the mention made of the two men who have filed, C.B. Team and Gary Moates.
Both Charles “C.B.” Team, vice-president and principal at the real estate company Ellis & Tinsley, and Attorney Gary M. Moates plan to run. Fort Worth, as we all know, is a small/big city. And on the day he filed, there was Moates shopping at Central Market. He is energetic and full of ideas for change and he was more than willing to stop traffic at the checkout counter to talk about the river project and his hopes to alter the winding course it has taken.
This FWBP article also makes positive mention of the TRWD board's new members, elected in the last TRWD board election.
Candidates are filing to run for the water board, folks who have had enough and who know this problem can begin to be fixed by the voters in the May 4 election. The board has five members and two have emerged as leaders for good government, James Hill and Leah King. One more vote and a flood of change could happen, a virtual cascade of solid procedures and good management.
Til reading the above I had read nothing about James Hill and Leah King having any sort of good impact on the TRWD board. The pair certainly have made no news doing so, of the sort Mary Kelleher regularly made.
Now, let's look at some of what this article has to say about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. The first four paragraphs...
The folks responsible for running the Panther Island project – running it into the ground, some might say – are giving new meaning to that old saying about “being up the creek without a paddle.” They don’t even have a boat. Here we are nearly a month into 2019 and we’re still dogged by a story that was not new but had mostly lain dormant until exploding into public awareness late last year: Panther Island, originally called and more commonly known as the Trinity River Vision project, has been horrendously mismanaged and is totally out of control. A better name might be: Trinity River Lack of Vision.
I thought the above four paragraphs were almost poetic. Though I have to take some exception to the statement saying the story had mostly lain dormant til exploding last year. Seems like myself, and many others, have been pointing out the fact that the Trinity River Vision has been a failing mismanaged Boondoggle for years. And an ongoing embarrassment for Fort Worth, which keeps getting worse, as in more and more embarrassing.
And then this about the Boondoggle's three pitiful little bridges stuck being built in slow motion, over dry land...
The latest news is that construction of the project’s three infamous bridges over not troubled water but in fact no water has fallen further behind schedule. The earliest projected completion date for any of the bridges is late summer 2020. That would be the bridge on White Settlement Road. The nearby Henderson Street bridge won’t be finished before spring 2021, officials say, while the North Main Street leg of the waterless triumvirate is not expected to be ready for traffic until at least late winter 2021.
It is incomprehensible to me why this slow motion bridge building fiasco has not dealt the death blow to the entire embarrassing, mis-managed, corrupt Boondoggle
And then the following two paragraphs hit a particularly loud BINGO...
The Panther Island debacle is managed, or mismanaged, by the Trinity River Vision Authority, which is an offshoot of the Tarrant Regional Water District, the agency charged with overall responsibility for the plan when it was conceived decades ago as a flood control project. Since then, it has grown into a massive economic development undertaking that involves rerouting the Trinity River to create recreational and business activities along a San Antonio-like riverwalk with a newly created island as the centerpiece. The water district’s board of directors, its general manager Jim Oliver and River Vision Authority executive director J.D. Granger have brought precious little expertise and efficiency to the project but they have managed to bury it in arrogance, obfuscation and even flat-out deception.
Well, nothing to add to what is being said in the above two paragraphs. Except maybe to say the above is the reason #FIRE JD stickers are appearing all over Fort Worth in various locations, including car bumpers and toilet seats.
The following two paragraphs contain an element we blogged about recently...
Water board elections historically draw low voter turnout, which tends to favor incumbents rather than challengers. The two seats up for election this time are currently held by longtime board members Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, who bought a full-page ad in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Jan. 9 to “set the record straight” on Panther Island. The ad was self-serving palaver, a tedious rehash of official explanations and rationalizations for the mess the project has become. A better tack would have been for Lane and Leonard to apologize for wasting taxpayer money, for being rubber stamps for errant policies and executive arrogance: “We apologize and will do better.”
That full page propaganda advertisement in the Star-Telegram was so absurdly self-serving we felt compelled to Set The Crooked TRWD Record Straight.
Unlike articles in the Star-Telegram, which rarely generate any comments, the Fort Worth Business Press regularly generates worthwhile comments worth reading, including the three below, two of which mention the error of not mentioning the fact that Mary Kelleher is running again for the TRWD board....
Clyde Picht Jan 18, 2019 4:45pm We can be sure that Oliver's competence was questionable when he hired Granger for what was then a $435M project. He should have been fired by the board when he refused new board member, Mary Kelleher, access to the building and documents she had every right to. Granger on the other hand probably wasn't much of a lawyer if he thought he could walk into a job for which he should have known he was unqualified and unprepared to accept. Well what the heck, it's all taxpayers' money so who's going to complain?
johnmac70 Jan 19, 2019 3:27pm Richard Conner, you forgot to mention in the article that Mary Kelleher has filed for candidacy on the TRWD. She will fight for accountability and transparency on a board that is famous for the opposite. The Panther Island project is in reality a developers project. Who will benefit the most from the project? Not not the citizens of Fort Worth but developers who will make millions on condos, multi use developments and townhomes. This project is a debacle and an embarrassment for FW!! Stop it now!
kafcampbell Jan 22, 2019 7:56am I'm not a meteorologist or agronomist, but I do know what the weather is like. I'm baffled as to why the current flood control system, put in place after the 1949 Flood Disaster, is no longer viable. Have we had catastrophic flooding that the Trinity River project thingy is going to prevent? We've had the same weather for decades: hot summers, cold winters, rain that comes all at once, occasional catastrophic winter storms. Yes, Fort Worth has struggled with street and neighborhood flooding, including tragic loss of life. But this project thingy isn't slated to resolve any of those issues... Could it be because those other actually street and neighborhood flooding issues are in lower income parts of town? Hmmm. Exactly what civil engineering problem are we needing fixed? Those levees around the Panther Island thingy and 7th Street have been working marvelously. I drive over them every day and I've not seen a weather event in 30 years that even started to tax the system we set up decades ago and already paid for. Can someone dispute me? Also, put back White Settlement Road as a critical thoroughfare into and out of downtown.
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I also noticed that this FWBP article used the verbiage "Up the Creek". That verbiage is quite close to the title of the award winning documentary, "Up a Creek".
Up a Creek documents that which turned one Tarrant County resident into a community activist working to get the local, state and federal governments to do the right thing regarding flooding issues in Tarrant County, rather than wasting resources on an ill-conceived, ineptly implemented pseudo public works project the public did not approve of via the voting method.
In the Up a Creek video you will meet that community activist, and others, such as Clyde Picht, he being the author of the first comment, above. Clyde Picht famously opines in the video that the Star-Telegram could put an end to the Trinity River Vision nonsense if it wanted to do the right thing. I may be slightly paraphrasing from memory regarding Mr. Picht's words.
I also show up in this documentary. But, blink and you will miss it. Elsie Hotpepper can also be seen, if you know where to look.
And here is part one of the Up a Creek documentary video...
