She Pricelessly Cancelled J.D. Granger From Rockin' The Polluted Trinity River

I saw that which you above and below last night on Facebook. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Betsy Price's best friend's eldest son, J.D. Granger getting into a Twitter twitfest over the canceling of Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube floating beer parties in the frequently e.coli infested Trinity River.

Betsy Price tweeted thanking J.D., and his nefarious gang of river pirates, for making the right call and canceling this weekend's concert and river float scheduled to take place at one of the world's best imaginary music venues, located, partly, on the landlocked imaginary archipelago known as Panther Island.

Well, J.D. was not gonna sit still for this bit of subterfuge, so he posted a lengthy retort Tweet to set the record straight as to who it was who DID cancel the river floating.

Oh my. The above has so many absurdities.

J.D.'s crew painted a grid system on 1.3 acres of riverfront "lawn"?

With safe distancing between all the spots?

Every single attendee was to get a temperature check before being allowed to get wet with the river's multi pathogens?

Capacity was capped at 25%? What is the number of floaters considered full capacity, I can not help but wonder?

Health safety monitors were staffed throughout the site? On land and in the sea, I mean, in the polluted river water, to make sure masks were worn, with no groups larger than 10 allowed to congregate, with all distancing requirements met? Violators to be asked to leave?  How many of these health safety monitors were hired, I can not help but wonder? And how do you find someone with that skill willing to get wet doing their job in a polluted river?

Cleaning attendants were disinfecting on the hour? Wiping down touched surfaces throughout the day? Like what? Wiping down the concrete enclosures around the multi-outhouses? And the outhouses themselves?

The final third of J.D's Tweet details all the measures he thinks Betsy Price went to to shut down his operation, even after she twice rode her bike to the location and eye witnessed the massive effort underway to make the Trinity River and its surrounding area safe from COVID-19, with the final blow from Betsy coming Friday afternoon in the form of a threat, threatening that if J.D. proceeded with Rockin' the River the city would have no choice but to shut it down.

This all has generated quite the kerfuffle on Facebook. One of the more amusing comments opined that this must be real rough for J.D. to get Rockin' the River taken from him, that this was all he and his new wife, Shanna Cate Granger, had to do after their demotion about a year ago, when J.D. was removed from his post as Executive Director of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, and given a new job, working directly for the Tarrant Region Water District overseeing the imaginary flood control part of what has become one of America's Dumbest Boondoggles ever.

I think we have pointed out previously that J.D. Granger's new job of being in charge of the flood control part of the Boondoggle is a bit ironic in that the area in question has not flooded for well over half a century, due to levees which have kept the area flood-free ever since they were installed. It is thought that J.D. was given this "job" because it would not be possible for him to muck it up, like what happened with what was originally known as the Trinity River Vision.

Those new to this Boondoggle, the Trinity River Vision is an ineptly implemented, ill-conceived pseudo public works project the public did not approve of via the voting method which is the norm for such things. The Trinity River Vision was touted as being, way back when first touted, near the start of this century, as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme.

Vitally needed flood control in an area which does not flood. The economic development scheme part of the cloudy vision has always been even more sketchy than the imaginary flood control.

This project was touted as being vitally needed, and yet has limped along in slow motion for most of this century. The project has never been fully funded. Relying on hoping to secure federal funding.

And so the son of a local congresswoman gave up his job being a deputy prosecutor to become an executive director directing a project for which he had zero qualifications.

The purpose of this brilliant scheme of giving J.D. this job was to motivate his mother to secure those federal funds, to help pay J.D.'s over $200,000 a year salary (plus perks), plus the salary of J.D.'s wife, and to pay for all the fun fact finding junkets J.D. and his wife take their crew of river pirates on.

Oh, and also to help pay for things like building three simple little bridges over dry land. And the cement lined ditch to go under the bridges, along with canals and other infrastructure on the imaginary island which is currently an industrial wasteland.

Those three simple little bridges have been stalled in slow motion construction mode for five years. I read a comment, on the Facebook post where these Betsy/JD Tweets came from, that those pitiful bridges are no longer being referred to as the Panther Island Bridges. They are now being called, I assume by the Boondoggle's propaganda websites and printed publications, the TxDOT Signature Bridges.

Fort Worth has a weird pathology regarding signature and iconic things. And labeling some ordinary thing as such. I think this pathology comes from the fact that there is nothing in Fort Worth of the signature or iconic sort, and this creates some sort of civic inferiority complex. I have had it explained to me as such by longtime locals.

Many Fort Worthers have long had a strange obsession with Dallas, which comes across as jealously to one new to hearing it.

Dallas has multiple iconic and signature items. First off there is the Dallas skyline, known world wide due to a hit TV show in the previous century. There is Reunion Tower. A couple new, actual signature, bridges across the Trinity, have been added to the Dallas skyline this century. It was when those Dallas bridges were announced as being planned as part of the Dallas Trinity River Vision (I don't remember the actual name of the Dallas River Vision) that soon thereafter I remember being appalled at a banner headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH

No, I am not making this up. Really happened. Something was gonna turn landlocked, mountain-free, Fort Worth, into the Vancouver of the South.

Trinity Uptown soon morphed into Trinity River Vision, and soon was touting three "signature" bridges. However, when the cost of the Fort Worth bridges came in, the designer bridges were dropped, with what look like freeway overpasses replacing them, but hanging on to claiming them to be signature bridges. As if applying that word to something magically turns it into a signature iconic thing recognized the world over.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Poo Water Warning Makes No Mention Of Trinity River

I saw that which you see here this Saturday morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a pseudo newspaper which ill serves as the Pravda-like propaganda organ for Fort Worth's corrupt ruling oligarchy which rules Fort Worth in what is known as The Fort Worth Way.

In this Going to the beach this summer? Make sure you're not swimming in poo water article we read...

Oil and water. Peanut butter and pickles. Or, a relaxing beach outing and high fecal bacteria readings.

Yuck.

But that’s exactly what some Texas Gulf Coast beach destinations are plagued with as summer approaches, according to a website called Texas Beach Watch.

No mention is made in this article of the fact that the entity known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, in one of its few "accomplishments" in almost two decades of getting little accomplished, has managed to convince Fort Worth locals, apparently starved for something to do, to get wet in the polluted Trinity River in events known as Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats and Funday Sundays.

With those events held when the monitoring of the pollution in the Trinity River indicates an e.col and fecal bacteria level low enough to supposedly make the Trinity River water sufficiently safe.

Those Thursday Rockin' the Polluted River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats should be starting up soon, what with summer soon arriving.

I wonder if now that the TRWD agency which oversees what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, that being the sponsor of those polluted river events, no longer has its one and only watchdog of the public welfare, Mary Kelleher, on board, if those weekly testings of the Trinity River will still take place prior to allowing the River Rockin' to happen...

J.D Granger Wears T-Shirt Anonymous Finds Incomprehensible

A couple days ago I mentioned I had suffered a Multiple Blog Comments Publishing Faux Pas.

Among those blog comments was one from way back in early August from someone named Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Heading North To The Smoky Pacific Northwest Without Elsie Hotpepper":

There's a Star-Telegram pic of J.D. Granger at the final Rockin' The River event of 2017. 

Granger is in pic #32 wearing a stupid tee shirt that is incomprehensible to me.

Rockin' the River at Panther Island Pavilion, August 5, 2017

Well.

I think I can read, for the most part, what is written on the tee shirt which Anonymous finds incomprehensible...

OF COURSE

I DON'T GET OUT,

IT ALL GOES

TO DALLAS

ANYWAYS

I think what Anonymous may be finding incomprehensible is the fact a grown man in an imaginary position of authority, being the pseudo Executive Director of a quasi public agency known as the Trinity River Vision Authority, would wear a tee shirt which basically informs us he does not get out of the Trinity River when he needs to relieve himself after excess beer consumption, because that of which he relieves himself flows to Dallas anyway.

J.D. Granger is talking about urinating in the Trinity River whilst floating on an inner tube, drinking beer, listening to music emanating from a shed propagandized as a pavilion on a chunk of land propagandized as being an island.

In other words, Rockin' the River at Panther Island Pavilion.

Now, if J.D. were to decide to exit the river when he feels the need to urinate he could avail himself of one of the lovely outhouses his agency has installed on the banks of the Trinity River. These may be the most luxurious outhouses in all of Fort Worth. They are surrounded by concrete enclosures, which almost disguises their outhouse reality.

As I scrolled through the photos to which Anonymous directed me, searching for the one of J.D. Granger's tee shirt, I also saved a few other photos for documentation purposes to show people in other parts of America, and the world, and Amazon, that which passes for a mighty fine time in Fort Worth.

Above is the first photo one comes to in the Rockin' the River at Panther Island Pavilion, August 5, 2017 article. In the foreground a couple heading to the river, with the male half proudly sporting a tank top properly paying homage to the American flag, with the message "BACK TO BACK WORLD WAR WINS".

Behind the couple we see throngs of floaters contributing to the flow of polluted river water making its way to Dallas.

A closer look at some of the River Rockers, in the not crystal clear water of the Trinity River, many with future Dallas river water in hand.

And above we get a look at that stunning architectural wonder known as Panther Island Pavilion. I do not know which world renowned architect designed this iconic symbol of Fort Worth.

That is the imaginary island, known as Panther Island, upon which the beautiful pavilion sits. Currently the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, is struggling to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island.

One day, far in the future, a ditch may be dug under those three bridges, with the Trinity River diverted into the ditch, creating what Fort Worth propagandizing illusionists pretend will be an island.

I am fairly certain it would be accurate to say the majority of the people who live in Fort Worth are appalled at the idea of using the Trinity River for water recreational purposes of the float on an inner tube sort. Multiple times the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats have had to be cancelled due to dangerously elevated e.coli levels, among other pollutants.

One would think, if Fort Worth had actual city leaders, actually leading the city in some semblance of sanity, that those city leaders would see it as a sad commentary on Fort Worth's lack of fun, outdoor recreational opportunities, what with so many locals willing to inner tube on a polluted river while drinking beer listening to music emanating from a river side shack.

And here we have one of those aforementioned supposed city leaders, J.D. Granger, working on helping contribute to the flow of water heading towards Dallas...

Will E.Coli Levels Be Low Enough For Six Saturday Fort Worth River Rockin's?

Big announcement in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Trinity River Vision Authority is moving its hugely popular Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats from Thursday to Saturday, with six floating events, with Saturday allowing for extended floating  hours.

From the Rockin’ the River series moves to Saturdays article...

Rockin’ the River is changing course this year. The weekly summer concert-and-tubing series, thrown by the Trinity River Vision Authority at Fort Worth’s Panther Island Pavilion, is moving from a Thursday happy-hour event to an all-afternoon Saturday festival to be held over the course of six Saturdays.

"Thrown by the Trinity River Vision Authority at Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion" where the island is imaginary, and I think that spot where the guitar player is strumming is what America's Biggest Boondoggle misnomers as a pavilion.

The article's illustrative photo shows a lot of floaters.

I have long been puzzled as to why the fact that so many Fort Worthers are willing to get themselves wet in the Trinity River, what with occasionally cancelled river floats due to E.Coli pollution levels being too high, that, and the occasional visiting alligator, is not seen as being a real pitiful indicator that Fort Worth is sadly, badly lacking in water venues in which to cool off when Summer gets HOT.

Just a couple days ago I was similarly puzzled when I read that downtown Fort Worth's only venue that even faintly resembled a grocery store, Oliver's Fine Foods, had closed. I would think that the failure of downtown Fort Worth's only grocery store-like venue would prompt some sort of realization that there must be something not quite right with downtown Fort Worth.

Other big cities, smaller in population than Fort Worth, about which I am familiar, have multiple large full functioning grocery stores in their downtown zone. Along with multiple department stores.

Downtown Fort Worth has not a single department store. Not a Neiman-Marcus, not a Nordstrom. Not even a Sears or a Dillards. One would think the lack of a department store, and grocery store, would  prompt some serious thinking about such a downtown's vitality. But, I guess it is easier just to continue to trumpet the imaginary wonders of Sundance Square, where there is no square, but there finally is a plaza, called Sundance Square Plaza, after confusing Fort Worth's few tourists for decades with signage pointing to Sundance Square, where there is no square.

As for Fort Worth's lack of a place for the locals to cool off and get wet in mass. All of Fort Worth's ponds and lakes, like Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park, forbid swimming due to pollution problems.

Fort Worth does have one pristine water venue. Burgers'  Lake.

From the Burger's Lake website...

Located in Fort Worth, Texas, Burger's Lake offers summer fun for everyone. Burger's Lake is a 30-acre park featuring a one-acre spring-fed lake for swimming. Our facility includes two sandy beaches for sunning with wonderful big trees for shade.

Burger's Lake is run as a private business, charging a semi-hefty admission fee.

The "government" in its various forms, which runs Fort Worth like an oligarchy fiefdom, has no qualms about abusing eminent domain to take private property, even when it is not for eminent domain's intended use of taking private property for the public good.

Instead, in Fort Worth, eminent domain is abused for the private gain of those whose property value stands to increase due to the theft.

How about a correct use of eminent domain, for once in Fort Worth's sordid eminent domain abuse history? Why not take Burger's Lake for the public good and turn this pristine spring-fed lake into a public park? With Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in an E.Coli, alligator free environment.

Or build a HUGE water venue. This has been done in other locales in America. In towns much smaller than Fort Worth. Take Garden City, Kansas, for instance. Population less than 30,000.

Garden City has a pool, bigger than a football field, originally called "The Big Dipper", now simply called "The Big Pool". The Big Pool is big enough for water skiing to take place. On a HOT summer day as many as around 2,000 people can be found cooling off in The Big Pool.

What stops a city like Fort Worth, obviously in dire need of such a venue, from digging itself a Big Pool? I know the usual excuses. Lack of vision.  Horrible city leadership. Corruption. The same type thinking which has the majority of Fort Worth city parks lacking running water or modern restrooms.

And much of the city's streets lacking sidewalks....

E.Coli Levels Low Enough For Return Of Trinity River Tubing

Elsie Hotpepper sent that which you see here to my phone this morning.

An advertisement from the good folks at the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, advising polluted water aficionados that Rockin' the River Live in the Trinity is back at Fort Worth's imaginary pavilion on Fort Worth's imaginary island.

So.

Apparently tubing is back from its short excess e.coli caused vacation, with The Boondoggle inviting you to "Come get your butt in the water and a beer in your hand, tube the Trinity River and enjoy free concerts every Thursday."

Way back at the start of this century, when the Trinity River Vision was first foisted, without warning, or public input, on the good people of Fort Worth, did anyone imagine it would come to this, decades later?

I do not recollect when the un-needed flood control, poorly thought out economic development scheme was first announced  that beer drinking inner tube parties in the Trinity River was part of the plan.

And now, here we are, it is 2016, with the number one Trinity River Vision accomplishment being managing to convince a small  number of Fort Worth residents that it is a good idea to get wet in the river everyone used to thing was too polluted to touch.

And which is still too polluted to eat fish one catches in that river.

Polluted Public River Floating Is One Of Fort Worth's Great Imaginary Success Stories

That which you see here is not a guy fishing in a dirty brown river.

What you see here is a guy testing water in a dirty brown river near the location of the notorious Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion at an imaginary island in the great success story known as Fort Worth.

The photo of the guy testing the Trinity was part of a Bud Kennedy article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I came to be looking at this July 1 Star-Telegram article after someone named Anonymous  made an anonymous  blog comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Are America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridges Dust In The Wind":

You might have missed this gem from the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism:

Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week

The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories.

_____________________

Now, that is just rude to refer to Bud Kennedy as the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism.

I agree with Bud Kennedy more often than I don't.

But, sometimes I don't understand how Bud Kennedy can type with a straight face some of which he types. I always assume he knows what he is typing is ridiculous and internally giggles. Or that he is just a big fan of creating ridiculous propaganda.

"The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories."

A river makeover? Nothing has been done to that river that anyone would call a makeover. Some sand has been sprinkled to create a pseudo beach, and a couple outhouses have been installed on the south side of what is bizarrely called Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no pavilion. But there is a small covered stage on the north side of the river.

A busy downtown tubing-kaying attraction?

Attraction? Busy?

Are you attracted to that attraction? I know I never have been, nor has anyone I've talked to. I've long opined that it is a sad indicator, and should be viewed as such, that Fort Worth is badly lacking in the outdoor water sport venues department. Thus so many people willing to get wet in that dirty river at that location.

Has Bud Kennedy partaken of the tubing-kayaking attraction? I know he likes to participate in local events.

And finally, the river's imaginary makeover is "one of Fort Worth's great success stories."?

One of Fort Worth's great success stories? I'm really not trying to be unduly snarky here, but I really can not come up with a single Fort Worth success story. And can not imagine characterizing those sad river floating events at that imaginary island as a success.

Really, I'm serious here, I can not think of anything that I might characterize as a great Fort Worth success story.

Having the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, via the Cabela's sporting goods store? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories? Nope. That one did not work out, despite the Star-Telegram, and especially Bud Kennedy's, touting it as such.

Having more wells fracked than another other city in the world? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having more outhouses in its city parks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having fewer streets with sidewalks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Please, someone help me out here, what in the world could Bud Kennedy be referring to when he refers to Fort Worth's great success stories?

Read all of Bud Kennedy's Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week piece and see how many ridiculously absurd propaganda items you can find.

Of course the polluted river floating being one of Fort Worth's great success stories is my favorite Orwellian bit of propaganda.

Another gem is this paragraph....

Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river. It has been safe to swim, tube, raft or boat there most of the past year, but only boating or rafting is allowed along the Clear Fork stretch near Trinity Park or near South University Drive.

The embarrassing Panther Island nomenclature really needs to be put to rest.

What does that "Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river" statement even purport to mean?

The chunk of land The Boondoggle identifies as Panther Island is dry land. The Trinity River is not nicknamed "Panther Island".

Or did I miss that memo?

J.D. Granger Semi Skinny Dip In The Trinity River With One Of His Girl Friends

I have long opined it odd Fort Worth's favorite Frat Boy, J.D. Granger, he being the instigator behind Fort Worth's multitude of rabble getting wet in the polluted Trinity River, while not having been documented getting himself wet in the infamous river known to be infested with alligators and floating feces.

And then I heard from someone named Anonymous.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Saturday Roller Blading Around Wichita Falls Sikes Lakes":

JD Granger at Rockin' the River and in the water. Photo #20.

Rockin' the River July 7

________________________

I got to Photo #20, as Anonymous suggested, to find myself shocked to be seeing a scantily clad J.D. Granger, with his current girl friend, Shanna Cate, standing in what I assume must be the Trinity River.

Then again, this is the Internet, and one can not trust what one sees, no matter how believable it appears.

Does anyone have photo documentation of  J.D. floating on an inner tube, splashing with the rabble? Confirming he actually got himself immersed in the Trinity River at one of his perverse Rockin' the River Happy Hour Floats?

Was Proper Trinity Testing Done Before Thursday's Rockin' The Sewage Happy Hour?

I think I have already mentioned earlier this week that a raw sewage carrying pipeline burst, sending a flood of untreated water into a creek which flows into the Trinity River a short distance upstream from the downtown Fort Worth location where America's Biggest Boondoggle hosts Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion near an imaginary island.

Spokesman for The Boondoggle claimed the raw sewage had been contained prior to posing a threat to the Trinity River and to those choosing to float in that dirty river. It was also claimed that testing indicated the water was safe, with that testing taking place prior to The Boondoggle's inaugural floating beer party of the year.

Well.

In an article this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, titled Fort Worth pumps water out of Mary’s Creek after sewage spill we learn....

On Thursday, the city was collecting samples from the creek and from the Trinity River, which connects to the creek just west of Southwest Boulevard/Texas 183, Gugliuzza said.

The samples’ bacteria levels will be tested, and the results won’t be ready for a day or two, Gugliuzza said. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was notified Wednesday.

People “definitely” need to stay out of the creek until further notice, Gugliuzza said.

The spill was not expected to affect drinking water, authorities said, but residents with private water wells within a half-mile of the spill site should boil or distill water before using it until further notice.

So, the Star-Telegram is reporting that on Thursday samples were collected from the Trinity River, to be tested, with those test results ready in a day or two.

So, how was it The Boondoggle was able to claim testing indicated the Trinity River water was free of dangerous pathogens, and thus safe to float in, that same Thursday the samples were taken, if the results of the testing were not available for a day or two after the scheduled floating beer party?

Like I think I have mentioned before, something just ain't right about Fort Worth.

It's like the town has the backwards mentality of an undeveloped small Southern town of a few thousand, instead of the mentality of a modern city of around 800,000.

Fort Worth is definitely the most un-sanitary town in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex mess. Fort Worth is the only town in the D/FW zone with multiple city parks with no running water and no modern restroom facilities of the non-outhouse variety.

A town being okay with having parks without modern restrooms, without a place to wash ones hands after using an outhouse, fits right in with a town having a mentality that it is okay to sponsor a water event in river water downstream from a raw sewage spill.

Now, I do not generalize to suggest that all the citizens of Fort Worth are okay with having their city parks so far behind modern times. Or having floating parties in the Trinity River. I am sure the majority of Fort Worth citizens would like to see their town modernized to a level at least matching other towns in their shared metropolitan zone.

Modernized like Haltom City, Keller, Watauga, North Richland Hills, Arlington, Grapevine, Dallas, well you get the drift.

Just this past Wednesday I enjoyed a pleasant picnic, under a shelter at Capp Smith Park in Watauga. The covered picnic area was connected to a modern restroom. Drinking fountains and running water were also near the covered picnic shelter.

What a concept.

I can not imagine a 21st century American city, other than Fort Worth, hosting embarrassing floating beer parties, with music, in water commonly believed to be dirty and polluted, let alone hosting such a thing after a big raw sewage spill  occurred a short distance upstream.

Fort Worth is badly led by bad leaders. I don't know why this is the case, but it is. No other large American city opened itself up to being poked by thousands of holes in the ground to be fracked with pollutants, along with other associated post poking pollutants damaging the life quality of its citizens.

It is a bit symbolic of Fort Worth's backwardness that at the site of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats you will also find no modern restrooms. Just a couple outhouses encased in cement enclosures. Methinks most modern American town's sense of civic pride would have the people of that town feeling a bit embarrassed to have permanent outhouses installed at what The Boondoggle propaganda claims is the premiere urban waterfront music venue in Texas.

I know, gag worthy and again embarrassing.

Fort Worth can and should and deserves to do better. The Good Ol' Boy and Girl Network, also known as the 7th Street Gang, needs to get the boot, with Fort Worth getting replacement leadership which truly represents all the people of Fort Worth, improving all areas of the city for all the people of the city.

As it is, Fort Worth just keeps falling further and further behind the rest of America, and its own suburbs.

Like I said, embarrassing....

America's Biggest Boondoggle Rockin' The Raw Sewage Spill Happy Hour Inner Tube Float

Incoming couple of screencaps from, I assume, Facebook, from Elsie Hotpepper.

Recently I learned of a massive pipe break which was dumping a HUGE volume of untreated sewage into a creek which runs into the Clear Fork of the Trinity River a short distance upstream from the location where America's Biggest Boondoggle holds its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion near an imaginary island near downtown Fort Worth.

The Boondoggle has been touting that floating in the Trinity River is no different than floating in the water you drink, since the water the floaters float in flows from the Benbrook and Lake Worth reservoirs.

The Boondoggle spokespeople, in their various propaganda venues, claim the reason the Trinity River is the murky muddy color of flowing feces is that the river has a clay river bottom, unlike the river bottoms further south in Texas where the water runs clear, with thousands of tubers.

The Lake Worth reservoir, in addition to being known for being good drinking water, of late has been more known for its alligator infestation.

The TRWD and The Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, claim that the raw sewage was somehow magically stopped before any of the voluminous spill made its way the short distance to the Trinity.

The TRWD has one sane board director member, Mary Kelleher.

This is what Mary Kelleher had to say about the absurdity of The Boondoggle going ahead with tonight's fetid float in the Trinity....

For the record, as a director on the TRWD board, I asked TRWD administration to cancel the event tonight just in case the waste made it's way into the Trinity.  I was told the FW officials in charge of clean up assured TRWD the waste had been captured and  did not enter the Trinity. I was also told the Trinity was tested Tuesday and showed the water to be safe. 

I personally disagree with the TRWD's decision to encourage the public to float in the Trinity after a significant spill of sewage upstream.

__________________

This month there has been a Flesh Eating Bacteria outbreak on the Texas Gulf Coast. Pathogens in water can be dangerous, even in places where one might assume the water to be safe, like salt water churned by waves.

Most Fort Worth locals would never consider getting wet in the Trinity River.

Why would anyone with any semblance of common sense get in that river days after a massive raw sewage leak occurred a short distance upstream? Why would any responsible public agency sign on with encouraging people to get in a river after such an incident?

Beyond bizarre, beyond perplexing. I am so glad I no longer live in Fort Worth. Something just ain't right about that town....

Wide Open Country Thinks The Trinity River One Of Best Texas Places To Float

This morning on Facebook I saw a post from a website called Wide Open Country with a link to the 7 Best Places to go Floating in Texas.

Among the multiple Facebookers making comments about the best places to go floating in Texas was the following....

Reis Gladson You couldn't pay me to get in the Trinity River!! The rest of them are clean and spring fed.

After reading the above comment I clicked on the link to the website, thinking to myself that there is no way that any sort of respectable publication would tell its readers that floating in the Trinity River was a good thing to be doing. Let alone publicize America's Biggest Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats.

Well, I thought wrong.

The Boondoggle's floating beer parties are number 6 on the list, as you can see above.

I hope this article's suggestion that floating in the Trinity River is a good thing to be doing doesn't cause some innocent tourist to come to the D/FW zone expecting to have a crystal clear river water experience such as can be had in the other Texas rivers on this list of seven.

Is The Lake Worth Gator Population Floating To Downtown Fort Worth To Rock The River?

I saw this this Monday morning on Facebook via a Facebooker I assume may be a relative of the notorious Texas governor who preceded the current notorious Texas governor.

It has been known for a couple months now that alligators have been migrating to Fort Worth's Lake Worth from their long time abode in the Fort Worth Nature Center & Prairie Preserve's bayous.

Last year a blind alligator somehow made it past the Lake Worth dam all the way to the area where America's Biggest Boondoggle operates its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River.

With such evidence as the fact a blind gator can journey past the dam, combined with the fact a flock of clear-eyed gators has taken up residence in Lake Worth, is The Boondoggle going ahead with this year's enticing locals, who lack sufficient entertainment options, to get in the water at the imaginary island with the imaginary pavilion?

If Rockin' the River does take place this year, and if a gator floats in among the floaters and takes a bite or two or three, whose liability is it? The floaters who The Boondoggle makes sign some sort of pseudo legal document prior to getting in the water?

Or, with that document ruled irrelevant, does the law suit liability go to The Boondoggle?

Or is it the City of Fort Worth which will be held responsible for allowing something so irresponsible to happen as allowing such events to take place in a polluted river where it had become known that alligators were in town?

Has the Fort Worth Star-Telegram addressed these issues, with me missing the addressing?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, we all know the answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Swim At Your Own Risk At The PIP Squeak's Public Beach In Fort Worth

A followup from Elsie Hotpepper to yesterday's emailed screen cap of Facebook postings about what living in Fort Worth is really like.

Yesterday's Elsie Hotpepper Facebook screen cap turned into a blogging about America's Biggest Boondoggle's PIP Squeaks Declaring There Is No E.Coli To Worry ABout While Rockin' The Trinity River In Fort Worth.

Tarrant Regional Water District board member Mary Kelleher commented about getting the PIP Squeaks to do daily testing of the water which they are encouraging floaters to float in..

Mary Kelleher I had to fight to get the recreational areas tested weekly. The people have right to know "literally" what they're getting into. I'm going to speak with our environmental section to see what it would take to get that area tested daily.

Way back on February 7 of this year I found myself in the downtown Fort Worth zone, a location I rarely find myself located in.

Since I was in the downtown Fort Worth zone I decided to check out the current state of America's Biggest Boondoggle's products, such as Panther Island Pavilion and the simple little bridges which had begun construction the previous October, scheduled to take four years to build over dry land.

I blogged about that which I saw that day in a blogging titled Taking A Look At The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Products.

One of the products I saw that day is what you see below.

Below I copied from the February 7 blogging about the above lifeguard stand and beach....

The Boondoggle is now calling the area where the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats take place a beach. For your amazed amusement I'll copy that which is on the sign on the lifeguard's perch below.

PANTHER ISLAND PAVILION

PUBLIC BEACH

CLOSED FROM 10pm - 5am

SWIM AT OWN RISK

NO LITTERING

NO GLASS OR STYROFOAM

NO FISHING FROM BEACH AREA

NO UNAUTHORIZED VEHICLES

NO OPEN FIRES

CLEAN UP AFTER PETS

NO DISORDERLY CONDUCT

A PRODUCT OF THE TRINITY RIVER VISION
____________________________________________________

A public beach? Closes at 10pm, opens at 5am? Swim at own risk?

Is that risk the risk of swimming with too much e.coli? And alligators?

If a city is designating a water feature as a public beach, and encouraging that water to be swam in, doesn't the public have a reasonable right to expect that that water is safe to swim in, tested daily? Particularly when that body of water is known to regularly spike with high levels of e.coli?

I wonder if the PIP Squeak's outhouses that serve the throngs of river floaters could be one of the e.coli sources. Most world class urban waterfront music venues do not include primitive outhouses  among their features....

Taking A Look At TRWD Document With Results Of E.Coli PIP Water Testing

Earlier today I blogged about some fresh PIP nonsense from America's Biggest Boondoggle.

After that someone named Anonymous made the following comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "PIP Declares No E.Coli To Worry About While Rockin' The Trinity River In Fort Worth":

Take a look at a TRWD document documenting the results of e.coli testing at the confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity.

If the boondoggle is going to encourage swimming at PIP, they should be testing every day, just like a public pool. Take a look at the Long-Term Average graph. It's flirting with the "acceptable for swimming" limit. 

Looking at this TRWD chart it would appear that on any given day one might find oneself floating in the Trinity River in the PIP zone with an e.coli level above what TCEQ considers safe. And, like Anonymous suggests, the only way to be certain one is not floating with too much feces would be for the water to be tested daily.

Is the PIP squeak's spokesman still claiming the water the Rockin' the River floaters float in is no different than that which comes out of Fort Worth's taps?

PIP Declares No E.Coli To Worry About While Rockin' The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Incoming from Elsie Hotpepper.

I believe this is an iPhone  screen cap of some Facebook postings, from the Panther Island Pavilion Facebook page.

That would make this a Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision product.

If you are new to Fort Worth and wondering what Panther Island Pavilion is, well, it is sort of hard to explain. Basically it is an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island where people float in an imaginary pollution-free river while drinking beer and listening to music.

The message from Elsie Hotpepper accompanying the screen cap....

Cut and paste is all they do...and again if that deadly levels of E. coli test was wrong, what about all the tests that said the E. coli was at a safe level? Isn't it more than likely it is those tests that came up with wrong results? Are they actually trying to claim that the Trinity River does not have an E. coli contamination problem?

Well, Elsie, you must remember  the spokesman for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle also claimed the water the Rockin' the River floaters float in was no different than the drinking water that flows from Fort Worth taps.

Which sounds to me to be a good reason to buy bottled water, if it were true that the water the floaters float in while Rockin' the River is the same quality level as Fort Worth drinking water.

Does it only occur to me that it is a rather sad reflection of the shortage of fun things to do in Fort Worth that so many people think they are having themselves a mighty fine time floating in a polluted river while drinking beer and listening to music coming from an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island?

What Living In Fort Worth Is Really Like Floating The Day Away At Pavilion Island With E. Coli

This morning when I checked in on Facebook I found a message from Elsie Hotpepper, with Elsie saying OMG, which I think means Oh My Goodness.

The thing that Elsie Hotpepper was OMGing about became clear when I clicked on the link which followed the OMG, that being What Living In Fort Worth Is Really Like - cowboys, culture, and a tubing trip down the Trinity River.

The link went to what I think is some sort of real estate website, selling Fort Worth houses, and touting Fort Worth with delusional propaganda that would make the local chamber of commerce proud.

Pavilion Island? Getting that name wrong is indicative of the quality level of the research which went into creating this work of propaganda art.

Below are three of the propaganda paragraphs....

As the fifth largest city in Texas, there’s nothing small about Fort Worth—except for the vibe. With an emphasis on neighborhoods and close-knit community, it’s no wonder that Fort Worth has been named as one of America’s Most Liveable Communities multiple times by the National Civic League.

It goes by the names Panther City, Queen City, Cowtown, Funky Town, and Fort Wizard. Call it whatever you relate to the most, as long as it’s not Dallas. Fort Worth is the city where people from cities like Dallas and Austin turn to when they grow sick of their own. They might share an airport, but that’s about all these two cities have in common. This is a southwestern city with pride in its roots and it’s not trying to be anything else, unlike some places.

Grab a tube with one hand and a beer with the other. You’re about to have a day full of fun, Fort Worth style. Panther Pavilion Island is one of Fort Worth’s most popular spots and definitely one of the coolest. Whether you enjoy the relaxation of tubing or the excitement of kayaking or stand-up paddle boarding, you can do it all here. But come during the Rockin’ River events for the real excitement when all of Fort Worth shows up to party with you in the company of some great live bands.

______________________________________________

Rockin' River events? It's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube events.

And the name America's Biggest Boondoggle gives to its imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island is Panther Island  Pavilion. Not Panther Pavilion Island.

Fort Worth is known as Fort Wizard? People from Dallas and Austin turn to Fort Worth when they get sick of  Dallas and Austin?

It's no wonder Fort Worth has been named one of America's Most Livable Communities multiple times? Actually it is a wonder, because this has not happened multiple times. It happened one time, when a Washington D.C. lobbying group put Fort Worth on a list of towns which supposedly had America's most livable urban villages. (note: it is livable, not liveable. Spelling matters, even in propaganda pieces)

Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration to celebrate this meaningless award.

Tacoma was one of the towns which got this meaningless award. At that point in time I met Tacoma's Deputy Mayor. I asked him if Tacoma had a city-wide celebration when they got that award. He said "No, we thanked them politely and that was the end of it."

I then told the Deputy Mayor that Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration for being on that list.

"You are making that up," the Deputy Mayor said accusingly.

"Nope. It's true. A city-wide celebration," said I.

That third paragraph, the one that mention Rockin' River events, is the most bizarre, telling people to grab a tube and a beer to spend a day Fort Worth style in one of Fort Worth's most popular and cool spots, the Trinity River, for real excitement when all of Fort Worth shows up to party with you.

No mention made in this article about Rockin' the Trinity River being shut down due to e.coli levels so high that the river was dangerous to public health....

Rockin' The Trinity River Beer In Hand With A Dose Of E. Coli On Sunday Funday

A couple anonymous comments from Anonymous about Rockin' the River with a good dose of e.coli.....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Rockin' The River Flushed Due To Too Much Toilet Water In Fort Worth's Trinity River":

Juris Doctor Granger talking on stage at Rockin' the River (Week 7) in photo #17. He should have bought the house a round at his own expense.

And then Another Anonymous left another interesting comment, including the Star-Telegram article about Rockin' the River getting flushed due to too much e.coli.

Another Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Rockin' The River Flushed Due To Too Much Toilet Water In Fort Worth's Trinity River":

I dumped the Startlegram earlier this year because I got tired of paying an ever expanding price for an ever shrinking paper. But, for those few occasions when I go to their site, I never have a problem getting any story I want (because I dump cookies frequently?). So here's the story that raises more questions than it answers:

E. coli found in Trinity River at Panther Island Pavilion

A high amount of E. coli in the Trinity River left locals rockin’ the land instead of the water at Thursday night’s Rockin’ the River concert.

The crowd at the Panther Island Pavilion had to watch headliner Sam Riggs, followed by musician Aaron Einhouse, from the banks of the river after weekly testing found 1,700 E. coli organisms per 100 milliliters of river water near the pavilion.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standard is 399 E. coli organisms per 100 milliliters, said Woody Frossard, environmental director for the Tarrant Regional Water District.

“Anything above that they don’t recommend contact recreation,” Frossard said.

He said the TRWD performs water sampling every Tuesday from May through October. When the test results came back Thursday, he said, he recommended water tubing be canceled for the event that night.

“I can’t tell you what is causing the problem because I don’t know yet,” Frossard said. “I got the samples today and will do more testing tomorrow. There is a possibility someone dumped something in the river.”

He said the only problem area found was near Panther Island Pavilion. Other parts of the river tested less than 40 E. coli organisms per 100 milliliters.

Water district employees will be back out on the river early Friday, testing the waters upstream to try to identify the source.

Sunday Funday, a day of family-friendly tubing, kayaking, canoeing and boating at Panther Island, was still scheduled. It will be the last Sunday Funday event of the year.

By Monica S. Nagy

_________________________________________

In the photo of J.D. Granger, with his signature can of beer in hand, is he announcing to the assembled throng of inner tubers that there would be no getting in the Trinity River tonight due to a big plume of sewage passing through on its way to Dallas?

I agree with Another Anonymous, the Star-Telegram article raises more questions than it answers. As in how did this extremely elevated level of e.coli pollution come to be at this one specific location, that being the location where America's Biggest Boondoggle encourages people to get wet in the Trinity River?

Supposedly other areas of the river were tested, at the same time, with no elevated e.coli levels.

Are there random plumes of sewage pollution floating down the Trinity River? And just by happenstance the water testers were testing the water just as a plume of sewage floating by the Rockin' the River zone?

I refuse to refer to the Rockin' the River zone as Panther Island Pavilion, due to my aversion to propaganda and puffery, As in there is no island or pavilion. And the panther is a hundred year old joke. I agree with Mr. Spiffy on this serious issue, in that Gator Island is a much better name. Since a gator has been seen on the imaginary island this century.

Thursday the Trinity River was closed to floaters due to too much contamination. But Funday Sunday will float on schedule, three days later?

Bizarre.....

Rockin' The River Flushed Due To Too Much Toilet Water In Fort Worth's Trinity River

This morning's quick check of the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram informed me of that which you see here.

That being that testing the Trinity River water on Thursday, that being the day of the week when America's Biggest Boondoggle sponsors a bizarre event called Rockin' the River, where hundreds of clueless fools are enticed to get in one of America's most polluted rivers to drink beer and listen to music, well that testing indicated that there was way too much fecal matter in the river, rendering it unsafe for swimming and tubing.

Do the clueless now understand that there has always been e.coli fecal matter in the water with them while they were Rockin' the River? That on any given day the level of e.coli could reach a level considered to be unsafe?

When I logged into Facebook this morning I found I was being tagged on this subject.

One of those taggers was Elsie Hotpepper....

Thanks to Mary Kelleher, at least they test the 'crap' now. I can't wait to see what Durango Jones has to say...

And then Mr. Spiffy had this to say....

Hello, Sunday Funday Trinity Innertubers! Please take note of the following announcement: You've been floating in poop water all summer. Sorry 'bout that. Now, here's some fun local country music band! Enjoy! - Yours truly, TRWD

Well, Ms. Hotpepper, Durango Jones does not have much more to say about this subject than he has already said.

One of the many things that crosses my mind regarding this is the fact that this is one more example of how Fort Worth suffers from not having a real newspaper.

A real newspaper would have been all over the absurdity of the Trinity River Vision getting into things like sponsoring drinking parties in the polluted Trinity River.

A real newspaper would have addressed the ridiculousness of the Panther Island nomenclature, pointing out there is no island. Pointing out there is no pavilion on the imaginary island.

Instead, the Star-Telegram goes along with The Boondoggle's nonsense, even when reporting a story with the headline "E. coli found in Trinity River at Panther Island Pavilion".

Would any legitimate newspaper in America go along with the Panther Island Pavilion con job?

A legitimate newspaper long ago would have been all over the scandal that is America's Biggest Boondoggle.

A legitimate newspaper would have long ago focused intense scrutiny on the hiring of Kay Granger's unqualified son to run what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

A legitimate newspaper would have been all over looking at how America's Biggest Boondoggle has accomplished so little in well over a decade, and has devolved into sponsoring absurd floating beer parties in the polluted with fecal matter Trinity River.

Rockin' the River needs  to be permanently cancelled as a first step towards bringing some level of adult supervision to the Trinity River Vision.

Oh, and J.D. Granger needs to be fired......

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lake Washington Used To Be A Polluted Mess Like The Trinity River But It Got Cleaned Up

Yesterday I found myself Wondering Why So Many Fort Worth Locals Think Tubing Polluted Water With Gators Is Fun, during which I found myself reading the Wikipedia article about Lake Washington.

The Wikipedia article about Lake Washington had one paragraph that detailed in greater detail than I knew or remembered of how Lake Washington was restored to being a lake full of clean, clear water, safe for swimming and home to a lot of tasty fish.

Below is the paragraph I am talking about, under a heading of Water Purity...

Water Purity
Around 1900, Seattle began discharging sewage into Lake Washington. During the 1940s and 1950s, eleven sewage treatment plants were sending state-of-the-art treated water into the lake at a rate of 20 million gallons per day. At the same time, phosphate-based detergents came into wide-use. The lake responded to the massive input of nutrients by developing unpleasant blooms of noxious blue-green algae. The water lost its clarity, the desirable fish populations declined, and masses of dead algae accumulated on the shores of the lake. Citizen concern led to the creation of a system that diverted the treatment-plant effluents into nearby Puget Sound, where tidal flushing would mix them with open-ocean water. The diversion was complete by 1968, and the lake responded quickly. The algal blooms diminished, the water regained its clarity, and by 1975, recovery was complete. Careful studies by a group of limnologists from the University of Washington showed that phosphate was the culprit. Since then, Lake Washington has undergone major improvements, drastically improving the ecology and water quality, making the water twice as clear as it was in 1950.

Now, this is what I am thinking.

Here in Fort Worth, where there is no body of water twice as clear as it was in 1950, we have this entity called the Tarrant Regional Water District and its foster child known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, that being the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, holding floating events in the Trinity River at a location they call Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion.

Spokesmen for America's Biggest Boondoggle, via their Panther Island Pavilion Facebook page, have propaganda-ized that getting wet in the Trinity River is no different than getting wet in your drinking water, what with your drinking water coming from the same source, that being Lake Eagle Mountain and Benbrook Lake. The PIP propaganda neglects to mention, however, that the water that comes out of your tap has been treated, unlike the water the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats take place in.

If the Panther Island Pavilion Propagandists think the Rockin' the River water is as clean as drinking water, how about a publicity photo of all of them drinking a glass of water fresh out of the river. With chief PIP Propagandist, J.D. Granger, taking the first gulp.

With America's Biggest Boondoggle stalled in slow motion from its original goal of altering the course of the Trinity River, creating some sort of waterfront feature that will somehow spur economic development, but which has morphed into multiple variations of beer parties, some on dry land, some in water, is it not time to do some serious priority assessment?

Such as, why not make the #1 priority cleaning up the Trinity River, like Lake Washington was cleaned up? Figure out what causes the spike in e.coli when the temperature rises and fix it.

Again, why is that not the priority?

Recently I read a PIP Apologist opine something along the line that for years now critics have been whining that America's Biggest Boondoggle should not be encouraging people to get in that polluted river, when the fact of the matter is that over the years of The Boondoggle boondoggling thousands of people have gotten wet in that water without growing a third nipple or having their hair fall out.

So, I guess as long as no one comes out of the Trinity with an extra nipple or bald, all is good and it is totally aesthetically pleasing to get into that murky brown water where you can not see what is swimming with you, be it a turtle, a snake, a gator or a plume of cow manure.....