New Look At Fort Worth's Multi-Decade Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

It has been a while since I have read an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or TRV for super short.

A couple days ago I found myself writing a blog post titled New Zealand Family's Seattle Visit Reminds Me Of Fort Worth's Infamous Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, written after seeing the result of a successful public works project completed in a more modern area of America, then finding myself comparing that project to what many simply refer to as The Boondoggle.

And then, ironically, the very day I posted the blog post referencing Fort Worth's embarrassing Trinity River Vision mess, the Star-Telegram publishes an article about the current state of The Boondoggle, in typical Star-Telegram faulty information fashion.

I suspect the reporter writing this article is new to Fort Worth, and the Star-Telegram, and thus does not have a well-developed ear for hearing nonsense.

We are now in the third decade of what has become America's Oldest Boondoggle. Over the years I have written dozens of posts about this subject. Just go to the Durango Texas blog and enter "TNT exploding ceremony" into the search function, or "Kay Granger Boondoggle" and you will come up with many of those posts about this subject.

Now, something I have not made mention of during the many years of writing these blog posts about America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Over the years I have been sent information from persons close to the problem. As in, someone with access inside J.D. Granger's inner Trinity River Vision operation. I referred to this person as Deep Moat. I was told a couple times, by a couple sources, that the TRWD and the TRV were annoyed, a time or two, by things they saw on my blog.

Also, regarding the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, someone working for that newspaper, anonymous to me, has long found my making fun of that newspaper to be amusing. And accurate. It has not happened for a couple years, but yesterday it did. That person, who they are, I do not know, sent me the link to this new article about The Boondoggle, a link I am not blocked from reading. I assume I would always have been able to read the Star-Telegram, if I was a subscriber, but I cancelled the hard copy long ago.

Anyway, I clicked the Fort Worth’s Panther Island riverfront project has seen years of delays. What’s next? and read it. And copied it.

I then messaged Elsie Hotpepper, asking if Elsie had read this latest, because her dear departed friend, Clyde Picht, is quoted. Elsie then asked for the link. I sent it. But, for her, she was blocked. I then sent Elsie the copied article.

Interesting that the Star-Telegram successfully blocks Elsie Hotpepper, but not me.

Anyway, let's now go through some of this article and comment as we read along. Let's begin with the first paragraph...

Government officials and curious citizens left no seats empty in Fort Worth’s city hall chamber on April 5, 2005. That day, then-Mayor Mike Moncrief locked horns with skeptical City Council members over the purpose and price of the “Trinity River Vision,” a grand plan to revamp the river’s flood control system and transform a sliver of the waterway twisting around downtown into a haven of urban leisure and recreation.

2005. Two decades ago. And that is years after The Boondoggle actually began. Flood control system? This project was originally touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. So vitally needed, almost three decades later, little has been done. So vitally needed, the public was not asked to support it via a bond issue.

Moving on, the next paragraph...

Fort Worth’s powerful optimists first fleshed out plans for the venture the year before. Moncrief and fellow proponents hailed the undertaking, later rechristened Panther Island, as “the most significant local project since construction of Dallas/Fort Worth airport.” “Everyone feels the synergy of this project,” Moncrief told the audience in city hall, among them Panther Island champion U.S. Rep. Kay Granger. “They realize this will create a new gateway ... a new face for future generations.” Doubters weren’t sold on the mayor’s lofty aspirations. “I think the final cost of the project will be substantially higher” than the original $360 million price tag (around $613 million today), said council member Clyde Picht during the hearing.

The "later rechristened Panther Island" remark is what made me think this reporter is new to The Boondoggle. This pseudo public works project started out being called the Trinity River Vision. Then Uptown was added to the name. Then Central City. Then Panther Island District. I do not believe the project has ever been somehow rechristened as Panther Island. Such is just how some have come to refer to it, even though it is an imaginary island which no sane part of the world would refer to as such.

Moving on to the next paragraph...

The project’s budget ballooned to $1.17 billion around 2017 (a figure still listed in project documents today despite inflationary pressures). The most hopeful Panther Island advocates in the early 2000s expected a pocket of high-rises and tree-lined promenades to take form by the end of the decade. No development has happened since. The Tarrant Regional Water District has yet to acquire 23% of the land within Panther Island’s future boundaries; the body agreed in December to pay a real estate consulting firm $1 million to start thinking up a strategy for selling off land to interested developers.

Just the info contained in the above paragraph, one would think, is enough to make one think maybe it is time to just kill this embarrassing failure. The "no development has happened since" line is so telling. Basically, little real development has happened for almost three decades, not in the way developments happen in parts of the world known to be more, well, developed.

It gets worse. Next paragraph...

Much of the new flood control system has yet to be completed. TRWD and the other bodies tasked with bringing Panther Island’s renditions to life predicted in 2018 that every dam, channel and storage pond would be complete by 2028. The project’s latest completion date, as of June, is 2032.

Much of the flood control system is yet to be completed? Remember? This was originally touted as a vitally needed flood control project, to control floods in a section of the Trinity River which had not flooded for well over a half century due to levees installed in the 1950s. And now the completion date is in the next decade.

The final paragraph...

Past delays foreshadowed current ones. It took the Texas Department of Transportation roughly six years and $126.2 million to complete three bridges designed to funnel traffic to and from the island. Construction for the structures, totaling less than a mile in length, began in November 2015, with tentative completion dates set between 2017 and 2018. “This was a bad deal early on,” Picht said of Panther Island in 2018, a few years before he died. “It’s probably the worst managed public project in the state of Texas, if not the nation.” Where exactly do things stand today?

Why is the Star-Telegram blaming the Texas Department of Transportation for taking so long to build the simple little bridges? Did not the actual fault lie with the incompetent leadership of the TRV? As in, Kay Granger's son, J.D., made Executive Director, to motivate his mother to try and secure federal funds? J.D. Granger insisted the design of the bridges have these totally ordinary V-piers, which J.D. thought would make them Signature Bridges, which was part of the original Trinity River Vision, having Three Signature Bridges, matching the Dallas Trinity River Vision's proposed Three Signature Bridges, which was the actual start of The Boondoggle, Fort Worth once again trying to keep up with Dallas.

And failing.

Dallas did end up building two actual signature bridges, which add a cool looking element to the Dallas skyline.

As for The Boondoggle's employment of Kay Granger's son. Kay never did come up with federal funding. And when a Biden bill, the Infrastructure Bill, passed, sending funding to Fort Worth's un-funded project, Kay voted no. J.D. was then fired, given a $72,000 parting gift, and is now trying to open a restaurant.

Meanwhile, I have another nugget of news, sent to me anonymously, which I have no way of verifying, but which makes sense to me.

I have been told the real reason the Trinity River Vision project has stalled is due to serious engineering complications. When the Army Corps of Engineers was brought in, again, after those three little bridges were built over dry land, with a cement lined ditch to later be dug under them, an obvious issue became apparent.

As in, the cement lined ditch should have been built at the same time as the bridges. To dig under the bridges now presents serious engineering issues, as in without sufficient mitigations, digging under the bridges could cause a bridge collapse.

And so, the project is stalled, with the current funding now in limbo due to the project's ineptness, poor planning and bad design.

And, might I add. I have long predicted that eventually we will get to the point where it is realized the ground in the Panther Island zone is seriously contaminated, due to being a former industrial zone. There have already been some indications of this. I suspect it would take an EPA Superfund cleanup, which will likely never happen.

It is time for Fort Worth to kill this project, clean up the mess it has made, and get around to finally, at least, fixing Heritage Park, the boarded-up eyesore at the north end of downtown, a park celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, which, ironically, overlooks America's Biggest Boondoggle....

New Zealand Family's Seattle Visit Reminds Me Of Fort Worth's Infamous Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

I blogged about that which you see, in the above screencap, on my Washington blog, in a blog post titled Visiting Seattle With The New Zealand Family.

Click the link to read the reason I was visiting Seattle with the New Zealanders. And how I came to know this family of four.

The reason I am making mention of this on my Texas blog is because one part of the video made me think of something in Texas which has bugged me for decades now.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Ironically, the very day I posted the blog post about the New Zealanders visiting Seattle, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had a long article about the current sad status of America's slowest, dumbest, most inept public works project.

I'll blog about this latest piece of distorted Star-Telegram propaganda later.

Back to the above screen cap of the mom and dad New Zealanders. They are walking on the re-built Seattle Waterfront.

This video, which you can see via clicking the above link, is the first time I have seen video of the new Seattle Waterfront. To say I was impressed is to understate. I was super impressed. Gone is the double decker elevated highway, replaced with a wider road and wider promenade, and other features.

That and a new transit tunnel under downtown Seattle, replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

The rebuilding of the Seattle Waterfront was a complex engineering feat, involving removing a highway, digging a tunnel. And other things.

All of which began about a decade after Fort Worth began its pitiful Trinity River Vision, a supposed vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. So vitally needed the Fort Worth public was never asked to vote to support a bond issue to pay for it. The bizarre vision was touted as being transformative, creating a Fort Worth waterfront, with an imaginary island, connected to the Fort Worth mainland by three little freeway overpass type bridges, which took an astonishing seven years to build.

Over dry land.

If I remember correctly, the Seattle Waterfront project was started around the time Fort Worth had a TNT exploding ceremony to celebrate the start of constructing those bridges, with Seattle's waterfront renovation completed well before the seven years Fort Worth took to build those three little bridges over dry land, with, years later, those bridges still waiting for a cement lined ditch to be dug under them, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating the imaginary island, with the three bridges connecting that imaginary island to the Fort Worth mainland.

I can't imagine how long it might take Fort Worth to try to do something like dig a transit tunnel under its puny downtown. A half century?

A Look At Why Fort Worth Is Not One Of The World's Best Cities

In the past week or two I have seen mention made of a list made of the 100 Best Cities in the World.

The first time I saw this mentioned was in the Dallas Observer, which was observing the fact that Dallas ranked only #56, with two Texans towns thought to be better than Dallas, with Houston at #40 and Austin at #53.

The second time I saw this global list mentioned was in the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, online, which began their article with...

Perhaps your city claims one of the best new restaurants, or best overall restaurants in the country. Maybe it was even named one of the best U.S. cities to live in.

But the true test of greatness is on the global scale.

Resonance Consultancy, a real estate and tourism consulting firm, has released a report ranking the top 100 best cities in the world. Three Texas cities earned a spot on the list.

There are more American towns on this list than any other country, with New York at #2, San Francisco at #12, Los Angeles at #14, Chicago at #12, Seattle at #19 and on to many other American cities.

Fort Worth, Texas is not on this list.

Fort Worth is never on any of this type list.

I lived in Fort Worth for a few years before moving to my current Texas location. It did not take long living in Fort Worth to come to the realization that the town had some sort of civic inferiority complex. I assumed this had something to do with being paired with the bigger, more well-known town of Dallas.

That Fort Worth inferiority complex manifested in many ways. Including what I came to call the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Green With Envy Syndrome. So called due to that newspaper repeatedly printing an article about some perfectly ordinary thing, claiming that that perfectly ordinary thing was making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

Yes, I know, this sounds ridiculous, but it happened. Over and over again. The syndrome seemed to cease after it was rendered into an embarrassment.

I remember the worst instance of Fort Worth embarrassing itself was the time some Washington, D.C. lobbying group included Fort Worth in a list of ten American towns determined to be the best at the Urban Village concept.

That time the embarrassment did not come from Star-Telegram hyperbole, it was the city government that embarrassed itself. Initiating a citywide celebration celebrating being so listed by an obscure Washington, D.C. lobbying group.

I am not making this up, it really happened, with celebration central happening at Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

During this celebratory period of time, I happened to be up north, in Tacoma, a town which was also on this list of ten best towns with the Urban Village concept.

I had reason to visit with Tacoma's then Deputy Mayor. I asked him if Tacoma had a citywide celebration after receiving this esteemed honor. He laughed and said, no, we politely thanked them and that was it. Why do you ask, the Deputy Mayor asked?

Because Fort Worth had a citywide celebration when they got the same esteemed honor, I told him.

You are kidding, said the Deputy Mayor. Nope, really happened, said I.

Fort Worth has long had a history of what one might characterize as delusions of grandeur, manifesting in multiple ways.

Like the time a sporting goods store opened in Fort Worth called Cabela's. With Fort Worth touting the belief this store would give Fort Worth the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Not occurring to anyone, apparently, that suggesting such seemed to indicate Texas was a tad weak in the tourist attraction area, which is definitely not the case.

Texas has many attractive tourist attractions, way more attractive than a sporting goods store. San Antonio's Riverwalk comes to mind, as does Galveston, and Big Bend, and much more.

Within a year the Fort Worth Cabela's was no longer the only Cabela's in Texas. One opened in Buda, down south by Austin. And then another Cabela's opened in the D/FW Metroplex. 

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has never fessed up to being party to the bizarre top tourist attraction in Texas con job.

When I see one of these type lists, listing towns by some criteria, with Fort Worth never being on the list, I can not help but wonder how a long time Fort Worth native, subjected to the local hype and propaganda explains it to themselves.

Fort Worth needs to fix a few problems before it can have any hope of ever being on a list of the best cities on the globe.

Such as, fix Fort Worth's downtown, currently a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, a ghost town due to the fact that downtown Fort Worth has no stores of the sort one might do their Christmas shopping in.

Knock of calling a multi-block area of the Fort Worth downtown, Sundance Square. There is no square there. Years after spouting there being something called Sundance Square, a couple parking lots were turned into a sort of square type location, then called Sundance Square Plaza.

This type thing is not the type thing a town wearing its Big City Pants does.

There are two semi-unique attractions in downtown Fort Worth. The Watergardens at the south end of downtown. And Heritage Park at the north end of downtown.

Elsie Hotpepper recently confirmed for me that Heritage Park is still a boarded-up eyesore, a status it has had for over a decade. Which is sort of an adequate metaphor for Fort Worth. A park purporting to celebrate Fort Worth's heritage, doing so by being a messed up eyesore.

And then there is what that Heritage Park eyesore overlooks. Another thing which makes Fort Worth a laughingstock, not worthy of being on any Best Cities listing.

Fort Worth is now in its third decade of a pseudo public works project, originally known as the Trinity River Vision, before morphing, over the years, into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

This Vision purported to see an area in danger of being flooded, even though such had not happened in over half a century, due to flood control levees preventing such. The Vision claimed this to be a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, which is so vital it is now limping along in its third decade.

Cities worthy of being considered best in the world do not have these type dawdling, ill-conceived, ineptly implemented projects.

A failed project, currently, after all this time, basically only seeing three little bridges, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, awaiting a cement lined ditch to go under the bridges carrying diverted Trinity River water.

We could go on with more details regarding Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, but we won't.

Because it is lunch time...

A Look At Washington's San Juan Islands Takes Us To Fort Worth's Imaginary Island

I saw this view you see here, yesterday, on Facebook. A view looking east across some of the San Juan Islands, with the Mount Baker volcano towering over the scene. I grew up in the land between that volcano and the San Juan Islands.

I think it was the fact of growing up totally aware of what an island is, and looks like, that had me appalled near the beginning of this century, when the town I was then living in, at the time, Fort Worth, Texas, began a bizarre pseudo public works project hoping to divert water from the Trinity River, around a section of land, on the north end of downtown Fort Worth.

Creating an imaginary island.

Which already came to become called Panther Island. Even though that proposed water diversion has not yet happened, with a cement lined ditch, filled with Trinity River water, creating the imaginary island, with three bridges then connecting the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island.

So far, those three freeway overpass type bridges are the main thing that has been completed in what became known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Or America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Near one of those bridges the Vision did see a roundabout built, with a million-dollar reflective homage to an aluminum trash can installed at the center of the roundabout.

Is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram still investigating trying to find out how it came to be that a million bucks was paid to buy that work of art?

For years, the entity known in short form as the Trinity River Vision employed J.D. Granger as the Vision's Executive Director. Granger is the son of Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger. It was thought giving Kay's son a high paying job overseeing the Vision that it would motivate Kay to support federal funding of Fort Worth's Boondoggle.

However, Kay never managed to help secure that funding. And then meandering moved Kay's congressional district out of the area of Fort Worth's Boondoggle. And so, J.D. Granger lost his Executive Director job after accomplishing little for so long.

Ironically, as part of the Biden Administration's massive Infrastructure bill, federal funding was secured, sort of, for Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle. Adding to the irony, Kay Granger voted against the Infrastructure bill, what with her son no longer being gainfully employed executively directing the Boondoggle.

As the decades of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision have limped along, I have often wondered if the Fort Worth locals just do not understand what an island is. 

The Wikipedia article about Washington's San Juan Islands gives one a good idea of what actual islands are. Some blurbs from that article...

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the U.S. state of Washington known for rural Pacific Northwest landscapes and wildlife. Horseshoe-shaped Orcas Island, one of the main isles, is home to Moran State Park's old-growth forest and Mt. Constitution. San Juan Island is distinguished by the lively seaside town of Friday Harbor and Lime Kiln Point State Park, an orca-whale lookout.

At mean high tide, the San Juan Islands comprise over 400 islands and rocks, 128 of which are named, and over 478 miles (769 km) of shoreline.

In the archipelago, four islands are accessible to vehicular and foot traffic via the Washington State Ferries system.

An archipelago with over 400 islands, 128 islands with names. Not one named Panther Island. One is named Orcas, though, named after Puget Sound's beloved killer whales. Four islands accessible by ferry boat. 

One will not need a ferry boat to get to Fort Worth's imaginary island. All you'll need, if the "island" ever happens, is a car, to drive over one of the three little bridges which cross over the cement-lined ditch...

Looking At Deception Pass Bridge Takes Me Back To Fort Worth Again

Saw this that you see here, this Thursday morning, on Facebook. A look at a location I frequented frequently when I lived nearby.

Deception Pass State Park.

In this view we are looking east at the Deception Pass Bridge from the Rosario side of the state park. My favorite hiking venues were the Rosario trails, and the Goose Rock trails. Goose Rock is that which you see rising from the right side of the bridge.

Deception Pass Bridge was built in less than one year in the early 1930s. The bridge connects two islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey, crossing over another island between the two bigger islands, as in passing over Pass Island.

Whenever I see a photo of Deception Pass Bridge it puts me in mind of goofy Fort Worth, Texas. A town which has spent most of this century trying to see something called the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

A vision which took seven years to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Apparently, Fort Worth schools do not teach students what an island actually is.

One day it is hoped a cement lined ditch will be added under Fort Worth's infamous bridges to nowhere, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, thus creating the imaginary island, which would never be called an island, in locations in the world grounded in sanity...

Forters Living In The Unexpected City With The Imaginary Island

An amusing comment today, from someone named Anonymous, about a blog post yesterday about Fort Worth's imaginary island and the latest vision of the imaginary island, which is remarkably close to the original vision which was first seen over two decades ago.

The new vision sees a one-of-a-kind waterfront. Which, one must assume, means it will not be a waterfront of the sort which has piers jutting out into the water, with big boats, like cruise ships and ferry boats, docking at the piers.

Here is the comment from Anonymous....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fort Worth's One Of A Kind Waterfront On An Imaginary Island":

Muckrack.com ranks the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's circulation as the 26th biggest in the state of Texas. The 13th biggest city(Fort Worth) in the US has only the 26th biggest newspaper in Texas. The unexpected city! C'mon, Forters, you can do better. Let's get that collective effervescence going! Let's go, go, go. LFG!

Muckrack, by the way, is trusted by companies like Google, NPR, The New York Times, VISA, FedEx and many other top flight organizations.

Forters, by the way, is the latest and greatest demonym for people living in Fort Worth the unexpected city.

______________________

I have zero clue as to why Fort Worth is the unexpected city. But, I have heard that said previously, more than once...

New Improved Vision Of Fort Worth's Imaginary Island Boondoggle

I saw that which you see here in the Saturday edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Just the headline got my head shaking and eyes rolling.

Over two decades ago a big headline on the front page of the print version of the Star-Telegram screamed "Trinity Uptown to Turn Fort Worth into Vancouver of the South".

I remember seeing that and wondering what fresh absurd ridiculousness is this? Who could have guessed the absurdity would get so ridiculous, and last so long.

Soon the name morphed into the Trinity River Vision.

Because Fort Worth does not operate like a big city wearing its big boy pants, the public was not asked to approve this project and fund it.

The project was touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. So vitally needed nothing much has come of the scheme, despite millions of dollars spent over the past couple decades.

Oh, there are the three freeway overpass type bridges, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, awaiting a cement lined ditch to be dug under the bridges and filled with diverted Trinity River water.

Those three simple little bridges took an astonishing seven years to build.

And, almost forgot to mention, this vitally needed flood control project is in an area which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to levees installed way back in the 1950s by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Due to the fact that the citizens of Fort Worth were not asked to approve of this project via a bond issue it was determined that federal funds might be acquired. To that end, J.D. Granger was hired to be the director of this public works project, a job for which he had zero credentials or experience, a fact which soon became evident as various malapropisms and public embarrassments ensued.

Why hire J.D. Granger?

Well, his mother, Kay Granger, was the congresswoman representing the district of what became known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision. It was thought giving her son a high paying job directing the Trinity River Vision would motivate his mother to secure federal funds.

When Trump came along Kay tried and failed to secure federal funds. And then gerrymandering moved Kay's district out of the Trinity River Vision zone, causing J.D. to lose his cushy job.

But not before hiring him, after firing him, for six months at $12,000 a month, allegedly so J.D. could share his vast knowledge of the stumbling project with the new people directing it.

And then Biden's Infrastructure bill passed. And suddenly there were federal funds available for Fort Worth's ridiculous Boondoggle, to the tune of around a half billion bucks.

And now we have this latest The new and improved vision for Fort Worth’s Panther Island is about to be unveiled article in the Star-Telegram.

The article contains several Star-Telegram doozies.

Such as...

The presentation comes more than two decades after the first strategic plans for the island were developed and eight years after the last update to Fort Worth’s Panther Island zoning codes. 

More than two decades after the first strategic plans for the island were developed. Uh, the imaginary island did not become part of the nonsense til several years into the Boondoggle.

And then this...

The island is a byproduct of the 1.5-mile channel being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The channel will connect two sections of the Trinity River north of downtown as a way to improve the city’s flood protection. 

Does no one in Fort Worth know what an island actually is? The channel will connect two sections of the river as a way to improve the city's flood protection? Like we already said, there has been no flood in that area since levees were installed to prevent such. 

Meanwhile, there are other areas of Fort Worth and Tarrant County in dire need of flood mitigation. Such as the Trinity River in East Fort Worth, which floods anytime the river runs high. Or deadly creeks which go into flash flood mode due to poorly planned development.

And this paragraph mentioning Kay's attempt at getting funding, without mentioning Kay...

Congress approved $526 million in 2016, but disagreements with the Trump administration over the project’s feasibility held up funding until the November 2021 passage of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act enabled the Army Corps to allocate $403 million toward the project in January 2022. 

And then there is this...

The initial plans for the island’s development focused on dense residential buildings with some commercial spaces. However, a preliminary report from HR&A in August 2023 called for the district to be a mix of residential, entertainment and recreation with the potential to attract companies and talent to the city. 

Was this not what the supposed vision was always seeing, from the start? A mix of residential, entertainment and recreation. But, claiming this might have potential to attract companies and talent to Fort Worth? Well, the town does not have much luck with either, and I doubt the imaginary island will change that.

And, finally, this...

It’s expected to address potential impacts to nearby neighborhoods like the north side where residents have expressed concerns about the island’s impact on the area’s unique culture. HR&A’s August 2023 report said the island should have a distinct culture while at the same time complementing and connecting its surrounding neighborhoods.

Yes, that is totally believable. Residents expressing concern over the imaginary island's impact on the area's unique culture? What culture are we talking about here? The Fort Worth Stockyards? How could the imaginary island impact Fort Worth's one and only legit tourist attraction?

Aren't the people of Fort Worth tired of this Boondoggle? Driving over those three bridges over nothing. Seeing that absurd roundabout with the million-dollar piece of supposed sculptural art which J.D. Granger somehow foisted on the Boondoggle.

Does that massive installation of Trinity River Vision propaganda billboards still exist at Gateway Park, by the Fort Woof Dog Park? Touting all the wonders to come from the Trinity River Vision.

The Boondoggle continues to be so perplexing. Over two decades of being perplexing...

Dry Lucy Park Visit While My Old Home Zone Floods

Since I was in the neighborhood, getting drugs from a licensed drug dealer, after that deal was done I drove to Lucy Park for some high speed walking through the former Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

Now with most of the jungle-like foliage laying on the ground.

As you can see, it is yet one more clear blue sky day at my location in North Texas. Predicted to get heated into the 70s today.

Meanwhile, back in my old home zone of Washington, what used to be called a Pineapple Express, but is now called an Atmospheric River, dropped a record breaking amount of water, sending the Western Washington rivers into flood mode.

The Texas town I used to live in, Fort Worth, way back when this century began, started up something called the Trinity River Vision. Purported to be a flood control plan to control floods in an area that had not flooded since the 1950s, due to flood containing levees built way back then.

The Trinity River Vision was also touted as an economic development plan, converting an industrial wasteland in a commercial/residential area. With canals.

In all that time, over two decades, all that can be seen of Fort Worth's myopic vision is three little freeway overpass-like bridges, built over dry land, hoping one day to have a cement lined ditch dug under them, creating an imaginary island.

It took seven years to build those pitiful bridges over dry land.

Meanwhile, over a decade after the Trinity River Vision started trying to be seen, the town I lived in before moving to Texas, had what amounted to being a Skagit River Vision, building a waterfront boardwalk type attraction on the banks of the Skagit River as it passes through downtown Mount Vernon.

The Skagit River Vision included an actual vitally needed flood control component, a flood wall which could easily be put in place by a couple people when the Skagit goes into flood mode, which is happening right now.

The Skagit River Vision's flood control wall was put up yesterday.

Fort Worth is a relatively poor town, not able to pay for its sad vision itself, instead relying on federal funds. The whole operation turned into an embarrassing malfunctioning boondoggle which continues to boondoggle along, well into its third decade.

I believe Mount Vernon paid for its Skagit River Vision itself, you know, the way towns wearing their Big City Pants do.

Upon first exposure it was hard to understand the Texas way of doing things. I've been here long enough now that I am sort of used to it...

A View Of Deception Pass Takes Us To Fort Worth's Boondoggle

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook. A bird's eye view of Deception Pass in my former home zone of Washington state.

That straight line you see connecting the land mass on the right with the land mass on the left is Deception Pass Bridge. 

Deception Pass Bridge was built almost a century ago, in less than one year, over deep, swift moving saltwater.

All the land masses you see above are islands. The large land mass on the right is Fidalgo Island, connected to Whidbey Island by the Deception Pass Bridge.

I think being familiar with the concept of actual islands may be why I have long found Fort Worth's imaginary island to be so idiotically annoying. For years now a desolate chunk of land north of Fort Worth's downtown has been referred to as Panther Island.

Where there is no island.

This chunk of desolate land is referred to as Panther Island because of a ridiculous slow motion project which has been limping along since the current century began, known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Referred to by many Fort Worth locals as The Boondoggle.

Many years ago Fort Worth had itself a TNT explosion celebrating the start of construction of three simple freeway overpass type bridges, over dry land, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to the imaginary island.

It took over seven years for Fort Worth to build those three simple little bridges. Over dry land.

The Trinity River Vision hopes to one day see a cement lined ditch under those three bridges. Ditches in which Trinity River water will be diverted, thus creating that imaginary island, which will never be an actual island in the rational meaning of the island word.

Fort Worth has a long history of this type of hyperbole. Starting with the town's name. There is no fort in Fort Worth. There once was a Camp Worth, back in the early days when the native population was still in the neighborhood.

When I first moved to the D/FW zone, myself and my fellow transplants, were perplexed by directional signage in downtown Fort Worth pointing to Sundance Square. There was no square in Sundance Square, confusing the town's few tourists.

And then, after confusing those few tourists for a few decades, an actual square was added to Sundance Square, called Sundance Square Plaza.

And now, in 2023, Fort Worth's few tourists are confused by signage pointing to Panther Island, where there is no island... 

Fort Worth's Imaginary Island Vision Is Changing

Yesterday Fort Worth's Miss Shiloh asked me if I'd heard anything of late about that which is usually referred to as Fort Worth's Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle.

I told Miss Shiloh that til that very day, as in yesterday, Friday, August 4, 2023, it had been a while since I had heard or read anything about Fort Worth's embarrassing Boondoggle.

So, yesterday Fort Worth's sad excuse for a newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had a banner headline on the front page announcing that The vision for Fort Worth’s Panther Island is changing. Here’s what a new report says.

Reading this article it quickly became apparent it was a stereotypical Star-Telegram example of bad journalism, rendered more as mindless propaganda, than the seeking of actual facts.

Let's go through this article and see what we think...

The vision for Fort Worth’s future Panther Island development is evolving, based on a consultant firm’s new report that describes the massive project as a “once-in-a-generation city-building opportunity.”

The $1.1 billion public investment to mitigate Trinity River flooding by building new channels will open up more than 5 miles of shoreline and 200 acres for development just north of downtown. As originally conceived, Panther Island’s development would be focused on dense residential buildings with some commercial.

That should be reconsidered, the consultants find, as Fort Worth has seen tremendous growth, market changes and shifts in priorities for the city center since the project’s germination decades ago.

A massive project? Once in a generation city building opportunity? This Boondoggle has already been Boondoggling along for one generation, as in over two decades. Originally sold as a vitally needed flood control and economic development, where there had been no flooding for over half a century due to flood control levees already installed.

Opening up more that 5 miles of shoreline? Shoreline? Are we referring to a riverbank as shoreline? Or is a little lake back in the vision? With that little lake providing the over 5 miles of imaginary shoreline on the imaginary island?

During the course of the Boondoggle's Boondoggling how many consulting firms have been consulted, generating how many reports, costing how much money?

$1.1 billion public investment? To mitigate Trinity River flooding where it has not flooded since the 1950s? Investment? By the public? I have long opined if this was an actual vitally needed flood control and economic developments scheme why has it not been funded in the way towns wearing their big city pants, get things done? Instead, Fort Worth has been panhandling for federal money for years. And the Fort Worth public has never voted on this Boondoggle, in the manner which happens in a more functional town.

Instead of selling the public on a bond issue to finance this supposed vitally needed flood control economic development scheme, the job of being the Executive Director of the project was given to a local congresswoman's unqualified son, to motivate the mother to seek federal funding. 

Eventually some federal funding was approved, part of Biden's infrastructure bill, which Congresswoman, Kay Granger voted no on. Kay's son, J.D. Granger's employment with the Boondoggle did not last long after it became apparent J.D.'s mother was of no help.

Continuing on from the article...

“Fort Worth is growing rapidly, with population surging 24% between 2010 and 2020, and is now the fastest growing large city in the U.S.,” the report says. “Panther Island is crucial to the region’s economic development. The scale and location can help capture and fuel long-term residential and employment growth.”

Fort Worth is the fastest growing city in the U.S.? By what metric one can not help but wonder. In the above photo, from the Star-Telegram article, you are looking at Panther Island, the imaginary island which currently is not surrounded by water, but one day may be, if a cement lined ditch is ever dug, creating a diversion channel to go under three little bridges currently bridging over dry land.

Panther Island is crucial to the region's economic development? Really? If so why has this project limped along for decades? Look at that skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. To you does that look like the skyline of the fastest growing city in America?

I think I will just post the rest of this article and let you ferret out the absurdity on your own...

In January, the city of Fort Worth hired the consulting firm, HR&A Advisors, to serve as project manager and help coordinate the vision for future land use and economic development of Panther Island. The firm’s new report stresses the need for a unified development strategy for the more than 500 acres of public and privately owned land, as well as the need to avoid displacing surrounding communities such as the historic North Side.

Planners are moving away from the residential-focused original plans and instead envision a district with both residential and a vibrant entertainment hub, outdoor recreation and the potential to attract companies and talent to the city, HR&A’s report said.

Mixed use development usually includes a mix of residential units and anything from office space to restaurants to retail, Andrea Duffie, spokesperson with the city’s economic development department, said Thursday. For the Panther Island project, the intention is to create a “flexible space” where people can “live, work and play,” she said, but what that mixed use development is going to include beyond residential space has yet to be decided.

The district should be pedestrian-friendly and accessible through several different methods of transportation given the mix of large- and small-scale projects that could occur. The report said the district should be connected through “a walkable, interconnected open space network” for this reason.

The consultants say the district should have a recognizable and distinct identity while also complementing the adjacent downtown and connecting seamlessly with surrounding neighborhoods. Panther Island also contains multiple historic sites that could be uniquely redeveloped.

The full realization of development is still years away, but there are already signs of movement in and around the future island.

In July, an Austin-based commercial real estate company purchased 26 acres over nine parcels in an area known as Upstream at Panther Island, with several adjacent to a planned canal or waterfront. The firm, Seco Ventures, is now the single largest capital investor on the site.

Dallas-based Centergy Retail is proposing a residential tower in the Left Bank development off West Seventh Street, on a site that will face the future Trinity River channel.

And the recent news that the Autobahn luxury vehicle dealerships on White Settlement Road intend to relocate to Clearfork would open up two blocks along that corridor to new residential or commercial development within sight of Panther Island.

HR&A’s report released Thursday is the first step in its process. The firm will next explore different funding options for some outstanding infrastructure upgrades in partnership with the city and other district stakeholders.

Although conceived years ago, the project got an official greenlight in January 2022 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received $403 million from the federal government to create the bypass channel connecting two sections of the Trinity River.

“The pieces are really coming together for Panther Island,” Sturns said when HR&A was hired. “Local partners and the business community are making a strong economic development push at the district, but we want to be smart about how we do it.”

HR&A was selected by city partners who have taken a lead on the project, including Tarrant County, Tarrant Regional Water District, Tarrant County College, the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, Downtown Fort Worth Inc. and Streams and Valleys.

The national firm has offices in Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Raleigh and Washington D.C. Previous HR&A projects include Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park and other waterfront projects like Washington D.C.’s Anacostia River, the University of Texas research campus, Houston’s Buffalo Bayou and the Ion Innovation District near Rice University.

Seattle Waterfront Vision Nears Completion With No End In Sight For Fort Worth River Vision

I saw that which you see here this Memorial Day Monday morning, via a Seattle Times Can a new bike path on Seattle’s waterfront work for cyclists and cruise ships? article.

Seeing this brought to mind the fact that I've not heard anything of late about that Fort Worth embarrassment known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision. Or simply, as The Boondoggle.

The only thing I recollect hearing about The Boondoggle, after the completion of those three pitiful little bridges built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, is that Fort Worth finally finagled some funding, via the Biden Infrastructure bill, to help pay for the cement lined ditch that would divert Trinity River water under those three pitiful bridges.

Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle began boondoggling near the start of the current century. I forget what year it was that construction began on those three pitiful bridges. I do remember it took an astonishing seven years to build those bridges.

Over dry land.

Meanwhile, up in the Pacific Northwest, in Seattle, about the same time Fort Worth had a TNT exploding ceremony to mark the start of the building of those pitiful bridges, Seattle began a massive project to rebuild the Seattle Waterfront.

This Seattle project was not given a pretentious name, like Seattle Waterfront Vision. 

The first part of that project was boring a tunnel under downtown Seattle. When that was completed the Alaskan Way Viaduct was removed, with its traffic now going through the new tunnel.

With the viaduct removed the rebuild of the waterfront could begin. Now nearing completion.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth. Crickets.

How can two American cities be so different? Such began baffling me soon after the move to Texas.

One thing I know for certain is that if Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision is ever something one can see, one will never see HUGE cruise ships docking on the little lake that is part of the vision...

Elsie Hotpepper Takes Us Back To America's Biggest Boondoggle

Yesterday, Elsie Hotpepper tagged me in a Facebook post, which is what you see a screen shot of.

For decades now, Elsie and I have been blogging about the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

More commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The project to create an imaginary island has been going on for most of this century. I recollect the first time I found myself befuddled and appalled by this was a long ago Sunday edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, with a HUGE banner headline touting "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH."    

What fresh ridiculous nonsense is this, I read and wondered? Who could have imagined the ridiculous nonsense could go on for so long, for decades, with little to show for the effort.

Well, there are those three little bridges, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island. Those three little bridges are waiting for a cement lined ditch to be installed under them, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, making the imaginary island.

The article Elsie Hotpepper directed me to was in the Fort Worth Report, titled City of Fort Worth prepares to kickstart Panther Island development — again.

Just the title to this article struck me as odd. The city is preparing to kickstart America's Biggest Boondoggle again?

I was not aware the development had stalled. The last it was much in the news was when Congresswoman's Kay Granger's son, J.D., was removed from the executive director job he was totally not qualified to do, whilst being grossly overpaid, and then hired by the Boondoggle, post firing, to be a Trinity River Vision Boondoggle consultant for $12K a month.

The only other news about the Boondoggle that I can recollect in recent years is those three pitiful little bridges finally being completed, after seven years, that, and Fort Worth got $400 million from the Democrat's infrastructure bill, which J.D.'s mother voted against.

It has long bugged me that, if, as touted, this is a vitally needed flood control and economic project, why has it limped along in slow motion, begging for a federal funding, rather than voting to pay for the vitally needed project themselves, like town's wearing their big city pants do?

And, need we repeat, this vitally needed flood control project is in an area which has not flooded in well over half a century, due to flood control levees already in place, which you in the more prosperous parts of America, already paid for. While other areas of Fort Worth, as in East Fort Worth, and other areas of Tarrant County, have real, serious, un-addressed deadly flood control issues.

Now, let's take a look at some of the gems of nonsense from this article about America's Biggest Boondoggle...

The Central City Flood Project could transform a partially blighted expanse of land just north of downtown into about 440 acres of prime real estate — also known as the Panther Island Project. 

Could transform a blighted expanse of land? Could? After all this time, all this money, this project is stuck at could? And it is now known, simply, as the Panther Island Project? When did that happen? Whatever happened to the Trinity River Vision Authority, over which J.D. Granger was the Executive Director for years.

No mention is made in this article of the Trinity River Vision Authority.

Or J.D. Granger.

Or that J.D.'s mother voted against the funding that might finally give Fort Worth enough money to dig that cement lined ditch under those three bridges.

The project, which has experienced decades of delays, received over $400 million in federal funding this year, enough money to design and build two bypass channels. The corps recently projected the project will take eight to 10 years to complete.

Is there no investigative journalist in the Fort Worth vicinity who might want to look into why and how this project has experienced decades of delays? We are up to two bypass channels now? Taking another decade to complete? Yes, this seems very vitally needed.

And the nonsense continues...

The new strategic plan will be the second iteration of a plan for the Panther Island Project. The city and Tarrant Regional Water District initially developed its plan for the island, also known as the form-based code, in the early 2000s and revisited it in 2016 — all before the project received over $400 million from the federal government.

New strategic plan? Does anyone know what the old strategic plan was? The city and TRWD initially developed its plan for the island, known as form-based code? So, the new total name of America's Biggest Boondoggle is Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Form-Based Code Vision?

And then we have this doozy, including a Fort Worth staple...

A redevelopment project the size of Panther Island in the core of the city is unique, said Kenneth Barr, chair of the Real Estate Council. “Other cities would be very envious of us having the opportunity,” Barr said. 

Oh yes, many towns in America would be envious to have an industrial wasteland adjacent to their downtown. And another one east of their downtown. Most big cities do not develop with such tracts of wasteland adjacent to their downtowns. Hardly anything to be envious of.

And, finally...

“My vision for Panther Island is that it’d be a world-class place for tourists to come and visit and see the best of Fort Worth, but also a place where our local residents can enjoy and feel like it’s for them as well,” Landeros said. 

How can anyone who has been to an actual world-class tourist destination possibly think this imaginary island can ever possibly be such? Just look at that stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth you see in the screen cap at the top. This is not a world-class town in any sense of the term....

Looking At Fort Worth's Imaginarily Funded Panther Island Riverwalk

A couple days ago Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to seeing that which you see above, on Facebook. I assume this is a screen cap from one of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision's many propaganda websites, touting the imaginary wonders of a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, which is so vitally needed it has been limping along for most of this century.

The comments following this Facebook post covered most anything I might have to say about it, but, I shall toss in my two cents worth anyway.

First off. Privately funded? Really? When did that happen? If the funds were acquired privately, why was Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., hired as the Executive Director of this project, hoping to motivate his mother to secure federal funding? Which she failed to do, with federal funding not provided til the Biden Administration's infrastructure bill passed. 

A bill on which Kay Granger voted NO.

I do not know why J.D. Grange has not been fired, now that his use has been rendered obviously useless.

Panther Island Riverwalk?

So, we have now added a new qualifier to the ever growing name of this inept pseudo public works project.

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Riverwalk Vision. 

Isn't it just a tad embarrassing that Fort Worth does not come up with something original, instead of copying that world famous Riverwalk in San Antonio, a couple hundred miles south of Fort Worth?

Fort Worth has a bad habit of badly trying to copy things other towns are doing, or have done.

Before Fort Worth had its Trinity River Vision, Dallas, late in the previous century, initiated its Trinity River Project.

Here is a blurb from the Wikipedia article about the Dallas river project. See if you can spot the difference in the Dallas river project and the Fort Worth river project.

Voters approved a bond proposal to fund a major cleanup of the river, construction of park facilities, wildlife habitats, flood-protection devices such as levees, and related road construction. Once passed, a planning process began with construction on the project starting in 2005. Proponents believe this development will bring more life, commerce, revenue to the downtown Dallas region.

I'm sure you spotted the difference. Dallas voters approved a bond proposal, in the way towns wearing their Big City Pants get things done. Fort Worth voters have never been asked to vote on a bond proposal to fund that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Another blurb from Wikipedia about the Dallas River Project...

The Trinity River Corridor Project is intended to transform the Trinity River flood zone in downtown Dallas into the nation's largest urban park, featuring three signature bridges designed by acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava.

When Fort Worth foisted its Trinity River Vision on the unsuspecting public, the Vision copied the Dallas Vision in multiple ways. Including touting three signature bridges.

The Trinity River Vision continued touting those imaginary three iconic signature bridges for years. Until they began to be built in slow motion over dry land, with it apparent the three iconic signature bridges look like freeway overpasses, as you can see via the photo at the top of one of the Fort Worth imaginary signature bridges.

Meanwhile the Dallas Trinity River Project has managed to build two of their three actual iconic signature bridges, designed as originally touted, by acclaimed bridge architect Santiago Calatrava. Those two completed bridges have altered the Dallas skyline in an iconic way. And these bridges were built over actual water, not dry land.

Wikipedia used to have an article devoted to Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision. But, that article no longer exists. I suspect it was removed due to so many inaccuracies, and its blatant propaganda. That and a reference to herds of feral cats occupying the imaginary island.

Now, if you search on Wikipedia for that article about the Trinity River Vison you are brought to a blurb in the Wikipedia Trinity River article in which mention is made of the two town's Trinity River projects...

The Trinity River Corridor Project is intended to transform the Trinity River flood zone in downtown Dallas into the nation's largest urban park, featuring three signature bridges designed by acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava.

A similar project is planned by the Tarrant Regional Water District, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Streams & Valleys Inc., and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop an area north of "downtown" as "uptown" along the Trinity River. This plan promotes a large mixed-use development adjacent to the central city area of Fort Worth, with a goal to prevent urban sprawl by promoting the growth of a healthy, vibrant urban core. The Trinity River Vision lays the groundwork to enable Fort Worth's central business district to double in size over the next forty years.

I forgot to mention another thing that seems absurdly ridiculous in the propaganda verbiage from the Panther Island - Central City Flood Project website. That being that the "privately funded" project will also provide flood protection and save Fort Worth over $14 million in stormwater infrastructure needs.

Didn't Fort Worth voters vote to approve a proposal to pay for stormwater infrastructure needs? And didn't the Boondogglers try and claim that this approval was somehow a voter approval of the entire Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Riverwalk District Vision?

If the imaginary island ii privately funded why was federal funding needed to build the cement lined ditch under the three bridges currently stranded over dry land. If I remember right the amount Fort Worth is getting for its Boondoggle, from the Infrastructure bill, is something like $403 million. The total cost estimate of the entire Boondoggle is over $1 billion.

Is $403 million sufficient funding to build a river diversion channel? Which has not yet even been designed. This funding was approved without the usual requirement of a feasibility study being required. 

I suspect we will soon learn that it is not feasible to build that diversion channel for a relatively measly $403 million. Or the Army Corps of Engineers design team will determine it not possible to dig a channel under the completed bridges without compromising the structural integrity of the bridges.

And then there is the environmental cleanup aspect. How much of the imaginary island's industrial wasteland property has been properly analyzed for hazardous polluting contamination? EPA Superfund cleanups can get quite costly. Has that been factored into the actual final cost of this multi-decade Boondoggle?

Fort Worth really needs to see an optometrist about its Vision. I suspect the town may have cataracts...

Tale Of Two Cities Turning Fort Worth Into Vancouver Of The South

I saw that which you see screen capped here, this morning in the Seattle Times online version.

My initial reaction was, what? Another tunnel under downtown Seattle. And this one is that deep?

And then I read the article about the new Seattle tunnel, and that article put me in mind of something I have ruminated on multiple times previously, that being how things get done so differently in a town wearing its Big City Pants, compared to how things slowly sort of get done, in a town like Fort Worth, Texas, a town which definitely does not wear Big City Pants.

Fort Worth has been trying to build something called the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision for most of this century. 

In 2014, that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle began trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land. Those bridges took seven years to build. Meanwhile, in Seattle, at the same time Fort Worth started trying to build three bridges over dry land, a transit tunnel began to be bored under Seattle. That tunnel was finished and being used years before Fort Worth finished those three simple bridges.

The Seattle tunnel project was fully funding before boring began. Fort Worth's ongoing Boondoggle languished for years, awaiting federal funds to pay for it. Funds which did not arrive, even with Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, motivated to secure those funds by hiring her son to be Executive Director of the project.

The federal funding finally got approved due to the infrastructure bill which Granger voted against.

The Trinity River Vision was touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. Even though it was in an area which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to flood control levees already in place.

From the start I have not understood why, if this was actually a vitally needed flood control project, combined with an economic development scheme, why did Fort Worth not vote to fund the project themselves, such as what happens in other parts of America? 

The third paragraph of this Rolling in the deep: Sound Transit’s downtown Seattle tunnel would bring riders 145 feet below the street article showcases what I mean about how things get done in a town wearing its Big City Pants, as compared to a town which relies on federal welfare, even for something supposedly vitally needed.

The aforementioned third paragraph...

That new 3.3-mile central-city tunnel would be the core of the regional $54 billion ST3 program voters passed in 2016, to build 62 miles of light rail in three counties, plus commute-train and bus capacity, serving three-quarters of a million daily trips.

Imagine that, voters voting to pass a $54 billion program. The price tag for Fort Worth's ongoing Boondoggle is a little over $1 billion. The recent federal handout is only $403 million. 

Fort Worth could not find a way to come up with $403 million on its own? For this vitally needed flood control? Allowing this supposedly vitally needed flood control to go un-done for over two decades, after announcing the plan?

You reading this in modern America may be amused when I tell you that when this public works project was announced, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sunday edition touted it with a HUGE banner front page headline...

TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH

 INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH

I remember when I saw this headline thinking to myself what fresh nonsense is this? Never imagining the nonsense would become as ridiculously nonsensical as it has turned out to be...

Wise Words About Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Mess

A guest editorial type opinion piece appeared a couple days ago in the online version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The subject was America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

A Vision which has been trying to be seen for almost two decades, with the primary accomplishment, thus far, being three supposedly iconic signature bridges built over dry land, taking seven years to build, due to being highly complex feats of engineering. 

That is a drone image of one of the bridges you see above. Breathtaking, isn't it. People will be wanting to come from all over the world to drive over those bridges and marvel at the engineering feat and the cement lined ditch.

But, you don't see that cement lined ditch in the above image, do you? Like we said, the bridges were built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island. Currently there is no funding for the digging of the ditch, due to multiple complications and incompetency's. 

You probably will be paywall blocked from reading the After another Panther Island disappointment, city and private sector should step in opinion piece. This guest editorial by Chris Putnam makes multiple excellent points. Chris Putnam tried to replace Congresswoman Kay Granger, but his overly enthusiastic support of Trump doomed that effort.

We shall go through Putnam's piece and share those aforementioned excellent points...

Once more, our community finds itself lamenting another Washington budget cycle in which the Trinity River Panther Island project has not received federal funding. 

Every year, about this time, is Panther Island Groundhog Day. To quote the Star-Telegram Editorial Board: “As Washington spews $1.2 trillion for infrastructure, none for Panther Island. Why?” 

Yeah, why? Good question. And Putnam answers it...

But another question arises, too: How do we get out of this mess?

To answer these questions, it is important to understand how we got here. Panther Island was sold to taxpayers and voters as a “flood control project.” But the reality is that it was always principally a commercial real estate project conceived by Rep. Kay Granger. “Flood control” was the justification for the massive federal expenditure required to construct the proposed Trinity bypass channel. 

A proper flood control feasibility study has never been produced. In fact, the Tarrant Regional Water District, which oversees the project, refused money that the Trump administration offered just last year to perform one. The water district knows full well that, as currently structured, the project will never survive the review.

The lack of a feasibility study has long been the major roadblock to what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. Putnam further elaborates...

Digging a bypass channel for the Trinity is the principal element of the project’s economic development element — creating a San Antonio-like river walk. This has been the primary issue with the project all along. U.S Army Corps of Engineers projects and budgets cannot be used for economic development projects. 

The water district may have successfully confused local bond voters with this shell game, but it’s well understood in Washington, which is why the project remains unfunded. Compounding this problem is the political reality that no one in Washington wants to attach themselves to the bad optics of nepotism and potential conflicts of interest in approving such a large budget with the requesting congresswoman’s son in charge of the project. 

The mention of "confused local bond voters" in the above paragraph perplexed me. There has never been a bond measure voted by the voters which specifically dealt with voter approval of the Trinity River Vision. The Vision was foisted on the public without the public's voting approval.

Continuing on...

As a community we must be honest about the project’s origins, its challenges and the roadblocks to funding. The flood control element must be clearly and truly separated from the economic development project. This is a clear requirement for Corps flood projects. 

It has been perplexing for years now why those who are foisting this project on the public think they can somehow skip this key error in the actualizing of the project.

J.D. Granger should be completely removed from the project and all perceived conflicts of interest eliminated. Private partners should be brought in, along with fresh leadership that expands the city of Fort Worth’s role in governance. 

A legitimate, transparent public/private partnership approach should be implemented. Developers not controlled, approved or managed by J.D. Granger would contribute matching dollars directly to the bypass channel construction, thus becoming a true partner with the taxpayer and federal government. This is how other infrastructure costs are structured with developers. 

J.D. Granger being given a high paying job, for which it is now totally clear he was not qualified, has long been controversial. Hired to motivate his mother to secure federal funds. Which has not happened. And which likely sours many in Congress who know the details of Fort Worth's Boondoggle.

Continuing on...

Asking J.D. Granger to step away from the project, increasing the city’s governance role and asking the private sector entities who will ultimately profit to share in the channel-construction expense will help restore public trust and demonstrate good faith to Washington.

Political realities in D.C., Kay Granger’s nepotistic conflict of interest and the mismanagement of the project for the last 20 years dictate that she simply cannot steer this project to completion. Fort Worth civic leaders, local government entities, and the community at large must change strategies. 

Mr. Putnam has opined the most sensible take that I have read of the mess Fort Worth has gotten itself into. And Mr. Putnam suggests a sensible way forward out of this mess. A sensible way which makes sense. Making sense is something which has been sadly lacking from day one of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle...

Why No Federal Infrastructure Funding For Fort Worth's Imaginary Island?

What you are looking at here is a screen cap from the front page of the Sunday online Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

An editorial.

Titled...
 
As Washington spews $1.2 trillion for infrastructure, none for Panther Island. Why?

If you click the link you likely will not be able to get past the paywall. If such is the case the entire editorial is readable below.

The editorial is actually asking why the recently passed infrastructure bill sends no funds to Fort Worth for its imaginary island.

There are several answers to that why question.

First off, Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision is not a project of the sort for which the infrastructure  bill is intended.

Almost two decades ago the Trinity River Vision was foisted on the Fort Worth public without any sort of vote to support the project.

The project was touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. Yet this vitally needed flood control is clearly not vitally needed, because, if it were, why has the project been floundering for almost two decades waiting for the rest of America to pay for it?

And how can it be claimed that this is vitally needed flood control in an area which has not flooded for well over half a century due to levees already built and successfully preventing flooding?

The Army Corps of Engineers agreed to support and fund reinforcing the existing levees to bring them up to post-Katrina standards. The levee reinforcement plan was rejected. If I remember right the estimated cost of upgrading the existing levees was something like $12 million. Which is a little less than the current estimated cost of Fort Worth's embarrassing Boondoggle at over $1 billion.

Instead of reinforcing the existing levees an absurd alternative was conjured up which involved digging a diversion channel ditch, with a flooding Trinity River diverted into the diversion channel. For the channel to work three bridges had to be built, with just the bridges costing way more than it would have cost to simply reinforce the existing levees.

Another problem negating the sending of federal funding to Fort Worth is the fact that prior to approving such funding a project must present a feasibility study. Such a study has never been submitted. Likely because it would be difficult to make a coherent case as to why this project is feasible, or needed.

If the Trinity River Vision is such a good idea, so beneficial to Fort Worth, so vitally needed, then why has Fort Worth not opted to pay for this project itself, in the manner towns wearing their big city pants do? You know, make a case to the public which convinces the public to vote to support a bond issue to fund the supposedly vitally needed project.

After two decades of dawdling along, waiting for that federal handout, clearly this is not a vitally needed flood control project. Or a viable economic development scheme, despite this editorial's unsupported claim that "developers are champing at the bit to start building businesses, housing and other amenities that would create a vibrant district out of basically nothing".

Read the entire Star-Telegram editorial yourself and try hard not laugh....

As Washington spews $1.2 trillion for infrastructure, none for Panther Island. Why?

Washington is spending $1.2 trillion in a new infrastructure package. A reasonable person might wonder if a tiny fraction of that will finally fund one of Fort Worth’s longest-lived projects, the rerouting of the Trinity River to create Panther Island.

 After all, the entire effort to dig bypass channels could be funded with less than 0.05 percent of the massive bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Monday. 

The answer is no. The Tarrant Regional Water District project, in partnership with the county, city and other entities, remains unfunded.

And while we wait, we’re in danger of falling back into the old patterns that got the project crosswise with the feds in the first place: Focusing on economic development, housing and other baubles when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cares about flood control. 

The water district continues to chip away at preparations for the dirt to fly, including land acquisition and utility work.

Developers are champing at the bit to start building businesses, housing and other amenities that would create a vibrant district out of basically nothing.

 If we were engineers charged with flood control, we’d want to know how that kind of construction could possibly go forward when the need to tame the Trinity remains. 

More than two years ago, an outside review identified confusion and poor communication about the project’s mission. Some leaders, including Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke, have said the economic development vision took too much prominence over a better flood-control option than the current Trinity levees. 

The Trinity River Vision Authority, which oversees the project on behalf of the water district and its partners, hired a long-time Army Corps expert to guide dealings with the agency and stress the seriousness of the flood-control mission. 

Here we go again. Whatever the hold-up in Washington is, no one can get past it — even in an era of prodigious spending.

Rep. Kay Granger, the Fort Worth Republican who has led the charge for the program, told the Star-Telegram in July that enough money would soon be granted to begin channel construction. “I think it will be funded for everything they can spend in the next cycle,” she said. We asked her office for an update Thursday, but our questions went unanswered. 

Granger has said that during the Trump administration, the impediment to funding was Mick Mulvaney, who ran the White House budget office and eventually also served as President Donald Trump’s chief of staff. With the change of administrations, Mulvaney is obviously no longer an issue.

 A water district spokesman noted that the Army Corps is scheduled to release its annual project list early next year. If the project isn’t funded to the point Granger identified, it’s fair to question whether any progress can be made in the Biden administration, either. That would mean three more years of limbo. 

Water district officials have stressed that projects backed by the Corps and authorized by Congress are always finished, even if it takes years and the process appears messy. But at some point, the Washington spending spree will end, and Panther Island backers may regret missing an opportunity. 

Every time we’re told the money is juuuuuust around the corner, it’s not. In 2019, Mayor Betsy Price and Rep. Roger Williams went to the White House and emerged confident that as much as $250 million was on the way. Instead, the Corps offered a small amount for a feasibility study, which the river authority rejected.

Granger is the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, which authorizes federal spending. If Republicans win control of the House next year, which seems more than likely, she’ll be in line to chair the panel. Surely, in a government that spends trillions at a time, such a powerful official could secure a relatively small amount for a justified, approved flood control project. 

Until then, one of the many curiosities of the Panther Island saga is how it didn’t happen during a bonanza of federal infrastructure spending — and what that says about indifference in the federal government to whether Panther Island is ever truly an island.