Sunday Is A Fort Worth Funday Floating In The Trinity River Around Gator Island

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook.

Apparently Rockin' the Trinity River on Thursday did not adequately meet the local River Rockin' demand, so a Sunday version of Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube floating was added.

Called Sunday Funday.

Isn't that clever? Funday rhymes with Sunday.

Sunday Funday is yet one more Trinity River Central City Uptown Gator Island Vision Boondoggle product.

Way back near the start of this month of July, or maybe it was in the latter part of June, I verbalized being appalled regarding the plethora of websites, with custom domain  names, America's Biggest Boondoggle was using to promote its various products.

I recollect listing the various websites, which then had someone telling me of yet one more, that being the special website America's Biggest Boondoggle has had made to promote its Sunday Funday.

I did not remember to check out the Sunday Funday website until reminded to do so by that Facebook posting you see above, which faintly lists the Sunday Funday web address. Below is a screen cap of most of the Sunday Funday website home page.

You will surely want to go to the Sunday Funday website yourself to witness the animation which has multiple inner tubers floating around the imaginary island which used to be known as Panther Island before getting renamed Gator Island.

However, the Sunday Funday website, as you can see, has not been updated with the new name for the imaginary island, still inviting locals to a "Sunday Funday at Panther Island  Pavilion".

Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island, where there is no pavilion, where no one has seen a panther, but where many have seen an alligator, hence the name change.

Did you notice that the "U" in Funday is a mug full of beer? Why do the Trinity River Central City Uptown Gator Island Vision Boondoggle products all do so much beer consumption promoting? The Boondoggle even turned the old Tandy Subway maintenance building into a beer hall called The Shed.

How much money is America's Biggest Boondoggle spending on all the websites promoting its products? After a decade and a half of boondoggling, with very little to show, but with an astounding amount of propaganda spewed in various media, as in mailed hard copy propaganda pieces, multiple websites, advertisements in local print media, and other places, how is this propaganda expenditure accounted?

When The Boondoggle gets federal money, is that money not intended for a specific use? Like taking down levees, building bridges in slow motion, planting magic flood prevention trees.

Who approves of The Boondoggle spending money on things like Sunday Funday? How much did that website cost? How come the budget of America's Biggest Boondoggle is not an easily accessed, readily available, public document?

If only The People had someone on the TRWD board who could get answers to these type questions....

America's Biggest Boondoggle's Semi-Permanent Temporary Construction Easement Agenda

What you are looking at here is a screencap of a webpage on the City of Fort Worth website, detailing an item on the city council agenda.

Captain Andy sent me the link to the city council's agenda, figuring, I suppose, that I would find it interesting.

Captain Andy figured correctly.

I'll copy two paragraphs...

The purpose of the temporary construction easement adjacent to the Brennan Service Center is to allow the Tarrant Regional Water District and the US Army Corps of Engineers to complete construction in the easement area for the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project.  Fill is being excavated from the flood plain area next to the Trinity River and deposited on the closed Brennan landfill site.  This project will provide additional flood storage as was prescribed in the Record of Decision and environmental documents for the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project.  

On April 14, 2009, (M&C L-14750) the City Council authorized a temporary construction easement on four tracts of land for a term of seven years.  This temporary construction easement is needed to continue construction efforts on three of the four tracts of land during the Trinity River Vision implementation, which will continue beyond the original seven years.  This temporary construction easement will provide an additional seven year term for completion of the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project. 

________________________________________

Well, first off, I guess the city did not get the memo that the latest name for The Boondoggle is Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle.

I have long opined regarding my utter amazement that America's Biggest Boondoggle has absolutely no overall project timeline, like most public works projects have. The closest to a project timeline I have ever seen is The Boondoggle's four year project timeline to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Apparently way back in the previous decade The Boondoggle had the city approve something called a temporary construction easement, with this having something to do with excavating fill from the flood plain to make for additional flood storage. The city granted The Boondoggle the construction easement for seven years.

Well, what with The Boondoggle being America's Biggest Boondoggle, The Boondoggle was unable to get the flood plain work done in the time allotted. So, The Boondoggle asked the city to give them another seven year temporary construction easement.

Seven plus seven is fourteen. Fourteen years does not sound very temporary to me.

So, does this mean we are still at least seven years away from The Boondoggle's vital flood control project protecting us from a flood?

Has The Fort Worth Weekly Lost It?

That was the question Elsie Hotpepper asked me yesterday.

The reason Ms. Hotpepper was asking me this is because of what she read in a Fort Worth Weekly article titled Summer Fun List which purported to list some of the allegedly fun things one can do this summer in the Fort Worth zone.

The part of the article which has Elsie questioning the sanity of FW Weekly is...

And while August is the perfect time of year to get together with your favorite mosquitoes and grill some Walmeat, don’t forget that from June 14 through August 30, Panther Island Pavilion will serve up Sunday Fundays, in which you can rent a tube to float the Trinity from noon to 6 p.m. for five measly bucks. If you love the water but still think the river is too dirty –– or loaded with too many toe-devouring snapping turtles –– just remember that the flotsam at your apartment pool or nephew’s favorite Arling-fun water park is probably 10 times worse. #harboringecoli #hospitalbedvistas #ecoliestates –– Steve Steward

Well, that is a bit disturbing. Fort Worth Weekly coming to the defense of America's Biggest Boondoggle encouraging people to float in the polluted Trinity River, claiming Arlington's Hurricane Harbor is 10 times more polluted, along with equally polluted apartment pools.

Uh, unlike the Trinity River, apartment pools are tested daily,  the water is filtered, chemicals are added to the water to keep the water clean and safe. I'm fairly certain Hurricane Harbor makes sure its water is safe and clean.

Unlike the Trinity River, the water in apartment pools and Hurricane Harbor is the same treated water you get out of your faucet.

FW Weekly is advising us not to forget that The Boondoggle is serving up Sunday Fundays? With tubes costing only 5 bucks to rent?

Walmeat?

I think the answer to Elsie Hotpepper's question is YES!

Will America's Biggest Boondoggle Make A Mountain Out Of Its Ditch Dirt?

No, that is not an artist's rendering of what the Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle's Pond Granger will look like if it ever is able to float a boat.

That is also not an artist's rendering of one of the transit ferries carrying vehicles and people across Pond Granger to the imaginary Panther Island.

That is also not an artist's rendering of Mount Granger, as envisioned by America's Biggest Boondoggle, with the mountain made using the dirt dug to make the ditch to go under the three little bridges The Boondoggle is taking four years to build to connect Fort Worth's mainland to its imaginary island.

What you are looking at above is not an artist's rendering, it is an actual photo of a volcano, a real island, a large body of water and one of the world's biggest ferry boats, which would make that Mount Rainier with the boat floating on Puget Sound, a natural body of water, not an artificial result of someone's bad vision.

I saw this photo today on Facebook, via Miss Chris, she being one of my nephew's two new replacement aunts. Miss Chris captioned this photo by saying "Love this picture".

A few people, including me, made followup comments. The comments from the Washingtonians struck me as mild humble bragging. Maybe I am just being hyper sensitive due to missing mountains, ferry boats and large bodies of clean water.

8 people like this.

• 

  Sharon Southstone Nelson I love where we live! It is so beautiful and never tire of seeing the beauty of our state.

  Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
• 

  Durango Jones That looks like a mountain and a ferry boat. We ain't got nothing like that for hundreds of miles at my current location....

  Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
• 

  Chris Sampson Me either Sharon. I don't think I could live any where else.

  Like · Reply · 4 hrs · Edited
• 

  Jennifer Kaffenberger I could during the winter time

  Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Fort Worth Panther Fest Slide The City Fails While Boondoggle Patrons Faint From The Heat

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

I checked the Star-Telegram after getting a text message telling me that the Panther Fest Slide the City operation had malfunctioned. But the beer and music part of the event would carry on.

Then a few minutes later I got an email telling me that Panther Fest is now a Multi-Injury Event, with MedStar deploying its AmBus multi-patient bus to North Main Street to assist with multiple people injured at Slide the City.

A few minutes later another email told me that the injuries are not water slide related, they are heat related. Multiple rehab units have now been deployed to help cool people down.

And just seconds ago another malfunction message, this one via a blog comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "On The Tandy Hills Finding A Hoodoo Towering Above The Fort Worth Skyline": 

SNAFU at the Slide Fest / Pantherfest. Dud Kennedy's Twitter page has the story. 

Film at 11. Belay my last. Film at 10 or not. Probably not. Who knows. 

_____________________________________

I have no idea what "Belay my last." means.

So, this latest Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle product is one more rousing success.

I don't know why it did not occur to anyone that something might go awry with some out of state alleged charity operation coming to town to quickly set up a 2,000 foot long water slide running down Fort Worth's Main Street over the Paddock Bridge.

I heard yesterday that the slides had sold out. If I remember right sliding cost something like 25 bucks.

Sold out? Would that be a thousand slide tickets sold? Ten thousand?

How do the victims of this latest product of America's Biggest  Boondoggle get a refund?

Scam Business Posing As City Agency At Large In Tarrant County

I do not know what to make of that which you see here, sent to me a few minutes ago via email.

In addition to that which you see here, all the email said was "Too Funny".

I believe Panther Fest is a Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle product.

I know for certain Panther Fest is scheduled to take place this coming Saturday, June 6. And that part of the Fest is a long water slide sliding from the north end of downtown Fort Worth over the Main Street bridge over the Trinity.

I also know that some business entity has sold this slide concept to other towns across America, including Seattle.

The Fort Worth Panther Fest slide version, what with it being associated with America's Biggest Boondoggle, also includes beer.

Near as I can tell this scam warning is coming from the City of Fort Worth.

Is the scam business the city is warning us about the people bringing the slide to town?

Or is the scam business, posing as a public agency, that the city is warning us about, the Trinity River Vision Authority?

Has the city finally come to its senses?

After all, many believe America's Biggest Boondoggle to be a scam business, posing as a public agency, dawdling along, getting little done, taking four years to build three simple little bridges over dry land, wasting money on all sorts of tom foolery, like drunken inner tubing beer parties in the polluted Trinity River, ice skating rinks, paying double market value to buy some contaminated land from a bankrupt friend, followed by building the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, along with a ridiculous amount of propaganda, in signage and print publication touting the wonders of a public works project the public has never voted for, which has accomplished little in well over a decade of boondoggling...

America's Biggest Boondoggle's Imaginary Reality Programs & Products

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to yet one more product of America's Biggest Boondoggle, telling me to check out the sponsors.

Fort Worth Weekly is now a proud sponsor of The Boondoggle's products?

What has gone wrong with The Weekly? This week's cover article covers the extremely serious situation regarding the rundown condition of the childhood home of a local golf legend.

It's a long article.

Back to The Boondoggle.

How many websites does The Boondoggle have under its boondoggle umbrella? Does The Boondoggle have in their employ a webmaster churning out these websites? How much is spent on the various Boondoggle domains and websites and all the other propaganda in various forms The Boondoggle churns out to create the illusion that The Boondoggle is a legit operation doing big things?

On The Boondoggle's Panther Fest website we learn....

You won’t want to miss this! Start your summer flying down a potentially world record-breaking 2,000 ft water slide–right on North Main Street.

Potential world breaking water slide? With beer, music and food? A new domain and website was needed for this? Why could this not simply been a sub-domain of The Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion website? As in pantherfest.pantherislandpavilion.com thus saving the cost of buying yet one more domain.

Speaking of The Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion website. On that website we learn that the venue is Texas's Premiere Waterfront Stage.

Stage? Pavilion?

Near as I can tell a platform with a  partial roof over it is what The Boondoggle is calling a pavilion. As for stages, the old subway waiting stations now are numbered, as in STAGE 1, STAGE 2. You get the idea.

The premiere waterfront stage in Texas? I would think other waterfront stages in Texas would take umbrage at this bogus claim.

I've said it before, but I will say it again. The supposed premiere music stage in Texas is serviced by outhouses. Not modern American restroom facilities. Outhouses.

You reading this in more civilized, modern areas of America, I am not making this up. The premiere waterfront stage in Texas is serviced by outhouses.

I also found the following blurb from The Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion website to be amusing...

Panther Island Pavilion is a product of, and programmed by the Trinity River Vision Authority as part of the Trinity River Vision Master Plan. © Panther Island Pavilion - All Rights Reserved.

Product? Programmed? Has The Boondoggle actually paid to copyright the Panther Island Pavilion name?

And then we have The Boondoggle's original Trinity River Vision Authority website. I have been amused at the hubris of the below paragraph of propaganda on The Boondoggle's home page, more than once...

The Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA) is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. It is underway now - connecting every neighborhood in the city to the Trinity River corridor with new recreational amenities, improved infrastructure, environmental enhancements and event programming. The TRV will create Panther Island (formerly Trinity Uptown), a vibrant urban waterfront neighborhood, expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation and enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails.

On that aforementioned home page of The Boondoggle I saw a link.

 Panther Island Signature Bridges.

This is ridiculous, I thought to myself. The Boondoggle is still referring to those three simple little bridges, being built in slow motion, over dry land, as being Signature Bridges?

I clicked the link and soon saw that which you see below....

The Boondoggle is actually now calling these little bridges, being built to connect the mainland to an imaginary island, built over dry land, in a time frame longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge, Panther Island Signature Bridges?

Below is the propaganda that you see in the screen cap above...

The Trinity River Vision is no longer a vision, it is a reality. For several years, work along the Trinity River has been on-going preparing for this project milestone. The signature bridges are a collaborative effort between the Trinity River Vision Authority, TxDOT, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The three signature bridges positioned along the realigned Trinity River will begin construction in late summer 2014. The estimated construction cost for all bridges is $66 million. Serving as the gateways to Panther Island, the bridges create the foundation for a unique, urban waterfront community. The project partners will make every effort to minimize the inconvenience of this major construction project and will utilize multiple methods to keep residents and business owners informed. 

The Boondoggle is no longer a vision? It's a reality? Well, I guess that is true. Any project which has taken so long to do so little, well, that is a reality. For years work along the Trinity River has been on-going in preparation for this milestone?

Really? What would that work be. What would that milestone be?

Is the milestone starting the supposed construction of the three little bridges with the four year project timeline?

How come more taxpayers are not fed up with this embarrassing nonsense? How come so few people realize how embarrassing it is going to be, if those bridges ever actually get built, with the ditch dug under them actually filled with water, when one of Fort Worth's few tourists asks where this Panther Island island is, to have the local point across the ditch and say it's that there, on the other side of that signature bridge.

One would have thought the lesson of Sundance Square would have been learned. Where for decades there was no Square, with most of Fort Worth's few tourists  assuming Sundance Square to be the parking lots at the heart of downtown, where, finally, an actual little Square was built.

If The Boondoggle built Sundance Square Plaza they would have touted is as a Signature Plaza, the Premiere Plaza in Texas....

A River Legacy Trinity River Walk On A Freshly Painted Boardwalk While In Fort Worth...

Today I needed a mouse. I targeted Target as the location to get a mouse.

Target is near where the Indian Ghosts haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, so I figured after getting a mouse I'd go have myself a mighty fine time walking with my favorite ghosts.

Well, that plan went awry when I got to the Historical Area's parking lot to find it blocked, with the blocking gate telling me the park was closed due to flooding.

I then decided to drive a few more miles east and go walking in River Legacy Park, a location I don't think I had been to, this year, til today.

What you are looking at above is the Trinity River, flowing with a lot of water, with my river viewing vantage point provided by the River Legacy Park Boardwalk Overlook.

Arlington seems to maintain Boardwalks a bit better than Fort Worth maintains their Gateway Park Boardwalks, what with the River Legacy Park Boardwalk not being boarded up, not falling apart. And looking as if it has recently received a fresh coat of paint.

New signage has been installed at the trail head of the, currently closed, River Legacy Park mountain bike trail. There are three iterations of that which you see above. There's the big version you see here, in the parking lot, with two smaller versions, one at the entry to the mountain bike trail, one at the hiker's entry.

Very well done signage, showing all 12 miles plus of trail. The old sign was outdated, showing only the original few miles.

Arlington's River Legacy Park is, by far, the best park I've found in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

On Saturday I found rather bizarre signage in Fort Worth's Gateway Park, with that signage put up by America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I blogged about that signage in Finding Imaginative Sign Progress By America's Biggest Boondoggle On Saturday Gateway Park Bike Ride.

On that Gateway Park sign America's Biggest  Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, tells the gullible The Boondoggle is launching projects which will turn Gateway into a "world class park" by adding some new restrooms and some other things, like benches and security lighting.

How it that Arlington builds what would seem to me to be what must be considered "world class parks" without putting up signs telling their park's many visitor that Arlington is turning a park into a "world class park"?

Would a world class city actually ever refer to anything about their town as "world class"?

It seems to me to be sort of, well, classless, to do so. That and tacky. And embarrassing.

Particularly when it is blatant propaganda puffery and not even remotely true....

Finding Imaginative Sign Progress By America's Biggest Boondoggle On Saturday Gateway Park Bike Ride

Long ago, almost every Saturday, I took my handlebars to Gateway Park to roll over the mountain bike trail before going treasure hunting at Town Talk.

Well, due to excessive mud the Gateway Park mountain bike trails are currently not rollable, but the paved trails are.

What you are looking at over my handlebars is Gateway Park's Trinity Falls, currently with the Trinity River running high, rendering the Trinity Trail bridge over the river uncrossable.

I don't know why a road has been scratched through the levee, scratched all the way to the river. I saw construction activity today in Gateway Park in addition to the scraped levee.

I found the sign my handlebars are pointing at above to be a bit amusing. Sanitary sewer relocations? Hasn't that old sewage treatment plant in Gateway Park been abandoned for decades? They're relocating it? The Sanitary Sewer Relocations are for the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project & the Trinity Uptown Service Area?

Whoever made this sign must not have gotten the memo that America's Biggest Boondoggle is now called Panther Island.

Trinity River Vision Central City Project Trinity Uptown is so last decade.

Continuing on I came to some new paved trail damage on the Gateway Park trails. The flooding river has done some fresh trail undermining.

It has been quite a few years since the remnants of Hurricane Hermine flooded the Trinity River and did the original damage to the paved trail, which the latest flood has enhanced. Is the damaged trail finally going to be fixed? I have no idea.

Continuing on, arriving back at the mountain bike trail soccer baseball parking lot, I saw the sign you see below.

America's Biggest Boondoggle loves its signage. For years now there has been a HUGE installation of Boondoggle signage by the Gateway Park dog park.

The above sign tell us....

 "As part of the Trinity River Vision Master Plan, we're counting down to the launch of some major improvements to Gateway that will make 2015 a big year for progress. Improvements have already been launched in both east and west Gateway Park, many of which are scheduled to be complete this year. Thanks to the project partners for making Gateway Park a world class park for our city!"

Oh the hubris, the raw galling hubris. World class park? Counting down to the launch of some improvements? Improvements have already been launched? I thought we just read we were counting down to the launch?

I'm stuck on "world class park"

What exactly is a "world class park" I am wondering?

Can a "world class park" be world class  if it sports dozens of outhouses like Gateway Park currently sports?

In the middle of the sign are two illustrations of the progress coming to Gateway Park, including that which you see below.

The above illustration tell us "This scenic river observation deck is one of many amenities going into Gateway Park East in 2015, thanks to the City of Fort Worth Parks Department".

Fort Worth is finally going to repair the long boarded up boardwalk eyesores which have been an embarrassment in this world class park for a decade or longer? Or is this to be a new overlook at a different location, with the existing boardwalk remaining a boarded up eyesore?

Last summer I made a video of the boarded up boardwalk in Gateway Park East. Let me see if I can find that video. I'll be right back. Okay, I found it. I'll stick the video in at the end, but first let's look at what we learn on the right side of the sign.

A comprehensive list of those aforementioned "improvements" which have either launched or will soon launch.

The sign tells us that coming in 2015 to Gateway Park East we will see new benches & tables, extra security lighting, additional restrooms, pedestrian bridges, new picnic pavilions, trail extensions, a new trailhead and something called "sights and sounds of nature" children's learning area.

Additional restrooms? Since there are no public restrooms in Gateway Park, of the modern indoor plumbing sort (except in the baseball park, open only when games are being played) are these additional restrooms more outhouses? I would assume so.

Outhouses are the restroom facilities at one of the world's premiere outdoor music venues, The Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion.

Does it not strike you, as it does me, that these are rather meager park improvements? Is it really necessary to install a sign letting park visitors know more outhouses are being added in 2015?

I have grown tired of typing, so I will keep the Town Talk talk short. Suffice to say, I got a lot of good stuff today.

Anyway, below is the aforementioned video of a walk on the current Gateway Park East boarded up boardwalk....

The Bridge Of The Gods Over The Columbia River Was No Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Bridge

Continuing on with our popular series of blogging about feats of bridge engineering that took less than four years to build.

What we are looking at here is known as the Bridge of the Gods.

You would have seen this bridge if you saw the Reese Witherspoon movie, "Wild" depicting Cheryl Strayed's epic Pacific Crest Trail hike.

The Bridge of the Gods is where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington. This was the location of the end of Ms. Strayed's "Wild" hike from California north.

In 1920 the U.S. War Department issued the Interstate Construction Corporation a construction permit to build the Bridge of the Gods.

However, apparently a local congresswoman's unqualified son was hired to direct the project.

By 1925 the Interstate Construction Corporation had only managed to build one pier. An entity called Wauna Toll Bridge Company then took over the project and had the new bridge open for traffic in October of 1926.

I wonder if the Wauna Bridge Company is available to take over construction of America's Biggest Boondoggle's three little simple bridges being built over dry land with a four year construction time span?

The Bridge of the Gods was not built over dry land. It was built over water, currently, on average, 108 feet deep.

In 1938 the water under the Bridge of the Gods began to rise due to the completion of Bonneville Dam. That same year Congress voted to fund the raising of the Bridge of the Gods 44 feet, along with increasing the length of the bridge from 1,131 feet to 1,856 feet. This was completed in 1940.

How can a complex feat of bridge engineering take place over the mighty Columbia in such a short time span while in Fort Worth it takes four years to build three little simple bridges, with no obstacles to make construction difficult?

I have opined previously my aggravation over the fact that J.D. Granger, his mama and Fort Worth mayor, Betsy Price, have each propagandized the ridiculous lie that Fort Worth's little bridges are being built over dry land in order to save money by making construction easier.

Why is this a lie?

Because there will be no water under those little bridges until a ditch is dug under them and the Trinity River is diverted into the ditch.

The bridges are being built over dry land because this never voted for by the public, public works project, is underfunded, unlike the Bridge of the Gods, and pretty much any other public works project in America which actually works.

How come the Star-Telegram does not send one of its Pulitzer Prize winning reporters to ask a few questions of J.D. Granger?

Questions like...

Will you explain why you claim these bridges are being built over dry land, prior to the digging of the ditch, to save money, when there will be no water in the ditch until the Trinity is diverted into it?

Can you explain why it will take four years to build these three little bridges over dry land, when there have been bridges built all over the world over treacherous bodies of water with construction times of less than four years?

When will the digging of the ditch begin?

Won't the bridges already being in place present a construction difficulty when the ditch is dug under them?

Four years from now, if the three bridges are completed by then, when can we expect to see water flowing under these bridges?

What is the construction timeline of the ditch that goes under the bridges?

And then when Mr. Granger tells the Star-Telegram reporter he does not know when the ditch will be dug and how long it will take to dig it I hope the reporter asks...

How can you not know? You've been the director of America's Biggest Boondoggle for well near a decade. How can you not have a project timeline for this project?

America's Biggest Boondoggle is very perplexing, and even more perplexing is the fact that, apparently, most of the voters who vote in the area of America's Biggest Boondoggle either don't know what a mis-managed mess it is.

Or don't care.

Spencer Jack's Skagit River Vision Riverwalk Sprouts Year Round Tulips

Email from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason) and Spencer Jack this morning, with three pictures along with a short message....

FUD---
Skagit County now has tulips in bloom year round.

Tulips year round? I wondered what that meant when I read it.

The third photo answered the question.

But first I saw the picture of Spencer Jack you see here.

Is this Spencer's first selfie? Is his dad teaching Spencer to drive?

Before we get to the tulips we get to a picture of Spencer Jack sitting at what looks like some sort of futuristic picnic table.

That futuristic picnic table is located on Mount Vernon's Skagit Riverwalk.

I don't know what the actual name is of Mount Vernon's new riverfront.

Skagit Riverwalk sounds like a good name to me. What with it allowing one to take a scenic walk along the river.

The Downtown Mount Vernon Flood Protection and Revitalization Project came about when Mount Vernon opted to find a better solution than sandbagging when the Skagit River goes into flood mode endangering downtown Mount Vernon.

Mount Vernon did not call its river project the Skagit River Vision. Mount Vernon's project was fully funded, engineered with a project timeline. A project solving a real flood problem, in addition to adding a riverwalk to downtown Mount Vernon.

No local politician's unqualified son was hired, and overpaid, to oversee Mount Vernon's Skagit River Vision.

The Skagit Riverwalk has a plaza that is bigger than downtown Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza that the Fort Worth chamber of commerce sorts seem so proud of.

And now we get to those year round tulips.

Those are some mighty big tulips Spencer Jack is sitting under!

I wonder if anyone in Mount Vernon is trying to get some sort of Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the Skagit River?

I suspect not.

Even though the Skagit River flows with clean, litter-free water, unlike the Trinity River, the Skagit is a real river with a current which can move quite fast, varying in speed with tidal changes a few miles downriver where the Skagit meets Puget Sound.

Unlike the Trinity River the Skagit is a bit cold year round, due to a large volume of the Skagit's water coming from melting snow and glaciers.

I wonder how many more years it will be before you will see anything like you see above produced by the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle?

We know it won't be for another four years til you will see The Boondoggle's three bridges being built over dry land to connect the mainland to an imaginary island.

The bridge you see in the above pictures was built in less than four years.

Built over an actual river......

A Double Dose Of TRWD Boondoggle Propaganda In My Mailbox Today

Earlier today after I was told a Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Spring Update was arriving in voter's mailboxes today, I blogged about the incoming propaganda in Just In Time For The TRWD Board Election America's Biggest Boondoggle Sends Voters An Update.

So, it did not surprise me to open my mailbox this afternoon to find the expected propaganda from America's Biggest Boondoggle.

It also did not surprise me, too much, to find another piece of related junk mail, that being yet one more tacky attack ad full of lies, innuendo and exaggeration from TRWD incumbent's Leonard and Lane.

I tossed the junk mail on the floor and took the photo you see above, with The Boondoggle's self-aggrandizing piece of propaganda puffery, on top, conveniently covering Jim Lane's face, and some of his lies, such as repeating one more time that Monty Bennett moved bodies to his East Texas property to block the TRWD pipeline. This version has the WWII veteran being dug up in Oklahoma.

The hard copy version of The Boondoggle's Spring Update seems pretty much to match the web version, with maybe a little extra propaganda thrown into the hard copy.

I don't remember the web version repeating Boondoggle propaganda from previous "Updates", such as where the hard copy tells us what the Trinity River Vision will do, things like enhancing the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects on the Trinity River.

That over 90 user-requested projects propaganda has amused me every time I have read it, whether at The Boondoggle's propaganda installation in the East Regional Library, or on The Boondoggle's massive installation of sign propaganda in Gateway Park, or the many times I've read about the over 90 user-requested projects in The Boondoggle's multiple updates.

Who were these users and how did they make these requests?

Has there ever been any other public works project in America which has produced so many updates over so many years with so little accomplished?

Today's mailer from the TRWD incumbent's must have already been in the pipeline, unable to be stopped, what with the previous TRWD incumbent's mailers backfiring on them and causing them to be the widespread object of ridicule for the blatant cheap shots and ham-handed easily countered lies.

Truth has a way of trumping lies, eventually....

Just In Time For The TRWD Board Election America's Biggest Boondoggle Sends Voters An Update

A few minutes ago I got a text message telling me that in today's mail people are getting the hard copy version of the TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE SPRING 2015.

A person inside The Boondoggle emailed me the link to the web version last week.

Click the link to see for yourself the web version of this slick propaganda production.

Just a couple days before the TRWD Board Election the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle sends this to voters?

How is this not some sort of election ethics campaign violation?

With so little accomplished in all the years The Boondoggle has been boondoggling why do they send out any UPDATES? Let alone quarterly updates.

How much did this piece of propaganda cost? Just the web version had to have cost a lot.

In Seattle there are currently several public works projects underway, which dwarf The Boondoggle in scope and cost. Does the Seattle Big Bertha Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel project send out quarterly updates to the voters? Does the 520 Floating Bridge Project send out quarterly updates to the voters? Does the Seattle Link Project currently under construction send out quarterly updates to the voters?

Why would Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle send out quarterly updates to voters when those voters have never been allowed to vote on The Boondoggle?

Unlike Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle, the Seattle projects are well engineered, fully funded and well underway.Well, there is that hiccup with the world's biggest tunnel boring machine.

Let's  look at the list of items covered in The Boondoggle's Spring Quarter Update...

• PROGRESS COMING TO GATEWAY & RIVERSIDE PARKS
• GATEWAY PARK EAST AND GATEWAY PARK WEST
• THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE
• PANTHER ISLAND ICE HAS A SUCCESSFUL SECOND SEASON
• MY CITY, MY TRINITY PHOTO EXHIBIT
• PANTHER ISLAND PAVILION 2015 EVENTS
• A FEW FUN NEW THINGS TO POINT OUT AT TRWD
• PANTHER ISLAND WINS URBAN LAND INSTITUTE'S BIG IDEA AWARD
• CLEAR FORK URBAN ANGLERS
• FUNCTIONS, FACES AND PLACES AROUND TOWN

Wow. Progress is coming to a couple parks.

The construction zone referred to, I assume, is the three simple little bridges being built over dry land, in slow motion, connecting the mainland to an imaginary island.

Panther Island Ice had another successful skating season. Imagine that. Important info to share with the voters.

The photo exhibit refers to that photo show The Boondoggle put on to show propaganda photos of the Trinity after being embarrassed by an Amon Carter Museum exhibit of realistic photos of the Trinity.

A listing of Panther Island Pavilion Events for the year. Yes, I can see where that needed to be sent to voters.

A few fun things to point out at TRWD? What? The restaurant business is going good? The fools they made of themselves censuring Mary Kelleher?

I blogged about the bogus-ness of that BIG IDEA AWARD back when The Boondoggle first false bragged about it in a blogging titled The TRVA Panther Island Boondoggle Wins A Boondoggle Of An Award.

How come there is no mention in The Boondoggle's Update of the world's premiere urban wakeboard park?

How come there is mention made of the ice rink, but not of the world's first  drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, which is where the ice rink is located?

How come there is mention made of something called a 'modern roundabout" but no mention made of the construction project timeline of those three bridges being built in slow motion?

One more question.

If on September 9 Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner get elected to the TRWD Board, which would then have actual public servants in the majority, will things like wasting money on absurd propaganda productions like The Boondoggle's quarterly updates be shut down?

One Person's Up Close Tale Of TRWD Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Dysfunction

A couple minutes ago I got an email telling me I had been tagged in Facebook. Don't ask me what that means because I don't know. What I know is when I get tagged in Facebook I click on the link to Facebook where I see my Facebook name in a message.

Today's tagging is an interesting one, copied and pasted in its entirety...

I'm sharing this again as someone had Mr. Bradshaw's post removed earlier. I know several of you shared as well, please do so again. 

Durango Jones - can you work your magic on this before it disappears again. Thanks!!...

I will NOT be censored. Please share and share often...then VOTE. Thank you.

------------------------------------

One year ago in May 2014, our family fishing club applied to adopt a section of the Trinity River as part of the TRWD "Adopt a River" program. After being notified that we were accepted...radio silence followed. No return phone calls, no returned e-mail messages. Nothing ever happened the rest of that year. Really odd since the river is so polluted and you would think they would be thrilled to have a new group willing to clean an unadopted section of the river area.

In January of 2015 someone from Trinity River Vision contacted me wanting to know more about our club and how they could help promote us. We were interested but requested assistance in the failed attempt in the "adopt-a-river" program. They offered to help. No help came.

What did follow however is contact from TRV's social media specialist wanting to do a feature on us and our use of the river. It was after that when it became clear that there was some dysfunction with the program....or the people who run it.

Really, just the tip of the iceberg when you start studying all of things that have been going on. I will just leave it at that and encourage you to know the facts and importance of this Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) election - and get out and vote for candidates Michele Von Luckner and Craig Bickley on May 9th.

Here is some helpful info for you:

1) Get the info you won't see in the local paper or the giant mailers landing in your mailbox:

2) Find you voter location and VOTE for Michele Von Luckner and Craig Bickley on May 9th:

3) Feel good that you are helping protect the integrity and quality of rivers, streams and water supply, safeguard our communities from flooding...and hold the TRWD board accountable to its original mission.

Building The World's Longest Floating Bridge In Four Years While In Fort Worth America's Biggest Boondoggle....

Today we continue with our popular series of bloggings about feats of engineering, mostly of the bridge sort, with project construction timelines of four years, give or take a year or  two.

Looking at these various feats of engineering has been prompted by our befuddlement regarding the construction of three simple little bridges being built over dry land in Fort Worth, Texas, with those three simple little bridges having a four year project timeline.

The bridge you see here, under construction, in a photo screen capped from the WSDOT SR 520 Floating Bridge and Landings Project website, will be the longest floating bridge in the world upon completion.

The SR 520 bridge floats from Seattle on the west end, to near Bill Gates' home, in Medina, on the east side of Lake Washington.

As you can see, the SR 520 bridge is being constructed over water, not dry land.

The Goobers responsible for foisting on Fort Worth the building of these three simple little bridges have actually claimed they are building them over dry land so as to simplify engineering and cut costs. When the actual reason is there are insufficient funds to build the three simple little bridges in a timely fashion.

Fort Worth's three simple little bridges are part of what local congresswoman, Kay Granger, thinks is the biggest urban water construction project currently underway in North America. That urban water construction project is known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, also known as The Boondoggle, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The current price tag for The Boondoggle's underfunded project is around a billion dollars. The Boondoggle started off costing a couple hundred millions dollars. And then Kay Granger's son, J.D., was hired by his drinking buddy, Jim Oliver, to run the project, which soon had The Boondoggle sponsoring inner tube beer drinking parties in the polluted Trinity River, a wakeboard park, a drive-in movie theater, a restaurant, an ice rink, a beer hall and other wonders in addition to those bridges being built in slow motion.

The Seattle zone's SR 520 Floating Bridge Project is currently slated to cost $4.65 billion.

So, how is this expensive bridge building project funded? Well, let's look at the WSDOT website and get that information.....

Financial Information
This project is funded by a variety of state and federal sources, including SR 520 tolling that began in December 2011.

Imagine that, the money is coming from state and federal sources, which I suppose makes sense since it is a state highway connecting to a federal highway. And a toll has been charged to those crossing the existing bridge since December of 2011.

Fort Worth voters approved building a multi-purpose arena by voting yes to a one dollar toll to those renting a livestock stall in the new arena. How is that project coming along? Is there a project timeline for the arena project?

I wonder if a Seattle area congressperson's kid was hired to direct the SR 520 bridge project so as to secure those federal funds? I suspect not. What with the project appearing to be well underway, that and I think doing such a thing is illegal in progressive, democratic, non-oligarch parts of America.

Now, on to how long til the SR 520 Floating Bridge is ready for drivers to float across it. Back to the WSDOT website  for project time line information...

What is the project timeline?
Late 2011 - Began pontoon construction in Tacoma.
Early 2012 - Began anchor construction in Kenmore.
Spring 2012 - Began bridge construction on eastern shore of Lake Washington.
Spring 2016 - Anticipated date to open new floating bridge to drivers.
Late 2016 - Anticipated date for removal of the existing floating bridge.

Okay, Spring of 2012 bridge construction began from Bill Gates' side of the lake, with the bridge anticipated to be open to drivers in the Spring of 2016.

Four years to build the longest floating bridge in the world.

Over water.

Can anyone point me to a link to a TRWD webpage, or a TRUCCPIVB (Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle) webpage where we can glean any financial or project timeline information?

Like, what is the total number of dollars, both in salary and perks, paid so far to Kay Granger's son for mismanaging America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Four years to build the world's longest floating bridge in a progressive, democratic part of America. Four years to build three simple little bridges, over dry land, connecting the mainland to an imaginary island in what is not a progressive, democratic part of America.

One would think the locals would catch on that something ain't quite right with doing things the Fort Worth Way of having a big town run by an oligarchy. One would think the locals would get fed up and insist some changes be made, like starting with the firing of the local congresswoman's son from a job it is now quite clear he was not qualified for, that is, unless, maybe, the locals are perfectly okay with living in the town where America's Biggest Boondoggle is located....