The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Wikipedia Propaganda

I like Wikipedia. I like Wikipedia a lot.

I have heard the criticism of Wikipedia, along the reasoning line that the info in Wikipedia can not be trusted because anyone can edit the info.

I have edited a Wikipedia article or two. Not correcting anything erroneous, but rather to add info. For instance the Wikipedia article about Quanah Parker missed a few of the monuments to his memory. So, I added them.

Well, tonight, for the first time ever, I came upon a Wikipedia article that is really really bad with its inaccuracies. And needs to be deleted or edited to more accurately reflect the subject.

What is the subject you ask?

The Trinity River Vision.

Known to Wikipedia as the Trinity River Vision Project. Known to others as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

At the start of the article Wikipedia has one of its warning messages telling the reader there are problems with the article, saying it has multiple issues, does not cite any sources, that it does not meet Wikipedia's standards.

Apparently Wikipedia has known this article had a problem since 2009.

Well, Wikipedia, I can make it real clear for you. This article is a propaganda piece obviously written by a Trinity River Vision Boondoggle shill. Or maybe J.D. Granger himself, what with the grammar and spelling errors.

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the notorious J.D. Granger being given the job of overseeing the Boondoggle because his mommy is Congresswoman Kay Granger and her son's project is one of Kay's pet Earmark Projects. The article makes no mention of the fact that J.D. Granger has absolutely no qualifications for running such a project. Or the fact that Fort Worth apparently does not understand that nepotism has no place in a modern democratic city.

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the fact that the first completed project of the Vision Boondoggle is the now flood damaged Cowtown Wakeboard Park, which the aforementioned unqualified J.D. Granger touted as the World's Premier Urban Wakeboard venue.

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the fact that the second completed project of the Vision Boondoggle is a restaurant built for celebrity chef Tim Love in a secret sweetheart deal.

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the fact that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has had a citizen's revolt erupt in the form of the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP).

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the amount of eminent domain abuse that is taking place to facilitate the Vision Boondoggle.

The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the fact that this billion dollar public works project was put in play without ever being put to a public vote.

Below is the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Wikipedia propaganda article in its entirety (I have added a comment or two in parentheses in the article)....

Trinity River Vision Project

The Trinity River Vision Project is a master plan for 88 miles (142 km) of the Trinity River (Texas) and its major tributaries in Fort Worth, Texas. The river is a significant part of the history of Fort Worth, and the city's downtown was developed in 1849 as an army outpost along its banks of. (this 'banks of' syntax error is in the article)

More than a decade in the making, the master plan was conceived by volunteers and community leaders, and adopted by the city, county, state and federal officials.[citation needed] (citation hard to find because it is not true) The goal of the master plan is to preserve and enhance the river and its corridors so they remain essential greenways for open space, trails, neighborhood focal points, wildlife and recreation areas.

Central City

Central City is one segment of the Trinity River Vision Master Plan. It focuses on the river as the key to help revitalize an aging area of Fort Worth's central city and open up a portion of the river that currently has limited visibility and access. Central City will provide the link from downtown to the Stockyards and the Cultural District. It will combine recreational opportunities with flood control and environmental enhancements to greatly improve public utilization of the river. This new infrastructure will offer 12 miles (19 km) of active urban waterfront and a 33-acre (130,000 m2) lake just North of downtown, making the entire area attractive for private development and mixed-income housing.

Infrastructure needed for flood control and transportation will restore an aging industrial area once devoted to oil refining, scrap metal yards, electrical and chemical plants. When the bypass channel is completed around 800 acres (3.2 km2) of underutilized land between the Tarrant County Courthouse and Northside Drive will be accessible for private redevelopment opportunities- in essence doubling the size of downtown. An envisioned 10,000 housing units and three million square feet of commercial, retail and educational space will make it possible for Fort Worth residents to live, work, shop, play and learn near the river.

Neighborhood and Recreational Enhancement Plan

The 2003 Trinity River Vision Master Plan was adopted by the Tarrant Regional Water District, Streams & Valleys, Inc., The City of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. Many projects including trail extensions, new trailheads, trail amenitites, (misspelling in article) additional low water dams and pedestrian bridges and private developments oriented to the Trinity Greenbelt have been implemented in the last six years.

The Vision since 1970 (since 1970???) has always been to advocate for this natural resource, bringinig (misspelling in article) back the beauty and recreational value of the Trinity. In recent years, water and environmental quality have become an important focus of the revival of this greenbelt corridor. All of this has been accomplished while maintaining important flood control management.

The TRVA strongly believes that we as a region can no longer take our air, water and overall environmental quality for granted, it is imperative that we keep moving forward now at a faster pace to protect these wonderful greenbelt systems.

Gateway Park

Another component of the Trinity River Vision is Gateway Park. The 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) park will be filled with new recreational amenities such as soccer fields, a softball complex, a water park, disk golf course, equestrian and biking trails just to name a few. (Gateway Park already has most of these amenities) This will make Gateway one of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks. The restoration of the Riverside Oxbow will preserve beautiful, 200-year-old trees and encourage the redevelopment of bottomland hardwood forest. The project will spur economic development around the park and will connect the East and Southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River Corridor.

A Walk Around Fosdic Lake With My Snowbound Sister While Gar The Texan Risks Being Sent To Guantanamo

In the picture you are looking at the vast inland sea, located in Fort Worth, known as Fosdic Lake, with Fosdic Lake being the centerpiece of Oakland Lake Park.

I have looked for years and have recently given up the search for Oakland Lake. I have been over every square inch of Oakland Lake Park, with the only lake I've found being Fosdic Lake.

I am usually relentless persistent when I am on a quest, but this time I am giving up.

My sister who lives in the south King County suburb of Seattle called Kent walked with me today. And talked.

My sister told me that today's conditions in Washington are worse than anything during her 25 years of working for UPS. Olympia and points south of Olympia have up to a couple feet of snow piled up. I suspect it is currently impossible to drive I-5 to Portland.

My sister was about to go out to play in the snow when I called. She said she'd send me pictures. And so she did. I'll make them into a separate blogging.

Prior to leaving my abode to go walk around Fosdic Lake I'd blogged about the Wikipedia blackout. Gar the Texan then kindly pointed out yet one more of my embarrassing typo embarrassments.

And then later Gar the Texan made another comment, telling me how to work around the Wikipedia blackout. With the passing of Steve Jobs, Gar the Texan is likely the world's top computer guru.....

Gar has left a new comment on your post "The Wikipedia Blackout Puts A Stop To My World Of Free Knowledge": 

When you get to a wiki page, you may notice it "flashes" to the blackout page. This is because it's loading a JavaScript to display the World Without Free Knowledge page. If you hit ESC before it loads the JavaScript, you can still read your Wiki pages. Alternatively, you could just turn JavaScript off for the next 20 hours or so :). Just don't tell the feds.

The Wikipedia Blackout Puts A Stop To My World Of Free Knowledge

I have now experienced the pain of the Wikipedia blackout.

I read in one of my online news sources that workers working on widening the Panama Canal are striking, due to being way underpaid.

I did not know the Panama Canal was being widened and was curious as to what level of involvement America still has in the Panama Canal.

So, as I often do when I seek info, I Googled and clicked on the Wikipedia link. The Panama Canal article popped up, quickly followed by the message you see above. asking us to "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge."

Okay, I tried, but I can't imagine what I'm being asked to imagine.

I can easily imagine a world without stupid people. That would be a nice world.

Near as I can tell, this Wikipedia blackout is being caused by too many stupid people sending too many stupid people to Washington, D.C. to represent them, where they've stupidly come up with some stupid legislation that, like I said, near as I can tell, is an American world wide assault on Freedom of Speech.

That really sounds terribly un-American to me.

Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Thinking About Black Kettle, Log Plugs, A Juicy Snowstorm In Washington & Wikipedia Going Dark

A Log Plugs A Hole In A Village Creek Dam Bridge

When I woke up my computer this morning, well before the arrival of the sun, my computer temperature monitoring device indicated it was 58 degrees in the outer world.

By the time the sun arrived, the incoming cold front also arrived, dropping the temperature to 41.

I took off from my abode earlier than the norm to go on my daily bout of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

I went to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area for one of my regular walks with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this area.

Indian Ghosts were on my mind today, with me thinking about Black Kettle surviving the Sand Creek Massacre, thinking he had his tribe in a safe place, protected by the American government, then a few years later, again thinking he had his tribe in a safe place, only to find himself, and his wife, murdered by George Custer and his 7th Cavalry, in the Washita River Massacre.

I'd link to the Wikipedia articles about Black Kettle and the Sand Creek and Washita River Massacres, but Wikipedia is about to go dark in a protest I don't quite understand.

My Van Rendered Immobile By Snow

A few minutes ago I blogged on my Washington Blog about the snowstorm that is covering Western Washington, today, in what may end up being a record breaking accumulation, in a blogging titled "A Juicy Snowstorm Hits Western Washington Today & Tomorrow."

In the picture you are looking out my bedroom window in my house on Pawnee Lane in Mount Vernon, Washington, in December of 1996, at what was the deepest snow I'd ever seen in the county I lived in.

I was snowbound for almost a week, that month in 1996. Today and tomorrow's snowstorm is predicted to be equal to, or deeper than the 1996 snowstorm.

I am feeling a bit homesick today.