The Economic And Fiscal Reality Of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

This morning Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to a 20 page document on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's website titled Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Corps of Engineers' Trinity River Vision Project in Tarrant County Texas.

More than once I have verbalized my wonderment regarding the fact that there does not seem to be any sort of project timeline for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's urgently needed flood control and economic development scheme.

Well.

Reading through the TRVB document there is a lot of jaw dropping information. But the main thing I gleaned was way back over a decade ago, when this document was produced, the Boondoggle had a project timeline which had construction projects starting in 2005, running through 2015, which is about three months from now.

The Boondoggle's document says the corps will spend about  $357 through 2015, generating more than $600 million in economic activity. Wow. That is one HUGE return on investment. I suspect though that the Boondoggle forgot to add the word "million" after $357.

In this Boondoggle document, near the end, we learn that way back over a decade ago, developers noticed what will  be happening on the Trinity River in Fort Worth, with one un-named business leader opining that this project can catapult Fort Worth into the upper echelon of American cities.

I wonder what that un-named business leader is thinking now?

A decade later.

With little to show after a decade of Boondoggling.

Well, there are those Three Bridges Over Nothing supposedly under construction, a drive-in movie theater, an imaginary island with an imaginary pavilion, inner tube floating music parties with beer and a brewery. Oh, and a wakeboard lake.

Below are three excerpts from the Boondoggle's document containing that which I referenced above.....

The preliminary cost schedule calls for the Corps of Engineers to spend $435 million to realign the Trinity River with ancillary construction projects starting in 2005 through 2015. This spending will pay for engineering, architectural, environmental and other studies as well as hard and soft costs of building bridges, realigning the bypass channel, building gates, walls, levees, and several other features as well as management, administrative, and other costs. Though the budget includes over $76 million for property acquisition, we have not included this spending in our impact estimates. We do not have sufficient information on property ownership to ascertain the degree to which any income gains from the sale of property would contribute to local economic activity. In addition, $1.5 million is budgeted to help existing businesses relocate. The impact of this spending will depend on the nature of the assistance provided; therefore, we do not include this comparatively modest spending in our impact assessment.

The Trinity River realignment project and related Trinity River Vision have already spurred redevelopment efforts in the City of Fort Worth, without turning one shovelful of dirt. Corps spending on the proposed project will be about $357 through the year 2015, not including payments for land acquisition and business relocation assistance. This spending will generate more than $600 million in economic activity in Tarrant County and support over 6,000 person-years of employment. However, as impressive as these impacts are, they pale in comparison to the private commercial and residential development that will likely follow the TRV project.

Business and city officials note that developers from outside Tarrant County and outside Texas have taken notice of what will be happening along the Trinity River in Fort Worth. As observed by one business leader, this is the project that can catapult Fort Worth into the upper echelon of American cities.

Today I Found A Fallen Hoodoo In The Tandy Hills Natural Sauna Steam Bath

There really are few things sadder than a fallen Hoodoo, shattered and scattered about, a ruin of its former vertical self.

Til today it had been over a week since I last did some fast hill hiking.

Though the temperature was in the relatively chilly mid 80s, compared to last week's over 100 record breaker, the humidity still managed to turn the Tandy Hills into a virtual sauna steam bath.

A very salubrious sauna steam bath.

Last week after I finished my Tandy Hills hill hiking I was told that a bobcat had been following me at the start of the hiking, unbeknownst to me.

Today when I neared the currently dry Tandy Falls I heard some creature crashing through the jungle.

Bobcats are stealthy, they don't draw attention to themselves by noisily crashing through the jungle. I stood still for a couple minutes hoping to see what was making the noise, but never did. And so I continued on.

Earlier today Elsie Hotpepper directed me to some good blogging fodder. Post hiking, back at my computer, I found more good blogging fodder. Blogging fodder of the scandal in Fort Worth sort.

I must ponder a bit before I blog about these scandalous subjects...

Spencer Jack Did Not Go Swimming In The Trinity River Yesterday

No. That is not an artist's rendering you are looking at of what it would look like if Spencer Jack, whilst visiting his favorite great uncle in Texas, jumped into Pond Granger, if it ever exists.

What you are looking at is Spencer Jack jumping into the crystal clear water of Lake Samish, yesterday, in an escape from an unexpected, rare, mid September heat wave in Western Washington.

Spencer Jack's dad emailed me several pictures of yesterday's heat escape. A few minutes after that I checked in on Facebook to see the same pictures there. So, I don't have myself a Spencer Jack exclusive.

Speaking of the phantom Pond Granger, that being the little lake that might come to be if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes anything anyone can see, this morning I was conversing with an engineer. Not of the train driving type of engineer, this was a build things type of engineer I was conversing with.

The subject of the Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing came up. The subject of the claim that the four year bridge building project was taking place before the un-needed flood diversion channel was built, because the Boondoggle claims this will save money, was scoffed at by the engineer.

The engineer said a properly designed project would have the bridges and the channel being built at the same time. That no water would be in the channel til water is diverted into it. That integrating the building of the channel simultaneously with the building of the bridges would in reality be the most cost effective way to engineer such a project.

I opined that the non-propaganda fact of the matter is there is no money to build the un-needed flood diversion channel, which is why it is not currently being built at the same time as the un-needed Bridges Over Nothing.

Has anyone given any thought as to how ridiculous those Three Bridges Over Nothing are going to look?

If, in four years money is found to build the un-needed flood diversion channel, how many years will that take? Four years to build three simple bridges? What? 20 years to build a channel?

And no, in the second picture you are not looking at an artist's rendering of Spencer Jack standing in a clean, litter free, crystal clear Trinity River of the future.

What Spencer Jack is in the middle of is known as Friday Creek. Spencer Jack and his dad stopped at Friday Creek on their way to cool off in Lake Samish....

An Ides Of September Walk Around My Neighborhood's Billboards

I had myself a mighty fine time in the not so cool pool this morning.

By the time my regularly scheduled midday break from keyboard tapping came around I was not in the mood to drive anywhere, so I took a walk around my neighborhood.

When I got to the part of my neighborhood walk that walks on the narrow sidewalk next to the I-820 frontage road I looked across the freeway to see the billboard you see here, with something not looking right hanging off the billboard.

I wondered if this was some sort of Chick fil A type cleverness relating to floors which my feeble imagination was unable to understand.

When I got the picture off the camera I was surprised to see that there were two men on board the billboard which my eyes did not see. But my camera did.

The lesson I glean from this is I need to pay closer attention to the details of that at which I am  looking.

Save the Date! September 18th, 2014: Tandy Hills North Texas Giving Day

Message from Don and Debora Young------

Dear Friends,

It was ten years ago this year that Debora and I organized a volunteer team of folks called the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area. This is our first year to participate in the fund and profile-raising event called North Texas Giving Day. On September 18, 2014 from 6 a.m. until midnight, each donation of $25 and above made through our page on the North Texas Giving Day website will receive bonus funds and prizes which means that your tax deductible donation to Friends of Tandy Hills on Giving Day will go further.    

Your donations to Friends of Tandy Hills are vital. There are no paid staff members in our nonprofit organization. All donations fund conservation and education initiatives. Where specifically do your donations go?

Our award-winning outdoor education program Kids on the Prairie. Program expenses include:

• transportation to and from Tandy Hills Natural Area for 250 4th graders from area schools annually
• field journals tailored to the local Cross Timbers prairie and aligned to Texas State and National science standards
• onsite outdoor facilities
• water, snacks, and lunches for the kids, teachers and bus drivers

Our long term goal of restoring the land itself via the Master Plan. These goals include:

• critically needed removal of invasive species
• trail maintenance and creation
• construction of a visitors center

We hope you agree that Tandy Hills is a North Texas jewel, and that Friends of Tandy Hills plays a critical mission in "keeping it like it was."  On Thursday, September 18, please visit FOTHNA’s page on northtexasgivingday.org anytime between 6am and midnight and click "Donate Now". Then put on your hiking boots, grab your water bottle and come, take a hike in our rare prairie remnant.  Just east of downtown Fort Worth, Texas.

Thank you for joining us in our essential work!
See you on the prairie!

Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147
817-731-2787
http://www.tandyhills.org

Today I Must Contribute To The Community By Educating Myself About Chesapeake Energy's Fresh Turquoise Water

Way back in the last decade, back when Chesapeake Energy invaded the Barnett Shale, Chesapeake ran a big counter-information operation.

If a blogger blogged something about Chesapeake almost instantly one would see blog post hits from Oklahoma City, that being the location of Chesapeake's headquarters.

Soon thereafter boilerplate blog comments would show up, often mentioning Archie Bunker and horses.

I don't know when it was Chesapeake Energy figured out their heavy handed "information" campaign was being counter productive, but it has long been gone. No more Tommy Lee Jones on billboards. No propaganda ads on buses. No this, that or the other thing brought to you by Chesapeake  Energy.

See that turquoise pond above? Way back in 2010 that pond showed up on the route I take to visit the Indian Ghosts in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

At that point in time that pond did not look a very natural shade of blue. Currently the pond looks like normal murky North Texas lake water.

This morning in my inbox I found a blog comment typical  of what the Chesapeake Energy shills would send in their heyday.....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Fort Worth Chesapeake Fresh-Water Frac Pond's Unnatural Shade Of Blue":

The water is fresh water as in not salt water or treated water. The fence is in place to keep people out. The pit is lined with high density polyethylene geo textile, if someone tries swimming in it, they cannot climb out due to the plastic, which could cause drowning. You can now go back to ignorantly throwing accusations at the evil oil companies... or you could educate yourself and contribute to your community. I am betting against the latter.

I wonder if this Anonymous person would be willing to let me take video of him or her drinking a glass of this Chesapeake fresh water?

Chesapeake Energy sure has had itself a reversal of fortune from the days it freely ran roughshod  over Fort Worth and surrounding areas. Is Chesapeake's former CEO, the basketball team stealing Aubrey McClendon still a free man? Or is he doing time? With a big fine?

Who would have guessed just a few short years ago that by 2014 the City of Fort Worth would be among the many suing Chesapeake Energy for its shady dealings?

Today I read that a Fort Worth lawyer named Dan McDonald has been holding town meetings and has put together a legal team to hold Chesapeake Energy accountable for their alleged underpayment of royalties to thousands of people who were allegedly cheated by the Chesapeake slicksters.

I must end this blogging now and go and try and educate myself about something....

Today In Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park I Was Partly Protected From West Nile Virus & Possible Mini-Stealth Drones

This morning the pool was cool for the first time since some time early last spring.

For the first time in months I retreated, twice, to the warmth of the hot tub, a tub which ironically is chilled about seven degrees colder than the record breaking 102 we were sweltered with a couple days ago.

This morning the outer world was almost 50 degrees chillier than that 102.

I opted out of my regularly scheduled Gateway Park bike ride and Town Talk treasure hunt today.  I figured with the wind blowing the windchill would likely have the air feeling like it's in the 40s. And I've sort of not been enjoying the Town Talk Saturday traffic jam of late. I think I may be making Wednesdays my Town Talk day.

So, in the noon time frame I put on long pants for the first time in a long time, along with a long sleeved t-shirt and headed west to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake.

Today was the first time I've seen the sign you see above about protecting oneself  from the West Nile Virus. The sign had been added since I was at this location earlier in the week. Sort of ironic that I was wearing the recommended long pants and long sleeves for the first time in a long time.

I own no mosquito repellent.

I have no recollection of getting a mosquito bite during the entire time of my exile in Texas. I do not remember ever going a summer in Washington without getting mosquito bites.

At one point during my walk around Fosdick Lake I saw that which you see below.

Is that a West Nile Mosquito? A mini-Stealth Drone? Whatever it is it was BIG and not moving except for a slight shake. Was it grounded by the cold? Shot down by an anti-aircraft missile? Trying to re-establish contact with the Mother Ship?

All I know is whoever designed this thing I like their design aesthetic. And want a sweater that looks like this....

Spencer Jack Caught In A Web Got Me Thinking About Fort Worth's Imaginary Islands & Bridges Over Nothing Boondoggles

This morning my favorite nephew Jason emailed me some pictures, one of which is the one above, another of which is below, where Spencer Jack is caught in a tangled web.

The text in the email...

Fall is in the air. Foggy mornings. And pleasant afternoons with the day time light shrinking. Spencer Jack suggested hanging up Halloween decorations on the "to do" list. We did such in his lego/train room.

Seeing the above picture amused me when I realized I was looking at something I don't see in my current location.

No.

I am not referring to beautiful scenery.

I am referring to islands. Real islands. I am losing memory of Washington place names, but I believe in the picture we are looking north across Padilla Bay. In the distance I believe that is Guemes Island. I don't know what the small, closest island is named. To the right, if the picture were wider, we might be seeing part of Samish Island.

Samish Island is like islands in Fort Worth, such as Panther Island, due to the fact that Samish Island is not really an island. It used to be an island, but early farmers blocked off the saltwater with dikes so as to create more fertile farmland and put an end to Samish Island's island status.

Spencer Jack and his dad drive by the view above every time they drive from their home zone in Mount Vernon, 15 miles west to Anacortes, where Spencer Jack's dad's Fidalgo Drive-In is located.

Fidalgo Drive-In is so named because it is located on Fidalgo Island, which leads me to another interesting thing that occurred to me when I thought about that drive to the Fidalgo Drive-In on Fidalgo Island.

To get to Fidalgo Island on Highway 20 requires driving over the Duane Berentson Bridge. As you can see this is a twin bridge. The picture only shows you part of this big bridge.

The body of water this bridge crosses is called the Swinomish Channel. The Swinomish Channel was not dredged as part of any sort of demented flood control, economic development scheme.

The dual  bridges replaced an antique draw bridge which caused bad traffic jams whenever a boat needed to head into or out of the channel.

I remember when the Duane Berentson Bridge was built. It did not take four years to build. And it was built over existing water. What a concept. The Duane Berentson Bridge is a much bigger bridge than the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing, which are scheduled to take four years to build.

Near where we are standing in the bridge picture is the Swinomish Casino & Lodge. I believe in addition to the lodge and casino there is also now an RV park and marina. The Swinomish are a Pacific Northwest Native American tribe. Their casino has a restaurant with my all time favorite seafood buffet.

The Swinomish Casino & Lodge, with its restaurants, did not come about due to any sort of sweetheart deals from something called the Padilla Bay Swinomish Channel Vision. The Swinomish have done a good job of economic development all on their own, with maybe a little federal help, just like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, only with something to show for it a bit more elevated  than music venues, imaginary pavilions, a drive-in movie theater, a brewery and a wakeboard lake.

I do not remember ever reading, in any Skagit Valley media source, regarding the Duane Berentson Bridge, that it was a "Signature" bridge that would become an iconic gateway to Fidalgo Island.

Now, those of you who have seen artist's renderings of what the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are going to look like, which of these bridges do you think might leave a more lasting impression in a visitor's memory, the Boondoggle's Bridges or the Duane Berentson Bridge?

Well, enough of that.

And now the aforementioned photo of Spencer Jack stuck in a spider's web in his Legoland Monorail Train Room.....

This Morning It Is Only 35 Degrees Above Freezing At My Chilly Location In North Texas

It is a dark and stormy morning this Friday September 12 at my location somewhere nowhere near being deep in the heart of Texas, which you can see via the view from my patio overlooking a nearby swimming pool.

I did not get in that nearby swimming pool yesterday due to big booming early on 9/11, along with big drips of rain dropping.

I did get in that nearby swimming pool this morning and had myself a mighty fine time getting cool.

Tomorrow if I get in that nearby swimming pool it should be even cooler due to the fact that the predicted cold front has arrived right on schedule.

The temperature has been dropping ever since the sun arrived in a currently futile effort to heat up the outer world.

I looked up at my computer based temperature monitoring device to see a drop of another degree, bringing us down now to a very chilly 67 degrees. I am math challenged but I think 67 degrees is only 35 degrees above freezing.

Brrrrr.

I don't think I will be driving anywhere to go on a hike or bike ride today.....

Does Arlington's Founders Plaza Make Arlington The Top Downtown In America?

The past week or two we seem to have been inundated with propaganda puffery pieces from Fort Worth's Ministers of Propaganda.

Top Downtown in America. Sundance Square Plaza is an award winning novelty, which towns across America should emulate. Panther Island Pavilion is a huge success drawing thousands to festival after festival.

I have blogged about my various perplexations on these subjects in several bloggings, such as...

Did The Prophet JD Granger Foresee The Irving Music Factory Making Panther Island Pavilion Look Like A Hillbilly Mudpit? and The Futile Search For The Missing Pavilion, Island & Panther At Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion and Elsie Hotpepper Helped Me Learn How Fort Worth Became The Top Downtown In America.

I'd come to terms with the fact that there is no island or pavilion in Panther Island Pavilion. I'd already sort of addressed the fact that the music events that take place at the erroneously named Panther Island Pavilion are not as "special" as Trinity River Vision Boondogglers, like J.D. Granger, propagandasize.

But what has been nagging me in the back of my memory is the thing where the Fort Worth Ministers of Propaganda spew the propaganda that Sundance Square Plaza in Sundance Square, a square which suffered for decades without a real square, is anything all that special.

And then it came to me what has been nagging my memory.

The repetitive pattern of the Fort Worth propaganda.

I think the first time I was burned by Fort Worth propaganda was when I read, over and over again, in the main propaganda spewer, the Star-Telegram, that a new enterprise in Fort Worth, the Santa Fe Rail Market, was going to be the first public market in Texas, and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and public markets in Europe.

Well, you can go to the webpage I made about being appalled about various aspects of this Sante Fe Market propaganda and see quite clearly why it clearly aggravated me. That being the propaganda that this totally lame group of "stores" was the first public market in Texas and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market, with both claims being not even remotely legit.

What further aggravated me was just a short distance to the east, in this town called Dallas, there is a public market which every single one of my visitors from the Pacific Northwest have opined reminded them of Pike Place Market, that being the Dallas Farmers Market.

Okay, now let's switch to the subject of this little plaza that downtown Fort Worth's propaganda spewers are currently touting is drawing thousands of visitors a week.

There are a couple plazas in Dallas which actually do draw a lot of visitors. One is called Dealey Plaza. The other is called Pioneer Plaza. Dealey Plaza is known world-wide in a way I seriously hope Fort Worth's plaza never is. I have been in Dealey Plaza at an event, along with several thousand people, many more people than I think can cram into Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza.

But it is not in Dallas where the plaza is located that I finally remembered and realized came along before Fort Worth's, and is very similar to Fort Worth's. And is bigger.

The little town of Arlington, sandwiched between Dallas and Fort Worth, at its city center, you will find Founders Plaza. Founders Plaza has an actual pavilion, called Levitt Pavilion. There is no imaginary island surrounding Levitt Pavilion.

That is a screencap of the Founders Plaza Levitt Pavilion website at the top. Below  is a screen cap of a lot of people in Founders Plaza enjoying one of the 50 free music events held at Levitt Pavilion annually.

A description from the Founders Plaza website informs us that it has every feature you will find in the Fort Worth plaza. And more. Did the Fort Worth plaza people copy Arlington, I am wondering?

The Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts is inside Founders Plaza, a city park in the heart of Downtown Arlington at 100 W. Abram St. on the corner of Center and Abram streets directly across the street from City Hall. Founders Plaza is the crown jewel in the revitalization of Downtown Arlington and has become a favorite place for an impromptu picnic lunch, community gatherings and celebrations. The park includes a spacious lawn, walkways, seating walls, beautiful trees and flower beds, an interactive water fountain generously donated by the Junior League of Arlington, public art, a history garden and the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts.

Inside Founders Plaza, visitors will find two special areas: the History Garden and the Meditation Grove. The History Garden, near the northeast entrance to Founders Plaza directly across from City Hall and the library, features historical markers about Arlington and its founders along with native plants. The Meditation Grove, nestled in the southwest corner behind the Junior League fountain, offers a tranquil area for reflection.

I have been to an event at Founders Plaza, several years ago. I remember, also years ago, when the Super Bowl took place in Arlington, with ESPN setting up on a downtown Fort Worth parking lot, wondering why they did not use that plaza in downtown Arlington.

And then I forgot about that plaza til today.

So, did those who make what little happens in downtown Fort Worth get Green with Envy, years ago, upon seeing what Arlington had done, plaza-wise, and finally decide it was time to add a square to Sundance Square?

Modeled after the square in Arlington?

We all know how Fort Worth likes to model things after other things, like Pike Place Market. Only this time they did a good job of modeling. The similarities between the two plazas really are striking, however, with Arlington having a real stage, more landscaping, trees and a lawn.....