A Pre-Town Talk Walk Around Fosdick Lake With Dozens Of Wind Damaged Trees

Saturday more often than not my pre-Town Talk go to place is either Gateway Park or the Tandy Hills.

I figured Thursday's storm likely left the Gateway Park mountain bike trail a mess with knocked down trees and mud. I figured the same might be the case for the Tandy Hills.

So, I opted to go to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake in my endless quest to find Oakland Lake.

As soon as Oakland Lake Park came in to view I saw a lot of wind damage, as in lots of tree damage, some totally knocked over, some yanked right out of the ground.

Oakland Lake Park is only four miles west of my abode. Mother Nature was clearly much more ferocious at Oakland Lake Park than she was at my location.

For a couple months now Fosdick Fountain out in the middle of Fosdick Lake has been a burbling shadow of its former full fountain glory. Today I was saddened to see that Fosdick Fountain has now totally died and has been taken over by a gaggle of ducks.

Don't the ducks look all pleased with themselves that they have taken over the fountain?

When I first arrived at Oakland Lake Park and exited my vehicle I walked a few feet to the knocked over tree you see above. I heard musical tweeting coming from the tree. Eventually I found the nest which survived the tree being blown over. It was a big nest. The mama bird was outside the nest with her babies tweeting inside.

I did not think to take video of this til I'd walked around the lake. When I went back to the tree to shoot video of the tweeting birds they were no longer singing. I shot the video anyway, which is YouTubed below.

But before I get to pasting in the video embed code I must make my Town Talk report for former Fort Worth native, MKB, currently held against her will up in Washington.

Today I got two big containers of strawberries, a big bag of a bread product called something like Brioche, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, a long, big tube of Italian sausage, flour tortillas, lobster bisque and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

And now the aforementioned video.....

Fort Worth's Make Believe Multi-Purpose Arena Election Has Me Perplexed

No, this is not another of my ongoing series of bloggings about bridges built in around four years in my continuing quest to understand why Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are projected to take four years to build.

However, since the subject of those Three Bridges Over Nothing has been brought up I might as well mention that the cable stayed bridge you see here, known as the SR 509 Bridge, opened to traffic on January 22, 1997 and took less than four years to build. And, as you can see, this bridge is over water, that being the Theo Foss Waterway.

What this blogging is about is that multi-purpose arena that you see above, looking as if it is sitting on the deck of the SR 509 Bridge.

That multi-purpose arena is known as the Tacoma Dome.

In 1968 King County voters approved a $40 million municipal bond issue to build a new stadium. Construction began in 1972 and opened as the Kingdome in 1976.

Four years later.

Whilst a new stadium was being built in Seattle, civic minded sorts in Tacoma had long been campaigning for a multi-purpose arena to be built in Tacoma. This brought about a campaign with the slogan "A Dome of Our Own". In 1980 a $28 million bond proposal passed with 70% approval. And thus the Tacoma Dome came to be. And still exists, unlike the long gone Kingdome.

Meanwhile in the little town of Fort Worth civic minded sorts have put together a scheme to build Fort Worth a new multi-purpose arena. I blogged about this a couple days ago in a blogging titled Betsy Price Thinks A New Arena Is Definitely Fort Worth It after I found an election advertisement in my mailbox.

Now, while the voters of Tacoma were allowed to vote on whether or not to fund and build the Tacoma Dome, what is purported to be a Multi-Purpose Arena Election here in Fort Worth is not an election of the sort that takes places in towns where the voters actually get to vote on things, like public works projects.

In this upcoming arena "election" voters are voting on three propositions, with each of those propositions asking voters to approve a tax, as in a tax of $1 to $2 a day on livestock stalls, a tax of 10% on event tickets and a tax of $5 per vehicle tacked on to the parking fee.

Why would these "taxes" require a vote? And what does voting on these "taxes" have to do with electing to build an arena?

In the aforementioned "election" mailing under the heading ONLY USERS & VISITORS PAY FOR IT we learn "No property taxes will be used to build or maintain the proposed new arena. Instead, voters are being asked to approve three propositions for user fees (referred to as "taxes" in the ballot language) on parking, tickets and use of stalls/pens for livestock. Public funding will also come from other sources generated by tourism within 3 miles around the new arena."

So, why are the voters not being asked to approve of this "public funding" that comes from other sources within 3 miles of the new arena?

You reading this in parts of America where you have voted on something like a new arena, have you ever seen ballot measures this goofy before? It is sort of embarrassing, or so it seems to me.

The locals have a saying for this type goofiness, as in "It's the Fort Worth Way." As in an oligarchy runs this town, which some refer to as the Good Ol' Boy Network. Decisions to foist things on the public like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, and this new arena, are made without voter input.

These three ballot propositions having voters vote on three taxes seems sort of insulting to the voters, to me, as if the Good Ol' Boy Network thinks the voters are collectively dumb and thus fooled into thinking they are making a voting choice about the building of a new arena, when that decision to build that new arena has already been made, with no public vote having taken place.

So, what happens if all three of these propositions gets a resounding NO? I suspect nothing will happen. The taxes will get tacked on anyway, somehow altered so as to seem above board and not contradicting the NO vote. Like maybe the "tax" on a livestock stall will be $3 to $4 after the voters said no to a livestock stall "tax" of $1 to $2.

What perplexes me most is why Fort Worth's voters put up with this type stuff?

Nameless Asking About Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Three Bridges Over Nothing

This morning after I yet again blogged about my wonderment regarding why it will take four years for Fort Worth to build Three Bridges Over Nothing someone who shall remain Nameless emailed from his current location in Los Angeles asking me if I had any artist's rendering of what the notorious Three Bridges Over Nothing will look like.

The actual text from Nameless said "You got any pics of what these bridges are gonna look like. There must be something special about them to take so long to build and to have them called signature and iconic."

So, I replied to Nameless, sending him the artist's rendering of one of the Three Bridges Over Nothing that you see above. The artist's rendering includes the un-needed flood diversion channel over which the Three Bridges Over Nothing are currently being built.

After Nameless saw the bridge image he emailed back with...

"You're making this up. How can that bridge in that drawing take 4 years to make? And there is nothing special about it."

To which I replied confirming that that totally ordinary looking little bridge is one of the four years in the making bridges, that are being touted as signature bridges which will give Fort Worth iconic entries to the area of its Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

To which Nameless replied, "I get now why this bridge boondoggle bugs you so."

Yes, it does bug me. Four years to build such simple bridges is absurd. Referring to these plain, ordinary, simple bridges as being signature bridges is also absurd. Saying these plain, ordinary, simple bridges will become iconic symbols of Fort Worth is even more absurd.

Then again, I can see how a scenario could come to be where these Three Bridges Over Nothing do become an iconic symbol of Fort Worth, but not in a way which will make the local propaganda purveyors happy....

A Look At How Long It Took To Build A Bridge Over A Colorado River Canyon Compared To Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing

Today I continue my quest to get an explanation as to why it will take the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle four years to build Three Bridges Over Nothing.

Or, put another way, today I continue my quest to find out why it will be at least four years before the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle starts construction on the critically needed flood diversion channel which will finally give a  reason for the Three Bridges Over Nothing.

In my quest to understand how it can possibly take four years to build three relatively simple, relatively small bridges I have been looking at how long it took to build some other bridges, bridges that were actually built over something, you know, like canyons or rivers or both.

A  couple days ago I took a look at how long it took to build the Ganter Bridge in Switzerland. Steve A made an interesting comment about how long it took to build another bridge....

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "The Ganter River Vision Bridge Over Untroubled Water": 

They rebuilt the I-10 bridge over La Cienega Boulevard in 84 days after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. That is more comparable to the task that the TRV has except they had a lot more traffic to deal with in California. http://articles.latimes.com/1994-04-13/news/mn-45518_1_rush-hour

Today I decided to find out how long it took to build the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. I blogged about this bridge a couple times on one of my other blogs, one of which I screencapped above. From the screencap you may be able to intuit that this bridge crosses the Colorado River by Hoover Dam.

Construction on the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge began February 14, 2005 and opened to traffic on October 19, 2010, taking a bit longer than four years to build.

But, this was not a bridge built over nothing, it was a complex feat of engineering built over the Colorado River canyon.

This was the first concrete/steel composite arch bridge built in America. The bridge has the widest concrete arch in the western hemisphere. The bridge's four lane roadway is 900 feet above the Colorado  River. In the United States the only bridge higher is Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado.

It seems sort of obvious that the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge was a bit more difficult construction project than the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing, so I ask again, how can it take four years to build these vitally needed bridges that are key to the building of much needed flood protection in an area of the Trinity River which has been protected from floods for well over a half a century?

Protected from floods by existing levees the rest of America already paid for?

A Thin Layer Of Transparent Silica Kept Hail From Hitting Me This Afternoon

Thunderstorms with hail possible was the prediction for today.

Thunderstorms have become sort of rare in formerly frequently booming Texas.

It seems the norm in recent times is for predicted storms to predictably not materialize.

Well, today the predicted storm arrived just as predicted. The sky darkened, the wind grew strong, thunder started booming in the distance, then all hell, I mean hail, broke loose.

The biggest hail I have ever been pummeled with.

Well, I myself did not get pummeled, but the windows between me and the outer world took a noisy beating, with the beating being so loud I thought the hail was going to break through.

Calm has now returned. But, my phone just went off yet again with yet one more AccuWeather National Weather Service Severe Thunderstorm Warning. So, I guess it is not over yet.

The video below sort of gives you an idea of the ferocity of this afternoon's hailstorm.

At His September Oktoberfest J.D. Granger Is All About The Beer All About The Beer No Water

A couple times last month I found myself wondering why it is that in Texas various locales hold an Oktoberfest festival in September.

Do they not understand that Oktober is the German spelling of October?

Would it not be more pleasant, temperature-wise, to hold a fall festival in the fall when the temperature has fallen?

Near as I can remember I have only been to an Oktoberfest once. In Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a Bavarian themed town on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. If I remember right the Leavenworth Oktoberfest is the biggest to take place outside of Germany.

Anyway.

Above you are looking at  the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's J.D. Granger, once again caught holding a container full of beer.

As I was typing "full of beer" a current hit song I hear over and over again came to mind. I don't know the name of the singer but the song goes "I'm all about the bass, all about the bass, no treble...." I'm thinking J.D. Granger could use this as his theme song with a slight re-write, "I'm all about the beer, all about the beer, no water..."

I am sure you are wondering how I came to find this picture of Mr. Granger and an adult beverage.

Well, someone named Anonymous left a blog comment....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Ganter River Vision Bridge Over Untroubled Water": 

JD Granger and others sighted at the Panther Island Pavilion Oktoberfest via DFW.com:

http://www.dfw.com/2014/09/26/930092/fort-worth-oktoberfest-at-panther.html

Pic #228 - JD and his shadow Matt Oliver
Pic #232 - JD's latest media fanboy the Star-Telegram's Mac Engel
Pic #236 - Kay Granger. She's in other pics too
Pics #242 & #243 - Engel and Granger et al

Perhaps Engel is hoping for a gig with The Vision when the S-T closes shop. 

Dfw.com posted an awful lot of pictures of this September Oktoberfest event. 257 to be exact. I figured out a method to quickly get through to the Pic #'s Anonymous mentioned.

Pic #228 is the one I used above. I know that is J.D. Granger on the right, but I'm not sure if his shadow is the person in the middle or on the left.

J.D.'s mama, Kay, appeared to be having herself a mighty fine time. Apparently she also is all about the beer, all about the beer, no water.

I know zero about the Mac Engel person Anonymous refers to as J.D.'s latest fanboy. Apparently the fanboy is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram employee.

Two Buck Clucking With Connie, Ginger & Mary Ann

Yesterday when I came into possession of this week's Fort Worth Weekly I saw there was an article about a local business renting egg laying chickens called Two Buck Cluck.

Til this morning I only read about as much of FW Weekly's Better Hens and Gardens article as you see screencapped here.

After I read what I read yesterday I thought to myself I must remember to mention this article to the Fort Worth Connie D, due to the Fort Worth Connie D's recent foray into adopting a couple egg layers.

Then this morning I got around to reading the rest of the article to learn there was no need to mention it to the Fort Worth Connie D. The relevant reason why there was no need to mention this I will copy from the FW Weekly article and paste below...

Connie Dees lives nearby; she too rents chickens from Thomas. After about six weeks of hen-wrangling, Dees is still enthusiastic.

“My neighbors are all just fascinated,” she said. “The hens are quiet. If they were noisy it might be an issue, but we haven’t had any negative feedback.

“It’s been a lot of fun. They are highly entertaining,” she said. They have a lot of personality. My new relaxation is that I have a lawn chair out back, and I go read a book and talk to the chickens and get out of my crazy work mode.”

Predators can be a problem — mostly raccoons, possums, and hawks. However, a sturdy coop will protect the chickens while they’re locked up, and coons and possums only come out at night after the chickens are tucked away.

“We’ve seen falcons around here,” Dees said. “I feed birds in the backyard. I was a little worried.”

She lets her hens roam freely during the day, although they run to the coop if they sense danger. So far neither has come to any harm. Thomas replaces chickens that die or get killed as long as no negligence was involved.

“They put themselves to bed,” Dees said. “About 7:30 they’re already on their roost, and I shut the cage. They’re incredibly low maintenance.”

She has noticed fewer insects around her house this summer. And she’s enjoyed the eggs and the companionship.

“I’m fascinated by the personalities of the chickens,” Dees said. “My big ginger chicken is bossy and pushy and dominant. My little rock star [crested] chicken is more curious. If I’m doing something new, she’s right up there, going ‘Hey, what are you doing? What’s happening?’ ”

From reading the Connie D Chicken Tales on Facebook I know she has named her egg layers Ginger and Mary Ann. Til reading the FW Weekly article I did not realize Connie D had so much fun with her Ginger and Mary Ann.

And til I visited the Two Buck Cluck website I did not realize how expensive Ginger and Mary Ann's golden eggs are...

Betsy Price Thinks A New Arena Is Definitely Fort Worth It

This morning I found my favorite Fort Worth mayor, Betsy Price, in my mailbox telling me "The Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena - Definitely Fort Worth it."

Very clever.

Betsy wants me, and you other Fort Worth voters, to vote "YES" on three ballot propositions relating to a new arena.

I have long verbalized the fact that I find the way public works projects come about in Fort Worth to be perplexingly different than I experienced whilst living in a more democratic part of America. In Fort Worth you can have big public works projects, like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with absolutely no voter input.

And now with this new arena the public is being asked to vote on three propositions. These three propositions are where this arena election turns into yet one more goofy way Fort Worth goes about its business.

Proposition #1: A user fee (tax) on event tickets not to exceed 10% of the ticket price.
Proposition #2: A user fee (tax) on livestock stalls and pens of $1 to $2 per day, not to exceed $20 per event.
Proposition #3: A user fee (tax) on parking not to exceed $5 per vehicle, which will come out of the existing parking fee.

So, the Fort Worth voters are not actually voting yes or no on the building of this new arena, what they are voting on is three user fees, apparently also known as taxes.

If the Fort Worth voters vote no on any or all of these propositions does that kill the arena?

Other info in Betsy's arena mailer is also goofy. That is the info part of the mailer, scanned for your reading pleasure below.

See the second red heading? TAXPAYERS ARE OFF THE HOOK. There we learn that "A group of private sector participants (foundations, individuals and organizations) led by Fort Worth businessman Ed Bass will provide half the $450 million project cost. Private donations will also cover any cost overruns. The arena will be owned by the City and managed by a nonprofit organization that will be responsible for its operational costs."

See the fourth red heading? BY FORT WORTH FOR FORT WORTH. There we learn that "Unlike other North Texas arenas and stadiums there is no private developer or franchise owner involved in the project and therefore all revenue derived from the City's multipurpose arena will be redirected  back into its operations and maintenance."

HUH? In the Taxpayers Are Off The Hook part of this propaganda didn't we just read that a group of private sector participants were paying for half the cost of this arena?

Come November 4 are Fort Worth's voters going to pass these three ballot propositions? I have no idea. Maybe the thrill of actually getting to vote for something will result in a resounding yes vote. Or maybe resentment at not being able to directly vote yes or no on a new arena will result in a resounding no vote.

Currently I am undecided as to whether I will be voting yes or no.....

The Ganter River Vision Bridge Over Untroubled Water Built In Four Years

During the time since I learned that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are going to take four years to build I have verbalized, a time or two, my bum puzzlement that three puny bridges over nothing could take so long to build.

I have also verbalized my bum puzzlement at the fact that near as I can tell no locals are asking why the Boondoggle's bridges are being built in slow motion, causing traffic woes for years, what with the bridges alleged to be a key part of a much needed flood control and economic development project.

A few weeks ago when Spencer Jack drove across the Golden Gate Bridge it occurred to me to wonder how long that bridge over very turbulent water took to build.

Four years.

Four years to build one of the most iconic, signature bridges, if not the most iconic, signature bridge in the world.

The chief propaganda purveyor for the Boondoggle, J.D. Granger, has touted the Boondoggle's Bridges Over Nothing as being signature bridges that are being built before the un-needed flood diversion channel diverts water under the bridges because bridges are supposedly easier and cheaper to build when there is no pesky water involved.

A couple days ago it occurred to me to wonder how long it took to build the new Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge, over very turbulent water.

A little more than four years.

I have in my possession an informative book from National Geographic titled Marvels of Engineering. Among the marvels covered are bridges. All built over water, none built over dry land, waiting for incoming water.

One of the marvels of bridge engineering is the Ganter Bridge in Switzerland. This bridge crosses the Ganther River in the Ganter Valley. Construction began in 1976.  Construction ended in 1980.

Four years to build the Ganter Bridge over water and a valley.

Above is a screencap from the Wikipedia article about the Ganter Bridge. The designer of this bridge took the cable stayed concept and combined it with the cantilever bridge concept to create a hybrid bridge the bridge building world had not seen before.

The Ganter Bridge has won world wide acclaim for its engineering and its aesthetics.

I don't know if the Swiss, or the people who live in the Ganter Valley town of Valais, refer to the Ganter Bridge as being a signature, iconic bridge. I suspect not. The Swiss are a sophisticated people who are content to let others sing their praises when praises are due.

I think until I get an explanation as to why the Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are scheduled to take four years to build I will have myself an ongoing theme of Engineering Marvels which took around four years to build....

The Not Greene Pillow Queen

This morning Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to an amusing Letter to the Editor in yesterday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram printed under the heading Granger vs. Greene.

Til I read this letter I had never heard J.D. Granger's mama referred to a a Pillow Queen.

A Pillow Queen who works only to feather her own nest.

That is the letter screencapped above and copied in its entirety below....

In U.S. House District 12, we have a pillow queen (who works only to feather her own nest) for a congresswoman.

In 18 years in office, she has authored few bills that were enacted. Her latest attempt, a bill in support of the Republican effort to paint the surge in children at the border as a crises, failed miserably. Even some Republicans refused to support her.

Despite years of failure, Pillow Queen has voted for millions of dollars for a project headed by her son.

Her opponent is Democratic centrist Mark Greene, an independent small businessman who has striven to accumulate wealth through work, not cronyism.

A native Texan and lifelong DFW resident, Mark wants an economy that creates well-paying jobs for every able-bodied Texan.

In District 12, the choice is clear: Pillow Queen or Mark Greene.

— Laurin McLaurin,

Benbrook