Slowly Making My Way Through A Dense North Texas Fog To A Steaming Hot Tub

Last night in the middle of the night, as in at 3 in the morning, my phone went off with its incoming text message type noise.

After the phone woke me up I woke it up to find the message which woke me up was from AccuWeather, alerting me to the fact that a heavy fog would be blanketing North Texas by morning.

Why did I need to know this in the middle of the night? I must find out how to shut AccuWeather up. It's more annoying than Pete Delkus in Weather Drama Queen Mode.

By the time the sun arrived this morning following by me opening that which blocks the incoming sun from coming in my windows, it was obvious, without any sort of AccuWeather alert, that a heavy fog had descended upon the land.

I don't recollect seeing a pea soup thick fog of this level at my current location previously. This is like a thick fog rolling in from Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. There is no ocean within hundreds of miles of my current location.

The foggy view in the above photo is from the vantage point of this morning's foggy hot tub soak. Normally in this view, without fog, you could see the redrock colored walls of Albertsons. This morning all you see is a wall of fog.

I do not know if it is safe to drive anywhere, what with this almost zero visibility thing happening. I suspect by the time I'm feeling like rolling any sort of wheels the fog will have lifted sufficiently to make it safe to do so.

A Chilly Bike Ride Admiring A Fort Worth Monument Before Egg Foo Yunging

In the hot tub this morning I was basking under the glow of a clear blue sky, nary a cloud in sight.

A short time after exiting the hot tub clouds arrived to erase that clear blue sky.

A noonday bike ride was on my schedule today. I was hoping the predicted high in the 60s would arrive in time for a well warmed bout of wheel rolling.

Instead of 60s I rolled in the low 50s. With the rolling wind chill I found myself getting a little cold on the fast downhill slopes. At one point my bike helmet, well, baseball cap, almost blew off.

The most pleasant part of the bike ride, other than having it over, was the stop where my handlebar horns pointed at the Molly the Longhorn horns on the big round monument which greets travelers to Fort Worth as they come into town from the east on Interstate 30.

I think I will  warm myself up now by making a nice hot stir fry, over rice, with egg foo yung.

Wondering What's Up With One Of My Chesapeake Energy Neighbors

Today, on this first Sunday of the last month of 2014, I decided to take a walk to visit my neighborhood Chesapeake installations.

On Wednesday I walked by one of my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale natural gas extracting operations, that being the one across the street from Albertsons and the I-820 freeway.

At that point in time I noticed that much of the signage, such permit info, had gone missing.

I thought not much about the missing Chesapeake signage until the next day, when  I was reading this week's Fort Worth Weekly cover article, titled Shale Math: Half Full or Half Empty which mentioned among many other shale sham related mentions, the fact that former Fort Worth Golden Child, Chesapeake Energy has pretty much been run out of town, with the "divorce' being so nasty that the city of Fort Worth and other local entities, such as the D/FW airport, are suing Chesapeake Energy.

Fort Worth suing Chesapeake is such an irony. Back when the Chesapeake-Fort Worth marriage was still in its honeymoon phase Chesapeake could pretty much get away with anything it wanted to do to Fort Worth, partnered, as it was, with Fort Worth's then mayor, Mike Moncrief.

Has Chesapeake abandoned my neighborhood Albertsons installation? I found that which you see below near the base of the sign above.

I have no idea what the above means, of it in any way relates to the Boca Raton, 6699 Albertsons gas pad site.

After getting a closer look at the neighborhood's Albertsons gas pad site I decided I needed to check if my other neighborhood Chesapeake gas pad site was also missing its signage.

Nope, all the signage is still intact  on my other Chesapeake neighbor. This gas pad site is actually closer to  my abode than the Albertsons one. But, I usually do not walk by the Chesapeake gas pad site you see above, due to the fact it is a location that is missing something that is missing a lot in Fort Worth.

A sidewalk.

On My Way Today To Walk With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts I Had An Encounter With A Machine Gun Toting Santa

On this first Saturday of the last month of 2014, on my way to go bike riding with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, I stopped at Sam's Club to squirt some gas into the tank of my mechanized bike conveying device.

In the midst of squirting the gas I looked across the street to find myself startled by Santa Claus brandishing what looked to me to be a machine gun.

I am guessing this is an "Only in Texas" type thing.

Where even saintly Santa is an open carry advocate, jolly while waving a weapon at people passing by.

Santa is doing his gun slinging from the roof of a business located on Eastchase Parkway, across the street from the Eastchase Super Walmart in far East Fort Worth, near where Fort Worth becomes Arlington.

As you can see above, the business Santa is guarding is a Fort Worth Gun store. Santa is aiming towards those driving west on the entry lane to Interstate 30. I would imagine there has been a motorist, or two, startled at seeing this type behavior from Santa Claus.

I had no incidents with gun toting Indian Ghost aficionados in the Village Creek zone today. A lot of people were out enjoying the perfect weather.

About half the homes I saw in the Interlochen neighborhood appeared to be ready with their Christmas displays. A couple homes were lit up in the midday sun, with one of those sporting a lot of glowing purple lights glowing bright, causing me to think this house must be blindingly bright at night.

It has been several years since I braved the Interlochen Christmas traffic jam. I have no inclination to see those bright lights this year.

I will be experiencing Christmas in the Fort Worth Stockyards, though, on the evening of December 15.

I hope the Fort Worth Stockyards Santa is armed with a more era appropriate firearm, something like a Colt 45, or a Winchester rifle....

The 2034 Fort Worth World's Fair Trinity River Vision Product Nightmare

Last night I had a nightmare, a cinematic nightmare, a possibly prophetic cinematic nightmare.

The nightmare began back in the late 1950s in Seattle, where a pair of Seattle businessmen were discussing the idea of bringing a World's Fair to Seattle. One of the pair drew a tower on a napkin, suggesting this be the centerpiece of Seattle's World's Fair. A couple years later, on April 21, 1962, Seattle's Century 21 World Fair opened.

A few years later people in Spokane got the idea they wanted to have a World's Fair. Soon thereafter Expo '74 opened. Less than a decade later Vancouver decided to have a World's Fair. A few years later Expo 86 opened.

All three of these Pacific Northwest World's Fairs were much bigger projects than Fort Worth's relatively puny Trinity River Vision Boondoggle project, with the Pacific Northwest's projects coming to fruition in just a few years, while Fort Worth's Boondoggle has been boondoggling for well over a decade, currently with three simple bridges under construction, slated to take four years to build, as in longer to build than it took Seattle to build the Space Needle and the World's Fair the needle hovered over.

My nightmare became a bit muddled when the plot got to Fort Worth and its ineptly executed public works project known as The Boondoggle Product.

When my nightmare got to the present moment is when the nightmare really started getting scary.

Fast forward four years from 2014.

In my prophetic nightmare vision of the future, those Three Bridge Over Nothing do get completed, in four years. And then sit there, with no ditch being dug under them, with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle stalled, due to lack of funding.

By the time the Three Bridges Over Nothing are finished, in 2018, we are in year two of the Hillary Clinton presidency.

Kay Granger is unable to get her baby boy any pork barrel earmarks for the TRVB ditch or any other aspect of The Boondoggle, no un-needed flood diversion channel, no imaginary island, no promenade, no parks, no more beer parties.

Nothing.

The mess just sits there as an embarrassing monument to corrupt hubris.

The years pass, those Three Bridges Over Nothing become an iconic international symbol of a Boondoggle  run amok.

And then the nightmare turns into a horror movie.

In the presidential election of 2024, Kay Granger is elected president, shocking much of America even more than when George W. Bush somehow became president after getting a couple million fewer votes than Al Gore.

In my nightmare, Kay Granger, already the oldest, and worst,  president in American history, then wins re-election in 2028.

As the nightmare continues it is as if America has sunk to being like the era of the bad Roman emperors, with Empress Kay basically fiddling while America burns in frustration over what a low voter turnout has wrought.

After year after year of promising to finally secure federal money, President Granger is somehow able to  get the  Republican majority in both houses to pour dollars in to Fort Worth to her then semi-retired son, J.D.'s, long stalled Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Product, from which he continued to draw a hefty salary, during all the decades the project sat stalled.

Stalled, except for the continuing Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the increasingly polluted Trinity River.

With it having been years since J.D.'s dream of building an imaginary island died, J.D., in 2029, has a brainstorm of the sort that brought about rockin' the polluted river, drive-in movie theaters, the world's premiere wakeboard facility, breweries, ice rinks and more, all of which had long ceased operating, except for those aforementioned Rockin' the River Inner Tube events.

J.D. Granger decides it would be a great idea to use that money his mama, the president, is sending him, to bring about something much bigger than the long dead Trinity River Vision, J.D. decides that if other towns could bring about a World's Fair in just a few short years, well, so could Fort Worth, despite no historical record of anything but boondoggles being the result when it comes to Fort Worth trying to do anything BIG, in any sort of timely fashion.

And so, in my nightmare, the proposed 2034 Fort Worth World's Fair became yet one more Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Product.

Likely destined to fail.

However, we must admit to being impressed with the propaganda slogan J.D., or someone came up with in my nightmare, a 21st century adjustment to Fort Worth's "Where The West Begins" claim, changed to "Where The Best Begins".

After over 30 years one would think J.D. Granger would have figured out that making bogus claims based on nonsense was not a good idea, but apparently not, hence "Where The Best Begins", with zero awareness of the irony.....

Seeking Endorphins On The First Drippy Friday Of December

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, late in the morning of the first Friday of the last month of 2014, with the outer world a bit damp, but warmed to the relatively balmy temperature of 69 degrees, I am feeling in dire need of some serious aerobic stimulation and that stimulation's resultant endorphins.

I was in the Hot Tub and Pool last night and real early this morning. The Hot Tub and Pool really don't give me the level of endorphins that I get from bike riding or hill hiking.

I had a rough night last night, way too many disturbing nightmares. I really should not watch any Mama's Family sketches from the Carol Burnett Show prior to sleep time.

In the middle of the night during one of my awake bouts I had what at the time seemed to be a really good blogging inspiration. Suffice to say the subject was Fort Worth and the phrase "Where the Best Begins" played a prominent role. But, that particular blogging inspiration is currently stalled. Maybe a dose of endorphins would help re-stimulate me, inspiration-wise.

Yesterday's drizzle had me in Haltom City in the noon time frame for the Grand Opening of a new ALDI. I got a lot of freebies during the course of the ALDI visit. Plus some amusing aggravation when somehow a single bag of carrots at $1.39 rang up as 7 bags of carrots at $9.73. I think the embarrassment at the embarrassing mistake is why I ended up being given extra canvas ALDI shopping bags,  filled with goodies, most of which is not the type stuff I eat.

Candy bars.

I did not even like candy bars when I was a kid. In the canvas bags were a couple versions of bags of peanuts, a sweet and salty almond all natural bar, which was tasty, and a couple bags of popcorn. So, all that ALDI gave me was not of the candy bar sort, but most of it was.

I think I will hit the publish button on this blogging and then hit the outer world and see if I can find myself some of those elusive endorphins....

Wondering How Much The Boondogglers Have Been Paid For Their Slow Motion Trinity River Vision

This week's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda mailer has had me thinking anew about The Boondoggle.

The thinking anew has me being freshly perplexed.

Let me see if I can explain the train wreck of my thinking.

So, the people of Fort Worth had a billion dollar public works project foisted on them long ago, I think the beginning dates back to late in the last century.

I first learned of what has come to be known as The Boondoggle when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Sunday edition on a Sunday early this century breathlessly trumpeted, in a HUGE headline, that that which was then called the Trinity Uptown Project, would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

I remember reading that and thinking to myself what fresh ridiculous hell is this. Little did I know, then, how ridiculous.

Okay, so the way public works projects come about  in democratic, non-oligarchy locations in America is that a public works proposal is presented to the public. The merits of the proposal are debated. And then, after much public discussion, the public works project is put to a vote where the voters agree to support a bond issue to finance the building of the public works project. Or vote NO.

If the voters approve of the public works project the project then proceeds to the construction phase, building the project as quickly as possible so as to reap the benefits of the project as soon as possible.

When the voting public can see the benefit to them of voting for a public works project they vote a big YES.

Having the public vote on public works projects and then having those projects built in a timely fashion may be one of the reasons other parts of America seem to be much more advanced than Fort Worth.

Which brings us back to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. Never voted on. Not funded in a way which allows the project to be built in a timely fashion.

So, now to the point of what is bugging me. With The Boondoggle being un-funded, being built on a slow motion indeterminate timeline, does it not occur to anyone, but me, that the way this Boondoggle has been operating, that it has become a strange, sort of permanent job, for people like J.D. Granger?

What I am thinking is if this Boondoggle was done like a normal public works project, the project would have, by now, been completed, with J.D. Granger having moved on to his next construction project, if his mother could find him one.

Does it not greatly add to the cost of The Boondoggle to be paying people, like J.D. Granger, for years longer than he would have been paid had this project been built like it would have been built in, like I already said, if it were a normal, voted on, fully funded public works project?

How much is the total paid to The Boondoggle's employees, year after year, as The Boondoggle boondoggle's along in slow motion?

If I remember right J.D. Granger is paid something like $100,000 a year to mismanage The Boondoggle. I think he began mismanaging in 2004. That is a decade ago. I am not good at math, but I think in ten years, at $100K per year, J.D. Granger has been paid something like one million dollars. Plus he has an expense account. And who knows what other perks.

Well, I have been told about the well stocked liquor supply in J.D.'s office.

How many employees are on The Boondoggle's staff? How many extra millions of dollars have been lost due to paying people boondoggling in slow motion for an unfunded project the public has never voted for, with no end in sight?

Like I already said, if this urgently needed flood control project were funded and built in the way it would be in democratic areas of America, it would have been completed by now. With no more money being wasted paying J.D. Granger and his fellow boondogglers.

The simple Three Bridges Over Nothing, which supposedly explosively began being constructed recently, are being built in slow motion, taking four years to complete. When the Three Bridges Over Nothing are complete, if J.D.'s mama has somehow come up with federal money, then the ditch under the bridges can begin being dug. I don't believe the engineering design for that ditch and its diversion dam have been completed, let alone that actual cost to built it determined.

Or how long it will take to dig the ditch.

If it takes four years for The Boondoggle to build three simple bridges, how long will that ditch take to dig? A decade? Longer?

However long it takes to complete this slow motion project, those in charge of The Boondoggle, as in J.D. Granger and his crew of boondogglers, are being paid, with salaries and perks.

J.D. Granger is in his 40s, I think. His precise age I can not find. I am thinking maybe J.D. is thinking he can milk this lucrative job, for which he has ZERO qualifications, til he hits retirement age. Of course, it goes without saying that J.D. keeps his job only as long as his mama keeps hers, which would seem to be forever, judging by the last election which re-elected J.D.'s politically corrupt, nepotism loving, mama.....

28 Pages Of Boondoggle Propaganda With No Mention Of The Trinity River Vision's Shining Cowtown Wakepark Star

Yesterday when I read and blogged about The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Explosive 28 Page Fall Propaganda Update it did not occur to me til later that I saw no mention made on any of those 28 pages of The Boondoggle's Cowtown Wakepark.

The propaganda made bragging mention of all the other Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's products and programming.

I first learned of the Cowtown Wakepark over four years ago. Riding my bike I came upon the pond you see here. This pond had me wondering why the Trinity Trail had been moved to accommodate the pond and what the purpose of the pond was. I remember seeing a lot of newly installed Boondoggle signage with messages like "The Trinity River Vision is Underway".

After I blogged about being perplexed by this pond the Fort Worth Connie D pointed me to a website touting the soon to open  Cowtown Wakepark. I blogged about this on September 30, 2010 in Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision's Cowtown Wakepark To Be The Premiere Wakeboarding Facility In The World.

In that blogging there is a very embarrassing J.D. Granger quote about Cowtown Wakepark....

The Executive Director, JD Granger, states: “Cowtown Wakepark will be one of the shining stars of the dynamic improvements happening on the Trinity River right now. We are very excited to have teamed up with the best people in the field of wakeboarding and we are working diligently to help make Cowtown Wakepark the premiere wakeboarding facility in the world. We want everybody in Fort Worth to be able to experience the fun of Wakeboarding, and Cowtown makes it affordable for everyone in Fort Worth to take up the sport.”

So, Mr. Granger thought Cowtown Wakepark would be a shining star among the dynamic improvements happening four years ago on the Trinity River?

Can anyone tell me what those improvements were?

A shining star? Have you seen Cowtown Wakepark. Shoddy, tacky, cheap looking, unlandscaped are descriptive words that come to mind upon seeing this shining star.

The Boondoggle will work diligently to make Cowtown Wakepark the premiere wakeboarding facility in the world?

Now why was there no mention made of this shining star of the world's premiere wakeboarding facility on any of  the 28 pages of  The Boondoggle's propaganda?

Has the Cowtown Wakepark gone out of business? It did not seem to me to be a very viable business. I think at most only six wakeboarders could be zipping around the pond at the same time. The zipping around the pond could only take place during the warm time of the year, further limiting the revenue stream.

And really, how could there be enough people willing to shell out $25, or thereabouts, to get pulled around a little pond for a half hour, or thereabouts, with the pulling being done by a mechanical device strung up overhead?

When I first saw this first instance of actually seeing some result of the Trinity River Vision's Boondoggle I remember wondering how it came about. As in, how much did The Boondoggle spend to alter the Trinity Trails and move the dirt to make this pond? What did the operators of the Cowtown Wakepark pay to The Boondoggle?

In other words, what were, or are, the financial arrangements between The Boondoggle and Cowtown Wakepark? Is this part of the secret shenanigans that can not be made  public? Part of what should be a public record, with a copy of that record denied to anyone requesting to see it?

Anyone know if this shining star of The Boondoggle is still in business?

UPDATE: One of my co-blogging corroborators, upon reading the above pointed me to two blog posts about Cowtown Wakepark. One of those blog posts is on my blog,  the other on the Star-Telegraph blog. Note, that is Star-Telegraph, not Star-Telegram. The Star-Telegraph has news you won't find in the Star-Telegram, such as the blog post titled Wanna Wakeboard? with photos of what happens to Cowtown Wakepark when the Trinity River goes in to flood mode. Apparently Cowtown Wakepark is not part of what the Trinity River Vision's flood protection plan is protecting.

And then on my blog, I'd forgotten I taken photos of the Cowtown Wakepark's shoddy tackiness  and blogged about it in Trying To Wakeboard Today At Cowtown Wakepark. Is the quality level represented by Cowtown Wakepark what we can expect if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes something we can see?

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Explosive 28 Page Fall Propaganda Update

This morning in my mailbox I found a 28 page full color mailing, 28 pages of jaw dropping propaganda. The Fall 2014 Trinity River Vision Authority Update. I scanned a few of the 28 pages of propaganda for illustrative purposes.

On the second page of the propaganda we learn the "Trinity River Vision Authority is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth. The TRV's primary focus is to provide needed flood protection but it will also connect every neighborhood in the city to the river corridor with new recreational amenities, improve infrastructure, provide environmental enhancements and manage event programming...."

"Needed flood protection"? If I have said it once I have said it ten dozen times, the area of The Boondoggle has been protected from floods for well over a half century due to flood control levees you in the rest of America paid for long ago. And now Fort Worth expects you to fork over some more money, this time for imaginary flood protection. And how can The Boondoggle possibly connect every neighborhood in the city to the river? I mean, it is a BIG city, with a very small river. Far north Fort Worth is going to be connected to the river? This is how propaganda works. You just get to make up stuff, just throw out nonsense, because you know no one is going to call you on it.

Also on the second page of the TRV propaganda we learn...

The Trinity River Vision will:

• Create Panther Island, a vibrant new urban waterfront neighborhood north of downtown
• Expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation
• Enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects on the Trinity Trails
• Program public spaces including Panther Island Pavilion, a waterfront music venue and festival space directly adjacent to downtown Fort Worth

That user-requested projects claim amazes me every time I read that particular piece of propaganda. Who are these users? How did they make these requests? I'm a user. I'd like to make some requests. Requests like fire J.D. Granger, put The Boondoggle to a public vote, things like that.

In the TRV Updgate propaganda they seem to be real proud of the explosion that was set off by pushing on a TNT plunger to mark the official beginning of the construction of The Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing. Three Bridges which are such complex feats of engineering that they will take an amazing four years to build.

From the picture above it appears that the aforementioned J.D. Granger, his mama, Kay and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price were among the group who set off the explosion. I am wondering a couple things. One is how much did this explosion cost to explode? And who paid for it? Is the reason a simple shovel dirt turning groundbreaking did not suffice was because these Three Bridges Over Nothing are such a major construction project, bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge, bigger than the Panama Canal, bigger than, well, you get the point, bigger than all sorts of construction projects which did not begin with a big explosion.

Or take four years to build.

On the BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION ERUPTS page of the propaganda we learn "The groundbreaking (or should we say "blasting"?) ceremony took place on November 10 and construction is currently progressing full speed ahead."

More propaganda. Full speed ahead? These Three Bridges Over Nothing are pretty much being built in slow motion. If they ever get completed they likely will have been one of the longest bridge building projects in world history. Four years to build three very simple bridges. Over dry land. If the propagandists were forced to tell the truth that truth would be that the bridges are being built in slow motion due to a lack of funds, which is also the reason they are being built over dry land, due to the fact that J.D.'s mom has yet to come up with the federal money to pay for the un-needed ditch to bring some water under the dry bridges.

And then on page six of the propaganda we have the introduction of the Fort Worth Trinity Promenade.

From the Trinity River Promenade page of the propaganda...

While the primary purpose of the Bypass Channel is to provide flood control, it will also be the most striking waterfront feature of Panther Island, earning it the name Trinity River Promenade.

The Trinity River Promenade will be a system of urban parks connecting lakes, canals and marinas through a network of trails. These lively urban spaces, which will include features such as launches with convenient on-site storage for kayaks & canoes, will foster a healthy active lifestyle community and help to sustain the amazing quality of life in Fort Worth.

Wow! A network of trails connecting lakes, canals and marinas. Lakes? The Boondoggle's vision is now seeing multiple lakes? Amazing quality of life in Fort Worth? I am wondering if this newly introduced Trinity River Promenade will have modern restroom facilities? Or will it continue the amazing Fort Worth quality of life by using the outhouse restroom method, such as what is used at The Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Panther Island Pavilion Music Venue Happy Hour Inner Tube Float area?

And then we come to a couple pages about The Parks of Panther Island. I only scanned the first of the two Panther Island Parks pages.

Regarding the Parks of Panther Island the Boondoggle's propaganda tell us they were "Designed in conjunction with The Trinity River Promenade to foster an active lifestyle community, the Panther Island project now includes a system of seven new urban parks throughout the district..."

Why does The Boondoggle propaganda over and over again refer to "urban" parks. Fort Worth is a city. Aren't all parks in Fort Worth urban parks? It would be hard to have a rural park in a city. So, now The Boondoggle includes seven new parks. Four of the parks are named in the Boondoggle's propaganda. There is Promenade River Bank Park, Promenade Park South, Levee Park and Promenade Park North.

Skipping ahead past several pages of propaganda covering things like Panther Island Ice and the plethora of Panther Island Pavilion events, like Oktoberfest in September and those Rockin' the River floating beer parties, we come to two pages thanking the 2014 special event sponsors of four special events, the aforementioned Panther Island Ice, plus Fort Worth's Fourth, and the also aforementioned Rockin' the River and Oktoberfest.

What caught my attention on the two pages thanking sponsors was the blurb on the second page, that is it above, with the blurb saying "Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, TRVA delivered over $1 million in programming. This programming brought over 170,000 guests to the area, produced economic growth, created jobs and new memories and traditions."

Programming? The Boondoggle delivers programming? Worth over a $1 million? Who counted the number of guests? Who measured the alleged economic growth bought with that more than a million dollars of programming?

And then several pages later we come to yet one more unfortunate J.D. Granger quote. "As we move forward with the construction of Panther Island, it's important we embrace Fort Worth's rich history and memorialize it on the banks of the Trinity River."

So, Mr. Granger thinks it is important to embrace Fort Worth's rich history? Well, on the bluff, at the north edge of downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse there is a park built to honor Fort Worth's rich heritage and history, called, appropriately, Heritage Park. Heritage Park has walkways which over look the imaginary Panther Island and the rest of the Boondoggle's messes.

Heritage Park has been a boarded up eyesore for years.

So much for paying propaganda lip service to memorializing Fort Worth's rich history on the banks of the Trinity River, which Heritage Park over looks.

Continuing on with our wade through The Boondoggle's propaganda we come to some interesting alleged facts about the Trinity Trails.

Again there is mention made of those user-requests. This time it is 90 user-requested trail improvements. Of these propaganda claims two stick out to me. 21 connected parks? Are there that many parks in all of Fort Worth, let alone being connected by some means? 31 connected neighborhoods? There are 31 neighborhoods in Fort Worth? And they are connected by trails? Or canoes?

And then, finally, we come to my favorite item in this surplus of absurd propaganda, Changes in 2015 for Gateway Park.

The strangest part of this info about Gateway Park is at the bottom, in small print, where it says "Gateway Park is a product of the Trinity River Vision."

A product?

In addition to learning Gateway Park is a product of The Boondoggle we also learn the Gateway Park product may be getting some new pedestrian bridges, picnic pavilions, canoe launches and a trailhead.

Along with more benches and tables, security lighting, restrooms and trails.

Additional restrooms? The only modern restroom facility in Gateway Park is in the softball complex, and it is locked unless there are games being played. Fort Woof in Gateway Park is served by outhouses, as is the soccer fields and other areas of Gateway Park, which, might I add, has picnic facilities, but, like most Fort Worth parks, no running water.

I will believe any of these "changes" in Gateway Park when I see them. Additional trails? Does this mean the trails damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Hermine are finally going to be fixed?

Do these Gateway Park changes include fixing the park's Trinity River boardwalks? I blogged about those eyesores twice in September, the west boarded up boardwalk in A Moving Look At One Of Fort Worth's Boarded Up Gateway Park Boardwalks, the east boarded up boardwalk in Boardwalking In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Hunting For Endorphins & Copperheads. Both bloggings have video showing the decrepit condition of the boardwalks.

Also in September, in a blogging titled A Walk Through The Forest Of Trinity River Vision Gateway Park Master Plan Propaganda, I blogged about the bizarre TRV Boondoggle installation of signage by Fort Woof in Gateway Park, touting the imaginary wonders The Boondoggle will bring to Gateway Park. Also with video.

Back to today's 28 page piece of TRV Boondoggle propaganda. How much does it cost to print a publication like this? Does anyone know of any other public works projects, like The Boondoggle, that send out quarterly reports like this to the voters who have never voted on the public works project which really is not a public works project due to the fact the public has never voted for it?

Does the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision send out quarterly reports? If they did, at least that vision has something to show, like that cool Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which actually is a signature bridge.

I did make note of the fact that in its latest propaganda production The Boondoggle has ceased referring to its Three Bridges Over Nothing as being "signature" bridges which would become iconic Fort Worth images.

Ironically, I think there is a chance Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing may become iconic, but not in a way that will make the Fort Worth Boondogglers happy....

UPDATE: TRWD Board Member, Mary Kelleher, commented about the TRV Boondoggle's mailer on Facebook.....

TRV Mailer:

As a TRWD board member, I'm embarrassed by this mailer!! Durango is correct....it is pure propaganda!

This TRV project is all about economic development not flood control. There are actually plans to lower the levees in some areas so the public would have easier access to the Trinity River. The FW 7th Street area recently experienced flooding with just a few inches of rain due to increased development in the area. Imagine if the levees are lowered and we get a real flood?!

And Gateway Park on the east side of FW is now designated as a flood overflow area. You know why? Because the people on the west side of FW fought against it and won.

There is so much unpermitted construction in the flood plain and floodway that even the best engineer in the world can predict what will happen the next time the Trinity River gets out of its banks. I especially fear for the safety of FW residents south and east of the Trinity River, even into Arlington!

In addition, neither the reason for this mailer nor the request for funds to finance this mailer was presented before the TRWD board. I plan to ask for the cost associated with this mailer. Most of us know the likelihood of me getting that information though!

Our water supply is challenged by our existing infrastructure. Where do we plan to get the water to support the masses of people this project hopes to attract?!

One last thought!
YOU CAN'T DRINK MONEY!

The Fort Worth Emperor Has No Clothes On Its Imaginary Island

Stay with me as you read this, eventually I go from Skagit County to Tarrant County and Fort Worth.

Yesterday the Skagit River in my old home zone had me trying to remember the name of a wetlands slough which runs through my old hometown of Burlington. Eventually I remembered it is called Gage's Slough.

Gage's Slough used to be a channel of the Skagit River when the river ran high in flood mode. In the early 1950s massive dikes were built along the Skagit River at the point where the river enters the flat zone of the Skagit Valley.

In the 1990s there were two serious Skagit River floods, two weeks apart. Then early in this century there was a flood which was thought to have possible catastrophic potential. As in the river was running so high it was flooding into Gage's Slough, threatening a large area with flooding, including the Cascade Mall zone. I recollect seeing this on CNN, with the report saying evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Burlington.

I recollect calling my brother's house when I heard this, due to his house being in the evacuation zone. My sister-in-law answered, told me that they'd been warned that they "might" have to evacuate. But, by the next day the danger had subsided, with no evacuations needed.

After the 1990s flood, and again after the flood early this century, there was talk of reviving an old Army Corps of Engineers plan to build a flood diversion channel along the route of Gage's Slough. There were many objections to this idea, mostly due to the amount of extremely valuable farmland that would be lost.

The Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would have diverted flood water to Padilla Bay. By the Fort Worth definition of an island, this Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would create a big island, an island surrounded by the Skagit River, the flood diversion channel and the Swinomish Channel which runs from Padilla Bay to Skagit Bay.

Also, by Fort Worth's definition of an island, the Skagit River Vision could call this body of land an island, even though no flood diversion channel has currently been built making it a pseudo island.

I like the name Fish Town Island for the Skagit River Vision's island.  Fish Town is an old settlement near the mouth of the North Fork of the Skagit River.

I do need to point out that it sort of would seem to be totally ridiculous to have an imaginary island where actual islands exist. Looking at the map above you can see several islands, including two big islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey. Even more islands, called the San Juans, pop up to the left of the area covered in the above map.

On Fidalgo Island there is a lake, Lake Erie, which has an island, one of the world's rare instances of a legitimate island on an island. You can see the island on an island on the left side of the map above, below the green area denoting Mount Erie Park.

Unlike Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's imaginary island,  Fish Town Island comes with a successful tourist town already installed called La Conner, with an actual iconic signature bridge connecting Fish Town Island with Fidalgo Island and the Swinomish Indian Reservation.

Above, that is La Conner's Rainbow Bridge, crossing the Swinomish Channel. Isn't that something? An actual iconic, signature bridge built  over actual water in about one year. In the little tourist town of La Conner, a town which needed no special "vision" to  see a bustling waterfront. It just came natural.

In fact there are two iconic, signature bridges in the area covered in the above map, the other being the Deception Pass Bridge, built over very treacherous fast moving tidal water in a little over a year.

In the Deception Pass Bridge Postcard, made from a photo taken while the bridge was under construction, every body of land you see is an island, Whidbey Island on the right, Fidalgo Island on the left, Pass Island in the middle of the bridge. I forget the name of the other island.

So, last night whilst I was enjoying a salubrious soak in the hot tub, enjoying the balmy night air, with occasional cooling jumps in the pool, it suddenly occurred to me that I am that boy totally perplexed by everyone singing the praises of the Emperor's beautiful clothes, with me seeing quite clearly that the Emperor is totally naked.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only boy in town who is not going along with the Emperor and his new clothes, with the Fort Worth version being going along with pretending that something which is not an island, is an island. I am sure I am not the only boy in town who can see that there is no island, that even if a ditch is ever dug under the Three Bridges Over Nothing, currently supposedly under construction, making a connection from the mainland, over the ditch, that this still is not an island.

I can not be the only boy in town who is able to see that this is just embarrassing. Every time I hear one of the Emperor's toadies mention "Panther Island" I cringe.

How is it that Fort Worth failed to learn the Sundance Square lesson? Where, for decades, Fort Worth confused its few tourists by putting signs all over its downtown pointing to Sundance Square, when there was no square, til recently, when a little plaza was built on one of the parking lots most tourists assumed was Sundance Square.

And now, in 2014, how is Fort Worth going to explain to its few tourists where Panther Island is? There are so many Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signs now which point the way to Panther Island, where there is no island, and where, if that ditch ever does get dug, it still will not be an island, not by any sane person's definition of an island. Or anyone who has actually seen an actual island.

The Emperor has no clothes. This is a fact. An undeniable truth. Panther Island is not an island.

Fort Worth really needs to knock this type stuff off and quit embarrassing itself.

And once Fort Worth quits embarrassing itself someone needs to explain, coherently, how in the world the project timeline for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing can take four years? Way longer than actual complex feats of bridge engineering, including Fort Worth's own Paddock Main Street Bridge. Built over the Trinity River a century ago, in way less than four years.

I say it again, the Emperor has no clothes. There is no such thing as Panther Island.....