Lake Wichita Revitalization Project & Fort Worth's Corrupt Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

The Texas town I previously lived in, Fort Worth, had a lot of problems.

Among the many problems was a bizarre economic development scheme camouflaged as a much needed Trinity River flood control project, in an area of Fort Worth where there has been no flooding since well over a half century ago, after the Army Corps of Engineers installed levees which have functioned without flaw ever since.

This pseudo public works project was foisted on Fort Worth well over a decade and a half ago. The public has never been allowed to vote on this public works project. This project, known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or, more commonly, as America's Biggest Boondoggle, is currently stalled in full Boondoggle mode.

A couple years ago a big fuss, with a big explosion, marked the start of construction of one of The Boondoggle's three bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island. Construction on that one bridge has been stalled for almost half a year.

Meanwhile the Godmother of America's Biggest Boondoggle, Congresswoman Kay Granger, is trying to attach an earmark to a spending bill so as to send about a half billion bucks of pork to Fort Worth for her son, J.D. Granger, the unqualified Executive Director of America's Biggest Boondoggle, given the job so as to motivate his mama to get that federal money.

So far, like most of Fort Worth's pitiful development schemes, this is not working out as planned.

If I have said it once, I have said it more than once, Kay Granger needs to get booted out of Congress, her son needs to be fired, the plug needs to be pulled on America's Biggest Boondoggle.

And the only federal involvement should be a racketeering investigation.

One more thing, before I move on to another thing. Tarrant County has some actual serious, deadly, dangerous, flood control problems. Development in north Fort Worth of malls, houses, schools, has covered acre upon acre with asphalt and roofs, with no effort to mitigate the increase in runoff volume and speed during a heavy rain event.

This has resulted in deadly floods careening through Haltom City. Kay Granger visited the area devastated by deadly flash floods. Kay Granger has done NOTHING to help direct any federal help, of the Army Corps of Engineers sort, to mitigate this problem. While being party to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's planned waste of money on an un-needed flood control project.

Criminal irresponsibility is a phrase which comes to mind. The woman apparently has no conscience. Fort Worth and Tarrant County deserve someone better to represent them. Someone who is more interested in the problems of the people than pocket lining schemes.

Meanwhile, the town I moved to, Wichita Falls, has its own water related vision. The Lake Wichita Revitalization Project. This project seems to be well thought out, has involved the public in a meaningful way, solves an actual problem and when fully realized will be a tremendous asset to Wichita Falls and the region.

This week the project proposal for Lake Wichita is being delivered to Army Corps of Engineer offices in Oklahoma.

No unqualified son of a local congresswoman has anything to do with the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project. No one has plotted an elaborate scheme to line their own pockets with the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project. No local congresswoman is promising to attach an earmark to a spending bill so as to send some federal pork to Wichita Falls.

Wichita Falls does not seem to be a town ruled by corruption, by people so corrupt they don't even realize they are corrupt. Who do not understand why nepotism is wrong. Who, apparently, don't understand, or care, why conflicts of interest are corrupt. Who really do not understand much of anything other than to continue to rule Fort Worth in what is known as The Fort Worth Way, until, maybe, some magical day when the Fort Worth sheep have had enough and vote all the rascals out and take over the town, for the people.

Oh, and run J.D. and his mama out of town on a rail after a good tar and feathering....

Minutes Away From My 50 Second Wichita Mountain Climb Time

I am amping up the exercise thing due to my new, as of yesterday, five year goal of being able to run up Mount Wichita, in under 50 seconds.

I was in the pool early again this morning. I am gradually learning to like this pool and its saltwater contents. I can float, vertically, in the 8 foot deep deep end.

I do not know if this unusual floating ability is due to the saltwater or excess adipose tissue rendering me extra buoyant.

Long ago I went floating in Utah's ultra salty Salt Lake. But that lake, at the location I floated in, was extremely shallow. No matter how far out into the lake one waded. I never got remotely close to the lake being deep enough to facilitate vertical floating.

So, what with the saltwater floating not providing sufficient aerobic stimulation I rolled my mechanized wheels to Mount Wichita, this third Monday of August, to do some stimulating mountain climbing.

I do not seem to improve at the selfie taking thing. In the above attempt I am in descent mode, about halfway down the mountain.

I timed my climbs up Mount Wichita today.

Three minutes, 43 seconds for the first ascent.

But, part of that time was spent talking to a young lady who was heading down the mountain.

Three minutes, 12 seconds for the second ascent. Which would seem to give some indication as to how much time I spent talking to that descending young lady on the first ascent.

After the descent from the second ascent I was in no mood for a third ascent of the day.

I think I may be overdoing the getting endorphins via aerobic swimming stimulation thing, with my mountain climbing appendages being rendered a bit rubbery....

Chilly Wichita Falls Ides Of August Mountain Climbing

My photo taking skills do not do it justice, but in the picture I am on the summit of Mount Wichita, looking down one of the steep trails which leads to the summit, watching a young lady run, at high speed, up the mountain.

This was on Sunday, yesterday, the busiest I have ever seen the Mount Wichita area of Lake Wichita Park. Lots of mountain climbers.

Upon arrival at the Mount Wichita parking lot I saw a person running at high speed almost at the summit of the mountain.

Turns out it was the same lady you see in the photo. When she reached the summit I asked her what was wrong with her.

Nothing said she, I am just winded.

No, said I, I meant what is wrong with you that you are able to run up this steep mountain so fast, non-stop.

To which she told me the run I witnessed was her third of the day, with three more to come.

I then realized it was she I saw near the summit upon arrival.

She told me the run I witnessed was her fastest yet. 42 seconds. A smart phone was used to time the run.

I tried running up Mount Wichita the first time I climbed the mountain. I tried this because upon arrival that day I saw a guy running up the mountain, with that guy making it look easy.

It took me about 5 seconds of trying to run up the mountain to realize this was not possible in my sadly lacking state of fitness.

Yesterday I mountain climbed because I thought the newly arrived cool temperature would be conducive to easier mountain climbing. It wasn't.

Today is even cooler, at 77 degrees. Brrrrrr. But no wind. Yesterday was breezy.

I went swimming this morning soon after the sun's arrival. The pool lost a lot of its heat overnight. Not to the point of being cold, but much cooler.

A harbinger of the coming Fall.

And Winter.....

Burlington Reunion Of Former Associates Collective Collects Without Me

Yesterday, in my old hometown of Burlington, in my old home state of Washington, a reunion  took place of a collective of associates with whom I associated for a period of time, decades ago, way back in the last century.

I have known, via Facebook, of this impending reunion for quite some time, and was eagerly awaiting the formal invitation arriving in my mailbox, but such never arrived.

This morning photos of this reunion, to which I was not formally invited, and thus was unable to attend, showed up on Facebook.

In the above photo foreground you are looking at Miss Linda and Betty Jo Bouvier. Miss Linda called me yesterday whilst she was en route to pick up Betty Jo to go to the aforementioned reunion.

It has been two and a half decades since I have attended one of the reunions of this collective of former associates. That reunion took place in the Skagit Valley tourist town of La Conner.

My only vivid memory of that reunion was the aforementioned Miss Linda doing a hilarious stand up routine which predominately featured the controversial issue of her hair dent and the intervention scheduled to deal with that serious issue. At some point in Miss Linda's act she mentioned me, which caused the larger of the Goober twins to physically assault me, lifting me up and causing me to trip on to the stage in front of Miss Linda.

I really have never forgiven the larger Goober twin for this drunken outrage.

The last reunion of this collective of former associates took place five years ago, at a farm a couple miles north of Burlington.

Few attended. Like I already intuited I was not among the few attending. Nor was Honey Lulu. I don't remember getting a formal invitation to that one either.

The day after that reunion a group photo of those in attendance showed up on Facebook. Honey Lulu called me, due to being perplexed as to the identity of some of those in the photo. I was of little help with the identifying.

Above on the left, that is the aforementioned Honey Lulu (aka Beth SM), yesterday, at that aforementioned reunion of a collective of former associates. You may recognize Honey Lulu from such television shows as LOST. I do not know who that is standing next to Honey Lulu looking like he is prepping for a role in a Santa Claus movie.

Isn't the scenery scenic in my old hometown zone? Big green trees under a big blue sky. The locals have been sweltering in my old home zone with temperatures only slightly cooler than my current location, as in temperatures in the 90s.

Years ago a now long gone Washington icon, Emmett Watson, initiated a campaign whereby the people of Western Washington were not to send photos out of the state showing sunny summer scenes. Photos of rain were okay, thus perpetuating the rainy reputation as a year round thing. But, over the decades, with millions of tourists experiencing the Western Washington summer reality, including multiple cruise ships sailing in and out of Puget Sound, the effort to perpetuate the year round rain myth has gone away.

I wonder if I will get a formal invitation to the next reunion of this collective of former associates of mine? Probably not.....

Wichita Falls Saltwater Swim Before Sikes Lake Geese & Barbecued Chicken

Last night, after experiencing Rabble Rouser Lunch exhaustion, I opted out of the planned attendance at Art in the Dark, due to that exhaustion problem, and precipitation was precipitating.

There is another downtown Wichita Falls art event tonight called Pop Up Art. It is not an outdoor pop up. The Pop Up Art takes place in what is known locally as the iconic Big Blue Building.

I remember when I first saw what I now know is the iconic Big Blue Building I thought to myself, well that is unfortunate. The iconic Big Blue Building is currently being restored to its former glorious state of iconic wonderment.

I have discovered if I go swimming early enough the sun has not had time to heat the area around the pool hot enough to melt my flip flops to the ground. Yesterday I made the mistake of going swimming in the late afternoon, soon before precipitation precipitated and found, upon finishing with the swimming, that my right foot flip flop had melted.

So, this morning I had myself a mighty fine time swimming in the saltwater pool. I have grown to sort of like the saltwater pool with its 8 foot deep deep end. Due to the extra buoyancy afforded by saltwater I can float, for a time, standing up, in the deep end.

I really did not think swimming gave me enough exercise today, though I did feel some aerobic endorphin stimulation, so in the noon time frame I drove the short distance to Sikes Lake to commune with nature and the Sikes Lake geese.

The Sikes Lake geese seemed to be in cranky honking mode today. I feared for the safety of the little guy you see above who approached the flock of four you also see above, with no apparent adult supervision, not of the little guy, or the geese.

Eventually an adult figure arrived and picked up the little guy about the same time a plus-sized adult white goose arrived and herded the flock of four in the opposite direction of the little guy and the adult supervisor.

It is now time for lunch. Barbecued chicken, rice and cabbage. Each item is more complicated than my simple description would seem to indicate.

No Kickapoo Copter So I Climbed Mount Wichita Before Art In The Dark In The World's Littlest Skyscraper

I was expecting a helicopter to touch down today at Kickapoo Airport, that being the airport almost next door to my abode, to pick me up and fly me to Haltom City so I could do some much needed rabble rousing.

However, no helicopter showed up in the expected time frame.

So, around noon I took off in my motorized transport and soon found myself fearing I was in vehicular malfunction mode. The transmission was not transmitting the way it normally transmits.

That and an odd warning light was lit. The warning looking like a trailer with a hitch.

I got to the base of Mount Wichita, turned off the engine, got out the manual and quickly learned that I must have inadvertently pushed the button on the end of the shift lever, a button which puts the vehicle into tow mode.

So, with that problem solved I exited the vehicle to go do some mountain climbing.

A group was already ascending the main route to the Mount Wichita summit, including a young, skinny guy who ran all the way to the summit, at high speed, with no stops on the way up.

You can see the young skinny guy, in red, near the summit, about to pass what looked to be a slightly overweight older guy.

I walked around the mountain to make my ascent via the less frequently used southeast summit trail. I did not run non-stop to the top.

A cooling wind made the almost 100 degrees feel not so HOT. Which is always a good thing.

Tonight I'm going to Art in the Dark in the downtown Wichita Falls Arts District. The Art in the Dark includes art in the World's Littlest Skyscraper. This should be interesting.....

Photo Documentation Of America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridge Debacle

The text at the top of the screen cap of the photo you see here says "The V piers looking mostly the same  as they did in March."

Yesterday I blogged Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress arguing it is time to boot Granger from Congress, fire her son and pull the plug on America's Biggest Boondoggle.

A week ago today, last Thursday, I blogged Imaginary Fun Phase Begins For Fort Worth's Entertainment Boondoggle after Captain Andy sent me a link to an insipidly stupid FOX4 News online propaganda article about America's Biggest Boondoggle.

This morning Captain Andy sent me a link to the Fort Worth Architecture Trinity River Vision Forum in which someone had posted photos of The Boondoggle's stalled bridge construction. You know, those simple signature bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, construction of which has ground to a halt for five months.

The photos of The Boondoggle's bridge embarrassment showed up after someone in the Forum asked "Anyone heard an update on the one month bridge delay that is quickly and quietly closing in on 5 months?"

I have had a person or two of the information challenged sort suggest I exaggerate when I mention how long America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling. At the top of each of the many pages of the Trinity River Vision Forum we learn "Trinity River Vision Forum started by Fire-Eater, May 20 2004."

Obviously Fire-Eater did not start this Forum on the day it was foisted on Fort Worth with a massive Star-Telegram front page headline hysterically screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO THE VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH". I believe The Boondoggle has been boondoggling since 2002. I do not recollect when it was J.D. Granger was put on the dole, I mean, put in charge, in a money raising scheme, to motivate his mama to send some federal pork to Fort Worth. That did not work out as planned, hence this ill-conceived scheme becoming America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I so clearly remember the morning I read that Star-Telegram headline about scenery blah Fort Worth becoming the Vancouver of the South and that being the first time I thought to myself something is dire wrong with this town. Are insane people running the place? It took several more years for me to come to the conclusion that Fort Worth is just a Sick City, in dire need of an intervention.

Below you are looking at a photo you will see if you go back one page from the Fort Worth Architecture Forum page Captain Andy directed me to. In this photo you are looking at the current state of the Damage Zone inflicted on Fort Worth by America's Biggest Boondoggle. You are looking down on the stalled bridge construction and the ridiculous "art" installation at the center of a roundabout that the Forum debaters do not like. In the upper left of this photo you are looking at the location where two forks of the Trinity River come together, where regularly unseemly levels of E. coli collects, along with J.D. Granger and his legion of polluted river aficionados.

Reading the Fort Worth Architecture Forum comments I learned all sorts of appalling Boondoggle ridiculousness.

In one comment I learned...

There are now districts and they have names.

- East Island 
- West Island
- And the Houseboat District 

Houseboat District? Is J.D. Granger a big fan of Sleepless in Seattle? One of the commenters had this to say about the new "island" names...

Maybe they are going to follow the corporate sports model, take tax money to build the installation and then take more money from some company for "naming rights".  Alcon Island, American Airlines Island, Locheed-Martin Island, Frost Bank Island, XTO Island, BNSF Island... If you don't like the name just wait a few years, sort of like Texas weather. The company will go bankrupt and some other company will acquire new naming rights: Texas Central Island, Green Mountain Island, Solar City Island, Hyperpoop Island, etc.

One of the commenters commented about the new 3-D models of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision which have been installed at The Boondoggle's propaganda installation on the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building.

Does no one in the Sick City understand the concept of conflicts of interest? Can we expect factual information in the Star-Telegram about the tenant on the ground floor? We have long known that nepotism being a bad thing is a concept lost on these goobers known as the good ol' boy and girl network which runs the town in what is known as The Fort Worth Way.

As in corrupt. And self-serving.

So, these new models in The Boondoggle's waste of space show all sorts of imaginary wonders. You can push buttons on an interactive map and have imaginary nonsense light up.

How much has all this propaganda cost? How much does it cost to lease space on the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building? Who is making all these 3-D models? And why? And how much do the models cost? How many people are on the TRV dole, in addition to J.D. Granger?

How can money be being wasted on such utter propaganda nonsense at the same time J.D. Granger's mama, Kay, is trying to scam federal money from American taxpayers to pay for Fort Worth foolishness?

Appalling. Disgusting. Perplexing. And Embarrassing....

Trinity River Vision Should Cataract Kay Granger Out Of Congress

I think I may be about to write the longest blog post I have ever written. So much material.

Yesterday Miss B emailed me regarding an email she had received from a Texas Watchdog, who asked Miss B if she knew how to contact that guy who writes that blog that so frequently mentions America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I told Miss B how the Texas Watchdog could contact me. This morning the Texas Watchdog emailed me, asking about something I really knew nothing about, with a link to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article which contained the mis-information I knew nothing about. This mis-information was in a Star-Telegram article earlier this month, August 6, I think.

Then, later in the day, Elsie Hotpepper emailed me with a subject line of "Early Birthday Present". The early birthday present was to yet one more Star-Telegram article, an editorial published, I think, on Monday, August 8, about the same subject as the earlier article, that subject being America's Biggest Boondoggle, which the Star-Telegram still, occasionally, refers to as the Trinity River Vision.

Well, now that I've gotten the prelude out of the way, where to begin?

The Star-Telegram article the Texas Watchdog referenced was titled Fort Worth’s water project is finally on the verge of funding.

Let that title sink in. According to the Star-Telegram America's Biggest Boondoggle, after nearly 15 years of boondoggling, is on the verge of finally being funded.

How is this funding on the verge of happening, you might wonder?

This paragraph from the article answers that question...

Granger, a former mayor of the city “where the West begins,” has, after nearly 20 years as a member of the House of Representatives, helped smooth the way for Congress to approve about $520 million in federal funds from the Army Corps of Engineers for the Fort Worth project. It is estimated that the completed cost, which includes nonfederal funding, will be nearly $1 billion.

The Granger being referred to is Kay Granger, mother of J.D., who was hired to be The Boondoggle's Executive Director in order to motivate his mama to do some pork barreling and attach some earmarks to bills to get money to fund this ridiculous project.

So, Granger, after all this time, years and years and years after her unqualified son was hired to muck up a project he was unqualified to execute, has now supposedly smoothed the way to get some of that federal money siphoned to Fort Worth.

But, the article tells us time is running out for the bill to get passed to add this pork to the president's budget.

(Note to president: If this ludicrious waste of public funds gets to your desk, please veto it, or line item it into oblivion.)

The article spends some time explaining various reasons this Kay Granger scheme might fail.

I particularly found the following paragraph of interest...

There are some differences between the House and Senate bills in funding the Trinity Vision project – the House bill authorizes $526.5 million and the Senate $520 million – and the Senate bill stipulates that the assistant secretary of the army for civil works certify that the project meets cost-benefit criteria.

Certify that the project meets cost-benefit criteria?  This "project" has been touted as a much needed flood control project, with the side benefit of providing an economic stimulus to a blighted section of a blighted town. There are areas of Tarrant County in dire need of flood control mitigation. Haltom City and Fossil Creek come to mind. The area where Kay Granger expects the American people to send Fort Worth money has not flooded for over half a century due to the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers built flood control levees that have kept that zone dry ever since.

This ridiculous "vision" has always been a crooked scheme to line the pockets of those who instigated it. What the federal government needs to do, instead of sending money to Fort Worth for a bogus flood control project, is to investigate who, including Kay Granger, stood to have their property values enhanced if the Trinity River Vision ever became something someone could see.

It also might be a good idea to investigate, on a federal level, how and why it was that Kay Granger's unqualified son, a low level district attorney, was hired to direct this project.

Okay, now let's get to the Star-Telegram editorial about this subject.

I will copy the entire short editorial, in its entirety, with its tortured verbiage intact...

Trinity River Vision nearing reality

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The Trinity River Vision project is one step closer to being a reality.

Thanks to the tenacity of its principal advocate in the U.S. Congress, Rep. Kay Granger, the massive flood control and economic development project is close to receiving the congressional authorization needed to ensure its inclusion in the president’s budget.

Approval would unleash $520 million in federal funds from the Army Corps of Engineers — the majority of the estimated money needed to see the almost $1 billion project to its completion.

Granger, a former Fort Worth mayor, has been working for years to secure federal dollars for the endeavor, which, when finished, would divert the Trinity River and create an urban lake and 12 miles of developable waterfront in the northern quadrant of the city.

The funding still has a few hurdles to overcome: The House and Senate have to resolve slight differences in their respective authorization bills, and then legislators have to pass the bill in the time that remain this congressional session.

_____________________

"Developable waterfront in the northern quadrant of the city"?  Who is on this Star-Telegram Editorial Board? People who have never been to Fort Worth? The northern quadrant of the city is a long distance from the area at the north end of downtown Fort Worth where The Boondoggle is doing its boondoggling.

This editorial was illustrated by that which you see at the top. The infamous TNT explosion which marked the start of construction of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Underneath that explosive illustration was the following blurb...

Officials detonate a blast on Henderson Street at the official groundbreaking of construction of the Panther Island Bridges being built on Henderson Street, North Main Street and White Settlement in Fort Worth, TX, Monday, Nov. 10, 2014. The ceremony included remarks by Congresswoman Kay Granger, Texas Department of Transportation Commissioner Victor Vandergriff and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

_______________________

Make note of the date of the TNT explosion. Nov. 10, 2014. Almost two years ago. At that point in time The Boondoggle shamelessly informed us that the bridge construction would take four years.

Longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.

Almost two years after the TNT explosion all that can be seen of the bridge construction is some wooden V-pier forms near the site of the TNT explosion, that being the only one of the three bridges to have had any construction activity.

With that solo bridge construction activity halted months ago due to design problems.

You reading this in sane locations in America. This Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for a long time, Funds have been wasted on parts of the project which have already failed, such as Cowtown Wakepark. J.D. Granger has been making money for years longer than a real project director would have been making money from a legitimate project which should have been long completed, with the legitimate project director having moved on to his next project.

As an indicator of how absurd it is that Kay Granger's son was given this job, do you think, if this project ever does actually come to any sort of fruition, would any other city, anywhere, hire J.D. Granger to be the Executive Director of a public works project, after turning this Fort Worth embarrassment into America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Why is the Star-Telegram still cheerleading this disaster? Are owners of the Star-Telegram among those whose property values will increase if this project ever actually happens? What possible reason would the Star-Telegram have to bring up the subject of those bridges, with no mention made of the fact that building these simple bridges has run into a major snag?

Why does the Star-Telegram not have issue with the fact that The Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for such a long time with so little to show for the effort?

Why does the Star-Telegram not see a problem with a statement such as "Fort Worth's water project is finally on the verge of funding?"

This public works project which the public has never been allowed to vote on  was foisted on Fort Worth almost a decade and a half ago. And now, all that time later this project is finally on the verge of funding? And the local newspaper of record does not find this embarrassing, inept, stupid, irresponsible and, well, idiotic?

And definitely not the way major projects happen in modern locations in America.

Kay Granger needs to be booted out of Congress. Her son needs to be fired. A federal investigation into the various nefarious shenanigans needs to take place. And the plug needs to be pulled on this totally unneeded pseudo flood control project before any more harm is done to Fort Worth.

It's just appalling. 

Why Is There No Vision To Clean Up The Polluted Trinity River?

Yesterday, or the day before, I blogged about cities in America and the world, other than Fort Worth, which were having success with cleaning up their blighted rivers.

On a related subject I also blogged about Fort Worth's Trinity River's E. Coli and dead bodies pollution problem.

In a conversation with a Wichita Faller I recently found myself discussing how backwards Fort Worth was compared to Wichita Falls, and other modern American cities, in so many ways.

Such as, why, in Fort Worth, is there no effort to clean up the various polluted waterways? The main one being the Trinity River, along with waterways like Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park. It's not as if no other towns have cleaned up their waterways, hence Fort Worth having no examples of doing the same such thing.

New York City, for example.

The NYC blurb in the wired.com article about seven cities which turned their rivers from blight to beauty....

New York’s once ridiculously-polluted East River and Hudson waterfronts were long considered great places… to dump bodies. After transforming the banks on all sides over the last two decades with riverfront parks and paths, the city is further reimagining them through several new initiatives, including BIG’s Big U, a 10-mile-long protective system of landscaping and barriers around Manhattan that double as public space. But the most ambitious foray into the water itself is Family’s Plus Pool, a plus-shaped structure floating in the East River, filtering river water for swimming through a three-level purifying system. Final site selection is set to be announced later this year, and completion is set for 2019. Cities around the world are now shouting for similar facilities.

Fort Worth has been shuffling along for about the same amount of time it took New York City to transform the Hudson and East Rivers, with Fort Worth's embarrassing badly managed Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision having little to show for the multi-year effort.

Instead of a warped vision encouraging people to get wet in the E. coli alligator infested Trinity River why not focus instead on cleaning up that pitiful river?

Look what New York City is doing, installing a floating swimming pool type structure on the East River, filtering the water to make it totally safe to swim in.

One of America's Biggest Boondoggle's, early on, obvious to fail absurdities, was Cowtown Wakepark. Described by Fort Worth's favorite son, J.D. Granger, as being a world class state of the art facility which would bring the coveted sport of wakeboarding to the people of Fort Worth, who, apparently, in J.D.'s frat boy arrested development mind, longed for such.

Cowtown Wakepark is now a ghost town, worse than the stalled ghost town where once The Boondoggle celebrated the start of bridge construction with a TNT explosion and a lot of hot propaganda air.

Now, the pond The Boondoggle built for Cowtown Wakepark had an obvious flaw, in that it was so close to the Trinity River that the pond and that which surrounded the pond got flooded whenever the Trinity River ran extra water. Why did none of the useless idiots in charge of America's Biggest Boondoggle not realize this would be a problem?

Might there be a way to turn the Cowtown Wakepark pond into safe clean water, using some version of that system NYC is using to make a floating swimming pool in the East River? And somehow make this impervious to floods? And a safe place to be Rockin' the River whilst floating on inner tubes drinking beer?

Fort Worth, and Texans in general, seem way too comfortable with polluting their waterways.

Irresponsible fracking comes to mind.

In my old home state, decades ago, various waterways had become terribly polluted. Salmon no longer returned to Lake Washington. Various lakes were no longer safe to swim in. The pollution levels in the various rivers which drained into Puget Sound were polluting Puget Sound, having dire effects on the health of the Sound and its sea life.

So, what did the people of well educated, progressive Western Washington do? The various counties passed bond issues that brought about new water treatment plants, raising the treatment level to what is known as tertiary treatment. King, Pierce and Snohomish County passed what was called Forward Thrust, with the people voting to spend a lot of money on various projects that would clean up the water, and do things like upgrade Pike Place, the Woodland Park Zoo. Oh, and build the Kingdome. Among other items.

The result.

Salmon long ago returned to Lake Washington which has been safe to swim in for decades now, along with the other Western Washington lakes. Puget Sound is healthy. A crystal clear level of clean water. I remember in late July of 2008, walking along the beach at Point Defiance in Tacoma, astonished at how clear the water was. I remember thinking what a contrast with what I see in the area of Texas I live in.

I make that "area of Texas I live in" caveat because some of the clearest water I have ever seen has been in Texas. Aquarena Springs in San Marcos comes to mind.

If Western Washington could clean up its rivers and lakes, why can't North Texas? I do not get how people can tolerate their town having a river run through it which regularly hosts too much E. coli, while an idiotic pseudo public works project encourages people to get in that polluted water under the pretense they are participating in really special floating music events at a unique special music venue, which is actually quite mundane and the fact of the matter is there are few towns in the world, so backwards, that the town's officials would promote such unhealthy behavior in such an unseemly location.

I guess Fort Worth can take some solace in the fact that the town has something in common with Rio de Janerio. As in, water one is advised not to touch. However, there is a snowballs chance in hell that Fort Worth could ever be picked to host an Olympics.

Hosting America's Biggest Boondoggle will likely continue to be Fort Worth's claim to fame for the near future...

Climbing Mount Wichita On A Cool Cloudy August Texas Monday

Til today it seems like it has been weeks since I rolled myself to Lake Wichita Park to do some mountain climbing to the summit of Mount Wichita.

Mountain climbing has not seemed appealing with the temperature over the century mark.

But today, as you can see, is a bit overcast, with thunderstorms in the realm of the possible, according to the weather prognosticators.

Since I last mountain climbed giant dandelion-like flowers have sprung up at the lower elevations of Mount Wichita, adding a welcome bit of yellow to the green and brown earth tones.

The temperature at the base of Mount Wichita, according to my phone, was 83 degrees when I began the ascent. I did not think to check the temperature when I reached the high elevation of the summit.

The air is being pretty much dead calm today, which helped make that relatively chilly 83 degrees feel relatively hot.

I made only two ascents to the Mount Wichita summit today, with the first ascent via the rarely climbed east face of the mountain. The second ascent was via the popular, heavily trekked west ascent.

From the Mount Wichita summit it did not look like there was much thunderstorm potential in the looking south view you see below. However, taking a 180 degree turn and looking north, the dark sky did look like there was thunderstorm potential. I did not think to photo document the dark northern view.

You can see today's dead calm windlessness reflected in how glassy like smooth Lake Wichita is being today. Nary a ripple in sight.

Upon reaching the summit of Mount Wichita today I found a guy taking photos with his phone. He was from Missouri, in town to visit his grandma and introduce grandma to his fiance.

The last time he was in Wichita Falls was during the drought. He said that on that visit Lake Wichita was reduced to being a small pond. He also said that when he was a kid he and his friends would swim in Lake Wichita.

I knew long ago, like early in the previous century, swimming was doable. People in this century have told me no one swims in Lake Wichita.

The Lake Wichita Revitalization Project hopes to restore Lake Wichita to being swim worthy, with a sandy beach near the base of Mount Wichita. That would be a real good thing....