Torn Between Wichita Falls Spelling Bee And Moby-Dick Opera

I have tickets tonight to both of Wichita Falls Friday November 4, 2016 Cultural Events.

One of tonight's Wichita Falls Cultural Events is Moby-Dick In The Falls.

The Dallas Opera's production of Moby-Dick is being simulcast live to the Kay Yeager Coliseum in the Wichita Falls Multi-Purpose Events Center, also known as MPEC.

I can not remember the last time I attended a live simulcast of an Opera being performed in Dallas.

Actually, I can not remember if I have ever made it all the way through an Opera to the part where the Fat Lady sings.

While the Opera is singing on the west side of downtown Wichita Falls, on the east side of downtown Wichita Falls the 20th Annual Wichita Falls Literary Council Spelling Bee takes place.

The Spelling Bee is spelling in the Stone Palace on Indiana Street, a short distance east of the Wichita Falls Public Library. The Spelling Bee event begins an hour and a half before the Opera begins to sing.

I have not yet made up my mind as to which of tonight's Wichita Falls Cultural Events to attend.

I am leaning towards the Spelling Bee.

First off it is likely I would better understand what I am watching at a Spelling Bee than an Opera.

Also in the Spelling Bee's favor is the fact I already have my ticket in hand. My Moby-Dick Opera ticket is waiting for me at the Kay Yeager Coliseum will call ticket window.

The Spelling Bee includes a dinner before the spelling begins. And, to help facilitate and lubricate the spellers, and make the spelling more bearable for those of us in the audience, adult libations are available.

I am almost 100% certain no dinner is part of the Moby-Dick opera. And I am fairly certain adult libations will not be available. At least I have seen no mention of such.

I am assuming whichever Wichita Falls Cultural Event I decide to attend tonight I will be able to photo document the event for blogging purposes tomorrow morning.

In the meantime below is a coffee cup with some spelling tips for you Spelling Bee spellers....

Is America's Biggest Boondoggle So Phenomenally Ridiculous That It is Hilarious?

A couple days ago I blogged about America's Biggest Boondoggle and the stalled bridge building aspect of The Boondoggle.

That stalled bridge building had been ignored by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, except for one article last March, informing readers there was a design problem which would take about a month to fix and resume the bridge building.

Then, eight months after the bridge building was halted, the Star-Telegram finally acknowledged such in an editorial in which the boondoggle word was also mentioned.

Tuesday's blogging about The Boondoggle's bridges, and other aspects of The Boondoggle, such as outrageous abuse of eminent domain, generated a couple interesting comments, including one from one of The Boondoggle's victims....

Matthew Clemons has left a new comment on your post "Fort Worth Star-Telegram Opines Boondoggle's Stalled Bridges Can't Be A Good Thing":

Sometimes I think this whole fiasco is really hilarious. How a relatively late modern city can have something this ridiculous going on is phenomenal. But, then I remember what a blight these idiots have put on the city. The area they have ruined was nothing special. But, it was an honest area of urban industrial Fort Worth. There were real businesses with real people working and using that area. These morons just came in there with their "visions" and destroyed that piece of our heritage. What a sham. 

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fort Worth Star-Telegram Opines Boondoggle's Stalled Bridges Can't Be A Good Thing":

That area was special enough to me. Owning property there was a decision made to have a productive place to work, in a central city location, with a view toward the future.

How could the decision to work hard to buy property adjacent to a growing and thriving downtown area, become a bad idea. This was an investment in the future. This was a solid calculation that free enterprise might one day, need this area to continue what was started downtown and along west 7th street.

Nearly a decade of anxiety and 3 1/2 years of constant stress and concern over trying to eventually get a more fair compensation for the property, after it was taken, building demolished, giving the project's representatives no real incentive to offer a better payment, finally came to an end.

However, no real victory.

There is nothing fair about this process. Property owners were not made whole.

Waging an expensive legal battle to seek just compensation, against a cadre of entities running this project, moving at a glacial pace, with trivial and frivolous activities and attractions, all occurring without the voter approval needed for a project this size, has left such a bad taste and repeated scars from the grinding down of our resolve over the years.

Unless it happens to you, no one knows how nasty is the threat of eminent domain. The bank didn't understand. The insurance company didn't understand. The contractors and surveyors that swarmed the area did not seem to be working in consort.

The county, a partner on the project, did not seem to have a list of taken properties. Tax bills were sent for full value for years after the Water District had the property in its name. Property owners were told that they might get a small refund. It took attorneys to inform the County that a "Whole Taking" situation, by law, means that no taxes should have assessed at all, once the properties had been signed over to the Water District.

I want my property and my decade of strife back. I bet my friends and neighbors do too. 

Stunning Resemblance Between Mount Rainier & Mount Wichita

Looking at this early morning sunrise view of a body of water and a mountain I might be looking west across Lake Wichita at Mount Wichita.

Or I might be looking at a photo from my old home zone, standing in Bay View State Park, looking south across Padilla Bay, to about 100 miles distant, at a volcano named Mount Rainier.

It really is difficult to ascertain, for certain, which mountain I am looking at,

Wichita or Rainier.

I think I am going to go with Rainier being the mountain in view, with the primary clue being that little mountain to the left of the big mountain.

Mount Wichita stands alone, with no mountains of any size anywhere to be seen for mile and miles and maybe hundreds of miles.

El Capitan, in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in far West Texas, may be the mountain closest to Mount Wichita.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Opines Boondoggle's Stalled Bridges Can't Be A Good Thing

Well, it seems that perhaps the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has finally noticed that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark, I mean, the state of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Such seems the case this morning via a Star-Telegram editorial titled Stalled Panther Island bridges can’t be good thing.

You in modern towns in America, with real newspapers, can you imagine something like you see in this photo, floundering at the heart of your town, for months on end, with your local newspaper not getting to the truth of what is going on with such a mess?

Less than a week ago the Star-Telegram first made note of that which many have noted for months. We blogged about that in Bizarre Star-Telegram Bridge Boondoggle Report.

In that article the Star-Telegram could find no one who could explain the stalled bridge building problem. In today's Star-Telegram editorial, Val Lopez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation said what the Star-Telegram characterized as what may be the only positive thing he could say about the stalled bridges, telling the Star-Telegram...

“We want to make sure we do this right,”

I would assume such is the case with just about any public works project of any scope.

The Star-Telegram goes on to say "...the fact remains that construction of the bridges started almost a year ago and was halted about three months later. They may not be finished until 2019, a year behind schedule."

More rare non-propaganda editorializing from the Star-Telegram...

"Other than Lopez, most of the people with direct knowledge of the bridge problem don’t want to talk about it."

"That’s understandable. After all, Trinity River Vision still has its share — maybe more than its share — of vocal opponents."

"Nobody involved wants to say the bridges weren’t being done right in the first place, but you don’t stop in the middle of a project like this unless somebody thinks something is wrong."

The Star-Telegram says the Trinity River Vision may have more than its share of opponents. I don't think opponents is the correct characterization. I think it is more accurate to say that which used to be called the Trinity River Vision has a lot of people who have observed the "vision" and have been appalled by how badly the "vision" has been managed.

Defunct Wakeboard parks, floating beer parties in a polluted river, little progress, a project timeline which constantly shifts, an unqualified son of a local politician made the project's executive director, a public works project drastically changing the town, but the townspeople have never been allowed to vote on the project. And even with no public vote on a public works project, eminent domain being abused to take property, over and over again.

Thinking such is not opposing the project, it is objecting to how the project has been mismanaged, in various ways, from the start.

The Star-Telegram editorial also mentions the "B" word for the first time...

"Panther Island/Trinity River Vision can’t afford many missteps. Too many people already see it as an extremely expensive boondoggle."

I have long thought the basic idea behind what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle may be a good idea, maybe even a great idea, but as the project approaches two decades of boondoggling, it seems it may be time to re-think The Boondoggle and fix what ails it, if it is determined fixing it is possible and a good thing to do.

The Star-Telegram is uncharacteristically feisty in this editorial. The editorial suggests, "Nobody involved wants to say the bridges weren’t being done right in the first place, but you don’t stop in the middle of a project like this unless somebody thinks something is wrong."

To which the TxDOT spokesman, Lopez told the Star-Telegram that “These are the kinds of modifications that can occur all of the time on a project this size.”

The Star-Telegram editorial incredulously then said, "Really? Nothing like this seemed to happen with construction on the new Seventh Street bridge. Same with an overabundance of freeway and toll lane construction across Tarrant County and even the buildings and parking garages being built downtown."

That Seventh Street bridge, which looks so cool one might legitimately describe it as a signature bridge, was built in less than a year. Three bridges near Gateway Park, recently completed, were also built in about a year, with one of those bridges crossing the Trinity River, which flooded twice during the construction, which was not halted.

I am not an engineer of any sort. I am blessed with basic common sense, as are a lot of people. I have long been puzzled by those V Piers which are supposed to support the bridge decks of those three bridges connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Looking at the photo of the wooden form for one of those V Piers I don't understand how this would support a bridge deck.

Where the V hits the ground does this go deep? With a big solid foundation of concrete?

With the V Piers and bridges in place how does the ditch get dug under them? You can see that supports are currently holding up the wooden forms of the V Pier. When the concrete is poured and those supports removed, how does that chunk of steel reinforced concrete not come crashing to the ground?

Are these the type questions, with no answers, which have grounded America's Biggest Boondoggle to a halt?

Maybe the Fort Worth Star-Telegram will find answers now that the newspaper seems, sort of, to be on the case....

2016 Halloween With Spencer Jack In Mount Vernon

Last night, long after the trick or treaters ceased trick or treating in my time zone, Spencer Jack's dad text messaged photo and text documentation of Spencer Jack's Halloween.

Spencer Jack is loving handing out candy.

He chose this over trick or treating this year, despite having an awesome home made Lego brick costume he wore to his school Halloween function this weekend.

FUD needs to hurry over to get a treat. Supplies are quickly dwindling.

Our neighborhood is currently full of candy seekers.

________________

Well, I did not make it to Mount Vernon in time to trick or treat Spencer Jack.

Below is Spencer Jack in the aforementioned Lego costume, with the almost depleted Halloween candy supply on the table next to Spencer Jack.

I have had only one normal Washington type Halloween since I have been in Texas.

And that one time happened in 2005 when I was in Washington over Halloween. I was staying at my ex-wife's place in Kent. That is a suburb south of Seattle. The next door neighbor had their yard decorated like they'd hired Imagineers from Disney. Sound effects, motion activated ghoulish things.

The constant onslaught of groups of trick or treaters did not abate til after 10, give or take a minute or two.

When I lived in Mount Vernon, in east Mount Vernon, in what is known as the Thunderbird neighborhood, I'd get well over 100 candy beggars. Probably way more than 100. I did not count either the number of beggars or the amount of candy I had ready for them.

My first location in Texas was in a northern suburb of Fort Worth called Haslet. And isolated ranch type place with a long driveway to walk before a candy beggar would reach the front door. I don't recollect any trick or treaters making the trek to that front door.

My next location in Texas was in east Fort Worth, behind a security gate and fence. Zero trick or treaters.

My current location in Texas has no security gate or fence, is in a nice neighborhood, with something quite rare in Fort Worth.

Sidewalks.

And yet, once again, I got not one knock on the door from any candy beggars. I had a supply of Reese's Peanut Butter bars ready to go, but none went.

I purposely get a candy product which I do not care for, so as to not have any temptation to consume any leftovers.

I have never been much of a candy fan, but I did used to enjoy Halloween, when I lived in Washington. The trick or treating when I was younger, and like Spencer Jack, the handing out the candy when I was no longer young.

Taking A Caribbean Walk With Anti-Trump Signs

Taking a long walk today in my Caribbean neighborhood where all the streets have names like Haiti, Barbados, Antigua, Montego, Nassau, well, you get the drift.

So far I have not come upon Cuba Street. This seems a serious omission. Isn't Cuba the biggest island in the Caribbean?

Previously whilst walking Haiti I came upon a "Anyone But Hillary" makeshift sign.

Today whilst walking Antiqua I came upon that which you see above. A "Trump Pence Make America Great Again" sign which appears to have been altered.

Obviously there is no way for a passerby to tell if the sign was altered by a sign vandalizer, or altered by the yard owner to make his or her or their Trump attitude known.

Seems to me to be a bit brazen for someone to trespass on to someone's yard to X out Trump on both sides of a sign.

So, I opt to choose to believe it was the yard owner who turned this Trump sign into an anti-Trump message.

When I got to Haiti I saw that the "Anyone But Hillary" sign no longer exists. Was this sign the victim of a sign thief? Or a sign owner who came to his or her or their senses?

Arlington Viridian Vision White Sand Beach With Possible Houseboats

I'd forgotten about this til this morning when something reminded me.

Last Wednesday, on my way to missing lunch with Elsie Hotpepper, driving north on Collins Street, heading to the Saigon Cho Market in Arlington's Chinatown, I stopped at River Legacy Park and had a short walk to stretch my legs which were in dire need of stretching.

For a year or two or three, give or take a month or two, I have been impressed by the rapid development of what is known as Viridian.

The Viridian Vision began with infrastructure development around 2007. When the Great Recession hit, the Viridian Vision ground to a halt. That halt continued until sometime around 2012, if I remember correctly. Since then a large number of residences of various sorts have been built, a school has been built, and an elaborate country club has been built, along with other amenities.

Above you are looking at the sandy beach which has been added to what is now known as Lake Viridian.

Back before the Great Recession hit I was talking to a surveyor marking the Viridian property boundary. At that point in time he told me the plan was to turn the lake into a public beach.

I do not know if the plan still is to turn Lake Viridian into an attraction open to the public.

The two photos you see here were taken from the River Legacy Park trail which trails along the southern border of Viridian, meandering along the Trinity River.

I could not tell, for sure, what that was floating on the side opposite from where I was. A dock? Houseboats?

Does Viridian have a Houseboat District?

Wondering if Viridian has a Houseboat District had me pondering as to the contrast between all that has been built by the Viridian Vision, in a relatively short time, whilst Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has very little to be show for an effort which has been boondoggling along for most of this century.

America's Biggest Boondoggle recently added to its list of currently unseen attributes. The Boondoggle's imaginary island is now divided into West Island and East Island. And a Houseboat District has been added.

At the present time America's Biggest Boondoggle is stuck trying to figure out how to build three simple bridges over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to that imaginary island. It has been almost two years since construction on those simple bridges began with a big bang. Currently all there is to be seen of those bridges are some wooden V Pier forms sticking out of the ground, growing moss.

I wonder if there are any plans to have Rockin' the Lake Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in Lake Viridian?

It seems like floating on Lake Viridian would be a much more pleasant venue than that which America's Biggest Boondoggle sponsors in the Trinity River, on those occasions when the all clear is given indicating contamination levels are low enough for it to be sort of safe getting wet in that polluted river.

I wonder how it is that Viridian has developed so fast?

I suspect the Viridian Vision did not have to wait for federal funds to be sent its way. That and I suspect no local congressperson's unqualified son has been the executive director of the Viridian Vision.....

Finding Wichita Falls Stone Palace Anticipating Spelling Bee Next Friday

Next Friday I am scheduled to be in downtown Wichita Falls at the Stone Palace.

Since I was not sure I knew where the Stone Palace was located in the downtown Wichita Falls zone I figured a quiet Sunday morning would be a good time to locate this particular palace.

I figured correctly.

And it turns out it was a good plan to find this location ahead of next Friday because it would have been possibly difficult to find when the sun was in its daily setting mode.

Why am I scheduled to be at the Stone Palace next Friday?

Well, I am glad you asked.

Somehow I got myself hoodwinked into being part of the support team for a group of spellers at the Wichita Adult Literacy Council, Inc. 20th Annual Spelling Bee.  The doors open at 6 pm, dinner is at 6;30 pm and the Bee Begins at 7 pm.

According to my admission ticket "21 t must show ID to purchase  alcohol".

Does alcohol and spelling mix well? I would think not. I guess I will be finding out next Friday.

My understanding of my Spelling Bee Team support role is I, along with a couple others, act as cheerleaders, cheering on our spelling team. There are a couple dozen spelling teams competing for the coveted Best Speller title.  I have no idea what the prize is, if any, for winning the coveted Best Speller title.

After locating the Stone Palace I decided to take a walk around downtown Wichita Falls.

The Stone Palace is just a couple blocks east of the Wichita Falls Public Library. I walked past the library and soon saw the infamous Wichita Falls World's Littlest Skyscraper scraping the sky a couple blocks to the northwest.

At the time I was doing my downtown Wichita Falls walking I thought I would document some of the interesting items of architecture one comes upon, but the bright light was not cooperative, so upon seeing what the photos looked like, once I got them off the camera, I decided to put off for another day photo documenting downtown Wichita Falls' interesting items of architecture.

Back to the subject of next Friday's Spelling Bee.

Saturday night, during a practice session with the team for whom I am scheduled to be a supportive cheerleader, my faculty for spelling became noticeable. Pressure was then exerted on me to become a Spelling Bee speller, replacing one of our Spelling Bee team's spellers, with that speller being completely happy with being replaced.

However, I opted not to become an official Spelling Bee speller. I feel I will be much more useful in a supportive cheer leading role....

Why Is No Privately Financed Ballpark Possible In Arlington?

With voters in Arlington, Texas being asked, yet again, to lend their voting support to the building of yet one more sports palace for the sports watching enjoyment of the rest of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and North Texas, I thought this, which I saw in the Seattle Times, to be interesting.

A few years ago Seattle balked at upgrading Key Arena where the Seattle Supersonics played basketball. This balking led to Chesapeake Energy's Aubrey McClendon and others, moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

Many in Seattle were sad to see the Sonics go, others, tired of demands for sports palace upgrades, thought good riddance.

But, ever since the Seattle Sonics left the Pacific Northwest there has been an ongoing effort to return NBA basketball to one of its best markets.

A Seattle hedge fund manager, Chris Hansen, came up with a plan to finance the building of a new basketball arena, to be built slightly south of were the Mariners and Seahawks play their ball games.

Hansen and Seattle reached an agreement regarding how this arena plan could move forward. The original plan had the city paying part of the cost of the new arena. But, there were complications.

Now Chris Hansen has come up with a new plan, an all private plan to finance the building of a new Seattle basketball and hockey arena.

This is a bit of a contrast with how similar arenas gets built in the D/FW zone.

A few years back Fort Worth voters were asked to approve the funding for the building of a new multi-purpose arena in what Fort Worth calls its Cultural District. The public approval was in the form of three ballot propositions. One proposition asked voters to approve a dollar fee on livestock stalls, another a tax on parking, another a tax on tickets.

You reading this in democratic parts of America, I am not making this up. This is how Fort Worth voters were asked to approve half the funding of a multi-purpose arena.

Has that new Fort Worth arena begun construction yet? Such seems to take an awful long time in Fort Worth.

Back to Seattle.

Now that Chris Hansen has come up with a new plan to build a new arena another group has come up with another privately financed plan, with that plan renovating Key Arena, that being the location where the Sonics played before moving to Oklahoma City.

Key Arena began during the Seattle World's Fair as the Washington State Pavilion. After the World's Fair the Washington State Pavilion was remodeled into being the Seattle Coliseum, a sports palace. In the early 1990s Key Arena was once again remodeled, increasing fan capacity.

It was the fact that Key Arena had been recently remodeled that voters balked at approving one more remodel, hence saying goodbye to the Sonics.

This was a voter reaction similar to that taking place in Arlington where there is some voter fatigue, having voted to build what the public had been told was a state of the art ballpark, back in the 1990s. Then early in the new century approving the building of a state of the art football stadium, a home run hit distance from the baseball park.

And now, in 2016, being asked to build a new air-conditioned baseball park, to replace the ballpark most locals still think of as new.

I wonder why no one in the D/FW zone comes up with any sort of private plan to build or remodel any of the area sports palaces? Like a clever, privately financed plan to somehow provide shade and conditioned air in the existing Arlington baseball park....

Bizarre Star-Telegram Bridge Boondoggle Report

Comment from Captain Andy this morning regarding The Boondoggle's Bridge Fiasco....

Andy N has left a new comment on your post "Why Does Fort Worth Star-Telegram Not Recommend Rejecting Trinity River Vision's Bad Plan?":

Fort Worth’s Panther Island bridges a year behind schedule

Star-Telegram finally takes a swing on the delay and it's a miss. There ARE NO PIERS. What you see is a form for unpoured concrete. 

________________

I had already read the Star-Telegram's article about the Bridge Fiasco and thought, as did Captain Andy, that the article took a lame swing at the Boondoggle's bridge delay.

And missed.

The first paragraph...

It started with a bang and a fiery explosion. But nearly two years later, construction of three bridges north of downtown Fort Worth leading to the planned Panther Island development has slowed to something more like a simmer.

That Star-Telegram has the bridges being a year behind schedule. But construction was halted back in March. Eight months ago. Well, I guess that is getting close to a year.

Such a long delay to this vitally needed project and after eight months the Star-Telegram finally, sort of, reports on the delay. A report which does not address what the actual problem is with constructing these relatively simple little bridges.

I mean, these bridges are no Golden Gate being built over deep, fast moving saltwater.

A gem from Fort Worth's esteemed mayor...

Price, answering critics who had questioned whether the $910 million project would ever get built, declared, “This is not a bridge to nowhere.”

Proper grammar should have had Betsy saying "These are not bridges to nowhere".

But they sort of are bridges to nowhere. The bridges certainly currently are going nowhere. And if the bridges are ever completed, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, well, they really will still be bridges to nowhere.

And then there are these two paragraphs....

Now officials involved in the massive effort say construction of the bridges has fallen about a year behind schedule and likely won’t be completed until 2019. The bridges, which are being financed with state highway funds, were originally expected to be completed in 2018 and cost $65.5 million, although that cost could go up if the delay continues.

The main cause of the delay, officials say, are changes in the design for the steel-reinforced concrete piers that will support the bridges. The changes have been in progress for about a year, slowing work on the bridges to a crawl.

Building these three simple little bridges is a massive effort? If construction halted in March, why are they saying construction has fallen about a year behind schedule?

What schedule? Is it not one of the many reasons the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has become a boondoggle is the fact that this project has never had an sort of project timeline schedule?

The main cause of the delay are changes to the design? Those changes have been in progress for a year? Why was construction started on those V Piers if the design was "in progress"?

I am particularly fond of this short tidbit...

The delay comes at a time when substantial progress has been made in other areas of the Panther Island project, formerly known as Trinity Uptown.

Substantial progress had been make in other areas of the Panther Island project? Which used to be known as Trinity Uptown? The Star-Telegram mentions substantial progress, without detailing what this progress is. The successful closing of the Cowtown Wakepark? That did seem like progress.

We are told the Boondoggle was formerly known as Trinity Uptown. Earlier in the article The Boondoggle was referred to as the Trinity River Vision.  Elsewhere it is the Panther Island Project. Apparently the Star-Telegram has some awareness of the various names The Boondoggle has given itself as it boondoggles along.

Another bizarre bit in this article...

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the modifications were described to him not as a design problem but rather as an effort to be abundantly cautious about the bridges, which have an unusual flattop design essentially with most of the supports below the driving surface. He said he was told that designers built scale models to test out the piers and ensure they could support the rest of the bridge.

Whitley added that it was his understanding work on the bridges would resume soon.

“I have been told the models worked like they thought they would work and they have given the green light to get started on it,” Whitley said.

Oh, so there is no design problem. Instead, after construction was started, it was decided now was the time to be abundantly cautious about the bridges. Yes, that makes a lot of sense.

So, some V Piers get stuck in the ground, construction grinds to a halt, the Star-Telegram tells us at the time the construction halt has to do with a mistake in the steel reinforcing the concrete.

So, then models were built to test if these V Piers would actually hold up a bridge? With a judge being told the models worked and so the green light has been given to re-start the building of those bridges to nowhere.

Who knows what the truth is?  Anyone? When I first saw those V Piers I did not understand how such would support a bridge deck. But, I'm no engineer, so I figured the bridges were designed by engineers who knew what they were doing.

It has long seemed odd to me that it is not an issue building those bridges before a ditch is dug under them. Won't the ditch digging be made more complicated due to having the bridges in place?

How many more years, or decades, is America's Biggest Boondoggle going to keep boondoggling along before the plug gets pulled? It seems that is the likely inevitable fate of something as badly mismanaged as this pseudo public works project has been....