Holland Takes Lead Over Fort Worth In Island Building

I saw this on Facebook this morning.

Apparently my old home country of Holland is building artificial islands.

Looking at the photo illustrating these islands they appear to look to be actual islands, even if they are manmade islands.

One really can not help but wonder if the Netherlanders found themselves Green with Envy upon learning the landlocked American town of Fort Worth was building itself an artificial island, so Holland decided to emulate this.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the case.

Fort Worth has a long history of causing bouts of envy in towns, states, and nations, far and wide. I know this because long ago I read this in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, over and over again.

The Netherlands has actual large bodies of water to work with to build its artificial islands. Whilst landlocked Fort Worth is stuck working with a little river to try and make an island by digging a ditch around a chunk of industrial wasteland.

The Fort Worth island project is well underway. Extremely complicated to engineer bridges have been being constructed for years, over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that industrial wasteland that will be Fort Worth's artificial island, if that ditch is ever dug, with water added, under those bridges, which may be completed sometime in the next decade.

Reading the article about the Netherlands' new islands it seems the Dutch have leaped way ahead of Fort Worth in getting its island up and surrounded by water.

Meanwhile, back in America, of late I have found myself blessed with a lot of new info about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Now with a vision which sees a marina and houseboats. I learned this from my new Boondoggle information gleaner, who I am gonna call Deep Moat III.

I will likely get around to blogging about some of that which Deep Moat III has shown me in the coming week, or two, or three.

If I have said it once, I have said it more than once, it's always something...

Without Change Fort Worth Will Never Have The Most Cranes In America

I saw that which you see here this morning in the Seattle Times.

No, this is not yet one more instance of our popular series of items we see in west coast news sources which one would not expect to see in a Texas, or, well, a Fort Worth, Texas news source, if Fort Worth, Texas actually had news sources of the sort one is able to read at multiple west coast locations.

No, what I was thinking when I saw this headline was how the right wing nut jobs opined idiotically back a couple years ago when Seattle started raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, with the RWNJ's making up nonsense about restaurants going out of business within a week. When the new minimum wage had not yet gone into effect.

And now, several years later, just a few weeks ago I read an article detailing the dozens upon dozens of new restaurants which had opened in the Seattle zone in the past year.

And now this ongoing boom of construction, which apparently, if the right wing nut jobs were right, which they never are, would be seeing even more construction cranes if Seattle had not gone with that economy crippling increase in the minimum wage.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oh, I guess this is can also be one more instance of our popular series of items we see in west coast news sources which one would not expect to see in a Texas, or, well, a Fort Worth, Texas news source.

What is the minimum wage for restaurant waitstaff in non-booming Fort Worth? Is it still a couple bucks an hour, with the rest of the earnings to be made up by tips?

How many construction cranes does one currently see in the downtown Fort Worth zone? Or in the area north of downtown Fort Worth which has been floundering most of this century with what is basically an imaginary economic development zone, currently struggling to build three simple little bridges to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

How many construction cranes are currently in build mode on that imaginary island?

Fort Worth regularly loses out in any type competition to attract a corporate headquarters to town. It does not take a rocket scientist level urban planner expert to see why. Just that ongoing eyesore of slow motion construction which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle would be enough to scare off any successful corporation looking to re-locate, or open a satellite headquarters.

And to stay on this comparing Fort Worth to Seattle theme, which I know the Fort Worth locals love.

About the same time Fort Worth had a TNT explosion ceremony to celebrate the start of construction of those three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island, Seattle began boring a tunnel under its downtown, using what at the time was the world's biggest boring machine.

The Seattle tunnel project had a four year project timeline, just like Fort Worth's simple bridges. The Seattle tunnel ran into a snag in the form of the boring machine hitting unexpected steel. This delayed the tunnel boring for about a year.

Meanwhile the Fort Worth bridges also quickly hit some sort of never disclosed obstruction which stopped construction for over a year.

The tunnel project in Seattle was fully funded, fully engineered, directed by qualified project engineers. This past week the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct began, In less than a month the new tunnel is expected to open to traffic, a little over four years after beginning boring.

Meanwhile, the Fort Worth bridge project is now not projected to be completed until the next decade. The Fort Worth project is not fully funded, is not fully engineered, and is not directed by a qualified project engineer, but is instead directed by the un-qualified son of a local politician, who was hired so as to motivate his mother to secure federal funds for Fort Worth's not fully funded project, a task the mother has largely failed at delivering.

But, Fort Worth keeps re-electing the woman, an instance of what is known as the Fort Worth Way. Or as some locals call it, Fort Worth Nincompoopery.

Maybe Fort Worth should mandate raising the minimum wage and see if that helps raise the town out of its floundering doldrums...

Will The Panther Island Bridge Nonsense Never End?

I saw that which you see here this morning via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and whilst reading the article an infamous Elsie Hotpepper phrase came to mind...

"Will this nonsense never end?"

And by nonsense we are talking about the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle nonsense, and the nonsense the Fort Worth Star-Telegram publishes in propaganda mode about that nonsense.

You can read this latest piece of Star-Telegram propaganda yourself in When will those Panther Island bridges be open? Not as soon as commuters might hope.

This latest Star-Telegram propaganda article included a photo of one of the Boondoggle's pitiful bridges, now looking like a bridge, with a deck on top of the V-piers which have been awaiting such for years. This photo is buried beyond the end of the article. Why? I don't know. Maybe because the photo is evidence of how pitiful these simple little bridges are.

Below is the photo to which I refer....

Even though construction on the above bridge began with a TNT exploding ceremony way back in 2014, with a then astonishing four year project timeline, the current propaganda has the bridge not completed until the next decade.

Can you believe the Fort Worth propagandists have actually tried to describe this as a signature bridge? You know, a bridge of the iconic symbol sort, like the Golden Gate Bridge, which actually took only four years to build, over actual water, with an actual purpose for building it.

This latest Star-Telegram sort of makes mention of the impending forensic audit of that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. But, no mention is made of the J.D. Granger Scandal, which is believed to be the main thing which prompted that impending forensic audit.

There is propaganda about why the V-pier design was chosen, but no mention of how J.D. Granger caused this design and thwarted a better design which the Army Corps of Engineers approved, and would have paid for. Late last year that part of the TRV Scandal was blogged about in America's Biggest Boondoggle Unravels As Trinity River Vision Scandals Grow. This latest Star-Telegram propaganda repeats unsubstantiated nonsense about why that V-pier design was chosen.

Now, let's go through this latest bit of Star-Telegram propaganda and comment as we do so...

Piers sprout from the ground like concrete plants on North Main and Henderson streets north of downtown Fort Worth. On White Settlement Road, the bridge forming over dry land looks almost complete.

The above opening paragraph seems almost poetic. Piers sprouting like concrete plants. And now we know that almost completed bridge is the one on White Settlement Road.

Continuing on...

But the three bridges over the Trinity River connecting the rest of Fort Worth to the yet-to-be completed Panther Island are now between a year and two years behind schedule, construction managers say. Once slated to open by 2019, delays with design and construction have pushed back the opening dates to mid-2020 to 2021.

Yet to be completed Panther Island? Really? Can we please see the project timeline and plan for completing that imaginary island? Between a year and two years behind schedule? Wait. Didn't we just read those bridges began construction with a TNT exploding ceremony way back in 2014. We are currently in 2019. 2021? That is seven years later than 2014.

Continuing to continue on...

Delays were first caused by the unique V-shape pier design, which engineers needed to test, and construction of each pier has further slowed the project.

Yeah, those are some unique pier designs, the likes of which the world has never seen. Requiring engineers to test those unique designs, designs apparently of a real complex nature, hence the long delays, unlike simple bridge projects, you know, like the Golden Gate Bridge, built over swift moving deep tidal currents.

Continuing...

The bridges’ construction is managed by TxDot with the city of Fort Worth as the local partner. They’re part of the larger Panther Island project, a flood control effort that will re-channel the river and create an 800-acre island ripe for redevelopment. The project carries a total cost of $1.16 billion with more than $65 million going to the bridges.

Oh yes, Star-Telegram, let's repeat the flood control propaganda yet again. Flood control in an area which has not flooded for well over a half century due to levees long ago built and paid for. A flood control effort? Just an effort? A try? An attempt? To re-channel the river? That proposed re-channeling is a cement lined ditch running under those three pitiful little bridges, such as the one you see above. Can you picture this? No? I can't either.

Continuing on...

The design focuses the aesthetics on the area below the bridge deck — where the riverwalk would be — leaving the top of the structures for automobile use. TxDot offered to build the three bridges just like Fort Worth’s West Seventh Street bridge, which features bold, lighted arches. The transportation department pledged to do all the design and construction in-house, get the work done by 2016, but Panther Island partners, including TxDot and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, determined the design wouldn’t work with the bypass channel because it relied on too many piers in the water. 

Oh yes, looking at that almost completed West Settlement Road bridge you can see how stunning the aesthetics are of the design. You can just imagine that riverwalk under the bridge. And, what a concept, leaving the top of the bridge for automobile use. How innovative. And the Star-Telegram repeats the nonsense that the West 7th Bridge design would not work, falsely claiming that design has too many piers in the water. When the actual West 7th Bridge has zero piers in the water, which we documented months ago. Just a sec, I will go fetch a photo of the West 7th Street Bridge...

Do you see any piers in the water? To my eyes the above looks like a unique bridge. And one can almost envision a riverwalk under the bridge.

Continuing on...

In the beginning, bridge construction was delayed several years from a potential 2018 completion date partially because TxDot inspectors wanted to take a closer look at the design of the piers to ensure they would support the bridges’ weight, the Star-Telegram reported.

Construction was delayed several years from a potential 2018 completion date? Because inspectors wanted to look closer at the design to ensure they could support a bridge? As reported by the Star-Telegram? Really, Star-Telegram, you are trying to sell this bit of revisionist propaganda? The actual fact of the matter is construction of two of the bridges began soon after that TNT explosion. And then halted. With the halt going on and on for months, and then a year, or longer, with moss growing, weeds sprouting, re-bar rusting, and no article in the Star-Telegram explaining to that newspaper's few readers what the problem was.  It was several years after that TNT explosion start of construction that the Star-Telegram finally addressed the obvious reality that something was dire wrong with that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Continuing on I am skipping several paragraphs of more nonsense excusing the bridge construction delays. And then we come to the final two paragraphs, with the first one...

TxDot officials have said building the bridges over dry land before the channel is dug saves both time and money. The federal portion of the project — digging the channel — cannot be done until the bridges are complete.

Oh, it is now TxDot officials who are saying the bridges are being built over dry land to save time and money? At that TNT explosion back in 2014 it was everyone from Kay Granger to her hapless offspring, to Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price (and the Star-Telegram) repeating the idiotic nonsense that those bridges were being built over dry land to save time and money.

As we have repeated dozens of times, there was no option but to build those pitiful bridges over dry land, because there never would, or will, be water under them until that cement lined ditch is dug, with the Trinity River diverted into that ditch. And anyone with an iota of common sense can intuit it would have made more sense to integrate the ditch digging with the bridge building so as to facilitate the seamless construction of both. As it is, it seems likely if that ditch ever is dug it is going to present engineering problems digging under those then existing bridges.

And now the final paragraph in this latest piece of Star-Telegram propaganda...

In the meantime, the Trinity River Vision Authority, an arm of the Tarrant Regional Water District overseeing the project, has put out requests for proposals from consulting firms to independently review Panther Island’s management, budget and construction, among other things. A firm should be selected by March 7 with the review done by June 19. No cost has been set for the review.

And, just like all things associated with what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, this supposed 'independent review' must be of little import, hence the long long time generating it, with a supposed review done date conveniently after the upcoming TRWD board election.

Like Elsie Hotpepper says, over and over again, "Will this nonsense never end?"...

Deep Moat II Concerned CB Team Not Fit For TRWD Board

Apparently it is time for yet one more Tarrant Region Water District board election. I thought such elections had been suspended pending the outcome of the supposed biggest election fraud investigation in Texas state history.

Apparently I was wrong about that, because there will be a TRWD board election this coming May 4.

Last week I received a couple emails from an individual I will refer to as Deep Moat II, due to already having one Deep Moat telling us stuff about the nefarious dealings of the TRWD and its inept step-child, the TRVA, aka Trinity River Vision Authority, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Deep Moat II informed us that the CB character you see here is intending to run for a seat on the TRWD board. No, this is not Craig Bickley, after an extreme makeover, trying again. The name of this character is Charles Bailey Team IV, known as CB Team.

Deep Moat II feels it needs to be known that CB Team works for the brokerage firm of Ellis & Tinsley.

So what? You are likely thinking to yourself, as it is unlikely CB Team will try and cover up who it is he works for.

Well.

The Tinsley part of Ellis & Tinsley is Vic Tinsley. CB Team's association with Vic Tinsley is the area of concern.

Fort Worth and Tarrant County are widely known as the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of America.

Examples of such are the properties taken for items such as the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington or the dozens upon dozens upon dozens of properties taken by the Trinity River Vision, taken under the guise of imaginary flood control, but actually taken as part of a ineptly implemented economic development scheme.

On the Ellis & Tinsley website, in the bio about Vic Tinsley, it is boasted that "Vic has been appointed over 800 times by county and district judges as special commissioner in Eminent Domain cases..."

Over 800 cases of Eminent Domain?

As Deep Moat II said regarding those more than 800 cases of Eminent Domain...

"I didn't realize we had that many properties that needed to be condemned. I am extremely worried about CB Team being on the next TRWD water board and how many other property owners will fall into their eminent domain, property condemnation proceedings in the future?"

Additionally, regarding Vic Tinsley and CB Team, and the TRWD Board, Deep Moat II had this to say...

"It looks to me like this would be a huge conflict of interest and extremely unethical for Vic Tinsley and his commercial investment business to be a part of this in any way."

I assume the "part of this" to which Deep Moat II refers is the "this" being the TRWD Board. As in how can someone associated in any way with so many eminent domain proceedings be part of a Board which regularly uses this means to acquire property, with that acquisition often for dubious ends, such as that associated with what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Like so many of those who have come to oppose much of that which the TRWD and TRVA have done and are doing, Deep Moat II had a personal experience with the roughshod way the TRWD often deals with property owners. And it was that experience with TRWD eminent domain abuse which turned Deep Moat II into an active opponent.

In Deep Moat II's own words, the experience which activated this opponents opposition...

"A retired couple by the name of Patty and Walter Bontke were facing eminent domain proceedings from the Tarrant Regional Water District. Their land in Mansfield had been a dairy farm since the 1960s. They worked hard, they saved and now they were facing a monster that was arrogant, unresponsive and downright mean. They received a ridiculous offer in the mail and the surveyor listed on the letter, Mr Dunn, would never return their phone calls. TRWD was going to cut a swath right through the middle of their property with a pump station which would also landlock the additional property acreage, without paying for it, and block their access to a private road. The story is long but in the end they hired a lawyer and got a fair settlement with access to the private road and access to their additional land.  It was a two-year battle that they were not going to win without help."

_________________

It has long seemed apparent to many who have been paying attention that the TRWD is a corrupt entity, operating without sufficient oversight. It would seem a total flush of the water board is the only thing which might bring this monster under control, but doing such is difficult, what with that election fraud problem remaining un-fixed.

Electing someone like CB Team to the TRWD board would seem to only exacerbate the problem.

Multiple Mary Kelleher types are what is needed....

No More Wine Drinking Cart Driving At My Favorite Wichita Falls Walmart

Of late, at least once a week, as I pull out of the carport, I call my mom to ask if she would like to ride with me to Walmart.

Mom always says sure, and then asks what the weather is doing. I then tell mom something like its almost freezing and windy, so bundle up warm.

So, mom is regularly reminded of a Wichita Falls Walmart.

And then this week my favorite Wichita Falls Walmart made the national, and maybe, international news.

Which had mom asking me, the last time she rode with me to Walmart, if I knew that lady who got banned from Walmart for riding around the store on an electric cart drinking wine from a Pringles can.

I told mom I was not aware of knowing this particular wine drinking lady. And that the interesting characters I encounter at this Walmart are one of the reasons I find going there to be entertaining.

The news stories about this woman getting banned from Walmart are not excessively detailed. Usually pretty much nothing more than the headline. I thought those who do not have access to the Wichita Falls news might find the story, as covered in the Wichita Falls Times News Record, to be interesting, and maybe slightly amusing....

Wichita Falls PD: Woman riding cart drinking wine from Pringles can barred from Walmart

Wichita Falls police received a rather unique call Friday morning involving a woman drinking wine in a Walmart parking lot.

Employees requested officers to ban a woman from the local Walmart store after she reportedly had been drinking wine from a Pringles can for several hours while riding on an electric cart.

The incident began shortly after 9 a.m. Friday when officers responded to a call to check on a suspicious person in the parking lot of Walmart, 2700 Central East Fwy.

Officer Jeff Hughes, a WFPD spokesperson, said police were told by dispatchers that they were looking for a woman wearing a blue jacket and black pants.

The woman was reportedly riding on an electric shopping cart more commonly used for people with physical limitations. Officers were also told she was drinking wine from a Pringle's can.

Hughes said the reporting party said the suspect had been riding around in the store's parking lot since 6:30 a.m. while drinking the alcoholic beverage.

When officers arrived, they found the woman in a nearby restaurant, at which point she was notified that she had been barred from the Walmart location.

_______________

As you see, even in the local news, the details are minimal. Such as, how does one drink wine from a Pringles can? Are those potato chip cans watertight?  And what was this woman's blood alcohol level after riding around for hours drinking wine from that Pringles can? And was she arrested and charged with a DUI, in addition to being banned from Walmart?

Mom and I have not been to Walmart since the Pringle wine drinking incident. Maybe we'll go there later today. Likely not though. Too cold out there currently for mom's and my delicate nature...

Chilly Northwest Texas Saturday Imagining Kayaking Wichita Falls Holliday Creek

On this second Saturday of the new year of 2019, with the outer world breezy and feeling like freezing, I battened down my personal hatches, as in I layered on layers of outerwear, and braved that chilly outer world for a short duration of communing with nature.

That communing consisted of walking north on the Circle Trail, which runs on the west side of the Holliday Creek canyon.

At one point I saw the running high Holliday Creek was in roaring rapids mode. So, I made my way down the treacherously steep Holliday Creek canyon wall to the bank of Holliday Creek at the site of those aforementioned roaring rapids, so as to take the photo you see above.

I have long wondered why no one attempts to kayak Holliday Creek when it is running full mode, starting at the base of the Lake Wichita Dam spillway and continuing on til Holliday Creek merges with the Wichita River. Perhaps there is a point of danger of which I am not aware, such as Holliday Creek entering a giant drainage pipe, or some other dangerous element.

One see no NO KAYAKING signs along Holliday Creek, of the sort one sees at Sikes Lake, warning one not to swim, kayak or canoe in Sikes Lake.

A couple days ago I thought Spring had arrived early. And then yesterday rain fell all day, like a stereotypical Winter day in my old home zone in the Pacific Northwest. This is day two of the Texas Northwest seeming way too much like the Pacific Northwest in Winter.

I suspect this cold, gray, damp nonsense will soon abate with Texas turning sunny and warm once again...

Let's Set The Crooked TRWD Record Straight

A day or two or three ago the offices of Elsie Hotpepper sent me an email with the subject line....

WILL THIS NONSENSE EVER END?

The only nonsense in the email was an attached PDF file which turned out to be a scanned image of a recent paid political advertisement in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, paid for by Jim Lane and Marty Leonard.

What?

I thought to myself.

Those two are running for the TRWD board again? After the last time? Which supposedly resulted in the biggest election fraud investigation in Texas state history?

How is that investigation going? Apparently no where.

So I read through this advertisement, and quickly saw it could be more accurately characterized as blatant propaganda of the sort regularly spewed by the Tarrant Regional Water District and its ne'er do well step-child, the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more usually referred to as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

We were able to convert most of the PDF file to a format able to be copied. Thus, for illuminating purposes, we will copy all of which we were able to re-format below.

The paid political ad reads like a defensive bout of excuse making trying to spin an alternative reality regarding the TRWD's Boondoggle.

Such as you will read that early in this century a community wide task force was supposedly launched to address the outdated Trinity River levee system (which has prevented flooding in the zone in question ever since the leveees were installed in the 1950s).

The paid political propaganda claims that construction of a bigger levee system had been considered, and rejected, because those supposed new levees would need to be ten feet higher and would require taking 150 of additional condemned land on each side of the river.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm sure that was a realistic proposal, way back when this century started. And, that it would have been a travesty to condemn all that land. Uh, how many acres of property were taken from the 100s of property owners, whose property was taken via the abusing eminent domain method by the Boondoggle which ensued after the rejection of the supposed raise the existing levees option?

So, if this flood control upgrade was so vital, way back when this century began, how come now, almost two decades later, nothing has been done about this dire threat? Apparently the threat was not all that dire, hence the slow motion ongoing Boondoggle.

This paid political propaganda advertisement tries to make the case that the public is misinformed about all which has been accomplished by the TRWD and its TRVA step-child.

The public is not misinformed.

The public drives by the Boondoggle daily, seeing three bridges stuck in slow motion construction for years, trying to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.  The propaganda tries to excuse the bridge part of the boondoggle by bringing up the actual signature bridges that have actually been built in Dallas over the actual Trinity River. Real bridges serving a real purpose.

The propaganda about the Dallas bridges did not successfully convert.

The J.D. Granger part of the ongoing Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Scandal is not addressed in this paid political advertisement.

I suppose to address the J.D. problem is to acknowledge the problem exists. The supposed upcoming forensic audit investigation of America's Biggest Boondoggle is sort of referenced in this propaganda. But no attempt is made to explain the inept management of the project due to its lack of a qualified project engineer executively directing the project such is the case in normal, non corrupt, zero nepotism, public works projects.

Anyway, below is what we were able to convert into readable text from Jim Lane and Marty Leonard's Paid Political Propaganda Advertisement...

2001: TRANSFORMING RIVER FROM FLOOD FOE TO COMMUNITY FRIEND In 2001, the City of Fort Worth partnered with Streams & Valleys Inc., Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), Tarrant County, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to launch a community-wide task force to address our outdated Trinity River flood control levee system (designed a half century ago). The task force's five goals were straightforward:

1. Flood protection along the river
2. Environmental clean-up
3. Matching flood control federal funding
4. Improved public access to the river
5. Responsible river corridor development

The 7-member TRVA Board meets monthly and is comprised of two board members each from TRWD, City of Fort Worth, and Tarrant County plus a board member representative from the nonprofit Streams & Valleys organization. The TRVA Board selects its own Executive Director and all staff members of TRVA are shared employees of TRWD. Additionally, City of Fort Worth staff members participate on all TRVA committees. TRWD has also provided an interest-free $200 million loan (from its mineral royalty reserve) to the TIF District so local matching funds would be available to immediately start the project.

BIGGER LEVEES OR BYPASS CHANNEL Previously, construction of a bigger levee system (i.e., a bigger ditch for flood waters) along the river corridor had been considered. But the proposed bigger levees would have had to be 10 feet higher - requiring another 150 feet of condemned land on each side of the river. This would have negatively impacted neighborhoods and businesses on the west side and north side of downtown. It would have also negated years of hard work by the community to make the Trinity River corridor more accessible to the public.

2003-2004: TIF DISTRICT CREATED & FEDERAL FUNDING AUTHORIZED To finance the new Trinity River flood control plan, the City, County and TRWD all agreed in 2003 to participate in a Tax Increment.

2006: TRVA CREATED TO COORDINATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES To pull it all together, TRWD formed the Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA) in 2006. Under TRVA's umbrella management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the local government partners each do their assigned work on the flood control components of the project:

2009: GATEWAY PARK EXTENSION In 2009, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local government partners improved the project design by relocating overflow flood waters from populated areas west and north of downtown to non-populated areas in the Gateway Park corridor. This expanded the project's flood control protective reach to over 2,400 acres. It also expanded local efforts for environmental restoration which have resulted in the removal of 383,000 tons of toxic and contaminated soil from old industrial sites along the river. This in turn opened up Gateway Park for broader community use and enjoyment.

After more than 200 community input meetings and careful study — the United States Army Corps of Engineers, TRWD, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and Streams & Valleys Inc. jointly rejected the bigger levees proposal and instead endorsed building a new 1.5-mile river bypass channel as the best flood control solution. This launched the Panther Island/Trinity River Vision project (also initially referred to as the “Central City Project” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers).

FEDERAL-STATE MATCH FUNDING To clear up some misstatements about the project's federal funding status - on October 3, 2018, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a statement clarifying that the Panther Island/ Trinity River Vision project is “authorized” and "eligible” to receive matching federal funding. In fact, as mentioned above, this project has been authorized by two Presidents and two different sessions of Congress (2004 and 2016) and has already received roughly $108 million in matching state-federal funds.

Again, 100% of the project's authorized matching federal funding goes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of the flood control component of the project. Much of this work will be in the final bypass channel construction phase of the project. As such, not all federal funding is needed now. Still, our local governmental partners are working jointly with our Texas congressional delegation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be.

THE REST OF THE STORY We hope you find this overview helpful. Our community is using matching local-state-federal funding for the flood control component of this project, while using local funding to responsibly reconnect our community to its river. To paraphrase the late radio commentator Paul Harvey—“Now you know the rest of the story.”

REVIEW & AUDITS ARE STANDARD PROCEDURE For efficiency and transparency, the current programmatic review underway by the TRVA Board is welcomed. This is a very large multi-year infrastructure project involving both federal and state agencies, and several local entities. Currently, review is provided monthly by the TRVA Board and its operational budget is audited annually by third party CPA firms. Additionally, a total of 9 independent economic studies/financing plans have been performed on the project including a new TIF District revenue projection study which will be completed in early 2019.

A final word about TRWD 
There are some other things to note about TRWD's operational track record. In addition to flood protection, we are responsible for supplying the raw water which is then treated by cities for most Tarrant County families. We take this responsibility seriously and are consistently recognized as one of the best water supply districts in Texas. are well known, the two lakes we built in East Texas (Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers) are arguably the most essential as they supply 85% of TRWD's water supply to Tarrant County.

We mention this not to brag, but to note that some of the recent press and public comments about TRWD are neither accurate nor in context to the talents and accomplishments of its dedicated women and men. You can rest assured, TRWD works hard and we take our responsibilities seriously.

Paid Political Ad by Jim Lane Campaign & Marty Leonard 
PAID ADVERTISEMENT 

Lake Wichita Bike Ride Finds Sickening Gusty Winds Sign

I do not remember a previous year during my long stay on this planet where I have been sick the entire year, such as is the case this year of 2019.

What began two days before the end of the old year, has extended into the second week of the new year.

I read in one of my local, as in, Texas, news sources this morning that there is a bug going around, that is not the flu that is also going around.

My symptoms sort of match that non-flu bug that is going around, though not as severe as described. Basically my woe is a mild congestion cough ailment, which comes and goes. I think I'm done with it, and then in the middle of the night it comes roaring back.

I have always had a problem with being sick, as in unless something totally knocks me out, I try and ignore it and just go about doing what I would be doing without that sickening thing happening.

Such as today, with almost zero wind blowing, and the temperature well above freezing I decided to roll my bike's wheels to Lake Wichita and beyond. When I passed under Kemp Boulevard the view of the Lake Wichita Dam spillway you see above came into view. I was surprised to see the lake is still spilling over the spillway. It has been several days since downpours poured down.

When I reached the top of the dam I soon saw possible evidence of how strong the wind has been blowing of late.

That or an inexcusable act of vandalism.

At both ends of the dam there is a sign warning "GUSTY WINDS AREA". Today the sign at the spillway end of the dam had been uprooted. I parked the bike on the Circle Trail on top of the dam and climbed down the dam to photo document the current status of this "GUSTY WINDS AREA sign.

I can't imagine why anyone would go through the effort to yank a sign out of the ground. Particularly with that sign in view of anyone looking from many directions. But, I also can not imagine we have had wind gusting strong enough to yank a gusty wind warning sign out of the ground.

Yet one more thing about which to be perplexed...

Wichita Falls Lucy Park Flood Gone But Not Forgotten

Last Sunday I found myself Checking Out Wichita Falls Lucy Park Flood.

A week later, on this first Sunday of the new year of 2019, what with the outer world temperature predicted to possibly get as high as 70, I opted to return to Lucy Park to check out the park's current status.

Well.

Driving into Lucy Park one would never guess that a week prior doing such was impossible, what with the Wichita River flooded up to the entry to the park.

Today the Wichita River is still running high, but leaving Lucy Park dry, except for a few ponds which have not yet evaporated.

I parked at the parking lot by the swimming pool and log cabin. There was no indication the flood had reached either. I then walked towards the Lucy Park Pagoda. En route I walked over some paved trails on which flood residue of the sticks, leaves and mud sort remained.

The Pagoda was untouched by the flood. But, in the photo you can see the area which flooded behind the Pagoda. Speaking of that Pagoda, can anyone tell me what the deal is with Wichita Falls and all the Japanese Pagodas in various forms ones sees around town?

Last week after I blogged about the Lucy Park flood I posted the blogging on the Wichita Falls Rants and Raves Facebook page, asking if this was the worse Lucy Park flood ever. And asked if the suspension bridge over the Wichita River survives such a flooding inundation.

Well, that Rants and Raves post generated dozens of informative comments, from which I learned there has been far worse flooding of the Wichita River. And that the suspension bridge always survives.

I confirmed the suspension bridge survival by crossing it. I had to make my way past the geezer who seemed to be fishing for something, and then cross a lot of flood residue piled up on the bridge deck. Crossing this was a bit unsettling. As there are some gaps in the planks one walks across on. Having those planks covered with mud rendered them disguised and not revealing any potential gaps.

But, turned out I have no reason to worry. I made it easily back and forth across the bridge. I did find the swaying more unsettling than the norm, what with the river still running high. That fisherman fishing for who knows what was also a bit unsettling.

Eventually during the course of my walkabout Lucy Park I did come to some areas where the flood was more evident.

Such as that which you see above. It appears flood debris shoved one of the park's swinging benches off its connection to the ground, pushing it up against some tree trunks.

All in all I had myself a mighty fine walkabout Lucy Park today, and was surprised by how little muddy residue was left behind when the Wichita River retreated.

Discussing Fort Worth's Island Of Doom Without J.D. Granger

I saw that which you see here, this morning, via an invitation on Facebook.

Apparently on January 26, after decades of hardly anyone discussing it, on that date there will be a Community Discussion about America's Biggest Boondoggle, I mean, the TRWD's Panther Island.

It seems as if it was almost a decade ago I experienced my first community discussion about this pitiful subject. That discussion took place in an auditorium in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden, with the discussion a product of an entity known at the time as TRIP (Trinity River Improvement Project).

If I remember correctly during that time frame there were two such meetings in the Botanic Garden. I think it was at the second meeting I first experienced the wise words of TRWD Board Member, Jim Lane, with those words uttered from a panel of people involved in what has become an embarrassing boondoggle.

J.D. Granger was supposed to be on this panel, but he wimped out at the last minute, which caused a person within my hearing to utter the immortal words "J.D. Granger, what a gutless wonder". I will go see if I can find that blogging  by using the way back machine, well, search tool.

Okay, it was not quite a decade ago, the year 2011 to be more precise, with a blog post telling us Boos Greets News That J.D. Granger Bailed At Last Minute On Tonight's Trinity River Vision Open Discussion Forum. In that blog post I allude to, without detailing, the reason I was told Granger turned gutless.

Again, if I am remembering correctly, at that point in time J.D. Granger was upset that someone had photo documented landscape improvements to his home, which matched the look of the landscaping at the controversial Boondoggle product known as the Woodshed Smokehouse. Someone put those photos on a blog with the implication some shady dealing was involved.

Almost a decade later multiple Fort Worth officials have finally come to realize something is dire wrong with that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, and have called for some sort of forensic audit to look into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision's various shenanigans which have sucked millions of dollars from the public trough, with little to show for the money wasted.

So, later this month there will be another discussion forum about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. Below are the details from the Facebook invitation...

TRWD’s Island of Doom: The Panther Island Boondoggle
Suggested Donation: $10
Sat, Jan 26, 2:00 – 4:00 PM; at TCLP Auditorium – 5751 Kroger Drive, Fort Worth TX 76244

Join us on Saturday, Jan 26 from 2:00 – 4:00 to hear four speakers address growing concerns about the history and viability of Tarrant Regional Water District’s “Panther Island” project. With the project dragging out well over a decade with little to show; Nepotism running rampant; Eminent domain abuse; Astronomically increased budgets; Absence of promised federal funding; and increased flooding potential downstream – there’s no wonder that local news media outlets have begun to look more critically and closely at what appears to be a doomed $1 BILLION+ project.

Many people saw at the beginning, that this project, ostensibly framed as a ‘flood control project’, was really a publicly funded real estate development – with the property provided by theft via eminent domain. Some of these people who saw the problems were Fort Worth City Council members; State Legislators; and even a TRWD Board Member! So many questions remained unanswered by the water district: 

-Where was the funding really coming from – and why is the budget spiraling out of control?
-What land was going to be used – and how was the flooding going to be mitigated?
-What were the US Army Corps of Engineers original recommendations?
-Where would the leadership for such a massive project be found?
-Who really has oversight over this project?

Well, these questions and more were asked (and will be answered) by the speakers you’ll hear at this event:

-Clyde Picht, Former Fort Worth City Council Member
-Lon Burnham, Former State Representative, District 90 (covering Downtown Fort Worth)
-Mary Kelleher, Former Tarrant Regional Water Board Trustee
-Layla Carraway, local activist – who made a documentary, “Up A Creek” about Panther Island (then called ‘Trinity Uptown’) Clips from “Up A Creek” will be shown throughout
-John Spivey, moderator

Learn what happened, how it happened, and what we can do now.

__________________

Reading the list of speakers on the Facebook post I feel compelled to remove one of the 'r's from Ms. Caraway's name. But, now that I am thinking about it, maybe she has gone all Hollywood and has changed her original name by adding another 'r' to it.

I don't think I will be able to make it to this discussion, I don't know if I can afford that $10 suggested donation. I wonder if that gutless wonder, J.D. Granger, will be there...