Monday of the second week of the 2019 version of September starts off with an, uh, interesting editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, titled...
We’re so done with the bickering, foot-dragging and blame games on Panther Island
Okay, so after limping along for most of this century the Star-Telegram is now done with the slow motion Trinity River Vision which has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle.
Read the editorial in its entirety, via clicking the link, above, to get the entire Star-Telegram foot-dragging about foot-dragging.
We'll look at some choice bits gleaned from this editorial---
The first paragraph...
All summer, flaws in the Panther Island project have been exposed — muddled missions, a confusing structure and flawed communications.
Uh, it has been way way way longer than just this summer that flaws in America's Dumbest Boondoggle have been being exposed. Let's just take a look at this look at the flaws, posted way back in October of 2018,
America's Biggest Boondoggle Unravels As Trinity River Vision Scandals Grow.
And then this from today's editorial...
But the real problem is that no one has any answers about why the project can’t win federal funding or what to do about it.
Win federal funding? As if getting money from the more prosperous parts of America is some sort of game show prize.
No one has answers as to why America's Dumbest Boondoggle does not qualify for federal funding?
Did we not learn that one of the problems is that there has never been the required by the federal government "cost-benefit analysis"? And that it was finagling by J.D Granger and his mother to attempt to get by without the needed cost-benefit analysis which resulted in its non-existence? Apparently the finagling was done because J.D.'s mother knew the ill-conceived, ineptly implemented pseudo public works project could not survive a legitimate analysis of its imaginary flood control aspect. Let alone the crony-inspired economic development aspect of the Trinity River Vision scheme.
You can read for yourself the Army Corps of Engineer's actual flood control recommendations in their un-corrupted form via the Army Corps of Engineers recommendations in
Army Corps Of Engineer's Document Contradicts Controversial Riveron Review.
And then there is this gem from today's Star-Telegram editorial...
We’re 18 years into study and work on this problem, and taxpayers are no safer from a catastrophic flood. But hey, we can marvel at half-built bridges over dry land.
Taxpayers are no safer from a catastrophic flood? There has been no flooding in the zone in question for well over a half a century due to levees built way back then which have done their intended job ever since. Meanwhile, there are actual areas of Fort Worth, and Tarrant County, which do have actual, not imaginary, flood control issues, which are not being mitigated, not being fixed.
And then this follow up gem...
Jim Oliver, the water district’s general manager, insisted that these kinds of multi-year projects have ups and downs. And he noted that the board had already agreed to the tax extension.
Really? Can Jim Oliver give us some examples of other such projects which have had similar ups and downs. We'll wait, take your time.
How does this guy keep this job which pays him over $300K a year, plus perks and benefits? I've been told he has a Napoleon Complex, exhibiting classic Little Man Syndrome. I have never understood why the way he bullied TRWD board member, Mary Kelleher, was not enough to get him fired. Maybe if Fort Worth had an actual newspaper of record, reporting on the bully abuse, Oliver would have been long ago terminated, and possibly a qualified replacement found who actually knows how to get a project completed.
The final two paragraphs from today's editorial followed by one final comment...
One of them will be proved right. And the reality is, none of this would be necessary if any federal funding could be pried loose to keep the project moving.
That could be key to the funding question. The federal government is interested primarily in flood control, and the “optics issue” of the board’s involvement in planning festivals and condo construction may have given reluctant bureaucrats a reason to overlook the project.
Yes, it does not take much common sense to see that it probably does not look good to those handling the federal purse strings that at the same time a town is begging for federal funds the town is holding Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, and starting up a bizarre river boat cruise line to sail the polluted river. Among additional nonsense. Done any wakeboarding at Cowtown Wakepark lately?
And another thing that common sense clearly indicates is the fact that if this were an actual, legitimate, dire needed flood control project, needed to protect the people from a catastrophic flood, then why does the town not pay for it itself, like town's wearing their big city pants do? Relative to what other towns spend on legit public works projects a billion bucks is not all that much, you know, particularly if spending that money is protecting your people from an imaginary catastrophic flood.
If this were a legitimate flood control project, along with a sensible economic development scheme, the project should be able to be sold to the public, who would then vote to approve a bond issue raising the funds to pay for the project. Going begging the more prosperous parts of America to pay for such is just embarrassing.
Again, if this were a legit, actually needed flood control project, a billion bucks is not that HUGE a price tag, all things considered. I know of other towns in America where the voters repeatedly approve projects costing way more than one billion bucks. I think the most recent transit bond passed in Los Angeles was for something like $94 billion. The Seattle zone's most recent transit bond was for over $50 billion. Other towns in America support similar public works projects, with the locals being the primary funding source, without relying on federal welfare.
And those more prosperous towns in America get things done. During the same time frame Fort Worth has been limping along with its blind Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, Los Angeles has built multiple miles of rail transit, built a new $4 billion football stadium, is getting ready to host another Olympics. In the current decade Seattle has also built miles of rail transit, along with a $4 billion transit tunnel under downtown, which also removed the Alaskan Way Viaduct and is rebuilding the Seattle Waterfront, and a new $4 billion floating bridge across Lake Washington.
Meanwhile, during that same time frame Fort Worth has managed to be unable to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to a ridiculous imaginary island.
And now, after foot dragging for most of this century, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is sort of "so done" with Panther Island...
