Today On The Tandy Hills I Forded A Flooding Tandy Creek Before Finding A Log Sticking A Giant Tire

In the last couple days Stenotrophomonas has made mention of a new thing or two on the Tandy Hills.

Things like a pipeline construction project with HUMONGOUS pipes, lots of heavy equipment, a widened section of the Tandy Highway, shiny new manhole covers and a new piece of Tandy Hills art in the form of a giant tire being pierced by a log.

Stenotrophomonas did not mention that the North Fork of Tandy Creek is in flash flood mode. I am guessing the flood started flashing since the last visit from Stenotrophomonas.

A video of the Tandy Creek flash flood is below, narrated with my James Earl Jones-like narration. But, first the new work of Tandy Hills art.

The giant tire is located on the north side of the South Fork of Tandy Creek.

As I walked past the giant tire I eventually came to that which Stenotrophomonas has made mention of, such as the widened highway and a chunk of giant pipe or culvert or something.

You can see a small slice of the widened Tandy Highway behind the big chunk of metal. To the right, up a hill, I saw heavy equipment doing what heavy equipment does and making a lot of noise doing it.

I had myself a mighty fine time walking on the Tandy Highway today. I did not make it to the Hoodoo zone.

Below is the aforementioned video documenting today's flash flood of Tandy Creek's North Fork....

I Don't Think I Will Ever Get Maxed Out Riding Arlington's Public Transit To The Dallas Cowboy Stadium

Last week, the day before I drove to Arlington to watch the USA team get beat by Belgium in the Dallas Cowboy stadium I blog my lament about not being able to take any form of public transit to the Dallas Cowboy stadium.

That lament had someone calling him or herself Anonymous making a blog comment informing me that I could have used public transit to get within walking distance of the Dallas Cowboy stadium......

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I Won't Be Pedaling The Cowtown Cycle Party To Arlington To Watch The USA Beat Belguim Today":

You could have gotten off of the Max bus at Collins and Andrews. It would have been a 10 minute walk to the stadium.

When I read the above suggestion from Anonymous I vaguely recollected reading about a new bus service in Arlington that was some sort of limited test type deal.

Googling brought me to the RIDE THE MAX website, a screencap of which is what you see above.

From the RIDE THE MAX website I learned that ".....for a roundtrip price of $5/day (or $80/month), Metro ArlingtonXpress buses will travel between the TRE CentrePort/DFW Airport Station and College Park Center at UT Arlington. From CentrePort/DFW Airport Station, riders access any DART bus or train or T bus to travel to Dallas or Fort Worth."

So, for me to take public transit to get myself to the Dallas Cowboy stadium I would need to figure out which Fort Worth T buses I needed to get on to get to the CentrePort DFW Airport Station where I would then get on a MAX bus which would then take me to the intersection of Collins and Andrews from whence I could take a brisk 10 minute HOT walk to the stadium.

Or, I could drive about two miles from my abode, to the Richland Hills Trinity Railway Express station and hop a train which would take me to CentrePort where I could get on a MAX bus to get to the point where I take a brisk 10 minute HOT walk to the stadium.

I am assuming that I would need to pay to ride the Fort Worth T bus or the TRE to CentrePort, adding to the $5 roundtrip MAX fare.

I don't think I burned $5 worth of gas driving to Arlington to watch the World Cup last week.

So, this method of getting oneself to the Dallas Cowboy stadium from my location in Fort Worth is what Anonymous thinks is functional public transit?

I have been in towns with functional public transit. I know what functional public transit is. You can use functional public transit to easily get yourself from one location to another. The town to the east of Fort Worth, called Dallas, has functional public transit in both bus and light rail form. Soon one will be able to take a DART train to D/FW Airport.

Vancouver, up north in this country called Canada, has a very cool public transit system called SkyTrain. You can get on SkyTrain south of Vancouver and have yourself a mighty fine ride into town, where you can hop on a seabus, included in your fare, and cross some saltwater to North Vancouver. And a SkyTrain line runs to the Vancouver airport.

Portland, in Oregon, has a light rail system which runs all over town, including the airport. If I remember right, and I am fairly certain I do, the Portland light rail is called the MAX.

Seattle, in Washington, has light rail known as the Link, which takes you from the downtown Seattle transit tunnel to the airport. Buses also travel through Seattle's downtown transit tunnel, with those buses taking you to locations all over Seattle, and beyond.

Unlike Arlington, one can easily take public transit in both rail and bus form directly to the sports facilities in downtown Seattle. You don't get dumped off a 10 minute walk from the Seahawk Stadium or the Mariner's Ballpark.

The video below, which I took in August of 2008, should give Anonymous an idea of what actual functional public transit looks like. First I walk across Westlake Center, which is Seattle's version of Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza, only bigger and surrounded by big stores, like Nordstrom. I then walk into Westlake Center, which is a vertical  mall and the south terminus of the Seattle Monorail. I then descend to the Westlake Center transit station. There you will see the transit tunnel which runs under Seattle. Near the end of the video I exit a bus and you will see a long line of buses, filled with fans heading to a Seattle Mariners game, with no 10 minute walk needed, just an escalator ride to the street level.....

Wondering Again Why Fort Worth Does Not Vote On Public Works Projects While Other Towns Do

No, on the left you are not looking at an artist's rendering of the little lake envisioned in the Trinity River Vision Panther Island Boondoggle.

The size of the lake and the mountains in the distance likely clued you that this is not a view of anything Fort Worth related.

What you are looking at is the new floating bridges crossing Lake Washington, connecting Seattle with towns to the east, like Redmond, where Microsoft lives.

That is an East Link light rail train you see on the north floating bridge. The East Link is part of a $2.5 billion project, one of America's largest and most expensive transit expansions.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth the TRVPIB may soon start building its three non-signature bridges to nowhere, built over an imaginary flood diversion channel for which there is no funding to build.

I don't believe anyone in the Seattle zone has the hubris to refer to the above bridges as signature bridges, even though they are quite unique, with something like 4 of the world's 5 biggest floating bridges doing their floating over water in Washington.

Now, where am I going with this?

Well, yesterday something had me reading the Wikipedia article about Venice. That somehow had me going to the Wikipedia article about Seattle, in which I found the following paragraph interesting when it occurred to me that I would read nothing of its kind if I read the Wikipedia article about Fort Worth....

Seattle has started moving away from the automobile and towards mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%. In 2006, voters in King County passed proposition 2 (Transit Now) which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for five Bus Rapid Transit lines called RapidRide. After rejecting a roads and transit measure in 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend the Link Light Rail system, and expand and improve Sounder commuter rail service. A light rail line from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service on December 19, 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to the University of Washington is under construction as of 2010; and further extensions are planned to reach Lynnwood to the north, Des Moines to the south, and Bellevue and Redmond to the east by 2023. Mayor Michael McGinn has supported building light rail from downtown to Ballard and West Seattle.

Read the above and make note of how many times this century Seattle and King County voters have voted on various transit measures, funding various transit projects. If I remember right the vote that resulted in Seattle's first rapid transit line took place in the 1990s.

Also in the 1990s Seattle voted five times on a measure to extend the Seattle monorail. The first billion dollar measure passed. But some voters did not like the plan. So another measure was put to a vote and then another and another and another and finally the monorail extension was killed, replaced by the Link Light Rail, which now seems obvious to most everyone is a much better idea than extending the monorail.

Now, isn't it interesting how a town like Seattle puts public works projects to a public vote and thus secures funding, which results in completed projects, some of which have been voter approved and completed during the period of time the Trinity River Vision Panther Island Boondoggle has been dithering along, with no public vote.

Is it even legal in Washington to have public works projects which the public has not approved of by voting?

It's likely not a legal issue which has the public voting on public works projects in Washington. It is likely more of a common sense type deal.

As in, if a public works project is legit and will benefit the public, the public can be sold on the benefits of the project and will agree to be taxed to fund the project.

The cabal which runs Fort Worth knew its bizarre economic development plan could not be approved by any sort of public vote. Such a measure would not stand the scrutiny of an actual election campaign where actual legit questions would be asked and need answers before voters would vote to approve.

Questions like how can this be a flood control project when the area of the project has not flooded in over a half a century, kept dry after massive levees were built to contain the Trinity River as it passes downtown Fort Worth?

How could approving to fund the flood diversion channel be given a go ahead by voters when to this day there is no engineering plan in existence as to how the flooding water is to be diverted and how much the mechanism to do so is going to cost to build?

Would the voting public have voted yes for an economic development project disguised as a public works project when that project required using eminent domain to take the property and livelihoods of dozens upon dozens of their fellow Fort Worthers?

Anyway, methinks the only way the Trinity River Vision Panther Island Boondoggle can ever actually be something someone can see is if the project is legitimized by being put to a public vote resulting in the public agreeing to be taxed to fund the project because the public sees the project will greatly benefit everyone.

I know snowballs chance in hell that will ever happen.......

A Close Encounter Of The Snake Kind In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area

I needed to replenish my much needed milk supply. With ALDI being my milk supplier and with ALDI being a short distance from Arllington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area I decided to roll my wheels with the Indian Ghosts before getting milked at ALDI.

I was not long into my bike ride when I got an adrenalin boost due to a snake encounter.

I roll at high speed when I reach the part of the paved trail which crosses the first dam bridge. It's a fast slope downhill, then across the dam bridge and then a fast slope uphill.

As I got to the dam bridge I saw a big snake snoozing in the middle of the trail. I had about 2 seconds to ascertain the snake had a diamondback pattern. When I met the snake in the middle of the dam bridge I figured it'd go right as I passed. Instead the snake quickly slithered left, across my path.

Due to seeing the snake had a diamondback pattern my neurotic fear of snakes quickly had me thinking rattlesnake. A second later the rational part of my thinking realized the snake with the diamondback pattern did not have a rattlesnake type head or a rattle on its tail.

The cicadas chirping and birds tweeting had the Village Creek zone seeming very jungle-like today. I decided to see if I could roll wheels and video at the same time. I have just YouTubed the result. For about 5 seconds all is well, you can hear cicadas,  birds tweeting and my fascinating narration.

And then when I pick up speed the resulting wind noise starts to sound like thunder. However, the video does give you a good idea of what biking with the Indian Ghosts is like in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I wonder if my digital camera in video mode has a wind noise suppression option like my antique analog video camera did?

The Popular Texas Sport Known As Littering Is Freshly Perplexing Me Today

Early yester evening I walked up my neighborhood hill to Albertsons. I noticed that the usually heavily littered route had been de-littered, for the most part.

And now, today, I walked up my neighborhood hill to Albertsons again, to get chicken, to see that which was de-littered yesterday has once again been re-littered.

Why is littering such a popular sport in Texas?

In the litter picture above we are looking east, towards Dallas. My neighborhood Chesapeake Energy gas pad site is at the top of the hill, on the left. The aforementioned Albertsons is across the street, on the right.

How can this much litter show up overnight, even in Texas, where littering is such a popular sport?

I remember the last time I drove back to Washington, early August of 2001, by the time I got to Colorado I started noticing how much less litter there was laying and blowing about. And how sparkly clean everything looked.

The entire way to Washington was pretty much free of Texas-style litter.

When a Texan leaves Texas and finds him or herself in some place like Colorado does it seem to the Texan that something seems to be missing? As in, where has all the litter gone?

Maybe the Don't Mess With Texas anti-litter campaign was not clear enough in its message. Maybe the message should be more direct, something like Don't Litter You Lazy Slobs.

Yes, I am sure that would be effective and much more easily understood.....

The First Sunday Of July With A Big New Hoodoo On The Tandy Hills

The first Sunday of July's Tandy Hills Hoodoo may be the best Hoodoo erection yet erected on the Tandy Hills.

It certainly is one of the most precarious looking Hoodoos. And one of the tallest.

Today I switched my camera to video mode and aimed it at the Hoodoo. I just got notified by YouTube that the Hoodoo video is ready for the publish button to be hit. I will do so and copy the embed code below.

But first I must share something from Stenotrophomonas.

Stenotrophomonas and I were discussing the history of the Tandy Hills. Stenotrophomonas said that dirt bikers used to dirt bike on the Tandy Hills. I asked if that is where the trails came from. Stenotrophomonas then sent me an interesting article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives from Thursday, February 18, 1999....

On foot in the park - Police enforcing new signs banning bicycles, vehicles in Tandy Hills 

The signs are now explicit: "Foot traffic only. No Bikes, Horses or Motorized Vehicles."

But even with the new signs and barricades that went up Friday at Tandy Hills Park, police ticketed two people over the weekend when individuals moved aside barriers to drive inside. 

Police will continue to patrol the east Fort Worth park closely until they feel the public understands that bicycles and vehicles are prohibited in the park, said Clint Hall, Fort Worth park and community service officer.

For years, Tandy Hills , a remnant prairie where wildflowers bloom profusely each spring, has served as an occasional playground for four-wheel-drive vehicles that have illegally left eroding ruts. 

But the bike paths were a surprise. 

Attention was drawn to the park more than a month ago when neighbors discovered someone had illegally cut almost three miles of bicycling paths through the nature preserve with a weed trimmer. 

"I can't believe we did not know this was happening until a month ago," said Gay Perry, who heads the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association. 

Although only one individual is thought to have done the cutting, word spread quickly on the Internet that good biking trails could be found at Tandy Hills . 

Some of the bicyclists who said they did not know riding there was illegal criticized the city for not posting appropriate signs, city officials said. 

Wayne Clark, who supervises Tandy Hills and the Fort Worth Nature Center, said the city must share some of the responsibility because of the lack of signs. 

Until the signs were posted, police issued only warnings when they caught bicyclists in the park. 

Ten signs have been erected at the front of the park and at several side and back locations where vehicles and bicyclists are known to enter. In addition, the wooden barricades will remain until something more permanent is set up. 

Next week, the Texas Department of Transportation is expected to erect posts and cables across one entrance along Interstate 30. 

"We are trying to get people to listen and know there was a problem out there," said Nel Konkle, field operations supervisor for east Fort Worth parks. "I think the numbers have decreased a little, but they are still out there - the really brave ones."

Hall said he hopes the continued police presence will help. 

Citations issued are for a Class C misdemeanor with fines of up to $500. 

_______________________________________________

Someone made three miles of trail on the Tandy Hills using a weed trimmer? I have been all over the Tandy Hills and can not imagine where someone could trim weeds to make three miles of bike trails.

Anyway, below is the aforementioned video of the latest Tandy Hills Hoodoo. It was suggested yesterday that Jame Earl Jones narrate my videos. James Earl Jones was not available, so you're stuck with me.....

Rolling My Wheels In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Before Getting Peppered At Town Talk

I went rolling on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails today for the first time since the rains of June.

In times past at my favorite Gateway Park photo opportunity location my inferior photographic skills have thwarted my attempts to successfully capture on film, I mean, digitally, the steep precipice the mountain bike trail suddenly comes to without warning.

Today I took video of my favorite Gateway Park photo opportunity location. That video is currently being processed by YouTube, so I don't know yet if the YouTube version successfully depicts the Trinity River cliffs. The un-YouTubed version I saw on my computer did successfully depict the cliffs.

Well, YouTube has just let me know that the video has been processed and is ready to be published. I hit the publish button, copied the embed code and stuck the video below.

But, before you get to that I must make my semi-regular Saturday Town Talk report.

Town Talk was not a traffic jam today. So, I was in and out fast, with a couple bags of artisan buns, a big bag of sweet red, orange and yellow mini-peppers, ground turkey, ancient grains granola, extra sharp white cheddar, tomatoes, celery and other stuff I am currently forgetting.

What I am currently remembering, due to all this food talk, is I have not had lunch, coming up on 2 in the afternoon. I must address this issue immediately....

A 4th Of July Mountain Bike Ride In Arlington's River Legacy Park With No Bobcats

A year ago today I drove to downtown Arlington to watch Arlington's 4th of July Parade.

A year ago seems so recent I really could not muster the desire to drive to downtown Arlington to stand in the sweltering heat to watch a parade roll by today.

Instead I drove to Arlington to River Legacy Park and rolled my wheels, along with a lot of other wheel rollers, on a multiple miles of mountain bike trails.

In the noon time frame most of the River Legacy Park picnic tables were in 4th of July picnic mode. Multiple smoke sources had the air smelling mighty fine.

In the picture above my handlebars are stopped at the location where years ago I had my first bobcat encounter. I can not remember when last I had a bobcat encounter in River Legacy Park. Or any D/FW park.

Where have all the bobcats gone? That sounds like the start to a folk song.

I am being very traditional with my 4th of July vittles today. Hotdogs on the grill, pizza in the oven, beer in the refrigerator.

And mangoes.....

Mary Kelleher Has Had Enough Of The TRWD's Jim Oliver's Attempts To Bully, Intimidate And Harass Public Officials

Photo from FW Weekly Static

On the left you are looking at Mary Kelleher, with a protest sign above her, with the message on the sign being "STOP HIDING DOCUMENTS."

I am assuming this photo was taken at the Tarrant Regional Water District board meeting at which Mary Kelleher's fellow board members censured her. If I remember right the censuring was for doing something totally outrageous like exercising her First Amendment right to free speech at a Fort Worth City Council meeting.

In this week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column titled "Water Disputes" we learn that Mary Kelleher has once again raised the wrath of TRWD Executive Director, Jim Oliver, because Mary had the raw gall to once again exercise her right to free speech by speaking to a group of journalists at the University of Texas in Arlington about her frustrations regarding her inability to be provided public TRWD documents she has requested to peruse.

That's right, Jim Oliver is denying one of the elected TRWD board members access to TRWD documents.

Oliver sent board members, TRWD staff and the TRWD's lawyers an email disputing what Mary Kelleher had to say in Arlington, along with bogus statistics alleging to show that the TRWD has adequately responded to document requests. Fort Worth Weekly did not agree with Oliver's claim. Nor did Mary Kelleher.

Is this all going to lead to another TRWD board meeting censuring Mary Kelleher?

How is it Mary Kelleher gets censured by the TRWD board, while no censuring takes place of a high ranking TRWD official caught flagrante delicto illicitly assignating with a subordinate? A big bad bit of bad boy behavior that is widely known.

How is it that a high ranking TRWD official has not been censured for loudly browbeating Mary Kelleher?

How is it that a high ranking TRWD official has not been censured for multiple acts of nepotism, putting multiple relatives on the TRWD payroll?

How is it that a high ranking TRWD official has not been censured for having little kids hold signs cheering for beer and going nuts for runner's butts?

Changing the subject slightly to something else I have noticed.

Is Fort Worth Weekly being, for want of a better word, censured for daring to be a real newspaper by reporting the TRWD's shady dealings?

I ask this because I have not seen any advertisements in Fort Worth Weekly this floating season for the Panther Island Pavilion Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats. But, I have seen Rockin' the River ads in the Dallas Observer and DFW.com.........

The Annual Fort Worth Drinking Water Quality Report Has Me Wanting To Get The Lead Out Of My Water Along With Nasty Microorganisms

You are looking at the cover of a mailing from the City of Fort Worth's Water Department which showed up in my mailbox this morning.

On the cover we learn that Lake Worth has turned a century old. And when Lake Worth was built it was the largest lake in Texas.

In Texas lakes are built?

There is a lot of information in this mailing about things like immunocompromised people and microorganism testing for things like Cryptosporidium and Giardia Lamblia.  With the source of those two microorganisms being human and animal fecal waste. Apparently low levels of those microorganisms were detected.

If low levels of fecal matter microorganisms were found at the location of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the Trinity River that information was not included in the Drinking Water Quality Report.

Reading through this Drinking Water Quality Report I also learned that I should be concerned about lead in my drinking water. I have never worried about lead in my drinking water.

Til  now.

Apparently the Fort Worth Water Department Laboratory offers lead and copper testing to its customers, costing only $15 per each lead and copper test. I am not drinking another drop til I get my test results.

At the very start of the Drinking Water Quality Report frequently asked questions are answered. The first frequently asked question is "Why am I receiving this report?"

I know I wondered about that.

Well, according to the report the answer to that frequently asked question is that in 1996 Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to include a requirement that water utilities annually notify customers about their drinking water quality, with the law being quite specific regarding what information must be included.

I was still aboding in Washington in 1996. I do not recollect ever receiving a Drinking Water Quality Report in the mail.

Did this amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act only apply to areas of America where the drinking water has serious issues, with more pristine parts of America exempt from worrying about too much fecal matter in the drinking water?

I know this much for certain. If my old home zone had Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the Skagit River no one would raise concerns about getting in a polluted river. The issue would be why would anyone want to go floating in that cold water.....