No Big Mystery Why Fort Worth Has Trouble Getting Federal Funds

I saw this Sound Transit to get $1.2 billion for light rail to Lynnwood headline this morning in the Seattle Times, and, yes, yet again, I was seeing something via a west coast news source, thinking to myself, well, this is not something I would expect to see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about anything in Fort Worth.

Such as the town "getting" $1.2 billion to help pay for the town's long stalled Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, which is more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Fort Worth recently learned the town would not be getting any federal dollars to help pay for its imaginary island and bridges being built in slow motion over dry land.

Those doling out the federal dollars determined Fort Worth was not worthy of receiving such, due to the lack of any sort of legitimate economic benefit analysis of the slow motion pseudo public works project the public did not approve of via the voting method.

Greedy developers in Fort Worth somehow conned the city into going along with pretending this project was for flood control.

Flood control in an area of Fort Worth which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to existing levees which the Army Corps of Engineers determined could be upgraded for a paltry few millions bucks.

But those greedy developers saw an ill conceived vision consisting of a cement lined ditch diverting the Trinity River, creating an imaginary island with canals, with property value greatly enhanced, full of residential towers, restaurants and a beautiful river walk copy of that for which San Antonio is famous.

Rather than seeking federal funding in any sort of legitimate way, those ,behind this low IQ brainchild thought it brilliant to hire a low level county prosecutor with zero project managing experience to oversee this pseudo public works project the public did not vote for.

That low level prosecutor is the son of Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, who it was thought could somehow manage to finagle federal pork barrel earmark type money to Fort Worth, despite the town's, well, reputation, or lack of, with the rest of the country.

Granger's son, J.D., was hired around a decade ago. Recently J.D. was in the news due to the shocking revelation that he was going to stick with mis-managing this project til it was on some sort of auto-pilot, after which he could retire.

Many have long thought the hiring of J.D. Granger was a scheme festered by his mother to give him a job til he could retire, hence one of the world's slowest engineering projects.

A low level prosecutor does not make a lot of money, no where near the $213,000 annual salary, plus lots of perks, J.D. is paid to host beer parties in the Trinity River, among other activities which were never mentioned in the original concept of the Trinity River Vision.

Let's look at a couple paragraphs from Seattle Times Sound Transit to get $1.2 billion for light rail to Lynnwood article and see if maybe we can see some reasons the federal government is helping fund one public works project whilst refusing Fort Worth...

The Puget Sound region will receive nearly $1.2 billion in federal money to help build a light-rail line to Lynnwood, the Federal Transit Administration announced Thursday, putting to an end two years of uncertainty spurred by soaring construction costs and the Trump administration’s stated hostility toward funding transit projects.

“This grant agreement represents the department’s commitment to Sound Transit and the Seattle region to help mitigate congestion in one of the nation’s fastest-growing areas,” acting FTA Administrator K. Jane Williams said in a phone interview. “The administration continues to advance projects through the program in accordance with the law.”

She said that the fact that most of Lynnwood Link’s $3.2 billion funding comes from local taxes helped move the grant process along.

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What a concept! Apparently foreign to Fort Worth. With most of the Seattle region public transit funding coming from local taxes. With those taxes levied as the result of multiple Sound Transit bond issues approved by the public, with the most recent, Sound Transit 3, approved in 2016, for $53.8 billion.


Another paragraph from this Seattle Times article which illustrates a HUGE difference between a Seattle region actual public works project and a Fort Worth region imaginary public works project...

Sound Transit also needed months to revise and negotiate its grant application, because construction inflation and new features drove estimated costs up $550 million in 2017. The FTA said Sound Transit was low-balling inflation risk and should add more contingency money into its local budget. At the same time, Sound Transit conducted “value engineering” to reduce costs on the Lynnwood line.

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Value engineering? Is that not what has been missing from Fort Worth's Boondoggle? And is not the absence of such one of the reasons for the withholding of federal support?

If Fort Worth's imaginary public works project had actual trained, experienced project engineers overseeing the project, the relatively simple project likely would have long come to fruition, with Fort Worth enjoying whatever meager fruits that project might produce.

Instead, Fort Worth has been stuck for years with ridiculous looking bridge pier forms sticking in the air like a monument to hubris and incompetence.

That and Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River, one of J.D. Granger's proudest accomplishments...

Deep Moat Surrounds J.D. Granger's Water Scandals

It was four years ago I blogged about The Confederacy Of Dunces First Public Vote On The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. I learned this when I was searching for some related subject. I saw the title and could not remember to what I could possibly have been referring regarding a public vote about the Boondoggle.

Recently Elsie Hotpepper gave me reason to try and remember when I first heard from the entity known as Deep Moat, my inside the Trinity River Vision information source, with some of that Deep Moat information being details of J.D. Granger's TRVA office romance, which recently became public knowledge..

Eventually I gave up testing my feeble memory and just resorted to asking Deep Moat. This led me to ascertaining the exact date I learned of J.D. Granger's extramarital affair, via an archived email Deep Moat sent back to me...

From: Deep Moat Informant
To: Durango
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 2:57 PM
Subject: Trinity River Vision

I am your source for all things Trinity River Vision straight from the horse's mouth. I have long felt like emailing you to tell you how much I enjoy reading your sarcasm directed towards the TRVA.  Your blog has been very entertaining to me and it's good to know that someone else is able to see the insanity of the leader, J.D. Granger and his project.  I happen to be... (the remainder of this email has been redacted due to the fact that what has been redacted would reveal the identity of Deep Moat)

 Looking forward to hearing from you,

DMI (Deep Moat Informant)

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So, it has been eight years now since I first heard from Deep Moat. And what we then referred to as simply the Trinity River Vision, a cloudy vision which morphed in the years which followed into the Trinity River Central City Panther Island District Vision, and eventually America's Biggest Boondoggle. Ir was via a detailed email from Deep Moat, that same day I first heard from DM, that I learned of J.D. Granger's extramarital office shenanigans.

Of late, the man who many believe is responsible for this relatively simple project becoming a mired Boondoggle, J.D. Granger, has been in the news due to displaying a high level of cluelessness regarding this ongoing embarrassment. Among that which has been Granger news of late is the long obvious nepotism, and the long secret J.D. Granger assignation with one of his employees.

Like I have just indicated, I first learned of J.D. office affair eight years ago. In detail. But felt that this was not something I should be talking about. At that point in time.

But, now, in 2018, J.D. Granger's office affair with his now fiance, Shanna Cate, is public knowledge, and so those details I learned of eight years ago, and since, are now fair game, what with this being just one more reason J.D. Granger needs to be terminated from this job for which it is now so obvious he is not qualified.

J.D. Granger's office affair with one of his employees is a classic case of creating a hostile working environment. When the affair became common knowledge to TRVA employees resentment began to build when J.D.'s girl friend, Shanna, was given favorable treatment, perks, benefits, and trips other TRVA employees did not get.

J.D. Granger's supposed boss, Jim Oliver, who runs the TRVA parent TRWD agency, has claimed he had no knowledge of J.D.'s office affair til two years ago. And that when he learned of it he initiated the process of removing Shanna Cate from being "under" J.D. Granger.

Granger spoke of this in his controversial interview with NBC TV. Some of the NBC TV article's references to J.D. and the Shanna Cate affair....

NBC 5 Investigates recently reported that J.D. Granger, head of the Trinity River Vision Authority, is also engaged to an employee on the Panther Island project, Shanna Cate, who helps him develop the island and manage community events.

Granger said there are plans to separate his work from hers when the TRVA eventually launches a nonprofit, headed by Cate, to manage the community events. A nonprofit would also provide tax advantages to the agency.

"It's anticipated that she's going to have her own nonprofit over there," he said, adding, "She can run those events because she just runs them very, very well."

Initial steps have been taken to incorporate such a nonprofit, selecting the name "Panther Island Initiative," even though the water district's board of directors has yet to vote on whether to create such a group.

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Let's see what Deep Moat had to say, EIGHT years ago, about J.D. Granger and his then girl friend's Trinity River Vision party planning initiative....

When I first heard of the plan to have river float beer parties I couldn't help laughing out loud. Between me and you, all those people in that office do is: sleep in, drink, play golf, eat expensive lunches, drink, eat expensive dinners, name drop, meetings, meetings, meetings, business trips, expensive dinners, happy hours, more drinks, rinse and repeat...I wish you could blog about some of these things,

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Well, way back in 2010 I did not feel comfortable blogging about something like J.D. Granger's office affair with an underling. I shared the info with others, such as Elsie Hotpepper, but I have no recollection way back then of even hinting at this affair.

In the same email in which Deep Moat revealed specific details of J.D. Granger's office affair other details of Trinity River Vision questionable practices were made mention of, which should aggravate those paying J.D.'s salaries and footing the bill for this....

Other things that piss me off are all of the outrageous salaries, trips, computers, cell phones, free downtown valet parking for work...In fact one of their old receptionists was allowed a company car because she didn't have transportation.  I am flabbergasted how overpaid everyone is.  

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Flabbergasted by the salaries way back in 2010? I've not heard from Deep Most what DM's opinion is of the current 213K annual Granger salary, or that of his girl friend. Or the other TRVA/TRWD nepotism beneficiaries.

Let's end this edition of talking about the Granger Water(gate) Scandal with a few more words from Deep Moat...

Also, I am curious--what got your river vision rant started?  I know those in the office have mentioned your blog before, in fact a while back, someone said they thought you were a facebook friend of JD.  Oh--and that facebook picture of JD is genius!  Why would someone in his position post such a picture. The stories I could tell you about that guy. I used to think he was alright, but time has proven me wrong.

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Eight year old words from Deep Moat is causing me to think it might be interesting to detail what it is which has caused me to be appalled for a long, long time, by what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. Perhaps I will elaborate on that soon....

Ice Skating With Santa On Ruby & Theo's 8th Happy Birthday

According to my sometimes reliable sources December 17 is the happy birthday of my favorite twins, my one and only niece, Ruby, and my one and only Theo nephew.

The twins are now 8 years old.

The twins happy birthday events took place this past weekend.

Those happy birthday events included swimming at the pool where they learned to swim.

And going ice skating at something called Sprinkler, an ice rink in the Tacoma suburb called Spanaway.

Or is Spanaway a Seattle suburb? I don't remember.

In addition to ice skating the Sprinkler happy birthday party included a pancake breakfast with Santa in attendance.

The twins and big brother, David, felt this Santa had total North Pole Santa credentials, due to his icy appearance at an ice rink.

That and because when Theo's friend, who is also named Theo, had his visit with Santa, the man in red with the big white beard informed Theo #2 that he would be losing a tooth that very same day.

Soon thereafter Theo #2's loose tooth came out, thus seeming to give this Santa super Santa powers.

Below we are looking at Theo, David and Ruby having an intense talk with that aforementioned future telling Santa. Did Santa tell the twins and David that their favorite uncle might be visiting them some time in the coming year?

Below we are looking at my all time favorite Santa Claus photo, from, I would estimate, around five or six years ago, with Ruby and Theo not enjoying the Santa visit, whilst an amused David looks away.

Back from looking at Santa's past to this past weekend.

I assumed the Spanaway Sprinkler ice rink is an indoor rink, but those snow flakes Ruby appears to be skating with would seem to indicate this is an outdoor ice rink. Except, I do not believe the Western Washington Puget Sound lowlands have had any snow falling yet this snowy time of the year.

I only remember trying to ice skate once. It did not go well. Years later I mastered the art of roller blading. I wonder if being able to roller blade translates into a successful ice skating experience. I may never know...

Wichita Bluff Nature Area Look At Mysterious Construction

Yesterday, on the day known as Sunday, I once again took myself to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail.

And once again parked on the new parking lot one finds before Loop 11 crosses the Wichita River.

What you are seeing in the first photo is a look at a side spur off the Circle Trail, which one reaches shortly after passing under the east entry sign indicating one is now in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area area.

I find this side spur slightly perplexing, wondering why guard rail is on both sides of the trail, with no apparent drop off danger in need of providing protection.

There are other areas of the Circle Trail, such as where the trail goes under Midwestern Boulevard, where there is a drop off, but with the aging wooden guard rail missing right at the point where it would be of most use.

Every time I hike the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I see something in the distance which I am unable to ascertain as to what it is. From a distance it looks like some sort of entry, maybe, or ruins, or who knows what.

Yesterday I aimed my camera and zoomed in on the mystery, which is what you see below.

Well, a close up photographed look got me no closer to figuring out what this is.

The MSU campus has an art installation called something like Gates of Hercules, or Pillars of Hercules, or some similar name. The above sort of reminds me of that, only way bigger. I suspect this is not some sort of isolated art installation, though.

Changing the subject to something totally different.

Today I am taking a rare late afternoon drive to the D/FW zone so as to go to a Christmas Party at Babe's in North Richland Hills. I have not been to Babe's since January of 2009, during mom and dad's final visit to Texas. At that point in time we went to the original Babe's, that being the one in Roanoke.

I am not much looking forward to tonight's dark drive back to Wichita Falls on treacherous 287. I do not recollect previously driving this road after sunset. I have done a dark drive on 287 from Amarillo to Wichita Falls. That section of 287 is in much better shape than 287 from Wichita Falls to D/FW.

I wonder which it will be tonight? Chicken Fried Chicken? Or Chicken Fried Steak? Or both? With lots of biscuits....

The Ides Of December Shines Blue & Warm In Wichita Falls

After a couple days of windy wet freezing gray gloom, on this Ides of December Saturday, blue sky and relatively warm air has returned to my North Texas location on the planet.

And so I was able to take my handlebars on a roll around town.

Eventually I arrived at the somewhat abandoned MSU where, as you see here, the annual re-appearance of the Wichita Falls Public Mass Transit Trams has occurred, taking up parking positions on a lot at the north end of the campus.

These five trams wait til dark to do their transiting, loaded with sightseers seeking to see the Christmas light sights one sees in the Wichita Falls version of Beverly Hills neighborhood.

These lights are quite a spectacle.

The Wichita Falls Public Mass Transit Christmas Trams are open air, non-heated conveyances. One is allowed to bring a thermos warmed beverage onboard, of the hot chocolate or coffee sort. I assume one could also bring along a more adult warming type beverage if one felt the need, with such subtly secreted in a thermos type device.

Coats, hats, gloves and blankets are likely also a good idea...

Jason Finding Relative Corny Nooksack Salmon In Old Seattle Times

Yesterday Spencer Jack's favorite dad, who also is my favorite Jason nephew, emailed me with a perplexing subject line of "Corny Relative's Nooksack Salmon".

Who is this corny relative with salmon from the Nooksack, I sat here and wondered? Is the corny fishing relative Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey, an uncle well known for his frequent salmon fishing in various Pacific Northwest water locations, though I'd not heard of Joey fishing in the Nooksack.

For those unfamiliar with Washington rivers, the Nooksack is a river which flows from the Mount Baker watershed, through Whatcom County til it reaches Bellingham Bay, which connects to the Georgia Straits and eventually the Pacific Ocean after passing through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the untreated sewage which flows from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Opening the email from Jason, after reading the perplexing subject line, the text in the email said...

I assume the relative mentioned in the 1945 attached Seattle Times newspaper page would be your grandfather?

Well, a grandfather of mine would be a great-grandfather of Jason's. Knowing it was our mutual forefather being referenced I knew Cornie had to be Cornelius Slotemaker-Jones.

The Slotemaker-Jones naming rules established long ago in the Netherlands were that the eldest son was to be named for his paternal grandpa.

I forgot to explain, the Dutch translation of the Slotemaker surname is sometimes thought to be Jones, hence Slotemaker-Jones.

The original Slotemaker-Jones, possibly illegal immigrants from Holland, were Cornelis and his wife, my great-great grandma, Aagje. Their first son, Jan (John), was my great-grandpa, married to my great-grandma, Tillie, who is the only one of that generation I knew, and remember.

Their eldest son was my dad's dad, my grandpa, Cornelius, also, apparently known as Cornie, though I thought his Americanized nickname was Neil. I do not know why they changed the spelling of Cornelis to Cornelius when they became Americanized, or why they Americanized Jan to John.

Because my dad was the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son his name was John, with the Americanized nickname of Jack. I was supposed to be named Cornelius, due to that eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son naming convention, but my mom and dad decided to be American rebels and not name me Cornelius.

I am guessing maybe mom and dad did not want their eldest son to have the nickname of Cornie. I believe it was a HUGE family scandal when mom and dad committed this egregious act of breaking the family naming convention. Mom and dad further inflamed some of the relatives a couple years later when they mis-informed them the name of their new born baby girl was Matilda, (if I am remembering the family lore correctly) when Matilda's actual name was Nancy.

Anyway, so Jason's email included a PDF of the front page of the Seattle Times from Sunday, July 29, 1945. It took me awhile, scanning the headlines and the articles to locate the Cornie reference. That is a screen cap of the Seattle Times front page above, and the article mentioning Cornie, cropped below.

The article's headline claiming Farmers Would Give Navy Their River was intriguing.

Apparently there was some irrational thought given to the idea of the Navy using the Nooksack River to moor some of the 514 ships they were somehow planning to moor on Lake Washington. How would they float big ships to Lake Washington? Through the Ballard Locks? Seems unlikely.

I called mom last night and asked if she remembered this idea of floating Navy ships to moor on the Nooksack River during World War II. It was not too shocking that mom had no memory of this. But she did remember the nature of the Nooksack River and asked how would they float big boats upstream on that river? It wouldn't be deep enough, would it?

The paragraph mentioning Jason's Great Grandpa, Cornie, is as follows...

Our farmers would be real pleased to have the Navy occupy our idle river. It's plenty wide. Our old-time freight steamers didn't have space to turn around, but they managed nicely by backing downstream. Cornie Slotemaker-Jones landed a 32-lb. salmon here this month, so we could offer the sailors good fishing and a lot of other entertainment. The Nooksack has always been noted for having a lot of bars.

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A lot of bars? Are we talking sandbars along the river here? Sandbars would seem to be a river navigation impediment. Or are we talking bars of the tavern/saloon sort?

I have no idea.

But, I do know part of the family lore is our Great-Grandpa Slotemaker-Jones, and some of his brothers, brewed beer during prohibition. And sold it. Some say via river running their brewed products down south to the Seattle area, for distribution.

A bigger mystery to me is how in the world did Jason find this obscure reference to our forefather in a newspaper from almost three quarters of a century ago?

Below is a photo of our grand and great grandparental units enjoying some of Grandpa's prohibition product. I believe that is Grandpa Cornelius sitting on the far left, with Grandma Sylvia, who was Jason's great-grandma, and my grandma, and Henry and Spencer Jack's great-great grandma, standing, the second from the left....

J.D. Granger Trinity River Vision Job Termination Long Overdue

A day or two ago Elsie Hotpepper asked me a question which caused me to remember a notorious J.D. Granger embarrassment which happened several years ago, with that embarrassment being so embarrassing that way back then the incident brought demands that J.D. Granger be removed from his executive director job mis-directing the Trinity River Vision Authority, which even then had already morphed into being America's Biggest Boondoggle.

In this embarrassment J.D. Granger had his kids holding signs cheering for beer and saying they were going nuts for runner's butts.

I know, hard to believe, but totally true.

We documented this absurdity in This Morning I Learned J.D. Granger Is Promoting Little Kids Cheering For Beer & Going Nuts For Runner's Butts.

That particular blog post generated multiple comments opinionizing about this J.D. Granger embarrassment....

LandslideClyde said...The taxpayers happily pay JD $140,000 a year (that's what it was in 2009. Probably twice that now) for his fun and games with public money. This is one time that the axiom "you get what you pay for" is baloney.

Anonymous said...Sorry not sorry or the Twitter hashtag #sorrynotsorry is the Trinity River Vision's answer to criticism. Seriously.

Anonymous said...A blog out of Wise County called Liberally Lean From The Land of Dairy Queen picked up this article from you and posted it.

Anonymous said...I'm a reporter at FOX 4, and had some questions about this post, and the picture. Would love to talk to the blog author. Can you call me? 817-336-xxxx. Thanks. Brandon Todd

Anonymous said..."Don't poop your pants, or do. We don't judge"?????? Fits in perfectly with the clueless crowd that hops into a tube down at Fecal Beach! Unbelievable! How do you like what TRV has brought us so far? Worth the financial drain? Worth the forfeiture of property? Any reference to "peeing" should be about what method they have chosen to do away with our treasure!

 Anonymous said...Does Child Protective Services exist in Texas? If so these morons should be reported to protect those kids.

Beth A. said...You are correct, Durango, this should be grounds for termination. Those poor kids are being used. Can't find anything about these signs anywhere else. Hope it gets more coverage and Granger gets some heat. Thanks.

cd0103 said...What is funny is I FB tagged you in this article before I opened it (post on Jeff Prince' page). Then I read it and you were quoted. Cracks me up. Keep up the good fight my friend.

Durango said...CD-----I just read the Jeff Prince Fort Worth Weekly post. Thought to myself, did I say that? I guess I must have....

Anonymous said...Would love to speak to you about this post. I am blog "gatekeeper" for Mark Greene's Congressional campaign. I also handle media.

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The J.D. Granger kids with signs embarrassment happened over four years ago. Demands that he be removed from the job, for which it is now undeniable he is unqualified, have amped up.

The Fort Worth Business Press recently weighed in warning that this ongoing scandal is now on the verge of turning Fort Worth into a national joke in Watch out River Vision, the world is watching.

That article generated yet one more comment calling for the removal of J.D. Granger...


kafcampbell said...Fort Worth Business Press, thank you for continuing to shine a light on the Panther Island boondoggle. JD Granger has outlived his usefulness, if he ever had any. His relationship with Rep Granger is a detriment at this point. He can best serve Fort Worth, what's left of the Panther Island project and Congress by resigning and taking the taint of nepotism out of the picture. That's a lot of salary to give up, though. I don't see it happening. Also, Water District, open up to scrutiny. Sheesh, you'd think they were the NSA...

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I would have thought J.D.'s long past due job termination would would have finally resulted from recent revelations, learned via emails between J.D. and his mother, Kay Granger.
Revelations which revealed J.D.'s interference in the bridge's design.

J.D's clueless inept interference came after the Army Corps of Engineers approved of the West 7th Street Bridge design for the Boondoggle's three simple bridges.

With the Army Corps plan including federal funds paying for the bridges, and which indicated the bridges would be built in a timely fashion, long ago completed, unlike J.D. Granger's V-pier bridge design debacle, with the three bridges now not expected to be completed until, possibly, maybe, hopefully, in 2020, six years after starting construction.

How this J.D Granger nonsense goes on and on and on is so perplexing.

New Wichita Falls Circle Trail With Golden Wheat Waves

What with the outer world warmed to a relatively warm temperature nearing 60 degrees this seemed like a good reason to go for a pleasant nature walk.

And what better place for such a walk than the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, designated specifically for such an activity.

But, today I did not make it past the sign marking entering the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

The new parking lot on the Circle Trail, located off Loop 11 on the south side of the Wichita River, is now open and ready to be parked on.

This new section of the Circle Trail soon terminates under the bridge over the Wichita River, awaiting funding to complete the Circle Trail from this location to Lucy Park.

Three orange barrels mark the current end of this section of the Circle Trail.

I forgot to mention what that is you are seeing in the photo at the top. Soon after walking away from the new parking lot one comes to a section of the Circle Trail where a wall of super tall wheat-like looking vegetation hovers above, blocking the view of the Wichita River. Scenic, in a waves of golden wheat across the prairie sort of way.

Let's end this look at the new section of the Circle Trail with the view from the bench I sat on when I decided I was at the turn around point.

Now, if only the local voters would wise up and realize it is a good idea to vote yes on funding the completion of the Wichita Falls Circle Trail.

Who Wants To Look At The Fort Worth Cement Lined Ditch J.D. Granger Debacle?

If my memory is serving me correctly, and sometimes it does, I have not made mention of America's Biggest Boondoggle since mentioning that the Trinity River Vision Debacle With J.D. Granger Was Reaching National Joke Status.

J.D. Granger amped up the national joke status by coming across as a clueless buffoon during an NBC TV interview. So, buffoonish that the next day NBC TV had J.D. Granger back on air trying to walk back the clueless buffoonery he had uttered.

In the Star-Telegram's The Panther Island project is getting a deep look, but its CEO won’t be scrutinized article, which we slightly scrutinized in the previous blog post about J.D. becoming a national joke, the Boondoggle's Bypass Channel was referenced.

No, that is not a look at a model of the Bypass Channel you are looking at above. That is a real "Bypass Channel" or cement lined ditch, which exists in real time in Wichita Falls, Texas, channeling water from Sikes Lake to Holliday Creek, en route to the Wichita River. That is not a Wichita Falls version of a "Signature Bridge" you see crossing the ditch. That is a golf cart bridge which takes golfers to their next hole.

I have not read the Star-Telegram, in recent times, during this new period of that newspaper seeming to try to somewhat accurately report on what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, repeating the ridiculous nonsense that the Trinity River Vision's three imaginary signature bridges were being built over dry land so as to save time and money.

When there was never any other option than to try and build those simple little bridges over dry land, due to the fact the funds to dig the ditch had not yet appeared. And when the construction of those pitiful bridges had dawdled past the four year mark it must have finally seemed ridiculous to even the Star-Telegram to suggest they were being built over dry land to save time.

That, and as for that saving money aspect, no one knows, due to the absolute lack of transparency, how much has already been spent saving money building these bridges over dry land.

No, let's talk about that Bypass Channel cement lined ditch.

From that Star-Telegram article about J.D. Granger not being scrutinized...

Re-channeling the Trinity River north of downtown in an effort to control downstream flooding would create the 800-acre Panther Island. Cutting that channel is the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has devoted $61 million to the project to date.

Though the project has missed out on 2019 funding, federal projects have about $9 million held over from past years. Most of that work will be done away from the downtown bypass channel in Gateway Park. To stay on the “critical path,” the minimum work to keep the project on schedule, Washington will have to kick in at least $26 million in 2020.

About $322 million in local money has been spent since the project’s inception more than 10 years ago. Purchasing the land needed for the channel and relocation of displaced businesses has cost about $140 million.

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Where to start? The river is being re-channeled in an effort to control flooding downstream? Really? Don't the current Trinity River levees in the downtown Fort Worth zone already control downstream flooding? And have done so for well over half a century? Flood control already bought and paid for.

This Bypass Channel is the responsibility of the Army Corps or Engineers? Really? I thought the Corps was onboard with simply improving the existing levees at a cost of a few million bucks. The Bypass Channel and imaginary island was not an idea foisted on Fort Worth by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was an idea foisted on Fort Worth by locals, such as Kay Granger and her Gang, hoping to make some big bucks by enhancing the value of property they owned in the area of the proposed imaginary island.

The project missed out on 2019 funding, but to stay on its "critical" slow motion path Washington must deliver at least $26 million in 2020. Why must Washington do such a thing?

About $322 million of local money has been spent since this Boondoggle began? Really? Where did that money come from? Can we see an accounting of from whence the funds came and what the supposed $322 million was spent on? Including salaries, such as the $213,000 a year J.D. Granger is being paid to mis-manage this debacle.

About $140 million was spent to take land for the un-needed Bypass Channel? Some of that land was taken over ten years ago, with the victims of the abuse of eminent domain threat still not made whole from the financial damage done to their lives. Can you imagine being one of those victims of the Boondoggle, and ten years later driving by the location of your former home or business and seeing a Boondoggle mess which has gone on for years, with no fruition or end in sight?

More later. I got sidetracked on other Boondoggle issues from a point I wanted to make about that Bypass Channel ditch....

Freezing Snow Aborts Wichita Falls Library Trek

Well.

The predicted possible snow snowing in the Wichita Falls zone turned way more snowy than what usually happens.

As in predicted snow usually seems to make no appearance, or maybe just a few flakes.

An hour before noon, give or take a minute or two, even though big flakes were falling, and appeared to not be melting, I decided, since I saw many vehicles doing so, that the roads were okay to drive on.

And so I exited my abode.

Carefully.

Holding on to the railing descending the stairs to ground level.

As soon as I was rolling north on Taft Boulevard I tapped the brakes to see if any slipping was noted.

None was.

As I headed north, towards the downtown Wichita Falls library, the snow seemed to be falling far more copiously.

I looked at my vehicle's temperature measuring monitor to see that which said it was 33 degrees upon departure now indicated it was freezing, as in 32 degrees.

By the time my location on Taft Boulevard was in the Midwestern State University zone, only about a half mile from my abode, near the Fantasy of Lights, the road suddenly turned slippery. A red light stopped me at Hempstead. When the light turned green it was quickly obvious the road was now icing up.

I took the first opportunity to turn around and head back to my abode. The side street by which I made the turnaround quickly confirmed, via its slipperiness, that turning around was the right thing to do, what with me not wanting anything remotely resembling my last ice storm driving nightmare a few winters back in Fort Worth.

That photo you see at the top is post turnaround, back at the stoplight at Hempstead, heading south, past the aforementioned Fantasy of Lights, back to the relative safety of my home zone.

Below is video I took whilst still feeling slip-free, as I approached the Fantasy of Lights, before realizing the road had become too slippery for my driving requirements...