The Trinity River Flood Control Wakeboard Park and Flood Control Bar-B-Que Joint

I've given up on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for coverage of anything remotely controversial.  I don't think they want to irritate the one little old lady who still puts her garage sale notices in their classifieds.

Sports scores?  The betting line on the Super Bowl?  If my cell phone can't pick up Google, I'll buy a Star-Telegram for that info. 
Here's where I've been finding myself going for local news lately:  The Star-Telegraph. 

For instance....If you live in Fort Worth, you're probably aware that JD Granger and his Mama are trying to fleece the taxpayers via a multi-billion dollar "flood control" project. 

Here's what The Star-Telegraph had to say about the Flood Control Wakeboard Park after our recent heavy rains.  (And I can't find a word in the Star-Telegram about this):

The Cowtown Wakeboard park, part of the Trinity River Vision "flood" control project in Fort Worth, failed to save anyone from flooding today.  Apparently, it couldn't even save itself.

The Trinity River took back the wakeboard park.  And left a sign of just how clean the river is.  Remember that when they invite you to Tube the Trinity during the Rockin' the River events brought to you by the Trinity River Vision Authority and the Tarrant Regional Water District.

With all the flooding footage today, WHY did you not see any of the wakeboard park? 
Ask.
While you're at it, ask what it cost YOU and what it's going to cost YOU to repair it.  After all, it's YOUR money.

Here's another for instance.... We've also been burdened with a Flood Control Bar-B-Que Joint. 
Was there open bidding between restaurants for this prime real estate?  Did the city give notice that some Flood Control Restaurants could open on the banks of the Trinity? 
Hell to the No. 

Here's DFW.COM on the sweetheart deal that celebrity chef Tim Love got for his new restaurant, The Wood Shed:

Love and the Trinity River Vision Authority have taken some heat because the TRVA signed a 10-year lease with Love without open bidding. But Love says he hopes the restaurant, located just west of University Drive not far from Hoffbrau Steaks, will help open the door for other restaurants along the river.


"I've gotten beat up a little bit in the last couple of months," he continues. "But I'm trying to make [the river area] better. When I did the lease, I said, 'I want to do something for the river.' Somehow that backfired on me. I thought people would be excited about the fact that they could come here and drink a beer and 6 percent of it goes back to the [district]. I mean, that's pretty cool."

I could spend the rest of the morning dissecting that quote, but work beckons.  "I want to do something for the river????"  Good Lord in heaven, Tim, they spent $970,000.00 in public money to build your Bar-B-Que joint !!!!! 

"Ask not what you can do for your river.  Ask why I'm having to build your freakin' restaurant for you." - not John F. Kennedy 

Here's something from the Trinity River Partnership on the sweetheart deal:

After behind-the-scenes negotiations, without public input or competitive bidding, the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) has spent $970,000 of public money to build a restaurant near a popular trail head along the Trinity River. Along the way, the Water District signed a 10-year lease with celebrity chef Tim Love to run it, without a competitive bidding process.....

Instead of paying rent on the building, the Woodshed will pay a percentage of its total sales to the TRVA. According to the lease, the Woodshed would pay the Water District 6 percent on its first $500,000 of sales, 5 percent on the next $500,000 and 4 percent on sales of more than $1,000,001. Love is also responsible for utilities, maintenance and upkeep of the building.


The lease was drafted and approved by Ken Brummett, the water district’s general counsel, but not voted on by the district’s board.....

Board member Jim Lane denies there’s anything untoward about the deal.


“People say there’s no transparency but there is plenty of transparency,” he said. “Other restaurateurs were contacted and no one had any interest until Tim Love stepped up. I’m sorry other restaurateurs feel, now, that they didn’t get a chance to be part of that. But we’ve been discussing this for a long time.”

Other restauranteurs were contacted?  Did Jim Lane decide which ones would be contacted?  The Massion on Turtle Creek?  Tavern on The Green?  Whose clientele is so high-toned that they would turn down something like this? 
That's not the way it is supposed to work.  Was there a public notice that a restaurant spot was going to be available?  Can you imagine the feeding frenzy that would have erupted with legit businesses competing for that site? 

The Fort Worth Stock show didn't produce this much bullshit. 

If you live in Fort Worth, you GAVE Tim Love a restaurant. 
If you live in Fort Worth, you're giving the Grangers a billion dollar boondoggle. 
It really is that simple. 

A blog and a freebie mag are the only ones to criticize the travesty. 

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - R.I.P. 

When you're about to lose an election....POSTPONE IT !!!

A government outfit known as the Trinity River Vision Authority is trying to use Eminent Domain, Earmarks, Extreme Environmentalism, and almost every other vice of this horrific decade to take land and money from taxpayers for a private real estate development. 

The Trinity is beautiful from a distance.  Up close, according to Channel 8, it's still filled with feces, much like the Trinity River Vision Authority.  Here's a picture from one of last summer's TRVA events, featuring people floating around in your old sewage:

The original plan was to turn part of the Trinity into something like San Antonio's "Riverwalk".  That stunk too much of cronyism even for our slumbering citizenry, so now the emphasis is on flood control.  It's now a safety project that just happens to have major real estate developments, theatres, restaurants, etc. along its banks. 

It's had the usual cost overages:

The politically-connected are all in place:

And the usual victims (you) are on the hook for any failures.  Socialize The Cost; Privatize The Profit !!!!

And now, from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, comes this bit of greatness about the Tarrant Regional Water District Board, the outfit responsible for the necessary thefts, looting and dredging required to build Lake Granger:

In a 3-2 vote, the Tarrant Regional Water District board voted to shift its election date for three board seats from May 2012 to May 2013. Vic Henderson, chair of the water board, said the switch was made to bring the water district's election date in line most of the other Tarrant County governmental entities that have shifted to odd rather than even years. But the water board, which historically has been known for casting unanimous votes, was split on the issue. Board members Hal Sparks and Jim Lane voted against the issue, saying they felt the water code was clear that elections should be held in odd years even though the water district had obtained a letter from the Secretary of State's office saying they could move the date. Sparks, Henderson and board member Jack Stevens were slated to be up for re-election but will now serve for another year. Sparks said he felt like he made an agreement with voters to serve four years when he was elected and voted his conscience on the issue. But he said he plans to serve the remainder of his term.

They are postponing their own elections for a year !!!   They are postponing their own elections for a year !!! 
Unbelievable !!!  And we're probably going to put up with it, like a bunch of compliant sheep !! 

Had this happened to any reasonably alert group of voters, the hardware stores would already be sold out of pitchforks and torches.  Good Lord in heaven.  When are we going to wake up ????

There is an alternative to this madness, called the Trinity River Improvement Partnership.  They're trying to act as a Granger watchdog group, and to present an alternative plan.  Hit the link.  Please help them out any way you can.