J.D. Granger's Magic Trees Saving Arlington From The Trinity River While Not Worrying About Haltom City Getting Saved

Yesterday I made a video about J.D. Granger's Magic Trees.

I should have edited the video much shorter, leaving out the question that led to J.D. revealing the surprising news that he is busy planting 80,000 trees in Fort Worth's Gateway Park for the express purpose of protecting Arlington, which is downstream from Fort Worth, from flooding accelerated by J.D.'s Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I brightened the video and made J.D. louder so you can somewhat better understand his garbled Texas accent.

Yesterday I also made a short video of a clip sent to me of the "Up a Creek" documentary movie (now viewable online). The short clip made mention of the fact that Miss Layla Caraway observed 30 foot trees being torn out of the ground by the flooding Haltom City Creek that was trying to swallow her home.

Can none of the 80,000 Trinity River Vision Magic Anti-Flood Trees be given to long-suffering Haltom City?

People have died in Haltom City floods, including one little girl. Haltom City is only a few miles north of Gateway Park. Haltom City is a border town of Fort Worth.

Can't Fort Worth look into its troubled soul long enough to spare some Magic Trees to stop the out of control Haltom City creeks?

I know that taking down the badly outdated Trinity River levees, which have stopped flooding for over 50 years, is very important. And that replacing them with a giant flood control ditch, at great cost, is a very forward thinking thing to think.

And spending a lot of money to build a little pond that will serve as a swimming lake and a drinking water source, in addition to water storage, according to J.D. Granger, is a really smart thing to be investing in.

But can't a few dollars be spared to give Haltom City, and the other Mid-Cities some of the Magic Anti-Flood Trees that J.D. Granger and the Trinity River Vision have developed in their nationally acclaimed, internationally recognized, visionary vision?

Below you can more clearly hear J.D. talk about his Magic Trees....

Watch "Up A Creek" The Movie Documentary About Tarrant County Water Issues

The "Up a Creek" movie documentary has now been YouTubed.

In "Up a Creek" you will meet a young Texas lady named Layla Caraway.

Miss Layla is a lifelong Haltom City native who was peacefully living her life, minding her own business, when something happened to her that turned her in to a political activist.

"Up a Creek" documents Miss Layla's activist journey and the serious issues regarding Tarrant County flooding that are currently not being addressed. Which, of course, leads to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle being part of what is discussed in this movie.

"Up a Creek" is presented below, in 4 parts, for your viewing and educational pleasure....

Haltom City Does Not Have Any Of The Magic Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Anti-Flood Trees

A few minutes ago I blogged about J.D. Granger's interesting assertion that he is planting 80,000 trees in Fort Worth's Gateway Park in order to slow down a Trinity River flood before it can do damage to Arlington.

A few minutes after that Anonymous Bob sent me a video excerpt from the "Up a Creek" movie documentary about the current bad water management of Tarrant County.

In that video Miss Layla Caraway mentions that during the flood in Haltom City, that almost obliterated her home, she saw 30 foot trees ripped out of the ground to go floating by her stricken abode.

While in Fort Worth, special flood resisting trees are being planted in Gateway Park that will not be ripped out of the ground during a flood, but will instead put up a massive 80,000 stick strong resistance to the forces of the Trinity River, slowing down that river when it is in raging mode, before it can do any damage in Arlington, due to Fort Worth's misguided Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The YouTube video below is a tiny part of the "Up the Creek" movie. I believe the entire movie documentary will be available for viewing soon...

J.D. Granger's Army Of 80,000 Flood Protecting Trees Planted In Gateway Park To Save Arlington

I finally got to watch the infamous video of J.D. Granger trying  to explain the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to a group of skeptics at a presentation at UTA.

The video was shot by Zack Maxwell, he of Save Arlington fame.

Zack converted the raw video into a DVD. This made it tricky to extract video to turn it into a YouTube video.

There are several amusing moments that occur during this meeting. The crowd got a bit rowdy.

I somehow expected J.D. Granger to come across way dumber than he does. Instead he's like some sort of quick on his feet snake oil salesman.

Maybe I'll make several short YouTube videos of some of the choice moments. It overwhelmed my computer this morning when I extracted over 30 minutes of the DVD.

Listening to J.D. one is led to believe J.D. believes the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is rolling in money, generating revenue far in excess of their fondest hopes.

J.D. rattles off all these things the TRV has accomplished. All the businesses he says he's moved. Yes, he used the "I" word in regards to businesses moved via eminent domain abuse.

J.D. seems to believe that the TRV Boondoggle will create some sort of utopia, and is currently leading the world in all sorts of aspects.

A rather colorful lady in the audience got all over J.D. over the fact that the Montgomery Plaza development in the booming West 7th zone of Fort Worth has filed for bankruptcy because they have so many empty apartments.

I think I understood J.D. to explain that the little pond that will be where the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River now meet up, will be some sort of flood storage reservoir and drinking water source. The Town Pond is something like 12 acres big. That is a little smaller than Lake Grapevine.

But, the strangest, funniest thing J.D. came up with was in response to a guy from Arlington verbalizing his concern that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was going to make flooding worse in Arlington. That, and he asked J.D. if the people of Fort Worth get to vote on this project.

J.D. acted like he's been worn out by all the referendums and votes there have been on this project. Somehow I don't remember these taking place.

As for the flooding in Arlington, J.D. explains that the TRV is going to extreme lengths to make sure not one ounce of extra water goes one second faster towards Arlington during a flood.

With the prime facilitator of that flood control being the 80,000 trees now being planted in Gateway Park.

I've seen no trees being planted in Gateway Park.

I'd never heard of trees stopping floods before.

The Pacific Northwest is heavily forested. It can flood real bad up there. I've seen a lot of trees washed into the rivers during a flood. I've never heard anyone suggest more trees be planted to slow down an incoming flood.

Like I said, this project in Fort Worth is daring to go where no city has gone before in terms of ground breaking new methods for fixing a serious problem. That problem being the levees that have protected Fort Worth ever since they went up.

J.D. thinks Fort Worth has now grown too big for those levees.

And shooting a Trinity River flood into a diversion channel ditch is just the protection Fort Worth needs from a raging Trinity River.

Anyway, watch the short YouTube video below where you'll learn about the 80,000 trees being planted in Gateway Park to save Arlington from Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle...

On Wednesday TRIP Invites You To Fort Worth's Historic Stagecoach Ballroom For The World Premiere Of The Movie Documentary "Up A Creek"

This coming Wednesday you will likely find me at Fort Worth's historic Stagecoach Ballroom.

No, I am not going to be at the historic Stagecoach Ballroom to dance with Dancing with the Stars' Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo. That pair will be giving dance lessons at Fort Worth's non-historic Universe Ballroom.

I had no idea, til today, that Fort Worth had ballrooms.

On Wednesday you can join me, if I show up, at the historic Stagecoach Ballroom to watch the world premiere of the documentary movie "Up a Creek."

"Up a Creek" looks at various impacts of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I do not know if "Up a Creek" includes footage of the infamous J.D. Granger UTA breakdown.

I have no idea what this documentary movie is rated. But, since it's about Fort Worth I expect it to be filthy, with a lot of trashy stuff shown.

The historic Stagecoach Ballroom is located at 2516 E. Belknap in Fort Worth. You can easily find directions by Googling "Stagecoach Ballroom Fort Worth." That is how I found out where the historic Stagecoach Ballroom is located.

On Wednesday, March 30, 2011, doors open at 6:30 p.m. with "Up a Creek" screening at 7:00 p.m.

This is a TRIP event. TRIP is an acronym for Trinity River Improvement Project. TRIP is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which advocates cleaning the Trinity River, while supporting development that does not spoil the natural aesthetics and historic nature of the river.

Go to the TRIP website for more information.

The Tandy Hills Sprouts A New Wildflower With Me Pondering Fort Worth's Various Scandals

A couple wildflowers made their first appearance of the year on the Tandy Hills today. With one of the two being the pink wildflower you see on the left.

It was very cloudy and windy when I hiked the hills around noon. There was no Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man today.

But now, 3 hours later, shadows have returned, with the removal of most of the clouds.

Change of subject.

The Paradise Center Scandal is wearing me down. I thought when I made a blog, just for the Paradise Center Scandal, that the comments would go there. Instead there are a lot of nasty con and nice pro comments still coming to this blog. As well as the new one.

Yesterday someone called Jessie Girl commented on the the Paradise Center Scandal blog, to a blogging titled "Scandal Madness Fan is Appalled at the Lack of Civility and Decency of the MHMR Cons," asking "Just one quick question. What is the scandal? I'm confused."

I thought way back on March 4 County Commission Gal did a pretty good job of breaking down the MHMR-Gate/Paradise Center Scandal.

In many ways the Paradise Center Scandal is a worse scandal than Watergate. No one was actually hurt in Watergate, except for the perpetrators of the break-in and those who tried to cover up the crime. In the Paradise Center Scandal you have actual victims who have suffered damage due to the perpetrator's bad, likely illegal, behavior.

Unlike Watergate, the city where the Paradise Center Scandal took place has no real newspaper of the Washington Post sort.

And Fort Worth definitely has no Woodward and Bernstein in town doing any sort of investigative reporting regarding the wanton wrongdoing perpetrated by MHMR of Tarrant County.

Maybe the Washington Post could send a reporter or two to Fort Worth. In addition to learning about the Paradise Center Scandal the rest of America would likely find it interesting that Fort Worth has a mayor who has made millions of dollars from the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers poking holes all over the town of which he is mayor.

Maybe the Washington Post could find a way to explain to the people of Fort Worth what a conflict of interest is.

After telling the story of Fort Worth's corrupt mayor the Washington Post might want to tell the rest of America about Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision and explain what nepotism is to the people of Fort Worth.

I would think the rest of America would be a bit surprised to learn that their tax dollars are helping fund a huge, unneeded public works project.

And that Fort Worth's Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., was given the job of running this huge public works project, a job for which he had no qualifications.

But those who practice what is known as 'The Fort Worth Way" figured it would make the congresswoman beholden to them if they gave her son a job, with Ms. Granger getting behind sending some earmark money to help fund Fort Worth's unfunded Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Unfortunately for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, that earmark funding method is not working out too well.

Meanwhile, J.D. Granger has been having himself a real fine time on the public's dime, with fine dining, junkets, parties, expensive hotel rooms, a steady supply of liquor and all sorts of other perks.

I wish my mom was a congresswoman so she could get me a cool job with lots of booze and broads.

Not really.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief's Trinity River Vision Referendum Could Backfire

There was an article in this morning's Seattle P-I that caused me to think of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision.

In Seattle there is currently a several billion dollar project underway to fix a section of state highway, a section known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

This section of road is elevated along the Seattle waterfront. The viaduct has been damaged by previous earthquakes and could easily collapse in a serious earthquake.

So, the plan is to take the viaduct down and replace it with a tunnel.

It took years for the state of Washington and city of Seattle to come up with a plan with sufficient support to implement it. Since this is a state highway project it has not been put to a vote of the people.

The current mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, ran for mayor opposing the tunnel. In Fort Worth when the lack of a public vote on the Trinity River Vision is criticized, some have actually opined that the public has elected officials in favor of the TRV and not elected officials opposed to the TRV.

Which is the same as having voted or not voted for the TRV project

If the Fort Worth Way were the Seattle Way I guess this would mean the tunnel project would be stopped, since the people elected a mayor who opposes it.

The article in the Seattle P-I, this morning, was a good example of the stark difference between how things are done in Fort Worth and how they are done in Seattle.

Keep in mind, the Alaskan Viaduct tunnel replacement is a state highway project. Not the sort of thing the public usually votes on. While the Trinity River Vision is a public works project of the sort that usually never goes forward unless the public has approved of it.

I'll copy the article from this morning's P-I below and replace the key Seattle words with Fort Worth words and then ask yourself if you think you'd ever read an article like this in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram...

Trinity River Vision Referendum Could Torpedo Moncrief

A coalition of groups, supported by the mayor and his allies, is trying to collect 16,000 signatures by the end of the month to put a Trinity River Vision referendum before voters in August. Moncrief says if Fort Worth were to approve the TRV referendum, he’ll stop opposing the Trinity River Vision.

“I’m not playing politics on this,” Moncrief told the Star-Telegram on Thursday. “I’m not terribly interested in being a mayor who said, ‘I told you so.’”

But “I told you so” is Moncrief’s best potential future argument about the Trinity River Vision, which he has made the signature issue of his time in office. Moncrief is taking on the entire political establishment with his strident opposition to the uptown project. He’s crosswise with the City Council, the Tarrant County executive, the governor, the unions (in Fort Worth?) and the business community. Trinity River Vision proponents seethe that Moncrief is trying, at the last moment, to gum up a process that has been going on for 10 years.

The mayor says the whole point is the public should have a say on this project – ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Moncrief wants the people to have a voice. How ironic that the people’s voice – feared so much by his adversaries – could end up depriving Moncrief of his own.

I TRIPPED Up In The Botanic Gardens In Fort Worth Tonight Without Elsie Hotpepper

I lasted longer at the TRIP meeting tonight than I thought I would. I made it through the meet and greet part.

Then I made it part way into the main show, before my Adult Attention Deficit Disorder kicked in, which had me thinking I could be doing something else, until the impulse to leave could be resisted no longer.

It would have helped if Elsie Hotpepper had showed up, as expected, at Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens tonight.

The promised hors d’oeuvres turned out to be a buffet table laden with tasty goodies. Waiting in the line reminded me of good times in Las Vegas and Reno waiting in a slow buffet line behind people older than me.

I was deathly afraid someone at this thing might recognize me. I hate it when that happens. So, I went in Clark Kent mode, with glasses. It worked. No one recognized me.

After about a half hour of sitting solo, eating hors d’oeuvres, this nice lady in a slinky black dress indicated I should come to her. I did so. She told me the show was about to begin. And that I could go get myself a good seat.

Good seat, to me, means a seat located in the back near an exit.

Well.

Imagine my surprise when the show starts up and the nice lady in the slinky black dress was introduced as, and I hope I get the name right, Layla Caraway.

Like the seeds, I think.

Miss Caraway gave a good introduction as to what TRIP is all about. As in sane management of the Trinity River. As opposed to the current insane management of the Trinity River.

Miss Caraway ended her speech introducing a documentary, produced by KERA in Dallas, about the Trinity River. It is a good documentary.

But.

I had already seen it.

This was when my AADD started kicking in.

So, I decided to slink away in the dark and return to my present moment, free of something I'd already seen.

Imagine my shock, as I exited, to literally bump into Miss Caraway. It was very awkward. I explained that having seen that documentary had caused my AADD to kick in. Miss Caraway explained that the documentary would soon be over and speakers would be speaking.

But.

Once the AADD kicks in, there is no turning back. It really is a difficult condition to live with.

I must say, the Trinity River Improvement People have put together a rather impressive operation. It obviously is more reality based than the Trinity River Vision. TRIP seems to be wanting to actually solve actual real problems, rather than build Wakeboard Parks and unneeded flood diversion channels and a little pond pretending to be a lake.

It seems to me that if TRIP gets its message right and accurately aims that message at the Trinity River Vision, that the people in the rest of America, who are helping pay for the Trinity River Vision, will join with TRIP in demanding that the Vision to Nowhere be permanently blinded.

Before it hurts people.

The Cold First Saturday Of March Thinking Of A TRIP & Swimming

The view is steamy looking out my viewing portal on the world on the first Saturday of March.

There may be various reasons for the steamy window, but I think the primary cause is the temperature outdoors has plummeted to a measly 7 degrees above freezing.

39 degrees may wreak havoc with my plan to go swimming this morning.

In addition to the cold temperature, gusty winds are blowing with a steady pace of around 20 mph, making it feel like 25 degrees out there.

Tonight, starting at 6, TRIP has its first event. TRIP is the short way of saying Trinity River Improvement Project. Near as I can tell TRIP is an adult version of the infantile Trinity River Vision, known as TRV.

With TRIP you get no Inner Tube Trinity River Happy Hours. And no Cowtown Wakeboard Park. And no un-needed, unnecessary flood diversion channels.

I don't know if I'm going TRIP up tonight. With my go with the flow nature it is too early in the day to commit myself to something as far away as 6 o'clock.

In the meantime I think I'll put on my long underwear and go swimming. Or try to.

TRIP The Trinity River Improvement Partnership's Fort Worth Rebels

It has been brought to my attention that a group of rebels has formed with the goal of trying to Save the Trinity River from its current course of being severely altered by the myopic Trinity River Vision Billion Dollar Boondoggle.

It is risky business rebelling against The Fort Worth Way in these parts.

In the picture of the pair of Trinity River Inner Tube Happy Hour imbibers there is a "Vote NO! Save The Trinity" sign.

That is a bit misleading. In Fort Worth the voters are not allowed to vote on massive public works projects in their city.

The Rebel Group calls itself  the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP).

On Saturday, March 5, 2011 TRIP is hosting its premiere event at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Unlike voting on public works projects, the Fort Worth public is invited to this event.

At the event you will find hors d’oeuvres. Hors d’oeuvres is fancy French-speak meaning food. In addition to food you'll also listen to speakers and view a film. I don't know for sure what the film is. It may be the infamous J.D. Granger UTA video. I've not seen this video, but I've been told it is highly informative.

TRIP has a website where you can learn more about plans to "Save a River...Save a Billion!"

Go to the Star-Telegragh to learn more about Saturday's meeting and to RSVP to make sure you reserve yourself a seat.

The Trinity River Vision's Slick Propaganda Brochure Raises A Lot Of Questions About The Cost Of Signs, Junkets, Websites, Parties & Booze

Speaking of wasteful government spending. Here in Fort Worth, it being the city that is the Envy of the Nation, we have the biggest public works project in the history of the planet, underway, known as the Trinity River Vision. Sometimes referred to as TRV. Or simply The Boondoggle.

The Boondoggle is currently about a Billion Dollar Boondoggle. Some of that billion is federal money. Which means you who don't live in the Best City in America are helping pay for The Boondoggle. The TRV Boondoggle has all sorts of amazing things going on.

To help inform the Citizens of Fort Worth as to the current amazing status of the TRV Boondoggle, apparently, it was decided a mass mailing would get that job done.

Because today in my mailbox I found a very slick, full color, 4 page brochure titled TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE. The 4 page brochure was folded into the 3-fold mailer you see at the top. With my address on it. Please do not use that information to make an uninvited visit.

The brochure, when opened, was too big to be able to scan the entire thing in my scanner. So, I scanned pieces of the brochure for your reading pleasure.

Above is the top part of the front page of the TRV Update brochure. I thought it was real interesting that there was an article on this page titled, "CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT IS PARAMOUNT TO THE PROJECT."

You who live in cities which are not the Envy of the Nation may be surprised to learn that the biggest public works project in the History of the World came about without the good Citizens of the City of Fort Worth getting to vote on the project.

Getting to vote on something seems to me to be sort of key to CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT, particularly if that involvement is paramount to the project.

The above is from the 2nd page of the brochure. Part of the Trinity River Vision's vision has been to see Fort Worth having the premier wakeboarding facility in the world.

About the Wakepark, the esteemed visionary, J.D. Granger has said,  “Cowtown Wakepark will be one of the shining stars of the dynamic improvements happening on the Trinity River right now. We are very excited to have teamed up with the best people in the field of wakeboarding and we are working diligently to help make Cowtown Wakepark the premiere wakeboarding facility in the world. We want everybody in Fort Worth to be able to experience the fun of Wakeboarding, and Cowtown makes it affordable for everyone in Fort Worth to take up the sport.”

How lucky is Fort Worth that the town's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, had a son who wasn't doing anything, who was willing to run the TRV Boondoggle. In Fort Worth we don't know anything about nepotism because of the city law against words with more than 3 syllables. I have lost track of the number of Excess Syllables Tickets I've gotten from the City of Fort Worth Word Police.

The above piece of the TRV Brochure is from the top part of page 3. It shows a Natural Stone Outfall and Boat Launch. The picture shows a lot of people with inner tubes and no boats. I believe last summer we learned that part of the TRV Boondoggle's vision was classifying inner tubes as boats. J.D. Granger has promised many more Trinity River Inner Tube Happy Hour Boating Parties, next summer.

The above is from the top of the back page of the brochure, showing TRV Out on the Town, including a picture of a few of the over 2,500 people who toured a Portland streetcar when it sat on one of the Sundance Square parking lots.

I don't know why no pictures are shown of any of the many TRV out of town junkets and drinking parties.

I can't help but wonder how much this 4 page, full color 14" by 8.5" brochure cost to produce and mail.

How much is the TRV Boondoggle spending on its very well done website?

I've wondered previously how much the TRV signage I've seen in Gateway Park cost. Which is also the question I asked when I was appalled at the incredible amount of TRV signage I saw along the Trinity Trail when I checked out the Cowtown Wakepark.

Does another of Kay Granger's kids have the TRV Boondoggle sign concession?

What is the total Granger family take from the TRV Boondoggle, I can't help but wonder?

How much have all those junkets to other cities cost? Junkets, the purported purpose of which, was to look at other town's river projects. You know, information likely gleaned easily via the Internet, but with the TRV Boondoggle, it involves junkets with multiple TRV employees taken along for the fun, which involved a lot of expensive restaurant eating and booze consumption.

I've received a couple emails in recent days, very cryptically suggesting that there is some dissension in the TRV Boondoggle ranks, which has upset J.D. Granger. My guess is that someone privy to the inner workings of the TRV Boondoggle objected to some objectionable things. With J.D. Granger unable to explain whatever he was hoping to explain. Like maybe his latest expense account submission? Or not being able to adequately explain exactly what it was he was doing over in Dallas on some very specific days. Tied to credit card charges.

Shouldn't  the amount of money the TRV is spending on brochures, signage, junkets, restaurants, parties and booze be part of the public record? Why is this entity getting away with acting as if it is not a public agency open to public scrutiny?

It is all very very perplexing.

Back On The Tandy Hills While Green With Envy Thinking About How Fort Worth Impresses America

I parked on top of Mount Tandy today to go do some cross country hilly trail hiking. I figured the trails would still be muddy, and they were, but making my own mud-free trail worked out fine.

In the picture we are to the south of the top of Mount Tandy and the Fort Worth Space Needle, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I have not viewed the stunning skyline of beautiful Downtown Fort Worth from the Tandy Hills since before ESPN arrived on one of the Sundance Square parking lots to broadcast Super Bowl coverage to the world to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth forever.

Unfortunately that did not quite work out the way Fort Worth boosters hoped it would. Unless the hope was to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth to being a snowy, icebound location.

This morning, it was in the news that polling showed that the national image of Arlington went from 73.7 percent of America having no impression of Arlington, prior to the Super Bowl, to having even less of an impression, at 74.4 percent, after the Super Bowl.

That is not impressive.

I can't help but wonder if the same polling company that polled about the Super Bowl city, Arlington, also polled about Dallas and Fort Worth.

I really don't think any reasonable person would argue with the proposition that a much higher percentage of Americans have some impression of Dallas than they do of Fort Worth.

When I am on the road, out of Texas, and asked where I'm from, I say Dallas, because people know about Dallas. When I lived in Washington and was on the road, and asked where I was from, I usually did not say Mount Vernon, or the Skagit Valley. I'd say I was from Seattle, because people know about Seattle and where it is.

I'd guess a very high percentage of Americans have an impression of Dallas, J.R. Ewing, JFK, Cotton Bowl, a recognizable skyline, among other things.

I'd guess, if polled, the percent of Americans who have an impression of Fort Worth would be closer to the percentage of Americans who have an impression of Arlington.

Or lower.

Afterall, Arlington has Six Flags, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Those 3 things would seem likely to have left an impression on some Americans as being associated with Arlington.

But, the only thing in Fort Worth that is remotely iconic and is associated with Fort Worth is the Fort Worth Stockyards. The Stockyards would seem to be the only Fort Worth thing that might give Fort Worth a possibility of having made more of an impression on America than Arlington.

Methinks Fort Worth could do some work on making itself more known to the rest of America. Like the town could arrest its mayor on corruption charges. Or have big protests on the Sundance Square parking lots demanding Regime Change.

I am constantly appalled at my bad memory. I'd forgotten that Fort Worth was recently the Envy of the Nation because a Fort Worth school won the Rose Bowl. I'm sure that really amped up the national impression of Fort Worth as being a very impressive place.

I think Fort Worth's best hope to make a national impression may be through the good works of the Fort Worth savior, J.D. Granger, and his Trinity River Vision.

When the Trinity River Vision finally opens for business I am sure it will be the talk of the nation.

If not the world.

The Fort Worth version of San Antonio's Riverwalk will likely once more make Fort Worth the Envy of the Nation, with cities and towns, far and wide, Green with Envy.

I'm done now.

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision & The Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project

You are looking at a live camera view of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, under construction, about an hour ago, in Dallas.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is one of 3 signature bridges being built in Dallas, designed by Santiago Calatrava. The 3 bridges are part of what is now known as the Trinity River Corridor Project.

Earlier today I blogged about a letter in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in which the letter writer opined about Fort Worth's need for a visionary of the same ilk that brought Fort Worth the murky vision of the Trinity River Vision.

Among other points, I said, regarding the Trinity River Vision, "All that vision saw was copying what was being done in Dallas with its Trinity River Corridor Project. And then downscaling the Dallas Vision."

Anonymous commented to that particular blogging, and in that comment, said "As for Trinity River Vision, its initiatives and ideas far predate the Dallas effort and is in no way copying them. The FW project is superior in scope and vision, IMO."

Well.

I arrived in Texas in 1998. It was not long after my arrival that I learned of a project in Dallas that was to renovate the Trinity River as it flowed through Dallas. The Dallas mayor at the time, Ron Kirk, championed the project, with Dallas voters, in 1998, approving a bond proposal. At that time I believe the word "vision" was in the title for the Dallas project.

I believe it was sometime after the turn of the century I first read of Fort Worth's plan to do its own renovating of the Trinity River. I believe this was originally called the Trinity Uptown Project.

Unlike Dallas, the citizens of Fort Worth have not had the opportunity to vote on their controversial vision.

I believe I am correct when I say Fort Worth copied Dallas. That is definitely how it struck me at the time Fort Worth's vision was born. Including announcing that 3 signature bridges were part of the Fort Worth vision. Just like the Dallas vision.

Except, Fort Worth lost its signature bridges, while Dallas did not.

So, I believe the Anonymous commenter is erroneous when he claims the Trinity River Vision far predates the Dallas Trinity River Vision.

Wikipedia has articles about both the Dallas and Fort Worth projects. The Dallas article is quite detailed, while the Fort Worth article is a bit sketchy. And contains errors. Like saying the Town Lake was going to cover 33 acres. That lake long ago shrunk down to small pond size.

Both the Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project and the Fort Worth Trinity River Vision have good websites, which give you a good idea what these projects entail, and you can clearly see that, despite the Anonymous commenter's comment that the "FW project is superior in scope and vision," that that clearly is not the case.

Of course this is somewhat of a subjective matter. Maybe the Anonymous commenter attaches great import to the Trinity River Vision's vision of building the world's premiere wake boarding facility as part of its vision, while I think that the wake boarding part of FW's vision is just embarrassing.

Maybe the Anonymous commenter attaches great import to Happy Hour Inner Tube floats on the Trinity River, while I think that that is just embarrassing.

Maybe the Anonymous commenter attaches great import to building an un-needed flood diversion channel, while I think adding that just to get pork barrel funding is just embarrassing.

Who does J.D. Granger's job for the Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project? Did a Dallas Congresswoman get her out of work son the job? Or is nepotism frowned upon in Dallas?