Read below, then vote BNK Saturday.
MUDDY WATERS
Today, for the first day in a row, Fort Worth’s newspaper of record, the Star Telegram, did not publish a news article, an editorial or a letter to the editor defending the status quo at the Tarrant Regional Water District. Could we be seeing a trend?
Don’t bank on it. If the Star Telegram were truly interested in keeping its dwindling readership informed (which it demonstrably is... not), it might consider spending a little less time attacking the challengers in the TRWD election while providing sycophantic cover for the quislings currently occupying the board, and maybe spend a little more time answering pertinent questions such as, “Why is the Trinity River Vision still in operation?”
The Trinity River Vision is, of course, a political subdivision of the TRWD, which itself is a political subdivision accountable to, well, no one actually. Ostensibly, the TRWD is accountable to the people via the elected board, but the board, with a combined tenure of sixty years of non-accountable rubber-stamping of every single directive of the water district’s staff, may as well not even exist. Its sole purpose is to perform kabuki-like public meetings in which a dissenting voice is never raised and every whim of the staff is unanimously moved, seconded and passed. It’s a farce.
The Star Telegram, of course, knows this. It would be impossible to send a reporter to observe these ritualistic board meetings every three months for the last ten years and not detect a pattern. It could be argued, in fact, that it would take a conscious and deliberate effort not to report on it. Yet the newspaper, in classic Kim Jung Un style, tells its readers only that which it wants them to know, lest the peasants rise up in revolt. Relentlessly harping on the skills and experience of the board members as if saying “Yes” requires any particular cognitive abilities would be comical if it were not so shameful.
Which brings us back to the Trinity River Vision, the grandiose plan to revitalize the city’s decrepit north side. Originally budgeted at $320 million back in 2003, the project has exploded over the years and now carries a price tag just shy of $1.0 billion. The Fort Worth city council, which routinely votes to close libraries, swimming pools and golf courses due to lack of adequate resources, has approved $26 million in taxpayer money to fund the project. The county commissioners’ court, which has never seen an expenditure of public money it didn’t embrace, kicked in another $11 million. Since the redevelopment would be touted as a flood control project, the TRWD ponied up $64 million. This left the TRV $800 million short, so the gap was plugged by magically inventing $320 million in tax revenue to be generated by the new economic activity in the development and $488 million in federal dollars, of which Congress only authorized $220. The make-believe $488 million still remains in the TRV budget.
J.D. Granger was plucked from obscurity as an assistant district attorney and installed as Executive Director of the TRV, even though he had exactly zero experience managing such a huge project. Nevertheless he did have a mother, Congresswoman Kay Granger, who was able to keep thing rolling by earmarking a total of $53 million over the years, most of which was used to acquire property. Then, in 2010, the well went dry with the Congressional ban on earmarks. At the time, J.D. was quoted as saying, "Do I hope we can get some money this year? Yes. Do I know if we can get some money? No. I do know we've been told that earmarks are not being accepted for the Fiscal Year 2011 continuing resolution."
Yet with no prospects of additional federal funding (which, remember, was over half of the project’s budget) the TRWD continued to pour money into the TRV, budgeting $80.7 million for 2011 alone. In one of the more bizarre and questionable transactions, the water district purchased 41 acres of land (a parking lot) around LaGrave Field, home of the Fort Worth Cats, for $17.5 million an agreement which was, of course, unanimously approved by the ever compliant TRWD board. “This is one of the most important land purchases we will make for the flood control and development projects of the TRV," said board member Jim Lane, without bothering to explain how purchasing the parking lot of LaGrave Field had anything to do with flood control. Crowed J.D. Granger: “This is a really big day for the project.”
Whatever it was, it was certainly a really big day for Carl Bell, owner of the Cats, who was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and foreclosure, unable to continue business operations without an infusion of cash. In its reporting on the transaction, the Star Telegram said that TRV officials insisted it was not a bailout of Bell. Of course it wasn’t. That’s what friends are for.
Stuck with a 41 acre parking lot purchased for flood control in an area that hadn’t had a single flood in sixty years, J.D. had a bit of a dilemma. There’s only so much you can do with a parking lot in a blighted part of town. Then in early 2012, the Tarrant Regional Water District made an announcement. In a surprising unanimous vote the board approved a plan to lease the property for ten years to a group of developers who would construct..…..a drive-in movie theater. The value of the lease was put at $1.7 million. The Star Telegram reported that J.D. Granger could not be reached for comment.
Not surprising, in that he might have been required to answer the question of how a $17.5 million piece of real estate essential for flood control that had nothing whatsoever to do with bailing out Carl Bell could be leased out for 10% of its value over a ten year period. The Star Telegram ended its story with this line: “The $909 million Trinity Uptown project will feature a town lake and 12 miles of waterfront development.”
No it won’t. The TRV is dead in the water. Put a fork in it. In an era of sequestration and budget cuts, Congress is unlikely to give the project another nickel, never mind the additional $435 million in the fantasy budget. So why is the TRV still around, doling out taxpayer money and putting on events like “Tubing the Trinity” (known locally as “Floating with Feces”)? Why hasn’t the “we-have 60-years-of-combined-experience” board of directors at the water board even addressed this issue? What exactly is J.D. Granger doing to earn his $155,000 salary and the perks of office? For that matter, who approved the salaries of the top ten staff members of the TRWD, whose combined salaries exceed $1.8 million? Inquiring minds and all that stuff.
The Star Telegram was similarly uninterested in 2005 when then city councilman and current TRWD board member Jim Lane voted with the rest of the council to give first rights on 33 acres of city owned land next to LaGrave Field to Carl Bell so he could construct $500 million dollars of townhomes, despite the fact that he was delinquent on his taxes. Said the visionary Lane, “"I think this will be a great success. People would love to live around the area, eat around the area, shop around the area. The excitement it will generate is wonderful." As Rick Perry might say: Ooops.
Of course, the Star Telegram is more interested in protecting the powers that be than in asking, much less answering, these questions. When challengers arise to crack open the vault of secrecy and expose the truth of what’s happening on the banks of the Trinity River, the paper of record goes into hyperdrive to discredit them, lest the truth become known.
What exactly is it the Star Telegram is trying to hide?
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