Politicians for Sale

They are a dime a dozen in Texas.  Cheap!  Unless you're the taxpayer footing the bill.

Munoz' ties to 281 toll road create trail of corruption

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Royalty Rip Off?

So far cities have sued Chesapeake.  The airport sued Chesapeake.  School Districts have sued them.  The Tarrant Regional Water District (of all people!) has sued Chesapeake.  Even the Bass family.

Now, it's YOUR turn. If you feel you were screwed, show up.

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 16 at Brewer High School, 1025 West Loop 820 North
• 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 17 at River Oaks Community Center, 5300 Blackstone Drive

You can read the entire article @ WFAA.com
Tension grows between driller and royalty owners.

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Join them

You could be next.

NO TOLL ROAD

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Blackland Tollway meeting on 9/11

Is that a sign?

We hear there is another meeting on the Blackland Tollway, though many out that way haven't heard about it yet.

Ask WHY.

Thursday, September 11, 2014
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Garland Central Library (Downtown)
North Program Room
625 Austin St
Garland, TX 75040

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Blackland Tollway meeting - Take 2

The new date, time and place has been set for the Blackland Tollway meeting.

Maybe the public will get to speak at this one.

The COG and those other groups may want to pack their lunch.

Monday, September 22nd - 6:30
Rockwall Performing Arts Center
1201 T.L. Townsend Drive
Rockwall, Texas 75087

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YOU are invited!

The Trinity River Vision will be appointing people to the Economic Development Board (read - Slush Fund) on Wednesday at 2:00 at the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Come one, come all!  Learn WHO spends YOUR money on WHAT!!

Come early, we know how they pack the room with their supporters & staff (read - Contractors/Donors) before the scheduled "door opens" time.

We'll see you there!  Fun times!

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Calling Collin County

Fire marshal shuts down Blacklands toll road hearing

500 people showed up & just as it was getting hot, they shut it down!

The Northeast Gateway Turnpike would run on the east side of Lake Lavon.

Wow! There's just something about these private toll road scams that get under the skin of Texans.

Last night was the public hearing on this mysterious private Blacklands toll road through Greenville to Rockwall in Dallas and Collin counties. It's been re-routed and re-named the Northeast Gateway Turnpike. The tollway is being done through a completely for-profit private corporation, the Texas Turnpike Corporation, whose parent company is named Public Werks, although the environmental study is being conducted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG).

The statute that allowed this company to build private toll roads using EMINENT DOMAIN has since been repealed. Texans changed the Texas Constitution to protect them from eminent domain for private gain, and yet this company was grandfathered in (this is why we opposed the bill, SB 18, because it was chalk full of LOOPHOLES like this!).

The meeting facility only held 250 people and 500 people showed up! But no one said a thing about the capacity crowd until the meeting started to get hot. Conveniently, BEFORE the public comment began, the Fire Marshal shut it down and said they'd have to get another venue that can hold more people and reschedule the meeting in 10-14 days. This is a classic method by bureaucrats and planners to quell public opposition.

Of course, they put it off in hopes of demoralizing the opposition and to thin out the crowd. Remember, the MOST important way to oppose a toll project is to get your opposition ON THE OFFICIAL RECORD through oral or written public comment. You can submit comment orally at the microphone during the hearing or sometimes to a stenographer/court reporter off to the side at the hearings or in writing via email (usually within 10-30 days AFTER the hearing).

ACTION ITEM FOR NEXT MEETING

We need folks to turnout in even BIGGER numbers when this meeting gets rescheduled. We plan to have volunteers staff tables with clipboards to collect contact information of those opposed to the toll road so we can stay in touch and organize.

If you can help, please contact Terri Hall at terri@texasturf.org

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Residents say NO WAY to Tollway

Well, they would have, if they weren't kicked out before getting an opportunity to speak.  The meeting was shut down by the Fire Marshall due to too many people showing up.  Did you hear that?  TOO MANY PEOPLE SHOWED UP!  Collin County, we are very impressed.  It's estimated 500-700 people were in attendance.

We've talked to some of those organizing the fight against the plunder for the Blackland Tollway and we've put them in touch with some others that can help.

Good luck to all!  We have a feeling the elected officials & the COG are going to need it.

If you haven't heard - Don't mess with Texas.  Texans don't like it.

You can get the scoop on WFAA.com.  And stay tuned, we'll have more to come.

Fire marshal shuts down overcrowded toll road meeting

Too many people showed up. Police told News 8 that they counted 360 inside NeSmith's cafeteria, which only holds 200. The fire marshal said it was unsafe and the meeting had to end.

"In my 35 years, we've never had a shutdown meeting because of an overflow crowd. But that's good. They're interested," Morris told News 8.

NCTCOG immediately began looking for new larger venues that could accommodate all the interested residents.

Morris said this public meeting would be rescheduled in the next 10-to-14 days.

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Story remains the same, only the names have changed

According to the preliminary maps for the Blackland Tollway /Northeast Gateway Corridor Project, this project will run very close if not through my family’s home and property. While we are not huge acreage holders, we do have a home on two acres and have paid taxes to Rockwall County for over 25 years. Therefore I believe we should have a voice in the approval or dismissal of this project. My wife and I have worked too hard to make our home a beautiful place filled with memories to be cherished for years to come, for it to be torn down and turned into a profit center for a private corporation. I implore you all to fight against this project as there is no need for another “for profit tollway” to be built in this area.  The only private tollway in Texas failed and went bankrupt. The new tollway outside of Tyler is now being subsidized by millions of tax dollars because of low usage and to lower the cost to truck traffic.  All this is doing is allowing TxDot off the hook to use the tax dollars you and I already pay to the State of Texas for improving the infrastructure already in place.  Please help those of us in the direct path of this abomination. It is time to say No More Tollways!

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No more Downtown Parking means..

No more downtown.

We received an email concerning the Bass Hall Parking issue.  It made us think about the Cultural District parking issue.  We noticed we go there much less frequently since we have to pay to park and the garage is always so crowded and/or malfunctioning when you are trying to escape.

They do the same to downtown and we'll go there less frequently than we already do, too.

Tell them what YOU think.

We wanted to bring to your attention a recent story in the Star-Telegram regarding possible parking changes to two large downtown garages near Bass Performance Hall.

If a new lease agreement isn't reached between the Downtown Tax Increment Finance District Board and the garage owners, the 777 Main parking garage located directly behind Bass Hall at the corner of 5th Street and Commerce (which provides free parking to patrons attending Bass Hall performances) and the Sundance Square City Center garages could become paid parking garages.

Please read Downtown board considers less funding for free downtown parking | Business | Star-Telegram.com for further details about the on-going negotiations.

If you would like to express your concerns and provide feedback, there is a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Number Three Board of Directors Meeting tomorrow at 9 am. Below are the meeting details.

Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Number Three
Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, August 28, 2014 at 9 am
City of Fort Worth Annex Building, Third Floor Conference Room
908 Monroe Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

Citizen presentations will take place towards the end of the meeting. There is a 3-minute limit per presentation.

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Seen this??

Get ready for your toll roads, DFW.

TxDOT bails out toll roads

SH 130 & Loop 49 just for starters

Transportation Commission votes to 'forgive' $55 million loan to Tyler toll authority (for Loop 49) and gives $32 million to subsidize lower truck toll rates on SH 130 (again!). Meanwhile, the toll authority in Tyler is bragging that Loop 49 is enjoying better than expected traffic and higher toll revenues. 

But don't be fooled, just because they say they're getting more traffic than expected does NOT mean they're operating in the black. In fact, the only reason Loop 49 has more toll revenues is a toll rate hike. The reason they needed their TxDOT debt forgiven was their debt load was impeding their ability to issue more debt to extend the tollway to Lindale (another boondoggle). It's also seeking local property taxes to bailout their loser toll project.

On SH 130, TxDOT used some of Cintra's concession money last year to buy down the truck toll rates - so trucks were using the road for the same price as autos. When the subsidies ceased, so did the uptick in truckers using the tollway. So even though Cintra is on the verge of bankruptcy (despite all of TxDOT's help) and in technical default, TxDOT chose to kick them another $32 million in YOUR tax money to, once again, subsidize truck toll rates. So autos are paying to give truckers a discount. Meanwhile, TxDOT is seeking to block us from getting information about these bailouts by asking the Attorney General to keep these records SECRET!

That's just for starters.

Our research has revealed over $10 billion in YOUR tax dollars will subsidize or otherwise prop-up loser toll projects in Texas over the next 10 years. 

This double tax theft of our taxes for toll roads will not stop until we get new leadership at this broken agency.  Thankfully, two new Transportation Commissioners (out of the 5-member commission appointed by the governor that oversees TxDOT) will be appointed early in the next governor's administration. 

We have our eyes on two fabulous, pro-taxpayer potential picks. So stay tuned...

Diversions of road funds to rail

The running total is now up to $700 million in road dollars diverted to rail & trolley cars. In addition to that, TxDOT in concert with local MPOs will spend $48 million on hike & bike trails in San Antonio in next 4 years and another $28 million in DFW. Much more when you include every region. All the while TxDOT whines there's no money to fix our roads without tolls!
While many of these hearings are mundane and purposely set-up in a way to keep the public in the dark, opposition to tolls MUST get on the official record. Creating controversy helps with legal options down the road. Be sure to attend and get your comments on the official record!

DFW - 

Community Workshops on Proposed Toll Managed Lanes in Dallas

Here's their 'sales' job...
"Priced facilities such as toll roads, public-private partnerships and new TEXpress Lanes help expand transportation options when traditional funding falls short of meeting transportation needs. Investing tolls in the transportation system improves safety, reduces congestion, enhances quality of life, spurs economic development and benefits the region.

"TEXpress Lanes and the proposed transition of HOV lanes to Express lanes are two types of facilities that help address transportation demand, air quality concerns and expand mobility options. At the community workshops, transportation partners will review development of these plans, outline how to use the facilities and discuss next steps for transportation in the region."

Don't buy it

You're smart enough to know 'managed' toll lanes do NOT solve congestion they displace it to the free lanes that will remain in gridlock for our lifetimes. Say 'No' to tolls and the waste, fraud, and abuse of our tax dollars. 

Monday, August 25
6:00 PM 
Texas A&M AgriLife Extensions Center
Building E Auditorium
17360 Coit Road
Dallas, TX 75252

Tuesday, August 26
6:00 PM
Euless Library
201 N. Ector Drive
Euless, TX 76039

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Oops, they did it again

The Fort Worth Weekly recently called out the Tarrant Regional Water District for spending taxpayer money on radio ads.

Well guess what? They still do. When asked about it, they said, "I don't know".

Read both Static's this week, they are too good to pass up.

Ads Don’t Add Up

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Stand With Mary Kelleher Against Abuse of Power

#StandWithMaryKelleher

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NEXT, PLEASE!!

Breaking news- Rick Perry Indicted??

Abuse of Power??

FBI in Dallas, Grand Jury in Austin, WHO is coming to Tarrant County?

It's been busy out here today.

Stay tuned.

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Dallas, Fort Worth - same difference

The FBI is looking at the kick backs and pay offs in Dallas.  We can't wait till they come to Cowtown.

Read all about the John Wiley Price scam on Wfaa.com

Compared to Tarrant County, well, there is no comparison.

Why vendors who allegedly funnelled money to John Wiley Price may not be charged

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WHERE does your city get water?

If your city purchases water from Fort Worth, via the Tarrant Regional Water District, be prepared. 

YOU are going to get hosed.

You can read about it in the Startlegram. 

Water rates in Fort Worth are also expected to climb as the price of raw water continues rising, said Kara Shuror, assistant water director for Fort Worth. The cost of water is the “major driver in our water budget and our water rates,” she said.

In 2014, the cost to buy from the district went up 9.5 percent. It is expected to increase 12 percent more in 2015.

In fact, the city expects the cost of water to nearly double within 10 years, costing about $130 million by 2024 compared with the $71.5 million spent on water in 2014.

“This isn’t a one-year issue. This is something we will see in the coming years,” Shuror said.

Shuror said the rates won’t be released until Aug. 12, when the fiscal 2015 budget is presented to the council, but the department is proposing water rate increases.

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Stop the Presses!

The seemingly bipolar editorial board at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has written about Ann Sutherland in the past, especially when she was censured for asking for too much information, etc.  (No, the Tarrant Regional Water District is not at all original...and for those of you WHO don't know, there are some very close ties on the Water and School Boards, but we digress, that's a story for another day).

Now the FWST says, Ann is right.  Well, of course she is.  There are still people on this planet who don't run for office for their own political gain.  They stand for what's right, no matter how much the powers that be, or the local "news" paper doesn't like it.

Here's to Fort Worth's real women - may they continue to fight for us, to piss people off and to be censured. They are the ones accomplishing something.  For the rest of those boards, there's a special place reserved for you.

School budget figures need another look

Fort Worth school Trustee Ann Sutherland is raising alarms about the district’s financial reserves dropping perilously low, and she’s right.

Other school board members should pay attention.

On June 24, Sutherland was the only board member to vote against the district’s $696.7 million budget for the 2014-15 school year, which includes $16.5 million to pay for 3 percent salary increases.

“I believe the spending level is unsustainable,” Sutherland said.

Projections presented to the board by district staff experts illustrate her point. The district will spend more than it’s expected to take in during each of the next three years.

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Come one, come all!

To a meeting on the biggest Boondoggle Fort Worth ever saw!

Monday August 4th @ 6:00

1000 Calvert Street - Fort Worth

WHO are the partners? WHO profits? WHO pays?

Tired of the BS? Come see us Monday!

Attend an informational open house on Aug. 4 to learn about construction of three signature bridges that will serve as gateways to Panther Island. The bridges will be built on Henderson Street, North Main Street and White Settlement Road and will be finished in 2018.

The informal open house will be 6-7:30 p.m. in the Activities Room at the Police and Fire Training Academy, 1000 Calvert St. Representatives of the city, state and the Trinity River Vision Authority will be present to explain upcoming construction schedules and detours.

The Texas Department of Transportation awarded a $65.5 million contract to Texas Sterling Construction in a joint project between the City of Fort Worth, Trinity River Vision Authority, Tarrant County, the Army Corps of Engineers and the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Bridge construction will change transportation patterns along White Settlement, Henderson and North Main. Henderson Street north of downtown will be detoured starting in mid-August, and detours on the other two streets will follow. Traffic will be rerouted either on newly constructed detour roads or by using existing streets. On Henderson Street and North Main, a reroute will be in place directly next to the existing roadway to ensure limited traffic interruption.

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Dear FBI,

While we are glad you got your man, slide about 30 miles West, would ya?  $950,000 is chump change in Fort Worth dollars.

Read about the John Wiley Price arrest on NBC5.

Price Arrested, Accused of Taking $950K in Bribes

A 13-count indictment released Friday says longtime Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price took $950,000 in bribes in the form of cash, cars and property and that he and his associates committed mail and tax fraud.

Price, 64, is accused of helping companies win lucrative contracts with Dallas County in exchange for the bribes. He is also accused of illegally profiting from county business.

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Please Help Support Denton's Fracking Ban for a Frack Free Denton

City Council denied the ban: time to get out the vote!

Donate now to help launch our get out the vote effort today

Dear Star-Telegraph,

First, let me thank you for your support for Denton's fracking ban on behalf of everyone at Earthworks and Frack Free Denton.

At the 8-hour, 500+ person public hearing that ended in a 3am, 5-2 vote against the ban your support kept us going, literally.

As I handed out 'frack free snacks' to keep families' morale high I was so thankful for what you've already done for Denton.

Now we need to get out the vote.

Industry showed up in force at the hearing, traveling from out of state to put their nose where it doesn't belong.

If they're willing to fly people in for a public hearing, I can't even imagine how much money and disinformation will pour into the ballot initiative.

Luckily, we have people on our side. We saw at the hearing that almost every person with a Denton address was for the ban. We need to make sure those people vote in November.

With your support frack free denton will be able to engage experienced canvassers and campaign strategists to help fight this crucial battle to ban fracking in Denton.

Can you spare $50 to build the campaign's momentum?

DONATE NOW: just $50 can get our campaign rolling toward victory in November!

Thank you for your support!

Sharon Wilson, Earthworks Texas Organizer

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Calling McClatchy Shareholders

Wondering why you're losing your audience and money?  Let us count the ways.

It could be the incorrect reporting. 

Or the completely biased take by whoever is left at the local rag.  (We're told today's editorial was written by a photographer). 

It could be the way they miss big, glaring facts. 

It could be how they bully those who don't agree with them. 

Or how they make ignorant, sexist comments.

Take your pick.  And maybe your stock?

We all stopped buying the so called "news" paper in Tarrant County a long time ago, sounds like we're not the only ones.

See Durango for the latest trash generated from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist.

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board - "Garbage"

We were sent the following from a reader who is tired of the trash in Fort Worth, both at the "news" paper and at the Tarrant Regional Water District.  Both the paper and the TRWD have become such a joke, it's an embarrassment to Tarrant County, to Texas, to real news outlets and real water districts everywhere.

It's time to take out the trash-----

Very well done on presenting one side, the incumbent boards side. Now lets address some of the things you fail to mention or disclose, and always will, because it doesn't fit your narrative:

First: you call Mary and obstructionist....last I checked one vote in 5 can not obstruct anything. But since you made the accusation. can the editorial board please name me ONE thing Mary has successfully obstructed during her year on the board? And how was she able to do so with only one vote? Words have meanings and I'll eagerly await simply ONE thing she has obstructed. 

Second: You state Kelleher has bombarded the district with open records request. Really? How many is bombarded? When did asking for information become a bad thing? You failed to mention that numerous State Representatives have also requested information from the board and so far have received NOTHING. I think not releasing information qualifies as obstructionist, that title should go to the remaining board, not Mary. 

Third: you state: "Their terms expired in May" but act like that is no big deal. The Texas Appellate court stated their terms expired. The law does not allow for an appointment of an EXPIRED term, only of an UN EXPIRED term. But lets not let the law get in the way.

Fourth: Kelleher was censured..yes. She was censured cause she dares to vote differently from the rest who simply rubber stamp whatever comes before them. In their eyes having a differing opinion and vote is grounds for censure. Read the censure, that is what it boils down to. 

Fifth: You suggest that simply appointing Leonard and Lane would solve the "petty squabbles". You know what else would....disclosing the information Mary, 4 state reps and voters are asking for. It's not that hard. I also find it interesting that because Mary took money from a donor she can't possibly be thinking for herself, rather a tool of the donor. So I presume you make the same judgment of the others on the board right? Are they simply tools of the contractors who do business with the TRWD given that is where most of their donations come from? 

Lastly - this is exactly the kind of piece that leaves Ft Worth once again pondering when we might get a decent paper in this town. One that can look beyond its little downtown club and cover local issues fairly. This editorial is simply garbage.

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Star-Telegram Reader Review

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Sexist Pig??

Durango calls out the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and their least favorite columnist, again.

Can some woman, preferably employed at the Star-Telegram, tell us how Bud Kennedy is still working there?

And here's to hoping the 'Dallas Boogey Man', who owns businesses in Fort Worth, is looking to buy a newspaper.

Cheers!

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Drowning in Fort Worth

The Tarrant Regional Water District just keeps on giving.  Not only do they give your money away, they give writers worth their weight all kinds of fodder.

Durango tells you about the latest (probably Fort Worth Star-Telegram driven) attack on Mary Kelleher.

And Don Woodard has been keeping the masses informed by sharing Committees of Correspondence.  Many folks sharing their thoughts on the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and the TRWD daily.

We'll share one of the more colorful ones here.

Shame on you, Don! 

Criticizing all of those folks just because they’ve found a way to get rich through slick governmental maneuvers regarding the Trinity basin, or the Panther Plain or Rip-Off Acres. Whatever you want to call that area -- and related projects.

That’s called entrepreneurship.

Sounds as if you are jealous that you haven’t dipped into that money bucket. After all it is only taxpayers’ money and so what if none of us had a chance to say yea or nay about these multi-million (soon to be billion) dollar expenditures as they rampaged over the various small businesses that had the fun of being displaced—like it or not. Those Folks know what’s best for us and, of course, it’s just coincidental that it happens to be good for them, maybe you might say, even overwhelmingly good for them…and their relatives and buddies. Like building bridges over water that doesn’t exist—and may never exist!. And anyway, who says bridges have to be built over water. But you should be pleased, because as a taxpayer you’ll be able to cross  over them to get to NoWhereVille. And use them instead of the perfectly adequate bridges that already exist – but aren’t shining, new and sexy—and unexcitedly, are already paid for!

So, Mr. Woodard, rather than complain, why don’t you do something positive—like getting into the action. Just offer the city a contract to build another bridge to go no where and where there is no water. (When you think of it, it makes a lot sense because it is easier to build a bridge where there is no water.) And you must have some brother or son or third cousin once removed you could assign to draw pictures of the bridge-to-be. And they certainly shouldn’t do it for free. And others to be consultants and managers. And every project needs a supreme director with at least a half dozen assistant directors. You certainly must have a son or daughter that would accept an appointment to that position. And, remember, a perquisite definitely is: no experience necessary.

So here’s my advice to you young man:

Simply stated: Rather than complaining, join the gang…oops, sorry about that. I mean…join the civic group, and as a good parent should do: hire your sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, godfathers and godmothers, second cousins once and twice removed. I hope this helped you to see the light! Now get busy and get rich. And don’t bother to clutter up citizens’ minds and the news media with announcements letting them know what you are proposing. And definitely don’t let them give their opinions and by no means should they be able to vote on such boondoggles…Oops again! I meant to say: “such civic projects.”

P.S. Belated thought: Besides taking care of relatives, don’t forget your friends…and I think of myself as one of your good friends and admirers. That fourth bridge you would be designing could be a toll bridge and
because I thought of it, you could make me chief toll collector (so,OK, OK…I’ll give you a percentage kick back). Just a thought.

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Fort Worth is at it again. " The public be damned"

The latest scheme is addressed in the Fort Worth Business Press.  Read it, YOU can't afford not to.

The folks at Fort Worth City Hall are trying to pull a fast one. Surprise, surprise, as the long-ago TV sitcom philosopher Gomer Pyle liked to say.

This is the same City Hall, after all, that hatched a $900 million economic development extravaganza disguised as a routine flood control project.

Their latest sleight of hand? They have decided to link a potentially controversial renovation of the bottomless money pit known as the Fort Worth Convention Center with a completely unrelated project that most taxpayers almost certainly will support: construction of a long-discussed multi-purpose arena at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in the Cultural District. Fortunately for alert citizens, the maneuver is as transparent as it is cynical.

City officials will attempt to cloud the waters at today’s pre-council meeting when city staff and representatives of the consulting group Hunden Strategic Partners brief the council on the latest study of the city’s potential as a convention and tourist center.

These questions deserve careful consideration and considerable public input. But city officials aren’t in the consideration and input business when it comes to such things. They want to press ahead with what they believe is best for the city, the public be damned.

In fact, the arena will do no such thing. There is no provision in the law for linking the new arena to demolition of an old arena at a separate facility in another part of town. The connection is just a fabrication by the city to give a project that could be hard to sell to the public a free ride on the back of a project that will be easy to sell. It would appear to be a perfectly legal political strategy but as public policy it’s subterfuge, pure and simple. It’s City Hall trying, again, to mislead and take advantage of its constituents.

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THEY don't trust you

The Fort Worth Planning and Zoning Commission denied the plans for the Stockyards redevelopment this week.  Seems they "have a real problem with how quickly this was put in front of the community and in front of us".  The P&Z is still concerned the council will pass it anyway.

We received a copy of the letter sent to the City Council from a citizen.  Read on.  And visit the Stockyards before it's gone...

I oppose any decision on this case, and I note that the Zoning Commission did not recommend its passage.

This case has been known to City Staff for about 2 years, but negatively affected parties have been kept in the dark as is the usual procedure in Fort Worth. This practice should be summarily stopped. It is ruining the city as a place to live and a tourist destination. Further, it violates the intent of maintenance of a Master Plan--an obligation of the city council.

This project is the brainchild of the owner of much of the land in and around the Stockyards, and he has brought in billionaires from Las Vegas, who have no interest in anything but fattening their pocketbooks. Together they have pursued this idea knowing that the people of this city do not want their history and heritage destroyed by outside interests that don't give a damn about history.

The city council is complicit in this back room deal--as was the case with urban gas drilling.

It is time to put an end to this blind obedience to greed. 

Please do not approve this zoning change request, and put a spotlight on any further activities involving the requesting parties. 

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TxDOT on notice

Politicians who support this trash, YOU are too.

Read all about the circus here - Stop light onslaught proposed for 281 draws record crowd

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) struck a nerve yesterday, and it wasn’t pretty. Nearly 300 angry residents of the Bulverde-Spring Branch area showed up for what they thought would be a public meeting on the fate of US 281, only to be greeted with a standing room only venue stuffed with more people than the little library could handle and a bunch of aerial maps and consultants who couldn’t or wouldn’t answer their questions. No formal presentation was made by TxDOT to explain what the plan entailed. Attendees were expected to piece everything together on their own and know what to ask in order to get properly informed. The line to get in was wrapped around the room and out the door where attendees waited up to 20 minutes just to enter. No one anticipated the record attendance.

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Tale of Two Boondoggles...

That's the title of Don Woodard's latest dissertation in the Fort Worth Business Press.

YOU should pay attention, YOU can't afford not to.

And all you Merle Haggard fans, be sure and check it out.  Don't say you weren't warned.

The tollway was built over the objections of many farmers in the area whose land was legally taken for a highway by eminent domain. For the Trinity River Vision boondoggle, dozens of property owners were forced off their land not to build a highway but for economic development. A large area centered by White Settlement Road, which once flourished in taxpaying businesses, now lies nude and barren waiting for multimillionaire land developers to move in like carpetbaggers. Waving the banner of "flood control" – the promoters acquired this property of "the little people" by eminent domain – or the Sword of Damocles threat thereof.

But it's NOT primarily for flood control. The lion's share, $425 million, is for economic development. The Corps of Engineers has estimated that only $10 million is required for flood control. The Eminent Domain Economic Development Juggernaut of 21st Century Texas, unlike the tanks of China, takes neither pity nor note of the poor little property owner standing in defiance.

Woodard: Fast lane to failure – a tale of two boondoggles?

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Water District Bully

Fort Worth Weekly calls out Jim Oliver, again. When Karma finally gets here, we have a feeling she is going to be PISSED.

Water Disputes

Kelleher, Fort Worth Weekly, and many others have danced with the district when it comes to public information, and this is how it often goes: You ask for information. Within 10 working days you get a letter from a lawyer saying district records do not correspond to information you are seeking. For instance, it’s well known that top water district officials put relatives on the agency’s lucrative payroll. But ask the agency for a list of relatives who work there. Ask how many of Oliver’s relatives work there. You won’t get a straight answer. You’ll get a non-answer from a lawyer. However, in Oliver’s mind, that counts as the agency responding to a public information request in a timely manner.

Kelleher closed with a final thought, expressed in the straightforward style that has earned her fans and foes alike. “If we are to move forward in the best interests of the residents and taxpayers of the district, your attempts to bully, intimidate, and harass public officials who demand transparency from the board must stop,” she said. “Your behavior has resulted in a hostile work environment for me and has damaged the reputation of the district.”

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Texas - Toilet to Tap. Drink up

What happened to OUR water?

Men's Journal explains.

Who Stole the Water?

How greed, drought, and rampant overdevelopment are sucking Texas dry.

And so on, from Oregon to grain-belt states like Kansas and Oklahoma: They've faced droughts before, but this one is different, particularly in a place like Texas. Over the course of the last decade, the arid state has run desperately short of rainfall. Reservoirs everywhere have thinned or tapped out – Lake Meredith has nearly gone dry, parching Amarillo and Lubbock; Lavon Lake dwindled to half its size, threatening supplies for Dallas and Fort Worth; and the majestic Rio Grande ran so thin that the city of El Paso put in doomsday restrictions, closing laundries and car washes and ordering its residents not to bathe or wash their clothes. It could always be worse, though: They could live in Wichita Falls, a city of 100,000, northwest of Fort Worth, that's less than two years from running dry. There, they'll be drinking their own wastewater, once it's been treated at the plant. They won't be alone: Other cities in Texas are planning so-called "toilet to tap" conversions.

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Trinity River Trash

The Water Board spin off, the Trinity River Vision, is keeping it classy. Good thing they are spending their own money. Oh, wait...none of that is true.

Read about the latest fiasco on Durango.

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You heard that right...

No we're not talking about the ads the water board is running on the other stations.

We're talking about the ad on WBAP, for Dallas.

Huh??

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And the winner is...

Haltom City had a run off election on Saturday and Trae Fowler won, again. That is after having to fight all the rumors that some city employees were spreading (is that legal? ethical?).

There seems to be a lot of rumors floating around Haltom City these days.  Some with proof showing up in snail mail and on doorsteps.

Stay tuned, we have a feeling it's going to get interesting.

You remember the HC EDC, right?

It was featured in the Fort Worth Weekly.

EDC Public Hearing Notice

The Haltom City Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors will hold a public hearing at 6:00 p.m. on July 7, 2014 in the Haltom City Hall Pre-Council Room at 5024 Broadway Avenue, Haltom City, Texas.

The purpose of the hearing will be to take comments and suggestions regarding the proposed operating budget for the fiscal year 2014-15. All citizens and other interested parties are invited to attend the hearing and address the members of the Board of Directors. For more information, contact the Haltom City Economic Development Department at 817-222-7700

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More, Nothing was ever done....

They are jacking up your air and your water, now it's all gone to sh**.  Literally.

Read about the biosolids battle in Wise County on WFAA.

Is Wise county upstream from YOU?

"The notion that the TCEQ is proactive is a joke,” said Midlothian resident Craig Monk. “They are reactive, and they are only reactive to complaints."

Monk, who lives up the road from one of the largest biosolids operations in Ellis County, has led the push for greater state enforcement. His website, StopSewageDumpsEllis.com, posts disturbing pictures, publishes petitions and implores the state to do more.

One year ago, the state proposed a $2,500 fine against Renda Environmental in the Wise County case. As of today, Renda continues to appeal and has yet to pay a penny.
"It's been over a year and they've done nothing,” Monk said. “The message that sends to Renda is simple: They can do what they want."

Renda officials declined an on-camera interview, but told us "Renda’s environmental record is exemplary and expects that these matters will be favorably resolved.”
Monk is not stopping. He has started a petition to totally ban the application of biosolids on Ellis County farms, especially pastureland.

One photo on his web site shows cows in the middle of a stockpile of waste.

David Galindo, the state's director of water quality, says cows are not supposed to have that level of contact with biosolids, but he also insists that if rules are followed, biosolids are safe.

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Fort Worth Floating

No, we don't mean the Tubing the Trinity/Floating with Feces.  We mean the inadequate storm drainage that caused havoc all over Fort Worth yesterday when a few inches of rain fell.

Since "nothing was ever done", can you image what is going to happen when we get a few feet of rain falling?

We noticed the Fort Worth Police posted pictures of cars and streets under water on 7th street.  Isn't that right in the middle of the Trinity River Vision TIF?  Wasn't the Trinity River Vision supposed to correct flooding?  Oh, the irony.

We saw many jokes about the Tarrant Regional Water District online during yesterday's storm.  Too bad no one will be laughing when someone else dies because of it.

You can check out some of the footage on WFAA.  Storm floods Fort Worth streets.

For those of you who do Tube on the Trinity, you might want to consider skipping it this week.

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No free rides

Texas Toll Roads going bankrupt. WHO really pays?  YOU know the answer.

From San Antonio to Dallas, these roads are failing. And YOU are picking up the tab.

In less than two years in operation, the southern 41-mile stretch which opened in October 2012 with much fanfare and boasting by Governor Rick Perry now faces bankruptcy.

On Interstate 635 in Dallas, Cintra uses congestion tolling (where the toll rate varies based on the level of congestion) and charges Texans 95 cents a mile to access its toll lanes during peak hours. Once the full project is open, it’ll cost more than $24 a day to get to/from work.

Indeed, on I-820, the taxpayers put more cash into the deal than Cintra. So there is simply no way any person confronted with the facts can call P3s free market in ANY way. They’re a form of corporate welfare that socializes the losses while the special interests walk away with all the profits.

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Hello, is this thing on??

It's Business Press. It's not online. Surprise...not. 

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God Save Texas

That's the name of a new HBO series based onTexas politics.
Are the writers are Star Telegraph readers?

While we're waiting, people like Mary Kelleher, Terri Hall and Calvin Tillman are working to save Texas. One failed agency after another...

Read Calvin's letter and join the League of Independent Voters of Texas.

By the way, whatever side if the gas drilling line you stand on, you have to call BS on this 'policy'.  Their job is to answer to YOU.

Remind them.

“Why is the Railroad Commission Hiding From the Public?” asks Calvin Tillman  
   

            Former Mayor of the small north Texas town of DISH, Calvin Tillman, filed an open records request today asking the Railroad Commission to provide all correspondence between Railroad Commission officials and staff, the Office of the Governor, other public officials, lobbyists and private enterprises doing business before the RRC, related to “the decision by the RRC to ban staff from doing media interviews.” Click here for the open records request.

            Tillman said, “For years, many local officials like myself, together with thousands of citizens, have done all we could to get the Railroad Commission to listen to the concerns we have about the potential for groundwater contamination, air pollution and destruction of a whole way of life we have in rural Texas by the oil and gas industry's new practice of hydraulic fracturing. My kids got so seriously ill, it forced me to resign and leave my own community. The Railroad Commission continues to demonstrate what we have known for years -- they are captives of the industry."

            Michele Gangnes, water rights activist from Lee County and fellow board member to Tillman with the new League of Independent Voters of Texas, said, "The no-interview policy was put in place a couple of years ago, about the same time the production from fracking ramped up in Texas. But now that fracking, which the Railroad Commission is supposed to regulate, is in the spotlight as a serious contamination risk to our state’s groundwater, citizens are wondering why claims of groundwater contamination have to be emailed to the agency for an ‘official’ but anonymous staff response. And they wonder why the Railroad Commission continues to hide behind the oil and gas industry’s claims that fracking is perfectly safe.“

            A recent WFAA report shed light on the fact that fracking practices in Texas pose very serious contamination risks to our groundwater, regardless of how many scientists for hire have claimed it cannot be proven. "To his credit, Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) who co-chairs the Joint Interim Committee to Study Water Desalination, asked in a hearing on Monday whether wastewater from fracking has already contaminated underground brackish water, a potential source of fresh water from new mega-dollar desalination projects under consideration. That the question is even being asked by a Republican State Senator speaks volumes," said Linda Curtis, Executive Director of the League o f Independent Voters.

            Tillman, a lifelong Republican and now an unaffiliated independent, has been working with hundreds of local officials throughout the state who want more local control to protect their citizens from eminent domain abuse by pipeline companies and contamination from the fracking industry. Tillman is featured in the popular Gasland and Gasland 2 film documentaries. Gangnes is an attorney and long-time independent voter who helped lead the successful battle to stop the City of San Antonio's "water grab" of Lee and Bastrop counties’ groundwater over ten years ago. She is currently assisting another citizens revolt in those counties to "Stop the Water Grab" by water marketers and some area officials in the IH-35 growth corridor.

          Tillman, Gangnes and longtime independent organizer, Linda Curtis, are working together to build the new non-profit, non-partisan citizens lobby for the state’s millions of non-aligned independent voters and to unite them with those who vote in either party primary and who want reform. The League's purpose is to “unite voters across partisan lines to protect what is uniquely Texan – our land, our water, our clear blue skies and the democratic republic for which we are supposed to stand.” The group's legislative agenda includes ending the practice of straight ticket voting. See more here.

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You did it to yourself

HBO is creating a show about Texas politics.

Who could blame them?

Some of our Texas politicians and Texas politics provide the world so much embarrassing material that it's so good (which is bad) that it's like a funny sit-com that writes itself.

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YOU are invited

Media Alert 

Citizens’ Groups to Take on State and EPA over 

“Close Enough” DFW Air Plan for New

Smog Standard at Monday Meeting

Downwinders: Agencies “breaking the law” if new controls 

aren’t required for cement kilns and gas compressors

What: Regional Clean Air Meeting on New Anti-Smog Plan
When: Monday, June 16th 10 to 12 noon
(citizen presentations from 11 to 12)
Where: North Central Texas Council of Governments HQ
616 Six flags Road, Arlington
Who: Downwinders at Risk and Texas Sierra Club
Why: State is proposing no new air pollution controls to reach tougher new smog standard by 2018 because it gets “close enough” without them

(Arlington)--- A local group that has a decades-long interest in cleaning-up DFW’s chronic smog problem will tell local officials why the EPA is under a legal obligation to require new controls for major sources of pollution in the next round of clean air planning at this next Monday’s regional meeting at the North Central Texas Council of Governments headquarters in Arlington.

Both the Texas Sierra Club and Downwinders at Risk were asked to present their cases for more controls as part of the requirement under the Clean Air Act to implement all “reasonable available control measures" or “RACM” (pronounced “rack-em”) in the new anti-smog plan that has a deadline of 2018 to reach a tougher ozone pollution standard of 75 parts per billion over an eight hour stretch. DFW has yet to meet the old 1997 standard of 85 ppb.

“Rick Perry’s ‘environmental agency,’ and I use the term loosely, says it doesn’t believe we need any additional pollution controls to reach a level of air quality never before attained in North Texas. The last time they said that, they actually managed to raise smog levels,” complained Downwinders at Risk Director Jim Schermbeck. “We have an excellent case for why the EPA must require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to do more than sit and watch as the Clean Air Act is willfully violated again. In terms the TCEQ might understand, ‘the chickens are coming home to roost.” TCEQ Chair Bryan Shaw has a degree in Poultry Science.

Specifically, Schermbeck claims requirements for state-of-the-art controls on the Midlothian cement plants, and electric compressors, are long past due, and will argue that ignoring them puts the state’s plan in violation of the RACM section of the federal Clean Air Act. He says there’s a long history of the state going out if its way to obfuscate the obvious impacts these sources have on the areas in DFW with the most stubborn smog problems – Tarrant and Denton Counties. “It’s time to bring safe and legal air to DFW. “

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Panther Island Boondoggle drowning Tarrant Taxpayers

A $65.5 million contract has been awarded by the Texas Department of Transportation for construction of three bridges for the Trinity River Vision boondoggle.  The bridges are the first phase of creating Panther Island, which will include digging a new 1.5 mile channel for the Trinity River, creating a 33-acre lake and an 800-acre island where waterfront development is planned. I wonder just what was the precise origin of this idea?  And then who was so powerful and influential as to get the Water Board and the sycophantic Corps of Engineers to become involved in economic development?  Their business is water supply and flood control.

The bridges will be built before the channel is dug.  Our citizens have patiently endured the construction of a great many bridges for ten long years. Now we are told that these three bridges to nowhere will take four more long years to complete.  Traffic will be rerouted using detour roads or existing streets. Officials have said it is cheaper to build the bridges over dry land rather than waiting for the channel to be completed. But I wonder if the real reason to build three bridges first is because when they are built, a massive public relations project will be launched for the next phase of the boondoggle. Their plan seemingly would be to say it would be foolish with "three beautiful signature bridges" standing not to dig the channel and complete the project.  Then their powerful and richly endowed vote producing machine will swing into action and begin to beat the drums for a $25 million bond program. And then another.  And another.  Like what happened in Dallas to its Trinity project.

This whole boondoggle idea brings to mind another monster "fail-safe" venture.   In 2007 a group of deal makers (KKR, TPG and Goldman Sachs) formed Energy Future Holdings and bought TXU Corp for $45 billion.  The buyout, the largest ever, was fueled by rising natural gas prices and borrowed money. But behold I show you a disaster. Instead of finding the seven golden cities of Cibola, EFH has filed for bankruptcy. It was brought down by falling natural gas prices and the horrendous cost of serving that debt. Unhappy investors who bought into the fantasy have been left holding the bag. What would they give to be able to return to yesterday?  “It is not now as it has been of yore.  “Turn wheresoe’er I may, by night or day, the things which I have seen I now can see no more.”

Who can look into the future and assure us that Trinity River Vision is not a disaster, financial and environmental, waiting to happen?  Silent taxpayers asleep at the steal!  You have never been given a vote on this developers' dream enrichment program. Ask not what this project is going to do for you. Ask what's it going to do to our history, environment and our taxes.

Another word of caution. Trinity River Vision needs Congress to fund half of the $910 million to complete the flood control and economic development project. One is made to wonder what would happen to the boondoggle, three bridges standing, when our powerful Congresswoman, like Jim Wright and Ralph Hall, is no longer on the scene.

My decade long opposition to the boondoggle has not been made easier by the fact that some among its staunchest promoters are my valued friends. I resort to Shakespeare:  “O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason."

One thing is for certain.  No one will ever be able to say of the nepotistic Trinity River Vision, whether it be an unbounded success or a catastrophic failure:  "It is not relative."  Pun intended.

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School's out......

PRESS CONFERENCE

DATE: Thursday, June 12, 2014
TIME: 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Neave & Scott, PC, 1819 S. Buckner Blvd., Dallas, Texas 75217

WALTER DANSBY SAGA CONTINUES. DAYS BEFORE FWISD SUPERINTENDENT RESIGNS, JUDGE SIGNS MULTI-MILLION JUDGMENT AGAINST FORT WORTH INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT. SEPARATE LAWSUIT AGAINST DANSBY STILL PENDING.

(Dallas, Texas – June 11, 2014) On March 26, 2014, the trial team of Victoria Neave and Mark Scott obtained a multi-million dollar jury verdict against Fort Worth Independent School District (“FWISD”) on behalf of Mr. Joseph Palazzolo, a former Assistant Principal at FWISD, for FWISD’s blatant retaliation and violations of the Texas Whistleblower Act. Shortly after Mr. Palazzolo reported attendance fraud, discrimination against minority students, and inappropriate sexual relations at FWISD, he was demoted, transferred, and then fired.

During the intense and dramatic week-long trial, a 12-member jury in Wise County, Texas heard emotional and compelling testimony from numerous witnesses and teachers at FWISD who testified regarding the culture of retaliation at FWISD, their fear of testifying, attendance fraud, and unethical and fraudulent practices. Three FWISD Board Members were cross-examined by attorneys Victoria Neave and Mark Scott. The jury found that FWISD had, indeed, retaliated against Mr. Palazzolo and returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Palazzolo in the amount of $2,146,352.09.

On May 29, 2014, the Court signed a Final Judgment confirming the jury’s verdict and awarded additional attorneys’ fees, pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest, and court costs to Mr. Palazzolo increasing the final judgment against FWISD to more than $2.7 million. The Judge also awarded additional attorneys’ fees to Mr. Palazzolo in the event FWISD appeals. Just days after the Final Judgment was signed, Superintendent Walter Dansby resigned.

SEPARATE LAWSUIT STILL PENDING AGAINST WALTER DANSBY

In March 2014, Neave & Scott, PC filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Palazzolo against Walter Dansby for violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Dansby ordered microphones to be placed in a closed session of the FWISD Board Meeting which recorded horrific defamatory statements and publicly broadcast them for the whole world to hear via the World Wide Web. FWISD’s own employees confirm in sworn affidavits that Dansby’s order that microphones be placed in the boardroom of the closed special meeting was “unusual,” “odd” and that “[t]here have never been microphones in the Board conference room for closed, executive sessions, except at the June 17, 2013 Board meeting.” This separate lawsuit is still pending against Dansby.

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You're Invited

The now earthquake-prone region of Azle and Reno will be the focus of the panel discussion “What’s Behind the North Texas Quakes?” set for 7 p.m. June 18 at Azle High School, 1200 Boyd Road.

The area northwest of Fort Worth was rocked by more than 30 minor earthquakes in a three-month span, rattling residents and prompting many of them to ask what was behind the flurry of seismic activity. Seismologists and other researchers are trying to identify a link between the earthquakes and drilling and hydraulic fracking activity, including the disposal of wastewater.

The free event will be hosted by KERA/State Impact Texas.

Panelists include Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, Reno Mayor Lynda Stokes,Heather DeShon, an associate professor of geophysics, and Mose Buchele, a State Impact Texas reporter who has covered the energy industry for many years.

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They are coming for the Stockyards

Sounds like the two old cowboys are having a showdown over our stomping grounds.

So those of you who love it for what it is , better hurry. It's about to be a strip mall.

And don't even get us started on when they finally get their beloved casino down there.

Ever been to Shreveport?

Read all about it here.

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If you know what's good for you

You'll be here on the 21st!

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What kind of water does Texas have?

Flaming water.

You can now see it on national 'news'.

Watch Lipsky on MSNBC.

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Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Dansby Resigns

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Water Bully

No, we're not talking about the Tarrant Regional Water District, for once.  This time it's Dallas.

When are they going to learn?  Marvin Nichols isn't the answer. Will someone please get the board bobble heads to think outside of the box?

Kudos to Rep. Simpson for standing up for THE PEOPLE.  Wonder if he knows Mary Kelleher?

Earlier this month, the executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board recommended that the board’s members use their authority to compel water planners in northeast Texas to officially drop their opposition to the project, so that the official State Water Plan would be consistent. This did not sit well with East Texans, including Representative David Simpson, of Longview, one of the leading standard-bearers for the tea party wing of the Republican party in Texas. At a hearing in Arlington early this month, he called the agency a “bully.”

Read This Land Is You Land, Until Dallas Needs It in Texas Monthly.

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