Fort Worth Vision

Or lack thereof. 

Which do you think would make the "news" in Fort Worth?

Durango watched a mother struggle with a stroller and no sidewalks and reported on it, and then tells you about the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting on people pushing strollers at the Stock Show. 

THAT is news? Really?

Fort Worth does not have what most city's in America have, that being a major newspaper of record that acts as the community's watchdog.

What Fort Worth has is this pseudo newspaper that calls itself the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, but should more accurately be called the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Pravda-Like Star-Telegram.

How can a city be so blind that it can have a vision wasting millions of dollars to build a river diversion channel that is not needed, a little lake that will cause giggles, non-signature bridges to nowhere and whatever else it is that is currently being seen by the myopic Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, when its city sidewalks, or lack of, are something one might expect to see in a town in a Third World country?

Where is the vision for the rest of Fort Worth? The part not seen by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

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Good Question

Possibly the best question we have ever seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  We're still waiting on the answer.

It's in a column about the Fort Worth retirees and their pension, but it applies to all things Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Way. The sheep have been asking this question for years, if the fox is guarding the hen house...

If most retirement fund board members are beneficiaries of the fund and the fund's executive director is writing guest columns defending their lucrative packages, who the heck is watching out for the taxpayers?

Again, we've been waiting on that answer for years.


With the recent article about the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, this partial comment on the retiree article seems both relevant and timely.

The biggest opponent to Fort Worth city employees is the FW Chamber of Commerce. The city can't give away tax breaks to lure businesses when they have to pay retirees and future retirees a decent retirement.  

The problem isn't the pension. The problem is upper-crust individuals who are "looking out for the taxpayer" want to spend taxpayer money on pork, at the expense of the city employee. 

Speaking of living outside of Tarrant County....  Look at Dallas TAD website and you'll find one of the great opponents of the pension, Mitch Schnurman, lives in Coppell in a $340k house.

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Another Tarrant County "Study"

Funny thing about "studies", they usually produce the outcome those hired to produce it are looking for.  It's what you call a win/win.  Unless, of course, you're the one paying for it.

This one was done by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It claims property taxes are part of the benefit to all the abatement's Fort Worth handed out this year.  How can that be when the TIF's in the area are struggling to meet their promises due to declining property taxes?  Remember, there were studies for those TIF's too. What are they basing these numbers on?  Apparently, whatever they could.

The overall economic impact includes company investments, salaries and what workers will spend.

It also considers salaries created or supported in new or existing firms, such as maintenance companies and service firms, and spending at stores and restaurants.

 There were a couple of key sentences in the article:

In its efforts, the chamber's economic development division received and spent about $1 million from private and public sources in 2011.

The chamber's economic development division works closely with the city's economic development department.

As usual the best part were the comments from THE PEOPLE:

It's a great place to do business if you're looking for a tax handout, but Fort Sprawl is not a great place to live anymore.  

Roads are in terrible condition, crime is up and police response times are lousy.  City services are poor and getting worse.  Those that still exist, anyway.  Price lives in her shielded world and is not in touch with the average citizen.

The only ones who are happy with all this are the stinking corporations and developers and corrupt politicians (current and past mayors & council included) who are benefiting at citizens' expense. If you've got enough money to buy a politician or two, you can pretty much get whatever you want. That's exactly what happened with the Trinity Drainage Ditch Vision and many other pet projects... reward the developers/politicians... screw the citizens.

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