All the newspapers...

Are finally talking about the Tim Love Woodshed deal, part of the Trinity River Vision.  (Which means more finger pointing and story changing).

The other restaurant owners in town are wishing the "news" would have done so sooner. (Kind of like the tubers of the Trinity Rockin the River events wish the "news" would have tested the water sooner).  What will all the businesses in Fort Worth say when the Trinity River Vision promotes their own over the current, established ones?

Check out the Fort Worth Business Press article.  Is it just us or do some of the answers given by J.D. Granger and Jim Lane sound different than the ones they gave in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just a little over a week ago? Last week, neither J.D. or Love could remember WHO asked whom.  Read the latest below.  Jim Lane told the S-T that the Tarrant Regional Water District board voted on it...now it's clear, no one voted on it.

Lane compares the Trinity River Vision to Lockheed Martin and Alliance Airport.  Apples and oranges.

The Trinity River Vision is all taxpayer funded (that's YOU) and has nothing to do with defense (aside from "news" articles) or planes. Nice try though.

And someone please tell these boys, this ain't San Antonio. 

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

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

TRVA Executive Director J.D. Granger, who helped search for a tenant for the restaurant, said Love proposed the profit-sharing lease rather than a standard rent agreement because fixed rents often cause problems for open-air, climate-sensitive venues.

The behind-the-scenes negotiations with Love and the terms of the lease, not to mention the lack of competitive bidding, aren’t doing much to change critics’ views that the water district is more interested in creating an economic windfall for downtown developers via the TRV than it is in doing its real job of finding new sources of water for a rapidly growing population, preserving current resources and managing flood control projects, says Clyde Picht, a former city councilman who ran for the water board opposing the Trinity River Vision plan.

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The Fort Worth Business Journal  "Water District takes heat over no-bid lease deal"article  also makes note of the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP) award winning documentary, Up a Creek. 

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A Persistent Cadre of Letter to the Editor Writers

Today’s letters to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tell you what THE PEOPLE really think about local government, spending and “news”.

You should read them all.  One below is from one of those “persistent cadre of Trinity River Vision detractors”.  The same one that served his country for many years and has served his community ever since.  Oh yeah, he also helped save YOU from paying for a downtown hotel.  He asks for no thanks in return, just smarter politicians and more transparency for the citizens of Tarrant County.  After all, it’s THEIR money.

Carry on, Clyde.

Riverbank cronyism

The Sunday headline read "Eatery deal is debated."

There's no debate; it's a done deal.

Those silly restaurant businessmen protest too much. Fort Worth recently won the award for "All-America City." It should have been for leading the way in crony capitalism. No bids, no information, no transparency and no accountability, that's really the "Fort Worth Way."

While the average citizen laments lousy roads, drainage problems and gas well and pipeline issues, the downtown lobby is working on a new 10-year plan; Tarrant County College builds high-cost buildings for low-cost education; and the Trinity River Vision squanders tax dollars on wakeboard parks, restaurants and bridges to nowhere.

Water district board member Jim Lane thinks Tim Love will hit a home run with his moderate prices and "specified number of beers on tap."

Perhaps, but for taxpayers, it's strike three. A real home run would be a solid future water proposal.

-- Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

Expensive appeal

I thought this state was broke. After all, we can't afford to educate our kids, pay our teachers or provide healthcare for those who can't afford it.

But we evidently can afford to hire expensive outside attorneys to fight interim redistricting plans drawn by a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed the court-approved lines to the Supreme Court and hired a lawyer from an elite Washington law firm, a former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration, to help. Surely Abbott doesn't think the panel's maps are partisan. The panel is made up of two judges appointed by Republican presidents (Reagan and George W. Bush) and one appointed by a Democratic president (Clinton).

Please, Mr. Attorney General, don't waste our money.

-- Jo-Ann Zimmerman, Euless

Superintendent search

I have been following the Star-Telegram's editorials and opinion pieces regarding the selection of Walter Dansby as interim superintendent of the Fort Worth school district after the resignation of Melody Johnson and the call for a nationwide search for a new superintendent.

I find the tone of these articles biased and unfair to Dansby.

As a person who has known him for many years and someone who pays school taxes, I am offended by the tone of these articles.

If I did not know the man, these articles would give me the impression that Dansby was somehow in collusion with some school trustees who may or may not have an ulterior motive. I cannot fathom the reason the paper would advocate this theory, but I feel it does Dansby a disservice. I expected better of you.

I don't know if Dansby can turn this school district around, but I believe he certainly deserves a chance to try. He can't possibly do any worse than some of the previous superintendents, doctorates notwithstanding, Johnson included. She was never my choice.

-- Barbara Thomas, Fort Worth

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Where can you get the real local news?

Good letter from Clyde Picht in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding last Wednesday's Trinity River Vision Discussion Forum at the Botanic Garden...

Real local news

On Wednesday night, 125 people attended a panel discussion of the Trinity River Vision and regional water issues at the Botanic Garden lecture hall. The event was sponsored by the Trinity River Improvement Partnership and moderated by the Society of Professional Journalists to acquaint residents with the pros and cons of the TRV and concerns about future water supply.

On Thursday, the Star-Telegram reported on a stuffed Cape buffalo being auctioned off over the weekend. On Friday, the newspaper reported on Amarillo's Lake Meredith going dry, a potbelly pig that was put down, 14 protesters in Burnett Park and the usual photos of socialite activities.

Thank you, Star-Telegram, for maintaining your tradition of reporting sports, fluff and yesterday's news from the Drudge Report.

-- Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

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YOU Do Not Want To Miss This

Dear Friends of the Trinity River,

Please join us for an unprecedented event that promises to be an enlightening and educational evening. Bring your questions. And bring your neighborhood associations, groups and clubs - all taxpayers need to hear this.

Sincerely,

Your friends at TRIP

Trinity River Talk

Have questions about TRV?  Want to hear both sides?

Join us.

October 12th @ 6:30 p.m.
Botanic Garden, Fort Worth  - Lecture Hall

Panelists include:

Jim Lane - Tarrant Regional Water District Board member and former Fort Worth City Council member

J.D. Granger - Trinity River Vision Authority Executive Director and former Assistant District Attorney

Mark Rauscher - City of Fort Worth - Trinity River Vision Director

Clyde Picht - Former Fort Worth City Council member

Steve Hollern - CPA and former Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman

John Basham - Consulting Meteorologist

TRIP would like to thank the SPJFW for moderating this important community event for the citizens.

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Money Pit

Fort Worth Fire Training Center

Two years ago, Clyde Picht asked WHO was going to pay to move the Fort Worth Police and Fire Training Academy that needs to be moved because of Trinity Uptown and the Trinity River Vision.

Think he knew the answer?

YOU do.

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Best of Fort Worth

The Fort Worth Weekly has released their Best of Edition for 2011.  Pick one up, check it out.

In addition to finding all the best spots in town, you can read about groups and people we've told you about - NCTCA, Clyde Picht, Ann Sutherland and Layla Caraway, just to name a few.

WHO was the politician most likely to sell grandma to the highest bidder?  YOU know WHO.

Oh, and Readers Choice for Locally Made Film - Up a Creek.  Congratulations to Bob Lukeman and TRIP and to all those out there making a difference.   Like the Weekly.

Lone Star salutes you all.

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Hold the phone...

Did we just agree on something?

Read Mitch's column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram concerning Fort Worth Tax abatements.

We also agree with Betsy - we'd like to know what's in the water too.  Better yet, WHAT water?

Contrast those deals with the small ball that the city was playing last week. The planning department proposed tax breaks for three projects, including one pledging to bring just 60 jobs to the area -- and to fast-growing Alliance at that.

Frac Tech Services, proposing the biggest expansion, is already in Fort Worth. Do you think a fracking company would leave the fracking capital of the world over a tax break?

Mayor Betsy Price said it was all good, too: "I've talked to friends around the state who want to know what the heck you put in the water in Fort Worth that everybody's coming to Fort Worth."

Several company executives were at the pre-council meeting, yet they weren't called upon. Is it unreasonable to ask whether the tax breaks are necessary to pull off the deal?

Council members don't have to grill anybody or cause embarrassment. But they should at least feign some due diligence.

Maybe they'll be more engaged when the abatements come up for a vote next month. Last week's session was so brief and perfunctory that I longed for the days of Clyde Picht and the late Chuck Silcox. Those former members opposed almost every tax break on the principle that everyone should pay a fair share.

Even Wendy Davis, a champion of economic development, could be counted on to ask about "the gap." She's a state senator now, but when she served on the council, she pored over spreadsheets and demanded to know why a taxpayer contribution was crucial to closing a deal.

"If Oprah Winfrey were moving to Texas, would we offer her an abatement to move to Fort Worth?" Picht said.

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