In due time...

Betty Brink may be writing another story about buildings on the Trinity River in Fort Worth that will sound hauntingly familiar to the one in the Fort Worth Weekly this week.

This one is about the Tarrant County College Trinity River campus and its cost overruns and backroom dealings.  Change the names, though the game remains the same.

We can't wait to read all about it.

Officially known as the Trinity River East Campus, it cost taxpayers a staggering $1,476 per square foot to build — more than three times what experienced real estate executives say such a facility should have cost. 

However, troubling questions remain about the hiring and performance of the members of that team. Some TCC critics — including some of the same citizen watchdogs who ferreted out problems with the downtown project in the past — are worried by what they see as more layers of expensive oversight being added without clear delineation of duties. One consultant, who has been paid more than $800,000, was hired without the college board signing off on his contract and despite the fact that his firm had been created only a month earlier with Tarrant County College District his only client.

Those ranged from disregard of historical preservation concerns to huge cost overruns, delays, lack of key permits, opposition from downtown leaders, and questions about the design of the northern section of the project that would have been built in part on the river levees.

In a March memo to Petty, Sewell concluded that the cost overruns and long delays were caused by a “culture of complacency … established years ago” coupled with an “attitude of just ‘rubber-stamping’ cost-related items.”

”The campus is very impressive,” Poulson said. “But I guess that’s easy to do when you have unlimited funds, no budget, and no one asking questions.”

Read More

When NEWS goes bad...

What happens when the newspaper of record in your town gets its marching orders from the downtown money crowd? They forget WHY they are there in the first place.

This is an exchange between a Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist and a local citizen. Other citizens copied in responded too. This is just one example of many, sit tight, more on the way.

What happens to YOUR city when YOUR news is run by your local "governments" and "the industry"?  What happens when people mistake columnists for reporters?  What happens when there is no difference?

Recently, someone wrote that when a news outlet gets all its "news" from politicians and industry, they make themselves irrelevant.  Poignant, isn't it?

Mitch Schnurman recently wrote a column concerning tax abatements, which prompted a letter from the citizen. Schnurman didn't respond. He then wrote one about the TCC boondoggle on the Trinity River which prompted the citizen to follow up. Below is the exchange.

Act 1 - Citizen to Newspaper
To: "mschnurman@star-telegram.com"
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:40 AM
Subject: Thoughts

Mitch,

I had a question concerning your recent tax abatement article - while I finally agree with something you say, I wonder why you are upset with the abatement's but not with the $95 million needed for a new fire/police training facility??  Since the council sold this land to the Tarrant Regional Water District, now the taxpayer has to foot the bill once again.  Would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks,
X

Act 2 - Citizen to Newspaper.  Again.

On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 1:49 PM, X wrote:

Although I didn't expect an answer, I would have appreciated one.

Now I just have more questions...

How is the sunken plaza a boondoggle but the Trinity River Vision is not?  The only good thing about TCC is they should walk away with an education, then maybe the next generation will be smarter than selling/sailing our checkbooks down the river.

Also, TCC is leasing space in Haltom City, for I believe - a $1 a year.  Is there not a way they could look for the same deal for an arts center in a nearby city?  With all the vacant space in Tarrant County, there has to be a more affordable choice.

Again, would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks,
X

Act 3 - Another citizen to newspaper.

An excellent point. Why would the city council sell the training academy without first having the funding secured for a new facility?

Will they build it with Certificate of Obligations like the Will Rogers parking garage and without public approval?

Another chapter in the TRV folly that should provoke public outrage.

Act 4 - Another citizen responds

How is the TCC a boondoggle and the TRV is not?
GOOD question. Excellent question!

Answer:  Not a dime’s worth of difference.

We made our maiden voyage to the completed TCC boondoggle yesterday.  Pity bad weather and the poor co-ed and 58 steps from Belknap down to her classroom.

Perhaps as a hotel, with a path all the way to the river, it might have been a fine tourist attraction.  But the college as I and others envisioned when we campaigned for its birth circa 1968 was to be a place where people could be trained in local class rooms to enable them to earn a living.

X can’t get over the fact that all the buildings are what on the farm we used to call lean-tos.  An architect friend called me this morning and asked me when they’re going to straighten them up.

In the words of General MacArthur:  I could not answer.

Act 5 - Finally...a response?  (We have to give him credit for the last line, but do YOU buy it?)

I don't know about the police training center, so I didn't have much to contribute to your thoughts on the subject.

I try to weigh in on issues that I have examined. I am not the beat reporter for TCC, so there is much that I do not follow. As for Haltom City having cheap rent, I don't see that as the issue in North Richland Hills.

The money has already been collected for that project; the question is whether TCC will stick to the original budget (or at least close).

I have written many times about the TRV, and I continue to support it. To rehash all that now is a waste of my time and yours.

I expect to revisit it again, in light of the cuts that are coming in federal spending. Perhaps my view will change then.

Thank you for writing,
Mitchell Schnurman
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Business columnist

Act 6 - Citizen responds to news paper.

Mitch,

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

My point on TCC may not have been clear, my thoughts were we could use the money and look at other options that would provide what is needed while staying within the budget.  The Haltom City campus was just an example of that.

Concerning TRV, while I realize I am just an average citizen, I am somewhat confused by your response.  If you aren't aware of the police/fire training center, which was another known ripple of the TRV, how can you be in full support of the project?

I realize your employer is a large advocate of the project, however the taxpayers and your customers need advocates too.

Thanks,
X

Read More

One boondoggle after another...

It's the Fort Worth Way.

This very same writer once told you - "Don't be afraid of the rising cost of Trinity River Vision".  Now he's pissed about the rising cost of TCC?

Really?  Didn't see that coming?

Nothing costs what the "leaders" of the projects say they will.  WHO pays the price?  All of us.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

TCC's psyche and credibility are still recovering from the fiasco on the bluffs, the downtown construction project whose soaring costs gave the district a black eye. That project, the Trinity River East Campus, finally opened to students last week.

TCC is running away from that number as fast as it can. The figure was a placeholder, not a true estimate, spokesman Frank Griffis said. Indeed, a footnote in the CFO's slide show states that the "construction amounts are only for discussion purposes."

Then how about discussing the original budget number while they were at it?

The three public anchors were supposed to be finished by 2005. But the project hasn't delivered as expected, not with the economic shocks of the past decade. The city extended the time frame, waiting for more development and tax revenue.

But there's no guarantee. And it's more important, politically and economically, that TCC live within its means. If it can't build a nice hall for $8.3 million, it could ask North Richland Hills to throw in a little more.

Maybe, but the problem here isn't the idea of a performing arts center. It's the rising price.

Read More

Trinity River Irony

The Fort Worth Star Telegram has two articles - one titled, "TCC raises property taxes, tutition".  The other, "Classes begin at TCC Trinity River East Campus".  YOU do the math...

Tarrant County College trustees on Monday adopted an estimated $348.9 million budget for fiscal 2011-12 that raises next year's property taxes for the college district by 8 percent and tuition by 4 percent.

The 4-2 vote came after a public hearing at which five people urged the board to vote against the tax and tuition increases.

"Stop increasing your charges," said Randy Kressler, a Westworth Village councilman.

Several speakers criticized plans for a performing arts center at TCC's Northeast Campus.

"You should abandon it," taxpayer Bill Wright said. "You should lower the tax rate, not increase it."

Students started classes Monday at the Trinity River East Campus, Tarrant County College's new $185 million downtown facility for health professionals.

Bryan Stewart, vice president of teaching and learning services for the entire complex, said about 7,115 students are enrolled at both facilities, with 700 at Trinity River East.

Stewart said there were no traffic issues. College officials began greeting students as they arrived at about 6:30 a.m. to the parking lot off Belknap Street, which has 148 student spaces.

Stewart said that lot filled up at about 9 a.m. so students parked at a garage at the Trinity River Campus and a lot on Henderson Street. He said the nearby parking cycles out about noon, when a different group of students arrives.

Read More

Affordable Education?

Not.

One of our favorite letter writers is back, read the letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  THE PEOPLE get it.  You know, the ones paying for it.

TCC priorities

The Star-Telegram reported that Tarrant County College trustees are contemplating raising tuition and their portion of the property tax rate in order to help build three additional buildings.

Watch your wallets! The last building TCC constructed cost about $700 per square foot, roughly four times the average cost of similar community college buildings.

In other words, they could have put up the existing building plus these three additional ones for what we paid for that Berlin bunker, an East Belknap Street underpass and a hole in the ground that we are assured will be nice to visit "when the weather is nice."

Where are the letters to the editor?

Millions for scholarships and teacher salaries and not one dime more for monuments to greed and bad taste.

-- Guelma B. Hopkins, Fort Worth

Read More

TCC and TRV

Read the latest about the Tarrant County College in the Fort Worth Business Press.  YOU and YOUR kids can't afford not to.

The campus on the bluffs was built more to meet the desires of the Trinity River Vision project than for educational purposes, say critics, including TCC trustees Robyn Winnett and O.K. Carter, as well as Picht.

It is the cost of the project – an estimated $1,200-$1,500 a square foot – that raises the most eyebrows. College officials said the actual cost per square foot is not yet available.

But $1,500 per square foot would far exceed the prices of many other community college and university buildings in the state. According to the 2011 College Construction Report, the median cost for academic buildings is about $339 per square foot.

Taxpayers are the losers, Picht said, as TCC’s board considers raising tuition over the next five years to pay for three new facilities.

“They would also raise the tax rate. They are blaming that on the Legislature,” he said. “If they had tried to stay within the concept of low-cost education, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”

Read More

Education Boondoogles

Check out the two articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram -

Fort Worth schools fail federal and state standards in largest percentage among big districts

The Fort Worth school district had the largest percentage of schools failing to meet state and federal academic standards among the largest districts in Texas, according to recently released data.

More than half, 56.4 percent, of the schools fell under the federal adequate yearly progress measures, and 16.5 percent were rated academically unacceptable by the state. While districts across the state had dips in accountability ratings, Fort Worth had the highest percentage of failing schools among the 10 largest districts.
 
AND

TCC Administrators propose 5-year tuition increase

Tarrant County College students could pay more tuition under a preliminary plan to raise $27.4 million in five years to help pay for three new facilities and academic programs.

"We are going to see if it sticks," Trustee Bill Greenhill said.

Be sure and read the comments, from THE taxpayers.

Does anyone see the irony?

One has to ask, if they hadn't shoved the TCC boondoggle down the taxpayers throat, would there be a need to raise tuition?  If OUR schools are failing in standards, will OUR kids be able to attend TCC?

Read More

You are invited

Yes, we know it's short notice.  And it's during the day.  And it's at the TCC sunken money pit fiasco and it's in the "Energy" Auditorium.  Go anyway.  It's sure to be entertaining. 

What does the Trinity River Vision have to do with computer classes?  Maybe they'll teach you how to turn the water blue and edit out the trash for photo ops.

Read More