WHO pays WHO?

Alex Mills is the President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.  We're not really sure what that is, but if we had to guess we'd say that was an organization similar to those like the Trinity River Vision Authority, NTTA, the NCTCOG...you get the picture.  Created, appointed and paid for by local politicians and the Tarrant Regional Water District, or in this case, the gas drilling industry.   

He also writes frequently in the Business Press about gas drilling.  Not so much writing, as defending.  In small print at the bottom it tells you his title, and that "the opinions expressed are solely of the author".

So, if the gas drillers pay him to defend them and he writes his "Opinion" for the Business Press, WHO is paying WHO?  Are the drillers paying for a half a page in the paper or is the paper paying Mr. Mills to write for THEM too? 

What's it costing YOU?

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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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Watchdogs everywhere

The Texas Watchdog is sniffing around the Woodshed too.  Wonder what they'll turn up? 

More dirt on the dealings of the Tarrant Regional Water District or the Trinity River Vision Authority? 

Step right up and place your bets.

Taxpayers foot $970K bill for celebrity chef's smokehouse on Trinity River

Love has competed in Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters. The latter was exposed last month as being part of a pay-to-play scheme, extracting fees from cities in exchange for being used as a Top Chef location.

 

Earlier this month, Granger was derided for failing to show up at a forum at which he promised to explain the $900 million Trinity River Vision project.

 

Granger is the son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, who has been a supporter of the Trinity River development but has also been subject to nepotism accusations.

 

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One question leads to another

From a concerned observer....

I have a few questions about Tim Love's new restaurant and how it relates to the TRV. I attempted to get some info from TAD. The business is listed as 3201 Riverfront Dr., but that address is not listed with TAD. Numerous properties in that area show to be owned by the water board. Was the land purchased or leased from the water board? If so what was the purchase price or how much is the rent? What is the taxable value of the land? Why is the water board involved in commercial development? I thought their purpose was flood control and water management. This deal seems as stinky as the river itself. If you do not know the answers to these questions, could you please tell me where I should direct them?

Thank You,
P B

We're waiting.....

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Tell it like it is

Trinity River Vision's Cowtown Wakepark

Not just what they want to hear.

That’s what a letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram did.

A few weeks ago they asked for your opinion (as long as it matched theirs).  Kudos for Libby Willis to pointing out the obvious.

Shared sacrifice in the quest for federal fiscal sanity

Easy: Cut remaining earmarks and other federal funding for the Trinity River Vision project. And yes, that affects me personally. The project impacts negatively on Riverside Park, six blocks from where I live, and other city parks. We just learned that the city of Fort Worth must find $95 million to build a police and fire training facility because the old one is in the way of the TRV. And the $95 million will be unavailable for other city needs, including street construction and repairs, and that affects all of us.

When 15 percent of Americans are living in poverty, when unemployment is at 9.1 percent, when teachers, policemen, firemen and other public servants are being laid off because of budget cuts, it is obscene and morally repugnant to spend federal dollars on things like TRV's Cowtown Wakeboard Park. Let the private sector pay for the lavish real estate development known as TRV.

Hard choice: Incrementally raise the minimum age for Social Security retirement benefits to 68. That would affect me personally since I would begin drawing benefits three years later. Folks now have a longer life expectancy than when the 65-year age qualification was set.

-- Libby Willis, Fort Worth

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