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.”

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Connected in Cowtown

WHO is writing letters for Betsy Price?  One name that keeps popping up over and over with the Fort Worth School Board.

This letter writer is a very close friend to another Tarrant Regional Water District member.  The letter writer also wrote a letter to the drillers recently and recalled it after it was made public (see above link).  And was mentioned again today in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Interesting note.  And the circle keeps getting smaller.  That's what happens when things start going down the drain.

Vasquez said that when it comes time to appoint trustees to the boards of the city's tax increment financing zones, called TIFs, the nod usually goes to the trustee who lives in the same district as the TIF. But in October 2009, trustees appointed Needham to a TIF board for the Trinity River Vision project, which is in Vasquez's district. At the time, Vasquez expressed disappointment that he was not selected.

"We do things historically when they're convenient," Vasquez said.

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