A veto??

We were asked what happened with Bill 346, Perry veto'd it. Things are getting tough all over for some of those good OLD boys. Stop messing with Texans. You're pissing us off.

Guys like Geren and Seliger don’t like to be challenged. More importantly, they don’t like sunlight being shown on legislative records that run counter to the pictures they paint of themselves back home. Rather than reform, they want to apply political and regulatory pressure to those who oppose them. That meant prying away at the constitutional privacy protections afforded to those who donate to non-profit organizations.

Read more here:

We don't need no stinking zoning...

We do things the Fort Worth Way.

Tuesday the council (Mayor Bicycle Betty was MIA) voted to turn the corner of Northside Drive into an apartment complex. This has been a complex issue that the residents of Oakhurst and Riverside have been dealing with for months. This is the same piece of land that the architect said the Tarrant Regional Water District gave him a portion of. The district then of course said they will lease it.

There are many questions and concerns about this site - traffic, conflict with the zoning plan, the fact that it lies in a floodplain (the renderings show cars parked under water). We were sent an email that the council received.  It has many good points, we are sharing some of them with you below.

Not to worry though, it's not the only place in Fort Worth they are throwing zoning to the wind.  They also voted to sell liquor near schools.  All this in a town that is running out of water and you sit dead stopped on the highway for hours (you can't call it a freeway anymore, not with what it's going to wind up costing you).  WHEN are the residents of Fort Worth going to say enough already?

The project site is a difficult site to develop (witness the change in zoning on the site to accommodate a hotel and restaurant project which failed). It is a floodplain site which will require extensive planning, permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tarrant Regional Water District, and significant investment to deal with the drainage issues at the site. In an April 5, 2013 story on the project in the Fort Worth Business Press, there is the following quote: "That’s a difficult area to develop," said J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, referring to the site’s ability to handle flood water.

Fort Worth Weekly of Feb. 6, 2013 in a story on the project included this information: "If they get everything approved and pay for the extension of the drainage into the river, we have tentatively agreed to lease our property for parking," water district spokesman Chad Lorance said.) What is the cost of extension of drainage into the river? Would a developer really agree to add that to the cost of the project? 

It should also be noted that the artist’s beautiful color rendering of the apartment project features a marina and sailboats in the river. The river at the site is presently not deep enough to accommodate sailboats. Who will pay to deepen the river to accommodate these water craft? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers? Tarrant Regional Water District? The project developer? Is a marina truly a reality at the site? 

There are questions about environmental issues near the Trinity River if this apartment project is built. Within the last couple of years, the Zoning Commission had strong reservations about relocating the City’s auto pound at a site near the river – both for beautification reasons and for issues involved with runoff from automobiles (oil, etc.) into the river. What is different with this proposal? Five hundred apartments with 840 required parking spaces would put a huge number of cars (and attendant runoff) right at the river.
There are other questions about the requested waivers which would allow a five story building at the river’s edge, creating a great view for apartment dwellers, but blocking the view for the general public.
The benefits to the City and the possibilities for preserving this part of the Trinity River greenbelt have not been explored and should be before a final decision is made to encourage this kind of development right on the river in the floodplain and in the greenbelt. 

Doggone it.

The Fort Worth Weekly article about the dogs dying of distemper in the Fort Worth Animal Shelter produced many comments about Bicycle Betsy.  It ain't pretty.  But then again, it's Fort Worth.

Read it here.

Our favorite part of the paper…the readers

The following comments are on several recent articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  You’d think the paper would pay as much attention as the citizens do.  Oh well, here’s to wishful thinking.

We all are very aware of the privatization of our electrical providers and how well that’s working for the consumer. Now I see in the May 19 Star-Telegram that the city of Fort Worth is considering the privatization of the water maintenance department.

With the advent of a new exciting bicycle rental business, I guess City Hall does not have time to be bothered with maintaining our boring old water system. Lest we forget, it takes a lot of time finding the money to fill up the bottomless “money pit” known in some circles as “Granger’s Pond.”
— W. B. Slaughter, Fort Worth

The Fort Worth City Council should not consider any new major expenditures until they have fixed our streets. That should and must be their first priority. We're having to wait, again, for the next bond election in May 2014, and we may or may not make that list of streets to be replaced. There are streets on the south side you need a tank to get down.

Our street on the east side has been categorized as a “3” (bad) since at least 2007. The street is crumbling, and it’s dangerously narrow, a problem for the fire department should we have a fire.

The City Council stuck us with bike lanes no one uses, and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority brought us a rent-a-bike program that is sure to fail. The Rivercrest area got all new street signs (of all things) and we can’t get a decent street to live on.

The council needs to take care of business for the residents as a whole, not their friends and special interest projects.
— Susie Fitzgerald, Fort Worth

Jeers: To the Keller City Council that has abandoned the city’s Future Land Use Plan and development standards at the whims of developers who have inundated the city with requests for smaller lots to bulk up their profits. The council presents as a representative of the developer vs. the citizens.
— Pam Morton, Keller

WHAT's it worth?

Apparently the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wants to know what YOU think.

Yeah, we don't buy it either.

Tarrant County’s taxable property values as a whole are up 4.3 percent over last year, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District. Do you believe that's evidence the economy is improving — or that homes are being over-valued by TAD?

Send no more than 150 words with your name, address and daytime phone to letters@star-telegram.com. Deadline is Wednesday for publication next Monday.

Read more here:

Private Water

Since it's YOURS, YOU should show up!

Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa will speak about the City's Water Utility Task Force which is studying possible privatization of some or all water services.

  

The meeting will also feature updates on other news important to neighborhoods: 

  

* proposed deletion of distance requirements between alcohol sales and schools and hospitals in Mixed Use, Form-based zoning districts, and downtown

  

* Where is Fort Worth going?  Visioning for 2018 and beyond

        

* Siting of Natural Gas Line Compressors and Agricultural zoned areas near neighborhoods

The City's new Water Utility Task Force has been holding meetings. The League sends a monitor to observe these meetings.

You can find the webpage for the Water Utility Task Force agendas and powerpoint presentations here
 
Privatization of city services is drawing lots of scrutiny nationwide.      
 
Here's the Texas Tribune's late May story on Fort Worth's task force.
 
Here's a developer's take on water privatization from the Baton Rouge Business Report.
 
Here's an article on water rates in Flower Mound and how privatization affects those.
 
Here's WFAA/Channel 8's story on announcement of the Fort Worth task force and its charge.
 
Here's a piece on Atlanta's 2003 experiment with privatization of water services.

Meet the Beverly Hillbillies

Jeff Prince meets Frank Bracken Weekly style.

Kudos Mr.Prince.

You have been one, a prince, to many folks railroaded by 'the industry'.

Carry on, sir.