TRINITY RIVER PROJECT AD NASEUM

Boy – the Dallas Observer took the fine town of Dallas to task in their latest issue:

On regarding the (cough, cough – literally) Trinity River Plan:

Pants on Fire
Looking forward to even more whoppers next year
BY JIM SCHUTZE
dallasobserver.com | originally published: December 30, 2004

". . ., recently arrived on my desk is the slickly produced special D magazine Trinity River edition, just out, called "The Trinity: How the river will change Dallas forever." This magazine--a collection of preposterous whoppers, fibs, prevarications, exaggerations, subterfuge, propaganda and Orwellian doublespeak--is an omen of things just ahead.

The magazine is a sales pitch for the Trinity River project, Dallas' own "Big Dig," an ambitious multibillion-dollar public works project to rebuild the Trinity where it flows through the center of the city. By a very narrow vote in 1998, voters approved $246 million for parks and a sailboat lake in the center of downtown. An expensive ad campaign for the proposal assured voters that the city's $246 million would be matched with $1.2 billion in state and federal funds."

The voters put in $246 million in for the Plan. Then (right) they would put in $1.2 billion and turn foul Trinity River in a "mini-Mediterranean" with even white water rafting. But through research, the writer has found we getting none of it. Scammed is the word.

[the writer goes on to expound]: "So please allow me to run it down for you in detail. The D magazine special edition goes on and on about the recreational amenities the Trinity River project will create: "...the Trinity River will accommodate small sailboats and paddle boats," the magazine tells its readers. "More interestingly, a reverse-flow lake is planned with a 17-foot drop where it curves back to the river, creating rapids and a perfect whitewater course for winter kayaking competitions..."

"But the most visible benefit will be on the Oak Cliff side, which will have easy access to downtown, great views and--most important of all--along the levee, direct entry into the country's largest urban park."

The writer has found this to be a LIE. None! Nada.

Our illustrious mayor is quoted in the magazine that for an extra $110 million she is willing put it in as a tax hike but in reality there would still be NOTHING.

That will cost another $700 million.

The writer then describes what the Trinity River really is now (as if we all didn't know):

"Right now all of the water in the Trinity River is "effluent" or doo-doo water from upriver sewage treatment plants, some of which don't meet minimal EPA standards. It's not safe to swim in. I have spoken to experts who have said it would be unsafe to go sailing on top of this water unless you were wearing a HAZMAT suit."

Even with tons of money – you would still have nasty water, a stagnant rainwater lake that would probably go dry in the summer (have to have pumps), ticks and chiggers. In addition, the levee-top rivers, recreation terraces, amphitheater, event facilities are not even in the plan – at all.

No answer comes out of City Hall why they are not there. But they do need MORE money for these luxuries. A better deal would be gotten from a used car lot.

The writer goes on to say: "Think that might be where the white-water kayaking money went?

Let me point out something else that's very important. Our current mayor, Laura Miller, started out as an ardent and effective critic of "big ticket" glitz and glamour public works projects that drained money away from neighborhoods, street repairs and schools. She made her name on these issues when she was here at the Observer. She ran for the city council on these issues. She ran and was elected mayor on these issues.

She is the star of the special Trinity River edition of D, as the No. 1 public proponent of the Trinity project, promising people that they will reap benefits she knows they will never see.

In an interview titled "The conversion of Laura Miller," she gives a strange account of why she switched. She says her husband, former state representative and wealthy asbestos lawyer Steve Wolens, told her, "You are stupid." She says Wolens told her to support the project. So she did."

Hubby told her what to do. What else has he told her what to do?

Further: "This town is eerie. People come along; they seem tough and spunky; next time you see them they have that body-snatchers glaze over their eyes and they're telling you to go along with the plan. All you can do is shrug and figure somebody got to somebody."

For this, we lost the Cowboys Stadium. Thanks Mayor Miller for your FORWARD
LOOKING VIEW for the City of Dallas.