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Comments on Boyd Op-Ed
Steve Alpert
Bill Betzen
Patrick L. Boyd
Jesse Diaz
Morine Kovich
Rafael Rodriguez
Gary Turner
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10/15/07 Belo sets new
low standard.
Over the years, a paper I
once trusted has become a piece of trash. It's not just that the
DMN is no
longer credible, it's Editorial Board is outright dishonest. Sure, it's
tough to find a paying job in this town as a journalist, so the
DMN editorial
writers may be more cowardly than dishonest. They are "just doing what
they are told by higher ups". Doesn't make a lie any less dishonest and
doesn't make whoever wrote
Flooded with Misinformation: Toll road foes can't
obscure Corps' singular focus
any less of a liar.
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Ironically, it was Goebels who said "If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Well, the
DMN
and Belo are in a
position to tell a big lie and repeat it over and over and publish other lies
being told by the Vote No! campaign. Fortunately, we now have the internet
and several very popular blogs in town to get the other side's message out.
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10/15
James Northrup:
The DMN editorial "Flooded with Misinformation" rather
nicely misses the key point of building a road in a floodway.
Roads built in flood plains
flood when it rains. Every low water crossing in the state is an
example.
They have to - since they are
potential obstructions to the flow of water.
The levees will survive. The
Corps will make sure of that. Nothing built in a flood plain can
compromise the levees.
In order to protect the
levees - even during a five year flood cited - the road will have to
be sacrificed - flooded.
The DMN asked the wrong
question. Ask the Corps if the toll road will flood when it rains.
Their answer is obvious -
"That's not our problem".
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It's obvious that Mayor Leppert is tired of losing debates to Angela
Hunt because his team are now having one-sided debates without her.
This business of Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) and their house organ (the
DMN)
making this campaign out to be Angela Hunt and her team of mindless robotons is
not working. What it's doing is making people really angry.
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The Trinity River Project always has been a three-headed creature ? with transportation, recreation and flood control all rolled into one massive initiative.
As the debate about the toll road escalates, the park and the highway are getting plenty of airtime. Flood protection, though, is the necessary but nearly forgotten part of the project.
That's likely because engineers ? not politicians ? are calling the shots on flood control.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn't permitted to choose sides in the Nov. 6 referendum. And frankly, Corps officials aren't that interested in the campaign slogans or the sniping.
Theirs is a singular focus: Ensure that the project provides sufficient flood protection. That, the engineers say, is non-negotiable.
So, it's surprising and disappointing that opponents of the planned highway would suggest that the Corps is some sort of political pawn, kowtowing to pressure from the other side.
Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt and her allies portray toll-road backers as the neighborhood bully, twisting engineers' arms until they cry uncle and agree to allow a highway near the levees. Ms. Hunt's side has said that building a road within a floodway is unheard of. Apparently, sending a man to Mars via slingshot would be more feasible.
But Corps officials tell a much different story.
Building within a flood plain is not unusual, they told The Dallas Morning News. Engineers express confidence about this project and emphasize that flood protection will trump all during the final design process. What's more, the Corps won't approve any design that would increase the risk of flooding even an iota.
... When leaders of the "Vote No! Save the Trinity!" campaign unveiled a video and drawings depicting the project, Ms. Hunt and company cried foul. Before the last note of the video's dramatic soundtrack sounded, they seized upon the trees lining the levees in the illustrations, arguing that the Corps would not allow such a thing.
Actually, it would ? with certain restrictions.
Engineers explained that no decisions have been made but that in some cases, trees that don't damage the hydraulics of a project could be allowed. Ms. Hunt declared that the Corps was being strong-armed.
With so many moving parts in this $1 billion project, the Corps simply is focused on designing solutions. Ms. Hunt's camp is busy crafting conspiracy theories.
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Let's review the editorial.
Mind you, no one is paying me anything for my comments, and my job is not on the
line.
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DMN |
As the debate
about the toll road escalates, the park and the highway are getting
plenty of airtime. Flood protection, though, is the necessary but nearly
forgotten part of the project.
That's likely because engineers ? not politicians ?
are calling the shots on flood control. |
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SB |
When
you are dealing with bureaucrats like the Corps of Engineers, you are
always dealing with politicians. No one in a bureaucracy is immune
or indifferent to political winds. At any moment, your career can
be sidetracked because you got crosswise with a politician. City
employee Rebecca Dugger has finally come out of the closet and removed
any pretense that she is openly campaigning for the Vote No! team.
She is making a presentation Tuesday night, 6:30 pm in the Arlington
Park Recreation Center, 1505 Record Crossing. This is a city
employee using a city owned facility to present one side of this
campaign -- the Pro Toll Road side. |
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DMN |
So, it's surprising and disappointing that opponents of the planned
highway would suggest that the Corps is some sort of political pawn,
kowtowing to pressure from the other side.
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SB |
If
you believe the Corps is independent of political pressure, there's the
9th Ward in New Orleans for you to consider. |
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DMN |
Ms. Hunt's side has said that building a road within a floodway is
unheard of. Apparently, sending a man to Mars via slingshot would be
more feasible.
But Corps officials tell a
much different story.
Building within a
flood plain is not unusual, they told The Dallas Morning News.
Engineers express confidence about this project and emphasize that flood
protection will trump all during the final design process. What's more,
the Corps won't approve any design that would increase the risk of
flooding even an iota. |
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SB |
Which Corps officials tell a different story? These are government
employees, we have a right to know which ones or one said building
within a flood plain is not unusual? Since all the flooding along
the Missouri, the Corps has been discouraging any new building in any
flood plain. With the Trinity Toll Road, we are not talking about
building in it in the Trinity flood plain (which is OUTSIDE the levees),
the plan is to build it in the Trinity floodway (which is INSIDE the
levees). Apparently, the Editorial Board writer doesn't know the
difference between floodway and flood plain. That's downright
scary. |
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DMN |
... When leaders of the "Vote No! Save
the Trinity!" campaign unveiled a video and drawings depicting the
project, Ms. Hunt and company cried foul. Before the last note of the
video's dramatic soundtrack sounded, they seized upon the trees lining
the levees in the illustrations, arguing that the Corps would not allow
such a thing.
Actually, it would ? with certain restrictions.
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SB |
When
Mayor Leppert unveiled the video and drawings, he was challenged by
reporters about their accuracy. Even the video has a disclaimer
about its accuracy. Mayor Leppert insisted the video was exact.
In
Trinity tollroad plan
'could change',
Ch. 8's Brad Watson asked Mayor Leppert to clarify the plan, given
comments from the Corps. Mayor Leppert said "It depends on your
definition of exact." |
Ch. 8's Brad Watson is one
reporter at Belo who is not afraid to tell the truth. Letting Watson
have such free reign maybe their way of showing the spinoff of the tv/radio
portion of Belo away from The Dallas Managed
News is for real. The most gutsy
reporting from anyone remotely related to Belo is coming from Brad Watson.
Use the link at the bottom of his report to view the actual video/audio portion.
He interviews former County Judge Lee Jackson at the site of the proposed toll
road about its proximity to the existing lake. I have known Lee Jackson
for a long time, and I have never seen him look so uncomfortable or sound so
untruthful.
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Saturday, October 13, 2007 BY BRAD WATSON/WFAA-TV
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Dallas voters decide November 6th whether to build a toll road inside the Trinity River levees.
Much of the debate centers on how much land a toll road would cover.
At the widest point, the North Texas Tollway Authority plans show the road, the dirt berm ? or ledge ? and the slope would stretch 360 feet into the floodway near Sylvan Avenue.
The roadway would have to start at what's called the toe of the levee and reach out 240 feet.
The slope from the top of the berm to the floodway surface accounts for another 120 feet.
News 8 showed the plans and distance marked off to former Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson who supports the toll road and spoke for the group, "Vote No Save the Trinity."
He believes the park and toll road can coexist.
Jackson said, "Here there will be places where we'll have active uses that are near the roadway, in other places there will be open space and the active spaces will be far away on the other side of the river."
But after showing the plans and flag markers to Brooks Love with the toll road opponents, Trinity Vote Yes, he added the opposite view.
"Now imagine having 100,000 cars right here going past you and you are over there having a picnic. Tell me that is not going to affect your enjoyment of this park," Love said.
Marking off the distance showed something else.
The toll road would cut into the existing lake.
But the NTTA drawing shows there space between the road and the existing lake.
Toll road opponents have been critical of the accuracy of such drawings.
Jackson responded, "It's not because somebody is deliberately making the park and the road look closer, it is because it is still a project that is in the works."
Voters who really want to be informed can come out to Crow Lake Park on Sylvan Avenue inside the levees and look for themselves.
 Brad Watson Reports
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This project was barely
approved in 1998, with only 38,016 people citywide voting for it. That's
hardly indicative of the people's will in a city the size of Dallas. They
have had over 9 years to get a workable design, but they are not past
preliminaries. Don't let them blame it on lawsuits, etc. There is no
reason the design could not have been finalized by now, except nothing
they have designed so far is feasible, much less workable.
They talk about how expensive and how much longer it would take to acquire land
along Industrial Blvd. if we use that route for the reliever. According to
the DMN's
own reporters, they don't have all the Trinity River route land together to even
do the Calatrava String Things. They are taking land from people who were
using it in their business. Katie Fairbank actually has a very good story
regarding who stands to benefit. Don't know how long she's going to last
at the DMN
writing good stuff like this.
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When the huge Alford Refrigerated Storage warehouse caught fire this summer, it was hard to ignore. About 100 firefighters battled the blaze near the Trinity River as acrid fumes filled downtown Dallas.
... Although scorched earth once covered the site, this area is expected one day to become a mixed-use development of high-end shops and apartments ? just one example of how developers hope to bring urban living to the Trinity River Corridor.
... The News examined the 23 areas designated by the city as having development potential. City records and Dallas Central Appraisal District data show that most of the roughly 11,000 properties remain in the hands of long-time owners.
... But while developers are buying up land, many won't pull the trigger on some of their biggest projects until the Nov. 6 vote on a controversial plan to build a multilane toll road within the corridor's earthen levees.
... If voters decide the road should move out of the park area, the road could move onto other routes along the river. And that would eat up prime development space.
"Some owners will lose part or all of their property," said Marcus Wood, a commercial realtor and organizer of the Mixmaster Business Association. "Many others will have no property taken, but rather endure many years of disruption due to utility relocation, road construction, and traffic pattern changes, many of which will be permanent.
"Several hundred structures including a fire station, TXU substation, and commercial structures of all sizes and types will be condemned," he said.
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A driving force behind the development plans is JPI, an Irving-based developer with a national reputation as a pioneer of urban apartment building. The company is believed to be the biggest player in the Trinity area, owning about 50 acres through various holding companies.
JPI also has a contract on an additional 50-plus acres of property, the site of the former Alford Refrigerated Storage warehouse.
... Mr. Fadley said JPI began buying land about two years ago and is waiting to see how the vote on the toll road turns out. The company is working with the city to rezone its properties. It wants to see governmental plans for making Industrial more of a boulevard. That includes making Continental Street Bridge pedestrian-only, digging and filling the lakes, and building the Santiago Calatrava-designed bridges.
... Other well-known developers could be trying to match JPI's holdings. But if so, they are hiding their intentions behind holding companies, which are not easily identifiable. Real estate agents and others familiar with sales in the area say they've never caught wind of anyone else gobbling up such big chunks of property.
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Today's hottest areas were part of the river basin before 1928, when the Stemmons family began building levees to control the flooding. Even then, the area continued to flood and was used for garbage heaps and landfill.
After World War II, individuals began building small work buildings along the river. Companies used the land for things necessary to the city's infrastructure, such as electrical substations, concrete dumps and repair shops.
In 1994, the city council approved a plan that would use federal highway and flood control projects to transform the Trinity into an enormous park, triggering revitalization.
Voters put some money into the concept in 1998 and 2006, but there are still lots of questions about how the entire plan of parks, lakes, wetlands, forests and roads will come together.
Now, much of the project is in flux and developers are putting on the brakes. "There are a lot of people along Industrial Boulevard who are concerned," said Rebecca Dugger, who heads the city's Trinity River Corridor Project office.
... According to tax records, some of the largest owners by total size and value are community institutions, such as Methodist Health System (commonly known as Methodist Hospital), the Dallas Independent School District and the Dallas Housing Authority.
The city of Dallas owns about 600 pieces of property, worth about $45 million, records show.
The Dallas Morning News once owned some property along the western bank of the river. In May, the newspaper donated the 3.11 acres on Greenbriar Lane to The Dallas Foundation, a publicly supported charitable foundation, which will help fund the design and construction of a park downtown to be named Belo Garden.
The property had many uses over the years, including serving as a news rack repair shop and bulk storage for circulation supplies. It is now for sale by The Dallas Foundation.
Some members of the Dealey family, founders of the newspaper, also own a parcel of land off Beckley, appraised at $122,500. Those family members are not involved with either the newspaper or any related businesses.
Ed Oakley, a former city councilman and mayoral candidate, said when he bought pieces of land in one of the development areas, no one else was interested. "The pieces I bought, they couldn't give it away. Nobody wanted it," he said. ...
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We keep hearing how much more
expensive the Industrial Blvd. route would be, but
Several
hundred structures including a fire station, TXU substation, and commercial
structures of all sizes and types will be condemned
if the Toll Road goes into the Trinity River flood plain as the ODB and Mayor
Leppert prefer. We are going to lose a fire station? TXU is going to
lose a substation and statewide ratepayers will have to pick up the bill.
Methodist Hospital is allowing its Hitt Auditorium to be used for Con Jerk/Ron
Kirk to conduct a "Trinity Project Briefing". Neither Angela Hunt nor
anyone from Trinity Vote Yes was invited to share the podium. Since Katie
Fairbanks has exposed the Hospital as a major land stakeholder in the Trinity
Toll Road lottery, we now understand why they would host a one-sided debate.
Councilman Dave Neumann is hosting a forum for Mayor Tom Leppert at a Park in
the Woods Recreation Center (Monday, 10/29 @ 7-9 pm, 6801 Mountain Creek Pkwy), but is not including anyone from the Trinity Vote Yes
campaign. Initially, Councilman Neumann invited Angela Hunt to provide a
debate team, and she accepted. Then, he advised her the forum had changed
and it would only be Mayor Leppert. Now, that would be incredibly
unethical and unfair even if the "forum" for Mayor Leppert were in a privately
owned facility like Methodist Hospital's Hitt Auditorium where Con Jerk/Ron Kirk
will be performing. Having a political forum in a city owned recreation
center without both sides is an illegal use of city property.
Think about the opportunity for corruption and other problems if incumbents are
allowed to use city facilities for political events and exclude their rivals. I am
surprised Councilman Neumann either did not know the rules or is participating
in violating very long-standing city rules.
Then there's the forum that Stemmons Corridor Business Association is hosting at
Arlington Park Rec Center. Arlington Park is not in Arlington. It's
a neighborhood near Parkland Hospital. It's bad enough for only one side
to be heard at that forum. It's worse that a city employee will be the
presenter and is now openly campaigning for the toll road gang. Allen, I
hope you are reading this.
Clearly, the Vote No! thugs have realized they cannot win a debate on the
Trinity Toll Road, so they are just going to exclude the Trinity Vote Yes side
from any more public forums. Angela Hunt, John Loza, Donna Blumer, Sandy
Greyson and Sam Coats have been kicking rears in every debate where they have
been. Mayor Leppert has not improved from his Oak Cliff fiasco where he
teamed with the Drama Queen, Princess Velveeta. So, like a good tyrant who
can't control with democracy, he will just do away with the pretense of fair
play and tell the people what they will do and how they will think. I'm
still not over the insult of that silly demonstration he does regarding the size
of the Trinity River floodway compared to the toll road. He really does
not respect other people's intelligence.
No one knows better than I do how it feels to be the target of all the ODB's big
guns. They are ruthless. Fair play and campaign ethics are not in
their modus operandi. It's like that Son of a Bigamist Ray Hunt wanting $6
million in tax abatements to put an office building where he was already going
to put it with or without a tax abatement. The guy's a billionaire for
Heaven's sake! He should be giving the city $6 million like the Bass
Family would do in Fort Worth. No, Our Downtown Betters take from our
city.
Several of us have received push poll calls from the Vote No! thugs. They
know things are not going well for their side. That's the only explanation
for The Dallas Managed News
going for broke with their lying editorials. There is no way the person
who wrote the 10/14/7 editorial can have an ounce of personal or journalistic
integrity, because it contains lies - blatant lies.
As one DallasArena.com reader says in an e-mail today after reading
Flooded with Misinformation,
"Today's
editorial is about as low as you'd think the city's only paper of record can
sink. But I know they're only warming up. I am really getting mad and hope
others are, too."
We are mad, and we are going to
Vote Yes on November 6th.
We don't want their honking toll road in the Trinity
River Floodway.
sb
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