|
Comments on Boyd Op-Ed
Steve Alpert
Bill Betzen
Patrick L. Boyd
Jesse Diaz
Morine Kovich
Rafael Rodriguez
Gary Turner
| |
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.
|
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.
|
|
|
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".
|
|
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.
 |
|
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.
|
Let's review the editorial.
Mind you, no one is paying me anything for my comments, and my job is not on the
line.
|
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. |
|
|
|
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. |
| |
|
|
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.
|
| |
|
|
SB |
If
you believe the Corps is independent of political pressure, there's the
9th Ward in New Orleans for you to consider. |
| |
|
|
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. |
| |
|
|
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. |
| |
|
|
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.
|
| |
|
|
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.
 |
Saturday, October 13, 2007 BY BRAD WATSON/WFAA-TV
|
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
|
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.
|
