Editorial by LNO Editor Nelson Thibodeaux.
Below the announcement that “Hunter” J.D. Granger is out of the executive director’s chair of the Trinity River Vision Authority
NBC News: The Trinity River Vision Authority announced plans to hire a new program coordinator which means the removal of executive director J.D. Granger who had headed up the Panther Island project since its beginning.
Granger, the son of a powerful congresswoman who started the project, will instead work directly for Jim Oliver, head of the Tarrant Regional Water District.
Oliver told NBC 5 Investigates that Granger will focus on flood control projects, while the economic development part of Panther Island – once a major interest for Granger – will be taken over by the city of Fort Worth.
On the left Joe and Hunter Biden Allegedly of the right Kay and J.D. Granger
Now comes former Colleyville Mayor Pro Tem in his first congressional race against the, here to fore, Queen of Tarrant County. Putnam a committed conservative has launched a challenge, few thought possible, to take on Kay Granger for her long term seat in the US Congress.
Putnam Speaks to a large gathering at the North Richland Hills Center on Monday night, even the national Championship didn’t keep these folks from coming out to hear more from Putnam.
Tommy Snyder welcome Putnam to the stage with a great new rendition of don’t mess with Texas (Putnam). It would appear that Congressman’s previous comment that she would finish teh Panther Island project, then, “I’m out of here.” will still have to muster past the voters of the
Published on Thursday, April 16, 2015
The Incredible Alternative Universe Of J.D. Granger & America’s Biggest Boondoggle
Why is it when I see a photo of these two the Manchurian Candidate comes to mind?
The young lady you see here is Fort Worth’s Congresswoman, also known as the Queen of Nespot, Kay Granger, standing next to the Queen’s heir, J.D.
J.D. is the executive director of a pseudo public works project currently known as Panther Island, also currently known as The Boondoggle, recently recognized as America’s Biggest Boondoggle.
The Boondoggle being America’s Biggest Boondoggle marks the first time Fort Worth has had the biggest of anything in America. I doubt this is making city’s far and wide Green with Envy.
Over the years The Boondoggle has gone by various names. Trinity Uptown. Central City. Trinity River Vision. Panther Island. The Boondoggle.
I have heard various opinions as to when The Boondoggle began. I think some date the start of The Boondoggle to the start of initiating a name change. For instance, one might say The Boondoggle as Panther Island is two years into the project. While The Boondoggle as Trinity River Vision is nine years into the project. The Boondoggle as Trinity Uptown is 13 years into the project. Well, you get the idea.
Now, I have long said that my memory tells me The Boondoggle began way back in 1999. I remember soon upon my arrival in Texas learning of a Dallas Trinity River Vision for which Dallas voters had voted. Soon thereafter I recollect reading of a proposed similar Fort Worth vision. I remember thinking it odd, what with no mention made of a planned public vote. And also wondering if there was some sort of history of Fort Worth copying Dallas, what with the two visions seeming so similar, including both having three signature bridges.
Ironically, all these years later, Dallas has actually built one of its signature bridges, and a cool signature bridge it is, while Fort Worth long ago dropped the signature bridges and is now building three little bridges over dry land, with a four year construction schedule, far longer than it took Dallas to build its actual signature bridge over actual water.
I have had people tell me I am wrong when I say the Fort Worth Boondoggle has been boondoggling along since late in the last century. Some will date the start of The Boondoggle to 2002 or 2003. Some as late as 2006, that being the year Kay Granger’s son was hired.
I believe it was early in this century, 2001 or 2002, that a Star-Telegram Sunday edition front page banner headline shouted something like “Trinity Uptown to Turn Fort Worth Into Vancouver of the South.”
Well, turns out my memory is far more accurate than I give it credit for, with my memory validated by a quote from J.D. Granger.
Googling for info about The Boondoggle, I came upon that which you see below, from the March 3, 2006 edition of the Victoria Advocate. I assume the Advocate is in the Victoria in Texas, not the one in British Columbia, though I can see where a British Columbia newspaper would be interested in a project slated to turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.
This article has some jaw dropping, ironic, embarrassing quotes from J.D. and the man who hired him, the TRWD henchman known as Jim Oliver.
Nine years ago, when this article was written, the cost of The Boondoggle was still under a half billion dollars, at $435 million.
First paragraph…
J.D. Granger, whose mother is U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, will earn $110,000 a year and start work Monday at the Tarrant Regional Water District, said Jim Oliver, general manager of the district, which is spearheading the project.
$110,000 a year. In the almost 10 years J.D. has been boondoggling The Boondoggle he has been paid around a million bucks. So much money while doing so little. I wish my mama was in Congress.
J.D. Granger, 36, an assistant Tarrant County district attorney for eight years, also has worked in various volunteer roles during the planning for the Trinity Uptown project, Oliver said.
So, apparently, J.D.’s qualification for this job is he had various volunteer roles during the planning of what was then called Trinity Uptown.
Former City Councilman Clyde Picht, who has long questioned aspects of the project and is running for the water district board, said J.D. Granger’s appointment is “asking for criticism” and that his knowledge of water district issues is “certainly more limited than most people.”
Yes, J.D.’s appointment was asking for criticism, what with that Queen of Nespot issue, and the idea that hiring a low level district attorney, with no project management experience, was a good idea.
Try and figure out what is being said in the following paragraph…
J.D. Granger’s salary will come from water district funds, not federal money that Kay Granger is securing, Oliver told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Those funds do not come directly to the water district, he said.
What is Oliver’s point? Federal money from Kay does not go directly to the district? And so the money paid to Kay’s son does not come from wherever Kay’s money goes, but instead comes from district funds? And how does Oliver differentiate where J.D.’s take is coming from, what with funds coming in from various sources? All ending up in the TRWD pot. What point is made by saying his salary comes from water district funds? What sort of shell game is Oliver trying to play here?
And then there is this additional bit from Oliver….
Oliver said he realized that hiring the congresswoman’s son “would probably raise some eyebrows” but felt J.D. Granger was right for the job because of his familiarity and expertise on many facets of the project. Oliver said he thought about several possible candidates but did not conduct a job search.
Nine years later, with the Trinity River Vision now America’s Biggest Boondoggle, is Jim Oliver still thinking J.D. Granger was the right man for the job? Why was the hiring of J.D. Granger left solely to Jim Oliver? And not the elected TRWD board members? How was this allowed? How did the un-elected Jim Oliver get this dictatorial hiring power? Did this power come from the same unseen entity who gave Oliver key power over newly elected TRWD board members?
And then this revealing quote from J.D. Granger which let me know my memory has been right all along as to when The Boondoggle began….
J.D. Granger said he’s been working on the project “since it was just a vision, back in 1999. I bet I know about as much as any single person out there who’s not been paid to participate in this,” he said. “I know it inside and out, so there’s not going to be any lag time.”
No lag time? Nine years after getting hired, with little accomplished. No lag time? What about the incredible lag time of taking eight years to start construction of three little bridges over dry land with an equally incredible lag time of taking four years to build the little bridges, with the scheduled completion of the bridges 13 years after the hiring of J.D. Granger ? If that is not lag time, what does J.D. Granger consider to be lag time?
Next paragraph…
He (J.D.) said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to give final project approval in two weeks. He said he expects one of his first roles to be working with landowners whose property is needed for construction.
How cavalier of Granger. Working with landowners? Soon the working with landowners became abusing eminent domain to take property needed way in the future for those three little bridges and the ditch that one day may be dug beneath them.
And then the final three paragraphs from the Victoria Advocate article…
J.D. Granger said he considered running for the water district board when he was approached about working for the district.
He said his mother’s involvement at the federal level strengthens his knowledge of the plan. And he said he will try to ensure that the federal price tag “doesn’t get any higher.”
County Commissioner Roy Brooks said he believes that J.D. Granger will do a good job but said “some people might not agree with me that there’s no conflict of interest.”
Well, count me among those who do not agree that there is no conflict of interest. I also agree with those who would say J.D. has not done a good job ensuring the federal price tag doesn’t get any higher. It’s only doubled since J.D. began his life’s work.
I can not help but want to hear J.D. explain how his mom’s involvement at the federal level makes his knowledge of the plan stronger.
So, there you go, Fort Worth has a public works project the public has never voted on, a project which began 16 years ago, in 1999. Fort Worth kids, now in high school, have never known a Fort Worth without a bizarre public works project being built in slow motion.
Fort Worth kids now in high school will soon be graduating in the town with the bragging rights to having America’s Biggest Boondoggle.
Tell me again why anyone in their right mind would vote for a Tarrant Regional Water District incumbent board member?
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Mama Kay Smacks J.D. Granger Again For Saying Dumb Stuff
The last 24, (or is it 48 hours?), I have found myself getting way too much incoming info overwhelming my slow info processing ability.
The info has been about America’s Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.
The info has come from various sources.
Such as Deep Moat, also known as our Inside the Boondoggle Information Source. In addition to Deep Moat there have been a couple local NBC TV News stories about Fort Worth’s ongoing embarrassment. A screen cap from part of one of those NBC TV News stories you see above.
I think the NBC TV News Panther Island Project Leader Walks Back Statements on Future Funding story, from which this screen cap came aired, last night.
I first learned of this latest NBC TV News story via Facebook, this morning. My dear Facebook friend whom I call Mr. Spiffy made an amusing comment about this on Facebook, which sort of sums it up…
John Spivey: I think of Kay Granger and her son JD like Buford T Justice and Junior from “Smokey & the Bandit”. I picture her always smacking him with her cowboy hat and saying “There’s no way YOU came from my loins, boy!” Spoiler alert: JD said a buncha dumb stuff. Again.
The buncha dumb stuff J.D. said this time was said on a NBC TV News report which led to the followup report where J.D. tried to walk back the dumb stuff he said in
Congresswoman’s Son Vows to Finish ‘Panther Island’ Then, ‘I’m Out of Here’
I am starting to be a bit burned out by all this. Somehow Kay Granger got herself re-elected. This makes me think Fort Worth deserves what it doesn’t get. And gets.
Then again, how does anyone know how deep and how nefarious the election fraud is in Tarrant County? Aren’t we still waiting for the results of that supposed largest Texas election fraud investigation in Texas history? Or, has that been covered up like so much gets covered up that is too troubling to look at in the eminent domain abuse capital of America?
We will likely have more to say on this subject, what with a bit of a backlog of material which begs to be talked about…
Granger’s Panther Island Still in Design Phase After 13 Years
by Robert Montoya and Ross Kecseg
On Wednesday, a billion-dollar redevelopment scheme overseen by the son of a congresswoman revealed that its design phase is not yet complete. This runs counter to findings published last year by a third-party review, which claimed that the design phase was finished after 13 years and more than $383 million spent.
Panther Island is a massive taxpayer-funded government project conceived in 2003 to reroute the Trinity River via a 1.5-mile bypass—and redevelop prime Fort Worth real estate north of downtown—under the guise of flood control.
The joint venture involves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Tarrant County, the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), the City of Fort Worth, and the Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA). The TRVA was tasked with coordinating the project, the cost of which has ballooned from $435 million in 2006 to more than $1.17 billion in 2018.
To lead this project, TRWD General Manager supported picking J.D. Granger—son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger—to run the TRVA despite lacking any related education or work experience. He was hired in 2006.
After 13 years of cost overruns, delays, construction problems, and mismanagement, the Trump administration froze federal funding, prompting a third-party programmatic review of the troubled project. Despite $383 million being spent, the review found no aspect of construction completed—only the design phase.
Now officials not only admit this claim is inaccurate, but they say the progress of the ongoing design is unknown.
Wednesday Mark Mazzanti—formerly of USACE and hired in December as TRVA’s new “program coordinator”— told the TRVA board that President Trump had signed into law federal appropriations for roughly $170 million for flood control projects across the nation; he expects to hear in February if USACE and the administration will assign any of this to Panther Island.
“But for us to stay [on schedule], we need $38 million of $170 million, which is 22 percent of all the funds in the country,” asked TRVA and TRWD Board Member James Hill.
Mazzanti said $38 million is what they have asked for and what is needed for USACE to complete their “design for all construction options.” To stay on schedule, they need only $10 million.
“The Corps has not indicated [assigning] anything less than $38 million,” Mazzanti said;
After hearing Mazzanti’s statement, Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke asked about the status of the design phase. “So, I’ve been told [USACE] has done 60 percent design. Is that a true statement?”
“No,” Mazzanti replied.
“What would a true statement be?” Cooke asked. Mazzanti couldn’t say what their current progress is, but said he “could check on that.”
“There are a number of designs that are ongoing,” Mazzanti said at one point.
This stunning admission conflicts with the findings of the third-party programmatic review, but confirms a statement from TRWD lawyer’s to Texas’ attorney general last year that the project’s design phase still is incomplete after 13 years and more than $383 million spent.
If federal funding is restored, taxpayers will again be exposed to the ongoing financial risk of this increasingly expensive boondoggle, without a financial or forensic audit ever having been conducted to disclose where hundreds of millions in tax dollars have already been spent.
1 Comments
Kathy Hadley
This is simple!!! VOTE FOR Chris Putnam! He has a positive reputation of keeping the citizens informed of factual wrong doings to the hard working taxpayers! He is very wise and makes sound responsible decisions in the best interest of the Texas taxpayers as well proven by his term on Colleyville City Council. He suggested wise changes be made, allowed the RESIDENTS to decide by properly putting the suggestions up for vote. He will see to it that our tax money and Texas will be managed properly and ethically. Texas will be in “safe keeping” with a TRUE, responsible leader who loves Texas. He WILL set things straight, AND he will fight to keep Texas RED and strong for the taxpayers!