Trinity Uptown allows Water Board candidates to give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle
Trinity plan enlivens races
Apr. 30, 2006
By MAX B. BAKER
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
Even after 22 years, some members of Jim Oliver's family still thinks he works for the Water Department.
As general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, Oliver leads a state agency that has quietly provided water to more than a million people in about 75 cities and municipal districts spread over 10 counties, overseeing seven reservoirs and miles of pipelines.
"What we do is so low profile," Oliver said recently. "I have relatives who think I work for the Fort Worth Water Department, some who think I report to Tarrant County."
Oliver and his agency's days of political obscurity are coming to an end with the sweeping Trinity Uptown project.
Thirteen candidates are seeking two seats on the water district's supervisory board in the May 13 election -- including two former Fort Worth councilmen and a local philanthropist making her first bid for public office -- focusing unprecedented attention on an organization that's been around since the early 1900s, in one form or another. Early voting begins Monday.
Drawn to the race by the controversial $435 million Trinity Uptown project proposed for the near north side of Fort Worth, many of the candidates admit they know little about the district's core mission of providing water and flood control. At a recent forum in east Fort Worth, all the candidates and the audience wanted to talk about was Trinity Uptown.
Board Vice President Hal Sparks, who is not up for election this year, said a lot of what the district does is "pretty dry and complicated."
"It is not, 'Ohhh, gosh! It's going to be fun to do Trinity Uptown.' It is a significant part of what we consider, but in time devoted to issues, it is 10 percent or less," Sparks said.
'Razzle Dazzle'
Few people disagree, though, that Trinity Uptown is a watershed event in the district's history.
"It is interesting, and the sexiest thing [the district] has done in the last 100 years and maybe for the next 100 years," said board member Gina Puente Brancato, who is seeking to keep her seat.
The Trinity Uptown project will alter the water board's profile from director of a technical agency that pumps untreated water through massive pipes to that of a general contractor for a major urban redevelopment project.
The 800-acre Trinity Uptown is billed as a flood control project that will create a development with housing for 10,000 families and 16,000 new jobs. The project calls for creation of a Town Lake and a Trinity River bypass channel that would cut through north Fort Worth, creating an island with mixed development.
The water district is providing $64 million, with the largest contribution -- $217.5 million -- expected to come from the federal government. Fort Worth is kicking in $26.6 million, Tarrant County another $11 million. A tax increment financing district, or TIF, was established by Fort Worth in 2003 to pour an expected $115.9 million into the project.
Opponents of Trinity Uptown say the flood control part of the project could be done for about $10 million, and say the overall price tag for the deal could go beyond $700 million, with local taxpayers picking up the tab. They are outraged that some of the land likely will be taken from its owners by condemnation, through the use of eminent domain.
For many, the water district board election will serve as a referendum on Trinity Uptown, offering voters their first chance to voice their opinions on the project. The controversy is credited with attracting the unprecedented number of candidates seeking the two open seats -- one held by Brancato, the other left vacant by the death of Charles Campbell, a 15-year board veteran. The two candidates with the most votes will win the seats.
Two former Fort Worth City Council members came out of retirement for the race -- Clyde Picht, who opposes the project, and Jim Lane, who supports it. And philanthropist Marty Leonard, a member of one of Fort Worth's leading families, has taken a rare step into the public arena by seeking a board seat. She also supports Trinity Uptown.
The candidates include four involved in real estate, two former military pilots, an engineer, a land surveyor, an antique books dealer and a retired religion professor. While five candidates indicated they didn't plan to spend more than $500 on their race, others plan on spending tens of thousands of dollars. Lane and Leonard have hired the Eppstein Group, the city's most prominent political consulting firm.
The race has also drawn the kind of campaign contributions usually reserved for high-profile City Council races. Leonard already has spent more than $17,000, and Brancato has spent about $8,000. Picht has taken in nearly $8,000 in contributions to add to the $5,000 he already had on hand, and Lane has raised $1,200, according to campaign finance reports.
The slate appears almost evenly divided on the Trinity Uptown project. Seven candidates largely support it, although some of them voice reservations: Lane, Leonard, Brancato, Gary Alexander, J.R. Kimball, G.J. "Marty" Martinez and Tom Waltz.
Picht is the highest-profile of the six candidates opposed to Trinity Uptown, who also include Mike Utt, Tracey Smith, Ben Boothe, Timothy Nold and Howard Stone.
Utt compared the project's lack of firm detail to a song from the musical Chicago.
"I see the downtown folks doing the Razzle Dazzle," he said.
Under the radar
For almost 100 years, the Tarrant Regional Water District and its predecessors have operated below the surface.
Board members typically served for long periods. The current president, Vic Henderson, has been on the water district board for 21 years, and Sparks was first elected 18 years ago. Brancato became the first woman board member when she was appointed in 2003. She later lost her seat but was reappointed.
For years, the district's tax rate was zero, and the board has not asked for an increase from its current 2-cent tax rate for six years. About 300,000 voters live within the district's convoluted boundaries, but in 2002, only 984 votes were cast in a board election.
"It's been an under-the-radar-screen type of board, so it's been a pleasure to not attract a lot of lightning-rod attention like we are now," Sparks said.
Part of the reason the board has not attracted a lot of attention is that its core mission is far from eye-catching.
The district's primary function over the years has been to provide water and flood control in its areas, to enhance recreational benefits for residents, and to preserve and protect the environment.
It sells raw, untreated water to the Trinity River Authority and about 40 cities including Arlington, Fort Worth and Mansfield, which in turn sell the water to other municipalities. The district owns four reservoirs -- Cedar Creek, Eagle Mountain Lake, Lake Bridgeport and Richland-Chambers -- and pumps water in and out of Lake Worth, Benbrook Lake and Lake Arlington.
The district serves 10 counties in a 5,300-square-mile area that stretches from Jack County in the northwest to Freestone County in the southeast. By 2060, its customer base is expected to exceed 4 million people.
The district is also looking for future water supplies. One option is the Toledo Bend Reservoir 175 miles away on the Texas-Louisiana border. Another possibility is the proposed $2.15 billion Marvin Nichols Reservoir that would be built near Mount Pleasant. Officials are also considering bringing water from Oklahoma.
The five-member water district board -- typically made up of engineers, lawyers and those with a personal interest in water resources -- oversees the district's business by sifting through reports at subcommittee and board meetings.
Over the years, the district has quietly done it all on modest budgets with a relatively small staff. Currently, it has an $84 million budget and 160 full-time employees. By comparison, the Fort Worth Water Department has a budget of about $269 million and about 800 employees.
"There has been a lot of light shown on Trinity Uptown lately, and it's certainly not an insignificant project, but we've had many projects larger than Trinity Uptown," said Henderson, the board president. "Our part of Trinity Uptown is a lot smaller."
Bill Meadows, a former Fort Worth councilman and member of the Texas Water Development Board, said far more is at stake than the Trinity Uptown project.
"It is going to take a very talented person to be on the board," Meadows said. "This is an extraordinarily important election, and it is extraordinarily important that this should not be a referendum on the Trinity River Vision."
"Anybody who does is incredibly shortsighted. It is about future water supply for our region."
Max B. Baker, (817) 390-7714 maxbaker@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram: www.dfw.com
Apr. 30, 2006
By MAX B. BAKER
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2006
Even after 22 years, some members of Jim Oliver's family still thinks he works for the Water Department.
As general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, Oliver leads a state agency that has quietly provided water to more than a million people in about 75 cities and municipal districts spread over 10 counties, overseeing seven reservoirs and miles of pipelines.
"What we do is so low profile," Oliver said recently. "I have relatives who think I work for the Fort Worth Water Department, some who think I report to Tarrant County."
Oliver and his agency's days of political obscurity are coming to an end with the sweeping Trinity Uptown project.
Thirteen candidates are seeking two seats on the water district's supervisory board in the May 13 election -- including two former Fort Worth councilmen and a local philanthropist making her first bid for public office -- focusing unprecedented attention on an organization that's been around since the early 1900s, in one form or another. Early voting begins Monday.
Drawn to the race by the controversial $435 million Trinity Uptown project proposed for the near north side of Fort Worth, many of the candidates admit they know little about the district's core mission of providing water and flood control. At a recent forum in east Fort Worth, all the candidates and the audience wanted to talk about was Trinity Uptown.
Board Vice President Hal Sparks, who is not up for election this year, said a lot of what the district does is "pretty dry and complicated."
"It is not, 'Ohhh, gosh! It's going to be fun to do Trinity Uptown.' It is a significant part of what we consider, but in time devoted to issues, it is 10 percent or less," Sparks said.
'Razzle Dazzle'
Few people disagree, though, that Trinity Uptown is a watershed event in the district's history.
"It is interesting, and the sexiest thing [the district] has done in the last 100 years and maybe for the next 100 years," said board member Gina Puente Brancato, who is seeking to keep her seat.
The Trinity Uptown project will alter the water board's profile from director of a technical agency that pumps untreated water through massive pipes to that of a general contractor for a major urban redevelopment project.
The 800-acre Trinity Uptown is billed as a flood control project that will create a development with housing for 10,000 families and 16,000 new jobs. The project calls for creation of a Town Lake and a Trinity River bypass channel that would cut through north Fort Worth, creating an island with mixed development.
The water district is providing $64 million, with the largest contribution -- $217.5 million -- expected to come from the federal government. Fort Worth is kicking in $26.6 million, Tarrant County another $11 million. A tax increment financing district, or TIF, was established by Fort Worth in 2003 to pour an expected $115.9 million into the project.
Opponents of Trinity Uptown say the flood control part of the project could be done for about $10 million, and say the overall price tag for the deal could go beyond $700 million, with local taxpayers picking up the tab. They are outraged that some of the land likely will be taken from its owners by condemnation, through the use of eminent domain.
For many, the water district board election will serve as a referendum on Trinity Uptown, offering voters their first chance to voice their opinions on the project. The controversy is credited with attracting the unprecedented number of candidates seeking the two open seats -- one held by Brancato, the other left vacant by the death of Charles Campbell, a 15-year board veteran. The two candidates with the most votes will win the seats.
Two former Fort Worth City Council members came out of retirement for the race -- Clyde Picht, who opposes the project, and Jim Lane, who supports it. And philanthropist Marty Leonard, a member of one of Fort Worth's leading families, has taken a rare step into the public arena by seeking a board seat. She also supports Trinity Uptown.
The candidates include four involved in real estate, two former military pilots, an engineer, a land surveyor, an antique books dealer and a retired religion professor. While five candidates indicated they didn't plan to spend more than $500 on their race, others plan on spending tens of thousands of dollars. Lane and Leonard have hired the Eppstein Group, the city's most prominent political consulting firm.
The race has also drawn the kind of campaign contributions usually reserved for high-profile City Council races. Leonard already has spent more than $17,000, and Brancato has spent about $8,000. Picht has taken in nearly $8,000 in contributions to add to the $5,000 he already had on hand, and Lane has raised $1,200, according to campaign finance reports.
The slate appears almost evenly divided on the Trinity Uptown project. Seven candidates largely support it, although some of them voice reservations: Lane, Leonard, Brancato, Gary Alexander, J.R. Kimball, G.J. "Marty" Martinez and Tom Waltz.
Picht is the highest-profile of the six candidates opposed to Trinity Uptown, who also include Mike Utt, Tracey Smith, Ben Boothe, Timothy Nold and Howard Stone.
Utt compared the project's lack of firm detail to a song from the musical Chicago.
"I see the downtown folks doing the Razzle Dazzle," he said.
Under the radar
For almost 100 years, the Tarrant Regional Water District and its predecessors have operated below the surface.
Board members typically served for long periods. The current president, Vic Henderson, has been on the water district board for 21 years, and Sparks was first elected 18 years ago. Brancato became the first woman board member when she was appointed in 2003. She later lost her seat but was reappointed.
For years, the district's tax rate was zero, and the board has not asked for an increase from its current 2-cent tax rate for six years. About 300,000 voters live within the district's convoluted boundaries, but in 2002, only 984 votes were cast in a board election.
"It's been an under-the-radar-screen type of board, so it's been a pleasure to not attract a lot of lightning-rod attention like we are now," Sparks said.
Part of the reason the board has not attracted a lot of attention is that its core mission is far from eye-catching.
The district's primary function over the years has been to provide water and flood control in its areas, to enhance recreational benefits for residents, and to preserve and protect the environment.
It sells raw, untreated water to the Trinity River Authority and about 40 cities including Arlington, Fort Worth and Mansfield, which in turn sell the water to other municipalities. The district owns four reservoirs -- Cedar Creek, Eagle Mountain Lake, Lake Bridgeport and Richland-Chambers -- and pumps water in and out of Lake Worth, Benbrook Lake and Lake Arlington.
The district serves 10 counties in a 5,300-square-mile area that stretches from Jack County in the northwest to Freestone County in the southeast. By 2060, its customer base is expected to exceed 4 million people.
The district is also looking for future water supplies. One option is the Toledo Bend Reservoir 175 miles away on the Texas-Louisiana border. Another possibility is the proposed $2.15 billion Marvin Nichols Reservoir that would be built near Mount Pleasant. Officials are also considering bringing water from Oklahoma.
The five-member water district board -- typically made up of engineers, lawyers and those with a personal interest in water resources -- oversees the district's business by sifting through reports at subcommittee and board meetings.
Over the years, the district has quietly done it all on modest budgets with a relatively small staff. Currently, it has an $84 million budget and 160 full-time employees. By comparison, the Fort Worth Water Department has a budget of about $269 million and about 800 employees.
"There has been a lot of light shown on Trinity Uptown lately, and it's certainly not an insignificant project, but we've had many projects larger than Trinity Uptown," said Henderson, the board president. "Our part of Trinity Uptown is a lot smaller."
Bill Meadows, a former Fort Worth councilman and member of the Texas Water Development Board, said far more is at stake than the Trinity Uptown project.
"It is going to take a very talented person to be on the board," Meadows said. "This is an extraordinarily important election, and it is extraordinarily important that this should not be a referendum on the Trinity River Vision."
"Anybody who does is incredibly shortsighted. It is about future water supply for our region."
Max B. Baker, (817) 390-7714 maxbaker@star-telegram.com
© 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, April 30, 2006
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