Every year around this time, we like to look back at the work we’ve done over the past 365 days or so and the work of other media outlets and give a Bronx cheer to all of the bad actors or just plain out-there folks in our midst and often beyond. The glaring downside is that, even after 24 editions of our annual Turkey Awards, nothing has really changed. There are still politicians who care only about getting re-elected and/or lining their wallets with blood money. There are still unscrupulous types who prey on dreamers or the less fortunate. There are still backward biases against good folks based merely on the dictates of Big Religion. Nothing really ever changes, yes, but that includes us and other members of the free press. We will be here as long as skullduggery and dumbassery exist. You can count on it. – Anthony Mariani
Cookin’ the Books
Turkeys are coming home to roost at Panther Island. The $1.1 billion (and climbing) private economic development plan disguised as a public flood control project is bogging down in its own hubris[1]. Critics say the flood control portion could be completed for much less money, say, around about $20 or $30 million. A billion bucks is vital for flood control, at least according to proponents like Jim Oliver, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, which provides water for 2 million people and implements flood control measures for 11 North Texas counties. Nobody can say exactly how much money is or isn’t needed for flood control because a cost benefit analysis hasn’t been done during the two decades
