Politex

Fort Worth, United Riverside nonprofit, agree to settle $220,000 dispute

The city of Fort Worth and an affordable housing nonprofit, run as recently as last year by City Council member Kelly Allen Gray, have agreed to settle a 4-year-old, $220,000 dispute, with the nonprofit surrendering its remaining real estate, cash, and mineral rights.

The city would cover the $10,000 in estimated closing costs of transferring eight vacant lots – seven to the city, and one to a neighborhood using it for a community garden. The nonprofit, United Riverside Rebuilding Corp., would be allowed to remain open.

The organization, based in Riverside, had sought to stay in business, keep mineral rights, and have the city cover costs.

“It’s probably best for everybody,” Phyllis Allen, a United Riverside director and Gray’s sister, said, speaking for the nonprofit board.

The City Council was scheduled to vote on the agreement Tuesday, but the staff pulled it back because the documents didn’t have all of the signatures. The council is scheduled to vote June 4, said Jay Chapa, Fort Worth’s acting Financial Management Services director.

United Riverside has no remaining assets, no executive director, and no immediate plan, Allen said.

But “it does other things in the community other than build houses,”  Allen said. “We just want to be alive. We just don’t want to fold up our tent and slink away into the darkness, as if we had done some horrible thing. Because we hadn’t.”

Gray, who stepped down as executive director last Spring to run a successful bid for City Council, declined comment Tuesday.

Under the settlement, the city will receive five lots in the 2600 and 2700 blocks of La Salle Street in the Riverside area, one lot at 1209 E. Robert St., and a seventh at 2805 Ennis St. It will pay $1,091.52 – its remaining cash - to the city and convey an eighth lot it owns on Chenault Street to a neighborhood association.

The Tarrant Appraisal District values the seven lots being transferred to the city at a total $54,700 at market, and the Chenault lot at $3,850.

The nonprofit got its start with a grant in 2000. It built 25 houses and remodeled two others, investing $1.2 million and selling at below-market value to allow buyers to move in with equity, Gray, executive director from inception until she stepped down, has said.

The dispute hinged on two homes United Riverside built and sold. In May 2006, United Riverside, with Gray as director, accepted $287,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development money administered by the city's housing department.

Under the grant, the money was to be used as seed to construct six infill homes. United Riverside would build two, sell them and use the proceeds to repeat the process.

United Riverside built two homes and sold them. But the city said it found the buyer of one turned it into a rental, violating federal affordable housing rules, and the second buyer's income was too high. In 2008, after United Riverside sold the homes, the city, as is routine under the HUD process, sought documentation that the home buyers met requirements.

United Riverside maintained that it sent the documentation early on but that the originals were later destroyed by a flood in its offices. The city has said it never received the documents.

The city repaid $220,719.29 to the government. Of that, the city and HUD determined that $190,843 went to building the two homes, $12,544 was for a lot not built upon within the allowed time, and the remainder was for expenses the city said United Riverside couldn't document.

Allen and Gray have said the dispute unfairly blemished United Riverside’s record.

“Every single dime that was entrusted to the United Riverside Rebuilding Corp. was spent the way it was said it was going to be spent," she said in a February interview as negotiations between the city and United Riverside proceeded.

"We built homes, we remodeled houses, we provided social services, we brought families back into the community," she said then. “We built the best houses [under the affordable housing program] in the city. The houses are there."

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth council approves two tax abatements

The council this morning unanimously approved two tax abatements (Click here for the Star-Telegram's original print story).

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

June 3 possible for area water restrictions, Fort Worth official tells City Council

First-stage water restrictions could be coming by June 3, Fort Worth's water director, Frank Crumb, told City Council members this morning.

"It's been the fourth driest Spring on record," Crumb said. "We just haven't gotten all the runoff we need."

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth council swears in Mayor Price, seven members to new terms

Mayor Betsy Price and seven council members were sworn into new two-year terms Tuesday, thanking constituents, family, city staff and aides and promising to continue to confront the city’s tough budget issues and infrastructure needs.

The council also officially called a June 15 runoff for the District 5 seat, held by incumbent Frank Moss, who trailed challenger Gyna Bivens in the May 11 election. A third challenger, John Tunmire, secured enough votes to ensure neither Bivens nor Moss won the required majority.

Price, who backed all incumbents in their re-election bids, patted Moss on the back after presenting the other council members with certificates of election. Councilman Joel Burns congratulated his fellow council members on their wins “and/or pending win.”

Price and four council members ran unopposed and had already been declared by the council to be the winners of their seats. Moss, District 2 Councilman Sal Espino, District 4 Councilman Danny Scarth, and District 8 Council member Kelly Allen Gray had opponents.

Price, who won her second term, touted the council’s votes on the city’s budget and underfunded pension, encouragement of public-private partnerships such as the one with a Fort Worth foundation that will re-open the historic Forest Park Pool this weekend, increased public engagement, falling crime and a public safety response that “continues to improve.”

“We ran on the principles of fiscal responsibility and protecting our taxpayers, to get government out of the way, and let business thrive,” Price said. “I believe we’ve done that.”

Espino, who defeated challenger and former Councilman Jim Lane in the North Side District 2, said his race was a “grueling, hard-fought campaign, and we’re going to move forward in our city. So much more to do.”

“I’m truly humbled by the vote of confidence,” said Espino, who thanked his wife, Elizabeth, who was in attendance and wearing yellow, “the color of joy, of happiness.”

Scarth, who faced political newcomer Paul Gardner in the East/far North District 4, acknowledged the challenge of running in a redrawn district that took in significantly more of the far North. Gardner, who lives in the far North, won more than 40 percent of the vote.

“It’s been a little different running in these new districts; folks don’t always know what to expect from us,” Scarth said.

Gray, who defeated former Council member Kathleen Hicks in a hot race, had asked constituents to give her a shot at showing what she could do with a full term. Gray won a runoff last year to fill the remainder of Hicks’ term, after Hicks stepped down to run for Congress.

“We’ve had three elections in District 8” in the last year, said Gray, who Mayor Pro Tem W.B. “Zim” Zimmerman noted decided to hang pictures in her office Monday. “We officially have a two-year term, and it feels good to say we’re all going forward together.”

Council members who ran unopposed thanked constituents for the support.

Councilman Jungus Jordan, who won another term in his Southwest District 6, joked that “in District 6, if you run unopposed, it’s going to be a close election.”

Councilman Dennis Shingleton, who won another term representing the West Side District 7 that was redrawn to include much of the far North, choked up in thanking his wife and council aide, and said he was looking forward to working on upcoming city charter revisions, the 2014 bond package, and recreation and transportation needs.

Zimmerman, who won another term representing the West Side District 3, said “this is a job that is not without challenge. And there’s been challenge after challenge after challenge.”

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth gets ready to open Marine Park Pool, city's first all-new pool since 1960

Fort Worth's getting ready to open two pools Saturday - the brand new Marine Park Pool on the North Side and the repaired, historic Forest Park Pool (updated pictures) on the Near South Side.

The Marine Park dedication will be noon Saturday, following the 10 a.m. Forest Park dedication. It'll be Fort Worth's first all-new pool since 1960, when the city opened the Kellis and Hillside pools. Click here for more info.

Crews were working on both pools Monday. Here are some pictures from the Marine Park pool, which follows the city's master plan for new aquatic centers and includes a zero beach, 25-yard lap pool, water slide, interactive kids play area with water cannons, water lounge deck with lounges, shaded picnic areas, and Spanish-style bathhouse.

The city, as part of the project, also made other improvements to Marine Park, including a 40 x 14 picnic shelter on the site of the demolished, old pool; a memorial to the late neighborhood leader Betty Ward; 6,480-square-foot skate park; repaired shelter; 14 benches; 20 picnic tables; and new and replaced sidewalks. 

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest Park Pool sneak peek; fundraiser Thursday night, dedication Saturday

Got a chance to tour Fort Worth's repaired Forest Park Pool this afternoon. Crews are putting the finishing touches on it, ahead of a 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. "sneak peek" and fundraiser Thursday.

The fundraiser is to raise money for swim lesson scholarships at Forest Park and the city's new North Side Marine Park Pool (pictures from a similiar sneak peek today), and for future capital needs at Forest Park.

Admission to the fundraiser party is $25 (no swimming Thursday night, just food, beverage, music, and, city officials say, some animals from the adjacent Fort Worth Zoo). Here are some pix from today's stop at Forest Park, where, thanks in large part to a grant from the Radler Foundation, the city has replaced the old pool liner, extended the deck and added shaded picnic areas, replaced the old slide, and replaced a diving board.

The city will dedicate the pool 10 a.m. Saturday, and swimming will begin promptly at that point.

Click here for more information on the fundraiser, pool admission fees, swimming lessons, and pool rentals.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey: Grandparent Tax Credit Act of 2013

Grandparents who end up raising their grandchildren — for whatever reason — could soon get a little help from the federal government.

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, is working on the Grandparent Tax Credit Act of 2013 to give a $500 refundable tax credit to grandparents living in the same home of the child they are helping to raise.

“The role of the grandparent has progressively changed over the years,” Veasey wrote in a recent letter to fellow House members. “Millions of our grandparents across the country are stepping up in their golden years to help raise their grandchildren when parents face challenging situations like working multiple jobs, long term unemployment or extended time away from home due to military service.”

Statistics show that 8 percent of grandparents live with their grandchildren, 60 percent of grandparents taking care of their grandchildren are still in the workforce and $45,000 is the media income for families with grandparents responsible for children.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Gov. Rick Perry "deeply saddened by the deaths" caused by storms late Wednesday

Gov. Rick Perry released a statement Thursday about the deadly weather that ripped through parts of North Texas late Wednesday.

“I’m deeply saddened by the deaths caused by yesterday’s horrific storms," he said. "The State Operations Center has been monitoring this situation since yesterday afternoon and continues to assist locals with any unmet needs they may have.

"I commend our first responders, who do everything in their power to minimize the damage and care for the wounded. The thoughts of 26 million Texans are with those suffering today, along with our prayers for a quick and full recovery for those still hospitalized, and for this community as a whole.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Fort Worth council members worry more conflicts will arise in mixed-use zoning between schools and alcohol sales

City Council members said they believe the potential conflict in mixed-use zoning between schools and businesses that want to sell alcohol will increase with the city’s growth. The City Council on Tuesday night put off until June 4 a council vote on an ordinance change that would remove the 300-foot buffer in mixed-use zoning between businesses that want to sell alcohol and schools and public hospitals.

The Fort Worth school district said Monday it agreed with the change for the Central Business District, but wants to retain case-by-case review in other mixed-use areas. Here's today's print story on the issue in the Star-Telegram.

“We need to continue to work with (school districts) on where they site schools, because this is going to be more of an issue,” Councilman Sal Espino said.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth on track for summer completion of Forest Park "Road Diet"

The city is on track to start the controversial Forest Park Boulevard “Road Diet” restriping project in June or July, with completion done by August, Fort Worth’s transportation and public works director, Doug Wiersig, told council members Tuesday.

The project would turn Forest Park between West Rosedale Street and Park Hill Drive on the Near South Side into one traffic lane in both directions, plus a two-way center turn lane, and bike lanes on both sides. Currently, the street is two lanes in both directions.

The Berkeley and Mistletoe Heights neighborhood associations sought the road diet to reduce speeds and traffic accidents. Councilman Jungus Jordan, whose district includes major roadways in southwest Fort Worth that make Forest Park part of a diagonal arterial, has sought to delay the Forest Park project until the Chisholm Trail is complete in 2014.

The city will re-evaluate the restriping three months after it’s done to ensure it’s working, Wiersig said.

Mayor Betsy Price noted the project will coincide with the summer’s re-opening of the Forest Park Pool., which will generate pedestrian traffic on the boulevard.

“This is a striping project,” she said. “If it doesn’t work in three months, it can be re-evaluated. I think this’ll go a long way with helping the issues on Forest Park.”

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth council considering two tax abatements

The city is considering two tax abatements – one for the new owners of a fruit processing business that closed two years ago, and the second for a sporting goods coop that’s considering moving its headquarters to North Fort Worth from Haltom City.

OBIM, a fruit company sold by its owners to a minority partner who eventually closed the business, is back in its original hands and re-establishing itself. The new owners, the UNPJ Holding Co. limited partnership, plans to expand and modernize its warehouse and manufacturing center at 715 E. 9th St. downtown, the staff and company representatives told City Council members Tuesday.

The company is asking the city for a $25,000 loan that would be forgiven if it meets benchmarks including $250,000 real property improvements and 75 fulltime-equivalent employees by Dec. 31, and mainains the employment target for two years.

“We’re happy to see you back in business,” Councilman Joel Burns, whose district includes downtown, told the company representatives.

Our Nation’s Best Sports, which buys goods for 314 member companies, holds two buying markets annually at the Fort Worth Convention Center, bringing an estimated $9.2 milllion in economic benefit to the city annually. It wants to move to a 60,000-square-foot facility in Fossil Creek Park
and plans to add a winter Fort Worth market if the company moves.

It’s asking Fort Worth for a 10-year abatement of up to 50 percent of its city property taxes. The potential abatement is up to $126,925; the city would receive $254,150.

The company, under its agreement, would invest $3.5 million by December 2014 and have up to 35 fulltime-equivalent employees by Dec. 31, 2015.

The maximum abatement is tied to various benchmarks including spending with Fort Worth and minority and women-owned businesses, but most of the potential abatement is tied to the investment and employment targets.

“This is not only just an economic development deal, but it just puts another business in Fort Worth” and levers the business the company already does in the city, Councilman Danny Scarth, whose district includes the Fort Worth site, said.

The council is scheduled to vote on both agreements May 21.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Third-man-out Tunmire backs Bivens in Fort Worth council runoff against incumbent Moss

John Tunmire, who finished a distant third in Saturday's Fort Worth City Council District 5 race but got enough votes to force a runoff, said this morning he's backing challenger Gyna Bivens against incumbent Frank Moss in the June 15 runoff election.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Outsiders lead Tarrant Regional Water District board vote

UPDATE: Kelleher still leads, but race tightening in latest batch of numbers. See the results here.

Challenger Mary Kelleher was the leading vote getter for Tarrant Regional Water District, after the mail-in and early in-person votes were counted tonight.

Here’s a look at the vote, which Tarrant County election officials said represents all of the mail and early vote:

Kelleher: 5,648, 21.32 percent

John Austin Basham: 4,566, 17.24 percent

Timothy Nold: 3,989, 15.06 percent

Jack Stevens: 3,719, 14.04 percent

Vic Henderson: 3,475, 13.12 percent

Hal S. Sparks Jr: 3,422, 12.92 percent

Dwayne Herring: 1,672, 6.31 percent

Voters were choosing three water board members. Kelleher, Basham and Nold, characterized in mail pieces for them as BNK – are challengers. Incumbents Stevens, Henderson, and Sparks have been backed by a range of heavy political hitters, including Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

The next batch of votes is due out at 8:30 p.m.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Ramos, Rangel early leaders in Fort Worth school board races

UPDATE: Ramos maintaining lead in next batch of votes released, but still doesn't have 50 percent. Rangel widening lead over Paz. See the results here.

Challenger Jacinto Ramos, Jr. led incumbent Carlos Vasquez in the Fort Worth schools District 1 trustee race, after the mail-in and early in-person votes were counted tonight. Ramos has 479 votes, or 44.68 percent of the ballots, compared to Vasquez' 331 and Camille Rodriguez' 262.

In the District 9 trustee race, incumbent Juan Rangel had 394 votes, or 50.7 percent, compared to 339 for challenger Ashley Paz and 43 for Melody Palacios, who withdrew from the race after the deadline to have her name removed from the ballot.

Tarrant County elections officials said the numbers represent all of the mail and early vote. The next batch of numbers is due out at 8:30 p.m.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Espino, Gray, Scarth, Moss lead early vote in Fort Worth City Council races

UPDATE: Espino, Gray, Scarth maintaining leads in latest batch of votes. Moss and Bivens in a dead heat. See the results here.

Incumbent City Council members Sal Espino, Kelly Allen Gray and Danny Scarth led challengers by wide margins in early voting results released tonight, and incumbent Frank Moss led his challengers by a thin margin in the early voting tally.

In the North Side District 2, Espino had 909 mail-in and early in-person votes, or 56.15 percent of the vote over challenger Jim Lane’s 710 votes.

In the East Side/far North District 4, Scarth had 858 mail-in and early in-person votes or 59.13 percent of the votes, compared to challenger Paul Gardner’s 593.

In the Southeast District 8, Gray had 961 mail-in and early in-person votes, or 55.71 percent, compared to challenger Kathleen Hicks’ 764 votes.

In the Southeast/East District 5, Moss had 803 mail-in and early in-person votes, or 47.12 percent, compared to 768 votes for Gyna Bivens and 133 for John Tunmire.

Gray and Moss invested heavily in encouraging the early vote, and Bivens had conceded a big edge to Moss in the mail-in and early vote.

Tarrant  County election officials said the numbers represented all of the mail-in and early in-person vote. They said they expected the next batch of numbers at 8:30 p.m. The polls closed today at 7 p.m.

In District 8, Hicks, 40, who grew up in Rolling Hills and lives in Meadowbrook, represented the district from 2005 to 2012. She campaigned on wanting to “finish the job” she started, touting major
accomplishments such as the East Berry tax increment financing district that’s drawn major redevelopment including a new Walmart to the business-hungry district.

Gray, 44, elected to fill the remaining one year of Hicks’ term last year when Hicks stepped down to run unsuccessfully for Congress, asked voters for a shot at showing what she could do with a full term. She said she wanted to make her next two years chiefly about cleaning up East Lancaster Street
and improving its business prospects.

Gray had a busy first nine months on the council, participating in a 5-4 vote to block a water rate increase, taking flak for letting Spinks Airport and its growth opportunity go to another district in a
redraw of council maps, recusing herself from votes on major changes to the city’s underfunded pension and a new police contract because her husband is a 21-year police officer, and tangling with the developer who led the major mixed-use project now underway on East Berry.

In District 2, Espino, 45, an attorney who grew up on the North Side, and Lane, 68, an attorney who’s lived on the bluff overlooking Jacksboro Highway for more than 30 years, agreed on the district’s needs: streets, police, fire, code compliance, economic development, education and parks. Lane argued he believed Espino had lost his focus on the heart of the old North Side after moving his residence to the far North part of the district.

In District 5, Bivens, 58, a nonprofit executive who lives in Ramey Place across from Dunbar  High School, campaigned on there being too much blight and not enough progress toward redevelopment.

Bivens wants to work with neighborhood associations in the district on developing master plans that could be presented to business, and she also wants to establish a program with churches to help keep up with seniors who don’t have relatives living nearby.

Moss, 68, who lives in Historic Rosedale  Park, has served on the council since 2007 in his most recent go-around and also served from 1998 to 2004. He campaigned on accomplishments such as the city teaming with the Fort Worth Housing Authority on a study to redevelop the aging Cavile Place public housing development in Stop Six; and clearing the way for the Enchanted Bay subivision around the southwest side of Lake Arlington.

Tunmire, 58, a real estate broker who lives in Handley, campaigned on bringing business to the district, saying he thought the city had forgotten District 5. Tunmire raised no money and spent little.

In District 4, Scarth, 52, owner of a video services company and councilman since 2006, touted his relationships and familiarity with the city’s workings. Gardner, 32, a remodeler and Porsche salesman, made communication a cornerstone of his campaign message, asserting that Scarth doesn’t communicate effectively with constituents.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth easing up on insurance requirements for volunteers

Fort Worth is easing insurance requirements on volunteers and groups that want to help maintain city common areas and medians.

The city’s requirement that volunteers provide proof of insurance for work involving power equipment and irrigation has long been an irritant for some neighborhood groups.

The city staff, in a report Friday to City Council members, said it’s implementing new rules that will require volunteers to sign waivers releasing the city from liability for injuries to themselves or damage to their equipment.

The city also will waive the proof of insurance requirement for volunteer groups working with non-riding power equipment and “irrigation operation within appropriate limits.” The city has required $500,000 of liability coverage for work with power equipment and $1 million of coverage for any kind of irrigation project.

The city will continue to require insurance from community groups that hire contractors to maintain and do landscape work on city property.

James Mauldin, Fort Worth assistant director of financial management services, said the staff believes the changes limit the city’s exposure while stepping out of the way of volunteers.

“There’s been almost no claim activity related to this type of activity” previously, Mauldin said. “We’re willing to take that risk.”

Libby Willis, president of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association in north Fort Worth, which has been pushing the city to ease up on the insurance requirements, said “we’re real happy” with the city’s change.

Oakhurst has five city-owned medians and, “at some point, we fell off the city’s mowing schedule,” she said.

To meet the city’s required $500,000 in liability coverage, the neighborhood association would have had to spend $700-$900 per year per median, she said. The neighborhood also wanted to be able to operate irrigation systems on city property, but was blocked by the city’s liability requirement, she said.

The association has hired a landscaper with insurance who has helped with some of the median work, but “we couldn’t afford to do all five,” Willis said.

The change doesn’t require City Council approval. The staff is getting ready to send it out to neighborhoods, implementing it “as soon as possible,” likely in time for Spring and summer, Mauldin said.

The city is self-insured for liability claims that arise when city employees are involved in accidents. The city considered extending blanket coverage to volunteers, but wanted to do it with a private insurance product that limited the city’s exposure, Mauldin said.

The city couldn’t find a effective option, Mauldin said.

The city still has exposure to injuries to third parties caused by volunteers, but state tort law limits that exposure, Mauldin said.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth police, fire associations pour cash into City Council races

Here's today's print story in the Star-Telegram. The presidents of Fort Worth's police and fire associations declined comment for it.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

Fort Worth's water task force delving deeper into privatization, outsourcing

Fort Worth’s volunteer Water Utility Task Force, charged with determining whether any of the aspects of the city’s water department should be privatized or outsourced, has decided to pursue four different business models in sending out a request for information to interested vendors later
this Spring.

The task force ruled out a complete sale of the water department.

The four other models it’s pursuing are leasing the utility to a public-private partnership, contracting out management of the bulk of the department, outsourcing specific services, and seeking ideas for new revenue streams or businesses. In the case of a full lease, the vendor would typically make an upfront payment to the city and annual lease payments.

City Council members have said the water department is operating a high level, but they want to determine whether any private proposals could be more effective.

The task force is scheduled to hold its third public workshiop May 20, where it will complete the details of the request for information and set dates for advertising,  The city expects to advertise the RFI in late
May, with a deadline for submissions in July or early August.

If the city is interested in any of the responses, it would then seek a full proposal.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Twitter: @JScottNishimura

George P. in D.C. - rainmaker for Roger Williams and himself

It was only a matter of time before George P. Bush tapped into the D.C. money/influence network. The Bush family scion and Fort Worth attorney who is running for Texas Land Commissioner will be in Washington Wed. evening for a fundraiser for himself and Thursday morning for U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, a long-time friend of the Bush family.

Politico reports that Wednesday night D.C. fundraiser costs $500 per person and $2,500 to host, according to an invitation the publication obtained.

Williams told the Star-Telegram that asking George P. to headline his event was a natural. "He's my friend," he said. "It'll give people a chance to get to know him. The Bush family have been friends of mine. I think he represents the future of our party."

The lawmaker, elected to Congress in 2012, has been close to both former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush as well as George P. Bush's father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. And Williams, a former Texas secretary of state, thinks that the newest generation George P. Bush "is a wonderful young man."

"He's exactly the kind of man we need talking conservative values," he said. Could George P. be a future president? "You never know," said Williams.

The Washington Examiner, which first reported the breakfast appearance, said that "Hosts pay $1,000, and the general donation is $100."

-- Maria Recio

 

 

 

Senate passes Davis' pipeline bill

 The state Senate unanimously passed legislation by Sen. Wendy Davis that would permit the construction of saltwater pipelines along public right-of-way to transport hydraulic fracturing fluid in the Barnett Shale.

Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, said the construction of the piplines  would reduce the need for saltwater transportation by trucks that damage roadways and create noise and congestion in Tarrant County neighborhoods.

"The use of these large trucks cause heightened emissions as
well as noise pollution and increased traffic," Davis said.  "Furthermore the trips cost the state and local governments millions of
dollars in  road repair and
maintenance." 

SB514 would allow saltwater pipeline operators to install and operate pipelines "through, under, along or across" public roadways, Davis said, the same rights of way that she said are available to the utility industry.

Davis said she worked with local governments, oil companies, environmental groups and pipeline  companies in writing the bill.  The measure, she said, would take saltwater transportation "off the road," enabling state and local governments to save money in road repair and maintenance.

Senators voted 31-0 to send the bill to the Senate

-- Dave Montgomery 

 

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U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey introduces first two proposals in Congress

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, has introduced his first two bills in Congress -- one to help veterans and one to encourage healthy lifestyles.

One bill, H.R. 1816, gives more assistance under the post-9/11 GI Bill to veterans seeking degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The other, H.R. 195, designates May as "Health and Fitness Month," and encourages Americans to lead healthy lifestyles.

Veasey was sworn into office in January.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Cruz for Prez - 2016?

Could it be? Could the newly elected political newcomer Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas really be considering a run for president in 2016? After only four months in office?

Well, National Review, the conservative news magazine, says it's so.

"Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants," says NR in an online story.

"Cruz won’t talk about it publicly, and even privately he’s cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions. But his interest is undeniable.

“If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”

Cruz has made a splash in his short time on Capitol Hill and, stoking the presidential whispers, is his appearance on Friday in Columbia, South Carolina at the Silver Elephant Dinner honoring his mentor former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., now the president of the Heritage Foundation.

But Cruz' press secretary Catherine Frazier, asked by the Star-Telegram Tuesday about a presidential run, shook her head and said, "He's focused on being in the Senate right now."

Also stoking presidential speculation is the appearance of Vice President Joe Biden in Columbia the same night during the Democrats’ Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/02/2704313/us-sen-ted-cruz-to-keynote-sc.html#storylink=cpy

Here's the complete National Review article:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347052/cruz-2016

 

-- Maria Recio

Early voting in city, school, other local races opens Monday

Here's a list of the scores of local polling places in Tarrant County where you can vote early.

Here's a list of early voting locations in Denton County.

Here's a list of early voting locations in Parker County.

- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter

Remember the SSC? Bill Clinton does, with tears in his eyes.

WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton, speaking to the Creativity Conference (sponsored by Time, the Motion Picture Assn. of America and Microsoft) told a high profile audience at the Corcoran Gallery of Art today about the importance of art and technology when he suddenly brought up the . . . super-conducting super collider.

"It would be helpful if we had an explicit innovation budget for the federal government," said Clinton, the event's headliner. "The future has a weaker lobby than the present." And then he brought up the SSC.

""It made me physically ill to let it go," said Clinton. The Texas-based underground atom-smasher in Ellis County was killed in a budget battle in 1993.

Afterwards, Clinton, who attracted a crowd like a rock-star, talked to reporters and told the Star-Telegram that then-Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, a former Texas U.S. senator, warned him that the SSC could not survive a budget fight. "I hated to give it up," said Clinton.     Photo/Maria Recio/McClatchy

And the former president kept up with the particle-smashing project, now based in Switzerland, which he is happy has U.S. participation.

-- Maria Recio

Arlington's bid for library was late, lean

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Unlikely as it seems now, Arlington once bid to host the Bush Center.
In 2005, Arlington's bid was one of the first eliminated in a process that eventually led as most predicted to Laura Bush's alma mater near the Bushes' once-and-future north Dallas home.
Here's reporter Patrick McGee's story from 2006:

Arlington might have had an outdoor 9-11 memorial and an institution supporting infant democracies around the world if the city had been selected as the site for the George W. Bush presidential library and museum.
This vision for the 43rd president's museum is detailed in a video released by Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck. It was part of a failed bid for the library the city made last year.
The first round of cuts in October eliminated Arlington along with University of Texas System bids to build the library in either Austin or on the UT-Dallas campus in Richardson.
Still in the running for the multimillion-dollar presidential library and museum are Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the University of Dallas in Irving, Baylor University in Waco and the West Texas Coalition, which is campaigning to get the library built at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Finalists presented their proposals in November to a committee charged with recommending a site. A decision has not been released, and committee representatives could not be reached to comment Tuesday.
Cluck said Arlington's bid committee withheld a portion of the privately produced video that identified a specific site for the presidential library and a 30-page book presented to the White House because it also identifies the privately held site.
Actress Janine Turner narrates the video, which tells of a possible George W. Bush Institute for Peace and Prosperity that would bestow a Hero of Freedom Award. Turner also talks of an outdoor 9-11 memorial featuring all the names of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Turner describes library programs to help fledgling democracies and programs to help teachers to honor first lady Laura Bush's commitment to education. A mock military tent would house exhibits of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, and "fields of peace" would allow youngsters from all over the world to gather and play baseball.
"I think we made a great presentation," Cluck said adding that parts of the video might be used for future economic development presentations.
Arlington's video includes people who are active in the community, such as Jeff Williams, former president of the River Legacy Foundation and dance instructor Persis Forester.
Many of them auditioned for the video, said Kristin Vandergriff, a member of the committee that made Arlington's bid.
Vandergriff said the committee had only two and a half to three weeks to make the video.
Scrambling to get it done, she said, she walked into an Arlington fire station and asked some firefighters to vouch for the city.
"I simply walked over and said, 'Hey would you be interested in helping us?' and they were more than willing to help," she said.
Three of the uniformed firefighters appear on a firetruck bumper talking about how Arlington is a friendly place.
A diverse array of Arlington residents including an Iraqi-American, a Main Street cobbler and schoolchildren also appear, teeming with enthusiasm and promising that Arlington is the perfect place to enshrine the president's letters and legacy.
Turner opens and closes on a leafy walking trail near Ameriquest Field where the Rangers play. The video includes flattering shots of the city, including quaint homes, the Parks at Arlington mall and the University of Texas at Arlington.
Cluck said a little more than $100,000 was raised privately for Arlington's pitch. Vandergriff said Scott Howell & Co. of Dallas produced the video.
Cluck said Arlington could not compete with the $500 million that the 10-city West Texas Coalition said it would spend on the presidential library project.
"We knew we couldn't do that," Cluck said. "It wasn't easy raising $100,000."
The West Texas Coalition's video is the only other video that has been made public.
The coalition's video shows aerial shots of rural landscapes and tells of Texas Tech's ability to archive important documents.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz calls George W. Bush a "man of deep principle."

UNIVERSITY PARK -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz owes a lot to former President George W. Bush.

It was, after all, Bush's 2000 presidential campaign where Cruz met his future wife.

"We were one of eight couples" to meet during the campaign, Cruz said Thursday at the dedication ceremony for Bush's presidential center. 

Cruz praised Bush for being a "man of deep principle." 

-- Anna M. Tinsley

George W. Bush's friends are there for him

UNIVERSITY PARK -- U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, said he wanted to make sure he shared Thursday -- the day of the formal dedication ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center -- with his longtime friend.

Barton said he and George W. Bush have been friends for years, going back so far that he helped with George H.W. Bush's presidential campaign -- and even encouraged George W. Bush to run for Texas governor many years ago.

"I wanted to be here to show personal support," Barton said.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

 

Texas Rangers' Nolan Ryan among crowd at Bush presidential center dedication

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Texas Rangers' Nolan Ryan is among the crowd of thousands gathered on the SMU campus for the George W. Bush Presidential Center dedication ceremony this morning.

Through the years, the former president has watched many a Texas Rangers game sitting by Ryan at the Ballpark in Arlington.

And Ryan said he wasn't going to miss Thursday's even honoring his longtime friend.

"This is a very special day in the Bushes' lives and we want to be here to share it with them," Ryan said. 

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Crowd gathering at GWB Presidential Center

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Just hours before the dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and crowds are steadily streaming onto the Southern Methodist University campus.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

Dignitaries at the George W. Bush Presidential Center dedication

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Today's dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center was already set to draw the world's most exclusive club -- President Barack Obama and four ex-presidents, Bush, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Now officials have announced a number of heads of state will be here as well, including former Brittish Prime Minister Tony Blair, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvilli, Australia Prime Minister John Howard, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Ghana John Kufuor and Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The ceremony is set to begin at 10 a.m. Most cable news networks will cover the ceremony, and there's a webcast atwww.bushcenter.org.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

 

Welcoming presidents to Dallas

UNIVERSITY PARK -- On the way to the George W. Bush Presidential Center this morning, electronic signs along the highway welcomed President Obama, all four ex-presidents and all the first ladies to Dallas.
Meanwhile, signs throughout the Southern Methodist University campus welcome the presidential center.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

In Dallas, Jeb Bush talks immigration, school testing

DALLAS -- Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush gave the kind of speech Wednesday that wins elections.

But he said he was only interested in one campaign.

"To be honest," he told the Dallas-Fort Worth World Affairs Council, "I'm focused on the land commissioner race in 2014."

That's when son George P. Bush, a Fort Worth Republican, will launch his political career by running for a state office often seen as a springboard.

Introducing his father and celebrating his 37th birthday, the younger Bush joked that his dad enjoys his role as an "elder statesman" in the party's "gray area."

George P. Bush also joked that in Fort Worth, "We call it the Fort Worth-Dallas World Affairs Council -- That's a little touch of Amon Carter for you today," referring to the late Star-Telegram founder.

In a speech promoting his new book, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, Bush told the audience head-on that growth through increased immigration would boost America's economy.

"High growth creates high optimism," he said, calling for the U.S. to "redefine the border" and saying he could support either a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants or just legal permanent residency.

"That's with one condition," he said: "Coming to the U.S. legally should be easier with less cost and risk than coming illegally."

Bush also spoke about education and said Florida's scores have improved since that state improved reading classes and ended social promotion.

He said he remains a "big believer in testing. Texas may have overdid it" -- he paused, grinned and corrected himself -- "overdone it."

Then he added: "Overdid it? That's the Midland version."

--Bud Kennedy

 

 

Former President George W. Bush

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Former President George W. Bush arrives at a luncheon in his presidential center's Freedom Hall.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

George W. Bush Presidental Center

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Here's a look at some of the exhibits at the George W. Presidential Center, which opens to the public May 1.
There was an early preview for the media Wednesday morning. The invitation-only dedication ceremony is Thursday morning.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

Preview of George W. Bush Presidential Center

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Reporters and photographers from around the world have gathered at the George W. Bush Presidential Center today for a preview of the library and museum.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

Setting up for Bush presidential center dedication

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Workers are out in full force today, setting up chairs, building risers and more for Thursday's dedication ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

Ready for Hillary Clinton?

Supporters of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plan to hold a rally for the former First Lady and Democrat in North Texas this week, hoping to urge her to consider a second presidential bid in 2016.

As she speaks to the National Multi Housing Council at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas Wednesday night, rally organizers say supporters will start "showing up in force" outside the resort around 6 p.m.

"We are grassroots supporters across the country urging her to run -- and working to build an army of supporters in case she does decide to run," said Seth Bringman, communications director of the Ready for Hillary grassroots movement.

"The idea is to show Hillary the support she has across the country, particularly in Texas," Bringman said. "She's the candidate everybody says could turn Texas blue."

Earlier in the day Wednesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- who has been mentioned as a key Republican presidential contender in 2016 -- will be speaking at a World Affairs Council luncheon at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel in Dallas.

Bush is brother of former President George W. Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush and father of George P. Bush, a Fort Worth man who is running for Texas Land Commissioner next year.

Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton will both be in Dallas to attend the dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Thursday.

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Obama to visit Waco on Thursday

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will attend a memorial service in Waco Thursday for the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, the White House announced Monday.

Fourteen people were killed in the explosion and fire, nine of them first responders, and 200 people were injured. The service will be at Baylor University.

The president and first lady will be in Texas in the morning to attend the dedication of the Geoge W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The four living former presidents will attend: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

-- Maria Recio

Protest pictures

UNIVERSITY PARK-- Here's a look at more pictures of protesters weighing in on the upcoming dedication and opening of the George W. Bush presidential center on the SMU campus.
-- Anna M. Tinsley

Early protesters for George W. Bush presidential center opening

UNIVERSITY PARK -- The formal dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush presidential center isn't until Thursday, but protesters are already working to get their word out today.
More than a dozen protesters have gathered for a press conference this morning.
-- Anna M. Tinsley