The Fairfield Lake debacle is just another chapter in the sordid history of TPWD's negligent stewardship of Texas parks, and open lands generally. Texas, with the second-biggest population of any state, has less acreage devoted to public parks than almost any other. The situation will only worsen, notwithstanding the constitutional amendment the voters overwhelmingly approved last month
Thanks for your work trying to educate and motivate us about these issues
And those small towns will become veritable ghost towns alongside the off ramps to the new shopping malls and developments that will spring up along the new freeways. All of this will destroy any lands left of the once natural habitat of Texas wildlife. And the shopping malls themselves often die a slow death of unfounded need. It takes less than a generation for such massive destruction when the people are kept uneducated and out of the process. It is hard to see the big picture when you are born into it and believing it must be the way of 'progress'.
I have read several articles that have completely ignored Fairfield in the location within their story about the park in the last two days. Most are saying "south of Corsicana" and another said Palestine! It's not even that close to Palestine! Fairfield may well get the shaft in this by the end of it.
In a way I apologize for bringing 'my story' into your very thoughtful posts about what is happening to Fairfield Lake. I applaud you for your attempt to find answers and make those answers available to the public. I know how hard it can be to get answers on something like this. There will be trolls. Tell them to go bite themselves!
I understand Misti. As someone who watched not only my family's property, but also the property of all of the families and businesses, public parks and all of the schools that I attended, be year after year gobbled up by the expansion of an airport.... I know how it 'works'. How the 'developers' are allowed to come in and build multiplexes and expensive homes and put in sewer systems ahead of the expansion, only to have that all declared as 'eminent domain' at a loss for the developers, who then can write it off and continue to prosper. The process takes years and the once healthy communities are left in shambles with the devaluing of their property. The property they had seen as their nest eggs for retirement or to be passed on to their families. There is enough time and space between these actions and the people and the senators and other government entities, that the sham goes undetected, or the people involved die off before they get their day in court. It is one of Big Moneys' sleight of hands that has been going on for decades across the country.
I think that's the frustrating part of this situation is because either people are familiar with ED in the manner you described and so they equate it as all equally bad or they are completely unfamiliar with what actually goes on day in and day out everywhere in this country with ED they really have no idea how benign this actually was.
I'm sorry your family had to go through all of that. The ironic thing is that so many of us who support the park and this use of eminent domain would fight against the entities in any other circumstance. They are gearing up for a proposed new interstate and it will rip to pieces communities and park land throughout the south. People will champion it in those causes because it will bring money to smaller towns---so, anytime people see money they will bend over backwards for it.
Reading this run-down on the latest and your list of questions (just for the Vistra issue!), makes me want to reiterate how so many of the politicians, lawyers, and government reps in situations like this use complexity to hide intent.
In an environment where attention spans have faltered significantly it seems the fourth estate cannot sacrifice the assets to devote energy and time to decode the layers of something like this - and that convolution is a great advantage to bad actors who work the system.
I could probably create an entire list of questions to ask. They would likely never get answered. "Complexity to hide intent"--on the nose. Easy to let something to be too hard than to admit you are letting it slide by you because you know the project will benefit you in some way.
Yes, that would go a long way towards how our earth is respected. But, there needs to be a vote of the people closer to some decisions. Like a vote about saving a state or national park. Or, a vote when giving away rights-of-way and eminent domain for things like airports and such. One can say, Well nothing would ever progress if we didn't have eminent domain. But that would be a way to hear what the people think is important. Not the developers.
Unfortunately our representative government doesn't allow for voting about every little thing, muchless public lands. I don't know that I would want the public to vote on every little piece of public land up for debate. And Texas is not a state that allows citizens to petition for a constitutional amendment. Unfortunately that has to come from the lege so we're at the will of their whims to get anything done.
The Fairfield Lake debacle is just another chapter in the sordid history of TPWD's negligent stewardship of Texas parks, and open lands generally. Texas, with the second-biggest population of any state, has less acreage devoted to public parks than almost any other. The situation will only worsen, notwithstanding the constitutional amendment the voters overwhelmingly approved last month
Thanks for your work trying to educate and motivate us about these issues
And those small towns will become veritable ghost towns alongside the off ramps to the new shopping malls and developments that will spring up along the new freeways. All of this will destroy any lands left of the once natural habitat of Texas wildlife. And the shopping malls themselves often die a slow death of unfounded need. It takes less than a generation for such massive destruction when the people are kept uneducated and out of the process. It is hard to see the big picture when you are born into it and believing it must be the way of 'progress'.
I have read several articles that have completely ignored Fairfield in the location within their story about the park in the last two days. Most are saying "south of Corsicana" and another said Palestine! It's not even that close to Palestine! Fairfield may well get the shaft in this by the end of it.
In a way I apologize for bringing 'my story' into your very thoughtful posts about what is happening to Fairfield Lake. I applaud you for your attempt to find answers and make those answers available to the public. I know how hard it can be to get answers on something like this. There will be trolls. Tell them to go bite themselves!
I understand Misti. As someone who watched not only my family's property, but also the property of all of the families and businesses, public parks and all of the schools that I attended, be year after year gobbled up by the expansion of an airport.... I know how it 'works'. How the 'developers' are allowed to come in and build multiplexes and expensive homes and put in sewer systems ahead of the expansion, only to have that all declared as 'eminent domain' at a loss for the developers, who then can write it off and continue to prosper. The process takes years and the once healthy communities are left in shambles with the devaluing of their property. The property they had seen as their nest eggs for retirement or to be passed on to their families. There is enough time and space between these actions and the people and the senators and other government entities, that the sham goes undetected, or the people involved die off before they get their day in court. It is one of Big Moneys' sleight of hands that has been going on for decades across the country.
I think that's the frustrating part of this situation is because either people are familiar with ED in the manner you described and so they equate it as all equally bad or they are completely unfamiliar with what actually goes on day in and day out everywhere in this country with ED they really have no idea how benign this actually was.
I'm sorry your family had to go through all of that. The ironic thing is that so many of us who support the park and this use of eminent domain would fight against the entities in any other circumstance. They are gearing up for a proposed new interstate and it will rip to pieces communities and park land throughout the south. People will champion it in those causes because it will bring money to smaller towns---so, anytime people see money they will bend over backwards for it.
No words for how wrong this action is. Where is the people's choice in this terrible decision.
The choice is in who we put in office, unfortunately.
Your reporting on this travesty should be award-winning.
Reading this run-down on the latest and your list of questions (just for the Vistra issue!), makes me want to reiterate how so many of the politicians, lawyers, and government reps in situations like this use complexity to hide intent.
In an environment where attention spans have faltered significantly it seems the fourth estate cannot sacrifice the assets to devote energy and time to decode the layers of something like this - and that convolution is a great advantage to bad actors who work the system.
I could probably create an entire list of questions to ask. They would likely never get answered. "Complexity to hide intent"--on the nose. Easy to let something to be too hard than to admit you are letting it slide by you because you know the project will benefit you in some way.
Yes, that would go a long way towards how our earth is respected. But, there needs to be a vote of the people closer to some decisions. Like a vote about saving a state or national park. Or, a vote when giving away rights-of-way and eminent domain for things like airports and such. One can say, Well nothing would ever progress if we didn't have eminent domain. But that would be a way to hear what the people think is important. Not the developers.
Unfortunately our representative government doesn't allow for voting about every little thing, muchless public lands. I don't know that I would want the public to vote on every little piece of public land up for debate. And Texas is not a state that allows citizens to petition for a constitutional amendment. Unfortunately that has to come from the lege so we're at the will of their whims to get anything done.