Cowtown Vets to get New Clinic

Beginning in 2001 veterans in Fort Worth needing outpatient medical services will be served in a new $50,000,000.00 facility at the corner of I-20 and Campus Drive. The Dallas Morning News reports that Duke Realty Corp. has won a contract to develop and manage the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ new clinic.

Construction of the 213,029-square-foot building is slated to begin in the late fall. and will reportedly be the largest outpatient clinic development scheduled by the VA. The clinic will include surgical rooms and outpatient recovery rooms.

Thoughts From The Polls

Just got back from voting. Some random thoughts:

It's the little things that really win elections.Little things like making sure your supporters know where to vote, not just who to vote for. At my polling place there were a whole bunch of people that showed up at the last minute to vote only to find out that they were in the wrong place. Many of them didn't make it to the correct polling place in time.

There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to how polling places are picked. In my case, to get from my home to the correct voting site I actually had to drive right past another polling place.

The large number of African-Americans standing in line to attend the caucus would seem to bode well for Senator Obama.

PUC Investigating Failure to Report Wind Shortage

The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) has started an investigation into last week's sudden drop in wind power the Startlegram reported over the weekend. Specifically, the PUC is asking why the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) failed to follow its own rules and make appeals through the news media for conservation during the emergency.

Last Tuesday (02/26) a sudden drop in West Texas wind power combined with an increase in electric use led to a sudden loss of stability on the electric grid. This caused ERCOT Engineers to implement the second step of an emergency blackout prevention plan and cut power to some large industrial customers.

So far, so good, but after a more serious situation in 2006 ERCOT established rules that require it to make appeals through the news media for conservation during such emergencies. No appeals were made. ERCOT officials say that by the time they could have contacted the media, the crisis was over. I suppose ERCOT doesn't have internet access?

Call me cynical but I can't help but wonder if the reason no conservation appeal was issued is that ERCOT doesn't want the public to know how unreliable wind power is. Texas leads the nation in production of wind power and plans are to greatly increase production. However, such increased production will entail massive new wind farms and hundreds of miles of ugly transmission lines. Perhaps some are worried that the public will balk at such a high environmental cost if they realize how unreliable so-called renewable energy is?

Southern FW Residents Told to Boil Drinking Water

A power outage at two City of Fort Worth pump stations has caused the city to issue an alert urging residents in the southern part of the city to boil their drinking water. The affected area is the southwestern part of the city, south of Interstate 20, from Granbury to Crowley roads.

The power outage means that the city's water supply may contain bacteria and other microbes that are not suitable for consumption. To make sure the water is safe for drinking and other home use, residents in the area should bring the water to a rolling boil and then boil it for two minutes.

For those that can't or won't boil their water, the city will have bottled water available at the following locations:

• Blue Raider Field, 4300 Altamesa Blvd.
• Goodwill, at the intersection of Bryant Irvin and Dirks roads.
• North Crowley High School, 9100 S. Hulen St.

The city hasn't mentioned how long this situation will continue.

City Ushers in Holidays WIth Red-Light Cameras

Strings of street lights
Even stop lights
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush
home with their treasures

Red and green are the traditional colors of the holiday season. With that in mind, the City of Fort Worth is about to turn on their new-fangangled red light cameras -- just in time for the holidays.

According to Pegasus News, starting next Monday, Nov. 26, red light cameras will be activated at seven intersections in Cowtown. Get caught running a red-light before the new year and you get by with a written warning. After New Year's Day 2008, the city will issue a $75 fine.