Floods

From Russia With Glub, a Warning About the Trinity Toll Road

Want to know what's really going on in Dallas? Keep an eye on Krymsk. Last Saturday more than 170 people died in flash floods in this southern Russia city. Today The New York Times reports that angry survivors think the Putin government is lying to them about a big release of water upstream from th ... More >>

The Corps Should Make Up Its Mind About the Levees and Explain Itself

The Power of Lobbying: Trinity Levees Are Unsafe SUPER Safe, the Corps Says Now

OK, wait, wait, before we start the party, can I ask a couple questions? Could we maybe just try to put ourselves in a global context first? In July, 2011, the city of Copenhagen was ravaged by the worst flood in recorded history, rated by scientists as a "1,000-year" flood, meaning it could be ex ... More >>

Trinity Toll Road Decision Could Have Dire Consequences? Like What? Stoning?

Dallas is a weird little speed-trap town in its own way. I often wonder what visitors think. What they need to think is, "I've got to be really careful and keep my mouth shut until I get out of this burg safely." These musings come to me after reading a dire little piece in today's daily newspaper ... More >>

City Guesstimates $1.5 Billion in Flood Control Needs. See What Your Neighborhood Needs.

​And I was so looking forward to this Wednesday council briefing: Overview of Floodplain Management and Drainage Needs in the City of Dallas. Oh, well; guess it's all Jim's now. After all, he certainly knows a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to gettin' in deep and wet, especially o ... More >>

The Cost of Fixing the Trinity River Levees Keeps Getting Cheaper and Cheaper

​Not two years ago Dallas city officials believed, based upon information provided by HNTB, that to bring the unaccredited Trinity River levees back to that so-called 100-year flood level of protection, it would cost anywhere from $100 million to $150 million. The solution: cut-off walls sunk into ... More >>

Up East Dallas Without a Paddle

Very mixed feelings about the city council briefing coming up this morning on proposed East Dallas storm-water projects. On the one hand, my paranoia is confirmed, which is always satisfying. On the other hand, there's not much I can do about it. Yes, just as I thought, my house in East Dallas -- t ... More >>

Want to Understand Politics, the Economy, Everything? Follow the Levees.

​Figured it out. I can tell you why the Republicans keep assassinating their own nominees. It all goes back to the Trinity River levees. What? You think I can't connect those dots? Stand back. Right now the GOP rivals are reducing Newt Gingrich to road-kill in Iowa with Super-PAC attack ads o ... More >>

Take Time to Study Corps of Engineers' Massive Dallas Floodway Environmental Assessment

Click to enlarge this cross-section of the cutoff wall -- seen in this appendix -- the city and HNTB say will bring the levees back to acceptable.​Schutze's must-read of the winter has finally arrived: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Dallas Floodway Environmental Assessment, in which we finally ... More >>

Deep Into the Corps: Agency's Own Leaky Docs Express Doubts About City's Levee Fixes

​On November 10 I wrote a column for the paper about documents leaked to me from within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicating that the corps has no faith in repairs to the Trinity River levees being proposed by the City of Dallas. I can show the documents to you now. They tell quite a st ... More >>

Life's Cheap. Levees Aren't.

Corps of Engineers and city struggle to balance flood protection's costs versus the value of not drowning.

City 1, Corps 0 In Fight to Fix Trinity Levees

From Monday's briefing docs prepared for the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee​What you see above is the new plan to improve the Trinity River levees, which is markedly different than the one outlined on Page 46 of the April 2010 Dallas Floodway System briefing that showed the so- ... More >>

Pardon, the City Owes the Corps of Engineers $15 Million For Floodway Work?

​The new-look Trinity River Corridor Project Committee meets for the first time this afternoon with two items on its to-review list: Dallas Floodway Extension Repayment Agreement Discussion and Trinity River Corridor Project Overview of Flood Control Components. Shortly after they were posted Frid ... More >>

Insuring the Insurers: What Something Called "Faktor K" Could Mean for Big D

​Writer and radio journalist Julia Barton, a regular reader of Unfair Park, tipped me today to a really fascinating piece published September 1 by BusinessWeek, called "The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry." It's about an arcane industry located in cities far from Dallas, but Barton spied t ... More >>

Documentary About New Orleans' Killer Floods Draws Uneasy Parallels to Dallas.

Indiana's Gov Won't Run for President? Too Bad. He Could've Saved Dallas From Dallas.

Mitchell Daniels​New York Times columnist David Brooks, who usually writes from a perspective anyone outside of Texas would consider conservative, has a fascinating column today about Indiana Gov. Mitchell Daniels and why Brooks thinks he should run for president. It's a catalog of small miracles ... More >>

Wait a Sec. There's Something Wrong With the Levees? Somebody Tell Carolyn Davis ASAP!

Photo by Sam MertenThe six-headed Trinity monster (from left to right): Jill Jordan, Kelly High, Rebecca Rasor, Liz Fernandez, Col. R.J. Muraski and Kevin Craig​If little else, attending Trinity River Corridor Project Committee meetings is a constant reminder of the jaw-dropping ignorance of c ... More >>

Today In Music News: You Get a Gaga Halloween Costume, Garth Brooks Gets His Benefit On and the Pixies Give Away a Recording.

Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, October 29, 2010...If you still haven't found that perfect costume for Halloween, might I suggest a meat dress inspired by Lady Gaga? It's only $100,000.Garth Brooks has decided to headline a timely benefit concert for Nashville flood victims.The P ... More >>

Is It Finally Curtains for the Trinity River Project?

South of Cadillac Heights, Where, When It Rains Hard, a River Always Runs Through It

Jim Schutze​Ms. Greer called me this morning to tell me she made it through the night. She's a courtly, pretty lady, 88 years old, whose house is at the very end of Rockefeller Boulevard by Moore Park, south of Cadillac Heights, about four miles down river from downtown. She's the last house befor ... More >>

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson: The Latest In A Long Line Of Pols To Dance To The Mayor's Tune For The Trinity River Project.

Not Now, Later

Angela Hunt Conflicted About Tagging Part of City's "Postcard for Nonresidents"

Patrick MichelsAngela Hunt with Ann Margolin at the signing of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on June 9, although as commenter "BootHill" pointed out, Margolin apparently signed the bridge one month before anyone else. ​Angela Hunt has mixed feelings about the June 9 gathering of the city counc ... More >>

The News Points the Finger at Angela Hunt. She Points One Back.

Hunt Wants to Know Why She's to Blame For City's Failure to Make Levee Repairs

​Jim's wrapped up his review of Michael Lindenberger's Sunday story in The Dallas Morning News -- you read it, right, the front-pager headlined "Analysis: Dallas' crucial levees only weakened amid debate on park, toll road." Schutze's essay is forthcoming shortly. But till then, then, here's what ... More >>

Maybe News's Story on Cause of Levee Delays Was First Step to Rehab? Nah.

​The headline of Michael Lindenberger's big front-page to-do in the paper version of Sunday's Dallas Morning News was "Grand Plans Delay Levee Fix." It was, in many ways, a remarkable story for The News to publish, exposing as a serious public lie the repeated assurances of Dallas Mayor Tom Lepper ... More >>

Dallas May Get Soaked by Soaring Insurance Premiums if the City Keeps Dawdling on Fixing the Levees

The Easy Answer to the Trinity River's Levee Problems? Just Blame Katrina.

Sam MertenKevin Craig of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wasn't given a chance to speak when Mayor Leppert and other politicos announced a two-year, $29 million levee study.After Mayor Tom Leppert announced the need to pony up $29 million to study Dallas's levees resulting from "unacceptable" ratings ... More >>

S'ump, Y'all?

Click to expand the image from the council's 2008 briefing concerning the Able Pump StationSeveral Friends of Unfair Park have asked where the city's getting the $29 million needed to cover the costs of further Trinity River floodway study, which, as we noted last week, pushes back the construction ... More >>

Among the Trinity Topics Before the Council, Pulling 2,800 Trees Out of Levees

Almost immediately after Schutze posted his wrap-up from the Monday-morning press conference at Dallas City Hall, where Mayor Tom Leppert drove his Chevy to the levees, a Friend of Unfair Park pointed our attention to Page 18 of the Trinity River Corridor Project briefing the city council will cover ... More >>

If You Need to Find Schutze Today ...

Next time, swear.Jim's all dolled up: tie and pants and everything. Then, he does have a busy afternoon planned; just as well his Cinco de Mayo BBQ was called on account of flash flood warning. First, he'll be stopping by DISD HQ for today's 3:30 called meeting, during which the board of trustees wi ... More >>

Nyah, Nyah, Nyah: We Told You the Trinity Project Wouldn't Work

Oy Candy: Trying Not To Say, "Toldyaso."

The scene this morning from the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge construction camIn reading the latest news about flood dangers downtown and the Trinity River Project, it's important to know that this is an 11-year-old story that Dallas officials and The Dallas Morning News are just now being forced to ack ... More >>

Destiny Does Dallas, or: Why the Corps' "Unacceptable" Levee Rating is a Blessing

Back during the campaign season for the 2007 referendum on the Trinity River toll road, Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow and I got into this really high-flown intellectual debate where I said, "Steve, you're stupid," and he said, "Jim, you're dumb," and I said, "Steve, you're a ninny," and ... More >>

Mary Suhm Tells Council: "The Corps Has Rated the Dallas Floodway as 'Unacceptable'"

Merten just got back from City Hall, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just got through telling reporters that 34 of the 170 areas of the Trinity River levees are "unacceptable." Sam will have more to come shortly -- including a surprise cameo appearance by Mitchell Rasansky, who had his ow ... More >>

Fine, Trinity Toll Road Pimps -- Schutze is Just Begging to Be Marginalized

Leppert Answers Our Levee, Tollway Questions

Innocence Project|Jail to Inmate: F You|Katrina Waves

Wait -- Schutze Asks For Calm?

Star Chambers

Angela Hunt Knows the Way to Jim's Heart: The Trinity River

Thank Gods For Art

When the Levee Breaks...

...It'll be too late to ask why

Speaking of Oil...or Smelling of It, Anyway

Levees Are Not an Act of God

Been There, Done That

For supporters of an improved and expensive Trinity River, everything old is new again

Miller Behind Closed Doors

She's cooler and more collected than the harpy you saw in those Dunning ads

Dallas to Bush: Drop Dead

City council thumbs its nose at the White House on Trinity River deal

Big, honking white lies

Want to know the truth about the Trinity River project? Don't ask city staff. They fib.

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