On the news tonight

[Big Daddy D]

Here's the link to the broadcast:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Dallas-W ... 99233.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the printed story online. Slightly different from the broadcast story.

As you can see, they are going to spin it however they want to spin it.

DALLAS — A multi-million dollar project on the Trinity River is raising serious concern from critics, who allege the only thing it’s sending downriver is money.

“It's a big mess,” said river guide Charles Allen. “[A]nd it's with taxpayer dollars!”

Safety fears have made the Dallas Wave park largely off-limits to paddlers. The project costs millions; now the Dallas City Council will consider this month spending another $76,000 to hire an outside firm to study it.

“This allows us to get a third-hand, professional engineering read on the proposed solution,” said Willis Winters, the city’s assistant parks director. “[T]o model it, test it, make sure it’s going to work before we implement it.”

Last month, the city admitted it will likely need to spend an additional $121,000 to fix the channel. Repairs are at least a year away and will still require council approval.

“The proposed solution is to modify the bottom of the lower by-pass channel to reduce the volume of water, and reduce the slope gradient in the channel, thus creating a smoother flow,” John Reynolds, the Wave’s project manager, wrote in an e-mail to News 8.

In March, the city unveiled its new whitewater course on the Trinity River near downtown.

Almost immediately after opening, paddlers began worrying the Dallas Wave was too dangerous.

The City of Dallas spent $4 million using concrete barriers to turn the normally calm waters into Class III white-water rapids.

However, the water on a safety bypass built to the side, is far more powerful than expected. Its waters should be calm enough for even a canoe to pass.

“It was very vicious,” said kayaker Teresa Patterson.
She and a friend decided to try out the park soon after it opened earlier this year. She kayaks at least once a week, but immediately the rapids in the safety channel flipped her. She got caught in the churning waters for nearly ten minutes.

“I was getting really, really tired,” Patterson said. “I think if I had to be there another minute, I might not have been able to fight to the surface, even with the life preserver.”

Soon after, the city stopped promoting the park and posted warning signs upriver.

In a statement to News 8, Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt said she wants “city staff to… explain why the Wave's designers, engineers, or builders are not responsible for rebuilding the Wave and fixing the problem they apparently created.”

“They, not Dallas taxpayers, should be footing the bill to fix this project,” she wrote.

Fellow council member Dwaine Caraway is also troubled by the extra expense.

“I don’t know if we have to bring in outside experts to tell us something that our experts should already know,” he said. “We need to be very carefully considering and looking at whatever we’re going to spend -- especially when we’re talking about closing pools.”

From the beginning, the Dallas Wave has been saddled with delays and cost over-runs.

Originally, it was projected to cost only $1 million. Design changes and unexpected expenses however swelled the price to more than $4 million. Winters said the money was diverted from other Trinity projects, such as trails, to pay for the park.

“I don’t think it was the best use of city money for the Trinity,” said Dallas Councilwoman Ann Margolin.
She called it “a lot of razzle-dazzle.”

Hunt prefers the money be spent on “more impactful” projects, like hiking trails.
“It adds to the public perception the Trinity Project is not on track,” Hunt said.

The Dallas Wave was the city’s first major attraction inside the banks of the Trinity. A precursor ahead of much bigger plans stalled by federal flood-control concerns.

“It’s just been a big mess,” said river guide Charles Allen. “It’s had a really negative impact on my business. I’ve lost a lot of money.”
The guide has been offering tours of the Trinity River and renting boats for more than 20 years. With the park essentially closed, it has cut off a big part of the Trinity River to him.

“They should have just left it alone,” Allen said.

The controversy frustrates paddler David Morring. The experienced kayaker has been on the Dallas Wave at least eight times, without a problem.

“This is a world-class facility,” Morring said. “This is awesome. In my opinion, the rapids are completely safe!”

He said he’s seen canoeists and even surfers on its waters. He worries keeping it off-limits hurts the city and wastes a lot of potential.

“It’s definitely safe enough to open,” Morring said. “We could hold whitewater competitions here. I could bring 100 kayakers here and everyone of them would say, ‘What’s the big deal?’”

The concern comes at a time when the state is trying to encourage more people to enjoy North Texas’ rivers.

In May, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department designated a ten-mile stretch of the Trinity a state paddling trail. However the Dallas Wave sits right in the middle of the trail. The state now encourages boaters to get out of the water and haul their boats around the rapids.

“I think it’s a boondoggle,” canoeist Eric Neilsen said. “As far as I know, it’s the only one I know that was closed to the public when it opened.”

Instead of attracting people to the Trinity, Neilsen said the park instead is keeping them away.

“We have an unfinished project that may or may not ever get finished,” Neilsen said.

[Cowper]

And it's with taxpayer dollars!”

John Reynolds, the Wave’s project manager....

However, the water on a safety bypass built to the side, is far more powerful than expected. Its waters should be calm enough for even a canoe to pass.

Responding in reverse order:
1) "calm enough for even a canoe to pass" - TAKE THAT, open boater friends!

2) Do you have an e-mail for John Reynolds? He might be interested in a large group of people that want to help him show the world his project was NOT a "disaster".

3) I thought a large portion of the funding was from a private donor. Do you know specifics on "private" vs. "tax" funding sources?

Overall, I think you did about as good as could be expected. At least they were not able to make it sound like you also had safety concerns, and this report had at least one person from "the other side."

[Shep]

1) "calm enough for even a canoe to pass" - TAKE THAT, open boater firends!

Hey Cowper, we all know that they just aren't being specific enough. We canoeists can pass ANYTHING... They just meant to say "calm enough for a canoe to pass upright"

Shep

[kayakdoc]

If they are concerned from the safety standpoint, would there be a way to have a ACA sanctioned event there with all paddlers signing waivers to show that the park is well built for the caliber of boaters it is intended for, instead of the class I Teresa Patterson's of the world. Clearly the Ocoee Olympic course and BuenaVista playparks were not built for all levels of paddling, neither is this one. This is built for experienced paddlers that can handle(enjoy) turbulent waters. I would hate to see this project fail and lead to ominous endings for future nearby waterparks as well. I'm sure with it closed for now, organizing a ACA sanctioned event is near impossible.
Thank you for all of your Hard Work Big Daddy D!

[JTarver]

I agree with Mike, and Cowper here..I think we could definitely hold an event with a large turnout of paddlers. I can't afford to go a great distance this year to paddle the stuff I want to, however, I could manage a trip to Dallas for a weekend..and would gladly do so. We could amass a kayaking army and head down there to really test out the park. Bring Teresa or whoever she is, and the other whiners, and let them see how the park is intended to be used.
If someone plans a trip down, let me know so I can try to team up and go as well.
And a big thanks to David for all he has done for this project, just keep fighting the good fight. It'll work out eventually.



Joe

[Hawk]

Having an event there would be awesome, but probably hard to do since it is closed, like Kayakdoc said. Im really bummed out about this. Yesterday I just finished my classroom portion of grad school so I am about to have more free time. Going to this park was on my list of things to start doing, since I live in Dallas. Was really fired up because I didnt have to drive 4-5 hours, which is hard for me to do now with the price of gas, to get to whitewater. I have an extremely hard time believing Teresa was stuck in the vicious waters for TEN minutes. I have been stuck in holes for 10 seconds and I thought that was it. Seemed like ten minutes. I hope this thing gets turned around. Just wish they would represent both sides equally. Thanks for your passion Big Daddy D! Hahns

I wonder if a store like REI, Sun and Ski, or another outdoor store in Dallas would be willing to sponsor an event down there. Politicians like corporations with money right? And since when is a pfd called a life preserver, lol! What is she, this Allens guys wife? What a misrepresentation of the Dallas paddling community.

[Cowper]

This is going to sound pretty hypocritical coming from a confessed carnage watcher, but stay with me and give it some thought.

I have an extremely hard time believing Teresa was stuck in the violent waters for TEN minutes.

Thanks for raising that question. My first reaction was the same; I look at the hydraulics, and say “not a keeper”. But then I have to remember that I’ve seen people stuck in Class 0 eddies, so I can believe that Teresa may very well have been stuck somewhere for several minutes, even if it wasn’t in a hydraulic. Some people just don’t know how to deal with a combination of eddies and fast currents, much less hydraulics. We didn’t know either when we first started boating.

I think if you build a whitewater park where there was only flatwater before, maybe your bypass channel needs to be super easy. Here in Arkansas, a surprising number choose to portage the Rockport ledge instead of running it. The news footage in Dallas focuses on the play features because that is visually exciting, but this isn’t really about the play features – folks are OK with watching us do “crazy” stuff. What they are really complaining about is that the “safety” channel is still too fast for the folks who don’t want to run the main features.

So what can we do about it, how do we build relationships with the Teresa’s of the world who are either new to the sport or just of a flatwater discipline? To some, that bypass channel is a big deal and maybe more than their equipment can handle. (Ever tried keeping a real racing canoe upright? It’s tougher than you think.)

Here are some of the things I’m trying to do more often at Rockport to maintain good relations between the whitewater crowd and other park users:

• If I see a new face, sometimes I take a break and talk to them about what they’re seeing.

• Give someone a hand climbing out to portage; or tell them where and how to hit the ledge if they want to change their minds and float over it.

• If someone has a go at it and doesn’t make it, I try to laugh with them, not at them. (I haven’t always done this, but I’m getting better at it.)

• If they’re way past laughing, I offer some help, even if I miss a few minutes of surfing.

If the park reopens even briefly or maybe some renegade surfing occurs, be the best ambassadors you can to all river runners, not just the other whitewater folks. Talk to ‘em. Help them decide whether to use the bypass channel or just portage. Heck, if you’re taking a break, HELP them portage! If you see someone washing around in an eddy or being swept downstream, help them gather up their stuff; talk to them calmly. In other words, help it be an adventure instead of a nightmare. I think that kind of outreach will improve our chances of eventual success.

[SteveGabbard]

I saw a blurb on the net that said the original engineer recommended adding more concrete to make the bypass more user friendly. Perhaps they should have made a super easy portage trail rather than a bypass. I'm sure the disgruntled outfitter demanded the bypass for his clients benefit.

All this hoopla makes me glad we have rockport and glad it is natural rather than manmade.

[Big Daddy D]

“It's a big mess,” said river guide Charles Allen. “[A]nd it's with taxpayer dollars!”

Originally, it was projected to cost only $1 million. Design changes and unexpected expenses however swelled the price to more than $4 million. Winters said the money was diverted from other Trinity projects, such as trails, to pay for the park.

Here is the great irony and hypocrisy that the press is not reporting. The design changes made by the city that escalated the cost of the project where for adding the bypass channels at Charles Allen's request. Charles Allen complained that the whitewater park would affect his business, so the city modified the plans to add the channels to accommodate Charles and his business.

During the building of the bypass channels, a gov't agency (I think it may have been fish and wildlife) required that they add fish ladders to the bypass channel so fish could swim upstream. This is a good idea, but the fish ladders are also what has made the channel a bit more turbulent.

So after they completed the park, Charles Allen said he didn't like the bypass channels, so he ran to the press and started saying that the channels were unsafe and dangerous. Now he's saying it's a waste of tax payer's dollars. Well the cost of the park was increased solely because of him.

The city tried to accommodate his concerns and his business, and now he's gone and stabbed them in the back. He's the one who's cost the tax payers millions of extra dollars. If they had ignored him and just built the park, it probably would have been half of what it cost.

They city also put in a concrete ramp above the waves (much like the ramp at Rockport), they have a concrete ramp below the two wave, they have steps for exiting the river at both waves and also steps between the two. It is wheel chair accessible as well. When the city told Charles that patrons who did not want to run through the whitewater park could easily portage around it, he said that it was too much to expect his clients to carry heavy canoes for 150 yards around the park.

This is the absurdity we are dealing with.

BDD

Just FYI, the primary funding for the park came from 1998 and 2006 bond programs that were voted on and approved overwhelmingly by the City of Dallas residents. $4 million is a lot of money, but the 1998 bond program allocated $246 million for the Trinity River Corridor Project. The 2006 bond program was for $1.35 billion for the entire city. $4 million out of a total of $1.5 billion is fairly miniscule. Some private funds and donations were used, but the bulk of it came from voter approved bond programs.

[Hawk]

Cowper, you know I have mad respect for you/Debo and what you guys do. I agree with most of what you say especially about the bypass needing to be super easy but when it comes to Teresa Patterson, Ill agree to disagree, lol! Obviously we have to help newbies and yes we were all there before. I am reminded of an old paddlesnake video where this guy decides to run Oceana and I think it is one of the first times he has ever run a true whitewater river! He proceedes to get hammered, pretty bad! I mean what am I supposed to do? Do I have to pay the price because she made a bad decision? As long as warning signs are up and agreed, the bypass needs to be easy, then she is responsible for her own decisions. Seems like this whole thing has turned into one big mess. But as a kayaker in Dallas, I feel like the paddling community here is really being misrepresented and the potential revenue this park could generate is not being shown or talked about. We need to show them its potential value! Oh, and I say there is no way Teresa was stuck in that feature ten minutes and to call her a whitewater kayaker, well maybe Im cocky, but that was an injustice. Hahns

[bmartin]

I thought I would share the response I received today when I emailed Ms. Mary Suhm at Dallas Parks early in August. This seems like a very reasoned and encouraging response.

Dear Bradley,

On behalf of Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm and the Dallas Park and Recreation Department, I want to thank you for your support of The Dallas Wave. The City of Dallas is extremely proud of offering this exciting new recreational amenity to white water enthusiasts throughout North Texas and the United States.

As you may be aware there have been two construction projects side-by-side at this location. In addition to The Dallas Wave, the City of Dallas also has under construction the Santa Fe Trestle Hike and Bike Trail (Trestle Trail), which spans the river over the upper wave and includes an aerial ramp on the west shore of the Trinity River where The Dallas Wave shoreline improvements (access road, parking lot, concrete boat ramps above and below the waves and shoreline sidewalk) are located. The trail project will not be completed until the late fall of 2011, so the City had to make the difficult decision to restrict access to the shoreline area until construction of the trail project is completed. Due to the close proximity of the two projects, public safety was the paramount concern in arriving at this decision.

We wish to emphasize one important point: the Trinity River is open to boaters. The river is not closed. While it is possible to access The Dallas Wave from Eighth Street, the general contractor for the Trestle Trail keeps the gate locked much of the time in order to avoid conflicts between park patrons and heavy construction traffic during daytime hours and to maintain construction site security during evening hours. Should you find the gate open and decide to access The Dallas Wave, please bear in mind that it could be locked when you depart. If this occurs, you may call 311 and request that the gate be unlocked by on-call City maintenance crews. Full access to the river and The Dallas Wave will be restored this fall when construction of the Trestle Trail is complete.

The second issue that you are probably aware of also concerns public safety. When construction of the wave features were completed, the City invited kayakers to try it out and provide us with their reactions. We were gratified that the responses to The Dallas Wave were universally enthusiastic and favorable. However, the by-pass channel adjacent to the lower wave was criticized by a few canoeists as being too turbulent for safe passage by novice paddlers. Because this was brought to our attention as a safety concern, it was incumbent upon the City of Dallas to pause and address this issue in a responsible manner. The design team for The Dallas Wave is currently working on a modification that will decrease both the turbulence and the volume of water flowing through the by-pass channel. The proposed alteration must be submitted to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for review and approval. When this process is complete, then work can begin on any changes to the by-pass channel. The anticipated timeline for these changes is in the winter.

In the mean time we thank you for your support and ask for your patience as the City completes construction of the Trestle Trail and simultaneously addresses the issue of public safety, which remains our highest priority.

Sincerely,

Willis

Willis C. Winters, FAIA | Assistant Director
City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department

[okieboater]

With the outfitter and kayaker doing the interviews, there is no way, in my opinion, for reasonable boaters to win. Bad press will win out over good press any time. You guys might benefit from having other boaters interviewed. The negative press types are not going to put good stuff out, so local boaters are going to have to make the news with positive interviews.

Based on the experiences here at the Tulsa Wave, soon as some one makes a public safety statement to the local government and newspapers - things go really bad really fast for the river feature. The bad press has to be handled.

I like the idea of working with whom ever will listen in the authorities who control access to the existing feature to set up a safety demonstration event.

In the present situation, I know things are not good but if local boaters could get a couple of the local big sports stores to be sponsors (with folks like Big Daddy D doing the setup work) for a demonstration event on the feature. Invite every one in the region to come. Have a guest book for them to sign and get interviews and show the action. With all the boaters showing up and if even basic advertisements were made to bring in spectators - good press might happen. All the existing press sounds really negative to me. Some positive press would help.

If this event can be set up and managed - it could very well demonstrate that the facility is safe, fun and brings in out of towners to enjoy Dallas.

[Roger]

Sounds like the locals need to get with officials and stage an event. Advertise it and let the boaters come. As JoeT says, I bet between the Arkies, Loosies, Okies and Tejanoes of the world there would be an armada of boaters.

Show the folks of D-Town what they are sitting on in terms of financial impact. And sure, invite the class I boaters to come and set safety for them. Show 'em it's really done!!

And say hi to Charles for me!!! I know him from past river trips.

[Cowper]

I got the same letter today. I’m highly impressed with how well it summarizes the issues, and highly encouraged by the words. I’m glad the City of Dallas is NOT in full retreat. Clearly they have decided their long term “win” will come from spending a few dollars more to “tweak” the bypass channel, and not from closing or writing off the whole project.

If I lived in the area, I believe my next move would be to request a meeting with Willis, and simply ask: “What can the boating community do to help you with all this negative press you’ve been receiving?”

[justin.payne]

I'd like to take this whitewater paddler Teresa and her whitewater kayak to the Boulder whitewater park at about 1000 cfs, then she might really be stuck in the "churning" waters for 10 minutes. If anyone is not familiar with the whitewater park in Boulder let me just say it was prob the single biggest screwup a whitewater park has ever seen. Its fun if you like to test your limits of the size hole you can punch....