Archive for the ‘dallaswave’ Category

​I have been dealing with both the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recent weeks seeking answers to questions about the "Dallas Wave" or "Standing Wave" man-made rapids that the city has installed in the Trinity River just downriver from downtown. It was intended to be a recreational attraction for a certain type of very specialized kayaking. Last May, at just about the time the city had planned to open the Dallas Wave to the public, the city instead barred the public from using it because of some serious flaws that made it too dangerous. A side channel, intended to function as a safe passage for canoeists and other boaters, turned out to be too turbulent. The thing also has soared in cost, from an original price of $1.5 million quoted to the city council by city staff at the outset several years ago to an amount of almost $4.3 million now, and that is before the cost of fixing the thing so it won't kill canoeists. Some Friends of Unfair Park have been wondering why the city has to pay these additional costs if the original design was bad. Why isn't the designer responsible? City council member Angela Hunt has raised the same question with City Manager Mary Suhm. See her memo below. The design thing turns out to be a more complicated issue than you might think. I'm going to talk about it in my column in next week's paper. I'm not even sure the thing was built according to a design.

​Should have seen this one coming. Hope it's not my own fault. On Monday I reported here that the city is going to spend some $76,000 to have its screwed-up and unusable fake rapids in the Trinity River digitally modeled by an engineering company that builds sewage treatment plants. That's how they hope to find out what's wrong with the "Dallas Wave," as they call their man-made recreational water feature. In that piece I very naively suggested the city just persuade Trinity River canoe outfitter Charles Allen to canoe through the existing structure -- a series of dams built to create turbulence for kayakers. If he did it a bunch of times in canoes loaded at different weights, Allen could tell them why the wave is so dangerous and how to fix it. Not gonna happen. In fact, it's worse than that. The city is doing its best to run Allen out of business. What I should have seen: Allen is the guy who blew the whistle on the Dallas Wave in the first place. He told me in early May -- and I reported in a column in the Observer -- that the wave feature was brutally dangerous for family canoers. A so-called "safe bypass" for canoes was anything but, Allen explained, and would result in water deaths if the city left it the way it was. The city took note, it seemed. They opened the water feature to the public with a news conference and fanfare. Then after the cameras went away, they closed it to public use. Since Monday, when I stupidly suggested the city consult Allen for his expertise, Allen informed me that the city has threatened him with arrest if he brings canoe clients anywhere near the wave feature. See the city's legal threat letter below.