The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 12, 2005 Page: 1 of 10
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Tarrant County College Collegian and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.
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Feature
Opinion
Entertainment
News
Sports
1
The Collegian
SERVING THE TARRANT COUNTY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Wednesday, October 12,2005
New campus envisioned at state conference
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NW Campus teacher earns
award for service, . .
dedication ...pg. 5
NASCAR veterans
leaving the wheel
by John Mayfield
and Robert Barowski
those blocks.
Reeves showed pictures of Fort
Worth’s historic landmarks such as the
Wells Fargo building and the Plaza Hotel
back in the day of Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid. Regretfully, Reeves said
Mostly sunny
..... Sunny
Fit, Oct. 14
Sat., Oct. 15
Mother hurting self
in war protests,
should go home...pg. 2
Fifty yards from the rally on
the actual spot of the proposed
well, a group of 10 young adults
held their own version of a drum
Watauga-and Haltom City.
In another part of Tarrant
County, the Arlington Independent
School District’s board of trustees
852/592
852/602
“This kind of vision is the ability to see
not what is, but what can be, and to have
..... Sunny
Mostly sunny
NW play offers mystery,
suspense, leaves audience
questioning faith...pg. 7
Sun., Oct. 16
Mon., Oct. 17
have the ability to convert state appropria-
tions into educational, research, medical
842/612
772/572
Star-Telegram writer brings
poetry to life for students
on South...pg. 3
Partly cloudy
.....Cloudy
and other types of amenities and public
service enterprises. They become an ex-
tremely important factor in communities
by multiplying their economic benefits.
“These cooperative efforts are lever-
aging the resources of the universities and
the communities in the best way in order
to maximize both public and private dol-
lars,” he said.
During the master plan process, the
community began to look into the best in-
terest of Fort Worth, which led to the edu-
cation component. The city encouraged
the relocation of some area colleges and
universities to downtown, including Texas
Wesleyan University’s law school and
TCC’s new campus.
“I think as downtown matured, Tar-
rant County College saw the vision and
the opportunity to serve in an unserved
area of Fort Worth,” he said.
Gideon Toal is working with Bing
Thom on the Trinity River Vision project
and the TCC project. The commitment of
this community to planning helped bring
the college’s attention to the site, two
major corporate campuses being built
there and a major relocation by D.R. Hor-
ton, Gideon said.
Thom said the group’s teamwork is
the key factor in the success of the project.
“We are fortunate we had a team that
integrated with each other so well because
one of the issues we encountered when
looking for the site selection for the cam-
pus was how we could make the college
our first major project to link the down-
town with Trinity Uptown,” he said.
Bing Thom, of Bing Thom Architects,
said the downtown area land is more ex-
pensive than the uptown area land. Since
the planners did not want to isolate the
campus on either side, they averaged the
cost from both sides and decided to build a
bridge. In addition, the cunent plan indi-
cates that the TCC campus will serve as a
bridge, uniting uptown and downtown.
“The idea was to find a way to con-
• "c
■ri
The spread of natural gas
drilling in Tarrant County has run
into opposition as the wells move
closer to residential districts.
The residents of Scenery Hill
in East Fort Worth intended to
have their voices heard Sept. 24
during a rally held on the site of a
future well.
During the rally, the residents
expressed their discontent with the
prospect of a large gas well being
constructed in their backyard and a
sense of betrayal by Fort Worth
Mayor Mike Moncrief and City
Hall, who they say are promoting
policy directly at odds with pro-
posed goals of the city of Fort
Worth.
The city wants to promote
drilling in the area, hoping to boost
revenue. .Currently, more than 400
wells are either operating within
city limits or being planned.
The city claims that the move
could generate more than $1 mil-
lion in extra revenue and increase
property values.
Officials say that the Fort
Worth area is one of the best places
to drill as it is part of the Barnett
Shale, an underground reserve be-
lieved to be one of the largest on
the continent.
Council members are consid-
1
Although the Bass family lost money
for 10 years, they were creating a market.
It took time, it took commitment, it took
vision and it took people with money and
a city staff that was committed, Reeves
said. Downtown Fort Worth Inc. is help-
ing the city manage downtown; it has re-
paired downtown while keeping its her-
itage, which is all part of the public/private
partnership, Reeves said.
“Downtown is growing, and there is a
need for education,” he said.
Architect Randy Gideon, co-owner of
Gideon Toal said, “Although it may sound
trite, colleges and universities have a pro-
found impact on the economic stability of
Tues., Oct. 18 ..... 792/562 ...........Sunny
Weather forecast courtesy www.weather.com
___________________________________I
The Collegian staff
A gas well pumps near Fort Worth city limits. More than 400 wells
are either operating within city limits or being planned.
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Dawson said a needs assessment
found that of the 7,500 people living in a Sundance Square, an entertainment,
three-mile radius downtown, 74 percent residential, retail and office area, was part
of the master plan of the downtown dis- this love affair with downtown.”
trict. Reeves said the Bass family, local
business owners and developers, bought
Wed., Oct. 12 ..... 842/602
Thurs., Oct. 13 . . . .852/612
1VUYULL
for new ventures...pg. 9
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I think as downtown ma-
g tured, Tarrant County Col-
lege saw the vision and the
opportunity to serve in an un-
served area of Fort Worth.”
Randy Gideon,
Gideon Toal
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would Jesus drill?”—to signs of
neighborhood solidarity—“Friends
ly fumes emanated from the site of of Scenery Hill against drilling.”
a new gas well.
Scenery Hill is on a bluff
overlooking downtown Fort
Worth. While it is in proximity to
Interstate 30, the foliage blocks all circle,
view of the highway. Participants used trash and
One of the concerns expressed metal objects to create a din remi-
was that the massive clearing of niscent of what they said might be
trees would lay bare the neighbor- heard in a busy city and what
hood to the throngs of traffic pass- might be heard in that neighbor-
ing on 1-30 daily. hood when the drilling begins.
Residents said this is not the Drilling for oil is not limited
first time that the neighborhood only to the city of Fort Worth. The
has been in danger of losing its issue has been broached in various
cover from the highway. Fifteen cities in Tarrant County, including
years ago the residents fought and North Richland Hills, Keller,
won a battle to keep the bluff un-
developed when a massive apart-
ment complex was proposed.
Scenery Hill residents said
they believe the stakes this time has hired Bank One Trust Co. to
Bing Thom Architects, Vancouver, Canada
The new downtown campus of Tarrant County College is envisioned through the architect’s eye. The rendition was presented
at a panel discussion last week at the American Planning Association Conference in Fort Worth.
I
by Lindsey Bever
south news editor
• Residents demanding voice in area natural gas drillings
handle bids by companies that
want to drill for gas on district
property.
The city of Watauga is also
considering tapping into the same
shale as Fort Worth. The Harding
Co. has approached city officials
with a proposal that would allow
usage of an 8-inch private pipeline
that runs through the city for
drilling.
Keller and Haltom City also
allow drilling within city limits.
In August, Keller allowed a
zoning change, granting companies
permission to set up six wells near
Keller High School.
Haltom City allows drilling
with a permit granted from the
city. Special provisions must be
met if a company wants to drill
within 600 feet of a residence,
church, hospital, school, cemetery,
historical site or public park.
The city of North Richland
Hills is considering allowing com-
panies into the community to drill
for oil. The city is currently ex-
ploring offers.
The issue of drilling may be
long lasting if demand for the
product remains high.
Currently, gas prices are start-
ing to slip slightly as demand is
starting to level off. Traders predict
that prices will start coming down
and consumers will see some re-
lief.
ering revising the current rules on are much higher. Now, they said,
drilling. As it stands, drilling must the neighborhood is confronted
be at least 300 feet away from any with possible land, air, noise and
home, school or business. water pollution for a prospect that
At the height of the rally, at rarely pays off for the gas compa-
least 20 of the approximately 30 to ny or the owner of the land.
40 people present were residents of
Scenery Hill.
Top among their concerns was
cultural viabilities of their host communi-
ties. We have a lot of college and univer-
sity clients who are looking at their roles
in the community in a different way.”
University towns are gaining popular-
ity as a place for people to live and retire,
Gideon said. Some are even building re-
tirement communities on their campuses
for alumni and supporters.
“Obviously, education facilities are a
major conduit for bringing state funding
and other types of funding downtown. nect Court House and Main street with
Also those same people living on campus- a new connection across the river. As the
es are funding another way by bringing project evolved, we felt the bridge com-
private funding to those campuses, he peted with the existing bridge, so we de-
said- cided to create a different type of bridge,
Gideon said colleges and universities where the bridges would actually speak to
each other,” he said.
See Campus, page 6
I
■ Volume 17 • Issue 6
The Trinity River Vision and the new
downtown campus of Tarrant County Col-
H lege caught the eyes of city planners dur-
fl ing a panel at the American Planning As-
sociation Conference last Friday in down-
town Fort Worth.
The panel discussion focused on the
subject Colleges as Partners in Urban De-
velopment.
TCC looked at the four other campus-
| es strategically and saw the need for a
campus downtown, John Dawson, TCC di-
rector of facilities planning, said. Dawson
joined the panel of architects and planners
to present the future downtown campus
plans to public officials from across the
ih state.
& “It’s important for us, as planners, to
look at the underserved or unserved popu-
lation,” he said.
Another resident concern is
the increase of land tax and de-
crease in property value that is ex-
the possible health and environ- pected if the proposed well goes
mental risks that come with through.
drilling gas wells. Opponents cited The small rally consisted of 20
recent cases in China that resulted pickets ranging from plays on a
in explosions along with one that cultural phenomenon—“Where
hit closer to home when residents
in Iowa were evacuated after dead-
were Hispanic and 23 percent were
African American, the majority of which
had less than a ninth grade education.
Therefore, the opportunities for higher ed- 40 city blocks, only planning to use 22 of
ucation were limited.
fl “We looked at the need and knew that
'I was something we needed to fulfill, so one
of the driving factors was to meet that un-
derserved population,” he said.
Alra Reeves, The Projects Group’s
manager for TCC, said there is also a des- the heritage fell apart.
perate need to offer continuing education “One of the things they [the Bass fam-
opportunities for business people in. the ily] realized early was that they had to get
area. people back into downtown. They knew
Reeves opened the conference with a that to keep the heritage of Fort Worth,
glimpse into the history of the develop- they needed to restore.and save the texture
ment of downtown Fort Worth. that is downtown Fort Worth,” he said.
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The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 12, 2005, newspaper, October 12, 2005; Hurst, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1315596/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.