Best Example of Wasting Taxpayer's Money The $2 million spent to fix the Intersection from Hell that's about to be scattered to the four winds to satisfy the whims of a local millionaire. Annie wants a grand entrance to the museum district -- and what Annie wants, Annie gets.
When Ann Burnett Marion (oil, ranch, and cattle baroness) dangled $25 million in front of the inmates of the insane asylum a.k.a. City Hall, and told them she wanted to build a roundabout -- with fountains and trees, little outdoor cafes and sidewalks to stroll along on balmy summer nights -- at the six-point intersection at University, Bailey, Camp Bowie, and 7th streets, they couldn't kiss her ring fast enough. Forget that the city's just spent $2 million from the federal taxpayers to make the nightmarish intersection driver-friendly and that months of playing dodge 'ems around a bewildering array of orange street cones is almost over. This crew is about to OK ripping it all up again for a two-year construction project to satisfy Annie's whim. Can't turn down a gift, now can we? Try not to think of what that money could really do for the city -- say, for the Evans Avenue revitalization project; or maybe tuition to send a few hundred poor kids to a good university; or to build houses for all those folks about to be kicked out of Ripley Arnold. Hell, it could buy Ripley Arnold and give it to the folks who live there. Naaaaa.
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