Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A Hazy, Smoggy Fort Worth Tuesday With $5 Million Bell Tower Makeovers

As you can see, it is a very hazy Tuesday in my zone of Texas. Last night tornadoes touched down north of my location, mostly in Oklahoma and Kansas.

But, last night I did see the local ABC station's super annoying Pete Delkus go on and on and on and on about a supposed tornado on the ground up by Lake Texoma, near Dennison, in Texas, mentioning it every time regular programming went to commercial.

This morning I came across no mention of a Lake Texoma Tornado. Pete Delkus is so excitable. How are those who purchase commercial time compensated when Pete Delkus takes over the air waves with his Weather Drama Queening? Seems as if it must cost the local station a bit of money.

That is a smoggy, hazy picture I took from the top of Mount Tandy today, zoomed in on part of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. Notice the pointy spire on the right? And the skyscraper towering over it on the left?

That pointy spire on the right is the Tarrant County Courthouse Clock Tower. The style of architecture of the Clock Tower and Courthouse is Renaissance Revival. The copper dome of the Bell Tower was never waterproofed when it was built 115 years ago, in 1895.

Years of enduring heavy rains, hard hail hits, strong winds and lightning strikes, have left the 110 foot tall tower in bad shape.

So, $5 million is going to be spent fixing the tower, which some claim is a focal point for downtown Fort Worth. I've never really noticed it. And how much of a focal point can this tower be with that skyscraper tower hovering over it?

Maybe the old Bell Tower should just be taken down and the $5 million spent to restore something that seems a bit more important, that being Heritage Park and the sad state of eyesoredness that it has been allowed to fall into.

But, what do I know? My priorities are always a bit skewed...

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