Saturday, May 21, 2011

An Early Texas Saturday Waiting For The Rapture While Wondering How A City Gives A Right Arm & Other Moncrief Nonsense

I am up early this Saturday morning of May 21, looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at what looks like a cauldron.

So far I have heard no news of the Rolling Rapture of 2011. No earthquakes. No reports of Christians flying skyward.

But I did learn in the Seattle P-I this morning that Rapture 2011 has sparked a lot of End of Earth parties.

When May 22 arrives on schedule tomorrow, what do all those people who spent their life savings buying all those billboards do after their erroneous beliefs are shattered?

Speaking of erroneous beliefs.

This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram had another article about the plan to finally put a square in Sundance Square.

According to the article, "For years, downtown leaders have wanted to create a plaza, or square, to host events and gatherings."

So? What has stopped those downtown leaders from turning some of those downtown parking lots into a square for all these years?

And then, in a paragraph which has the words "Mayor Moncrief said" without making clear, with quotation marks, what he actually said, the article said this...

"That need became even more evident when ESPN set up its broadcast center during Super Bowl XLV in February on the very lots that Sundance Square wants to transform, Mayor Mike Moncrief said. Those events drew thousands of people downtown."

I added the quotation marks you see at the start and end of the above paragraph.

So, the need for a plaza became apparent after the ESPN debacle where ESPN set up a broadcast center on one of the parking lots, and then retreated when it got really cold and snow arrived. It has only been a few months since this occurred. And yet the Star-Telegram is re-writing history to suit its propaganda. The ESPN "events" only drew people to downtown Fort Worth on the Saturday before the Super Bowl. Because it was too COLD on the previous days.

In reference to the downtown Fort Worth parking lots and the dream to turn them into a real square, the Star-Telegram quoted Fort Worth's goofy mayor, again, and this time put what he said in quotation marks.

"A lot of cities would give their right arm to have what we have and will have," Moncrief said.

A lot of cities would give their right arm to have what Fort Worth has? And will have? Give up their right arm to have surface parking lots at the heart of their downtown that will become a square/plaza?

I think it'd be more accurate to say a lot of cities, with a population over 500,000, would be embarrassed that their downtown is so undeveloped that is has acres of surface parking lots at the heart of its downtown.

This downtown square propaganda is reminding me way too much of the downtown Fort Worth and Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda about the pathetic Santa Fe Rail Market boondoggle. Sold as the first public market in Texas, modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market, the reality turned out to be lamer than a small town mall's food court.

This morning's article about the downtown plaza, that other cities would lose an arm to have, also said, "Fort Worth's Bass family developed Sundance Square."

How does one family develop a town's downtown? That is sort of bizarre.

Then again, in this week's Fort Worth Weekly, I read about the Bass Machine's secretive project to replace the elderly Will Rogers Coliseum. Apparently an attempt was made to get a bill passed that would have raised the tax rate on downtown Fort Worth hotels. Somehow this was to finance the construction of the new arena.

But, somehow the shady Bass Machine operation came to light and the bill was pulled. There is talk of having an actual bond election where the citizens of Fort Worth would actually be allowed to vote on this project. But so far, The Bass Machine is providing no details of their latest development.

5 comments:

Steve A said...

Even a lame plaza would be better than the current parking lots.

Gail Galtex said...

I've yet to find one bench in downtown. If someone finds one, please let me know. Maybe there's a fear that the homeless will use them to sleep on. Notice that new public benches have a rail not only on each side but in the middle to fix this?

Durango said...

I think I remember sitting on a bench between the Convention Center and the Water Gardens and talking to my sister on the phone. I don't remember if there was a rail down the middle to prevent homeless sleepers. I have seen homeless sleepers sleeping in the Water Gardens on flat surfaces.

some guy said...

There are benches on Lancaster Ave across from the post office and T&P buildings. The benches may be on both sides of the Avenue of Light as it is called.

There is seating at Burnett Park too. I don't know if it is bench seating tho.

Gail Galtex said...

Thanks Durango and Some Guy. Maybe I should have said that I haven't seen any benches in Sundance Square with no square. There are no green spaces in SS either so maybe that's why.

The benches you mention are more on the south side of downtown and I live on the north side so haven't noticed those yet. That is a nice space next to the new T&P building but it is surrounded by concrete and there are no trees from what I recall. And yes, I noticed a few weeks ago that the new Burnett Park (sans water fountains) has red tables and chairs scattered about now. It looks nice even though they had to cut down some trees -- the city should have more events there. There's also a really nice sunken plaza at the office bldg at Taylor and Weatherford but it doesn't get used for public events.

I read that Avenue of Light is getting new lights to make the color of the art at night match reflect what was intended. The concrete bases of those art things are very tall and block my view of oncoming traffic on Lancaster when turning left into the post office. Not sure the artist took that issue into account when designing the art and hope it doesn't cause any wrecks.