Friday, February 10, 2017

Long Walk Checking Lake Wichita Revitalization Project Progress

Yesterday, if I remember right, I mentioned that Lake Wichita Has Been Reported To The Trump Administration.

I think I also mentioned that according to information I gleaned from what I believe to be the official Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website that Lake Wichita's Revitalization is expected to be completed somewhere in the mid 2017 time frame.

I think mid 2017 would be around June and July, about five months from this current Friday in February.

Til today it had been at least a month, likely longer, since I'd hiked to my neighborhood dam, that being the dam which causes Lake Wichita to exist.

I thought it would be interesting to check out Lake Wichita Dam, and the lake, to see if I can detect any of that much talked about revitalizing, what with the middle of the year and that completion date rapidly approaching.

Well. I could detect nothing that has changed since I last looked at Lake Wichita.

In the above photo we are rock and rolling on a wave tossed floating dock. That pimple on the horizon is Mount Wichita, looking like a floating oasis far out to sea.

The long range plan for a revitalized Lake Wichita includes building a new pavilion  on the lake.

Below is what remains of the former Lake Wichita Pavilion.


The Lake Wichita Pavilion was quite an attraction in its heyday. Eventually the pavilion became neglected and then at some point in the 1950s the pavilion burned to the ground, I mean water. The pilings you see above, sticking out of Lake Wichita,  are all that remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.

I think the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is an extremely good plan. I hope this plan comes to fruition. Soon.

Near the start of this century the Texas town I previously lived in announced a water revitalizing project, which eventually became known as the Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Or, more commonly, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision never has seemed like it was as well thought out and as good an idea as the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision has had projected project timelines over the years that never manage to happen. For instance a couple years ago American's Biggest Boondoggle had a TNT explosion celebration to mark the start of construction of one of three little simple bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Construction on that bridge was supposed to begin soon after the TNT explosion. Many months later construction did start on that bridge, with a four year construction timeline. About a year ago construction on that bridge was halted due to the discovery of design errors. No one knows if or when America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridges will get built.

I hope the Lake  Wichita Revitalization Project is not plagued with Fort Worth type inept incompetence.

Way back in 2010 I remember riding my bike on Fort Worth's Trinity Trail. Soon I found myself seeing a lot of dirt being moved and the trail re-routed, along with a massive amount of signage announcing "Trinity River Vision Underway".

Way back then the official name for what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle was a lot shorter than it is now, fitting easier on a sign.

That dirt I saw being moved way back  in 2010 was to make a pond for an absurdity which became known as Cowtown Wakepark, a product of the Trinity River Vision. Cowtown Wakepark soon went out of business, due to multiple issues, most of which common sense would have obviated the Cowtown Wakepark ever being built  in the first place.

I do not see an unseemly amount of signage about the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, certainly not at the bizarre Orwellian propaganda level of what continues to be seen in Fort  Worth with its embarrassing boondoggle.

Is that huge "Panther Island Bridges Under Construction" sign still displaying near the Henderson Street Bridge near the location of Panther Island Pavilion? Where there is no island or pavilion?

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