Fort Worth's Forward Thrust Making Fish Safe To Eat

We had ourselves a stormy morning here in North Texas. The stormy morning has moved east to Louisiana, so we are back semi-sunny, with cool temps in the 70s.

When the rain let up around noon I had had enough of going stir crazy, so I escaped stir and drove to Oakland Lake Park. Any other nearby walking option would have been too wet.

The powers that be have lessened Oakland Lake's previously, more dire, "Don't Eat the Fish" warning signs. Now the warning signs just say, "A Fish Consumption Advisory Exist for this Water Body."

I saw a couple guys fishing today. What if they couldn't read English? And ate the fish they caught, not knowing there was a Consumption Advisory in place? There are also signs forbidding boating or swimming in this lake. I would not want to swim in that water, but what would be so bad about floating my boat in it?

If this water is so bad, why are there so many turtles and birds happily using the lake? Not to mention fish happily swimming about.

If the water is so bad, why is there no effort to clean it up? Way back in the 1960s, Lake Washington, by Seattle, had gotten badly polluted. I think fishing and swimming were banned. Several Washington lakes were in bad shape. Then there was this bond election called Forward Thrust that included new water treatment plants, among a lot of other things, like building the Kingdome, re-doing Woodland Park Zoo, fixing up Pike Place Market, I forget what else was voted on in the Forward Thrust election.

As a result of decisions made way back then, Lake Washington and other bodies of water in the Puget Sound zone have been clean and safe now for decades.

Fort Worth could use a Forward Thrust type election. But that's not the Fort Worth Way. First off, to have a Forward Thrust you'd have to have people willing to vote and able to see the vision involved in the Forward Thrust.

I really don't think Fort Worth needs to be building a little fake lake and some canals that the people of Fort Worth have not voted to build. I think Fort Worth needs a Forward Thrust that does things like bringing Fort Worth up to modern city mode by building sidewalks. I have never been in any other city where I've seen so many people walking on dirt paths, where in other towns sidewalks exist. Where there are sidewalks they are often so narrow that two average plus-sized Texans couldn't meet without one having to step off the sidewalk.

Before building a fake lake I think Fort Worth should clean up the lakes that already exist.

And as part of Fort Worth Forward Thrust, how about fixing the eyesores in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District. Start with the New Isis Theater.

As part of Fort Worth Forward Thrust how about landscaping the freeway exits in town, like most towns on the west coast do? Or at least landscape and keep litter free the two exits to Fort Worth's main tourist attraction, that being the Stockyards. Here, go to my Eyes on Texas website and the webpage about the Stockyards, scroll down til you see the part about the Stockyard's freeway exits. There is a picture of one of the freeway exits at my old hometown of Mount Vernon, a little town of less than 30,000 that manages to keep its freeway exits landscaped and litter free.

I walked all over Tacoma last summer. Everywhere I walked there was a nice wide sidewalk.

Now I know the climate in Western Washington is more conducive to colorful landscaping, but how is it that many towns on the West Coast manage to hang huge flower baskets from lamp poles all over their downtowns? Leavenworth, in Eastern Washington, has a much more Texas type climate than the west side of the Cascades. Yet, little Bavarian-themed, tourist town, Leavenworth, has huge hanging baskets of flowers all over town and on the ground? How is it Leavenworth can do that, but a town like Fort Worth can not?

Go here and get a look at Leavenworth. Ask yourself if that little town can make itself into such a hugely popular tourist attraction, with no eyesores, why can't Fort Worth, with its 3/4 of a million people population, do a makeover of the Stockyards, that turns it into all it could and should be?

I know, it's not the Fort Worth Way. I know there is no way for the Fort Worth Way to change, when only 6% of the people bother to vote. That's sad. It could be so much nicer here with a little citizen backed Forward Thrusting replacing Ruling Junta Boondoggles that get undertaken with little public input or debate. I think the people of Fort Worth might learn to like it if they got together to Thrust Fort Worth Forward instead of letting the Ruling Junta take the town places the people don't really want to go.

Okay, I'm done venting over Saturday's debacle election. For now.