My little brother and my favorite ex-sister-in-law got to visit Russia back when it was still the Soviet Union and the center of the communist world.
I never visited an official communist country where the media is state controlled and propaganda flows unquestioned by the kowtowed citizenry.
And then I moved to Texas. My brother got to go to see Red Square. I've gotten to see Sundance Square. Both well known centers of propaganda.
Reading through this latest TRV Update makes me feel that I actually do get to sort of experience what it was like to live in the Soviet Union, with Pravda propaganda being my main news source.
In the Trinity River Vision's website we get to read what I think must be the Trinity River Vision Mission Statement:
The Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA) is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. It is underway now - connecting every neighborhood in the city to the Trinity River corridor with new recreational amenities, improved infrastructure, environmental enhancements and event programming. The TRV will create Trinity Uptown, a vibrant urban waterfront neighborhood, expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation and enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails.
In the above piece of propaganda we read the surprising claim that the TRV has accommodated over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails?
Really?
What are these projects and who is it that did the requesting and how were the requests made, I can not help but wonder?
In the Trinity River Vision Update Fall 2012 Issue there is the following gem...
"The Trinity River is why we are here. Ironically due to the inherent dangers associated with the river we have never had the chance to build near it and appreciate it for what it is," said Trinity River Vision Authority Executive Director, J.D. Granger. "As we move forward with Uptown revitalization it's important that we embrace Fort Worth's rich history and show our recognition with a memorial on the banks of the river," he said.
J.D. thinks we've never had a chance to appreciate the river for what it is? As in a ditched waterway that is seriously polluted?
J.D. thinks it is important that we embrace Fort Worth's history with a memorial? Has J.D. never heard of Heritage Park? Just a short distance east of the proposed memorial is an existing memorial to Fort Worth's history and founding, called Heritage Park.
Heritage Park over looks the confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River. Heritage Park is a closed, cyclone fence surrounded, deteriorated eyesore that any grown up town wearing its big city pants would not allow to exist in such embarrassing decrepitude.
The memorial, to which J.D. refers, is announced in the headline on the front page of the TRV Update, "New Park Coming to Fort Worth Will Honor Ripley Arnold and John V. McMillan." The article does not refer to this development as a park, except in the headline. Elsewhere it is referred to as a plaza.
I believe that Lenin-like statue you see on the cover of the TRV Update, above, is the Ripley Arnold statue.
Also in the TVR Update we learn that...
The plaza will be located directly behind Tarrant County College Trinity River campus at the confluence of the Clear Fork and the West Fork of the Trinity River.
Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not true that that historic confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River, formerly viewed so beautifully from the defunct Heritage Park will be ruined by the Trinity River Vision if that vision ever becomes clear and actually builds the promised little pond at the location of the confluence?
So, this Ripley Arnold Memorial Plaza, that is being constructed on the north side of the defunct Radio Shack Headquarters, west of the defunct Heritage Park, will be on the shores of what many are already calling Granger Puddle.
And people wonder why I refer to this bizarre public works project, that the public has never voted on, as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.
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