Mr. & Mrs. Galtex Are In Argentina Where They Learned Fort Worth Has America's Top Downtown

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex are two of the few people who live in downtown Fort Worth. The Galtex's are currently escaping the Texas HEAT in a little town in Argentina called Buenos Aires.

This afternoon Mr. Galtex emailed me an email, subject line "The #1 Downtown in America" with one of the lines of the text in the email saying, "No matter how far away we travel, we can't escape the powerful attractions of Sundance Square. Mrs. Galtex received the attached newsletter, and we thought we'd pass it along."

I have no idea who are what demented entity is claiming Fort Worth has America's top downtown.

Now, don't go thinking that I don't think that downtown Fort Worth is a perfectly fine downtown with many perfectly fine attributes.

But.

It is absurd to tout this type of ridiculous propaganda. It ill serves the locals who may have never seen the downtown of another of America's big cities.

Believing this type propaganda misleads locals into thinking that, well, I guess having a boarded up eyesore celebrating our town's Heritage at the north end of our downtown is not such a bad thing, why we've still got the best downtown in America.

Believing this type propaganda misleads locals into thinking it must not be a bad thing that downtown Fort Worth does not have a single grocery store or a department store, why we've still got the best downtown in America.

Believing this type propaganda misleads locals into thinking it must not be a bad thing that downtown Fort Worth does not have a public transit system directly connecting its downtown to its airport, why we've still got the best downtown in America.

I could go on and on. And usually do.

Nothing points out the absurdity of anyone claiming downtown Fort Worth has the best downtown in America than one undeniable fact, that being on the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town, due to the lack of stores, a fact I have documented several times and as recently as the most recent day after Thanksgiving in a blogging titled Having Fun Looking For Black Friday Shoppers Today In Downtown Fort Worth.

I don't understand why there are people in Fort Worth who propagate this type of propaganda. Why not actually do some things that might actually make Fort Worth one of the best downtowns in America? Start with getting rid of the eyesores.

Including Panther Island Pavilion.

Actually follow through on getting rid of that giant flying saucer that is attached to Fort Worth's Convention Center.

Send a study group to look at some of America's actual best downtowns and discover things that  might work in downtown Fort Worth.

There was way too much local back patting over finally adding a square to downtown Fort Worth after years of confusing tourists with signs pointing to a non-existent Sundance Square. I think the fact that it took so long to actually add a square to Sundance Square is symptomatic of the problem that keeps Fort Worth from actually having one of the best downtowns in America.

A dynamic downtown in America would not have a slow motion boondoggle festering on the north end of its downtown, festering with no project completion timeline, a public works project never voted on by the public. A boondoggle which putters slowly along.

And no one. Well hardly anyone, says this boondoggle is ridiculous. A vibrant city, with one of America's best downtowns, would not suffer gladly a project undertaken in slow motion, now with three bridges over nothing under construction, causing traffic woes for four years as the little non-signature bridges are built.

And please, I beg you, please, no one make a comment telling me that ESPN chose downtown Fort Worth as their opening day of college football location, because Fort Worth has the best downtown in America.

I suspect the conversation inside ESPN likely went something like, where do you want to hold this thing?

We need a location where the locals will come out and act all excited. Nowhere with any level of sophistication. We need some place where not a lot happens.

Hey, remember that Dallas Super Bowl debacle where we set up in a parking lot we thought was Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth? You would not believe the number of locals who showed up when it quit freezing.

So, you think downtown Fort Worth is a good location, rather than one of America's better downtowns?

Yes. We'll have a huge crowd of drunken rowdies. Plus, that parking lot we used before that we thought was Sundance Square. Well, now they have actually built a square. It's not a very big thing, but it might be big enough for our purposes.

Little did ESPN know that they were returning to the Best Downtown in America.....