Muddy Pipe Swinging Mayhem At Lucy Park Today

On my visit to Lucy Park a couple days ago I was perplexed by odd things I was seeing.  Big pipes, scaffoldings, piles of dirt.

On this final day of the 2022 version of April I knew something was happening as soon as I entered Lucy Park. I had never seen so many vehicles, parked in so many locations, at Lucy Park. Eventually I found a parking spot.

And soon after exiting my vehicle I began seeing groups of people running. A short while after seeing runners I saw a group come to the above pipe. It was elevated off the ground, so as to sway as the runners crawled through the pipe.

A short time later I saw what the piles of dirt were for. A large hose turned the dirt into mud, with people having to make their way through a series of muddy obstactles.

Yeah, that looked like a lot of fun.

 And then after getting covered in mud you got to go through the shower you see above,

There were multiple vendor stations, selling food and drink. Loud music added to the mayhem.

I prefer my Lucy Park visits to be more sedate.

I was in the mood for some quiet communing with nature after this morning being vexed by my computer going into rebel mode.

I think I am likely going to be getting a new computer, though it seems to be, knock on wood, working right now.

Fort Worth On The Cutting Edge Of Technology Mining Bitcoins

A couple days ago the DFW entity known as Stenotrophomonas left a comment on a blog post which directed me to what seems to be some new Fort Worth lunacy. But, may not be lunacy, what with it being a fact that I really don't understand cryptocurrency. 

The comment from Stenotrophomonas...

Stenotrophomonas has left a new comment on your post "Driving By The Skagit Valley Tulips East To Snow Covered Cascades":

White for now, but soon to be green with envy.

Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin

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I think the Stenotrophomonas white reference was referring to the snow covered Cascades, whilst the green with envy reference referred to what is known as Fort Worth's Green With Envy syndrome, usually manifested in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where some mundane thing in Fort Worth will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

In this instance it is the cryptocurrency known as bitcoin, which will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy. Though this Fort Worth Report article does not use the green with envy verbiage, it does contain some verbiage of that type delusional sort.

Let's look at this article about Fort Worth embracing cryptocurrency for some examples of delusion. That did not take long. The first sentence...

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker wants the world to know Cowtown is open to cryptocurrency.

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Yes, I imagine the world is quite excited that Fort Worth is open to cryptocurrency. And then there is this quote from Fort Worth's mayor...

“I’ve been joking that we’re Cowtown and cryptocurrency, right?” Parker said on the stream. “It’s all happening in Fort Worth.”

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That is some real knee slapping joking there, joking that Fort Worth is Cowtown and cryptocurrency. And it is all happening in Fort Worth. And then there is this...

Standing beside Parker, Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, described Texas as the epicenter for Bitcoin mining globally. Now, he said, Fort Worth is taking steps to become the capital of Bitcoin mining in the state. 

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Texas is the global epicenter of bitcoin mining? With Fort Worth to be the capital of Texas bitcoin mining?

Okay, reading this bitcoin mining stuff had me wondering what that means. So, I Googled "bitcoin mining" and read the Wikipedia article about bitcoin. Reading that article did not help much.

The next bit of bitcoin info in the Fort Worth Report mirrors what I read in the Wikipedia article...

Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, a digital currency that is not backed by an establishment such as a bank. To make sure each Bitcoin transaction is verified, machines in a network compete to solve a complicated math problem. If the machine solves it first, it becomes the official record of the transaction. A Bitcoin is given in exchange as an award to the first miner that solves the math problem. This process is called mining. 

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Yeah, that totally cleared up this whole bitcoin mining thing. With the following paragraph adding even more confusing clarity...

The city of Fort Worth will mine with three Bitmain Antminer S9 machines donated by the Texas Blockchain Council — an organization made up of companies and people working in the cryptocurrency industries. The miners, worth $2,100 altogether, will operate 24 hours a day at the Information Technology Solutions Department at Fort Worth City Hall in a six-month pilot program. 

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And another bit of illumination from Fort Worth's mayor...

"The pilot program isn’t just about testing cryptocurrency," Parker said. “It’s bigger than that. We want to be a city that’s on the forefront of technology innovation. And what I’ve noticed lately is that any company that’s on the forefront of technology, they’re all talking about cryptocurrency.” 

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Who knew Fort Worth wanted to be on the forefront of technology innovation? And how does one notice that any company on the forefront of technology is talking about cryptocurrency?

Two more paragraphs, then go read the entire Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin article...

During the live Twitter conversation, Parker said she got the idea when she was running for mayor and started talking to Les Kreis, principal at Steelhead Capital, about how the city can be at the cutting edge of technology. 

The city of Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers to grow their companies or relocate. It recently established an entrepreneurship and innovation council committee and has funded the Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator program, according to past reporting from the Fort Worth Report. 

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No, that is not even remotely delusional, for the Fort Worth mayor to think Fort Worth could somehow be on the cutting edge of technology. Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers?

Here's a reality check for the mayor. A town on the cutting edge of anything has streets with sidewalks, modern public transportation, city parks with zero outhouses, no slums, good schools, a well educated population and attributes of many sorts which attract a corporation to invest.

I remember when Fort Worth was trying to woo Intel to build a big facility near where I lived when I first moved to Texas. Fort Worth offered Intel multiple incentives. But, Intel chose to build in Chandler, Arizona. Fort Worth should send a task force to Chandler to see why Intel would pick that town over Fort Worth.

I have given up trying to understand why Fort Worth, as reflected in the town's leaders, and its only newspaper of record, is so prone to delusions about the town, pretending it is something it is not, pretending it can be something it can not possibly ever be, such as becoming a city at the cutting edge of technology.

I can see how Austin might be a Texas town which could see itself on the cutting edge of technology. But Fort Worth?

Cowtown and Cryptocurrency...

New Lucy Park Possible Art Installation Mysteries

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured on this last Thursday of the 2022 version of April. As you can see via the photo documentation it is a cloudy day today, heading towards thunderstorming predicted in a few hours.

The art installation you see above arrived since I last visited Lucy Park. Along with some wooden structures, sort of scaffolding-like. And large piles of dirt. No clue what is underway at Lucy Park.

A steady wind was not vexing today. But there were some troublesome gusts, one of which blew off my head covering.

The BIG news in my neighborhood, which I learned of this morning, is a new grocery store will soon open a short distance from my abode. This will likely drastically change my regular routine, which consists of going to Walmart way too often.

It's the little things that can cheer a person up, sometimes...

Driving By The Skagit Valley Tulips East To Snow Covered Cascades

 

I saw that which you see above, and below, this morning on Facebook, via the Skagit Breaking Facebook page. Seeing this caused me to think those living in an extremely flat area of America, who have not been to a more mountainous area of America, might find this interesting.

Of late I have posted a photo or two of the currently colorful Skagit Valley, in Tulip Festival mode.

State Highway 20 is the road which takes you from the saltwater beaches of the north end of Puget Sound, over the Skagit Flats, through the town I grew up in, Burlington, continuing east, following the Skagit River, eventually becoming the North Cascades Highway, as it passes through North Cascades National Park.

If I remember right, it was in the early 1970s the North Cascades Highway, then known as the North Cross State Highway, opened, providing a new route to Eastern Washington over the Cascade Mountains.

Deep snow annually closes the North Cascades Highway, usually.

Again, if I remember right, there was one winter where that mountain pass did not close, due to a drought caused light snow pack.

The photos you see above, and below, show the North Cascades Highway currently in snow removal mode, clearing the way to being re-opened. 

At the same time the Skagit Flats are blooming in technicolor, you can drive a short distance east and be back in a Winter Wonderland.

When I lived in the Skagit Valley I didn't realize how unique it was, how one can drive a few miles to the west and be at a saltwater beach, or hop a ferry to visit the San Juan Islands, or drive a few miles east and be up in the mountains.

At my current location I would need to drive hundreds of miles to see anything resembling a mountain. Or a saltwater beach.

I think I would like living in Washington, again, with a greater appreciation of its multiple attributes...

J.D. Granger's New Contact With The Panther Island Boondoggle

It seems like just a day or two ago we learned that the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision was finally rid of J.D. Granger, after years of befuddling Fort Worth locals as to what it was that J.D. Granger did for the Boondoggle Vision that warranted paying him well over $200,000 a year.

The announcement that J.D. Granger was no longer employed by the TRWD (Tarrant Regional Water District) told us J.D. Granger was going to be starting a new consulting business.

And today we learn that J.D. Granger has secured his first consulting job.

A contract with the TRWD!

The shenanigans never cease.

Let's take a look at this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram Former Panther Island project head inks $72,000 contract with Tarrant water district article to see if there is any sort of sane explanation for awarding J.D. Granger this contract.

The first two paragraphs in this article...

JD Granger is not done with the Tarrant Regional Water District. 

The former head of the Panther Island, who announced he was stepping down from that post last Friday, is rejoining the district that is coordinating the flood-control aspects of the project as a consultant. The six-month contract is worth $72,000.

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Granger is not done with the Tarrant Regional Water District? I thought it was the TRWD that came to its senses and was done with Granger, due to the fact that his function of motivating his mother to secure federal funding was no longer viable. He was the former head of Panther Island? Was this a formal position with a job title? Being the head of an imaginary island? J.D. is going to be a consultant on the flood-control aspects? Flood control where there has been no flooding for well over half a century due to flood-control mechanisms already existing.

The next paragraph is a doozy....

“He brings a knowledge of all the project elements, all the project history, and how we can use this information to get the project completed,” said the district’s general manager, Dan Buhman.

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He brings knowledge of all the project elements? Really? What are those elements about which J.D. Granger is so knowledgeable? And this vast knowledge will get the project completed? This is a 6 month contract. Does this mean the project will be completed in six months? After Boondoggling along for most of this century?

And then there are the next two paragraphs...

The district will pay Granger $12,000 per month, which is roughly $8,000 less than his salary when he was employed by the district. Granger did not immediately return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

He will advise the water district on so-called “betterments,” which Buhman explained are design features or flood control elements beyond what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is willing to pay for. Under the Panther Island plan, the Corps will dig a 1.5-mile channel along Trinity River near downtown, creating two islands that will be open for redevelopment with multifamily housing, restaurants and entertainment. 

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Oh, so this is saving the Water District, and the taxpayers, money, getting the benefit of J.D. Granger's vast knowledge for $8,000 less a month than was previously being paid for his vast knowledge of civil engineering projects.

He will advise the water district on so-called betterments? So, J.D. will be using his vast design knowledge to come up with design features the Army Corps of Engineers is not willing to pay for? I wonder if J.D.'s betterments will be of the quality level of some of his former betterments, such as the quickly failing Cowtown Wakepark, which Granger touted as bringing the coveted sport of wakeboarding to Fort Worth. And what ever became of that betterment announced a couple years ago, that being that river cruise betterment modeled after the river cruise on the Brazos River in Waco?

And then there is this doozy providing an example of what is meant by betterments...

“The example I always use is a ditch. If we could make it a better looking ditch, we would pay a little extra,” Buhman explained. 

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Yes, that does seem to be a illustrative example of a betterment. It makes sense to pay a little more for a better looking cement lined ditch, if the ditch is ever dug to go under those three simple little bridges which took seven years to build over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, of which J.D. Granger was the former head.

And then we come to this paragraph...

Granger has the necessary institutional knowledge to advise the district on which of those improvements the Corps would be responsible for, and which would be paid for locally, Buhman said. The water district is a government entity funded by taxpayer dollars.

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Really, so without Granger's institutional knowledge advising the district there is just no other way to know what improvements the Corps would be responsible for? Why not just ask the Corps? Wouldn't that be cheaper than paying J.D. Granger for his imaginary vast knowledge?  Wasn't it Granger's vast design knowledge that came up with those V-piers for the three bridges? Piers which were not the type piers the Corps recommended. The design of which were one of the many incompetence's which caused it to take so long to build the little bridges over dry land.

In the following six paragraphs we learn there are some voices of reason and common sense regarding the ongoing J.D. Granger debacle...

Doreen Geiger, a member the Water District Accountability Project pushing for more transparency at the district, initially chaffed at the idea of keeping Granger on in any capacity. 

She pointed to the district’s $7,500-per-month contract with Mark Mazzanti, a 35-year veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers, and the district’s $833,151 contract with project scheduling company Innovative Management Solutions Inc., to argue there’s no need to keep Granger on.

Buhman said that Mazzanti’s role is to advise on Corps bureaucracy, and Innovative Management Solutions helps with the technical scheduling of different elements of the project. 

Granger knows why certain project elements are the way they are and can help advise the district on how to move forward, Buhman said. 

Geiger acknowledged the financial benefits of contracting with Granger at a rate lower than what he was making while working for the water district.

 “If we don’t do that, he’ll be there for years. It’s cheaper to give him some money for a short term and then he’s gone,” Geiger said.

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So, a member of the Water District Accountability Project, Doreen Geiger, thought Granger should be no longer involved in any capacity, and that a large sum of money was already being paid to entities with knowledge of the project.

And then the Water Board's Buhman claims that Granger knows why certain elements of the Boondoggle are the way they are, and thus can advise the district on how to move forward.

With the Water District Accountability Project person acknowledging that they are getting Granger's vast knowledge at a cheaper rate, and then the WDAP person continues to turn that lemon into lemonade by suggesting it is cheaper to be rid of J.D. Granger by giving him money for six months, after which he will be gone, than it would have been had he stayed at his previous TRWD position, which would have kept paying him for years for doing whatever it is he has done all these years of being paid what seems to be an exorbitant sum to someone with zero qualifications, training, or experience at directing any sort of public works project.

And then we have another Fort Worth local expressing his concerns....

Lon Burnam, a former state representative and member of the same watchdog group as Geiger, raised concerns about Granger’s contract being negotiated outside of the public eye or public board meetings.

Granger’s contract does not need approval from the water district board. The board weighs in on contracts at or above $75,000, according to a source within the district.

 Burnam said he recognizes the value of Granger’s institutional knowledge but questioned the optics of having this contract negotiated behind closed doors.

 “This wheeling and dealing behind the scenes is what’s gone on for decades at the water district, which leads to no trust level for the district,” he said. 

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So, J.D. Granger was grifted this contract by making the amount being paid under the threshold which requires TRWD board approval? Yeah, that does not seem shady at all.

It would be real interesting to see detailed what Granger's institutional knowledge consists of. In the press, and other venues, over the years, Granger has come across as a bit of a buffoon.

Methinks we have not heard to last of this chapter of the ongoing J.D. Granger saga...

Back To Lucy Park After Sunday Storm With More J.D. Granger Nonsense

On Saturday I had a windy walk at Lucy Park in which I made mention of J.D. Granger's sudden Trinity River Vision departure.

Someone named Anonymous then submitted a blog comment about the Granger departure subject...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Windy Lucy Park Walk With J.D. Granger's Sudden Trinity River Vision Departure":

“We are now known for having the only section of a river in a Texas downtown area that you can swim in and Texas’ only waterfront stage,”

So many facts needed checking in JD's announcement. I remember canoeing and swimming in the Colorado River in downtown Austin in the 1980s. Has that been closed?

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I recollect mentioning to Elsie Hotpepper that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about the Granger departure read like ridiculous blatant propaganda.

Granger weirdly, inaccurately bragging that he somehow un-polluted the Trinity River, turning it into the only downtown river in Texas where you can swim in a river, is embarrassingly delusional

Fort Worth is now known for having the only section of a river in a Texas downtown that you can swim in?

How about, more accurately, Fort Worth is the only Texas town to have city officials so dumb they think it a good idea to pretend a polluted river with frequently dangerously high e.coli contamination, is safe to get wet in.

And the only waterfront stage in Texas.

Yeah, that is one amazing stage on that equally amazing waterfront.

In addition to being able to swim in the Colorado River as it flows through Austin, is it not possible to also swim in the Brazos River as it flows through Waco?

The Brazos River as it flows through Waco is actually beautifully scenic, particularly the section that flows past the white cliffs of Cameron Park.

Anyway, it was back to Lucy Park this final Monday of the 2022 version of April. You might have guessed that to be the case due to that picture at the top of today's view of the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge.

I drove to Lucy Park this morning not knowing if the park might be closed due to the Wichita River going into flood mode due to Sunday's heavy rain. But, the river did not seem much higher today than it was on Saturday.

That storm Sunday was the strongest I've experienced in quite a while. Thunder booming went on for hours. As did rain. There were a few instances of light flickering after the sun left for the day, but the power did not stay off long enough during any of its flickers to cause anything digital to need to be reset.

Windy Lucy Park Walk With J.D. Granger's Sudden Trinity River Vision Departure

This next to last Saturday of the 2022 version of April is a blustery one in North Texas, a windy state not rendered obvious by the serene, peaceful Lucy Park Wichita River view you see above.

Gusts of wind had me holding onto my hat multiple times this morning as I hiked the Lucy Park backwoods. 

Even though there were gusts approaching a slow hurricane level of blowing, there were dozens of disc golfers throwing their discs. 

I have never disc golfed, but it seems to me doing so with extreme wind blowing would not be much fun.

Two news stories caught my eye this morning. The first was from Favorite Nephew Jason, sending me a news article purporting to tell the tale of his Aunt Clancy falling into an outhouse pit whilst attempting to retrieve her phone. Rescue specialists had to somehow lift Clancy out of that which she fell in to. And immediately hosed her down prior to more extensive sanitation measures.

The other news story first came to me via text message, then I saw it on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then a text message from Elsie Hotpepper pointing to an article about the subject in Fort Worth Report.

The news?

J.D. Granger is no longer working for the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.  Granger had been removed from his position as Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Authority a couple years ago, but continued to be paid well over $200K a year, even though he no longer had a designated position.

The story being told is that Granger resigned and is starting up a new business, named after himself. Granger claims he feels he can leave the Trinity River Vision now because his work there is done, after decades of boondoggling, the claim is the project is now on track to be a vision someone might one day see.

Many have asked many times what it is, exactly, that J.D. Granger has done during all these years of boondoggling. 

That question was first asked a long long time ago when a Trinity River Vision insider got fed up with what they were seeing at TRVA headquarters. Money spent on all sorts of perks. Perks from I-phones to I-pads, to junkets, to cars, to spending an inordinate amount of time, each day, discussing where to go to lunch today on the public's dime. 

The person who was telling us about things they just thought were not appropriate referred to him or herself as Deep Moat.

I remember one item which appalled Deep Moat was the well stocked liquor supply at TRVA headquarters.

But what really set Deep Moat's nerves on edge was the extramarital office affair J.D. Granger was having with one of his subordinates, who he later married after divorcing the mother of his children.

Anyway, do you think we will ever know what exactly J.D. Granger did all these years whilst being so well paid to do what would seem to be basically nothing, what with so little to show for all the years of boondoggling?

Oh, yes, there are those three little bridges built over dry land, waiting for a cement lined ditch to be dug under them. And there were those Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River. And let's not forget J.D. Granger touting the Cowtown Wakepark, bringing the coveted sport of wakeboarding to Fort Worth, which soon became one of J.D. Granger's early failures, a failure fairly easy to predict for anyone with even a slight modicum of common sense.

Many are feeling a bit cynical about the reason for J.D. Granger's departure. Was he given the option of resigning to avoid the embarrassment of being fired? Had the TRWD board realized there was no longer any reason to keep employing J.D. Granger so as to motivate his mother to secure federal funding, which the woman totally failed at, including voting no on the federal infrastructure bill which finally saw Fort Worth get the money to build that ditch under those bridges.

Methinks there is more to this story. Perhaps we will be hearing from Deep Moat...

Windy Sikes Lake Walk With Goslings

Yesterday, after communing with nature at Sikes Lake I mentioned that the geese and ducks were acting frisky.

And that baby goslings and ducklings would be appearing soon.

Well. Soon turned out to be today. Can you spot the pair of goslings above? Guarded by their hissing honking maternal parental unit.

Let's go for a closer look...

I have never been at Sikes Lake and seen a mama goose sitting on eggs, waiting for them to hatch. I have no idea where the maternity ward might be. There is not a lot of cover surrounding Sikes Lake. It is mostly open with, a few bushes that a hatchling might hatch under.. 

No blue sky over my area of Texas today. Total cloud cover. With strong wind blowing extremely gusty at time. Rain on the menu for tomorrow.

Sikes Lake Evening Primrose Appearance With Frisky Geese

They are not quite as eye catching as a field of colorful tulips, but every Spring the Texas landscape becomes more colorful than it is for the other three seasons, with the blooming of wildflowers, of multiple types and colors.

Above you are seeing some Evening Primroses which have sprouted out of the ground since the last time I walked around Sikes Lake.

Yesterday, when Linda Lou rode to Walmart with me, my vehicle's temperature monitoring thermometer said the temperature was 106. My phone said it was 102. It felt like 125.

Today's walk around Sikes Lake was only slightly HOT, temperatured into the mid 80s.

Texas is in a state of severe drought. This may limit the amount of color the wildflowers will be blooming this year.

The Sikes geese were being frisky today. One hissed at me, another seemed to be chasing me. I think the hot weather and a lot of green stuff to eat is making the geese overly energetic.

Soon flocks of goslings and ducklings should be making their annual appearance...

Tacoma Trio With Tulips & Hank Frank

Waking up my phone this morning I found some photos had arrived overnight. Some from Tacoma, some from Chandler.

The text which came with the photos from Tacoma said, "We would ask where in the Pacific Northwest we are, but these are hardly a challenge."

Well, since there is only one location in the Pacific Northwest where one would see a scene such as that which we see above, it takes zero guess work to determine that Ruby, Theo and David are visiting the Skagit Valley Tulips. 

I did not know that yesterday when I blogged Unexpected Skagit Tulip Festival Visit To The Slotemaker Jones Family Compound that the Tacoma Trio were, at that point in time, visiting the Tulips and the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound.

With the photo above confirming the Tacoma Trio were at the epicenter of the Skagit Tulip Festival, at the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound, with Hank Frank giving Ruby, Theo and David a tour of his orchard.

Not many people in the world have this view from their front, back and side yards. I believe this visit with Hank Frank is the first time the Tacoma Trio met their cousin Joey's first born. I suspect the COVID nightmare had prevented such from happening previously.

And here we see Ruby walking with Hank Frank, continuing Hank Frank's tour of his orchard.

Above David, Ruby and Theo have left the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound to drive a couple miles to the west and south, to the town of La Conner. Behind the Tacoma Trio that is what is known as the Rainbow Bridge, connecting the mainland to Fidalgo Island.

The Rainbow Bridge is a real bridge, built over real water, the Swinomish Channel, to connect to a real island.

Above it looks like the Tacoma Trio are still somewhere on the Skagit Flats, but I cannot tell where they are, exactly.

Well, now, in the above photo, I believe we have left the Skagit River Valley and are now in the Stillaguamish River Valley.

I did not know this giant tree stump still existed. It was a roadside attraction all the way back to when the road one drove from the Skagit Valley, south or north, was called Highway 99, before Interstate 5 arrived in the 1960s.

Eventually this stump ended up in an I-5 rest area near Smokey Point.  Clearly, someone went to the effort to preserve the stump, and protect it by putting a roof over it.

I wonder where in the Pacific Northwest the Tacoma Trio will be taking us next?

Unexpected Skagit Tulip Festival Visit To The Slotemaker Jones Family Compound

 

I saw that which you see above, yesterday, on Facebook.

When I saw the photo image I thought what a great pic of the Skagit Tulips, with Mount Baker hovering in the distance.

Then I read the comments and saw my little brother, Jake Slotemaker Jones, informing us that the house in the photo is owned by his oldest son, who also is my Favorite Nephew Jason, father of Spencer Jack, brother of my Favorite Nephew Joey, who is the father of Hank Frank.

Jake points out that Nephew Joey lives next door, on acreage just to the south, which we know as the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound, at the heart of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

I do not know when, or if, Jason will be moving to the house he bought next door to his brother. Jason and Spencer Jack currently reside in a house in Mount Vernon, near Hillcrest Park, with Linda Lou being a nearby neighbor.

A couple months ago Jason told me I could stay in his Slotemaker Jones Family Compound house if I came up during the Skagit Tulip Festival time of the year. I indicated I would need an internet connection of the wi-fi sort and was assured that would be available. 

It has been several years, now, since I my eyes have seen any scenic scenery. Not since I was last in Arizona, back in July of 2019, have I seen anything scenic.

It is beginning to look unlikely that I will be heading to the Pacific Northwest this coming summer. A high school class reunion is scheduled which I have little interest in attending.

If I fly anywhere I am thinking it will be somewhere tropical where mangoes grow naturally...

Lucy Park Easter Bridge Suspense With Alligator Alley

 

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured, in the noon timeframe, on this Easter Sunday of 2022, joining throngs of fellow Easterites enjoying a perfect temperature in the 60s, with zero wind blowing.

In the above photo documentation we are standing in the middle of the renovated Lucy Park Suspension Bridge, looking south at the mighty Wichita River

Yesterday, at Lucy Park, I shivered as I fast walked trying to warm up. A day later and there was no shivering, whilst wearing pretty much the same outerwear.

For lunch today I made that Easter staple of chicken rice tomato soup, with whole wheat grilled cheese sandwiches. For dessert I had an orange.

After taking that photo from the middle of the bridge, I continued on to the east bank. 

From the east bank I eventually reached Alligator Alley and then found a trail to the edge of the river for a view of the suspension bridge as a couple kids tentatively made their way across, unnerved by the swaying bounciness.

When I made my way back to the bridge, to cross back into Lucy Park, there were four more people making the crossing. The semi-elderly pair of the four seemed real nervous, with grandma tightly clutching the top cable as she meekly made her way across. While they crossed I stayed stationary so as to not increase the swaying into even more of a Galloping Gertie mode.

Galloping Gertie was the nickname given the first Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge. Bad design caused that bridge to oscillate severely when a strong wind blew through the Narrows. One day Galloping Gertie galloped so severely that it destroyed itself, crashing into the saltwater below.

I suspect the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge will never come to a tragic end like the first Tacoma Narrows bridge did...

Cold Saturday At Lucy Park With "Snow"

Yesterday was HOT, with the outer world heated into the mid 90s.

Overnight a cold front blew in, with a cool temperature in the low 60s when I communed with nature at Lucy Park this morning, an hour before noon.

I was not properly outfitted in sufficient outerwear to stay warm, what with a strong wind blowing that cold air.

So, I walked fast through the Lucy Park backwoods zone, hoping to warm up. 

Fast walking did not much help with that warming up plan.

But, as you see, via the photo documentation above, green has now replaced brown as the dominant color.

Walking along I was slightly startled when I saw what looked to be snow on the ground. I knew it was cold, but not a snow level of cold. And there is no way any snow could remain from the snow that fell in March, or so I thought.

I walked closer to take a picture of the "snow" on the ground. I am almost 100% certain this is some other white substance, other than snow.

I did not think it wise to touch the "snow" to see if it was cold...

Upgraded Lucy Park Suspension Bridge Open To Traffic

The Lucy Park Suspension Bridge renovation is completed, with the bridge now open to traffic wanting to cross over the Wichita River.   

I am not sure I like the new version of side rails, what with it being three cables about a foot apart.

The swaying on the bridge whilst crossing seemed more active than the pre-renovation version. Seems like a little dog could manage to fall off the bridge edge. Or a crawling toddler.     

Another extremely windy day today. Perhaps that added to the bridge's swaying action. Gusts reaching almost 50 mph. The temperature high today is predicted to be in the 90s. The wind should make 90 feel not so HOT. 

The spacebar on my keyboard went haywire this morning, making for an early visit to Walmart to get a keyboard replacement.  It did not occur to me I could use the laptop keyboard which is sitting right in front of me.

I worry these type incidents are indicative of developing dementia. ..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Wind Chilly Wichita Bluffs Nature Area High Speed Hill Hiking

With the wind blowing blustery powerful gusts, resulting in a wind chill causing this morning's temperature of 52 to feel too cool for what I chose to wear to the Wichita Bluffs Nature Area to commune with nature via some high-speed hill walking.

The Wichita Bluffs Hoodoo Cairn installation, today, was the tallest, most precarious I have seen at this location.

One would think this type of natural construction would not survive the high-speed gusting winds.

So far, I have not found the 20 pounds I lost last month. Not carrying those 20 pounds seemed to make the high-speed hill hiking much easier.

Shrinking to a new size should make stuffing myself into an airplane seat much more comfortable than the last time I subjected myself to that particular torture.

Hiking the Wichita Bluffs today had me thinking it sure would be fun to hike a real mountain trail. Maybe if I make it to Washington this summer I can find myself a real mountain to hike on...

Celebrating Easter In Fort Worth With Jesus & The KKK

The screen cap from today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which you see above, is a variant of our patented theme of seeing something in an online west coast news source that one would not expect to see in a Texas online news source.

Usually, the west coast news source is the Seattle Times, with the Texas news source being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

In today's case it is seeing something in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about something in Fort Worth, that one would not expect to see in the Seattle Times about a similar thing in Seattle.

If I remember correctly, the Ku Kluz Klan was active in Fort Worth as recently as the 1960s. 

Methinks finding oneself seeing a group like this in person would be scary, almost as scary as finding oneself facing a group of Nazi Gestapo.

Or a group of Putin Russians...

Happy Birthday Sister Michele

 

UPDATE REPOST: Another year has been added to my baby sister's accumulation of time spent revolving around the sun. The following is a repeat of last year's happy birthday blogging...

On this day, many decades ago, my youngest sibling was born.

I have been extremely distracted for a few days, with those distractions causing me not to remember til now that on this day, many decades ago, my youngest sibling was born.

Happy Birthday Sister Michele

I talked to my sibling who was born seven years before Michele, this morning. That would be Sister Jackie.

Sister Jackie was back in Arizona after spending 10 days in Washington, where she got to spend time with Sister Michele, Mama Kristin, David, Theo and Ruby.

And got to meet Hank Frank and Hank Frank's Mama Monique, for the first time.

Jackie had herself a mighty fine time in Washington this visit, particularly enjoying meeting Hank Frank and his Mama.

It is looking increasingly unlikely I will be having myself a mighty fine time this coming summer in Washington meeting Hank Frank and his Mama, along with having fun with David, Theo, Ruby and Spencer Jack. Among others.

But who knows? Circumstances can quickly change...

Skagit Valley Tulips Looking At Mount Baker With Chris & Sheila

I saw that which you see above on Facebook, this morning, via the "You know you're from Anacortes when..." Facebook page.

It is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival time of the year. During the month of the festival more than a million visitors descend on the Skagit Flats to view the flowers and visit the various Tulip venues. On weekends this creates epic traffic jams.

I have not been in the Skagit Valley whilst the tulips are blooming since April of 2006. Since that time a Jones Family Compound has been established on Beaver Marsh Road, near the Roozen Garde epicenter of the Tulip Festival.

A couple months ago the elder Jones Boy told me I could stay in one of the unoccupied houses in the Jones Family Compound if I wanted to visit the valley during Tulip time. This seemed tempting, but I am not quite ready to resume flying, yet.

The past couple days I have been seeing non-Tulip photos of the Skagit Valley zone, on Facebook, via the Washingtonians known and Chris and Sheila. Chris and Sheila have been at the RV Park at the Swinomish Casino Resort.

The Swinomish are one of the Skagit Valley's Native America tribes. The Skagit tribe also has a casino resort. I do not know if the Samish tribe have built a casino since I left living in the valley. My favorite buffet whilst living in Washington was the one found at the Skagit Casino.

One of the Chris and Sheila photos showed me that Mount Baker is back fully covered in white. During last year's drought Mount Baker, and the other Washington volcanoes lost most of their snow covers.

At the above location we are looking east. Anacortes is behind us. To the right are the Skagit Flats, where one finds the Tulips. The town I grew up in, Burlington, is on the other side of that slight hill you see in the middle of the photo, covered with trees. Mount Vernon, the town I lived in before moving to Texas, is to the right a couple miles.

This view of Mount Baker gives on an inkling as to why it might be a bit problematic if Mount Baker decides to erupt again. The last time Mount Baker blew its top was back in the 1860s, if I am remembering correctly.

Back when Mount St. Helens went active and eventually blew up, Mount Baker also got active, blowing off way more steam than it usually blows. It got bad enough that all the recreational land around Mount Baker was closed til the mountain calmed down.

A volcano blowing up is one thing I do not need to worry about at my current mountain free zone location. Today all I have to worry about is keeping cool with the outer world temperature going into the 90s...

Multiple Monday Lucy Park Bridge Closures

It was back to Lucy Park my motorized motion device took me on this second Tuesday of April, a day destined to be heated into the 80s.

As you can clearly see, above, the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge remains closed. The bridge deck has been totally replaced. After new side railing is installed, the bridge should be back open to traffic.

With the Lucy Park bridge across the Wichita River, closed, the Circle Trail which passes by the west entry to the bridge has also added a closure since the last visit to Lucy Park.

It is easy to get around the CLOSED TRAIL. The closure was caused by damage to a wooden bridge which crosses a shallow gulley. The railing on the left, which inhibited falling into the Wichita River, is missing. The bridge deck also looked in need of replacement.

From the TRAIL CLOSED sign it is about a half mile to Wichita Falls, that being the manmade waterfall, made by man to provide an answer to tourists asking where the waterfall in Wichita Falls is located.

Making an artificial waterfall is sort of a version of what Fort Worth did after decades of confusing that town's few tourists with signage pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square, til finally turning a parking lot into a little square, called Sundance Square Plaza.

So, that has been my exciting Monday, so far...

Vancouver Of The North Has A New Riverwalk

I saw that which you see above Saturday in the Seattle Times. A link to an article titled With new options for food, wine and walks on the Columbia, the Vancouver waterfront is buzzing. 

The first two paragraphs of this article...

Sawmills, shipyards, breweries and a paper mill once lined the north bank of the Columbia River in the “Other Vancouver,” the Washington town across the water from Portland that thrived with industry in the late 1800s.

Fast-forward to a post-pandemic 2022. People walk their dogs and kids play in a waterfront park flanked by restaurants, wine tasting rooms, a gourmet coffee “gastro” cafe, and, coming later this year: two hotels; an El Gaucho and 13 Coins restaurant; a brewery; and another taproom.

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Looks like Vancouver has built itself a Riverwalk, of sorts, on the banks of the mighty Columbia. How did this come to be I wondered? The answer came in the next paragraph...

“It intrigued me from the beginning,” said developer Barry Cain, who spearheaded Waterfront Vancouver, a mixed-use project with office buildings and residences, for the Gramor Development company. When Boise Cascade decided to close its paper mill in 2006, leaving dormant 35 acres of prime waterfront property just south of downtown Vancouver, Cain saw the opportunity “to take a situation like that, and do something that could change the face of the city.” 

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So, it appears private developers are the ones developing some prime Vancouver real estate, land which had previously served an industrial purpose, and is now being re-imagined. The next paragraph tells us how this land is being re-imagined...

Tying everything together is a 7-acre city-owned park connecting to the 5-mile Columbia River Renaissance Trail, popular for jogging and biking. Open-air patios stand on the half-mile paved path at Waterfront Park, lined with granite benches, play areas and water features, separated by the Grant Street Pier, an overlook suspended 90 feet over the river.

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That all sounds quite nice. And, what with this land only becoming available in 2006, rather quickly developed. Apparently without begging for federal funding. Or hiring a local politician's son to be part of the project to motivate that politician to secure federal funds.

What a concept. A big city wearing its big city pants.

And then there is this paragraph...

“Vancouver has always lived in the shadow of Portland,” says Seidy Selivanow, owner of Kafiex Roasters’ Gastro Café, which opened on the waterfront last April. “Now it’s taking on an identity of its own.”

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A city living in the shadow of a bigger, more well known city. Now, what does that remind me of? Oh, yeah, Fort Worth living in the dark shadow of Dallas.

When I saw this article referencing Vancouver I thought back a couple decades to that Sunday morning when I read a blaring headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram screaming "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH".

I remember reading that and thinking what fresh ridiculous nonsense is this gonna turn out to be? Little could I realize how totally absurdly ridiculous Trinity Uptown would become over the following decades, eventually morphing into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Riverwalk Vision, proudly, after years and years of construction, managing to build three pitiful freeway overpass type bridges over dry land, hoping one day to see a water filled ditch go under the bridges, thus creating an imaginary island.

I remember when I read that Star-Telegram article about Fort Worth being turned into the Vancouver of the South, wondering which Vancouver they were talking about. The Canadian Vancouver, or the Washington Vancouver? The Canadian Vancouver is surrounded by water, with mountains looming in the background, and a big river, the Fraser, passing by. The Washington Vancouver also has a big river, the Columbia, and mountains visible, such as the Mount Hood volcano in Oregon.

Fort Worth has zero of these attributes both Vancouvers possess.

Turns out it was the Canadian Vancouver Fort Worth was destined to become like. 

When this Star-Telegram Fort Worth nonsense happened I was early on in experiencing what I came to see as the town's, well, tendency to delusion, as reflected in its leaders and its one and only newspaper.

Trinity Uptown turning Fort Worth into Vancouver happened before the Santa Fe Rail Market was supposedly modeled after Seattle's Pike Place and public markets in Europe, when it turned out to be nothing more than a soon to fail lame mall food court type thing.

And then after that there was the time the Star-Telegram trumpeted that the Cabela's sporting goods store opening in far north Fort Worth would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Has the Star-Telegram ever apologized for misleading its few readers over that nonsensical nonsense? Even after a second Cabela's opened in DFW?

One more blurb from this article about this actual Vancouver development...

Fodor’s Travel took note, naming the Vancouver waterfront to its 2021 list of the nation’s 15 best river walks.

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I wonder if Fodor's Travel book will ever find itself adding Fort Worth to its list of the nation's 15 best river walks?

I suspect that will never happen, but if it does, Fort Worth will likely have a city wide celebration whilst bragging such is making towns, far and wide, green with envy...

Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival Is Back With Sasha Bass Threatening To Ruin Everything

The Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival is an event the likes of which I have never seen done better, anywhere.

I was so impressed with the Main Street Arts Festival, way back when I first attended it, the following year I made a Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival webpage.

This event takes place in downtown Fort Worth. Well, there was that one year around the turn of the century when a tornado wreaked havoc in downtown Fort Worth, causing the Main Street Arts Festival to move off Main Street to head a couple miles west to what is known in Fort Worth as the Cultural District.

So, this year a civil war of sorts has broken in downtown Fort Worth caused by Queen Sasha Bass.

We have blogged about this ongoing debacle a couple times, in...

Upcoming High Noon Shootout Between Sundance Sasha & Reata Micallef and in Time To Worry About Sundance Sasha With Lady Whistleworth.

Apparently, Queen Sasha got into some sort of turf war with the Main Street Arts Festival.

Sasha initiated a competing arts festival featuring local artists, with the local artists showing their arts in the area known as Sundance Square Plaza, that being the little square built on parking lots after years of confusing Fort Worth's few tourists with signs pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square, til the parking lots were turned into one.

A lifelong DFW native sent my phone that which you see above, with the text about Queen Sasha ruining everything, along with photos of the Main Street Arts Festival, which opened on Thursday and runs through Sunday.

That same lifelong DFW native also asked me if I was Fort Worth Duke, a new entry on Instagram, doing the same, I assume, well written snarkiness about Queen Sasha and the ongoing downtown Fort Worth debacle, currently on Instagram as Lady Whistleworth and Fort Worth Confidential.

I blogged about Lady Whistleworth in Time To Worry About Sundance Sasha With Lady Whistleworth, but do not remember if I blogged about Fort Worth Confidential. I do remember that I had intended to do so, after getting a blog comment pointing me to Fort Worth Confidential.

Oh, and I am not Fort Worth Duke...

Fort Worth City Manager & Billionaire With A Purse Puppy's Bad Bar Behavior

UPDATE: We did not realize we had previously made mention of the bad behavior of Sasha Bass, til a couple days ago, when we saw that this particular blog post from way back on November 21, 2021, was getting thousands of page views. In Spring of 2022 we have blogged about the Sasha Bass troubles in  Upcoming High Noon Shootout Between Sundance Sasha & Reata Micallef and in Time To Worry About Sundance Sasha With Lady Whistleworth.

A couple days I learned of an interesting incident that happened in Fort Worth involving Fort Worth's City Manager, David Cooke and Fort Worth billionaire, Sasha Bass and her purse puppy.

A bartender named Kimberly working in Fort Worth's Hotel Dryce was not happy with the behavior of Fort Worth's City Manager and that local billionaire with the purse puppy. 

Apparently Kimberly emailed Fort Worth Weekly regarding her experience with these overly self-entitled Fort Worth minions. I do not know if Fort Weekly published Kimberly's email on their hard copy edition. But I do know Fort Worth Weekly published Kimberly's email on their online version.

By the time I clicked on the link to the Fort Worth Weekly printing of Kimberly's email it had been removed, resulting in a no page found error. It was suggested in the subsequent Facebook discussion that Fort Worth Weekly took down the email after being threatened with a lawsuit.

Fort Worth Weekly meekly taking down an email after being threatened with a lawsuit seems highly unlikely to me.

Someone managed to save Kimberly's email and posted it in pieces on Facebook. That person made the following comment...

"Please read. Please share. This story has thus far been suppressed by one local newspaper. Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke, billionaire Sasha Bass and entourage. Jonathan Morris is the proprietor of Hotel Dryce. It’s been going around on Twitter but not so much on Facebook due to lack of a press URL."

I took the email pieces and turned them into one piece, which is what you can read below...

Wichita Falls Troubled Bridge Over Peacefull Water Nearly Restored

On this latest day of my ongoing daily, seemingly apparent, recreation of the Groundhog Day movie, where it almost seems as if I live a version of the same day, over and over again, with some days there seeming to be some slight difference.

Or improvement.

On this first Thursday of the 2022 version of April, it was back to Lucy Park for some high wind communing with nature via fast walking for a few dozen minutes.

A change today at Lucy Park was seeing that the rehabilitation of the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge bridge deck is completed. Awaiting the installation of new side guards to keep bridge walkers from falling into the roiling waters of the Wichita River.

This extensive restoration of this major crossing of the Wichita River is taking place over actual water.

In Wichita Falls we do not wait for the river to go dry to do anything bridge-wise, you know, to imaginarily save time and money, like some other Texas towns, well, one Texas town, is known to do.

You can see above that the Lucy Park forest floor is getting ever more green, day by day. Soon one will not be able to see through the forest of trees.

Time is flying by so fast. April will be gone in an eye blink. Then May. Then the arrival of Summer.

A few months ago I was just about 100% I would be heading northwest this Summer, to return to Washington for the first time since Summer of 2017.  There was a reunion I felt sort of like attending, but that seems to have morphed into something I can't see the point of going to the bother of attending.

I may change my mind, which I have a tendency to do. Of late I am thinking if I am going to subject myself to being on a plane I would like the destination to be some place tropical. 

I hear good things about Bora Bora. And Singapore...

Rain Brings Color Cacophony To Lucy Park With Locked Suspension Bridge

Yesterday, the first Tuesday of the 2022 version of April, saw the outer world, at my location, heated to hotter than Death Valley.

95 degrees.

Midday Tuesday, I drove in air-conditioned comfort to Lucy Park to commune with nature. Monday's storming left the outer world a bit damp and muddy. With the big infusion of incoming water causing a lot of foliage sprouting. 

Including that cacophony of wildflower color you see above, in the aforementioned Lucy Park. In the background, behind that line of skinny trees, is the Wichita River, flowing with increased water due to Monday's excessive sky drippage.

The Wichita River running high did not explain what I found next on my walk with nature yesterday.

A locked gate blocked access to the Lucy Park suspension bridge across the Wichita River. 

Why? I wondered. And soon found out. 

Though direct access was blocked by a locked gate, it was rather easy to walk around the obstruction.

In the above look at the view from the other side you can see how easy it was to walk around the locked gate, and then turn around and see why the bridge is closed.

The Lucy Park suspension bridge appears to be in rehabilitation mode. The fencing which previously prevented one from falling off the bridge has been removed, leaving only the cables which hold up the suspended bridge deck. 

At the far end I could see a large section of bridge deck has been replaced. Something I have long thought has been needed. I am assuming this replacement will continue til the entire bridge deck is refurbished, with new guard rail fencing installed. 

All of which will be a major upgrade to one of Lucy Park's main attractions.

Today is scheduled to be another HOT day. I'm glad I shed 20 pounds in March. Losing insulative adipose tissue renders it easier to keep cool when the outer world is way too HOT...

Upcoming High Noon Shootout Between Sundance Sasha & Reata Micallef

I saw that which you see above in a High Noon in Sundance Square: Reata’s Micallef takes a stand article in the online version of the Fort Worth Business Press. 

This was yet one more article about the mess created in downtown Fort Worth by Sasha Bass. We recently blogged about this mess in Time To Worry About Sundance Sasha With Lady Whistleworth.

So, the Sasha Bass mess has already been talked about in this venue. This article about the downtown Fort Worth Sundance Square mess did not so directly make Sasha Bass the focus of the mess, such as other articles have about this issue.

What got my attention in this Fort Worth Business Press article was the following paragraph which contained verbiage of the sort I have long been perplexed, and annoyed by, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, but not the more reality based Fort Worth Business Press...

Sundance Square is 35 blocks of downtown Fort Worth real estate owned by Ed and Sasha Bass. Both Sid and Lee Bass, two of Ed’s brothers, exited the Sundance partnership and sold their interests to him and his wife. The concept for Sundance was eldest brother Sid’s idea and he put the plan together back in the early 1970s. It was his brainchild and it developed into a unique and classy urban development, admired by many cities across the country. It came to epitomize Fort Worth’s motto of “Cowboys and Culture,” with its reference to famed Western outlaws and rascals, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, juxtaposed with the addition of a small, world-class art museum, The Sid Richardson. Sundance Square set the tone for the entire city. Today it is dotted by vacant storefronts and is the subject of intense controversy.

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I was several years into up close observation of Fort Worth before I learned that Sundance Square was a 35 block downtown development scheme, foisted on Fort Worth by the Bass family.

Early on, asking downtown locals where Sundance Square was, I was usually pointed to parking lots by a huge mural of the Chisholm Trail. Years later an actual square was finally built at that location, goofily called Sundance Square Plaza.

So, according to this article in the FWBP Sundance Square was a Bass brainchild intending to develop downtown Fort Worth into a unique and classy development.

Really? I really do not mean to be rude here, but, is what I have seen in downtown Fort Worth considered unique and classy? Really? Where? How" When?

Currently the north end of downtown Fort Worth features a boarded up eyesore homage to Fort Worth's history called Heritage Park. The south end of downtown Fort Worth is the location of the notorious Water Gardens, a location which a few years ago drowned a few downtown Fort Worth visitors.

Are Heritage Park and the Water Gardens outside the 35 block classy and unique Sundance Square area? Why does the classy and unique downtown area have so few shopping venues, such as department stores and full sized grocery stores, which most downtowns have?

The Star-Telegram is notorious for claiming this that or some other perfectly ordinary thing in Fort Worth is making towns far and wide green with envy.

This article in the FWBP is claiming Fort Worth's unique and classy urban development is admired by many cities across the country.

Really? What would those cities be? How was this admiration for Fort Worth's downtown classiness and uniqueness expressed?

I have been to dozens of downtowns across dozens of American states. The only thing remotely unique about downtown Fort Worth is that boarded up Heritage Park, and the Water Gardens. The rest of downtown Fort Worth is perfectly nice, I would not suggest otherwise, but it is also perfectly ordinary, as previously said, not even remotely unique and classy.

And downtown Fort Worth is an extremely small downtown for a town with almost a million population. A downtown with few skyscrapers, thus not having a recognizable skyline, such as many other cities have, such as the worldwide recognized skyline of downtown Dallas.

Really, can anyone explain what is unique and classy about downtown Fort Worth? 

Before it was destroyed by the ill-fated new downtown Fort Worth Radio Shack corporate headquarters, Fort Worth actually had something somewhat classy and unique in acres of free parking linked to the heart of downtown Fort Worth by the world's shortest subway.

The free parking and free to ride subway is long gone, with downtown Fort Worth turned into an expensive place to park to enjoy all that imaginary unique classiness. The parking problem is just one facet of the current downtown Fort Worth Sundance Square Sasha mess.

I really do not understand why Fort Worth, as portrayed in its various press, can not be honest about the town. Why the chronic groundless hyperbolic propaganda? 

Propaganda pretending to be something you are not is a recipe for not becoming something better.

Downtown Fort Worth is a living example of this...