Fort Worth Is Not The Most Laid-Back City In America

Yet one more sort of goofy item on the Microsoft News page I see via my Windows Edge browser.

Titled "This Is The Most Laid-Back US City"

I do not know if the above link works on all platforms, or just on the Edge browser.

Anyway, this was a gallery one scrolled through, listing the 50 most laid-back cities in America. By what criteria? I have no idea.

Several Texas cities showed up on the Laid-Back list. With Houston being in last place, at 50. San Antonio is #47, followed by Dallas as the 46th most laid-back city. Continuing on, expecting to see laid-back lazy Fort Worth show up, I came to the last Texas entry, Austin is the 29th most laid-back city.

And, the most laid-back city in America? Why, it is the big city in America about which I am most familiar.

Seattle.

Like I said, I do not know by what criteria it was decided a city's level of laid-backness is. As I have experienced Seattle, the town is way too bustling to be considered laid-back. The downtown area of Seattle has throngs of people bustling about. If a couple cruise ships are docked, with the cruisers off the boat, the Seattle waterfront is bustling, not remotely laid back.

The most laid-back city I have experienced, by my idea of what laid-back is, is Fort Worth, Texas, with the deadest big city downtown I have ever been in. A ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Fort Worth never shows up on these type lists. On the rare occasion something about Fort Worth is made note of, a big fuss ensues. Like the time a Washington, D.C. lobbying group, who were advocates of the Urban Village concept, had Fort Worth as one of the Top Ten American Cities with Urban Villages.

You likely will not believe this, but Fort Worth actually had a city-wide celebration celebrating showing up on this list.

I was in Tacoma a short time after this, talking to the guy who was Tacoma's Deputy Mayor at the time.

Tacoma was also on this list of cities and their urban villages. I asked the Deputy Mayor if Tacoma had a city-wide celebration after getting this esteemed honor. He laughed, and said, no, we just politely sent them a thank you message.

I then told the Deputy Mayor that Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration over this esteemed honor. You have to be joking, was his replay. Nope, not joking, said I.

I think the rarity of Fort Worth being the recipient of any sort of accolade is a big contributor to what seems like the town's civic inferiority complex. Part of that complex is caused by being linked to Dallas in a large metropolitan area known locally as the Metroplex. Dallas is the well-known, handsome big brother, whilst Fort Worth is sort of the homely sister, to use a metaphor.

My early years in Texas, living in Fort Worth, reading the local newspaper called the Star-Telegram, I made frequent note of the inferiority complex as manifested by what I called Green With Envy Syndrome, where that newspaper would opine that some perfectly ordinary thing would be causing towns far and wide to be green with envy.

Again, I am not making this up.

Years ago I made a webpage making note of multiple instances of Fort Worth's Green With Envy Syndrome.

I have been told that the Star-Telegram has dropped its Green With Envy nonsense. I know it has been years since I have seen an instance of the syndrome...

What Does Fort Worth Have That Dallas Does Not?

The above is a screen cap from yesterday's blog post. That blog post generated an amusing comment from someone going by the unusual name of Anonymous.

Below is that comment from Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is Fort Worth One Of The Most Breathtaking Skylines In America?":

Q: What does Fort Worth have that Dallas does not?

A: A major city nearby.

A prominent TCU professor has said that Fort Worth is the dumbest city in the dumbest county in the dumbest state.

Fort Worth no longer has a downtown central library. Seattle and Austin have incredible central libraries. Foat Wuth dont need no grand palace for that book learnin, boy!

_______________________

I suppose it is a tad mean-spirited to make fun of Fort Worth.

But, the town sort of invites it.

For over two decades the town has had a mess at the north side of its downtown, known as the Trinity River Vision. A vision which sees much needed flood control where there has been no flooding for well over half a century, due to flood prevention levees already in place.

Late in the previous century Dallas came up with its own Trinity River Vision type vision. That vision included three signature bridges over the Trinity River. Two of those bridges have become reality.

Fort Worth copied the Dallas vision near the start of the current century. The Fort Worth vision also saw three signature bridges. Fort Worth has built all three bridges, taking over seven years to do so. Over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

The Fort Worth signature bridges turned out to be ordinary looking freeway overpass type bridges, nothing signature about them, unlike the Dallas bridges which have become iconic Dallas images.

One day, in the future, Fort Worth hopes to dig a cement lined ditch under those three little bridges, then divert Trinity River water into the ditch, thus creating the imaginary island.

Like I said, Fort Worth sort of invites being made fun of...

Is Fort Worth One Of The Most Breathtaking Skylines In America?

 

Another interesting Microsoft Windows Edge browser Start Page gallery of photos. This gallery purports to name The 30 most breathtaking skylines in America. I do not know if the link to the skylines works in all browsers or mobile devices.

The text at the start of the gallery of skyline photos...

The 30 most breathtaking skylines in America

The US is a wide and diverse land of intense and unique bursts of development, with higher buildings and more interesting structures popping up each year. These skylines emerge like a fingerprint of each city, revealing their characteristics through architecture, atmosphere, and culture. Check out this gallery to see the top 30 skylines in the country.

I assume the list of 30 is ranking the skylines in order, what with the list starting with Washington, D.C., a town which really does not have much of a skyline and ending with New York City at #2 and Chicago at #1.

I would have guessed New York City would be the town thought to have the most breathtaking skyline.

I am familiar with the skyline which was right behind New York City.

Seattle, WA

The combination of the Space Needle Observation Tower and Mount Rainer looming in the background makes Seattle's skyline hard to forget.

Seattle does get a bit of a boost, breathtaking skyline wise, what with there being mountains no matter which direction you look, east, west, south and north.

I am also familiar with the breathtaking skyline 5 spots below Seattle.

Dallas, TX

Dallas' skyline isn't extremely new, and although it has high-rises like the Bank of America Plaza (which reaches 921 ft), its best feature is the colorful, interactive lighting that adds a layer of festivity and celebration to this already beautiful skyline.

The Dallas skyline is impressive after dark. Nice during the day too.

Further down the list are two other Texas towns, Austin and Houston.

I was impressed with both Austin and Houston's skyline upon my first visit to both towns.

When I see lists like this, remembering my experience of living in Fort Worth, a town which has a kind of civic inferiority complex, due to being sort of the homely little sister to handsome big brother, Dallas.

Anytime there is any sort of positive mention made of Fort Worth, no matter how remote, the locals, well, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and others, make a big deal of it. 

Such as, recently a British travel writer wrote a column published in a UK newspaper touting Fort Worth as now being the coolest town in Texas, replacing Austin in that cool distinction. I read the article and found it rather delusional, and odd, real odd.

I wonder how long a list of America's Most Breathtaking Skylines would have to be before Fort Worth showed up on the list. 100? 200?

Why Is Dallas A City People Refuse To Visit Again?

This morning, via MSN (Microsoft News) I scrolled through an article titled Avoid These 10 Cities People Refuse to Visit Again.

One of the ten cities people refuse to visit again surprised me.

Dallas, Texas

The ten cities listed...

Cairo, Egypt

Marrakesh, Morocco

Miami, Florida

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Dallas, Texas

Dubai

Hollywood, California

Las Vegas, Nevada

San Francisco, California

New Orleans, Louisiana

Well, Dallas is in some good company of other cities people refuse to visit again. 

The explanatory blurb about Dallas...

Texans say that megachurches, strip malls, subdivisions, and little else populate Dallas. Another person claims the city combines every bad part of Texas and markets it as a city. 

Well. I have visited Dallas multiple times and have never had it cross my mind that I never wanted to visit again. I've always enjoyed visiting Dallas. Fair Park, Deep Ellum, Dealey Plaza, Farmers Market, White Rock Lake, and more, like Pioneer Plaza.

I've been to some of the other cities on this list of cities people refuse to visit again. Hollywood, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

I've been to all three multiple times, so I am not one of those visitors who refuse to visit again.

Well, I really don't think I'd bother visiting Hollywood again. There is not a lot to see in Hollywood. Grauman's Chinese Theater, or whatever it is currently called, and the Walk of Fame. That's about all I remember about Hollywood.

Las Vegas wears me out after about four days, but, I always seem to return. 

San Francisco is a fun town. Just riding the cable cars makes the town special. And San Francisco's Chinatown is the best Chinatown I have seen. Plus the famous iconic bridges, the waterfront, and more. I don't get why anyone would say they refuse to visit San Francisco again.

Dallas Bon Appetit 2019 Restaurant City Of The Year

A day or two ago, via the CBS Morning News, or maybe it was the NBC Today Show, I saw the news that Bon Appetit magazine, in its annual Top Ten America's Best New Restaurants 2019 issue had a Dallas restaurant as its #2 pick.

I was mentioning this to someone, who, like me, is a fan of Dallas, it being the town which is the bigger, more attractive, more dynamic, more sophisticated, more modern sibling in the Dallas/Fort Worth family.

It did not take long in Texas to make note of the fact that Fort Worth has a bit of an inferiority complex regarding its more successful, world known, sibling, with that civic inferiority complex often reflected in Fort Worth's rather bad excuse for a town's newspaper of record, the Star-Telegram.

Hence that fellow fan of Dallas, wondered, when I made mention of this Bon Appetit accolade, if this latest good news about Dallas made Fort Worth Green With Envy.

Making that Green With Envy remark was a reference to something I soon noted upon arrival in Texas, and eventually made into a Green With Envy webpage, due to myself being appalled and amused by the number of times I would read an article in the Star-Telegram about some perfectly ordinary thing, with the Star-Telegram claiming this perfectly ordinary thing would made towns far and wide Green With Envy, or give Fort Worth Bragging Rights, or other similar nonsense.

I remember years ago a lifelong Fort Worth native explaining to me about the Fort Worth jealous relationship with Dallas, and it being a long one-sided rivalry, where Fort Worth civic leaders, like Amon Carter, fanned the flames of what basically is an imaginary rivalry, in the sense that it is one-sided.

Dallas, as reflected in that town's media, and when talking to the town's people, has never thought itself to be in any sort of rivalry with Fort Worth.

In metaphoric terms, it's like how Brad Pitt has never felt any sort of rivalry with his younger brother, Peach Pitt, whilst Peach Pitt has always seethed with jealousy that big brother Brad got the good looks, talent, wealth, women and world wide fame.

And can get any corporation in the world to take an interest in him, whilst no corporation will pay any attention to poor Peach Pitt. And whilst Brad offers to help his unfortunate brother, Peach Pitt instead opts to try and support himself with federal welfare, while indulging in bizarre schemes, like trying to build bridges over dry land to connect to an imaginary island. The Pitt family worries it may have to commit Peach Pitt to an insane asylum.

Back to the Bon Appetit Top Ten America's Best New Restaurants 2019 article.

In addition to Dallas having a restaurant in the Top Ten, Bon Appetit tossed another accolade at Dallas which likely will make Fort Worth even Greener with Envy. The Top Ten Best New Restaurants Bon Appetit issue also details that Dallas, Texas, Is the 2019 Restaurant City of the Year.

A couple paragraphs about Dallas in that Restaurant City of the Year article which should also fuel even more Green with Envy in those Fort Worthians prone to this sad ridiculous syndrome...

There are two things in this package that are going to upset a lot of people in Texas. One: naming Dallas our restaurant city of the year, which I have a feeling a lot of people in Houston and Austin are, uh, not gonna like. Two: what I’m about to say about a breakfast-taco joint…that’s also a barbecue joint…that’s in the most un-Texas location imaginable—Portland, Oregon. Please don’t hate me.

“We’ve always been looking over our shoulders at Houston,” says the first guy I meet in Dallas, his tone dramatic. “But not anymore!” And it’s true. Though Dallas and its food scene have long been overlooked in favor of other Texas towns, today, the city's in the midst of a renaissance, with excellent new restaurants and bars opening so fast and so furious that it's hard to keep up. (Seriously—I was last there in mid-June and already feel like I'm behind.)

______________

Oh my, no mention of Dallas looking over its shoulders to the west, at Fort Worth. No mention of Fort Worth at all.

Imagine if it had been Fort Worth Bon Appetit had named as the Restaurant City of the Year? The Star-Telegram would likely feel the need to resurrect its long dormant Green With Envy verbiage. At least I think it has been long dormant. It's been many years since I've seen an instance, while that Green With Envy embarrassment was chronic when I was first exposed to the Star-Telegram.

There was a slight flareup of Green With Envy type verbiage in the Star-Telegram last month when the Star-Telegram claimed "The Eyes Of The World Are On Fort Worth" due to ESPN broadcasting in downtown Fort Worth something to do with the start of college football. A big deal was made of this in Fort Worth, like it was some sort of noteworthy event.

I recollect wondering why no one seemed to wonder why it might be ESPN might opt to broadcast from downtown Fort Worth, when there are more, uh, logical venues in Arlington, near the stadium where the football game took place. I opined that likely the Fort Worth staple of offering incentives and bribes were involved. With neither Arlington or Dallas much caring where ESPN did its broadcast from. Sorta like how Dallas did not seem to care where the new Dallas Cowboy stadium was built, so it ended up in the same county Fort Worth is in, instead of in Dallas County, with the citizens of Arlington and Tarrant County paying for much of the stadium.

Yes, that Dallas is one city of slickers, always seeming to come out on top, in one way after another, over its city siblings in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...

Star-Telegram Embarrassing Fort Worth Dallas Rivalry Editorial

A few days ago in a blog post mention was made of a study commissioned by Fort Worth to try and find out why the town is so backwards.

That is my paraphrasing use of the backwards word. The articles about this study which appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, rather than use the word "backwards", used words like 'identity crisis" and "fallen behind".

The blogging about this serious subject was titled Why Fort Worth Has Fallen Behind Developing An Identity Crisis.

The Dallas Morning News got wind of the fact that Fort Worth is trying to figure out why it is so backwards, falling behind, with an identity crisis, which led to an opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News titled One reason Fort Worth's lagging Dallas: Billions invested with public transit. This opinion piece was written by former Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Mitch Schnurman.

This then led to the Star-Telegram having its own opinion piece, in the form of an editorial, which, in typical Star-Telegram fashion, is clueless, embarrassing and sort of funny, in its, well, cluelessness.

The Star-Telegram's one semi-good reporter, Bud Kennedy, then posted about the Mitch Schnurman column on Facebook, which then generated a lot of interesting comments, many of which indicated quite clearly that not all Fort Worth natives are clueless about their town's problems and Dallas.

For example, two comments in the Bud Kennedy Facebook thread about this subject...

Sunni Roppolo The “Dallas rivalry” is so stupid and the only people that perpetuate it are Ft Worth residents! I’ve never understood why it’s an issue. Our friends that live in Dallas never badmouth FW yet all I hear is how terrible Dallas is all the time. Live where it makes sense and be nice! (Ft Worth native here)

Christopher D. Kratovil Interesting column by a good writer. To me, this is the money paragraph: “Fort Worth is home to two Fortune 1000 companies. But Dallas has 17 Fortune 1000 headquarters, Irving has nine, Plano has six and Richardson has two, according to the report.”

The Dallas bashing, as reflected in the Star-Telegram, perplexed me soon upon my arrival in Texas. I soon was to learn this bizarre civic pathology had a long history, dating way back to the 1800s when a Dallas reporter visited Fort Worth and then returned to Dallas to opine that Fort Worth was so sleepy he saw a Panther sleeping on the city hall steps. Or some such thing. This triggered the Fort Worth neurotic over compensating  civic inferiority complex which continues to this day, with Fort Worth thinking it is really showing Dallas what's what by naming this and that ridiculous thing with the "Panther" label. For example, in this century America's Biggest Boondoggle eventually came to be named the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, where you will find an imaginary island named after that sleepy Panther, along with a brewery, an ice rink and an imaginary pavilion on that imaginary island, all named Panther.

Okay, now that aforementioned insipid Star-Telegram editorial about this subject. The editorial is titled Forget it Dallas. We aren’t sitting at the kiddies table.

Let's all take a look at some choice bits from this editorial...

If ever Fort Worth has wondered whether Dallas is paying attention to us, we need wonder no more.

Wednesday, the Dallas Morning News devoted an editorial and a column to our city image versus that of Dallas. That’s a lot of journalistic real estate, and we want to thank Big D’s paper of record for considering us worthy of so much attention.

Oh yes, I imagine there are thousands of Fort Worth people wondering if Dallas is paying any attention to Fort Worth, what with there being so much to pay attention to, you know, things like worrying about a town encouraging its people to get wet in an e.coli contaminated river. But, now, those wondering if Dallas is paying attention need wonder no more, because the Dallas Morning News devoted a column to comparing the Fort Worth image to the Dallas image. Oh, and Fort Worth's sad excuse for a newspaper of record wants to thank Big D's actual newspaper of record for deigning to supposedly give Fort Worth attention with this one little column.

How pathetic can a newspaper get?

Let's take a detour here and focus on one aspect of Fort Worth's image problem, or more accurately, lack of an image problem. Last night I was watching YouTube news videos and it struck me how often the talking heads have some town's iconic image behind them, identifying where the talking head is talking from, without needing to identifying the town.

Ever seen such a news clip with a Fort Worth identifying image in the background? Nope. You have not, Hence one aspect of both Fort Worth's image problem on the national/international stage, and one reason for Fort Worth's obvious inferiority complex as related to Dallas, because a news clip with a talking head can appear with a recognizable Dallas background, because, like the Dallas Morning News column mentioned, Dallas has international recognition, for multiple reasons, including being the subject of what once was the world's most popular TV show, which showed the Dallas skyline to the world every time the show aired.

Can you imagine a prime time TV show called Fort Worth, with the opening credits zooming in on the downtown Fort Worth skyline? Zooming over the Heritage Park eyesore, trying to catch a glimpse of teeny Sundance Square Plaza sponsored by Nissan? Hence one of many reasons for Fort Worth's image problem complex.

And now this from the Star-Telegram editorial...

Fort Worth is nobody’s little brother. The people who live here are the city’s biggest fans.

We love Cowtown’s western history, its first-class arts district and a lively downtown filled with people day and night.

The people who live in Fort Worth are the town's biggest fans? How is this determination made? Fort Worth has fans outside of Fort Worth who are lesser fans? But those who live in the town are its biggest fans? And these fans love Fort Worth's western history, its first class arts district and a lively downtown filled with people day and night?

Fort Worth loves its western history so much that much of the Fort Worth Stockyards is a poorly maintained mess. Such as the New Isis Theater eyesore. Ever been to the Stockyards at night? Fort Worth's only actual tourist attraction is in dire need of a lighting upgrade. The Star-Telegram needs to get over attaching the "first-class" and "world-class" label to this that or the other thing in Fort Worth. As for the downtown being lively. Downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, due to the downtown's lack of the stores people shop in in other town's downtown's. Anyone who thinks downtown Fort Worth is lively day and night must have never been to any other big city downtown to think such a thing. Or the Star-Telegram assumes its few readers have never been to a thriving big city's downtown and thus do not know any better.

And then the Star-Telegram editorial spews some more embarrassing nonsense, further documenting the town's, well, the town's sad excuse for a newspaper's, Dallas neuroses...

The DMN editorial fairly mentioned as have we that consultants noted, “Fort Worth struggles with establishing visibility and name recognition, especially in comparison to Dallas,” and “Fort Worth appears to be on its way to becoming a suburb of Dallas County.”

Those pronouncements generated an outpouring of vitriol from Star-Telegram readers angered by the suggestion of secondary status:

“We live in Fort Worth because it’s not Dallas-like,” said one.

“Fort Worth has the most wonderful small town feel for such a large city. I love it and am thrilled it is so different from Dallas,” said another.

Finally: “Don’t Dallas my Fort Worth.”

The above is the type thing which is perplexing to newcomers to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, that being the Fort Worth attitude, expressed by what one can hope is a small minority, that there is something dire different about Dallas, that Fort Worth thankfully is not.

Fort Worth has a small town feel? For such a large city? Yes, it is true, most small towns do not have large department stores in their downtown's, just like Fort Worth. Many do, unlike Fort Worth, have grocery stores in their downtown's though. Most small towns downtown's are not ghost towns on the busiest shopping day of the year, so, really, how does Fort Worth have a small town feel? Such a sentiment may sound good, I guess, but it makes no sense.

Yes, it is true, Fort Worth is not Dallas-like in many ways. Dallas has a modern public transit system, including the nation's most miles of light rail. Dallas had a Trinity River Vision before Fort Worth copied the concept, except in Dallas the voters were allowed to vote on the project, while Fort Worth voters were not allowed to do so. The Dallas Trinity River Vision saw three actual signature bridges, two of which have been actually built, over actual water. While Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision lost its signature bridges and replaced them with three simple little bridges which are proving difficult to build over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Yes, it is true, Dallas is not Fort Worth. I suspect the people of Dallas, if they ever actually think about it, are content their town is not like Fort Worth. I suspect most big cities in America are content they are not like Fort Worth....

Sporcle Found Fort Worth Forgettable With Dallas Extremely Unforgettable

Yesterday I blogged about Amazon biospheres and Fort Worth's slow motion bridge construction boondoggle.

Someone named Anonymous then made an interesting comment which led me to some interesting data of the random list sort.....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Amazon Biospheres & Fort Worth Slow Motion Bridge Construction":

Cowtown (Fort Worth) didn't fare well in a list of the most unforgettable U.S. cities.

Dallas did really well placing 4th highest on the list. 

Seattle was 9th highest while Fort Worth was well behind at 45th place. Fort Worth is the 16th largest city and yet only the 45th most well known.

Dallas Ranks Among the Most Unforgettable American Cities

____________________

This listing of America's Unforgettable Cities came from something called Sporcle, which used a highly evolved scientific means to come to its conclusions. Below is a graphic from Sporcle listing the Top 10 Most Unforgettable American Cities.

San Jose, that is a big town in California, fared quite poorly in being memorable.

As Anonymous already told us, Fort Worth also fared quite poorly in being memorable for one of America's higher population towns.

Three paragraphs from the D Magazine Dallas Ranks Among the Most Unforgettable American Cities article about the Sporcle data....

It’s no surprise that when asked to name all 100 cities, most-populous New York was rarely missed. More than 99 percent of users got it. Compare that to poor San Jose, which only 66.6% named, even though it is the 10th-largest in the U.S.

Dallas is golden by comparison. Ours is the 9th-most populous city, but we were named on the fourth-most quizzes, 92.4%. Decades of the Ewing family and America’s Team and (less fortunately) JFK conspiracies have allowed Dallas to burrow deep into the collective consciousness. We’re only beat out by the three-largest U.S. cities, which is nothing to be ashamed about.

But what about our best little suburb sister city to the west? Fort Worth is almost as bad off as San Jose. It’s the 16th-most-populous city, but ranks 45th among those named in quiz responses. Only 59.2% of Sporcle users remembered it.

____________________

I do not know what Fort Worth could do to make itself more memorable and less forgettable. Dallas had its skyline burned into the collective memory of much of the world due to a hit namesake television show. That and one of the world's most infamous crimes took place in Dallas, which also burned the town into the world's collective memory.

Maybe when the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, is ever completed, Fort Worth will become memorable for its lively waterfront with hordes of beer drinking inner tube floaters floating under three stunning signature bridges recognized the world over.

And a giant Liberty sized statue of J.D. Granger honoring the man who brought world wide recognition to previously un-recognized Fort Worth, Texas.....

Is Dallas As Bad A Sewage Polluter As Victoria British Columbia?

Way back late in the last century a scandal erupted in the Pacific Northwest, with that scandal being an issue between Washington and British Columbia over some extremely disgusting, bad behavior by the British Columbia provincial capital of Victoria.

Until the scandal erupted most Washingtonians were not aware of the fact that the city of Victoria pumped its raw sewage, untreated, into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, that being the body of water which separates Washington from Canada.

British Columbia officials claimed that the tidal action of fast moving currents treated the raw sewage, naturally.

However, Washingtonians, who had witnessed the large plume of discolored water that frequently appeared from  the area  of Victoria's sewer pipes, thought differently.

Starting back  in the 1960s Washington sewage treatment had elevated to what is known as tertiary treatment. Which basically means the treated sewage is restored to a safe water state before winding up back in Puget Sound. The waters of Washington, both the rivers and the Sound, soon were no longer polluted. This had multiple benefits, such as salmon returning to Lake Washington.

So, you can see why it grated on the nerves of the people of Washington to learn that the capital of British Columbia was shooting raw sewage into the straits through which salmon swam on their way to Washington rivers.

All these years later I believe Victoria, despite promises to modernize, still releases sewage into the straits which has not been cleaned up to American standards.

Meanwhile in Texas.

I was vaguely aware that there was an issue in Dallas regarding the south part of town not having full access to the town's sewer lines.

A recent article in the Dallas Observer titled COUNCIL GIVES MONEY TO A MALL, BUT WON'T SPEND ON SEWERS. THAT'S SO DALLAS sort of shocked me with the realization that Dallas is pretty much almost as bad as the Canadian town of Victoria.

Two blurbs from the article...

Pitre (pronounced PEEtree) owns 120-plus acres of land near the new University of North Texas' southeast Dallas campus. He is one of several black land-owners in that area who have been campaigning for years — unsuccessfully so far — to get the city to extend sewer service to their part of the city.

But the DART station at UNT will be on a septic tank, because Dallas still has not extended a sewer main close enough to that location for DART or any other developer to be able to afford to connect to it. Recently, when the city rebuilt a major thoroughfare next to the campus —  an ideal time to put in sewer cheaply because the road was torn up anyway — the city declined to do so.

__________________________

I had no idea that a large American city existed without modern sewage treatment covering a large part of the town.

South Dallas is sewer line free?

Does this mean Fair Park is not connected to a sewer line?

Are parts of Fort Worth similarly backward?

Is that why the majority of Fort Worth parks are serviced by outhouses rather than modern restroom facilities?

Is the South Dallas zone, which is not connected to a sewer line, solely dependent on septic tanks? Or do a lot of people have outhouses in their backyards?

What does it do to the ground water to have so many septic tanks in a concentrated area?

Why would Dallas spend money on extremely cool futuristic looking bridges when a large portion of the town does not have modern plumbing?

Victoria, British Columbia took a big hit, tourist-wise, after the Sewagegate Scandal erupted. Would Dallas take a similar hit, tourist-wise, if it became known, nationally, and internationally, that a large part of the town is cut off from the type amenity one expects in a modern city?

Very perplexing.....

Dam Failure Endangers Dallas With No Army Corps Of Engineers Help

What you are looking at here is a screencap from Facebook, a post from former Tarrant Water District Board candidate, John Austin Basham, raising an alarm about that which you see in the photo.

That being a failing Lake Lewisville Dam.

Lake Lewisville is a reservoir at the north end of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Lake Lewisville is currently at full pool, meaning the reservoir is full, thus putting maximum stress on the dam which holds back a 65 foot tall wall of water from careening though the heart of Dallas.

In other words the Army Corps of Engineer's has indicated a Lake Lewisville Dam breech could put some 431,000 people in harm's way.

But, the Army Corps of Engineers says it will need millions of dollars to  repair what is known to be one of the nation's most dangerous dams.

Well.

Meanwhile, a few miles to the west of Lake Lewisville we have the Army Corps of Engineers spending millions of taxpayer dollars on an un-needed flood control project where no flood control project is needed, not needed because over a half century ago the Army Corps of Engineers spent millions to build massive levees which have prevented flooding for decades.

The Army Corps of Engineers has signed on to the absurd idea of taking down those levees, replacing them with a "flood diversion channel" which will fast track a flood past downtown Fort Worth where it will then get slowed down by a forest of what are known as J.D. Granger's Magic Trees.

Should not those Magic Trees already be planted, so that they may be well established if that flood diversion channel ever actually gets dug and shoots a volume of water at high speed towards Arlington?

How many millions would it take for the Army Corps of Engineers to fix Lake Lewisville Dam before a disaster strikes?

How many million has the Army Corps of Engineers already wasted on America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Two comments from Mr. Basham's Facebook post I thought worth repeating....

Tony Pompa: If the possibility of a 65' wall of water traveling at 34 MPH right through the heart of Dallas does not get their attention, then I don't know what would! This should be fixed, like yesterday!

Mr. Spiffy: Very frightening. But on the upside we have a new kinetic sculpture in Fort Worth that cost several hundred thousand and millions of taxpayer dollars spent on fun parties and cool marketing campaigns. Meanwhile they have tarp and duct tape holding back a wall of death.

The kinetic sculpture to which Mr. Spiffy refers is that which I blogged about in America's Biggest Boondoggle's Million Dollar Wind Roundabout Ridiculousness.

Near as I can from what I have read, regarding the reaction to Fort Worth's newest sculpture, "disgust" seems to be the thought most frequently expressed in various ways. As in a disgusting waste of money for something that looks like the ruins of a water tower or a garbage can. And which is designed to be a big shiny object casting random bolts of reflected light at driver's trying to navigate around a big roundabout.

Fort Worth's #1 Boondoggle's absurdities are pretty much hopeless at this point. Apparently there are no adults in the room to intervene with the foolishness.

One would have thought that the fact that The Boondoggle's first completed project, Cowtown Wakepark, has been flooded multiple times, shut down, gone out of business, that this first project of something that touts itself as a flood control project, would see its first project destroyed by floods, that whis would cause some sort of backlash where people come to the realization that what used to be known as the Trinity River Vision is now an embarrassing boondoggle.

Why would The Boondoggle dig a wakepark pond where it would get flooded every time the Trinity goes into flood mode? I remember when I first saw Cowtown Wakepark thinking won't there be a lot of damage when the river floods? It seemed sort of obvious.

And I can't be the only one who wonders what calamity will ensue the first time the Trinity floods into that flood diversion channel if it ever gets dug.....

This Morning I Learned The Dallas Skyline Is The Best In The World

No explanation is needed to explain that what you are looking at here is the internationally recognized stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, as seen from the old wagon trail that heads west from the top of Mount Tandy to where the west supposedly began.

This morning whilst listening to The Bert Show on the radio Bert out of the blue said something about some international survey had picked the Dallas skyline as the best in the world.

Bert seemed a bit bum puzzled by this, naming off some other cities one might think would be more recognized, like New York City or Paris. Actually I think Bert only mentioned Paris, because I recollect thinking to myself does Paris have an internationally recognized skyline other than that big tower that towers high above all that surrounds it.

Soon after learning from Bert that Dallas has the world's Best Skyline I Googled "Dallas skyline" to quickly learn that this skyline survey happened a year ago, some joint operation between USA TODAY and something called 10Best picking the Best International Skyline.

If this was a USA TODAY operation would that not tend to skew the results to being American skylines, I thought to myself. Then I clicked the link to the 10Best article about the Best International Skylines to see the entire Top Ten.

1. Dallas
2. Chicago
3. Rio de Janeiro
4. Toronto
5. New York
6. Washington, D.C.
7. St. Louis
8. Hong Kong
9. San Francisco
10. Seattle

What about Tokyo? Vancouver? Sydney? Kuala Lumpur? And no town in Europe has an internationally recognized skyline?

And what about Fort Worth? How can Fort Worth not be on this list? Show a photo of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth to just about anyone in the world and they are going to instantly be able to tell you what town they are looking at, what with its iconic tower and skyscrapers.

From the USA TODAY 10Best article let's look at the skyline photos used for Dallas and Seattle and the accompanying explanatory blurb.

"Dallas became initially identifiable by the opening credits of an infamous '80s TV show," says expert Preston Kissman. "The contemporary Dallas skyline tells a story of big banking, big oil, big money, and the occasional big bust." James Adams add, "Dallas has continued to stay flashy. Controversially, it has done this not with the height or style of its newest architecture, but rather through an internal race to adorn its existing and new icons with colorful interactive lighting that cannot be ignored."  

Where is this view of the skyline of Dallas looking across what looks like a big lake? Or is that the Trinity River? That is not the iconic view of the Dallas skyline as seen on the infamous soap opera's opening credits. You need to shift the view to the left for that, so as to get a more straight on look at the Reunion Tower.

And now the #10 Best International Skyline.

Mt. Rainier appears in the distance, looming behind the cosmopolitan Seattle skyline, giving this city a connection with the outdoors that's as refreshing as a cool breeze," says our expert Preston Kissman.  The Space Needle adds to the list of reasons this USA skyline is beloved and identifiable. 

Visit downtown Dallas and you really do not see much water, certainly not the view you see in the Dallas skyline photo above.

Visit downtown Seattle and you are surrounded by water. Elliot Bay and Puget Sound to the right, in the photo, Lake Union to the left, Lake Washington further to the left. Yet we see no water in this photo of the Seattle skyline. If you visit Seattle you also will not see the Space Needle towering over the skyline like you see above, because the Space Needle does not tower above the skyline. I think you have to be on Queen Anne Hill and use a telephoto lens to create what is known as the Frasier view of downtown Seattle. The structure to the far right of the Space Needle is now known as Key Arena. During the World's Fair it was the Washington State Pavilion.

I think it was likely the Seattle World's Fair that amped up Seattle's world wide recognition. At that point in time, 1962, the Smith Tower and the Space Needle were the tallest structures in town. There were no skyscrapers. A few years after the World's Fair ended what was then known as the Seafirst Tower became Seattle's first modern skyscraper. It looked a bit ridiculous, standing all alone. It was quickly referred to as the Box the Needle came in.

The Seafirst Tower was not alone for long. By the end of the 1960s Seattle had a skyline of skyscrapers.

Maybe Fort Worth could host a World's Fair. Wouldn't that be something? Maybe to celebrate the completion of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, if that much needed economic and flood control development is ever completed.

Then again, a World's Fair does not always bring about earth shaking changes to the town it takes place in. San Antonio had a World's Fair a few years after Seattle's, with the San Antonio World's Fair also featuring a tower with a rotating restaurant, I think, at the top. I don't think many people world-wide recognize the Tower of the Americas and associate it with San Antonio.

Vancouver had the last successful World's Fair in North America, way back in 1986. Vancouver was left with some remarkable structures, one of which is now a cruise ship terminal, but nothing that has become an iconic symbol of Vancouver. Vancouver is on the world's radar though, maybe not so much for its recognized skyline, but for hosting the aforementioned successful World's Fair, that and hosting a successful Winter Olympics.

Maybe Fort Worth could make a bid to host a Winter Olympics, have a successful hosting, and thus gain itself some international recognition. Yes, I can really see that happening. Just like I can really see America's Biggest Boondoggle coming to any sort of fruitful fruition....

Proposed Dallas Skyscrapers Cause Cyberspace Stir But Not In Fort Worth

Today we are going to have an extreme variant of our popular series of bloggings about something I have read in an online west coast news source which I would not likely be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding something similar taking place in Fort Worth.

Today's variant is that it was not via a west coast news source online where I read something I have never read in the Star-Telegram about something happening in Fort Worth. Today it is in the Dallas Morning News online where I read something I have never read in the Star-Telegram reporting a similar thing happening in Fort Worth.

That being a stir of interest caused by proposed skyscrapers such as what is taking place in Fort Worth's neighbor to the east, Dallas.

A couple snippets from the Dallas Morning News Pictures of proposed skyscrapers north of downtown Dallas cause a stir in cyberspace article....

Some eye popping pictures of planned Dallas skyscrapers have been getting tons of clicks on architecture and real estate Internet fan pages.

The drawings of fanciful high-rise buildings look like a chunk of Hong Kong or Vancouver has landed just up the road from the El Fenix restaurant.

Vancouver? Unless Vancouver has changed since I was a neighbor, that town has height restrictions on its downtown buildings, hence no high-rise skyscrapers. Even without skyscrapers Vancouver has an impressive skyline. I think Vancouver limits the height of high-rises so as not to block the views of the nearby mountains.

Nearby mountains, or blocking views, is not a problem in Dallas or Fort Worth.

Ironically, when the project, then known as Trinity Uptown, was breathlessly announced via a HUGE headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the headline read "Trinity Uptown To Turn Fort Worth Into The Vancouver Of The South."

I remember reading that and being completely bum puzzled. And then when the details of what is now known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision, or America's Biggest Boondoggle, became clear, the idea that this project would somehow turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South, became even more bum puzzling.

Before the Great Recession hit I remember being in Dallas and being surprised by the number of construction cranes all over the downtown zone. Last Saturday's visit to downtown Dallas again saw a lot of construction cranes.

One sees no construction cranes in the downtown Fort Worth zone, unless one counts as downtown the area where America's Biggest Boondoggle is building three simple bridges over dry land in a four year construction timeline.

In a recent blogging titled Why No Residential Towers Are Currently Planned For Fort Worth's Imaginary Island I opined as to what I thought was the reason downtown Fort Worth was a construction ghost town, repeating what Mr. Spiffy had previously opined, with Mr. Spiffy suggesting no developer is going to want to develop anything in downtown Fort Worth while America's Biggest Boondoggle has the status of downtown Fort Worth in a state of confusion.

The Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision is a bit further along than the Fort Worth version, with one signature bridge completed, built over water, and another well underway, also over water. The Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision has implementation problems, just like Fort Worth's version has implementation problems.

But the two town's vision implementation problems are different. And the Dallas implementation problems have not been exacerbated by having installed a local Dallas congresswoman's unqualified son in charge of running the Dallas vision.

Hence, the Dallas vision currently has a new bridge to drive over. But no beer drinking inner tube music parties, with e.coli, in the Trinity River, no drive-in movie theaters, no ice skating rinks, no music festivals at imaginary pavilions on imaginary islands, no beer breweries, no beer halls, no failed wakeboard parks....

Is Fort Worth Happy To Be The Scrappy Little Sidekick Of Dallas?

Last night I read a sort of amusing article in the online version of Texas Monthly.

Texas’s Cities: One Big, Dysfunctional Family
CHRONICLING THE RIVALRIES OF HOUSTON, DALLAS, FORT WORTH, SAN ANTONIO, AND AUSTIN.

My Texas experience is only about a decade and a half long, so a lot of the rivalry stuff between Texas cities was nothing I had experienced, or thought.

However, I have long made note of one rivalry. That being what comes across, at times, as Fort Worth's sort of, well, inferiority complex, caused by Dallas being the big kid on the Metroplex block, with Dallas getting bizarrely demonized by many Fort Worthers.

Three paragraphs from the dysfunctional article, with the first paragraph mentioning the Fort Worth hating Dallas dysfunction, and with the third paragraph including another of the few mentions made of Fort Worth, with that mention being an example of the type thing that riles some Fort Wothers...

Small towns have their vicious football rivalries, but for sheer volume of insults and homerism, the five cities of the Texas Triangle offer the most fertile ground for discussion today. Here it is in a nutshell: Fort Worth hates Dallas. Houston hates Dallas and Austin. San Antonio hates Austin. Austin wishes all the rest of us would just go away, and Dallas pretends that none of the rest of us even exist.

Dallas and Houston are warring fraternal twins. Houston has always resented Dallas for being better at football, hates how global pop culture sees Dallas as the world’s oil capital when it is not, and thinks he is a little materialistic for Houston’s taste. (You know what really galls Houston about Dallas? Creator David Jacobs was inspired by Blood and Money, an epic true-crime tale that took place in Houston.)

With the exceptions of Austin, which Dallas loves to try to impress with a new-found impetus toward coolness, and scrappy little sidekick Fort Worth, the city gaslights every other Texas locale. But especially Houston. “Rivalry?” Dallas asks. “What rivalry? We don’t have a rivalry with Houston. Nobody up here ever even thinks of Houston.”

Fort Worth is the scrappy little sidekick of Dallas?  Well, the scrappy part of that line is sort of a compliment, isn't it? I would take it as such if someone called me scrappy. Calling me little, that I would not like so much.

That paragraph where we learned Fort Worth is the scrappy little sidekick of Dallas took me some parsing before I think I figured out what was being said.

If I am right the writer is suggesting that Dallas plays mind games with most other Texas towns by acting as if Dallas does not feel any rivalry with them, with Austin and Fort Worth being exceptions, with, Austin being an exception because, apparently, Dallas hopes to impress Austin that Dallas is also a cool town, and with Fort Worth being an exception due to the town being the scrappy little sidekick of Dallas, like a little buddy.

I may have totally misunderstood that scrappy little sidekick Fort Worth gaslighting paragraph.

Could an article like this Texas Monthly article be in Washington Monthly about the dysfunctional rivalry between Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Spokane, Yakima and Olympia?

Likely not. I don't think one would read a line about Tacoma being the scrappy little sidekick of Seattle. Or Spokane hating Seattle. Or, well, you get the point....

In Dallas Driving & Walking Across Impressive Signature Bridges To Trinity Groves

Til today I had not been to Dallas since the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge opened to traffic on March 29, 2012. I had been to Dallas while the bridge was being constructed, but never could tell where that was taking place.

So, I was surprised today to see where the bridge is located and what an attractive addition it is to the Dallas skyline.

Construction of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge began in spring of 2007, which would seem to indicate it took around five years to build.

Over water.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is part of the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision. The Dallas version is a bit further along than the Fort Worth version, with Fort Worth currently having three simple little bridges under construction over dry land with a four year construction timeline. While Dallas has one of three actual signature bridges completed, with the second, the Margaret McDermott Bridge, currently under construction, with its main arch visible from the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.

Does Dallas have some sort of rule that all bridges in town have Margaret as their first name?

It is fairly easy to find ones way to crossing the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge from downtown Dallas. The bridge sort of sticks up like a landmark, visible from multiple locations as one heads west from downtown. In the above picture we are crossing the bridge with me snapping a picture through the windshield, which is the reason for the blue tint at the top.

On the west side of the bridge you immediately come to Trinity Groves. Trinity Groves has a lot of parking spaces, but with warning signs warning the parking is for Trinity Groves patrons, not bridge walkers. There is another parking area for bridge walkers, accessed by the first right turn one comes to after crossing the bridge.

Above is a look at the outdoor dining zone of several of the Trinity Groves restaurants. Trinity Groves is a Restaurant Concept Incubator, a 15 acre entertainment, retail and artist district brought about by restaurateur investors, Phil Romano, Stuart Fitts and Butch McGregor. The goal is to foster startup businesses. Chefs and restaurateurs present their concepts to a team of experienced restaurateurs.

From the Trinity Groves website....

Our incubator program has been successful in attracting diversity to the area; we are currently incubating a variety of concepts including Spanish Tapas, Middle Eastern, Latin-Asian fusion, Central-American, Italian, and sushi. In addition to restaurants and retail, Trinity Groves features a microbrewery and a culinary events center. We also host many exciting events such as art and theater shows, live musical performances and chef cook-off competitions.

Below we are on the other side of Trinity Groves from the covered patio you saw above, looking at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which as you an see, has a rather dominating presence on the Dallas skyline.

I can sure see why Dallas legitimately refers to this bridge as a signature bridge, as in a one of a kind bridge which will become recognized as part of the Dallas skyline, like Reunion Tower. I am fairly certain Fort Worth's three simple bridges, being built in slow motion over dry land, which  Fort Worth propagandists also refer to as signature bridges, will not tower quite as tall as the three Dallas signature bridges.

With all this bridge talk let's become a bridge walker. I decided that even though I had been advised that one can not park in the Trinity Groves parking lot whilst bridge walking, that it really would do no harm, nor rob a potential Trinity Groves parker of a parking space, due to there being many available.

The bridge which the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge replaced, Continental Bridge, has been converted to being a pedestrian, biking, blading bridge, which also seemed to be a linear park. I was so impressed with both bridges. I was not expecting the Continental Bridge to be something special. I had seen this bridge up close on the most recent conclusion of The Amazing Race, with it being the final destination.

No, that is not rainwater soaking the deck of the Continental Bridge. That is a water feature. See those round spots on the pavement? LED lights were inside those spots. And somehow when kids would step on the spots random shots of water would erupt. The kids seemed to be having themselves a mighty fine time. Note the green lounge chairs to the right? They also have a water feature.

Above we see an elderly gentleman enjoying sitting on one of the aforementioned lounge chairs whilst that pole to his left gently administers a cooling mist, that at times got a bit aggressive with the misting. The Continental Bridge provided a lot of seating opportunities as one walked across the long bridge.

Above are some of the seating opportunities. Note the landscaping of the drought resistant, low water, low maintenance sort. Several sections of the bridge were thus landscaped.

I only made it halfway across the bridge, going as far as the center of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge arch to take the requisite selfie photo.

I am not getting any better at taking the selfies. In sunlight it is hard to see the screen, and the picture taking button. I must be doing something wrong.

Anyway, I must say, I was very impressed with the Dallas signature bridge today, and the bridge which runs parallel to it. I saw a lot in Dallas today which impressed me, including an amazing number of bikers rolling around town. That looked like something I might try.....

I Tried To Visit Jefferson Davis Today But Dallas Would Not Let Me

Saturday is my regular day to go to Town Talk after hiking the Tandy Hills or biking Gateway Park.

Well, I had a successful stop at Town Talk yesterday on my way back from the Stockyards, finding 10 pounds of Italian sausage and a lot of tortillas and whole wheat pita bread. And blueberries.

Today I decided to head east, to Dallas. My intention was to go to Pioneer Plaza, park there, then walk through the cemetery to the huge Confederacy Statue that honors Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and another Confederate notable or two I am not remembering.

Following taking photos of Jefferson Davis my intention was to hike around downtown Dallas, something I have enjoyed many a time previously.

Well.

The parking lots for Pioneer Plaza were full. A block or two distant I found a metered street parking space. I had a pocket full of quarters, figured that'd be good for a couple hours.

Well.

That is the meter you see above. On the meter one is informed one can download the phone app to enable  paying for parking using ones phone. There also was a slot for quarters, though no mention was made that one could, or should, insert a quarter in that slot.

But, I felt daring, so I stuck a quarter in the slot. Immediately the meter registered .25.

Was that .25 referencing that quarter? Or a quarter of an hour? I inserted another quarter. Nothing happened.  The .25 did not change to .50.

I decided I did not need to visit Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis today, and so I got back moving through downtown Dallas, heading to my next destination.

Trinity Groves.

Trinity Groves and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge will be in the blogging after this one. But, before I get to that, I must say, driving through downtown Dallas never disappoints, adventure wise. The I-30 freeway on the south side of downtown remains as big a mess as when I first experienced it. A lot of road construction on the west side of downtown Dallas made for some fun confusion.

But, what is up with the Dallas parking meters? Pay by phone app? Using quarters causes a malfunction?

Dallas owes me fifty cents. I'd send the city a bill but the stamp to mail it would cost almost another fifty cents...

Today Via Google I Learned The Home Of America's Biggest Boondoggle Is America's 17th Largest City

Last night I Googled Seattle. When I did so I saw that Google put a blurb about Seattle on the right side of the search results.

I was Googling Seattle because I wanted to find a paragraph I had previously read in the Wikipedia Seattle article about Seattle's print media, as an example of a town with real news sources of various sorts compared to a town without a real newspaper doing real investigative journalism.

The point I was going to opine was that in a town with real newspapers you don't have things happen that result in becoming something like America's Biggest Boondoggle. Or a public works project never voted on by the public, where a local congressperson's unqualified son is hired to be the executive director of the project, where the son's executive directing goes into planning things like floating beer parties in a polluted river.

The Wikipedia article also mentions that Seattle has the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major American city. And that Seattle is the most literate of America's 69 largest towns.

How do you go about measuring how literate a town is, I am left wondering? Percentage of people with library cards? Number of libraries? Hours libraries are open? Number of books sold in bookstores? Number of bookstores? Amount of print media produced in a town?

Anyway, after I saw that Google puts up a little blurb about any town in the world that you Googled, I thought I would check in on a few towns and see what Google blurbs about them.

Well, Google pretty much waxes poetic about Seattle....

City in Washington
Seattle, on Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest, is surrounded by water, mountains and evergreen forests, and encompasses thousands of acres of parkland (hence its nickname, "Emerald City"). It’s home to a thriving tech industry, with Microsoft and Amazon.com headquartered in its metropolitan area. The futuristic Space Needle, a legacy of the 1962 World’s Fair, is its most recognizable landmark.

I then Googled Fort Worth to find that Google did not have a lot to say about Fort Worth....

City in Texas
Fort Worth is the 17th-largest city in the United States and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas.

One would think that Google could at least point out that Fort Worth is known for its Stockyards and for currently hosting America's Biggest Boondoggle. And that Fort Worth has a long history of making other towns, far and wide, green with envy. Google does point out that one can stay in a 3-star Fort Worth hotel for around $120, while Seattle's 3-star hotels will cost you around $300, with 5-star hotels running around $510.

Now let's look at Fort Worth's sister city, Dallas.

Well, Google has more to say about Dallas than it says about Fort Worth, saying....

City in Texas
Dallas is a major city in Texas and is the largest urban center of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city proper ranks ninth in the U.S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio.

Apparently Dallas has 3-star hotels cheaper to stay in than Fort Worth's at around $110. Dallas has 5-star hotels way cheaper than Seattle's at around $180. Google really does not have much more to say about Dallas than it did about Fort Worth. No mention of Dallas being the location of the State Fair of Texas. Or being the location of America's most recent presidential assassination.

Let's go back to Washington to see what Google has to say about the town I was living in before I was exiled to Texas.

City in Washington
Mount Vernon is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,743 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.

I just now noticed that Google is getting some of the blurbs from Wikipedia, which would explain the sparse Fort Worth entry, because the Wikipedia Fort Worth article is sort of pitiful.

Mount Vernon's 3-star hotels are a more expensive stay than Fort Worth and Dallas at around $150. I've stayed in a Mount Vernon hotel or two on return visits to Washington. Never paid anywhere near $150. I have no idea if I was staying in a 3-star hotel.

All the blurb examples I have used here came from the first sentence of that town's Wikipedia article.

Except for the Seattle blurb.

Which I assume means there must be a way to edit Google's description of a town. I think someone needs to get on this serious issue right away and spruce up the Fort Worth and Dallas blurbs.

And Mount Vernon's as well, with mention made of the annual tulip festival attracting over a million tulip tiptoers, the annual Skagit County Fair, the Riverwalk, Little Mountain and other stuff I am not remembering right now....

The Trinity Continues To Rise With Inadequate Levees Threatening Downtown Dallas

I saw that which you see here a few minutes ago on Facebook, via Elsie Hotpepper.

Apparently downtown Dallas is in danger as the Trinity continues to rise, straining levees which long ago were deemed inadequate to handle a massive flood.

I have never been in Dallas when the Trinity is running a lot of water. I've only see it when the big flood plain is dry with a little thing that looks like a ditch running through the flood plain.

That little ditch in the flood plain is currently a gigantic Lake Dallas.

Elsie Hotpepper asks a good question. As in "Does Dallas not know they are downstream??"

As the Trinity passes downtown Fort Worth the Clear Fork and West Fork join together and make a bigger river as the water continues its journey east. By the time the river gets to Dallas the East Fork and Elm Fork join Clear and West to make one unified river.

Currently one big unified river  threatening one big town's downtown with getting the New Orleans Katrina treatment.

I don't quite understand how breeched levees could threaten downtown Dallas with catastrophic flooding.

But that is what I am hearing.

Then again, like I've already suggested, when I've been in downtown Dallas I have never had any awareness of where the river was, unlike downtown Fort Worth where the river is quite noticeable, all the time, not just during those times when hundreds of dementos are having themselves a mighty fine time floating in the river, drinking beer and listening to music at an imaginary pavilion by an imaginary island at an imaginary world class water front music venue.

I sure hope the Dallas levees hold. I have seen what happens when a dike breaks during a flood. It ain't pretty.

UPDATE: From the Dallas Morning News----"All that stands between downtown Dallas and its near-total submersion are a pair of very old, deteriorating earthen levees that have been judged dangerously inadequate for a generation."

Trinity River Turns Into Dallas Lake After The Amazing Race Ends There

I saw that which you see here a few minutes ago on Facebook. I think that is Reunion Tower on the south end of this view looking east at the Dallas skyline.

That would make this the iconic view of Dallas seen during the opening credits of Dallas, with a lot of water added.

I am not sure about it, but I think the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision envisions recreational lakes being in this flood plain. Along with a tollway. I may be wrong about this.

I can't imagine how that would work when a flood event, like you see here, comes to town.

My mom called last night to find out if I'd been flooded. Apparently the flooding in Texas is big national news, as well it should be, what with it being of biblical proportions. Almost.

Yesterday I got around to watching the season finale of The Amazing Race, with Dallas being the Final Destination City. This was the second time Dallas was the Final Destination City.

When the racers left Peru their clue told them to head to their Final Destination City and find their way to AT & T Stadium.

There have only been a few times whilst watching The Amazing Race where I am familiar with the territory being covered. With those times being race legs, or final destinations, or starting points in Seattle, Los Angeles, Utah and D/FW.

At Cowboy Stadium the racers ran into a Roadblock. Each of the boys opted to play, since it was football related. They had to get in uniform, then a cable hoisted them to the stadium's roof where they were handed a playbook, then dropped back to the field, where the playbook told them they had to catch a touchdown pass and score a field goal.

Two of the boys were football savvy. The other two weren't. It was amusing.

The next clue had them going to P2 Ranch in Alvarado. I'd never heard of this place. Nor had the taxi drivers. I later learned the ranch was down by Burleson. That is a bit of a distance from the stadium, with the route taken appearing to be all country, no freeway. This seemed odd.

At P2 Ranch the racers had to get in cowboy gear and be drovers on a cattle drive herding longhorns to a pen. This was across a lot of land, through water, horses got skittish, one racer fell off her horse. It all seemed risky to me.

Phil eliminated the fourth team to arrive at the ranch. The other three teams were told to go to the aforementioned Reunion Tower to find their next clue.

I have no idea by what route the teams made their way back to Dallas. This was not shown. But one team, known as the Bickersons, due to their constant bickering, made it to Reunion Tower well ahead of the other two teams.

Reunion Tower was another Roadblock. with the girls having to do this one. They had to rappel down the tower looking for their next clue, a route marker. Hayley Bickerson found what turned out to not be the route marker, thus costing them their lead and likely the win.

The other two saw the correct route marker and quickly made it to the location. A mud pit near the railroad tracks by Reunion Tower. They had to drive a Monster Truck to get through mud to get to their final challenge.

That final challenge was a bit tiresome, but when the clue was finally released it told them to find their Final Destination at Continental Avenue Bridge. One taxi driver did not know where that bridge was, the other did, telling the taxi driver who did not know that it's by the new bridge.

So, this iteration of The Amazing Race ended on a bridge that runs parallel to one of the Dallas Trinity River Vision actual signature bridges, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.

All in all, The Amazing Race made Dallas and Texas look real good.

No mention was made, during the final episode, of that town to the west which makes other towns, far and wide, green with envy....