Amusing Bass Static Over New Downtown Fort Worth Hooters

Last week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column Who’s Against Hooters? told us about Ed Bass being behind the attempt to constrain the opening of a Hooters in downtown Fort Worth.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column Chest Having Fun is mostly a tongue in cheek apology for supposedly erroneously blaming Ed Bass for the anti-Hooters Conspiracy.

This week's Static column is sort of a look at how Fort Worth's shadow government works, with Ed Bass and the Bass family having way too much control over that which they seem to treat as their personal fiefdom.

I've long thought Fort Worth would be better off if it did some things on its own, like a city wearing its big boy pants does, rather than relying on the Bass family. Yes, I know, many locals think the Bass family has done wonders for Fort Worth and have no problem with the family imposing their personal tastes on the town.

Or slapping their names on the results of their largess. I know many people think the Bass Performance Hall is a wonder to behold. But to me it looks out of place, and sort of weird with those giant trumpet blowing angels stuck to the front of the building.

I digress, back to Static.

For a long long time I verbalized my perplexation regarding downtown Fort Worth having signs pointing to something called Sundance Square, where there was no square, thus confusing Fort Worth's few out of town tourists.

Eventually I was informed that there was no square in Sundance Square, that Sundance Square was a downtown development scheme run by the Bass Family.

After decades of downtown Fort Worth embarrassing itself, due to there being no square in Sundance Square, a square was finally built on one of the parking lots which many had assumed was Sundance Square, and then goofily, redundantly named Sundance Square Plaza.

So, now there is a plaza in Sundance Square.

Now, what did I learn in this week's FW Weekly Static column that I did not know before? Well, I learned that that which is still known as Sundance Square is even more convoluted and odd than I realized.

Read the entire Chest Having Fun  Static column to get the entire amusing scope of the Bass Sundance Square ridiculousness after you read the following paragraphs gleaned from the column.....

Last week, Static discussed how billionaire businessman Ed Bass was behind an organized push to keep a particular breastaurant out of downtown. We also wondered why the people who created the Facebook page Say NO to Hooters in Downtown Fort Worth (2,000 “likes” and counting) were so upset about the well-established wings chain featuring scantily clad female servers when another breastaurant, Ojos Locos, has been operating in Sundance Square for several years.

That prompted a Sundance Square spokesperson to ask for a correction. Seems Ojos Locos is not located in Sundance Square.

Anyone who has visited Ojos Locos would swear they were in Sundance Square. The sports bar with barely dressed female servers is located at 515 Houston St., and it sits next door to Milan Gallery (505 Houston St.), which is billed as being in Sundance Square.

As it turns out, streets, blocks, borders, and addresses don’t define Sundance Square, the downtown wining/dining/shopping haven and brainchild of the Bass family. Your business is considered a part of the exclusive district only if you lease space in a building owned by Sundance Square Inc., a real estate management company whose employees oversee more than 40 downtown buildings, all owned by the Basses.

___________________________

The anti-Hooters Bass Conspiracy has made itself a Facebook page titled SAY NO to HOOTERS in DOWNTOWN FORT WORTH.

After FW Weekly's Static made mention of the hypocrisy of the Bass anti-Hooters being against a Hooters in Sundance Square, while another Hooters-like restaurant named Ojos Locos seemed to be operating in Sundance Square, the anti-Hooters Facebook page was re-titled SAY NO to HOOTERS & OJOS LOCOS in DOWNTOWN FORT WORTH.

How did downtown Fort Worth suddenly get so prudish? The downtown used to host one of the most notorious red light districts in the world.

Known as Hell's Half Acre.

With dozens of bordellos and saloons. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid frequented Fort Worth to visit Hell's Half Acre, so much so that that is why Sundance Square is so-named.

What would Butch and Sundance think of Fort Worth now? The town run by prudes trying to run restaurants out of downtown simply due to the slightly revealing nature of a restaurant's waitress uniforms.

This is an appalling state of affairs....

FW Weekly Has Me Doing Some More Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Questioning

I found Ed Bass and Betsy Price in my mailbox again today. Along with a long list of co-horts calling themselves co-chairs, co-horting to co-chair a huge committee of committed Fort Worth citizens determined to convince Fort Worth voters to vote on Three Propositions to impose Three User Fees to pay for half of a new Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena.

I have opined previously that I think it is absurd to ask voters to vote on something as goofy as whether or not to charge a $1 or $2 fee per day for the use of a livestock stall in the new arena. Near as I can tell I am the only person who finds this to be ridiculous.

However.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly's Metro section is all about the proposed arena and asks some questions that really need answering, in an  article titled Worth Questioning.

In the FW Weekly article I got an answer to a question I have opined about previously. As in, are we to think these Three Propositions are a Yes or No vote on the arena? As in if the voters vote NO, does that mean NO arena? The ballot verbiage implies that that is the case, that No means no. I blogged about the ballot verbiage after I voted.

Regarding if voting NO means no arena, the following paragraph in the FW Weekly article indicated NO does not mean no arena....

"At a recent public meeting to discuss the arena, a city official told the crowd that if the voters don’t approve the tax measures, the project will still move forward with alternate sources of funding."

The FW Weekly article addresses another arena issue, one I had wondered about but did not know enough about to the point I felt like opining about it.

The "it" to which I refer is the cost of the arena. $450,000. That is almost a half billion dollars.

The proposed arena only holds, at its max, 14,000 people when it is in concert mode, only 9,000 in rodeo mode.

That is a rather puny arena for a lot of money.

I figured maybe it was all those livestock stalls for rent for $1 which might be the reason for the high price tag, that it was the multipurpose aspect that raised the cost.

What perplexed me is similar public works of which I am aware cost less than the cost of this little arena. Like the new Seattle Seahawk Stadium and the Seattle Mariner Ballpark. The Seahawk Stadium may have cost in the half billion dollar zone, I don't remember for sure. But, these are big venues able to entertain way more people than Fort Worth's proposed little arena.

Plus, the Seattle venues are right next to each other, with well designed means to move traffic in and out of the area, including freeway connections directly to the venues, underground transit in the form of light rail and buses. And this in a busy downtown zone.

The FW Weekly article touches on the lack of transit planning for the new Fort Worth Arena. I have received several blog comments from people who live in the Arlington Heights neighborhood impacted by events held in the Stock Show zone who are not happy about the bad planning and who foresee traffic nightmares.

The congested West 7th mess in the same area is an example of how bad Fort Worth is at adding needed infrastructure when new development occurs.

The FW Weekly article also touches on the costs vs. size issue, and has better comparisons than my use of the Seattle venues....

"They question why the cost is so high compared to similar event centers. The cost of the arena even makes the Cowboys’ huge Arlington stadium look like a bargain. AT&T Stadium has almost 10 times the capacity of the proposed Fort Worth arena but only three times the price tag."

"The proposed arena would hold 14,000 people for concerts and about 9,000 for rodeos and sporting events. It will cost 20 percent more ($100 million) than a similar-sized one on the Las Vegas strip that has a 20,000-seat capacity. The Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan., can hold nearly 16,000 people but will cost only half of what’s being planned in Fort Worth. Construction began on the Vegas arena earlier this year; the Intrust arena was built in 2010."

In addition to mailers, advertisements and yard signs the Forward Fort Worth Partnership, PAC has also been airing radio ads. In those ads Betsy Price touts how this new little arena will bring back big concerts to Fort Worth. And big sporting events.

Why would a concert booker book his act in a small arena that can sell only 14,000 tickets when other venues in the D/FW Metroplex can hold concerts which can sell multiple times 14,000 tickets?

As for a sporting event. Same thing. The only sport I can think of which might be held in such a small arena would be basketball. I assume the basketball capacity would be about the same as that for a rodeo, as in 9,000 spectators.

Methinks this proposed new Fort Worth arena idea needs to be sent back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan which delivers much more bang for the buck, as in way more seats for the almost half billion dollars. And which addresses the traffic issues.

And let the voters actually vote on the thing, for gawdsakes, like grown up towns do.....

Early Voting Begins On Three Absurd Arena Ballot Propositions In Fort Worth

In my mailbox this morning, just in time for the start of early voting, I got a new version of a previous mailing about the Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Election.

The previous mailer featured Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price. This time the mailer features Fort Worth businessman, Ed Bass, who shares with us his opinion that "This unique public-private partnership is an opportunity that will benefit Fort Worth for generations to come."

I am unclear as to what the public part of this partnership is. I believe the decision to build this new multipurpose arena was made privately. I do not recollect a public vote on this issue.

I really don't understand the point of the Three Ballot Propositions the public is being asked to vote on.

Three Ballot Propositions, all of which involve approving fees related to the new arena.

Fees, such as a user fee on tickets, a user fee of a dollar or two on livestock stalls and a user fee not to exceed $5 per vehicle for parking.

Seriously?

These type fees need to be voted on and somehow relate to approving of this new arena?

How come Fort Worth voters are not offput at being thrown this bone of voting on something like these Three Ballot Propositions under the guise that they are participating in some sort of decision regarding the building of the new arena?

Are Fort Worth voters actually debating the merits of whether or not to approve of a user fee of $1 to $2 per day on livestock pens?

That is just embarrassing.

If this Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Election were actually an election where, unlike the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, the public was actually allowed to vote on this new arena public works project, voting yes or no on a bond issue funding mechanism, such as that which takes place in Big Towns which wear their Big City Pants, I would be voting YES, because I can see clearly that Fort Worth could use a modern arena to replace that Will Rogers antique arena.

However.

I will be voting NO on these Three Ballot Propositions.

Because, I really do not think it will make any difference on the final arena result whether these three absurd propositions get approved, or not....

Betsy Price Thinks A New Arena Is Definitely Fort Worth It

This morning I found my favorite Fort Worth mayor, Betsy Price, in my mailbox telling me "The Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena - Definitely Fort Worth it."

Very clever.

Betsy wants me, and you other Fort Worth voters, to vote "YES" on three ballot propositions relating to a new arena.

I have long verbalized the fact that I find the way public works projects come about in Fort Worth to be perplexingly different than I experienced whilst living in a more democratic part of America. In Fort Worth you can have big public works projects, like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with absolutely no voter input.

And now with this new arena the public is being asked to vote on three propositions. These three propositions are where this arena election turns into yet one more goofy way Fort Worth goes about its business.

Proposition #1: A user fee (tax) on event tickets not to exceed 10% of the ticket price.
Proposition #2: A user fee (tax) on livestock stalls and pens of $1 to $2 per day, not to exceed $20 per event.
Proposition #3: A user fee (tax) on parking not to exceed $5 per vehicle, which will come out of the existing parking fee.

So, the Fort Worth voters are not actually voting yes or no on the building of this new arena, what they are voting on is three user fees, apparently also known as taxes.

If the Fort Worth voters vote no on any or all of these propositions does that kill the arena?

Other info in Betsy's arena mailer is also goofy. That is the info part of the mailer, scanned for your reading pleasure below.

See the second red heading? TAXPAYERS ARE OFF THE HOOK. There we learn that "A group of private sector participants (foundations, individuals and organizations) led by Fort Worth businessman Ed Bass will provide half the $450 million project cost. Private donations will also cover any cost overruns. The arena will be owned by the City and managed by a nonprofit organization that will be responsible for its operational costs."

See the fourth red heading? BY FORT WORTH FOR FORT WORTH. There we learn that "Unlike other North Texas arenas and stadiums there is no private developer or franchise owner involved in the project and therefore all revenue derived from the City's multipurpose arena will be redirected  back into its operations and maintenance."

HUH? In the Taxpayers Are Off The Hook part of this propaganda didn't we just read that a group of private sector participants were paying for half the cost of this arena?

Come November 4 are Fort Worth's voters going to pass these three ballot propositions? I have no idea. Maybe the thrill of actually getting to vote for something will result in a resounding yes vote. Or maybe resentment at not being able to directly vote yes or no on a new arena will result in a resounding no vote.

Currently I am undecided as to whether I will be voting yes or no.....

Today I Learned There Is No Sundance Square Under Construction In Downtown Fort Worth

Artist's Rendering Of Sundance Plaza From The
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Way back on Friday June 1, 2012 I got email from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. which led me to believe that after years of there being no square in Sundance square that a square was finally under construction and that soon the decades of Fort Worth's few downtown tourists being confused by the lack of a square in Sundance Square would come to an end.

I blogged about this in a blogging titled I Love Downtown Fort Worth & The Biggest Comic Strip In Texas That Surrounds Sundance Square.

So, what do I read in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram in an article titled Sundance Plaza will feature fountain, pavilion and large shaded area?

Well, a group of so-called executives executing the non-existent Sundance Square have "revealed the long-awaited plans for the 1-acre plaza, to be located on former parking lots between Third and Fourth streets and Houston and Commerce in the heart of downtown Fort Worth, during a meeting of the Downtown Design Review Board today."

So, I was misinformed by Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. Apparently, at the present time, there is no square under construction in the misnomered Sundance Square.

This proposed square, I mean plaza, whose plans have now been revealed, covers only one acre? And will be called Sundance Plaza? Thus continuing to confuse tourists in their search for the still non-existent Sundance Square?

According to one of downtown Fort Worth's chief propagandists, Ed Bass, the plaza has been part of the downtown master plan for over 2 decades.

In a sentence which really makes no sense Bass says, "We always envisioned a beautiful plaza that would be the fabric of our wonderful city and is now set to become a vibrant social centerpiece reflecting the best of a lively downtown."

This plaza will be the fabric of this wonderful city? Becoming a vibrant social centerpiece? This one acre plaza will reflect the best of a lively downtown?

This is just embarrassing.

One acre?

With four 40 x 40 feet umbrellas lit by led lights?

A 2,000 square foot glass pavilion? 2,000 square feet? That's like the size of a big apartment.

The pavilion is designed in the English garden style? Why not designed in the Texas garden style? I shudder to wonder what a pavilion designed in the English garden style is going to look like in downtown Fort Worth.

The article in the Star-Telegram makes no mention of when the one acre Sundance Plaza is scheduled to open.

Pedaling Through The World's Most Concentrated Area Of Boondoggles & Eminent Domain Abuse

Tarrant County College East Trinity Campus

Today was the first time in a long time I pedaled my handlebars on the Trinity Trail past downtown Fort Worth.

Which would make today the first time I've seen the completed version of what was to be the Tarrant County College downtown campus.

The truncated version of the Tarrant County College is, to my eyes, a nice looking structure.

I've opined previously that if this building had been built as designed, with a bridge across the Trinity River to another building, that this might have given Fort Worth what it has never had. That being a building that people in other parts of America, and the world, might recognize as being in Fort Worth.

Unfortunately the Fort Worth Boondoggle Virus infected this project, along with the bad taste of Ed Bass and his disdain for sunken plazas, so the project was never completed as designed.

Part of the failure of this project was caused by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. The Army Corps of Engineers objected to the TCC project's plan to build on the river's levees. I think, maybe, because those levees are supposedly going to be removed, once the flood diversion channel is built and J.D. Granger's Magic Trees are planted.

The Former Radio Shack Headquarters

Elsie Hotpepper did not go bike riding with me today. So, that is not Elsie Hotpepper pedaling under those arches towards the former Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters, currently the downtown Tarrant County College Trinity Campus.

This area of Fort Worth really is an interesting confluence of boondoggles, eminent domain abuse and public works projects gone awry, in addition to being the location of the confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River, which may disappear if the Granger Pond ever comes to fruition.

In this area you had Radio Shack hornswoggling Fort Worth to abuse eminent domain to take the Ripley Arnold apartments. I don't remember if Radio Shack got tax breaks, as well as property stealing help.

Instead of Fort Worth suggesting Radio Shack build elsewhere, like maybe on blighted land on the north side of the Trinity River, land that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle will supposedly unblight, Fort Worth's Ruling Oligarchy went along with Radio Shack's plans.

No consideration was given to the fact that allowing Radio Shack to build in this location would remove acres of free parking and the world's shortest subway, from Fort Worth.

I have seldom been to downtown Fort Worth since the ease of doing so was destroyed by this boondoggle.

Radio Shack moved into its new corporate headquarters to much hoopla. Meanwhile the new downtown campus of Tarrant County College started getting constructed.

Soon problems arose, along with rising costs.

At some point in time Radio Shack found it could not afford its shiny new corporate headquarters. Eventually someone decided it would be just a dandy idea to buy Radio Shack's corporate headquarters and turn it into Tarrant County College West Trinity Campus.

I saw the Tarrant County College Trinity Campus signage on the structure today, where it used to say Radio Shack.

So, you have two downtown Tarrant County College campuses, one east of Main Street, one west.

I do not understand how anyone who follows the downtown Fort Worth ongoing soap opera of  incompetentitude can have any hope that the Trinity River Vision is not going to out boondoggle all previous Fort Worth boondoggles.

It should be epic when the inevitable crash comes.

Will J.D. Granger and his mama end up doing jail time? Who knows.

I am currently reading a book titled Confederacy of Silence: A True Tale of the New Old South. This book has given me a greater understanding of why things are the way they are here, along with understanding J.D. Granger and his mama will get in no real trouble, because that just is not the Fort Worth Way.

Biking The Trinity Trail Looking At Dismal Skyscrapers Thinking About CatsPaw, MLK & GG

Yale Dean Of Architecture Designed Skyscrapers

A week ago today I blogged a blogging titled On The Dried Out Tandy Hills Looking At The Upgraded Tarrant County Courthouse & Bass Family Damage To Downtown Fort Worth.

Basically I was opining about the Bass Family, and Ed Bass, in particular, and how I saw the Bass impact on downtown Fort Worth.

Today, whilst biking the Trinity Trail this subject was brought back to the forefront of my consciousness when I was fairly close to a pair of skyscrapers I'd opined about.

Last week's blogging generated some commentary from three different commentors whose opinions I highly value, CatsPaw, MLK and GG.

I'd suggested that the architect who designed those aforementioned skyscrapers must have been a C Student and were reflective of Bass Bad Taste.

CatsPaw then had this to say.....

My goodness, you're cranky today. Your "C-student" was quite highly-regarded and a former dean of the Yale School of Architecture. I first came to Fort Worth in 1977. City Center went up between 1978 - 1983. In the late 70s and early 80s, downtown had gotten rather dismal. I used to work in the old Continental National Bank building (now gone) and often had lunch at the Richelieu Cafe (gone) or at the restaurant in the Blackstone Hotel (now the Marriott) where the waitresses were about 80 if they were a day. We hung out after work hours at the old Daddio's where the Flying Saucer is presently. That area was pretty rough and if there had been sagebrush and tumble weeds, they would have been blowing along Main Street after 5 pm. Regardless of one's view of the Bass family or some of the buildings or development, there's really no question that they have been uniquely instrumental in the revival of downtown.

I first saw Fort Worth in August of 1980. I do remember the downtown being very dismal. And skyscraper-free. At least I do not remember there being any sort of skyline back then.

And then MLK disagreed with me....

Durango, I rarely disagree with your observations, but I'll have to object to your obvious dislike of the Bass family. I lived in Fort Worth when it was not a place to be, nothing to do, no one living down there. Ed Bass built Caravan of Dreams, an excellent music venue which closed a few years ago (still crying about this). He realized he wanted a place to live downtown, so he built Sundance West...so the urban pioneers came and made downtown FTW a great place to live/work/play. I think Fort Worth owes quite a bit to our benefactors. Whereas they do own most of downtown or fund most of the progress there, they do have excellent taste and have Fort Worth's best interest at heart.

Now, we must keep in mind that I saw something like Caravan of Dreams from a totally different perspective than someone who lived in Fort Worth during the dismal years. I read the hype about Caravan of Dreams soon upon arrival. When I finally made it to the Sundance Square parking lots to check it out I just sort of thought it was strange and tacky. The geodesic cactus garden dome seemed real odd to me. Still does.

Only recently, thanks to Wikipedia, did I learn that that geodesic dome, along with the now defunct Caravan of Dreams, is yet one more thing Fort Worth has Ed Bass to thank, or blame for. I did not connect Ed Bass to the Arizona Biosphere II Geodesic domes debacle til I read the Wikipedia article.

GG, while appreciating all the Bass family has done to Fort Worth, had some issues regarding the billionaires...

I agree that the billionaire Bass family has done a lot for revitalizing downtown Fort Worth. The problem I have with Sundance Square is all the government tax handouts they have gotten in the form of TIFs and sales tax rebates over the years. And they are still going to the trough for another $11 million in TIF money and $2.5 million in city sales tax rebates for the new buildings that will be near the new public, I mean, private plaza. I'm amazed at how the public simply ignores government handouts to billionaires, but gets outraged if some poor person gets a housing voucher or welfare benefit. If the Bass family really has Fort Worth's best interest at heart, they wouldn't be asking for all this public tax money for their private projects. It's not like $2.5 million over 15 years means a whole lot to a billionaire. But it could certainly help pay for fixing/maintaining public pools, improving rather than cutting library funding, and giving city workers some of the salary back that they lost in furloughs, to name a few examples. As a FW outsider, I don't think this 'tax taking' is acceptable behavior for billionaires who own most of downtown.

Regarding my opinion about the Bass family contribution to the development of downtown Fort Worth. My problem with this is I see it as a not a good thing if one family has this level of influence over how a town develops. MLK thinks the Bass's have excellent taste. While I don't.

Taste is a subjective thing.

While the Bass Performance Hall may be an acoustic marvel, aesthetically, to my eyes, it is an out of place eyesore with ridiculous giant angels stuck to its side blowing horns at the Barnes & Noble across the street.

When Ed Bass complained about the sunken plaza design of the downtown Tarrant County College campus, that complaint set in motion, it seemed to me, the torpedoing of that project, one that I opined might actually give Fort Worth its first iconic building that people in other parts of the planet might recognize as being Fort Worth.

Unlike that pair of Bass skyscrapers designed by a Yale School of Architecture dean.

I also do not like the Bass tendency to slap their name on the buildings they help bring about. Like the Bass Performance Hall, or the Bass name slapped on to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum building.

Additionally, I have a problem with the idea that Fort Worth needed these particular benefactors to fix its apparently dismal downtown. Would not a more democratic process be preferable? If you removed the Bass influence from Fort Worth, do you really think downtown Fort Worth would still be a dismal mess in 2012?

And for all the supposed improvement brought to downtown Fort Worth, courtesy of Bass intervention, the town is still the biggest in America without a single downtown department store. Still totally dead on the biggest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.

Without a benefactor playing Big Daddy to Fort Worth's collective Big Babies, might Fort Worth not have managed to figure out how to put on its Big Boy Pants all on its own?

Instead, in Fort Worth you have this weird mentality where a Good Ol' Boy Network runs the town like some sort of private fiefdom, for the benefit of all the little people.

It is this weird mentality, in my opinion, that gives rise, in this town, to strange aberrations from the way a normal town operates, giving rise to abominations like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. A plan hatched by the Good Ol' Boy Network, in cahoots with the local corrupt congresswoman, who got her ne-er do well, unqualified son, the job of running the almost billion dollar project.

I drove Fort Worth's booming West 7th Avenue yesterday. Did all that growth come about from Bass help? Or private enterprise?

Fort Worth's downtown has the largest percentage of land used as parking lots of any big city in America.

Who owns most of the parking lots? The Bass Family.

Land is too valuable to use as parking lots in a vibrant downtown. I wonder what could possibly be done to bring some of that booming West 7th level of dynamic change to downtown Fort Worth?

I would not be so bold (or rude) as to suggest evicting the Bass Family from downtown Fort Worth might be a good place to start.