Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness In Moscow, Texas

Yesterday I indicated this would happen, that I'd hear from someone outside America and then feel the need to change the CARO logo. Again.

So now it's the "World To Save Carter Avenue."

Apparently, Vladimir from Moscow, Russia, follows American eminent domain abuse cases, paying particularly close attention to the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World.

Tarrant County, Texas.

Ironically, Vladimir lives in the country that pretty much invented eminent domain abuse and used to be the world capital of such abuse, when it was the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union eminent domain abuse was called Communism.

The Communists used to run roughshod over the Soviet people. If the Communists decided they wanted to drill for natural gas where you lived, they'd just remove you from your land, using some flimsy legalese, maybe throwing you in the Gulag if you did not leave your land peacefully.

If the Communists wanted to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under your home and you didn't want them to, tough luck, they'd go through some trumped up legal formality and build the pipeline.

If the Communists wanted to build a sewer plant next to your farm and needed some of your land, they'd throw some papers in your face, informing you that part of your land was being taken and then proceed to proceed, with no attention paid to how you were impacted.

If the Communists wanted to build a new stadium, where dozens of homes and apartment buildings sat, they'd inform the apartment dwellers and homeowners they had to get out, because the people need a stadium. And then bring in the bulldozers.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in the Communist former Soviet Union, where such horrible abuses occurred. I'm so grateful to be living free in America where such things can not occur, because here in America we are guaranteed, by our Constitution, that prime among our many rights is the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. And to be safe and secure on our property.

See you all in downtown Moscow, I mean, Fort Worth, Thursday morning.

It Is Snowing Again In Fort Worth Texas Possibly Setting A New Winter Snow Total Record

You are looking at the view out my patio window some time after 9 this morning.

When the sun lit up the place I saw a few flakes falling, of the tiny sort that makes for what is called powder snow in the northwest

I don't know if it's called powder snow in Texas.

By the time I was in the pool, for a short duration, the powder had turned to big fluffy flakes. Coming up on 10 the snow has switched back to powder.

It is 32 degrees, right now, but the ground is not freezing, so the flakes that hit the ground melt before another one lands on top of it. In other words, it is not white out there.

Snow is predicted to fall all day, but not to add up to much, but, if more than a couple inches piles up, it will break the record for total snowfall in a Dallas/Fort Worth winter. So far we have had 15.7 inches of snow this winter. The record is 17.6 inches in the winter of 1977-78.

I can not remember when I have ever been more ready for a winter to turn into spring.

In The Shadow Of The Thin Man In Fort Worth's Tandy Hills

That is the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, coming soon to a theater near you, late this afternoon.

Events conspired to keep me computer bound for hours beyond my liking today.

By early afternoon I felt like my head was preparing to explode. My therapist, Dr. L.C., checked in on me, as she regularly does, and when I mentioned I thought my blood pressure was fixin' to explode my head, she verbalized some concern regarding the sad state of my physical being.

Fortunately, a jaunt up and down the Tandy Hills, in temperatures approaching 60, wearing way less clothing than in recent weeks, breathing in the sweet smog scented air, was just what the doctor ordered.

It revived me.

And now I'm back here, facing my computer aggravation.

About 3 this afternoon I got an email from my Cousin Amy. Amy was wanting me to remove all the detailed information I have about her on my website about our family, widely believed to be the most extensive family website on the Internet.

I explained to Amy that I'd made, for the most part, the family website invisible to search engines, which is why none of you reading this have heard of it til now. But, apparently Amy married a Vietnamese guy, last name of Nguyen, and there is some sort of nefarious doings that would make anonymity a good thing.

So, me, being the wanting to always please good boy that I am, set out to remove Amy from my family. But, my web editor will not let me open that particular website. Resources keep getting gobbled up til there is no memory left. I have tried several fixes, but so far, to no avail.

Which leaves Cousin Amy and the Nguyen gang exposed and possibly in danger. I do not know how I will sleep tonight with this lurking woe hanging out there.

Other than that, I've had myself a real peachy day. In case you can't figure it out for yourself, in the picture, that is the view, looking west from the top of Tandy Hills Mountain, of the stunningly beautiful, smog-filtered, skyline of downtown Fort Worth.

The True Story Of The Little Boy Who Wanted To Be A Fireman & Was Not From Fort Worth

This morning Miss CVB of Sedro Woolley, Washington emailed me the story of a little boy who died from Leukemia, who wanted to be a fireman when he grew up. It was a touching story, but seemed hokey to me. So, I looked it up and quickly found there were several versions. The one Miss CVB sent me had the little boy being a Canadian in Calgary, Alberta.

So, with me thinking the story was a total hoax, urban legend, myth type thing I changed all the instances of Calgary to Fort Worth. And blogged it.

Soon after that Miss CVB emailed me that she was "crushed to learn it was not true."

Then I got a message from Steve A telling me, "The story IS true, albeit from Phoenix rather than Fort Worth. Even the off the wall bit about the firefighters climbing through the window is true."

Well, sort of true. In the real story it was 5 firemen, not 16. The boy's name was not "Billy." It was Frank "Bopsy" Salazar. The boy was 7, not 6. The story was lifted from the original Chicken Soup for the Soul book. The boy was the first "wish child" helped by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The little boy wanted to be a fireman, ride in a hot air balloon and go to Disneyland. He got all 3 wishes. It is true the little boy was given a fireman's uniform. In the real story he got a ride in a firetruck and squirted a few cars with the fire hose.

In the real story the boy's condition worsened after the trip to Disneyland. He was back in the hospital, third floor. A fireman knocked on the room's window, it was opened and in crawled the 5 firemen. Later that evening the boy died.

Fort Worth's Public Library Is Closed Today While Little Burlington Washington's Is Open

I live close to a Fort Worth Library Branch. On my way to check out Fosdic Lake to work on the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision I wanted to drop off a couple books and get a couple new ones.

But.

The Fort Worth Library was closed. And I could not drop off the books I wanted to return because the book return was blocked by the sign you see in the picture.

As I drove up to the library I saw, maybe, 10 cars in the lot and several people standing by the door, I assumed, waiting for the library to open at noon.

I sat there watching for maybe 5 minutes. Several cars drove on to the lot and left when they spotted the closed sign. Others got out of their car and walked to the door and eventually saw the closed sign. I imagine this will continue all day long

What a waste of time and gas.

So, I got to Fosdic Lake and started to walk. And then I remembered I had the number for the Burlington Library on my phone. I know the librarian.

Burlington is the small town in Washington I grew up in. It's current population is somewhere around 5,000, I think. But the town's population soars during the day due to it being a shopping hub with a big mall, outlet center, Costco, Fred Meyer, I forget what else.

My call to the Burlington Library was answered on the second ring. Try calling the Fort Worth Library and see what happens. I called at 12:15, which made it 10:15 on the West Coast. I asked, "Are you open today?"

"Yes. From 11am til 8pm" the librarian answered.

I told the librarian I was calling from Fort Worth, Texas where I was annoyed to find the library closed today.

It has annoyed me many a time to drive by the Fort Worth Library to see a line of people waiting to get in. It seems such a waste to build libraries and crimp on the hours they are open.

Oh, yes, I know there is a serious budget shortfall, so serious that Fort Worth is abandoning its Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. No, wait, I don't think that's reality, that was a dream I had recently.

Yesterday, when I had my long meeting with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and he not only agreed to support the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision, he agreed to use his ill-gotten Conflict of Interest gains to finance the project.

Now, I'm thinking I would be agreeable to scaling back the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision, with Mayor Moncrief donating some of his ill-gotten gains to the city for the specific use of expanding Fort Worth Library hours.

Earlier today I blogged about Seattle being America's most literate city, with Fort Worth being America's 52nd most literate city. I see a connection between little Burlington's library being open today and the Northwest having a high literacy rate and Fort Worth's library being closed today with Fort Worth having a significantly lower literacy rate, with a lot of Fort Worth citizens really wanting their library to be open today.

Shameful and perplexing.

The Rain Has Stopped For Now In The Fort Worth Rain Forest

The rain has stopped. For now. The view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony has brightened up from this morning's gloomy darkness.

Don Young commented on my gloomy state of forlorn-ness, saying I was depressing him and offering to loan me a water proof poncho so that I could do some water hiking on the Tandy Hills.

Apparently a 4-wheeler decided to do some damage to the prairie, despite all the signs warning wheeled devices and animals with hooves to keep out.

Don Young also commented that my forlorn state of woefulness finally matched the forlorn photo of me on my blog. I thought I was looking happy in that picture.

94% of Fort Worth Stays Home Election Day

Fort Worth's Ruling Junta won a stunning victory Saturday, with all incumbents winning, including Mayor Mike Moncrief who won with over 70% of the vote. Clyde Picht got 22%, while Louis McBee almost got 8%.

The Ruling Junta remains in power thanks to the whopping 6% of the eligible voters who bothered to vote.

Which means Moncrief remains mayor by getting 70% of the votes of the 6% who bothered to vote.

I can't help but wonder why only 6% of Fort Worth's voters bother to vote. Do they think it doesn't matter? Does the majority simply shrug off all the corruption charges levied at Moncrief? Is this just the way it's always been here? It's perplexing to me.

I guess Fort Worth must wait for another day to have a revolution to establish a real democracy in this town.

Cowtown's Crown Jewel

Okay. I admit I am in dire need of getting a life and that it is obvious I have too much time on my hands. Why else, with all there is to be troubled by in this world, do I seem to focus an inordinate amount of attention on things I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that strike me as very goofy? Or things in Fort Worth that strike me as goofy.

So, on the front page of the Sunday paper there was this headline at the top, "Cowtown's crown jewel marks 10 years of sound and spectacle." Underneath the headline was the following.:

"It's been 10 years since the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall opened to great fanfare in downtown Fort Worth. In May 1998, the arts-rich city that is home to the Cliburn competition---and a healthy menu of symphony, opera and ballet---finally got a distinguished performance space equal to its world class art museums and worthy of local performing-arts groups' quality. We reflect on the hall's impressive first decade and its impact on the cultural scene."

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's the weird inflated self-congratulatory tone that bugs me. Using phrases like "world class." I'm almost 100% any place that actually does have world class attractions has the class not to describe them as such. It just seems sort of gauche and vulgar to me.

Speaking of gauche and vulgar, regarding that long name for this building, "Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall." The Bass family are Fort Worth billionaires. They bought Fort Worth the performance hall. And, I guess, gave themselves naming rights. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is in Nancy Lee Bass Hall. It just seems tacky to me to name a building after yourself that you're giving as a gift.

Up in Seattle, Microsoft billionaire, Paul Allen has built and remodeled many buildings. But somehow he had the good taste not to name his restored-to-its-retro-glory theater the Paul Allen Cinerama. When he built a Frank Gehry designed music museum he did not call it the Paul Allen Music Experience Project. Paul Allen has been buying up property in downtown Seattle for years and making come true his vision of creating a sort of mixed use Central Park type area connecting the downtown core to Lake Union to the north.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth the Bass family bought up some downtown real estate and turned it into parking lots named Sundance Square. Which they police with their own police force which locals call The Bastapo.

Paul Allen used an actual world class architect to design his music museum. I don't know what architect designed Bass Hall, but the Bass's have a reputation for having bad taste in building design. And to my eyes Bass Hall is not an impressive building. It's the type of bad architecture that Howard Roark would blow up. I think it would be the garish horn tooting angels stuck on the side that would have set off Howard Roark. If you don't know who Howard Roark is, Google it and add Ayn Rand to the search string.

In recent times one of the Bass's, I think it was Ed, tried to thwart the clever design of a sunken plaza at a college being built in downtown Fort Worth. The Bass family does not like modern looking structures. My dear ol' mom has equally bad ideas. I remember her suggesting I add gingerbread trim to an awning I built over my deck. I bet the Bass's love gingerbread trim.

I'm sure the Bass Family has greatly helped Fort Worth. One can't help but wonder what downtown would be like without them. But, Fort Worth has a population that is nearing 700,000. Isn't Fort Worth big enough to pay for things the way other world class cities do? As in if it is for the public good, put it to a public vote asking the citizens to approve taxing themselves in order to build something. What a concept. Then you could name it the Fort Worth Performance Hall. Wouldn't that be a nice name?

Instead, Fort Worth is run like a company town with the people mostly cut out of the loop. I know Oklahoma City voted a $1 billion bond when they built their hugely successful Bricktown development. The Fort Worth powers that be, copying a similar plan in Dallas, that was voted on by the people of Dallas, announced that the Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth would be diverted into a town lake with canals and a diversion channel. If this goes forward it will involve yet more eminent domain abuse here in Texas. I don't know if you can use eminent domain for such a thing without a public vote. With over 80 businesses being given their eviction notices, I'm thinking a good lawyer is going to tie the project up. That and when the predictable, expensive to clean up polluted ground is found in that industrial wasteland the project will screech to a halt.

But, maybe I'm wrong and Fort Worth will end up with its own special version of Oklahoma City's Bricktown and San Antonio's Riverwalk.

I just thought of another amusing thing. When this Fort Worth copycat boondoggle was first announced, with plans by a Vancouver, B.C. designer, the Star-Telegram actually said this project would make Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South! They went from claiming Fort Worth's lame Sante Fe Rail Market was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place to claiming a little lake and some canals was going to turn Fort Worth into Vancouver. I sent a letter to the editor asking "Have any of you people actually been to Vancouver? If not you need to send a reporter pronto so he/she can report back to you how dumb your Vancouver of the South claim is." I don't remember if that letter got printed. I do remember the "Vancouver of the South" lie did not last as long as the "modeled after Pike Place Market" lie. That one got repeated for months.

I need to switch to the Dallas paper.