New Small Multi-Purpose Arena Will Turn Fort Worth Into Imaginary Business & Culture Mecca

I saw that which you see above, this morning, side by side, on the front page of the Sunday October 27 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, online version.

Two articles.

On the left "Dickies Arena will promote Fort Worth as important city for business and culture".

On the right "Protesters interrupt Mayor Betsy Price during Dickies Arena opening ceremony."

I did not bother reading either of the articles. I knew, just from the article headline, that the one on the left would be full of Star-Telegram style propaganda puffery. Touting the nonsense that a relatively small multi-purpose arena will somehow have some sort of trans-formative effect on Fort Worth's business and culture fortunes.

While the article on the right likely sort of accurately reported on the continuing disgust of many Fort Worth locals regarding the Fort Worth police's multi-year history of shooting deaths of innocent citizens.

Fort Worth might want to think about improving the national and international bad reputation of its police force before the town deludes itself into thinking anything about Fort Worth promotes the town as important for business, let alone culture.

Maybe Fort Worth might want to think about the message the town sends with the boarded up eyesore of a park at the north end of its downtown.

Heritage Park.

Intended as an homage to Fort Worth's imaginary storied heritage.

Heritage Park was closed soon after four visitors to Fort Worth drowned in a poorly designed part of the Water Gardens at the south end of downtown.

Heritage Park also had a couple water features. Water features of a depth too shallow to drown anything, but maybe a mouse or rat.

But, those who run Fort Worth so ineptly feared Heritage Park might become the source of another costly lawsuit, you know, should someone somehow manage to drown in the shallow depths of one of Heritage Park's water features.

In a sense, the current state of Heritage Park does serve as an accurate metaphor for the town's actual heritage.

A short distance to the west of Heritage Park we have the location of the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters Boondoggle.

Eminent domain was used to take property so Radio Shack could build a new corporate headquarters, which Radio Shack soon found it could not afford. So, Tarrant County College then took over much of the campus.

But, the damage to Fort Worth was already done. Due to the Radio Shack Boondoggle Fort Worth lost the world's shortest subway line, lost acres of free parking, which, with that subway line, made visiting downtown Fort Worth easy, and with free parking.

Then due north of Heritage Park we have another homage to the actual inept incompetent heritage of Fort Worth. The massive ruins of what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Currently with three simple little bridges stuck partly built over dry land, with construction started in the first half of this decade, currently scheduled to possibly be completed at some point in the next decade. With water added under the bridges at a currently undetermined date way in the future.

Yeah, one can really see how a new, relatively small, special events arena will be just the ticket to help promote Fort Worth as an important city for business and culture.

When will this propaganda nonsense ever end? When will Fort Worth ever get a real newspaper?

Well, James Michael Russell, a real journalist, is now journalizing for Fort Worth Weekly. Maybe there is hope that that weekly "newspaper" will again start practicing actual legit investigative journalism...

Fort Worth Needs An Incentive To Fix Its Downtown Embarrassments

I see this incentive type headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and find myself once again wondering why this type thing is not seen as a problem in the town which the Star-Telegram ill serves as its only newspaper.

"AC Hotel, a brand popular in Europe, gets key incentive to build in downtown Fort Worth"

Does anyone in Fort Worth wonder what the problem is with downtown Fort Worth which requires incentives to get someone to build a hotel? Or why the voters have to be bothered to vote to help subsidize the building of a downtown convention center hotel?

I don't think towns with functional downtown's need to resort to incentivizing developers to develop downtown hotels, department stores and other such items common in most thriving downtown's which are not ghost towns on the busiest shopping day of the year, that being the day after Thanksgiving.

How many downtown hotels do you think New York City has had to offer incentives to get built? Or Chicago? Or San Francisco? Or Seattle?

Seattle has dozens of downtown hotels all built without the city offering bribes. The latest expansion of downtown Seattle's Washington State Convention Center includes another convention center hotel. Hotel developers competed to get to be the developer to develop that new hotel. And nothing as absurd as asking voters to help subsidize such a hotel happens in downtown's where developers want to develop hotels.

Fort Worth seems to have some sort of repeating pattern of having to offer what amount to bribes to get some developer to develop something. That or Fort Worth succumbs to ridiculous flattery, or a combo of both.

Such as when a sporting goods store called Cabela's wanted to build the first Cabela's in Texas. Cabela's convinced the rubes who incompetently run Fort Worth that this sporting goods store would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, thus making all the incentives Cabela's was asking for a bargain.

Fort Worth fell for that con job. Soon the Fort Worth Cabela's was not the only one in Texas. Now it is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro zone.

No way do I know of all the instances where the Fort Worth city government has been conned into incentives, or abusing eminent domain. Such as what was done so that Radio Shack could build their long defunct corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth.

Or that Mercado boondoggle on North Main Street, south of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Or the Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle. I know a con job was involved in that embarrassment, misrepresenting what that lame development would be. Were incentives also part of the scam?

Why doesn't Fort Worth focus on fixing its downtown? How many more years will that park celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, appropriately called Heritage Park, act as a metaphor for what is wrong with downtown Fort Worth? A boarded up eyesore allowed to deteriorate, sitting at a prime location at the north end of downtown Fort Worth.

Maybe the city could offer some developer incentives to re-open Heritage Park in all its former scenic glory.

Another fix for downtown Fort Worth?

Cease referring to part of the downtown area as Sundance Square. This is just goofy and confusing to the town's few tourists, even with the addition of an actual square, after decades of there being no square in Sundance Square, the downtown zone is still being called Sundance Square, with the actual square called Sundance Square Plaza, sponsored by Nissan.

And how does Fort Worth ever expect to have a vibrant downtown if few people live there? And why would many people choose to live in a downtown with no department stores, no grocery stores, and few restaurants?

And lose that embarrassing Molley the Trolley public transit device. Converting an old bus to look like a trolley and then charging people $5 to use this public transit is just bizarre. And like already said, embarrassing...

Fort Worth Preserves Its Rich Heritage Unlike Any Other City In America

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook.

A little blurb of text with a link to a website which I think may be the web version of a magazine I have never seen, named, maybe, Fort Worth Texas.

Mr. Spiffy made a comment on this Facebook post, commenting, if I remember right, "That was interesting."

I do not know if Mr. Spiffy was referencing the Facebook blurb as being interesting or if he was referencing the magazine article titled Who Named Fort Worth?

Unlike Mr. Spiffy, I found neither the blurb on Facebook or the article to be interesting.

I found both to be goofy, with the Facebook blurb being of the sort I used to disdain in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, back when that newspaper was still full sized and I was still a subscriber.

My one longtime reader can likely tell what I found goofy in the Facebook blurb from the magazine article. The goofy Star-Telegram type hyperbolic nonsense shows up in the first sentence...

Fort Worth, unlike any other city in the nation, manages to preserve its rich heritage despite dramatic growth.

Unlike any other city in the nation? Fort Worth manages to preserve its rich heritage?

Well, I think I can make a case for that ridiculous claim being true.

Unlike any other city in America, Fort Worth is content to let a park in its downtown which was dedicated to celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, thusly named Heritage Park, be a blighted, cyclone fence surrounded, boarded up, eyesore for year after year after year.

It is highly unlikely any other major city in America would be so sloppy about preserving its heritage, as expressed in an extremely well-designed park, such as Heritage Park.

Way back late in the previous century, on my first exposure to downtown Fort Worth, I made note of a few things. One was being surprised by all the parking lots. I'd never seen a major city whose downtown real estate was so under developed that so many street level parking lots existed.

Two things impressed me, in a positive way, about downtown Fort Worth on that first visit. One was the Water Gardens at the south end of downtown. The other was at the north end of downtown.

Heritage Park.

Now a closed mess, because of how Fort Worth, unlike any other city in America, does not manage to preserve its rich heritage.....

The Fort Worth Way vs. Adrian Murray vs. New Isis Theater vs. Heritage Park

I have had a lot aggravating me of late. Which has me tardy in verbalizing my aggravation about some aggravating aggravations.

I think it was the Friday before last Friday I was driving along listening to right wing radio, the Chris Salcedo Show on WBAP, to be precise, when I listened to Salcedo hear a man's aggravating tale of the City of Fort Worth being totally insensitive and ham handed in the way city officials dealt with the man in the aftermath of suffering one of the worst things that can happen to someone.

Having ones home seriously damaged by fire.

Later that day Elsie Hotpepper asked me if I'd heard about Adrian. I said I'd heard no news about Adrian. Elsie then told me Adrian's house caught fire and that I would not believe the stupid thing the city did to Adrian that has Adrian in full on attack mode.

I then realized it was Adrian I had listened to on the Chris Salcedo Show.

Adrian Murray is a well known Fort Worth businessman and politician. Adrian ran for the TRWD Board a couple election cycles ago. It was at that point in time I met Adrian Murray. He impressed me. Even though we differ extremely in the political viewpoint area.

You can read what the City of Fort Worth did to Adrian, which totally aggravated him, via the Star-Telegraph in The Fort Worth Way vs. Adrian Murray.

Fort Worth city officials quickly realized they did not want to tangle with the wrath of Adrian Murray. You can read about that in An Update from Adrian Murray.

Now, among the many reasons the bad behavior of Fort Worth city officials puzzled me is this. Within days of someone suffering their home being consumed by flames the City of Fort Worth sends a home owner an insensitive letter, threatening legal action and possible criminal charges if the home owner does not present the city, within a very short time frame, a plan for the repair of the damaged home.

Meanwhile, ever since I have been in Texas I have been appalled at an eyesore the City of Fort Worth allows to fester in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District.

That eyesore I refer to is the long abandoned, boarded up New Isis Theater.

I have blogged about this eyesore multiple times, with the most recent blogging Look Inside Fort Worth Stockyards Renovated New Isis Theater.

That photo you see at the top is a look inside the New Isis Theater.

Why has the city not issued the owner of this Isis mess an order to fix it or face criminal charges?

Has the City of Fort Worth sent a letter to the City of Fort Worth demanding that the city fix the boarded up eyesore known as Heritage Park, located at the north end of Fort Worth's downtown?

Why would the city so aggressively go after a homeowner fire victim whilst ignoring much more public, long standing rundown eyesores?

Like I said, aggravating. And appalling....

I Did Not Almost Drown Or Fall Yesterday At Fort Worth's Heritage Park

Yesterday when I blogged about a Saturday Morning Walk Around Downtown Fort Worth With Sundance Square Plaza Video I mentioned that I had also walked around the closed, cyclone fence surrounded eyesore known as Heritage Park. I said that I would blog about this the following day, likely in the morning.

But, when Sunday morning came I forgot about blogging about  Heritage Park, til now.

The first time I visited downtown Fort Worth's #1 eyesore it was easy to get past the boarded up parts and cyclone fence barriers. Now, years later, the boarded up aspect of the eyesore is gone. With the cyclone fence much more substantial, with no openings allowing easy access. There are "PARK CLOSED" signs, but no "KEEP OUT" signs, but I kept out anyway.

In the above photo on the cement wall on the left you can see a little white rectangle. That little white rectangle is what you see below.

I believe this sign must have been added after the Water Gardens drownings. I do not recollect seeing this sign on Heritage Park visits prior to the drownings.

RISK OF DROWNING? In what? None of the Heritage Park water features were deep enough to drown in. I suppose if one fainted and fell face down in six inches of water one might drown.

RISK OF SEVERE INJURY FROM FALLS IN HIGH OVERLOOK  AREAS? Well, duh. That  is sort of stating the obvious, isn't it?

In all the years Heritage Park was open did anyone get remotely close to drowning? Did anyone fall from any of the high overlook areas? It would be rather difficult to fall from any of the high overlook areas. One would have to somehow get over the high guard rail.

Below you get a look at part of the CLOSED PARK. The years of neglect are starting to show.

The reasons given by the city for closing Heritage Park have seemed bogus to me from the start. The initial reason was the ridiculous drowning risk and the liability faced by the city, fearing another lawsuit such as what followed the Water Garden drownings.

Later the city made claims that there were structural issues with Heritage Park's walkways. Still later mechanical issues were added, as in water pump problems. Yet somehow when Heritage Park was still open there seemed to be no problem with the water flowing.  And the cement structures appeared to be solid as a rock.

And now, all these years later the city is claiming it will  take a few million bucks to restore Heritage Park from the damage done by its bogus closing. How many more years will this embarrassment continue to fester in downtown Fort Worth.  Seems impossible, what with it being the best downtown in America and the envy of the entire nation.

Below is video of yesterday's look at Heritage Park....

No Initiative Is Underway Fixing Fort Worth's Heritage Park

A few days ago I came upon that which you see here, in the Seattle Times. Making this the latest entry in our popular series of articles I read in west coast news sources, online, usually the Seattle Times, which I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something taking place in Fort Worth, or other locations in Texas.

Or maybe I am wrong. Are Texans allowed to put an issue to a vote by getting enough petition signatures to put a measure on a ballot? If Texans do have this basic democratic right what is the reason it is so seldom used that I am not aware of it?

Below is an excerpt from the Seattle Times' Initiative for elevated park along waterfront qualifies for ballot article...

Campaigners for Initiative 123 filed enough petition signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would create a public-development authority to begin work on a new elevated park along the waterfront using a piece of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This is an alternative to plans already in progress.

Campaigners filed enough petition signatures last month to put Initiative 123, to create an autonomous public-development authority, on the ballot. On Monday, the Seattle City Council received certification of the initiative.

Supporters are promising a 1-mile, 6-acre “garden bridge,” incorporating a reinforced block of the old viaduct into a new, 45-foot-wide structure.

Corner’s designs show at least three pedestrian bridges, including a verdant overlook walk from the waterfront to the Marketfront plaza, a $73 million expansion of the Pike Place Market that began in June.

The viaduct is likely to stay up until as late as 2019, after the Highway 99 tunnel is completed. For now, reality offers a noisy viaduct, seawall-construction barricades, traffic detours — and crowds of visitors at the waterfront last weekend.

____________________________________

Fort Worth Star-Telegram readers, how many items in the above six paragraphs can you spot which you would not read in the Star-Telegram  about a Fort Worth project?

In Fort Worth a public works project gets foisted on the public, with no public vote. Such as that entity which calls itself the Trinity River Vision Authority. The Seattle initiative in the above article creates an autonomous public-development authority, that is if the voters vote to give the authority.

What a  concept.

I wonder if having the public back public works projects by voting on them is the reason why Seattle and Western Washington have so many such  projects under way? With project timelines. I wonder if this type thing is part of the reason the Seattle and Western Washington economy is booming?

I have lost track of how long Fort Worth's Heritage Park has been a boarded up eyesore.

Heritage Park used to celebrate Fort Worth's heritage at its location in downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse, overlooking the confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River and the imaginary island and imaginary pavilion where the aforementioned Trinity River Vision Authority authorizes locals to float with the feces.

Heritage Park had no problem that justified it being turned into a ruin. The park was closed after the tragic drownings in the Water Garden in the south end of downtown Fort Worth. The city feared another lawsuit due to another drowning. And since Heritage Park had multiple water features it was deemed a danger.

Trouble was, I don't think any of those responsible for turning Heritage Park into a ruin actually walked through the park. If they had they would have seen that none of the water features presented any drowning danger, due to all the water being very shallow. Heritage Park had no swirling sinkholes presenting a drowning danger.

So, with little thought Heritage Park was closed and left to fall into ruin. Why would any self respecting city let this remain the status quo year after year after year?

How can American towns operate so totally different? In Seattle a citizen initiative is trying to build a new park in coordination with ongoing waterfront projects, all of which have a project timeline. While in Fort Worth a park is allowed to fall into ruin, surrounded by cyclone fencing and no trespassing signs, with no apparent effort to fix the problem, either by elected officials or citizen activists.

Pitiful is the word which comes to mind. And sad, real sad.

Why Is Another Million Dollars Needed To Fix Fort Worth's Heritage Park Embarrassment?

This morning Elsie Hotpepper emailed me a link to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled Additional money needed to properly fix Heritage Park downtown.

Reading the article I quickly realized why Elsie Hotpepper sent the link to me.

First off, when Fort Worth turned Heritage Park into a boarded up, chain link fence surrounded eyesore, the park had no problems in need of fixing of the structural sort.

The city closed Heritage Park in an over-reaction to the tragic drownings of four people in a dangerous pool of deep water in the Water Gardens at the south end of downtown Fort Worth.

Heritage Park has multiple water features, very well designed and aesthetically pleasing. None of the Heritage Park water features featured water sufficiently deep to present a drowning hazard.

The Star-Telegram article informs us that $2.2 million has been raised, with another $1 million needed to "properly fix" Heritage Park.

How do you spend $3.2 million to properly fix a park which was not broken til the city broke it?

The paragraph in the Star-Telegram disinformation article which annoyed me the most....

The city park closed in 2007. A chain link fence has kept people out since. A structural assessment of the 112-acre park a couple of years ago found no significant safety issues. All the issues in need to repairs are in the 1.5-acre area at the top of the park, a section designed by famed landscape architect Lawrence Halperin.
Closed since 2007. An assessment of the 112-acre park found no safety issues? First off, while Heritage Park may cover 112 acres in its entirety, the boarded up part of the park, turned into an embarrassing eyesore by the city, is the part designed by the famed landscape architect mentioned in the above paragraph. I would be surprised if the boarded up part of the park covers more than an acre, let alone 122 acres.

As for that chain link fence keeping people out. I easily got around that fence and took a  lot of photos of what I saw on the other side. I made a webpage of those photos, with other information, titled, Fort Worth's Lost Heritage.

An associate of the famed landscape architect, Lawrence Halperin, saw my info about what had happened to the park he had helped design, then emailed me verbalizing his surprise that this was allowed to happen. You can read that email by clicking the Fort Worth's Lost Heritage link above.

Prior to the city turning Heritage Park into an embarrassing eyesore there were some issues that needed addressing. Easily addressed issues which I doubt would cost all that much, certainly not $3.2 million, to address.

For instance, some visitors to Heritage Park complained of not feeling safe, due to the walled nature of the design that separates the park from the street. I think that wall could easily be taken down, opening up the park, making it more connected to the Tarrant County Courthouse across the street.

Lighting should be easy and relatively inexpensive to install. Along with security cameras and alarm buttons. It should be rather easy for Fort Worth police to make a regular stroll though the park, what with a large  Fort Worth police facility being adjacent to Heritage Park. I think that facility is, in part, a jail, but I am not sure about that.

The City of Fort Worth needs to cease with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle type dawdling and re-open this park. And do so without waiting for another million dollars to waste....

Should The Paddock Viaduct Be Closed While Fort Worth Is Working On Re-Opening Heritage Plaza With An Inclinometer?

On the left what you are looking at is a brick paved curvy sidewalk that is called the Heritage Trail.

The Heritage Trail, when I first walked upon it, sort of reminded me of a pedestrian version of San Francisco's Lombard Street.

Many of the bricks that make up the Heritage Trail have names on them, which would seem to indicate that people donated money to this Heritage Trail project so as to have their name walked on.

Well, the Heritage Trail has seen better days. I would think those who paid money to have their name bricked might have some sort of fraud case to be made against whoever or whatever it was that conned them out of their money, what with the Heritage Trail now a rundown eyesore.

The Heritage Trail leads to Heritage Park Plaza, which is also an eyesore, a blocked off by a cyclone fence eyesore, which has been closed for years.

About at the point where the Heritage Trail reaches Heritage Plaza a sign has been installed since I was last at this location. This sign purports to explain why Heritage Plaza is a boarded up eyesore, with this explanation being yet one more example of local governmental propaganda presuming that none of the locals have any memory of the actual history of what takes places in this part of the planet.

Below is the text from the above Heritage Park, I mean, Heritage Plaza, sign....

PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE
Heritage Plaza is closed....and we're working to re-open it.

Heritage Plaza sits atop the 1 1/2 acre Heritage Park. This location on the bluff above the Trinity River is part of the site where the original Fort Worth military outpost was located. The Plaza was designed by renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and was our city's critical contribution to America's Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. Halprin's unique landscape designs stretch across America from the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. to Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco. In 2010 Heritage Plaza was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This plaza is part of a larger, more exciting vision for Downtown Fort Worth and reopening it is a priority. Time and weather have taken their toll, creating public safety issues that must be addressed. However, repairing, reopening and restoring this historic site requires much thought and care. In time drainage, electrical work and structural improvements will ultimately be made.

In 2009, the Fort Worth City Council announced its intent to collaborate with public and private partners to reopen Heritage Plaza. Staff from the City of Fort Worth and Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. have been working with the public to move forward with a deliberate approach to re-open the plaza. In 2011 funding was raised to begin Phase 1 analysis of the Plaza.

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Phase 1: Today and for the next couple years, we are measuring the stability of the slope to determine if and how ground movements might influence restoration decisions. The monitoring period is 2 years.

We are using site survey and inclinometer measurements to determine if structural elements and the subgrade soils are moving laterally - if at all. There are indications of movement and we are trying to get a better sense of this condition. The inclinometer readings will determine if the movement is purely a superficial issue or if it a symptom of a deeper instability problem which will require a more intensive effort to prevent future subsurface movements. For a more detailed summary of the findings, please visit www.dfwi.org.

_______________________________________

Where do I start? Inclinometer measurements?

Yes, let's start with those inclinometer measurements. Back when this park was closed the excuse had nothing to do with ground shifting. I webpaged and blogged about being appalled about this closure. And the bogus, stupid reasons given for the closure.

The webpage and blog mention the actual reasons given for the park closure at the time of its closure, with the closure having nothing to do with structural problems. Or ground shifting.

My webpage about Fort Worth's Lost Heritage generated an email from the guy who actually designed this extremely well designed park, Junji Shirai.

I'll repeat what Junji had to tell me...

I came across the web site of yours that told me about the closure and deterioration of the Heritage Park, Fort Worth.

My name is Junji Shirai, a Japanese architect, and I am the one who designed that park. It was commissioned to Lawrence Halprin and Associates San, Francisco to design, and Don Carter (passed away), Satoru Nishita and myself were assigned to do the work. All 3 of us are truly nature-loving, easy going designers but we were dead serious about the representation of the great heritage the city of Fort Worth possesses in our design of the park. We were focusing our attention mostly to the spacial experience of the visitors when they stroll through the semi-enclosed space, walkways, water temple, streams along the walk among trees and shrubs, over looking the Trinity and enjoy the expanse of scenery, etc. One of the design features we made realized was the lighting system for the entire park. You might not have noticed it but all lighting for the night illumination are fully integrated into the walls. This was done in order to avoid ordinary light posts lining along the walks otherwise, for we did not want night visitors lit by overhead ramps. We are so proud of the final product when it was dedicated to the city and the citizens of Fort Worth, but I am so saddened to hear about what has happened to it today.

From the saying in the script on the wall, I believe those who do not regard their heritage right, would be regarded lightly in the days after they are gone.

Junji Shirai (currently reside in Tokyo.)

__________________________________

Fort Worth closed Heritage Park/Plaza after four people drowned in one of the Water Garden's water features. Fort Worth had to pay out a lot of money due to those tragic Drowning Pool drownings. Followed by spending a lot of money to make the poorly designed Drowning Pool drowning-proof.

Some numbskull, seeing that Heritage Park/Plaza also had some water features, albeit totally danger-free water features, deemed it fiscally prudent to close the park, lest Fort Worth get hit with another expensive law suit, even though there was no structural problem, no electrical problem, no real problem at all, unless you consider a homeless person, or two, taking a bath in one of the safe water features, to be a problem.

One of the excuses made for the closure was that the public did not feel safe in Heritage Park/Plaza. I'm part of the public. I always felt safe there, even when I saw some sad souls taking a bath there.

If ground shifting is actually a problem presenting a danger, what caused the ground shifting? The next door construction of Tarrant County College digging into the Trinity River bluffs?

If the ground shifting is causing a potential safety problem with the concrete catwalks in Heritage Park, a park built in the 1970s, what about that bigger concrete structure right next to Heritage Park, as in the Paddock Viaduct, also known as the North Main Street Bridge, a bridge which was built long before Heritage Park?

Wouldn't a ground shifting structural failure be more dangerous with a bridge carrying heavy vehicular traffic than concrete catwalks carrying a few humans?

I really think the Paddock Viaduct needs to be closed, blocked off by cyclone fence until a study can be conducted to determine if the bridge is safe.....

The Latest Trinity River Vision Update Propaganda

In my mailbox this morning I was overjoyed to find the Volume VII - Issue 11 - Fall 2012 Trinity River Vision Update.

My little brother and my favorite ex-sister-in-law got to visit Russia back when it was still the Soviet Union and the center of the communist world.

I never visited an official communist country where the media is state controlled and propaganda flows unquestioned by the kowtowed citizenry.

And then I moved to Texas. My brother got to go to see Red Square. I've gotten to see Sundance Square. Both well known centers of propaganda.

Reading through this latest TRV Update makes me feel that I actually do get to sort of experience what it was like to live in the Soviet Union, with Pravda propaganda being my main news source.

In the Trinity River Vision's website we get to read what I think must be the Trinity River Vision Mission Statement:

The Trinity River Vision Authority (TRVA) is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas. It is underway now - connecting every neighborhood in the city to the Trinity River corridor with new recreational amenities, improved infrastructure, environmental enhancements and event programming. The TRV will create Trinity Uptown, a vibrant urban waterfront neighborhood, expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation and enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails.

In the above piece of propaganda we read the surprising claim that the TRV has accommodated over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails?

Really?

What are these projects and who is it that did the requesting and how were the requests made, I can not help but wonder?

In the Trinity River Vision Update Fall 2012 Issue there is the following gem...

"The Trinity River is why we are here. Ironically due to the inherent dangers associated with the river we have never had the chance to build  near it and appreciate it for what it is," said Trinity River Vision Authority Executive Director, J.D. Granger. "As we move forward with Uptown revitalization it's important that we embrace Fort Worth's rich history and show our recognition with a memorial on the banks of the river," he said.

J.D. thinks we've never had a chance to appreciate the river for what it is? As in a ditched waterway that is seriously polluted?

J.D. thinks it is important that we embrace Fort Worth's history with a memorial? Has J.D. never heard of Heritage Park? Just a short distance east of the proposed memorial is an existing memorial to Fort Worth's history and founding, called Heritage Park.

Heritage Park over looks the confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River. Heritage Park is a closed, cyclone fence surrounded, deteriorated eyesore that any grown up town wearing its big city pants would not allow to exist in such embarrassing decrepitude.

The memorial, to which J.D. refers, is announced in the headline on the front page of the TRV Update, "New Park Coming to Fort Worth Will Honor Ripley Arnold and John V. McMillan." The article does not refer to this development as a park, except in the headline. Elsewhere it is referred to as a plaza.

I believe that Lenin-like statue you see on the cover of the TRV Update, above, is the Ripley Arnold statue.

Also in the TVR Update we learn that...

The plaza will be located directly behind Tarrant County College Trinity River campus at the confluence of the Clear Fork and the West Fork of the Trinity River.

Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not true that that historic confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River, formerly viewed so beautifully from the defunct Heritage Park  will be ruined by the Trinity River Vision if that vision ever becomes clear and actually builds the promised little pond at the location of the confluence?

So, this Ripley Arnold Memorial Plaza, that is being constructed on the north side of the defunct Radio Shack Headquarters, west of the defunct Heritage Park, will be on the shores of what many are already calling Granger Puddle.

And people wonder why I refer to this bizarre public works project, that the public has never voted on, as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

A Walk In The Rain Perplexed By An Area Closed To The Public In A Fort Worth Public Park

Under A Bumbershoot Stopped By A Spider

Today, on my way to Town Talk, I stopped at Gateway Park via the Beach Street park entrance.

This morning, swimming in the rain was very pleasant, so I thought I'd have myself a noontime relaxing walk in the rain under my bumbershoot.

In the picture you are looking at Trinity Falls from the middle of the pedestrian bridge that exits Gateway Park to the Trinity Trails.

I only recently learned, via Hometown by Handlebar, that this bridge does not cross a creek, which I erroneously thought, but instead it crosses a former riverbed of the Trinity River. The Army Corps of Engineers, in flood prevention mode, rendered this section of the Trinity River to its current non-river status.

I got no further on the bridge across the former Trinity River than you see in the picture. I was stopped by a giant spider and its web. You can see the spider in the picture, it being that dot slightly above the center. I don't like tangling with giant spiders, and so I didn't.

I reversed direction and walked back into Gateway Park. When I started walking the rain was falling lightly, by the time I headed back into Gateway Park the rain had greatly quickened its pace.

I soon found myself looking at something I have been perplexed by for a couple years now. That being the boarded up boardwalks in Gateway Park.

How does a self-deluded World Class City, like Fort Worth, one of the most modern, highly developed, forward thinking, advanced cities in the world, reconcile its renowned, imaginary greatness with having a sign in one of its public parks saying "AREA CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC?"

How many more years are these boardwalks going to be boarded up? If there is no plan to fix the boardwalks, why not remove the eyesores?

Seriously, Fort Worth really needs to start learning to put on its big boy pants and start acting like a grown up city, instead of a town stuck in a troubled adolescence, with a lot of really bad pimples, with, apparently, no anti-pimple ointment in play.

What is the current status of one of Fort Worth's other embarrassing eyesores? That being Heritage Park in downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse, overlooking the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Over the years I have learned of Fort Worth's alleged greatness only via propaganda spewed in the town's sad excuse for a newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I have never actually heard a Fort Worth native spew the delusional Star-Telegram type propaganda regarding the wonders of Fort Worth which make the rest of the planet Green With Envy....

Turn Around To Not Drown While You Are Rockin' The Trinity River

Pedaling on the Trinity Trail on the downriver side of the Rockin' the River zone, I saw an orange boom spanning the river.

I assumed the orange boom was in place to keep Rockin' the River Inner Tubing Happy Hour Floaters contained within the pollution-free safe to swim in section of the Trinity River.

A short distance downriver from the orange boom I saw two signs I'd not seen before, one sign on each end of the big arch of the Main Street Bridge that spans the Trinity River.

STEEP DROP AHEAD
TURN AROUND
DON'T DROWN

Sounds very dire. I had no recollection of ever seeing a steep drop on the Trinity River in this location, so, of course I was curious.

On the right you are looking at the Main Street Bridge. And the warning signs. The Main Street Bridge is also known as the Paddock Viaduct. It was built in 1914. The first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete.

I do not know if being the first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete made the rest of America green with envy, or not.

The bridge was named for B.B. Paddock. He was a Fort Worth mayor and newspaper editor.

I know these things because I read them on a plaque stuck to a big rock near the bridge. On the south side of the bridge, that's the right side in the picture, there is a State of Texas Historical Marker that goes into more detail about the bridge. I came upon this Historical Marker years ago whilst exploring the area around the now sadly defunct Heritage Park

That drop off does not look all that dire, not that I'd want to go over that mini-Niagara Falls floating on an inner tube.

I wonder if a Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floater went over the falls, thus prompting the installation of the orange boom and the TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN warning sign?

The NFL & City Of Fort Worth Ban Yum Yum Food Truck From Downtown For The Duration Of The Super Bowl Madness

I learned of the latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense this morning from Agent cd0103.

And then a few minutes later I logged into Facebook to get beat by the Scrabble Queen of Washington.

On Facebook I saw this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense mentioned in a Facebook comment by former Fort Worth native, MBK, currently exiled in Tacoma.

MBK said, "Is Fort Worth turning into OLDFOGIEVILLE? So much for small businesses getting a piece of the Super Bowl action!"

MBK is referencing Downtown Fort Worth banning the very popular Yum Yum Food Truck til after the Super Bowl.

The Yum Yum Food Truck also has a Facebook page, where MBK further commented about this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense, saying, "This is outrageous. The old FOGIES that run DTFW should be ashamed! The restaurants downtown won't be able to provide good service to massive crowds. It will be WORSE than during concerts/Main Street Arts Fest. Big Wigs are turning downtown to Oldfogieville!"

Til sanity returns the Yum Yum Food Truck is moving to south of Downtown Fort Worth, to 1220 Pennsylvania Avenue in the Hospital District.

However there is a complication. The Food Network is coming to Downtown Fort Worth next week, with the hope of taping a show called Outrageous Foods on the Yum Yum Food Truck. Apparently Yum Yum is known for its massive 10 pound Super Super Monster Burrito.

On December 14 the Fort Worth City Toadies, I mean, City Council, adopted an ordinance that bans non-NFL Vendors from Downtown Fort Worth. Only approved Vendor Booths will be allowed on the parking lots known as Sundance Square.

The verbiage in the City Council's order banning non-NFL Vendors is interesting, saying this ordinance is needed to "promote and protect the festive image in the downtown area" and to remove anything that might "hinder security, obstruct traffic or cause congestion."

The City's Code Compliance Director claims the city is not out to harm any business, saying "We're just looking to protect that area  of downtown."

Yes, I can see how the Yum Yum Food Truck selling hamburgers and burritos would pose a security risk, impede the flow of traffic and greatly diminish that festive image that Downtown Fort Worth is so good at projecting.

I wonder how many Porta-Potties are being brought in to line up on the Sundance Square Parking Lots? Can only NFL-Approved Porta-Potties be used? Are they bringing in some of those really cool custom made Dallas Cowboy Porta-Potties that look so attractive on the Dallas Cowboy Stadium parking lots?

With the Super Bowl being played in Arlington and with Downtown Fort Worth really not having all that much going for it, I'm wondering why the Fort Worth Fogies think there is going to be a big crowd downtown during the Super Bowl Week? Downtown Fort Worth does not have a single department store. Not a one. No Nordstroms, Neiman-Marcus, Macy's. Not even a Sears.

This department store deficit really is a sad indication of just how lively Downtown Fort Worth actually is. But removing the Yum Yum Food Truck will help make Downtown Fort Worth appropriately festive.

The Yum Yum Food Truck's location, prior to its banning, had been on Throckmorton by the Tarrant County Courthouse. You know, that building across the street from Downtown Fort Worth's #1 Neglected Eyesore, Heritage Park. In its current sad condition Heritage Park really does not add a lot to that festive image Downtown Fort Worth thinks it is protecting and promoting.

And now the smallest downtown, of any town in America with over a half million residents, doesn't even have a Yum Yum Food Truck. Plenty of Grackles though. Very festive birds.

The Demise Of Heritage Park In Fort Worth Texas

The title of this blogging was the subject line in a couple emails I got yesterday.

I believe it has been a couple years, already, since I was shocked to discover that downtown Fort Worth's Heritage Park had been boarded up, surrounded with cyclone fence and turned into another Fort Worth Eyesore.

I was appalled. Soon I was not alone in being appalled. Efforts began to fix Heritage Park. As far as I know, those efforts have not been successful

Yesterday I got 2 emails from a very significant appalled person, who had a personal reason to be appalled. The emails were from one of the architects who had designed Heritage Park, a Japanese architect named Junji Shirai.

The 2nd email from Junji Shirai said, "In addition to my previous mail, I am enclosing an illustrated plan view of the Heritage Park that I drew for the presentation to the city. I found it in my past work portfolio. I thought you might be interested in seeing one."

Among the city's excuses as to why Heritage Park was allowed to die is that, supposedly people did not feel safe there. That made no sense to me. Is that not a police station/jail type facility right next door? Could regular patrols, through the park, not easily be done?

I also thought that lighting could easily be added, so that Heritage Park would not be a dark, scary place when the sun went down.

So, I was a bit surprised to read Junji Shirai's description of the clever lighting that had been designed to illuminate the park. I suspect it was never installed, or had stopped being used by the time I first saw Heritage Park.

Like I said. Appalling. When I first saw Heritage Park I remarked that it is the only thing I'd seen in downtown Fort Worth that was at all unique. Heritage Park overlooked the confluence of the West and Clear forks of the Trinity River. That confluence will be destroyed if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever actually happens.

Anyway, below is the message from Junji Shirai...

I came across the web site of yours that told me about the closure and deterioration of the Heritage Park, Fort Worth.

My name is Junji Shirai, a Japanese architect, and I am the one who designed that park. It was commissioned to Lawrence Halprin and Associates San, Francisco to design, and Don Carter (passed away), Satoru Nishita and myself were assigned to do the work. All 3 of us are truly nature-loving, easy going designers but we were dead serious about the representation of the great heritage the city of Fort Worth possesses in our design of the park. We were focusing our attention mostly to the spacial experience of the visitors when they stroll through the semi-enclosed space, walkways, water temple, streams along the walk among trees and shrubs, over looking the Trinity and enjoy the expanse of scenery, etc. One of the design features we made realized was the lighting system for the entire park. You might not have noticed it but all lighting for the night illumination are fully integrated into the walls. This was done in order to avoid ordinary light posts lining along the walks otherwise, for we did not want night visitors lit by overhead ramps. We are so proud of the final product when it was dedicated to the city and the citizens of Fort Worth, but I am so saddened to hear about what has happened to it today.

From the saying in the script on the wall, I believe those who do not regard their heritage right, would be regarded lightly in the days after they are gone.

Junji Shirai (currently reside in Tokyo.)

Downtown Fort Worth Is Looking Good, Except For One Glaring Eyesore: Heritage Park

I had to, I mean, I got to be in downtown Fort Worth this afternoon. I don't think I've been there since my mom and dad were here in January.

I'm about to utter words I've never uttered before. Fort Worth was looking pretty good this afternoon. I saw 2 new buildings by the Convention Center that I liked. That is one of them in the picture, next to the AT & T building.

I'd not driven by the new Convention Center Omni Hotel since the road opened between it and the convention center. At first I did not realize what it was, then looked to my left, oh, convention center, looked up and recognized the Omni Hotel, though not by the ridiculous balconies that stick out too far, those I could not see. I can see why having that new hotel right next to the convention center might add to the appeal. I've still not heard about many conventions being in town. I wonder how the new hotel is working out?

Lancaster Avenue now looks real good. It was such an eyesore for so long. Something has changed with the Water Gardens, maybe a wall has been removed, I don't know, but I don't remember being able to see into the main swirling drowning pool before, while on the road.

There are parking meters all over downtown Fort Worth now. It used to be easy to find free parking. It's not quite as bad as Seattle, but it's getting there.

I followed one of the Fort Worth Trolleys along Main Street. Something seems forelorn about them to me. I didn't see anyone on board. You don't see Fort Worth buses running around downtown. I wonder why? There are buses running all over downtown Seattle, both above ground and below. And they are free to ride in the downtown area. But you really do not see all that many people on the downtown Fort Worth streets. Likely the heat has something to do with that.

I was surprised by how far along the construction is of the now defunct new Tarrant County Community College on the banks of the Trinity River. Coming back from the Stockyards, on Main, the TCCC building looks impressive. It sort of bookends where the college ended up locating, that being in the defunct new Radio Shack Headquarters. From what I saw of the TCCC building, it re-inforced what I originally said, that this had the possibility of being Fort Worth's first signature building, something in Fort Worth that people elsewhere recognize as Fort Worth.

Heritage Park is still an eyesore of chainlink fence. Recently numbers to fix it, like $7 million, have been bandied about, with an over a $1 million study. I'll solve it for downtown Fort Worth for free. Take down the cyclone fence, then take down the wall that closes off the park from street view. Install lighting. Don't worry about the water features for now, that can be dealt with later. Install alarm buttons so people feel secure. Install camera surveillance for more security. Have members of the Fort Worth Gestapo, who are in the building next door, walk through the park regularly. Connect the park to downtown via a pedestrian bridge. The bridge would be the only large expense.

When I first saw Heritage Park it was the first thing I'd seen in Fort Worth that impressed me as being quite cool. As in very. That it has been allowed to get to its current sad state is bizarre to me.

Another Fort Worth Park Puts Up Closed Signs

The CLOSED signs you see are in Gateway Park. There is a third CLOSED sign, that you do not see, to the left. The CLOSED signs are blocking you from entering the elaborate boardwalk walkway that takes you down to the Trinity River in a series of switchbacks.

There are 2 of these boardwalk, river access contraptions in Gateway Park. I assume the other one is CLOSED too.

I have previously made note of the fact that these boardwalks seemed to suffer from neglect, with no cleanup after a flood leaves a deposit of mud, resulting in the eventual decomposing of some of the woodwork.

Why was money spent to build these things, if there was no intent to maintain them? How much did they cost? Who built them? Who put up the CLOSED signs?

Today marks the second time I have been surprised to happen upon a CLOSED sign at a park in Fort Worth. The most bizarre CLOSED park discovery was when I found that one of Fort Worth's few truly unique locations, Heritage Park, it being a small park that celebrated where Fort Worth began, with a very well done system of catwalks, overlooks, water features and views, was also allowed to deteriorate to the point that cyclone fence now surrounds it.

The Heritage Park debacle is particularly bizarre to me, in the city that is the envy of other cities far and wide. Heritage Park is directly across from the Tarrant County Courthouse. The cyclone fence is in plain view of any passing motorist, and the few tourists, who drive north on Main. Any other town, with any sort of pretension to anything but mediocrity, would long ago have fixed this embarrassing eyesore.

Instead the Heritage Park eyesore festers. There are citizen groups trying to fix the park. I do not know how much headway they have made.

In the meantime, Gateway Park now has Fort Worth's latest embarrassing eyesore, that should never have happened.

Gateway Park has been sucked into that vortex of civic madness gone awry, known as the Trinity River Vision, a vision that of late seems destined to go blind.

The CLOSED signs at Gateway Park today may be some sort of omen of the impending demise of the Trinity River Vision. I mean, why don't we try to keep what has already been built here, up and running? And then move on to more grandiose projects. With voter approval, of course.

Gateway Park's Failing Boardwalks & Fort Woof

As you can in the picture of the jogger running up the wooden stairs, after last night's rainy thunderstorm, we have had a return to blue sky and pleasant temperatures.

The jogger is running up stairs that are part of an elaborate boardwalk that brings you down to the Trinity River from a bluff in Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

I decided to do something radically different today. Hence hiking at Gateway Park rather than one of my regular locations. I was hoping to find the Trinity in making rapids mode. But all the heavy rain did was make the river muddy.

Gateway Park is just a couple miles from my abode, closer than Tandy Hills Park. The I-30 Freeway separates Tandy Hills Park and Gateway Park, with Tandy on the south side, which makes Gateway on the north side of both the freeway and the river.

Gateway Park is the location of one of Fort Worth's proudest achievements, that being Fort Woof, home to what something called Dog Fancy magazine ranked as the #1 Dog Park in America. I don't remember if we had a city-wide celebration for being #1 or not.

In Gateway Park there are two elaborate boardwalks, one of which you see in the pictures. Both have been allowed to fall on hard times. Floods have wreaked havoc, burying the last few switchbacks in sand and dirt, now overgrown with foliage. It's sad, after going to the bother and expense of building the things, that they have been left so neglected. Eventually deterioration will likely necessitate the total removal of these boardwalks. That would be a shame.

But. Fort Worth is not really all that big on preserving things. Look at poor Heritage Park. Fort Worth hasn't managed to un-eyesore that sad monument to civic neglect, even with it representing where Fort Worth began. And its heritage.

Fort Worth also does not do a very good job with keeping the Fort Worth Stockyards looking good. Even though the Stockyards are on the National Historical Area Registry. And yet many buildings in that location have sat, ever since I moved to Texas, as boarded up eyesores.

When I saw the Gateway Park Boardwalks, for the first time, the boards must have been fairly new. There was no deterioration at that time. I saw them after a heavy rain had the Trinity running high. It made the boardwalk look like it ran right into the water. Which made it a scary looking boardwalk.

Gateway Park has added a Disc Golf Course since I was last there. A mountain bike trail has supposedly been built, but the one mountain bike trail like spot I've seen does not look promising. With no one riding it. I think the Gateway Park bike trail may have been abandoned. There are miles of paved hiking trails through the park with wooden bridges across shallow ravines.

Gateway Park is worth a visit if you've never been there. Fort Woof on weekends can be amusing. Very busy. There are entries to the park easily found by exiting I-30 at Beach Street. Or from Randoll Mill Road.

Amon G. Carter Foundation Fort Worth Heritage Park Fix

Yesterday on my Fort Worth To-Do List of Problems that I think would behoove Fort Worth to address and fix was the downtown eyesore that should never have been allowed to have become an eyesore, that being Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

Now that the destruction of Heritage Park has become a national issue, with it being put on a list of National Modern Marvels of Architecture in Danger, plus the State of Texas putting Heritage Park on a list of Texas Landmarks in Danger, the City of Fort Worth is finally, sort of, addressing the problem.

My suggestion yesterday was to immediately remove the cyclone fencing and the "Park Closed" sign, clean up the park and re-open it. And worry about fixing the water features later. I believe the claim that shifting ground has affected the structures to be a bogus concern. I've walked all over the "closed" park and saw no signs of cracking concrete.

It seems that currently the City of Fort Worth is earnestly attempting to counter the bad publicity regarding what most outsiders would view as an act of civic negligence, by contacting those who are critical, and concerned, regarding the current sad state of Heritage Park.

Yesterday I was contacted by a City of Fort Worth representative, Veronica Villegas, who wanted to share with me new information about Heritage Park. I then asked if the "new information" was what had been reported in the press, that being that Fort Worth was looking for a way to re-open the park, needing over $7 million to do so.

The City of Fort Worth representative replied with the following, regarding the "new information" about Heritage Park....

The city would like to bring residents up to speed on where we are and how we got here.

As you know, the park was closed in 2007 without much information as to why. We think it is important that residents know those reasons. Also, since then, Streams and Valleys commissioned a study that addresses some of the very issues for the park’s closure.

Last week the city announced that it will be partnering with the Amon G. Carter Foundation to bring landscape architect Laurie Olin, a close associate of the park’s designer Lawrence Halprin, to help the city explore ways to restore and improve Heritage Park. He will lead a two or three day study workshop sometime in April.

The city has forgotten about Heritage Park, but the issues are very complex and it has taken some time to determine our next steps. Certainly, the upcoming workshops will not provide all of answers or even a definitive solution. Instead, it is the first step in a what will undoubtedly be a thorough process that will involve interested stakeholders and our residents.

I would be happy to discuss additional details with you over the phone.

Veronica

I think the part where Veronica says "The city has forgotten about Heritage Park." was a Freudian Slip. I'm sure what she meant to say was "The city has not forgotten about Heritage Park." At least, I hope that is what she meant.

Fort Worth's To Do List

I'm in about my 3rd month of the Dallas Morning News being my newspaper, switching from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's been a huge improvement.

The Dallas Morning News seems to be a much more community minded newspaper. A good example of this is each month, on the editorial page, the editors list 10 items they feel need fixing as part of their campaign to bridge the gap between North and South Dallas.

On the list are things like a the run down Dallas Inn, near the zoo. The editorial notes that progress has been made, bulldozers will soon roll. Other items on the list, along with the prognosis for solving the problem are things like burned out houses, a grocery store that has turned into an eyesore, cracked asphalt on a playground. Well, you get the idea.

Meanwhile, in all my years of reading the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I do not recollect reading a similar editorial. And how could there be, what with the Star-Telegram's editorial position that everything in Fort Worth is perfect, so much so that Fort Worth is the Envy of Cities and Towns Far and Wide, causing serious outbreaks of Green With Envy Syndrome.

So, with the Fort Worth newspaper of record opting out of its civic duties, I will try and fill the gap with my own Fort Worth To Do List.

Problem #1: The Fort Worth Stockyards are arguably Fort Worth's top attraction. Yet it is rundown. Eyesores like the New Isis Theater (pictured above) blight the National Historic District. How hard would it be to put some cosmetic camouflage on some of the more rundown parts of the Stockyards? And get rid of the Wells Fargo Bank building. It totally does not fit.

Problem #2: The I-35W Freeway exits to the Fort Worth Stockyards. They are both littered, weed-covered eyesores. Most town and cities in the states west of Texas, landscape their freeway exits, particularly freeway exits to a tourist attraction. At least keep the exits mowed and litter-free.

Problem #3: I have never seen a major American city with so many streets lacking sidewalks. There are so many areas where pedestrians have worn a path into the grass. In some locations the lack of a sidewalk is dangerous. A few weeks ago I saw an elderly lady, gingerly trying to push her cart load of groceries down a rough trail where a sidewalk should be. No town that has pretensions of being the envy of any other place should be so lacking in sidewalks. How about losing the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and replace it with the Fort Worth Sidewalks Vision? It'd probably be cheaper and way more useful.

Problem #4: East Lancaster, East Berry, East Rosedale. I take visitors from the northwest down these roads. Their jaws drop. They can't believe they are still in America or that a part of America looks so much like they've entered a Third World Country.

Problem #5: Camp Bowie Boulevard. I was told by a lifelong Fort Worth native that Camp Bowie Boulevard is unique, no other place has a brick paved road. Well, I hate to disabuse people of erroneously held notions, but a brick covered road is not unique. There are brick covered roads in other towns in Texas. What makes Camp Bowie unique is, for the most part, despite some renovation, the road is a bone-jarring mess. Either fix it or pave it. Trust me, it is not unique.

Problem #6: All the long dead businesses you see when you drive around town, turned into eyesores. Fort Worth needs to act like other cities, that are actually envied, and clean up these messes instead of letting them fester.

Problem #7: Heritage Park. What other city in America would arbitrarily close a park, and leave standing, signs that say things like "The visitor to Heritage Park walks on the paths of one man's vision, all those who follow and give life to that vision continue the legacy of courage and purpose." What other city, that is the envy of towns and cities far and wide, would let such an eyesore fester at the heart of their downtown, with a view overlooking what may become their Trinity River Vision? It just seems bizarre to me.

This week the City of Fort Worth says it is looking at the possibility of reopening Heritage Park. The reasons it was closed, supposedly, was ground shifting had affected the structures, the water features were no longer working, no lighting at night, people found it scary and too many homeless people.

The supposed price tag to fix Heritage Park is over $7 million. Here is my solution. Take down the cyclone fencing and the "Park Closed" signs. Clean up the debris. Put in some lighting. Patrol the park regularly. There is a police station/jail right next door. How hard could it be to patrol that park? I saw no sign of any structural damage when I walked all over the park. I think structural damage is a bogus reason to keep it closed. Leave the water features off til Fort Worth can afford to turn them back on.

Fort Worth's Heritage Park is the first thing I found in Fort Worth that actually impressed me as being very well done. When I saw, over a year ago, what had been done to it, I was shocked and appalled and disgusted. Send the same task force Fort Worth sent to Seattle to check out Seattle's new trolley and how Seattle handled the homeless problem, only this time focus on how Seattle solved their Freeway Park problems, that being a park very similar, though bigger, to Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

The cyclone fencing and park closed signs need to come down today. It's ridiculous.

Fort Worth's Endangered Marvel of Modernism

At the north end of Fort Worth's downtown there is something known as Heritage Park. When I moved to Fort Worth, Heritage Park was the first thing I saw in the town that impressed me as a good thing.

Heritage Park was supposed to be a sort of memorial to the founding of Fort Worth. It was a complex set of stairs, catwalks, overlooks and water features.

You may have noticed I used the past tense "was." Because for well over a year the city of Fort Worth has had Heritage Park surrounded by ugly cyclone fencing. And "Closed Signs."

Go here to see the current sad state of Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

The excuse given for this civic neglect is that people were scared to go in the park due to homeless people hanging out there. And its water features were expensive to maintain. There has been no attempt, as far as I know, to fix this park that has become an eyesore, yet one more blight on Fort Worth's self image as a town that is the envy of other towns, far and wide.

Heritage Park is adjacent to a police building. It would seem that regular patrols could have easily been made of the park. Better lighting could have been installed. Along with surveillance cameras.

Seattle has a similar park, called Freeway Park, considered a precedent setting park of the same nature as Heritage Park. Freeway Park had some crime problems. Seattle fixed the problem. Freeway Park did not close. Go here to read the Wikipedia article about Seattle's Freeway Park and how Seattle modified the park to make it more secure.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has released their annual list of Endangered Marvels of Modernism. Heritage Park, in Fort Worth, is on the list.

" Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA
" Estates Drive Reservoir, Oakland, CA
" Heritage Plaza, Heritage Park, Fort Worth, TX
" Kaiser Roof Garden, Kaiser Center, Oakland, CA
" Lake Elizabeth, Allegheny Commons, Pittsburgh, PA
" Manhattan Square Park, Rochester, NY
" Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks, Kent, WA
" Miller Garden, Columbus, IN
" El Monte, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
" Pacific Science Center Courtyard, Seattle, WA
" Parkmerced, San Francisco, CA
" Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN