A Look At Why Fort Worth Is Not One Of The World's Best Cities

In the past week or two I have seen mention made of a list made of the 100 Best Cities in the World.

The first time I saw this mentioned was in the Dallas Observer, which was observing the fact that Dallas ranked only #56, with two Texans towns thought to be better than Dallas, with Houston at #40 and Austin at #53.

The second time I saw this global list mentioned was in the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, online, which began their article with...

Perhaps your city claims one of the best new restaurants, or best overall restaurants in the country. Maybe it was even named one of the best U.S. cities to live in.

But the true test of greatness is on the global scale.

Resonance Consultancy, a real estate and tourism consulting firm, has released a report ranking the top 100 best cities in the world. Three Texas cities earned a spot on the list.

There are more American towns on this list than any other country, with New York at #2, San Francisco at #12, Los Angeles at #14, Chicago at #12, Seattle at #19 and on to many other American cities.

Fort Worth, Texas is not on this list.

Fort Worth is never on any of this type list.

I lived in Fort Worth for a few years before moving to my current Texas location. It did not take long living in Fort Worth to come to the realization that the town had some sort of civic inferiority complex. I assumed this had something to do with being paired with the bigger, more well-known town of Dallas.

That Fort Worth inferiority complex manifested in many ways. Including what I came to call the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Green With Envy Syndrome. So called due to that newspaper repeatedly printing an article about some perfectly ordinary thing, claiming that that perfectly ordinary thing was making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

Yes, I know, this sounds ridiculous, but it happened. Over and over again. The syndrome seemed to cease after it was rendered into an embarrassment.

I remember the worst instance of Fort Worth embarrassing itself was the time some Washington, D.C. lobbying group included Fort Worth in a list of ten American towns determined to be the best at the Urban Village concept.

That time the embarrassment did not come from Star-Telegram hyperbole, it was the city government that embarrassed itself. Initiating a citywide celebration celebrating being so listed by an obscure Washington, D.C. lobbying group.

I am not making this up, it really happened, with celebration central happening at Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

During this celebratory period of time, I happened to be up north, in Tacoma, a town which was also on this list of ten best towns with the Urban Village concept.

I had reason to visit with Tacoma's then Deputy Mayor. I asked him if Tacoma had a citywide celebration after receiving this esteemed honor. He laughed and said, no, we politely thanked them and that was it. Why do you ask, the Deputy Mayor asked?

Because Fort Worth had a citywide celebration when they got the same esteemed honor, I told him.

You are kidding, said the Deputy Mayor. Nope, really happened, said I.

Fort Worth has long had a history of what one might characterize as delusions of grandeur, manifesting in multiple ways.

Like the time a sporting goods store opened in Fort Worth called Cabela's. With Fort Worth touting the belief this store would give Fort Worth the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Not occurring to anyone, apparently, that suggesting such seemed to indicate Texas was a tad weak in the tourist attraction area, which is definitely not the case.

Texas has many attractive tourist attractions, way more attractive than a sporting goods store. San Antonio's Riverwalk comes to mind, as does Galveston, and Big Bend, and much more.

Within a year the Fort Worth Cabela's was no longer the only Cabela's in Texas. One opened in Buda, down south by Austin. And then another Cabela's opened in the D/FW Metroplex. 

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has never fessed up to being party to the bizarre top tourist attraction in Texas con job.

When I see one of these type lists, listing towns by some criteria, with Fort Worth never being on the list, I can not help but wonder how a long time Fort Worth native, subjected to the local hype and propaganda explains it to themselves.

Fort Worth needs to fix a few problems before it can have any hope of ever being on a list of the best cities on the globe.

Such as, fix Fort Worth's downtown, currently a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, a ghost town due to the fact that downtown Fort Worth has no stores of the sort one might do their Christmas shopping in.

Knock of calling a multi-block area of the Fort Worth downtown, Sundance Square. There is no square there. Years after spouting there being something called Sundance Square, a couple parking lots were turned into a sort of square type location, then called Sundance Square Plaza.

This type thing is not the type thing a town wearing its Big City Pants does.

There are two semi-unique attractions in downtown Fort Worth. The Watergardens at the south end of downtown. And Heritage Park at the north end of downtown.

Elsie Hotpepper recently confirmed for me that Heritage Park is still a boarded-up eyesore, a status it has had for over a decade. Which is sort of an adequate metaphor for Fort Worth. A park purporting to celebrate Fort Worth's heritage, doing so by being a messed up eyesore.

And then there is what that Heritage Park eyesore overlooks. Another thing which makes Fort Worth a laughingstock, not worthy of being on any Best Cities listing.

Fort Worth is now in its third decade of a pseudo public works project, originally known as the Trinity River Vision, before morphing, over the years, into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

This Vision purported to see an area in danger of being flooded, even though such had not happened in over half a century, due to flood control levees preventing such. The Vision claimed this to be a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, which is so vital it is now limping along in its third decade.

Cities worthy of being considered best in the world do not have these type dawdling, ill-conceived, ineptly implemented projects.

A failed project, currently, after all this time, basically only seeing three little bridges, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, awaiting a cement lined ditch to go under the bridges carrying diverted Trinity River water.

We could go on with more details regarding Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, but we won't.

Because it is lunch time...

Going To Tulalip Casino In Marysville Via Microsoft & Fort Worth

This showed up in my email Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day. I think it was August of 2004, so clearly not a memory from this current June day.

I do not remember when last I was in Washington in June, since moving to Texas. Likely I have not been in Washington, in June, since moving to Texas.

The above is part of the large Pacific Northwest Native American themed installation in front of the Tulalip Casino in Marysville, Washington. Including a large statue of a Tulalip Indian, trying to catch salmon. Not visible in the photo is an oversized Orca leaping out of the water.

The entire Tulalip Casino is ocean themed, inside and out. Inside the decor makes one feel as if you are under water.

Near to the Tulalip Casino is the Tulalip Cabela's sporting goods store.

Long time readers of this blog may remember way back when Fort Worth became the first Texas town to get a Cabela's. Much fuss was made in the local purveyor of misinformation, known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, touting that this Cabela's was to be the top tourist attraction in all of Texas. This was repeated repeatedly.

It was not long after the Fort Worth Cabela's opened that it was no longer the only Cabela's in Texas. One opened to the south, near Austin. And then another opened in Texas, on the Dallas side of the DFW Metroplex.

Cabela's used the con job touting that their store would become a top tourist attraction to extract tax concessions from the city it was wanting to open in. Apparently Cabela's was known for using this con on towns susceptible to being rubes. Thus Fort Worth was an easy mark.

The Cabela's top tourist attraction con was attempted when Cabela's built a store in Lacey, a town near Olympia, or after that when they built the Tulalip store.

Cabela's tried the con in Lacey, but was told if it did not make economic sense to build the store without concessions, then do not build it. Same with the Tulalip Cabela's.

Clearly not a Fort Worth level of rubes in Washington.

Fort Worth has such a long history of getting conned into doing dumb things.

Ever heard of the Trinity River Vision? An embarrassing boondoggle which has been limping along since the start of this century, with the Vision's main accomplishment, so far, being the building of three little bridges over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

One day it is hoped  a cement lined ditch will be built under those three little bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating the imaginary island.

You can only have imaginary islands in a town where the majority of the people are rubes. Seems clearly obvious...

Miss Chris Shares Close Look At Mount Rainier Which Takes Us To Cabela's

One of my favorite Washingtonians, Miss Chris, currently located in Lacey, previously located in Kent, with both locations providing closeup views of Mount Rainier, when clouds are not blocking the view, shared that which you see above, on Facebook this morning.

With explanatory text saying, "Mount Rainier was so clear today. Got a shot as we were heading south on 167."

Lacey is a town west of Tacoma, east of Olympia. Lacey has one of the three Cabela's locations in Washington. 

People in Fort Worth, who are subjected to Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda, may remember when Cabela's courted Fort Worth for a Cabela's location, conning the local politicians with the false claim the Cabela's sporting goods store would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas.

That #1 con was used to convince those local politicians to give Cabela's tax breaks and other perks. No one seemed to realize it was rather insulting to Texas to think a sporting goods store would be the state's #1 tourist attraction. 

It was not long after the Fort Worth Cabela's opened that another Texas Cabela's came to be, competing for that coveted #1 tourist attraction spot. That second Cabela's is south of Fort Worth, in Buda, near Austin. And then a third Cabela's opened, on the east side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, in Allen.

When Cabela's proposed opening a store in Lacey, they tried to get tax breaks and other perks. They did not try that #1 tourist attraction con, obviously being a ridiculous thing to claim in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Cabela's was told if it was not economically viable to open a store in Lacey, without tax breaks and perks, then don't open a store there.

Cabela's went ahead with the Lacey store without tax breaks and other perks. And soon thereafter, just like Texas, Washington has three Cabela's. The one in Lacey, one in Tulalip and one in Union Gap.

Tulalip is about 20 miles north of Seattle, close to Marysville and Everett. Union Gap is in Eastern Washington, by Yakima.

Thank you, Miss Chris, for providing the make me homesick photo of the day...

Vancouver Of The North Has A New Riverwalk

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

The first two paragraphs of this article...

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

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

__________________

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

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

_____________________

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

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

_______________________

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

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

And then there is this paragraph...

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

______________________

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

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

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

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

Fort Worth has zero of these attributes both Vancouvers possess.

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

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

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

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

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

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

_____________________

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

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

Hollywood Used To Like Fort Worth As Much As Fort Worth Liked Hollywood

I saw the above on the front page of this Saturday's, March 26, 2022, online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Upon seeing the When Hollywood liked Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood
 headline I instantly wondered if this was going to be one of those Star-Telegram staples I made mock of many years ago, a staple which seems to have disappeared in recent years, the disappearance of  which caused one to think someone at the Star-Telegram had developed an eye for the absurdly ridiculous.

The Star-Telegram staple to which I refer I came to call the Star-Telegram's Green with Envy syndrome. Articles about some perfectly ordinary thing relating to Fort Worth which the Star-Telegram would claim made towns far and wide green with envy.

Eventually I made a Green with Envy web page documenting some of this type nonsense.

So, I read today's Star-Telegram with it mind that today's article would likely contain some element of the Star-Telegram's Green with Envy verbiage. Or in some way be totally delusional.

This was a long article. The first instance of delusional verbiage came in the last sentence of the second paragraph...

Fort Worth was on its way to becoming the Hollywood of Texas!

And then there is the paragraph which followed Fort Worth becoming the Hollywood of Texas...

Big-time production certainly seemed to be heading to Fort Worth in 1920 when Lone Star Pictures Corp. announced plans to relocate here from California. Like southern California, North Texas offered the promise of good weather for outdoor filming almost year-round. Their first picture was to be a “romance of the Texas oil fields,” but the studio never came, and their oil-field love story was never filmed.

Fort Worth has a long history of some big deal not materializing. Or being delusional about some development being touted as destined to become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Which is what the Star-Telegram touted when the Cabela's sporting goods store opened a store in Fort Worth.

The following paragraph contains multiple Fort Worth delusions...

Hollywood liked Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood, reflected in how many films opened here. In the fall of 1940 Warner Brothers opened “The Westerner” starring Gary Cooper here. The decision to premier it in Fort Worth was easy since this was “the city where the West begins” as Amon Carter often said. At its Sept. 19 opening, with World War II already raging in Europe, a Star-Telegram headline screamed, “Everybody but Hitler here for Premier.” The city rolled out the red carpet for Cooper, director William Wyler, and producer Samuel Goldwyn, and Warner Brothers booked the film into all three first-run theaters (the Hollywood, Worth, and Palace). The opening pushed news of the war off the front page of the Star-Telegram. Amon Carter joined in the spirit of things by throwing a party for distinguished visitors at his Shady Oak Farm. Everyone agreed, Fort Worth hospitality was unmatched, or as Samuel Goldwyn said, “It is doubtful such an event would have been held anywhere else outside Hollywood.”

Hollywood used to like Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood? The use of the past tense seems to indicate neither town still likes the other. The decision to open a Hollywood Western in Fort Worth was easy because Amon Carter often said Fort Worth is where the West begins? Only Fort Worth pretends the town to be where the West begins. Most Americans think the town which has that honor is St. Louis, Missouri. That town even built a giant arch to symbolize St. Louis being the Gateway to the West.

The Star-Telegram screamed everybody but Hitler is in Fort Worth for the movie premier? Clearly, the Star-Telegram's habit of printing ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense is a habit that has been around for a long long time.

And then we have this doozy of a paragraph...

The year 1951 proved a banner year for movies about Fort Worth. “Follow the Sun” was 20th Century Fox’s “inspiring true story of America’s greatest athlete,” which for the movie’s purpose meant Fort Worth golf legend Ben Hogan. It opened on March 23 simultaneously in all three first-run theaters, and the city proclaimed, “Ben Hogan Day!” One Star-Telegram columnist called the premier “the biggest thing to hit this town since Amon Carter put on a cowboy hat and climbed up on a horse.” After the premier Mrs. Hogan told the Fort Worth Press “they got all the facts exactly right,” and Amon Carter pronounced star Glenn Ford worthy of an Oscar.

Movies about Fort Worth? With 1951 being a banner year for such?

And then we have this paragraph...

Horses and Fort Worth just naturally went together. A 1951 Warner Brothers movie starring Randolph Scott used the city’s name for its title though there was little connection to actual historical events in the script. In “Fort Worth” Scott played peace-loving newspaperman Ned Britt trying to tame the town through the power of the press, but of course in the end it took a six-gun. The only bow to history was a passing reference in Britt’s newspaper to a panther spotted sleeping on Belknap Street. The movie’s opening (June 13) reportedly broke “all known world premier records” with 7,000 flocking to all four downtown theaters (the Big 3 plus the Majestic). The city also provided an “Official World Premier Hostess” to escort Scott around town. Applicants for the job had to supply a photo of themselves in a bathing suit.

The idea of someone trying to tame Fort Worth with the power of the press is an amusing thing to read. To this day Fort Worth does not have what most towns have, that being a real newspaper practicing real journalism, ferreting out corruption and wrongdoing, instead of being a cheerleader for what is known as the Fort Worth Way, currently best exemplified by how the Star-Telegram has covered Fort Worth's ongoing mess known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Riverwalk District Vision. And, really?

The premier of this movie titled Fort Worth broke all known world premier records? I am guessing towns far and wide were green with envy when that happened.

And then there is the final paragraph of this Star-Telegram article, a paragraph which contains the most delusional item in the entire article...

With all the natural attractions of Cowtown, and the hard work of the Fort Worth Film Commission there is a good chance Fort Worth will attract future productions. They will need financial inducements, location settings, and plenty of extras. Fort Worth is open for business.

Fort Worth has natural attractions? Really? And those are what? The Tandy Hills is the only thing I can think of?  The Fort Worth Stockyards are not a natural attraction, but they are an attraction, really, the only thing remotely unique in all of Fort Worth....

Isn't Fort Worth One Of The 15 Most Beautiful Cities In America?

Of late I have found myself watching a lot of YouTube. Watching not via a browser on my computer, but via ROKU streaming on my TV. 

Last night among the YouTube videos I watched was one titled "15 Most Beautiful Cities in America."

Such lists are always subjective, what with there being no data criteria which might make such a list some sort of scientific certainty.

This particular list of 15 seems particularly goofy. Watch the video and listen closely to the narrator's description of St. Augustine, Florida, for an example of goofy.

I have been to many of these 15 cities, including #12, Bozeman, Montana. I have passed through that town a number of times. I remember nothing about it, other than one time stopping at a Burger King to clean off all the bugs which had hit my windshield to a degree which had greatly diminished visibility.

There are three west coast cities on this list of 15. I have been to all the cities on the west coast. This video has one of those west coast cities as being the #1 Most Beautiful. You will have to watch the video below to see which town is #1.

I will just say I was surprised San Francisco was not one of those 3 west coast cities on the list. I will also just say that in my subjective opinion the two most beautiful cities on the west coast are San Francisco and Seattle. 

I would add the north of Seattle version of Vancouver, but, even though that town is on the west coast, it is not in America.

There is one Texas town on this list of 15.

No, it isn't Fort Worth.

I wonder what Fort Worth natives think who seldom leave their town, even to go to Dallas, let alone leave Texas, who are subjected to the local propaganda about Fort Worth from dubious sources, like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which will report to its readers that some ordinary thing in Fort Worth is making towns far and wide green with envy.

Do those Fort Worth natives who read the propaganda about their town find it perplexing that their town is never on a list of this Most Beautiful Cities sort?

Well, there was that time, early this century, when a Washington, D.C. lobbying group had Fort Worth on a list of 10 most livable cities, due to something to do with the urban village concept. Fort Worth had a city wide celebration to celebrate this amazing accolade. I am not making that up. It is true.

A few months after Fort Worth made towns far and wide green with envy due to being on this list I had reason to have lunch with the Deputy Mayor of Tacoma. Tacoma was also on this list of 10 most livable cities. Tacoma has clearly defined urban villages, so awarding this award to Tacoma I could understand. I have never understood where Fort Worth's urban villages are. 

Anyway, I asked the Tacoma Deputy Mayor if Tacoma had a city wide celebration after winning this prestigious award. He laughed and said no, we did not, we sent a thank you letter and that was the end of it. I then told him Fort Worth had a city wide celebration. You must be making that up, he said in reply. Nope, that really happened. How embarrassing the Deputy Mayor said in reply.

Yup, said I, Fort Worth has a way of embarrassing itself like that.

This was well before the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and the Fort Worth Cabela's is gonna be the top tourist attraction in Texas embarrassments.

Til moving to Texas and being exposed to Fort Worth, I did not know a town could be green with envy about something.

Watch the video to see which Texas town is the Most Beautiful. I would have picked Austin or San Antonio.

Linda Lou Tip Toes Us To Tulip Town With Chris & Sheila

Seems like just yesterday I made mention of the fact that Linda Lou Took Me To Skagit Flats Beaver Marsh Looking At Olympics as part of an ongoing multi-party effort to make me homesick for Washington.

In that particular blogging about that particular homesick issue I made mention of the fact that Miss Chris and Miss Sheila also contributed on that particular day to the making me homesick thing.

And then the following day it happened again. 

Above is a photo sent to my phone by Linda Lou. All the text with the photo said was "Tulip Town".

Way back in the final decades of the last century, when the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival sort of exploded, overwhelming the valley with over a million visitors during a short time period, with the crowds particularly crowded on weekends, something had to be done to deal with the massive traffic jams.

There are multiple exists from Interstate 5 to the Skagit Flats, including three in Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon exits had the heaviest traffic, causing backups onto the freeway, through town, across the river, and onto the flats.

And so measures were taken to direct Tulip viewers to exit any of the Skagit Valley I-5 exits, with signage directing the way to the Tulips. Bus tours were added where one could park at one of the valley's malls and hop a bus to take your Tulip Tour.

Attractions were added all over the valley so as to try and disperse the crowds. Hence Tulip Town was added, as a sort of backup to the extremely popular, crowded Roozengarde.

Helicopters were added so as to monitor the traffic so as to direct cops to bottlenecks to keep the traffic flow moving. I suspect by now the helicopters have been replaced with drones.

I think experiencing living in the midst of an actual tourist attraction is what caused me to react with puzzlement when I would read something in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Fort Worth's imaginary tourists. Things like a sporting goods store would give Fort Worth the top tourist attraction in Texas. Embarrassing idiocy like that.

Washington has, I think, three Cabela's now. None of which try to claim to be the state's top tourist attraction. Has the Star-Telegram ever apologized to its readers for being part of the Cabela's scam?

I almost forgot about yesterday's homesick contribution from Chris and Sheila. Below is what those two put on Facebook yesterday from their current visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.
 

The above photos all appear to be from the aforementioned Roozengarde. I asked Chris and Sheila if they got in a visit with Hank Frank, who lives close by, but I have yet to get an answer to that probing question.

I wonder what will make me homesick today?

Fort Worth May Spend $70 Million To Become Imaginary Tech Hub

In non-troubling times if I saw something like that which you see above, on the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I would not have hesitated long before pointing out a thing or two.

But, with America convulsed by civil unrest, rightfully so, in the midst of the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu over a century ago, whilst being ineptly mislead by the worst president in American history, the latest Fort Worth nonsense seems sort of trivial to be talking about.

However, I'm bored, and feel like spending a few minutes clacking keyboard keys.

Does anyone keep track of how much money Fort Worth has spent on various incentives trying to lure some business to town? Such has been an ongoing phenomenon ever since I arrived in Texas and began observing the Fort Worth Way up close.

So many pitifully pathetic instances. The Cabela's sporting goods con job comes to mind. Fort Worth's inept city government bent over backwards to accommodate Cabela's, falling for the standard Cabela con that a sporting goods store would become the #1 tourist attraction in the state.

I remember when first I read that bizarre claim and thinking to myself doesn't that sort of insult all of the actual tourist attractions in Texas which actually do attract tourists?

Cabela's tried their standard incentive request when wanting to open a store by Olympia in my old home state.

Cabela's was told if it was not economically feasible to open a store without taxpayer help, then don't open a store. Cabela's opened that store, and then another one, in Washington, north of Seattle. Cabela's did not add their it's gonna be the top tourist attraction to their Washington pitch. That would be a bit ludicrous to do in the shadow of Mount Rainier, with the Olympics a short distance northwest, and Seattle a few miles to the northeast.

But, Fort Worth, well, the city government, fell for the Cabela con. And, within a few months of opening, the Fort Worth Cabela's was no longer the only Cabela's in Texas. And now, the Fort Worth Cabela's is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro zone.

And what is with the headline saying "Fort Worth says"?

Who in Fort Worth says this? Towns don't talk. Someone representing a town might say something.

So, who is the fool behind this latest attempt to lure a business to town via incentives?

Fort Worth can be a tech hub?

Has whoever thinks this actually been to any of America's tech hubs?

Instead of trying to bribe a business to come to town, why not instead make an effort to make the town more attractive for a business to locate to? As in why not some sort of effort to turn Fort Worth into a modern American city?

You know, where most streets have sidewalks, where city parks have modern restrooms, running water, and zero outhouses, where the town has multiple public pools, and an efficient modern public transit system.

And nothing as embarrassing as Molly the Trolley.

Fort Worth's Molly the Trolley needs to be taken off the streets and relegated to a museum.

Another thing to think about regarding attracting anything to a town, be it a business, or tourists. Awhile back some sort of survey found that Fort Worth ranked something like #48 in public awareness, whilst being America's 13th biggest city.

I have no idea what Fort Worth could do to raise awareness of the town in the American imagination.

I do know it ain't things like happy hour inner tube floats in a polluted river.

Or botched public works projects the public has never voted for, such as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, which has been limping along for most of this century, currently with three simple little bridges stuck in slow motion construction over dry land, hoping one day to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

You really think it is attractive to a business looking to re-locate to see something like the mess which  has become America's Biggest and Dumbest Boondoggle? Do you think such instills confidence in a town's ability to get stuff done?

You really think $70 million is gonna successfully lure some obscure business to Fort Worth, turning the town into a tech hub?

Delusional madness, that's what it seems to be to me...

Shocked US News Did Not Rank Texas Best State In America

Email last night from Spencer Jack's Mount Vernon, Washington office.

The email only included that which you see here, along with a link to a US News & World Report report titled Best States Rankings Measuring outcomes for citizens using more than 70 metrics.

Of course I assumed the reason Spencer Jack and Jason were emailing me this had to be that Texas had come in #1 when US News & World Report ranked the states.

I clicked on the link and read the first two paragraphs of the article before I got to the rankings, where I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to see which state ranked #1.

First those first two paragraphs...

Some states shine in health care. Some soar in education. Some excel in both – or in much more. The Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety, the fiscal stability of state government, and the opportunity it affords its residents.

More weight was accorded to some state measures than others, based on a survey of what matters most to people. Health care and education were weighted most heavily. Then came state economies, infrastructure, and the opportunity states offer their citizens. Fiscal stability followed closely in weighting, followed by measures of crime & corrections and a state's natural environment.

Well, reading some of what the criteria is for these rankings had me worrying maybe Texas might not have done as well as I had presumed, what with the metrics measuring health care, education, roads, bridges, the state's economy, public safety and opportunity.

But, I am always hearing, from Texas locals (of the right wing nut job type) about the Texas Miracle.

I have never understood what in the world is meant by that "Texas Miracle" phrase, but it always seems to be tied to supposedly so many Americans escaping their supposedly liberal high tax states to move to cheap liberty loving Texas.

Usually it is Californians escaping California for Texas which are mentioned. With no understanding of the fact that California has a big population, hence statistically you are gonna have more Californians moving around the country, than any other state.

That and the fact that California has what would be the world's 5th largest economy if it were an independent nation. California businesses, when expanding to other less prosperous states, such as Texas, move some of their California employees to run whatever business moved part of an operation to Texas.

Now, let us finally find out which state US News & World Report ranked as the Best State in America.

Oh my, I am truly shocked, it is my old home state of Washington which is the Best State in America.

I am additionally shocked that Texas is not even in the Top Ten. This must be fake news. Or a product of the corrupt left wing media.

Let's scroll down the list til we find Texas.

Okay, scrolling past the Top Ten, we are almost to the Bottom Ten when we finally find the Texas location on the Best State list, coming in at #38.

That does not seem too good a place to be for an imaginary miracle.

When I saw that in the "Natural Environment" category Washington only ranked #14 I was perplexed. I figured natural environment meant something like ranking a state for scenery diversity, or some similar type thing.

The article explains what is meant... "The natural environment ranking looks at the quality of air and water in a state, as well as exposure to pollution and toxins."

Still perplexing, what with Washington having relatively clean air and water, at least compared to other locations I have witnessed. That and a lot less litter.

If the ranking for "Natural Environment" had been based on scenic diversity I would have had California at #1, what with that state's long coastline, beaches, mountains, Yosemite, Death Valley, redwood, sequoias, along with manmade scenic wonders like the Golden Gate Bridge.

Utah would be my pick for most scenic state, though that state does not have the most diverse scenery. Arizona is also rather scenic, as are Wyoming, Montana, Oregon and several others. Like Alaska, Hawaii and Florida.

I would never have guessed the state US News ranks as #1 for quality of air and water and exposure to pollution and toxins. Or scenic diversity.

Rhode Island.

Are there lakes and rivers in Rhode Island? Is the state big enough to account for any air pollution which might hover above?

I will be returning to the Best State in America next summer, for the first time since 2017. Big Ed is also returning to his former old home state, for the first time since 2002. He has been back to modern America since 2002, only once, that being a month in Arizona in 2018. He experienced some culture shock at that point in time, and now we learn that Arizona is only the 34th Best State in America, barely better than Texas, so that Arizona shock was nothing compared to what awaits on the west coast.

Yes, Washington is going to be a bit of culture shock for Big Ed.

The air clear, clean and smelling of Christmas trees. Little litter. Everything looking clean and new. The state liquor stores closed, with booze now sold in grocery stores (unlike Texas where large parts of the state haven't gotten the memo that Prohibition ended a long time ago). Pot stores. Many more casinos than when last Big Ed visited Washington. Multiple Cabela's sporting goods stores (you know the store that was gonna give Fort Worth the imaginary biggest tourist attraction in Texas). Ballot boxes like mailboxes, for easy voting. Light rail now covering many miles, with many more under construction. The Seattle skyline hugely altered, after years of never seeing the Fort Worth skyline change. The Seahawk stadium where the Kingdome used to be. The Amazon campus. The new transit tunnel under downtown Seattle which began construction at the same time Fort Worth started trying to build three little bridges over dry land. The embarrassing homeless camps along I-5 through downtown Seattle. And much much more, like the Tacoma waterfront.

I wonder what it would take to make a state in the condition Texas is in into the Best State in America? Better education? A dose of progressive enlightenment? Better leaders? An end to Republican dominance? More Californians moving east...

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...

Grangers, Grifters & Inept Irresponsible Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Earlier in this next to last month of 2017 I blogged about yet one more instance of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram publishing an article rife with erroneous "information".

This erroneous "information" malady has been something I have been annoyed about regarding this newspaper since soon after I was first exposed to it, late in the previous century.

Someone named Anonymous also found this recent example of Star-Telegram journalistic irresponsibility to be comment worthy, hence an amusing comment from Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trinity Trails "Could" Stretch To An Imaginary 219 Miles":

"From zero to 72 miles in about 15 years"

I ran on the Trinity Trails beginning in the late 1970's.

Just to sure, I checked Historical Aerials and saw the trails and the footbridge across the Trinity River from the Radio Shack parking lot. The date is 1979. The bridge is still there and being used. 

There were parcourse or fitness trail stops across the river from the Radio Shack parking lot which included pull up bars, parallel bars and slant boards. I saw those being installed.

The Star-Telegram will repeat just about anything the grifters or the Grangers tell them. 

_____________________

Grifters & Grangers. Sounds like a country music duo.

Why is there no one, with the ability to do so, holding the Star-Telegram accountable for all the nonsense that newspaper spews?

From the non-consequential, like the nonsense in the article being referenced here, to the consequential, such as misleading propaganda about issues like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, or the idiotic nonsense about Fort Worth's Cabela's sporting goods store becoming the top tourist attraction in Texas, or the Santa Fe Rail Market being the first public market in Fort Worth, whilst being modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market, when all it was was a soon to fail small poorly conceived mall type food court type venue, with a little fish market.

Or for decades referring to a multi-block area of downtown Fort Worth as Sundance Square, where there was no square, until a couple years ago when a little square was built on a parking lot and then bizarrely named Sundance Square Plaza, whilst still referring to a multi-block, nondescript area of downtown Fort Worth as Sundance Square.

Bizarre.

A real newspaper in a town wearing its big city pants would tell what ever entity it is which persists with the Sundance Square nonsense to knock it off. That it is embarrassing. And confusing to the town's few tourists...

From Tacoma Postcard I Learn David, Theo & Ruby Will Never Come To Fort Worth

Yesterday I found that which you see here in my mailbox.

Several weeks ago David, Theo & Ruby text messaged me saying they'd lost my address, asking me to send it to them again. I did so, figuring David, Theo & Ruby must be wanting to mail me something.

So, starting a few days after that I eagerly opened the mailbox anticipating incoming from my Tacoma nephews and niece.

After weeks of nothing from Tacoma I sort of forgot about it. And then yesterday the postcard you see here arrived. On the postcard a label was stuck informing me there had been some delivery difficulty, the nature of which I was unable to determine.

I was barely back in my abode when David, Theo and Ruby, and their mother, texted me asking "Did our postcard get to you?"

I replied that it had arrived a couple minutes previous. A reply to that told me they'd mailed the postcard weeks ago.

What spooky coincidental timing. Texting asking if I had gotten the postcard minutes after I got the postcard which was weeks late in arriving.

My mailbox is in a location without good lighting. When I got the postcard out of the mailbox I was without my reading glasses, just returning from a long bike ride. When I first read the message on the postcard I mis-read Worden as Worth and thought the kids had written "We want you to come explore Fort Worth with us."

Yikes, I thought, they are in Fort Worth? I thought they were supposed to be in Arizona? But then I checked again, even before better light and reading glasses, to read the message correctly.

I told my sister of my initial confusion to which my sister said,  "I can't see us coming to explore Fort Worth anytime soon. OK. Ever."

And then my reply to that struck me as both amusing and revealing, due to it being how Fort Worth is talked about when talked about to non-Texans. This is what I replied...

"Well, I can almost guarantee the kids would love the Fort Worth Stockyards. But, other than that. Nothing. Well, unless a storm blew in with tornado sirens. They might think that was fun."

Nothing of interest in Fort Worth to three kids from Tacoma other than the Stockyards?

Fort Worth Zoo? Those kids have been to the San Diego Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, the Tacoma Zoo, Northwest Trek, and others I probably don't know about.

Parks? I'd be embarrassed to take them to a Fort Worth park. What if they needed a restroom? David, Theo & Ruby live a short distance from Point Defiance Park, a huge Tacoma park which could likely contain all Fort Worth's parks. Point Defiance Park has miles of trails through old growth forest, an actual fort in Fort Nisqually, miles of beach with crystal clear water, the Tacoma zoo, and I think, an aquarium and multiple other assets one would not find in a Fort Worth park. Such as modern restrooms in multiple locations.

Swimming pools? Tacoma has multiple public pools in various iterations. One with a giant wave pool, another with a lazy river.

Sundance Square Plaza? Tacoma has two plaza type locations, with water features kids play in, that pretty much dwarf Fort Worth's little plaza, which is sponsored by a Japanese auto maker. The kids have also been to Seattle's Westlake Center, which also dwarfs Fort Worth's little plaza, and also has a water feature. And a monorail. And a vertical mall, and access to a light rail tunnel underground.

Cabela's? The sporting goods store which the Star-Telegram helped propaganda-ize would be the top tourist attraction in Texas. when six months after opening it was not even the only Cabela's in Texas, and now is not even the only Cabela's in the D/FW Metroplex.

David, Theo & Ruby live a short distance from two Cabela's, one a short drive to the south on I-5, the other a short drive to the north on I-5. Both built without trying to con Washingtonians with idiotic nonsense about a sporting goods store being the top tourist attraction in Washington. Both built without being conned into providing incentives such as Fort Worth willingly provided, you know, so as to get that top tourist attraction in Texas.

Okay, maybe get out of Fort Worth and take the kids to Arlington to Six Flags Over Texas. Nope. They've been to Disneyland and Disney California. But, the kid's parental units might like Six Flags, due to the admission fee being a fraction of what it costs to go to Disneyland. Then, again, you get what you pay for.

Well, I guess I could take them to one of Fort Worth's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats. Such is not available anywhere else in the world. Floating in a muddy river regularly contaminated with too many toxins, like e.coli, while listening to music coming from an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island. You can't find that type entertainment in Tacoma. Or anywhere in Washington, or probably the entire west coast, including British Columbia....

Has Anyone Seen Fort Worth's Imaginary 8.8 Million Visitors?

This morning I got an email from someone who shall remain anonymous asking me if I'd seen this.

This was referring to an article in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled Fort Worth attracted 8.8 million visitors last year in booming tourism market.

I replied to Anonymous that I had already seen the article and that I found it to be yet one more appalling piece of Star-Telegram propaganda.

8.8 million  visitors to Fort Worth?

A few years ago the Star-Telegram joined with the Fort Worth chamber of commerce sorts in spewing the nonsense that a sporting goods store in Fort Worth would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas and was well worth the bribes, I mean, incentives, Cabela's was requesting for Fort Worth to land such a coveted prize.

During the selling of the Cabelas con job the number of visitors, annually, to what would be the top tourist attraction in Texas ranged from 6 to 8 million. Something around 30 to 40 thousand sporting goods shoppers a day.

Fort Worth was left, yet again, with embarrassing egg on its face after falling for the Cabela's con, only to soon learn that the Fort Worth Cabelas was not going to be the only Cabelas in Texas, and soon not even the only Cabelas in the D/FW Metroplex.

And now we are supposed to believe that Fort Worth attracted 8.8 million visitors last year?

Was it to the sporting goods store those millions of visitors were attracted?

Long ago I remember reading that anyone coming from a distance of 50 miles or more was considered a visitor to Fort Worth. How this number of visitors statistic is compiled I have no clue. I suspect it is likely a bogus false statistic conjured out of thin air.

Anyone who has actually been to a town  which attracts out of state visitors knows such is not the case in Fort Worth. One seldom sees out of state license plates, and most of those are from Oklahoma.

Go to San Antonio and make note of how many out of state license plates signifying tourists you see. Do the same in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Phoenix, New Orleans or even Dallas and you will see a lot of out of state license plates.

Fort Worth is not any sort of tourist mecca. To pretend otherwise is delusional. Why does this type ridiculous propaganda get spewed?

Here's an embarrassing quote from the article...

“There is an excitement about the city and a sense of opportunity that exists right now,” Jameson said. “Our visitors have more things to do than ever.”

Excitement about the city? More things to do than ever?

Like what? Go wakeboarding? No, that effort by America's Biggest  Boondoggle sank. More things to do, like floating in the Trinity River in The Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube  Floats?

More things to do? Like check out The Boondoggle's bridges being built to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?

The construction of which has been stalled for what will be a year in March. Is gazing at those moldy V Piers stuck in the air near that Roundabout homage to aluminum garbage cans one of the exciting things to do in Fort Worth?

The Tourism Boom article is full of embarrassing gems. Items about conventions bringing  in big bucks. About expanding the convention center. About the new arena that still is not under construction which voters sort of voted for years ago.

And the need for another convention center hotel built with taxpayer help.

Here's a clue, Fort Worth, to that actual health of your imaginary tourist boom. If such was really the case, developers would be eager to build new hotels, with no incentive help, such as what happens in actual booming tourist towns such as Seattle and San Francisco and others.

Why does the Star-Telegram publish embarrassing propaganda puff pieces like this without  asking  any critical questions? How many times now has Fort Worth been burned by getting conned?

A few examples come to mind. The Santa Fe Rail Market. Cabelas. The Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters. The Mercado, or whatever it is called on Main Street south of the Stockyards.

And then there is the biggest Fort  Worth con job of all.

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision which has  become known far and wide as America's Biggest (and most embarrassing) Boondoggle....

Amazon's Spheres Got Me Thinking About Fort Worth's Spheres Of Boondoggles

A couples days ago I was asked if I knew the current status of the stalled bridge construction in Fort Worth.

A question about stalled Fort Worth bridge construction is referencing the three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Fort Worth's four year bridge building project began with a big TNT bang over two years ago. Then, in March of last year, construction was halted due to supposed design errors involving re-bar.

Such is one among many reasons that that which used to be known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision is now known, far and wide, as America's Biggest  Boondoggle.

Now with federal funding to the tune of about a half billion bucks.

That's right, you who live in other areas of America, particularly those areas of America which are allowed  to vote to approve and fund public works projects, you are helping pay for Fort Worth's vitally un-needed flood control and economic development scheme which has been dawdling along for most of this century, and has never been approved by a public vote.

A couple days ago I saw something in the Seattle Times which had me freshly pondering what a backwards backwater Fort Worth is in so many ways. An article titled Amazon's Spheres: Lush nature paradise to adorn $4 billion urban campus.

Can you imagine an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram  about something in Fort Worth with two paragraphs such as....

The fruit of a bold design, the so-called Spheres will serve as a haven of carefully tended nature geared to letting Amazonians break free from their cubicles and think disruptive thoughts. It’s an internet-era, Pacific Rim answer to the architecturally astounding gardens set up by European monarchs during the Enlightenment era.

The structures are also the architectural crown jewel of Amazon’s $4 billion investment in building an urban campus, an eye-catching landmark that symbolizes the rise of what 20 years ago was a fledgling online bookstore into a global e-commerce and cloud-computing leviathan.

During my time in Texas two corporations built new corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth.

Tax breaks and eminent domain abuse were used for Radio Shack to build its new headquarters, which caused Fort  Worth to lose the world's shortest subway, acres of easy parking, and which became a Boondoggle when Radio Shack could not afford its new headquarters, with the Boondoggle compounded by another Fort Worth Boondoggle, that being the messed up construction of a downtown campus of Tarrant County College, with that Boondoggle eventually leading to Tarrant County College paying millions to Radio Shack to use the Radio Shack headquarters for a purpose for which it was not designed.

A college.

You reading this in modern areas of America, I am not making this stuff up. Fort Worth has to be the Boondoggle center of the known world, with Tarrant County being the eminent domain abuse center of the known world.

The other new corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth was the Pier One Imports building. Soon Pier One also could  not afford its new building. So, it was sold to Chesapeake Energy, from whence Chesapeake then ran its shadow government of Fort Worth during the bizarre reign of Mayor Mike Moncrief. Chesapeake Energy has since been run out of town. I don't know who own the old Pier One Imports building now.

I saw that Seattle Times article about the new Amazon campus. A $4 billion campus, built at the north end of the Seattle downtown, an area already highly developed and thought what a contrast between how such a thing happens in modern America, compared to how projects falter in Fort Worth.

I have read of no eminent  domain use, or abuse, used to acquire the property to build Amazon's buildings. I have read of no tax breaks or sweetheart deals or bribes finagled by Amazon from the Seattle government in exchange for building its new headquarters where it is being built.

If Amazon tried that type tactic, which works so well in desperate Fort Worth, Amazon would likely be told if they can't afford to build without such help, then don't built it there. Which is what Cabela's was told when it tried to shake down a Washington town. Unlike in Fort Worth, the absurd claim that Cabela's would be the number one tourist attraction in Washington was not tried, while Fort Worth bought that Top Attraction in Texas con and gave all sorts of enticements to the sporting goods store, while in Washington Cabela's was told no, if you need subsidies to open here, then don't open here.

Reading about the new Amazon campus in Seattle got me thinking about issues regarding Fort Worth other than just the Radio Shack Boondoggle.

Fort Worth's infamous Trinity River Vision debacle has been boondoggling along for most of this century. Boondoggling along with an ever shifting project timeline, the latest of which had Boondoggle Executive Director, J.D. Granger saying most of the project's infrastructure should be complete by 2023. Who knows what is meant by project infrastructure. The pitiful bridges? The ditch under the bridges?

Thinking about Fort Worth's pitifully slow, badly designed, ineptly implemented public works project got me thinking about other public works type projects I know of which have been happening during the same time frame during which Fort Worth has not managed to complete its relatively simple project.

Arlington voters approved of the building of a new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Construction on that billion dollar plus spaceship began in 2004. If I remember right the first Super Bowl happened there in 2009, or 2010.

Way back late in the last century Dallas voters approved their own Trinity River Vision, well before Fort Worth did its copy cat thing. The Dallas Vision included three signature bridges. Fort Worth's Vision copied the three signature bridges element, then failed to deliver. Whilst Dallas has finished one of its signature bridges, with another soon to be completed, or, for all I know, is completed. I know the second bridge was well under way when last I was in Dallas.

I blogged about the Dallas bridges my one and only time driving over the completed Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in In Dallas Driving & Walking Across Impressive Signature Bridges To Trinity Groves.

During the period of time Fort Worth has been limping along with America's Biggest Boondoggle, up north, in Seattle, two major public works projects have come to be a reality. The new 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington is completed, floating and carrying traffic. Unlike Fort Worth's stalled bridges the Seattle floating bridge was built over actual water. The entire new floating bridge project cost around  $4 billion.

Seattle has another $4 billion project well underway. That being the Alaskan Way Viaduct project This involves the world's biggest tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Bertha, tunneling under downtown Seattle. Bertha is nearing completion after a major hiccup put the project about a year behind schedule.

While Bertha has been boring, other parts of the project have been underway, such as replacing the seawall along the Seattle waterfront.

Seattle projects, and public works  projects in locations other than Fort Worth, have actual project timelines, with full transparency when something goes awry, like the Bertha problem. Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, no one knows the real reasons The Boondoggle's simple little bridges have stalled.

Here is an example of how a responsible public works project's directors let the people know how their public works project is progressing, with that example being on the WSDOT Follow Bertha webpage.

How come such a webpage does not exist for Fort Worth's infamous Bridge Boondoggle? Other than the Trinity River Vision's bizarre quarterly propaganda publications which tout, four times a year, what little has actually been accomplished since The Boondoggle's last quarterly propaganda mailing.

This blogging has gone long. I was going to mention some other west coast public works projects, approved in the November election. The something like $82 billion transit bond approved by Los Angeles voters. And the $54 billion transit measure approved by Pierce, King and Snohomish county voters, those being the counties where Tacoma, Seattle and Everett are located.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, no public vote funding the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision. But there is that almost half billion bucks that may dribble in to town over time, maybe with enough money arriving that those little bridges being built over dry land  might one day get built, along with the ditch dug to go under the bridges....

Did Fort Worth Ever Get Payback For Being A Sucker For Cabela's Con Job?

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link along with a question.

I had already seen that to which the link pointed.

That being the fact that the Bass Pro Shops were buying Cabela's.

Elsie figured I must have something to say about this latest iteration of the Fort Worth and Cabela's romance.

However, it had been so long since I was disgusted and appalled by the way Cabela's seduced Fort Worth into an unseemly marriage based on lies and hyperbole, that my memory of that wedding was not clear.

With no pre-nuptial agreement, as far as I know. Well, there were some performance clauses applicable during the course of the marriage, but I don't know how applicable those performance clauses are with this divorce and marriage to the Bass Pro Shops.

So it took Elsie Hotpepper sending me a link to my own blog to a blogging titled A Second Cabela's Opens In Allen In The Dallas Metroplex for me to remember just how absurd this ridiculous affair has been between Fort Worth and Cabela's.

Basically Cabela's came to the homely bride known as Fort Worth and told her if she agreed to marry Cabela's, the sporting goods store would make Fort Worth the #1 Tourist Attraction in all of the state of Texas.

You reading this in other parts of America who think I must be making this up. No, I am not. Those who run Fort Worth in the corrupt way known as the Fort Worth Way fell all over themselves to rush into what amounted to a sleazy marriage to Cabela's, based on lies and obvious nonsense about being the top tourist attraction in Texas.

Fort Worth fell for promises of millions of visitors visiting a sporting goods store. Resulting in Fort Worth giving Cabela's a valuable tax break package dowry to seal the deal.

And then, six months later, Cabela's cheated on Fort Worth by opening another store in Texas, down south by Austin, in the town of Buda.

Fort Worth moved on from its shame, full bore, to embrace another con job full of empty promises, promising the still homely bride she could be pretty.

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

More commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The notorious Fort Worth Star-Telegram, chief cheerleader for Cabela's running its top tourist attraction in Texas scam, yesterday shared with its few readers the news about the Bass Pro Shops taking over Cabela's in an article titled Bass Pro to buy rival Cabela’s in $5.5 billion deal.

The Star-Telegram article made no mention of its previous role in misleading the Fort Worth locals about what a great deal Cabela's would be for Fort Worth, drawing in millions of tourists, thus justifying the tax breaks and other incentives given to Cabela's.

The Star-Telegram article did include the following gem of a paragraph...

Cabela’s has other Texas stores in Buda, League City, Lubbock and Waco, while Bass Pro has stores in San Antonio, Round Rick, Pearland, Katy and Harlingen.

How can the Star-Telegram print the above list of all the towns in Texas in which Cabela's has opened a store, with no mention made of the con job pulled on Fort Worth claiming Cabela's in Fort Worth would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas? And the Star-Telegram neglected to include in that list the second Cabela's store in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, that being the one in the Dallas suburb of Allen.

Shameful and shameless....

Polluted Public River Floating Is One Of Fort Worth's Great Imaginary Success Stories

That which you see here is not a guy fishing in a dirty brown river.

What you see here is a guy testing water in a dirty brown river near the location of the notorious Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion at an imaginary island in the great success story known as Fort Worth.

The photo of the guy testing the Trinity was part of a Bud Kennedy article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I came to be looking at this July 1 Star-Telegram article after someone named Anonymous  made an anonymous  blog comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Are America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridges Dust In The Wind":

You might have missed this gem from the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism:

Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week

The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories.

_____________________

Now, that is just rude to refer to Bud Kennedy as the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism.

I agree with Bud Kennedy more often than I don't.

But, sometimes I don't understand how Bud Kennedy can type with a straight face some of which he types. I always assume he knows what he is typing is ridiculous and internally giggles. Or that he is just a big fan of creating ridiculous propaganda.

"The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories."

A river makeover? Nothing has been done to that river that anyone would call a makeover. Some sand has been sprinkled to create a pseudo beach, and a couple outhouses have been installed on the south side of what is bizarrely called Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no pavilion. But there is a small covered stage on the north side of the river.

A busy downtown tubing-kaying attraction?

Attraction? Busy?

Are you attracted to that attraction? I know I never have been, nor has anyone I've talked to. I've long opined that it is a sad indicator, and should be viewed as such, that Fort Worth is badly lacking in the outdoor water sport venues department. Thus so many people willing to get wet in that dirty river at that location.

Has Bud Kennedy partaken of the tubing-kayaking attraction? I know he likes to participate in local events.

And finally, the river's imaginary makeover is "one of Fort Worth's great success stories."?

One of Fort Worth's great success stories? I'm really not trying to be unduly snarky here, but I really can not come up with a single Fort Worth success story. And can not imagine characterizing those sad river floating events at that imaginary island as a success.

Really, I'm serious here, I can not think of anything that I might characterize as a great Fort Worth success story.

Having the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, via the Cabela's sporting goods store? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories? Nope. That one did not work out, despite the Star-Telegram, and especially Bud Kennedy's, touting it as such.

Having more wells fracked than another other city in the world? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having more outhouses in its city parks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having fewer streets with sidewalks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Please, someone help me out here, what in the world could Bud Kennedy be referring to when he refers to Fort Worth's great success stories?

Read all of Bud Kennedy's Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week piece and see how many ridiculously absurd propaganda items you can find.

Of course the polluted river floating being one of Fort Worth's great success stories is my favorite Orwellian bit of propaganda.

Another gem is this paragraph....

Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river. It has been safe to swim, tube, raft or boat there most of the past year, but only boating or rafting is allowed along the Clear Fork stretch near Trinity Park or near South University Drive.

The embarrassing Panther Island nomenclature really needs to be put to rest.

What does that "Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river" statement even purport to mean?

The chunk of land The Boondoggle identifies as Panther Island is dry land. The Trinity River is not nicknamed "Panther Island".

Or did I miss that memo?

Why Is Fort Worth A Sick City?

Of late I have referred to the Texas town I used to live in, Fort Worth, as Sick City.

Sick City, to me, seems to be a much more apropos, modern nickname, for this town than its last century nickname.

Cowtown.

Recently, well, yesterday, someone named Anonymous asked me why Fort Worth is Sick City....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Downtown Fort Worth Construction Frenzy Hits Imaginary New High":

Since you have moved out of town you seem to have gotten even more pointed with your critiques of Fort Worth. Sick City is catchy. But why are you now referring to the former Cowtown as Sick City? 

__________________

Well.

It is multiple things I never saw in a city til I moved to Fort Worth which led me to conclude Fort Worth is a Sick City.

Eminent domain abuse is one. Both Fort Worth and its surrounding county of Tarrant are guilty of this sick trait.

Fort Worth used eminent domain abuse to remove hundreds of people from the Ripley Arnold complex so that Radio Shack could build a corporate headquarters which soon  failed. America's Biggest Boondoggle and it myopic Trinity River Vision have taken multiple businesses by eminent domain, in an abusive way, which has not left the victims whole.

Sick City.

Another disgusting property abuse example came when 133 Fort Worth apartment units and three homes were given 30 day eviction notices due to the criminal machinations of a Dallas developer who was speculating that the land the Parkview Village Apartments sat on would greatly increase in value if America's Biggest Boondoggle ever came to actual fruition. I do not know by what means these 30 day eviction notices were generated. But, I do know that Fort Worth and Tarrant County has a totally corrupt justice of the peace court, which acts as a Kangaroo Court, issuing evictions, at property owner's behest, no matter what property owner illegality evidence a tenant victim might show the pseudo judge who rules in this corrupt Kangaroo Court.

We blogged about this in Betsy Price's Tarnished Golden Rule of Pseudo Compassionate Service and Fort Worth Shrugs Its Shoulders While Hundreds Of Citizens Are Given 30 Day Eviction Notices and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price Has No Comment About 30 Day Evictions Of 100s In Her Town.

Sick City.

A Fort Worth neighborhood is terrorized by a golf course's collapsing wall. Despite plea after plea after plea after plea the city and its mayor turn a deaf ear to the plight of these Fort Worth residents. This was blogged about in Why Is Fort Worth's Best Public Servant Ignoring The Pulte Wall Of Shame?

Sick City.

It was discovered natural gas could be extracted from the Barnett Shale using a new method called fracking. Fort Worth's city government formed a corrupt partnership with Chesapeake Energy and others, allowing thousands of holes to be poked in Fort Worth's ground, then fracked, disrupting the peace of neighborhoods and the health of residents. No other of America's a big cities allowed such a calamity in such a large scale as what was done to Fort Worth.

Sick City.

Over and over again Fort Worth grants concessions of various sorts to various entities who indicate they will come to town if Fort Worth grants them that which they ask for. So, Cabela's gets all sorts of breaks, tells Fort Worth Cabela's will be the biggest tourist attraction in Texas. Fort Worth falls for the con job, unlike other towns elsewhere. Cabela's gets built, does not live up to its promises, builds more Cabela's in Texas. While Fort Worth, once again, ends up with metaphoric egg on its face.

Sick City.

Fort Worth and Tarrant County have corrupt judges and corrupt court rooms. Probate courts steal the wealth of hapless elderly residents. No overseeing government entity intervenes. The cowed people of Fort Worth don't demand something be done. Fort Worth Weekly prints exposes exposing the corruption. The Star-Telegram stays silent. Eventually one elderly victim got some of her money back.

Sick City.

Steve Doeung fights Chesapeake Energy over the plan to lay a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under the street he lives on named Carter Avenue. The cases ends up in court in front of a judge named Sprinkle, with Steve Doeung up against two Chesapeake lawyers. The judge ruled in a way which baffled and outraged the packed courtroom. Like I said, corrupt judges and corrupt court rooms.

Sick City.

Around the turn of the century a bizarre, supposed combo economic development flood prevention plan, gets foisted on the Fort Worth public, without a public vote approving this project, which, if implemented, would have a great impact on the city of Fort Worth. Yet the people were not allowed to vote on this project. The project dawdled along. After a few years, in order to hopefully secure federal earmark money, Congresswoman Kay Granger's totally unqualified son, J.D., was put in charge of this project, which eventually became known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, as the years passed and little was accomplished in building this supposedly vitally needed economic development flood prevention project. Which would seem to indicate the plan was not all that vital. And, if it were actually vitally needed, would you put someone like J.D. Granger in charge of it?

Sick City.

J.D. Granger deserves two Sick City entries. So, with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, aka, America's Biggest Boondoggle, boondoggling along in slow motion, due to the lack of funds, perpetual Frat Boy, J.D., helped foist on Fort Worth events like Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River. The old Tandy Subway maintenance building was turned into a Beer Hall called The Shack. A small stage was built, which was then monickered Panther Island Pavilion.  Polluted floating events held at this location are said to take place at Panther Island Pavilion at Panther Island. Where there is no island and no actual pavilion.

Sick City.

For decades Fort Worth confused its few out of town downtown visitors with signs pointing to Sundance Square, when  there was no square in downtown Fort Worth. Most tourists who asked where Sundance Square was were pointed to the parking lots adjacent to a big mural representing the Chisholm Trail. A couple years ago an actual square was built on those parking lots. A small square, which in the tradition of Fort Worth parks, has no modern public restroom facilities, unlike squares in other downtowns across the planet. And this square was goofily named Sundance Square Plaza.

Sick City.

And speaking of Fort Worth parks. It deserves a separate mention that the majority of Fort Worth city parks have no running water and no modern restroom facilities. But, plenty of outhouses.

Sick City.

Downtown Fort Worth has nice wide sidewalks. Leave downtown Fort Worth and drive around the town's eastern, northern and southeastern neighborhoods and eventually you will be treated to the sight of a mom trying to push a stroller up a hill where a dirt path has been worn, where a sidewalk should be available. Most Fort Worth streets have no sidewalks. You reading this in modern towns in America may find this hard to believe, but it is true, appalling and true.

Sick City.

Most cities in America indulge in this thing called urban planning. You know, looking forward to where development is expected, building infrastructure, like roads and drainage ahead of building shopping centers and housing developments. Fort Worth does it backwards. Drive to north Fort Worth and witness the mess of traffic woes around the newly opened Buc-ee's. Did this development just drop out of the sky on Fort Worth with no warning? Other towns pay the price for Fort Worth's slaphazzard way off growing. Towns like Haltom City, downstream from Fort Worth sprawl. Sprawl which sprawled without taking into account controlling drainage. So, killer flash floods now flush out residents downstream. Much needed flood control is ignored, while America's Biggest Boondoggle's bogus flood control project boondoggles along.

Sick City.

I could go on and on. And usually do. But, I think I've given you a good idea as to why I think Fort Worth's nickname for the 21st century should be....

SICK CITY