David, Theo & Ruby Take Me To School With Giant Blackberries

Moments ago my phone made that noise which indicates incoming.

This particular incoming turned out to be some photos of my nephews David and Theo, and niece Ruby.

There was no text accompanying the photos, so it was left to my sleuth like deductive ability to discern what I was seeing.

The first photo, a sort of group hug, really provided no good clue.

But, the next photo did.

I am fairly certain what we are looking at above is David, Ruby & Theo leaving home on the first day of the new school year. It was the Lowell School shirts which provided the primary clue.

And then we have some photo documentation of the trio of fruit pickers, holding what appear to possibly be baskets of freshly picked BIG Pacific Northwest blackberries. I can not tell for sure what strain of PNW blackberries these are, Himalayas, or Evergreens. Perhaps a new strain of which I am not familiar.

These look as if they'd make some mighty fine blackberry pie or cobbler.

And then we end with Theo taking a big bite out of one of the BIG blackberries.

Theo shared a fondness for blackberries with his favorite uncle. Theo was also the only one of the trio with no strong aversion to Walmart...

Bud Kennedy Reporting For Star-Telegram From Fort Worth Of The North

Yesterday I saw that which you see here on Facebook. A posting by a Facebooker named Bud Kennedy sharing the fact that he has been away for a few days in Vancouver, B.C.

The place Bud Kennedy is away from is Fort Worth, Texas, where he can usually be found at a local restaurant or somewhere in the offices of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Bud Kennedy has multiple "journalist" roles. Among them he is the Star-Telegram's food critic, reviewing restaurants. Bud Kennedy also operates as one of the Star-Telegram's propagandists, serving as a mouthpiece for the bizarre good ol' boy and girl network which runs Fort Worth in what is known as The Fort Worth Way.

Put another way, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is not a real newspaper in the way most other towns have a newspaper covering local news with what is known as journalistic integrity. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram operates more like the old Soviet Union's Pravda, spewing the "party" line.

An example of this is the way Bud Kennedy and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, over the course of the current century, have covered the ongoing pitiful debacle known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or, America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Way back when this century started, soon after I arrived in Texas, well before I realized that the Star-Telegram was not a real newspaper of the quality sort I had been reading for decades whilst a resident of Washington, I remember one Sunday morning, opening the Star-Telegram, laying it on the floor, which was my usual reading position back when I still read a hard copy newspaper, getting prone with a hot cup of coffee, opening the newspaper to see a GIANT headline screaming TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO THE VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH.

What fresh ridiculous hell is this I remember laying there and wondering.

What could possibly turn Fort Worth into any semblance of Vancouver? Have any of these people actually been to Vancouver? A town with mountains hovering above it, with large bodies of water surrounding it, with a big scenic river running through it. A town which held one of the most successful World's Fairs ever held, Expo 86. And a Winter Olympics.

What could possibly be done in scenery challenged, clean/clear water challenged, Fort Worth, which could turn it into anything even remotely resembling anything in Vancouver?

And then I read about the "plan" to divert the Trinity River into a channel, thus creating a little lake and canals, which would result in a "waterfront" feature where residential and restaurant and retail developments would develop.

Oh, and three signature bridges.

There was no talk, at the time, about an imaginary island being part of the original vision. Or rockin' the river happy hour inner tube floats. Or an imaginary world class music venue. Or an ice skating rink. Or the first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century. Or a (long failed) wakeboard park lake. Or hiring a low level deputy prosecutor, with zero project engineering experience, as the executive director of the "vision".

The Star-Telegram breathlessly told its readers about this vision to transform Fort Worth. And as the years have passed, with no transformation, with the project evolving into being an embarrassing boondoggle, overseen by a local congresswoman's unqualified son, the Star-Telegram continues to operate as an irresponsible cheerleader for this blighted vision, failing even to report responsibly on the more obvious failures such as the multiple problems regarding the construction of three simple bridges intended to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that aforementioned imaginary island, built over dry land, awaiting the digging of a ditch to go under the bridges.

When I saw Bud Kennedy was in Vancouver I wondered to myself if being in Vancouver he spent any iota of a moment remembering his part in foisting the ridiculous Fort Worth as Vancouver of the South propaganda on his newspaper's readers, when all these years later that vision has become a BIG nothing to see, while the real Vancouver has continued its dynamic growth as one of the gems of the west coast.

So, I Googled "Trinity Uptown Fort Worth Vancouver of the South" to see what, if anything, came up. Well, several instances of the blog you are reading right now came up. Along with defunct links to Star-Telegram articles. And a link to something called the Fort Worth Forum, the Trinity River Vision section of a forum apparently dedicated to what would seem to be the rather limited subject of Architecture in Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth Forum link went to the first page of many pages which have accumulated over the years of the Fort Worth architecture aficionados discussing the Trinity River Vision. This discussion starts in 2004.

2004.

Thirteen years ago.

Below I gleaned some of the comment posts from way back in 2004. The posters are, ironically, quite excited about this wonderful vision which they think will quickly be transformative for Fort Worth. As the years have gone by I suspect some level of disappointment has set in. I have previously been told that some who participate in this Fort Worth Forum have been offput by this particular blog and its tendency to clearly indicate Fort Worth is way too often a naked emperor preening about its imaginary beautiful clothes.

And now a select few comments from the Fort Worth Forum...

Posted 15 June 2004 - 09:35 PM
I saw nice TV coverage of the trinity river vision meeting. Very positive, sounds like they have a quick timeline 6-8 year? Also was confused to Fox4 allusion that canals would be constructed to allow boating from Stockyards, and Cultural District to Downtown? Also nice teaser article in the S-T today about the kayaking in the river.

Posted 16 June 2004 - 07:10 AM
I hope they update their website now. And it's good they have a time frame, I was beginning to think the project was dead after not hearing anything for a year. But I'm so glad it's not, that section of town is going to be booming in a decade or so...just watch.

Posted 20 June 2004 - 09:37 AM
Fort Worth: The Vancouver of the South?

Posted 20 June 2004 - 12:05 PM
I absolutely love the plan. I think that the plan gives the city the chance to get national recognition, while also providing a strong incentive for a dense, highly populated and interesting urban environment that most cities would be very envious to have. Do you notice in the plan how the river and lake corridors would preserve prominent views of the county courthouse from long distances?

Posted 21 June 2004 - 08:38 AM
Personally, I'm extremely excited they're using Vancouver as an example. Has anyone here been there? I have, and they've done incredible things with their waterfront and downtown area, and if we use that as a model, we can't go wrong.  And what's this about rowhouses and whatnot? I was under the impression that the city/committee/whatever was stressing not just dense but highrise residential. That was one effect of Vancouver's waterfront-HIGHRISES!!! One more thing, I hope the final name for this district isn't "Trinity Point". It sounds like some cheesy retirement community or something. I think it should be called Uptown or Town Lake, something that defines it as a unique, diverse district rather than one consolidated project.

Getting Stuck With David, Theo & Ruby In Fishtrap Creek With Crawdads

I took a lot of pictures last month whilst in Washington. All those pictures came back to Texas on a thumbdrive. Today I was thumbing through the thumbdrive again and found some more photo documentation I felt share worthy.

The photos you see here were taken Saturday, August 12. We were in Lynden to do that which we had come to Lynden to do, after which we went to Aunt Judy's.

After an hour or two or three at Aunt Judy's, David, Theo & Ruby directed me and Uncle Jake, along with their parental units to Lynden's Fishtrap Creek Park.

Lynden's Fishtrap Creek Park holds many a good memory for me. Memories such as the Annual Lynden Fishing Derby, with our Grandpa Porter being a derby instigator, and thus somehow guaranteeing his grandkids got a fishy prize no matter how successful they were at the catching. I remember one year getting a fishing pole and reel with which I fished for many years following.

After Grandpa Porter left this Earthy Coil the good people of Lynden installed a new pedestrian bridge across Fishtrap Creek. Made of wood. With a plaque installed in rock on the south bridge entry dedicating the bridge to the memory of Dr. James Porter. Many, many decades later that wooden bridge no longer crosses Fishtrap Creek, gone, along with the memorial to Grandpa Porter.

So, back to present day, 2017 Fishtrap Creek. That is Theo you see at the top, crossing the creek. Theo and I had been having ourselves a mighty fine time playing on the elaborate, massive playground installation which tantalizes kids and the young at heart near the banks of Fishtrap Creek. Theo and I took a break from the playground to venture to the creek. Theo asked his uncle if he could take his shoes off and go wading. I am an uncle who only rarely says no, so Theo was soon wading in the crystal clear water.

Soon joined by mama Kristin and sister Ruby.

I do not know where David and mama Michele were during this wading episode. Had David been there what happened soon after mama Kristin began wading would have been memorable, due to David's morbid fear of water creatures like crabs.

And lobsters.

Kristin and Ruby were not long in the water when Kristin let out a piercing shriek, followed by a loud announcement that she had almost stepped on a sea monster with giant claws. Due to that aforementioned crystal clearness of the water Theo and I were soon able to see what Kristin had almost stepped on. A creek creature which looked like a mini-lobster, which we could see did have giant claws. Uncle Jake soon informed us that it was a crawdad, an alien species which had invaded Washington waters from muddy southern locations. I do not know if the giant claws were some sort of evolutionary thing caused by exposure to clean water, or those giant claws were the norm for crawdads.

Kristin made a feeble attempt to catch the crawdad, to no avail. The frisky creature soon made its escape downstream.

Like I think I already said, before getting in Fishtrap Creek Theo and I did some playground climbing.

Theo was able to navigate this cable balancing task, while I failed. Note in the background that somewhat tall yellow structure.

Another, somewhat cockeyed look at that somewhat tall yellow tower structure. This tower structure, which for me turned out to be a Tower of Terror, had multiple levels, accessed by a maze of bridges, ladders and contortions not designed for the full sized.

At the final level of the Tower of Terror one comes to the dark entry to a tunnel. This tunnel turns into a twisting, turning slide back to ground level. Again, not designed for the full sized.

I got stuck part way down the slide. Stuck in total darkness. With kids piling up behind me. Eventually I was able to wiggle my way down the chute, with great effort, after what seemed many minutes I began to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

After I extracted myself and returned to being vertical I tasked Theo with posing at the tunnel/slide exit for photo documentation purposes, which is what you see above, with Ruby looking on.

Towns in Washington sure do have some nice parks. Through which clean water flows. With no signs warning not to eat the crawdads...

Labor Day Rolling To Wichita Wires With No Hot Dogs

This Labor Day morning I decided to do some laboring via pushing my bike's pedals in circles for an hour or two.

My route today took me first to Sikes Lake where there were more people enjoying that waterfront venue, and its flocks of geese, than I've seen any day previous.

Then I left Sikes Lake via crossing Midwestern Boulevard to the campus of Midwestern State University, which was abandoned, for the most part, except a lot of guys engaging in some sort of exercise like routine whilst wearing what appeared to be football uniforms. This exercise engagement including a lot of shouting and whistle blowing.

The shouting and whistle blowing wreaked havoc with the peace and quiet I had been enjoying.

I rather enjoyed rolling around the largely abandoned university campus.

Eventually I came upon something I had not seen before whilst rolling around this location. I refer to that which you see above. I am assuming this is yet one more piece of Wichita Falls art, in sculpture form.

No identifying plaque was attached to the tangle of lines. I am opted til informed otherwise to call this work of art "Wichita Wires".

Looking at Wichita Wires right now, in picture form, not the in person view, I am wondering if this is some sort of abstract depiction of a tornado.

On what is known locally as Terrible Tuesday, one of the most deadly, destructive tornadoes ever to strike the world struck Wichita Falls back on April 10, 1979. twisting by Sikes Lake and the south end of the MSU campus.

Ironically, coincidentally, when I returned to my abode today, right at noon, the tornado sirens started screaming. Usually testing the sirens happens on Wednesday. Maybe today's lengthy siren blasting was some sort of Labor Day homage.

No hot dogs today for me on this Labor Day. Chinese is the food theme for me today...

The Lake Wichita Dam Spillway Art Egret

Lately, well, twice in the past week, it seems like I can not roll my bike's wheels around Lake Wichita without being surprised by a work of art suddenly popping into view.

A few days ago, as I neared the Mount Wichita pseudo mini-volcano, a giant steel flying fish sculpture appeared before my rolling eyes.

And now today, Sunday, the day before Labor Day, that holiday originated by liberals who believed workers needed a special day off, I once again rolled my wheels to Lake Wichita, and once again I found myself suddenly seeing a work of art.

This time it was an egret painted on the south side of the Lake Wichita Dam spillway.

The artist creating this work of art was also athletic in addition to being artistically creative. To reach the location of this new egret the painter had to get him or herself or themselves over fencing designed to prevent easy access to the dam spillway.

Or maybe the artist just took advantage of a low lake level and walked onto the spillway directly from the lake, where there is no barrier stopping anyone from doing so.

Above you see one egret located a short distance from the spillway. Further out to sea, I mean, lake, a group of egrets maintains a fishing line near a row of old piers, which are all which remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.

I have no way of knowing if the artist was inspired to paint the spillway egret because of the flock of egrets which are regularly located at this location, on the lake, near the spillway.

I wonder if the currently solo spillway egret will remain alone, or will the artist or artists, return to paint an entire flock?

David, Theo & Ruby's Tacoma Tin Man Little Free Library

The homage to the Wizard of Oz's Tin Man you see here stands in front of David, Theo and Ruby's house.

My Tacoma nephews and niece are operating what is known as a Little Free Library.

The Little Free Library concept began in the United States in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin when Todd Bol installed on his lawn a little library which looked like a one-room schoolhouse.

The Little Free Library soon became a national, then global sensation, now with registered Little Free Libraries in all 50 American states and 70 nations around the world.

The Little Free Library is headquartered, logically, in its birthplace of Hudson, Wisconsin. Via the official Little Free Library website you can find all the information you need to start up a Little Free Library at your house in your town.

The Little Free Library is also on Facebook. And there is a Free Little Library article in Wikipedia, from which I gleaned most of the information I gleaned about the Little Free Library concept.

David, Theo and Ruby told me there were several Free Little Library installations in their neighborhood, in addition to their Tin Man.

On the early evening of my last night in Tacoma, last month, the poodles, Blue and Eddie, convinced David to convince Mama Kristin to take us on a walk. On that walk we came upon one of their neighborhood's Free Little Library installations. This one was themed to be gas or power meters of some kinds. David checked out a book.

Shortly after visiting the power meter Free Little Library we came upon a neighbor who had simply arrayed a lot of books on their lawn, adjacent to the sidewalk, free for the taking by any passerby. David and Mama Kristin picked up several books at that location, later checking them into their Tin Man Free Little Library when we returned home.

David told me about some of the other Free Little Libraries in their neighborhood and described their themes. The only one retained by my memory was the Lego Free Little Library. David, Theo and Ruby have a thing about Legos which makes any mention of such, in any form, memorable to me.

Tacoma's well designed streets make for excellent Free Little Library locations, what with sidewalks on both sides of the streets, and with grassy, landscaped medians between sidewalk and street, at most locations.

A town without sidewalks would not be suitable for a Free Little Library.

Such as Fort Worth, Texas.

There are some sidewalks on some sides of some streets in that forlorn Texas town. But, most of the town is sidewalk free, including most of the part of that town I lived in for way too long.

However, in a town which is predominantly semi-literate there likely would not be much demand or desire to install Free Little Libraries, even if sidewalks facilitating pedestrians were available...

Riding Skagit Electric Ferry To A Real Guemes Island

I saw that which you see here via Facebook. Apparently the Skagit County ferry fleet is ceasing being diesel powered, and is going all electric.

There is only one ferry crossing in the Skagit County fleet. That crossing connects Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island, with Guemes Island.

Guemes Island is one of what are known as the inner San Juan islands, along with other small islands located to the east of the larger, more well known, San Juan Islands.

During my time in Washington, last month, I marveled more than once at the crystal clear water, into which one could deeply gaze, or wade in without fear of getting polluted, but with some fear, for some, of getting pinched by a dungeness crab.

I saw no signs on Washington waters warning people not to eat what they catch, or not to touch the water.

I did see some Tsunami Evacuation Warning signs, including one on the door of our Birch Bay condo.

If you look at the photo, above, of the new Skagit Electric Ferry, those are real islands you see across that body of unpolluted water.

A real island is surrounded by a real body of water.

Not a manmade ditch.

Fort Worth's propaganda purveyors, for several years now, have been referring to a desolate chunk of land as "Panther Island".

Where there is no island.

Yet there is a lot of signage directing the town's few tourists to the imaginary island and the imaginary pavilion on the imaginary island.

I have no clue as to why so few Fort Worth locals do not seem to find this pitiful example of a demented emperor wearing no clothes, to be as embarrassingly stupid as I find it to be.

Maybe the Fort Worth locals are immune to the town embarrassing itself after so many instances of doing such.

One day, far in the future, maybe in the next decade, or the decade following the next decade, a ditch may be dug under three simple little Fort Worth bridges being built in slow motion, pre-ditch, over dry land. And then water from the polluted Trinity River may be diverted into that ditch, thus sort of surrounding that aforementioned chunk of desolate land with a narrow band of water.

But that desolate chunk of land will still not be an island. Referring to it as such only provides more laughing stock material for those visiting Fort Worth from more, well, reality based locations on the planet.

One tourist to another. Have you found Sundance Square yet? Other tourist responds, we think it's that little plaza we found downtown. Tourist asks other tourist another question. Have you found Panther Island yet? Other tourist responds we have no clue what that might be. What is wrong with this town the other tourist asks? I dunno, but the Stockyards are kind of cool....

Ruby, David & Theo Thea Foss Waterway Uncle Walk Vision

Earlier this month, on the way to the airport, David, Theo & Ruby took me to the downtown Tacoma museum zone where we went book shopping in a University of Washington bookstore, to find a book about Washington to send to Boston to David, Theo & Ruby's cousin Kwan.

After completing the bookstore task, along with something called Cake Pops from the adjacent Starbucks, David, Theo & Ruby led us across the Bridge of Glass to the Thea Foss Waterway.

I usually incorrectly refer to this waterway as Theo Foss, likely due to one of my favorite nephews being named Theo. However, Thea Foss was a Tacoma mill operator over a century ago, operating her mill in what is now known as the Thea Foss Waterway.

The Thea Foss Waterway was part of the Commencement Bay Superfund site. The final Superfund cleanup was finished in 2006. After the cleaning was complete an entity called the Foss Waterway Development Authority Board took over.

At the time of my previous visit (August 2008) to the Thea Foss Waterway a couple residential developments had sprung up, along with office space and restaurants and a marina. The promenade/esplanade, at that point in time, was maybe a mile long. In 2008 there were some water features, mostly tied into the Museum of Glass.

By the time of my recent walk along the Thea Foss Waterway, in August of 2017, multiple new water features, and other features, have been added. Along with several more residential buildings, and restaurants. And the promenade/esplanade has been extended under one of Tacoma's actual signature bridges.

That signature bridge comment is what is known as a dig. Directed at one of Fort Worth's ongoing embarrassments. That being referring to three simple little bridges slowly being built over dry land as signature bridges. Those Fort Worth bridges are being slowly built as part of a project overseen by the Trinity River Vision Authority.

The Trinity River Vision Authority has been boondoggling along during the same time frame as the Foss Waterway Authority Vision, only with the Tacoma vision you have this alien to Fort Worth concept known as, well, a successful, mostly completed, project.

With the Tacoma project coming about without using the property stealing technique so popular in Fort Worth and Tarrant County, known as abusing eminent domain.

Let's take a walk with David, Theo & Ruby and see some of what Tacoma has built during the time frame Fort Worth has dawdled.

Added since my last visit is the water feature you see above, on the promenade/esplanade near the Museum of Glass. Water flows down those glass tubes.

Here you see Ruby at the far side of the above oval area, playing music on one type of instrument, whilst Theo & David make louder music on some giant chimes. That blue water is part of the Thea Foss Waterway, now used as a marina, among other uses.

And now David, Theo and Ruby, and their parental units are about to walk under that aforementioned Tacoma signature bridge, built over water, in way less than four years. Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges began construction way back in 2014, with construction sputtering off and on, originally with an astonishing four year construction timeline, recently stretched to some year in the 2020s.

Above David is in the distant lead, leading me, Ruby & Theo up the stairs which lead to the Museum of Glass and the Bridge of Glass.

The Theo Foss Waterway is at the south end of Commencement Bay, at the far south end of the Tacoma waterfront. Several miles to the north is an equally impressive waterfront development, known as Point Ruston.

Pont Ruston did not exist during my visit to Tacoma in 2008. I blogged about Point Ruston whilst I was in Washington, including video, in a blogging titled Point Ruston Ruby, Theo & David Surrey Survey Of Tacoma's New Waterfront Development.

I likely will be blogging a followup blogging about Point Ruston, due to being freshly appalled at the slow motion nonsense of Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, bizarrely touted as a vital flood control/economic development scheme, so vital it has been dawdling along in slow motion most of this century, taking property by abusing eminent domain, depending on federal dollar handouts to pay for the ongoing debacle, attracting zero real private investment.

And then there is Tacoma's Point Ruston. And the Thea Foss Waterway...

Seattle Dick's Deluxe With Good Pay & Benefits & Long Lines

Earlier this month, returning to Tacoma from Birch Bay, David, Theo and Ruby directed our driver to exit the I-5 freeway at what used to be Seattle's notorious Mercer Street exit.

I was pleased to find the notorious Mercer Street exit no longer notorious, what with its latest upgrade iteration seeming to facilitate easy transit, fixing what used to be known as the Mercer Mess.

Exiting I-5 at Mercer Street heads west towards the Space Needle, with Lake Union on the right, or north. This area was so transformed from when I last saw it, in 2008, I was astonished. Multiple canyons of high rises block the previous view of the downtown skyline of skyscrapers. Some of the streets in the canyons seemed only to have buses and trolleys, as in the SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley).

When I was last in downtown Seattle, in August of 2008, buses did not exist on the downtown streets. A tunnel had been bored in the 1990s, for the buses, to make for easy transit all over downtown Seattle. Well, now, in  2017, those buses have been banned from the tunnel, which has been taken over by light rail trains. The 2017 version of downtown Seattle has streets dedicated to buses and bikes only.

Since I was last in Washington voters voted to end the state's monopoly on liquor sales, ended the prohibition on marijuana, approved billions of dollars of transit projects, and in some towns, like Seattle, mandated the minimum wage be $15 at a minimum.

I was expecting to find Seattle a moribund ghost town, even less lively than sleepy, low minimum wage, slow/no growth Fort Worth, Texas, what with right wing nut job types predicting that a $15 minimum wage would wreak economic havoc.

David, Theo and Ruby directed our driver to take us to Dick's. Seattle's iconic burger drive-in. That is the Dick's we went to, the one west of Seattle Center, you see above, hence the Space Needle hovering above.

Ordering our burgers I looked up to see what you see below.

Along with a repeat of the same information on the counter by the order taker.

Dick's was busy. Super busy. Long lines. Lines moving fast because Dick's is an efficient operation. Always has been.

Dick's must not have gotten the memo informing them that paying its workers such an exorbitant sum, along with multiple benefits, would put Dick's out of business.

Dick's has long been a progressive enlightened operation. Long before the mandated increase in the minimum wage.

From the Wikipedia article about Dick's Drive-In...

For several years Dick's has offered best-in-industry employee benefits such as a matched 401(k), 100% employer-paid medical insurance, and a $22,000 college tuition scholarship after six months of work. In 2013, Dick's Drive-In was voted "the most life-changing burger joint in America" in an Esquire.com poll.

Those dang progressive, well-educated liberals and their ideas about how to make a better world to live in.

Meanwhile, in a Texas town, like Fort Worth, during the same period of time, from 2008 til now, nothing much has happened. No new skyscrapers, No new department stores, in a downtown with zero department stores.

During the nine years since I last saw Seattle the town has changed dramatically, with countless new downtown buildings, new transit trains, a new tunnel under downtown under construction, a transforming waterfront, Pike Place additions, a giant corporate headquarters, under construction, called Amazon, among many other boomtown type developments.

And during that same time period Fort Worth has floundered with an embarrassing public works project the public has never voted for, which relies on federal welfare to fund it, which does not even seem to be able to build three simple little bridges over dry land, all part of an imaginary flood control and economic development scheme which has been scheming along, to little fruition, for most of this century.

I think Fort Worth's problems are of a systemic, more deep seated nature where something as mundane as mandating raising the minimum wage would not much effect the town's  backwater nature. But it might be a place to start moving Fort Worth and its surrounding areas into the 21st century in more meaningful ways than something absurdly inept like the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision's pitiful un-need flood control project and equally pitiful economic development scheme.

Oh, and one more thing, the burger, shake and fries prices at Dick's did not seem to be much higher, if at all, than when I last visited Dick's, back in 2004. Seems like a Dick's Deluxe was about $3.45 back then, which is about what I think, if I remember right, the Dick's Deluxe cost when I had one earlier this month, along with a strawberry shake and fries...

Fresh Bridge Boondoggle Nonsense From Fort Worth's Propaganda Purveyors

I seem to be having trouble getting around to blogging the blogging fodder I brought back to Texas with me, acquired during a week in Washington earlier this month.

Blogging fodder such as the Tacoma Water Vision, which one can actually see, unlike a Texas town with which I am familiar. That and seeing up close the imaginary economic devastation Seattle is suffering from that $15 minimum wage debacle.

But before I get around to any of that, let's talk about one of my favorite, sad, pitiful subjects. That being Fort Worth's embarrassing inept Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, aka America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I have long lamented Fort Worth's lack of having a real newspaper engaging in the novel concept known as investigative journalism.

My last day in Arizona I was sent a link to an article in the Fort Worth Business Press, Work on Henderson Street, White Settlement bridges progressing; New traffic pattern, with the breathtaking news that after years of nothing happening that...

In mid-July, concrete was poured for the first full-scale V-pier for the White Settlement Bridge. The bridge contractor used 200 cubic yards of concrete. With crews placing the concrete on both legs of the V-pier simultaneously, the pour took several days to complete and cure.

In a big city wearing its big city pants how is an item such as the above paragraph considered news? And how can any legitimate "newspaper" publish an article about the ongoing Fort Worth bridge building debacle without making any sort of reference to the project being long stalled. Or what caused the long stall?

And then we have the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, yesterday or the day before, publishing yet one more bizarre bit of bridge propaganda in an article about America's Biggest Boondoggle's long stalled bridge construction, Part of Fort Worth’s Main Street closes as work revs up on Panther Island bridges, with once again no explanation as to what stalled the bridge construction, but, like the FW Business  Press, sort of breathlessly celebrating that one of those wooden V-pier forms has finally had cement poured in its form, the result of which you can see below, courtesy of the aforementioned Star-Telegram.

So, what was the issue with this bridge design? I'm no engineer, but, I don't see how this cement teeter totter is going to support a bridge deck. And when were the foundations poured for all these bridge V-pier forms? Shouldn't that concrete teeter totter be sitting on a big solid foundation? And how will the ditch be dug under these teeter totters if the ditch is ever dug?

The Star-Telegram article uses a photo of that embarrassing explosive bridge ground breaking ceremony,  from years ago, and mentions that the project has endured nearly three years of delays.

Yet we still get no information regarding the nature of the design controversy which caused the delay. And what was resolved which resulted in concrete finally being poured into one of the V-pier forms.

We do get the following...

Work on the three Panther Island bridges was kicked off in November 2014. Back then, local delegates gathered near the Trinity River banks to celebrate the project with pyrotechnics. But work slowed down as the state transportation department wrangled with contractors over the unusual design of the bridges, including the V-shaped piers. But state officials say those concerns have been addressed and the project can move forward.

The state wrangled with contractors over the unusual design of the bridges? Really? What is so unusual about the design of these simple looking bridges which could cause such a long construction stall? And what issues were resolved? How were the design issues resolved? What changed which ended the wrangling with the contractors?

Why does the Star-Telegram not get answers to questions such as the ones I just asked?

And then there is the following gem from the Star-Telegram...

Panther Island is on a short list of projects nationwide that are considered by Congress to be priorities for flood control and economic development. Last year, Congress authorized $520 million to cover more than half of the project’s cost, although the money likely will become available over a number of years.

Considered by Congress to be a priority for flood control and economic development? If such were the case why is this supposed vital project being actualized in extreme slow motion?

Flood control? There has been no flood in the area of the Boondoggle since the early 1950s, when levees were installed to keep the Trinity River within its banks.

And why does the Star-Telegram go along with the absurd Panther Island nomenclature? There is no island, there will be no island, even if this project ever does get completed. Digging a ditch does not an island make. Visit Hawaii, Washington or the Texas Gulf Coast if you want to see what an island looks like.

Why does Fort Worth indulge in bizarre misnaming of perfectly ordinary things? Like for decades downtown Fort Worth confused its few tourists with directional signs pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square, but was the odd name given a multi-block redevelopment zone. And now there are signs confusing Fort Worth's few tourists by pointing them to locations such as Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion.

Why do the good people of Fort Worth, and the majority are good people, put up with a civic leadership which makes their town looks so, well, stupid, inept and embarrassing?

Fort Worth needs to run June Cleaver and her boy Beaver, also known as Kay and J.D, Granger, out of town, the sooner the better for the sake of sanity and the good people of Fort Worth....