J.D. Granger Had Art Meeting The Trinity River With A Judge Needing Educating

That is a young lady named Gaile Robinson smiling at you on the left. Til yesterday I had never heard of Gaile Robinson.

Yesterday I found myself learning that Gaile Robinson is an art critic, or reviewer, or reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, because Gaile Robinson wrote a critical review report about an Amon Carter photo exhibit exhibiting photos of the Trinity River.

Both the photos and the review had a lot of locals in high umbrage mode, including Fort Worth's pre-eminent project engineer, J.D. Granger, who opined that Gaile Robinson was "a reporter who failed to educate herself about our community before she inked this junk."

The junk to which Mr. Granger refers is the article Gaile Robinson wrote for the Star-Telegram.

The full J.D. Granger statement about this serious subject....

I firmly believe there are two people at fault right now. I point this out to encourage our beautiful river community to direct your comments at both of them to help educate them about our Trinity River in Fort Worth. We are victims of an outta town arrogant and ignorant photographer and a reporter who failed to educate herself about our community before she inked this junk. I am a subscriber and love the the Star T - this piece does not reflect who they are. I know for a fact they do their homework because they absolutely grill the heck out of me before any story!

What is this "beautiful river community" Mr. Granger refers to?

Someone named Anonymous made a comment to yesterday's blogging about the Photogate Scandal which also referenced Granger's beautiful river community...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Star-Telegram Review Of An Amon Carter Museum Exhibit Leads To Much Ado About Photos Of The Trinity River":

J.D. Granger says that his beautiful river community needs to educate Gaile Robinson and that she is at fault. His remarks contradict what The Trinity River Vision Authority was saying two year ago.

In 2012, the TRV Authority chose Gaile Robinson to judge a TRVA event called "Where Art Meets the River". Two short years ago she was qualified to judge such an event, but now she needs educating according to Granger. 

Has anyone thought to measure the amount of egg which has accumulated on J.D. Granger's face over the years? It may be a Guinness Record....

A Star-Telegram Review Of An Amon Carter Museum Exhibit Leads To Much Ado About Photos Of The Trinity River

This morning when I woke up my phone there was a text message from Elsie Hotpepper which in part said "OMG. You have to go read Brian Luenser on Facebook. He's the guy who takes awesome shots of Fort Worth. Go to FB to see why he is not happy."

Well.

What a big brouhaha.

So, Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum hired a Chicago photographer to take pictures of the Trinity River for an exhibit which opened Labor Day Weekend. Commissioning this piece of work has something to do with complimenting an exhibit opening in October called “Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River.”

On Facebook Brian Luenser verbalized his righteous irritation due to the fact that he has put a lot of effort into taking extremely flattering photos of the downtown Fort Worth zone and the Trinity River. Hundreds, maybe thousands, in various social media venues, are being very supportive of the Brian Luenser point of view.

People are also very upset with Amon Carter's newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its review of the “Meet Me at the Trinity: Photographs by Terry Evans” exhibit.

That is a screen cap of part of the Star-Telegram article above. The article is written by Gaile Robinson. The article does not seem to follow the Star-Telegram's patented propaganda puffery style.

For example, a few blurbs from the Star-Telegram....

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art commissioned a portfolio of images about the Trinity River from photographer Terry Evans. Before the Chicago-based photographer made the first of her five trips to Fort Worth, the Carter’s senior curator of photography John Rohrbach warned her, “forget everything you know about rivers.”

It might have been better if Rohrbach were more blunt and told her the Trinity River put the “ugh” in ugly. It is a man-made watercourse whose path was determined by backhoes. It is a channel for polluted waters that runs through a city that turned its back on it for more than 150 years.

Maybe with some hard truths she would have had an inkling of how hideous most of the Trinity River is.

It only took one visit for Evans to appreciate the Trinity’s lack of allure. She was shocked, Rohrbach says, and admitted she didn’t know what to photograph.

The Trinity, with its tree-free banks, is a drawing card, even if it resembles a ditch more than a river in places.

There are no photographs of gorgeous big skies reflected in the water or downtown buildings shimmering through the morning mist as it rises over the water. There is nothing for a real-estate agent or city booster to hang a sale on here.

There is little to like about Evans’ views of the Trinity; she obviously found the river as pitiful as the rest of us did when we moved here from lusher lands. It is bleak, and it is brown. Yes, there are numbers of people who are drawn to the levees, who bring children, coolers, lawn chairs, fishing poles and inner tubes. But given a choice, no doubt, they would prefer a cleaner, more scenic destination.

There is little singularity to Evans’ choice of subjects, so that will not aid this collection in the future. There is just a rather bleak documentation of people who are making the best of the river with which they are dealt.

Oh my.

In reaction, on Facebook, Brian Luenser posted many of his flattering Trinity River photos, which have generated a lot of flattering comments, including the following choice comment from everyone's favorite project engineer, J.D. Granger....

JD Granger I firmly believe there are two people at fault right now. I point this out to encourage our beautiful river community to direct your comments at both of them to help educate them about our Trinity River in Fort Worth. We are victims of an outta town arrogant and ignorant photographer and a reporter who failed to educate herself about our community before she inked this junk. I am a subscriber and love the the Star T - this piece does not reflect who they are. I know for a fact they do their homework because they absolutely grill the heck out of me before any story !

Then on someone else's Facebook page someone else offered an alternative point of view...

Tom Davies It's a big ditch and it is ugly. So our solution is to invent an excuse for a politician's son and his friend's kids to have jobs and make it even uglier with bridges that don't fit in architecturally and think we can create Vancouver on the prairie and solve a non existent flooding problem as the excuse. #badidea

Now, there has been a time or two I have been ever so slightly critical about something in Fort Worth. I particularly do not like propaganda puffery mis-representing reality, such as the recent propaganda puffery falsely claiming Fort Worth's is the Top Downtown in America.

A lot of people are in high umbrage mode thinking that a local photographer, with a love of the river, like Brian Luenser, should have been hired for this Amon Carter Museum exhibit.

Well, it seems to me what they were going for, maybe, is looking at the river the way someone looks at it when they've not seen the Trinity River before.

I know when I first saw the Trinity River in the downtown Fort Worth area I thought it to be unlike any river I'd ever seen before. I did not think it was any sort of eyesore, but it also did not look like a river. Glorified ditch, as it passes past downtown, seemed a more accurate description.

And Brian Luenser does an excellent job of making that glorified ditch look scenic and attractive.

In Fort Worth there are areas where the Trinity River is not a glorified ditch, where it actually is scenic in its natural, no levees state. I take a picture at one of those locations usually at least once a week, that being where the Trinity River passes by Gateway Park. Another area where the river is not a glorified ditch is where it passes Quanah Parker Park. Another location, where the Trinity River is quite scenic, and natural, one used to be able to easily access from Mallard Cove Park, til Fort Worth city park workers blocked access with tall piles of brush for some unfathomable reason.

Anyway, methinks people need to calm down about this Amon Carter Museum exhibit and Gaile Robinson's Star-Telegram review.

It's a good thing people see things different. It's a good thing looking at your world through someone else's eyes. Even if those eyes are from Chicago and take really crummy looking photos....

On The Tandy Hills Hiking With A Big Bobcat Enjoying A Distant Look At America's Top Downtown

On the left we are on the old wagon trail on top of Mount Tandy, looking west at the stunning skyline of what we recently learned is the Top Downtown in America.

Fort Worth, Texas.

I had trouble sleeping last night, so I was vertical early this morning, which had me in the increasingly cool pool a half hour before the sun arrived to do some illuminating.

I thought a bout in the Tandy Hills Natural Area's natural steambath sauna would make me feel better.

It did.

I'd forgotten rain fell on Saturday. I remembered the rain when I got to the jungle part of the trail and found myself growing suddenly taller due to mud sticking to my shoes.

The mud did not stay stuck long, quickly shrinking me back to my regular height.

I saw several Hoodoos today, including the precariously engineered Hoodoo you see below.

The above Hoodoo was standing at Hoodoo Central at the north end of the View Street trail. I did not take  pictures of the other Hoodoos I came upon today due to the troubling fact that the humidity made it difficult to get the camera out of the pocket in which I stick it.

For what seems months now when I arrive at the summit of Mount Tandy I find my usual way in blocked by a tower maintenance operation. Weeks ago I walked over to the operator sitting under two big umbrellas to inquire about what they were doing. All I got out of the explanation was cables were slowly being replaced.

Today when I started my hiking the under the umbrellas guy waved at me. When I returned from my hiking the under the umbrellas guy waved again and then as I was standing outside my mechanized transport, hydrating, the umbrellas guy got off his perch and started walking towards me.

The umbrellas guy looked like he wanted to tell me something.

I was right.

Apparently soon after I started hiking down Mount Tandy the biggest bobcat the umbrellas guy had ever seen walked slowly in front of the fence that surrounds Tandy Tower and then took a right  to follow me down Mount Tandy.

I asked if he was sure it was a bobcat, asking if it could have been a panther. He said it had a short bobbed tail. The umbrellas guy said he's seen a lot of bobcats over the years but did not know they could get as big as the bobcat that apparently went hiking with me today.

In all the years I've been hiking on the Tandy Hills I think I have only seen one bobcat, a fast moving one darting across the trail ahead of me.

Elsie Hotpepper Helped Me Learn How Fort Worth Became The Top Downtown In America

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper text messaged me telling me to check out the Sundance Square Facebook page.

I always do what Elsie tells me to do.

I'd already blogged about the subject Elsie was pointing me to in a blogging from early September titled Mr. & Mrs. Galtex Are In Argentina Where They Learned Fort Worth Has America's Top Downtown.

In that blogging I wondered what demented entity deemed Fort Worth's to be the Top Downtown in America.

Well.

That to which Elsie Hotpepper pointed me quickly had me understanding that no entity deemed Fort Worth's to be the Top Downtown in America. This bogus claim is just one more example of the same embarrassing propaganda puffery that pervades this part of America

The Sundance Square Facebook page had a link to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article titled Sundance Square wins top downtown award for new plaza.

So, while it may be sort of true that an entity did award an aspect of downtown Fort Worth an award, that entity did not in any way indicate that Fort Worth has the Top Downtown in America. The award was for downtown Fort Worth's tiny plaza known as Sundance Square Plaza.

The entity making this prestigious award which has sent Fort Worth into a spasm of city wide celebrating is the International Downtown Association. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either.

You can go to the IDA website and read the list of their 2014 Pinnacle Award winners. Note the words "list" and "winners" indicating more than one Pinnacle Award winner.

Multiple towns won Pinnacle Awards from the IDA. But only one of those towns, near as I can tell, is spewing propaganda claiming that due to this award that town's downtown is the Top Downtown in America. Most towns have a real newspaper, not a propaganda purveyor like the Star-Telegram, so such nonsense does not get spewed.

Three paragraphs from the Star-Telegram article...

“Each year, the IDA awards jury honors the very best programs and projects in each category to recognize great work and most importantly to set the standard for best practice in our industry. The Sundance Square Plaza is a wonderful example for all cities to emulate.”

The 1-acre plaza, which opened in November, received one of two Pinnacle Awards. The other went to the Wichita Downtown Development Corp. for a $500,000 downtown master plan. Seven merit awards were also given.

“The addition of the plaza created a centerpiece in downtown Fort Worth that has quickly become a destination for North Texas residents and visitors from all around the world,” Johnny Campbell, president and CEO of Sundance Square, said in a statement.

So, Fort Worth is sharing an award category with Wichita and that town's downtown master plan? And Fort Worth's teeny downtown plaza is something all cities should emulate? Yes, I can see towns all over the planet copying Fort Worth's little downtown plaza, except for all those towns which already have downtown plazas. And most ridiculous, this plaza has become a destination for the people of North Texas and visitors from around the world?

Sundance Square Plaza is a perfectly fine thing, I'm not suggesting otherwise. And it is a huge improvement over the parking lots which Fort Worth's few out of town visitors thought were Sundance Square. But this plaza is NOT some sort of special destination drawing anyone to it.

How did the International Downtown Association learn about the wonder which is Sundance Square Plaza I am sure you are wondering.

Well.

Apparently Sundance Square submitted Sundance Square Plaza for consideration for this prestigious award which permits a town to claim to be the Top Downtown in America.

Now, I really do not think there is anything wrong about entering something you represent into any sort of award competition.

However.

You can read the Sundance Square Plaza Award Submission document in its entirety, a reading of which will have you seeing the award submission is full of the patented propaganda puffery of the sort the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is notorious for.

Two paragraphs from the Award Submission propaganda to illustrate the propaganda point....

Sundance Square Plaza has been an enormous success, attracting thousands of visitors weekly, including many families with children. The project has also boosted the success of restaurants and retail stores in Sundance Square, led to new soft-goods retail leases in adjacent buildings and helped attract commercial leases in the new office buildings. In its first six months of operation, Sundance Square Plaza hosted an elaborate Christmas celebration, a huge (even though unadvertised) New Year’s Eve Celebration and the four-day MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival. In March, ESPN used Sundance Square Plaza as its broadcast headquarters during coverage of the NCAA Final Four. The Plaza also hosts regular events such as morning yoga, outdoor movie nights for families and a free Sunday Jazz Series.

Here’s another proof of success: out-of-town developers are asking DFWI, “How close can I get to the Plaza?” Hotel and multifamily developers are now jockeying for position near the Plaza. A modestly performing, historic Class C office building one block away has been purchased, and plans are underway to convert it into a boutique hotel. New market pressure has been added to the center of downtown, adding demand four streets away where there was none before – purely because the plaza is perceived as such a valuable attraction and developers want their projects to be within walking distance.

This plaza is one acre in size. Do you know how big one acre is? Not very big. This little plaza attracts thousands of visitors weekly? Including many families? With children?

I think Mr. Galtex, he being who first let me know that Fort Worth now had the Top Downtown in America, said it best when he opined the following....

For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out why the Fort Worth locals are not content to simply say they have a nice downtown, a good this, and a swell that, instead of labeling everything with ridiculous superlatives. Fort Worth would be even nicer without a chip on its shoulder.

A Sad Call From Mom Has Me Thinking About Aunt Mike

On Thursday my cousin Kurt, aka Freddy, emailed me because he'd lost my mom and dad's phone number. Kurt told me his mom, my Aunt Mike, my mom's little sister, was in the final stages of Alzheimer's, systems failing.

I emailed Kurt back with mom and dad's phone numbers and called mom.

And now, only a few days later mom just called me to tell me that Kurt had called while they were out and left a voice mail with the news that Aunt Mike had died.

The last time I saw Aunt Mike was August 11, 2001, at my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party. No one but two of my nephews knew I was driving myself solo back to Washington for the party. This seems so recent, but it was over 13 years ago.

I knew I took pictures at the anniversary party. I did not remember if I took a picture of Aunt Mike. I also did not remember that I'd made a webpage of the pictures I took that day. There was only one picture in which Aunt Mike sort of showed up. Above, that is Aunt Mike sitting on the couch. As you can see Aunt Mike was a blonde.

I was sort of shocked a few years back when mom called to tell me they'd had a relative visit who had stopped to see Aunt Mike at her home location in Bend, Oregon, to be surprised to learn Aunt Mike was in an assisted care type place due to Alzheimer's.

Aunt Mike was always in good shape. She ran marathons. At mom and dad's 50th Aunt Mike was firing on all cylinders and was as amusing as she'd always been. I recollect Aunt Mike asking me about the move to Texas. I recollect saying the thing I found that I liked the best was the buffer from relatives. Aunt Mike laughed and said something like why do you think I lived all those years up in Alaska?

After learning Aunt Mike had Alzheimer's mom tasked me with getting in contact with cousin Kurt. On the way up to Washington the summer of 2013 mom and dad visited Aunt Mike in Bend. Aunt Mike did not recognize them.

It was just a couple months ago I got a text message from mom and dad telling me mom's oldest brother had died. A short while after that I called mom to ask if anyone had sent her Uncle Willard's obituary. No one had. I asked mom if she wanted me to read it to her. She did.

Reading Uncle Willard's obituary to my mom was one of those scenarios one could not have imagined 25 years ago. As in, 25 years ago the idea that 25 years hence I'd be living in Texas, walking distance from Lee Harvey Oswald's grave site, using this thing called the Internet to read Uncle Willard's obituary to my mom in Arizona, well, nothing about that scenario would have made any sense 25 years ago.

Looking at the pictures I took at mom and dad's 50th I was a bit surprised how many of those in the pictures are no longer with us. My mom's mom, Grandma Vera, my dad's brother, Uncle Mel, Aunt Mike, Glen & Katie. All gone.

Sad.......

Tarrant County's First Retail Marijuana Store Did Not Open Yesterday

Reading my old hometown zone's news online this morning I learned the county I lived in in Washington, Skagit, has opened its first retail marijuana store, in the little town of Conway.

Meanwhile in the state I am currently in, Texas, there are no retail marijuana stores open anywhere.

And a 19 year old Texan named Jacob Lavoro is currently in extreme jeopardy, facing a life sentence, because he baked some brownies which used marijuana as an ingredient.

Something seems way out of whack when in one part of America you can open a store to sell marijuana, while in another part of America you can be arrested and put in prison for the rest of your life for baking special brownies.

The First September Saturday Rolling Over A Big Gateway Park Snake Before An Organic Visit To Town Talk

My handlebars were back at their favorite Gateway Park photo op location on this first September Saturday.

I seem to see far fewer snakes than I used to see at the various outer world locations that I frequently frequent.

I have rarely had a snake encounter in Gateway Park, but I had one today.

A big snake encounter.

The snake was brown in color. With no diamond pattern like a rattlesnake. I don't think this was a venomous brand of slitherer. We seemed to have startled each other with both of us quickly going in opposite directions.

Today's was the coolest bike ride in awhile. As in the temperature was not in the 90s or over 100. My phone told me it was 86 when I stuck the phone in the bike bag.

I was a bit ambivalent about going to Town Talk today after last Saturday's Labor Day Weekend Town Talk traffic jam. So, I started the wheel rolling thinking I wouldn't go to Town Talk, but by the time I finished the wheel rolling the endorphins had me sedated enough to change my mind.

There was no traffic jam at Town Talk today. I got a gallon of organic skim milk. What makes milk organic I wondered when I put the milk in the cart. Do the cows eat only organic grass?

In addition to the organic milk I got a bag of barbecue flavored sweet potato chips and whole grain sausage and cheese kolaches. I don't think I've had a kolache since the last time I was in West.

And that was a long time ago.

The rest of what I got at Town Talk were vegetables, with the only interesting vegetable being hatch green chiles. So, I guess I will be doing some chile roasting.

Some Questions About The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle & J.D. Granger's Beer Drinking

I am fairly certain that is not J.D. Granger having himself a Cannonball, Allergeez, Real Good or IPf'nA beer at PIB.

I do not know where it is J.D. Granger was whilst guzzling beer under a big sombrero.

A couple days ago in a blogging titled The Futile Search For The Missing Pavilion, Island & Panther At Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion I neglected to mention that Panther Island Brewing refers to itself as PIB.

Prior to forgetting to mention PIB I forgot to mention that Panther Island Pavilion has taken to referring to itself as PIP.

I do not know if Gladys Knight has been signed yet to appear at one of the PIP's many musical festivals.

Speaking of J.D. Granger. And who isn't? This morning I got an email asking me how much Mr. Granger is paid as Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle for his music festival and flood control project building expertise.

The emailer also made the point that with the Boondoggle being built in slow motion that paying all the Boondoggle Visioneers all those extra years would seem to be greatly adding to the expense of this public works project the public has never voted for.

I thought this particular emailer raised some interesting points.

Years ago a Boondoggle insider emailed me due to being upset about what she was seeing up close in Boondoggle Headquarters. Everyone getting new iPhones, iPads, leased cars, junkets, expense accounts, hotel stays in Dallas, I forget what else.

Just remembered another, that being the big booze supply kept at Boondoggle Headquarters.

So, does anyone know how much J.D. Granger is being paid per year in salary plus perks? It would seem this must be public information, what with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle sort of being a public agency, even though the public is not allowed to vote on anything related to the Boondoggle.

What is the total spent on salaries and perks for all the employees of the Boondoggle? It takes a lot of employees to run all those music festivals at the top music venue in the Dallas Metroplex.

So, the aforementioned emailer's point is a good one. What with the Boondoggle boondoggling along way longer than I think anyone anticipated back when the Boondoggle began, with very little to show for all these years of Boondoggling, paying all these Boondogglers all these extra years obviously has greatly added to the cost of the Boondoggle.

And as long as we are on the subject of the slow motion Boondoggle, how come there is no questioning, that I have made note of, in any of what passes for local media in the Fort Worth zone, asking why there is no project timeline for this extremely vital flood control project?

As in when is it we are finally going to be safe from a flooding Trinity River in the downtown Fort Worth zone?

Oh.

Is that why there is no urgency regarding the building of this extremely vital flood control project? Because the fact of the matter is there is no urgency because this flood control project is not even remotely vital.

Apparently what is vital is providing Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, music festivals on an imaginary island with an imaginary pavilion, a drive-in movie theater, freshly brewed beer, ice skating, wake boarding and a riverside restaurant, because after all these years that is all you have to see when you look at the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle....

Today In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area I Found No Indian Ghost Criminal Activity

My regularly scheduled barely post dawn swim went well today, and was particularly refreshing due to the fact this was the first morning in a long time that the pool felt cool.

A harbinger of more cool to come.

I hope.

I really have not been getting enough exercise of late, so I decided to roll my mechanized wheels to Arlington to roll my non-mechanized wheels with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area..

Soon after crossing the Village Creek dam bridge, on my way to the still brown and green Village Creek Blue Bayou, I saw the scene you see above.

Yellow crime scene tape snaking its way the full length of the open field where every once in awhile soccer games are played.

Due to my bike's fear of goatheads flattening a tire I left the bike on the paved trail and wandered off to see if I could figure out what the crime was that required so much yellow tape.

I was fairly certain the Indian Ghosts had not been up to any deadly mischief.

It did not take much sleuthing to discover the reason for the taping. Trucks are using the soccer field as a road, to get to another road which leads to Village Creek, where I suspect a big pipeline is being fixed or replaced. I did not investigate further, so I could only surmise, based on previously having seen a rather old looking pipe at that location.

Continuing on I crossed the Village Creek dam bridge where I soon saw a lady in the distance walking her dog. I vocalized my usual "coming up behind you" so as not to startle the walker. But, the vocalizing caused quite a startled reaction of the sort that I think it might be the type thing that is the origin of the jumped out of her skin cliche.

Maybe the lady thought the disembodied voice was one of the Indian Ghosts haunting her, hence the frightened reaction.

When I neared the jumpy lady I slowed down and apologized profusely for startling her. She laughed politely and said something like "I am very high strung".

So, I guess being jumpy was just her nature and had nothing to do with thinking she was hearing from an Indian Ghost.

With no further incidents I had myself a mighty fine bike ride and then I was off to ALDI to get butter along with some other needed stuff....

Visiting My Favorite Turtle In Oakland Lake Park While The Fosdick Lake Fountain Sputters

Today I was back at Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake with my favorite turtle, that big guy you see politely posing on his home log.

The Fosdick Fountain is still sputtering like a Yellowstone geyser gone berserk. I am starting to think maybe the Fosdick Fountain came back to life all on its own, and is now slowly disappearing, also on its own.

I never have found any explanation of how this fountain suddenly came to be sputtering out in the middle of one of Fort Worth's pristine, signature lakes.

I wonder what the legions of tourists who flock to Fosdick Lake think is burbling out in the lake. A gas leak? A natural spring feeding the pristine lake? An underwater volcano erupting? A submarine rising to the surface?

As you can see, via the crystal clear Fosdick Lake water, even though the Fosdick Lake fountain is not operating at its full aerating potential, the water of Fosdick Lake is being more blue than is the norm for the early part of September, with only a few patches of green algae growth coloring the blue.....