A SAD Day In Texas And Most Of The Rest Of America

I saw that which you see on the left on Facebook yesterday. I don't remember via whom, precisely, except that it was either the Tacoma Connie D or the Tacoma Queen V.

I just realized that all three of us, me, Connie D and Queen V realized we could not and did not want to change the same person, so we all chose to no longer associate with that person.

Anyway, what a SAD day, as in Seasonally Affected Disorder type day, with this being day two of what is a stereotypical Western Washington fall and winter day. Water dripping from a gray sky. And cold. As in chilled to 52 degrees, which is about the same temperature as my old home zone is currently being heated.

It is also a SAD day, to me and a lot of others, due to yesterday's election results.

How come when I lived in Washington the people or issues I voted for usually won? While in Texas I don't think I've voted for anything that has won. Well, I did vote yes on this election's state wide road bond issue. And that passed. And I did vote for Mary Kelleher and she won.

Clearly I can not change the way the people around me vote, but I can choose to be around people who vote like I do.

But, that would require moving....

Spencer Jack Is Not In Fort Worth Watching The Trinity River Flood

No, that is not Spencer Jack visiting his favorite uncle in Texas with a flooding Trinity River behind him.

The mountain in the distance should be a good clue that Spencer Jack is not in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

Last night Spencer Jack's dad emailed me three photos with no accompanying text.

I had to use my highly evolved powers of observation to deduce that the Skagit River is running high enough to cause some road closures. I've read nothing about bad flooding. I suspect if the Skagit River was in bad flood mode I would have been emailed pictures of Mount Vernon's new flood wall  being put to use for the first time.

In the next picture it appears Spencer Jack is standing on the south side dike of the Skagit River. In the background is the infamous I-5 bridge, infamous due to part of the bridge falling into the river last year.

When my neighborhood Trinity River goes into flood mode, along with the extra water, there is always an astonishing amount of litter. I see nothing floating in the flooding Skagit River, not even logs. Usually logs are part of a Skagit River flood, at times causing these things called log jams.

In the final picture I believe Spencer Jack is standing by the new bridge across the Skagit River, with that bridge connecting the town I grew up in, Burlington, with the town I lived in before I moved to Texas, Mount Vernon. The highway which crosses that bridge used to be known as Highway 99. Now when it crosses to the Burlington side of the river it is known as Burlington Boulevard.

The new bridge across the Skagit River was built in way fewer years than four. As you can clearly see this bridge was built over water. Currently in Fort Worth three bridges are being built. Three simple little bridges. Three simple little bridges being built over dry land, with the water possibly added after the bridges get built, if money can be found to dig a water bearing ditch under the three bridges. Three simple bridges which are projected to take four years to build.

Speaking of Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing, yesterday on Facebook, via my cousin Scott, I saw a long list of amusing quotes regarding politicians, one of which applies to Fort Worth and its Trinity River Vision Boondoggle...

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev~

A Little Teapot Spouting To The Politically Ecumenical Elsie Hotpepper

A couple days ago I speculated in a blogging that we might soon be hearing Elsie on Radio Hotpepper.

Last night someone called Little Teapot commented on the Radio Hotpepper blogging, self diagnosing that in part the Little Teapot comment might be considered politically incorrect....

Little Teapot has left a new comment on your post "Are We On The Air With Elsie On Radio Hotpepper?": 

Unless the format has changed recently, this station is Asian-centric, as in Indian and other cultures surrounding India. The brownskins instead of the redskins, pardon any violations of political correctness.

As for your gal pal Miss. Hotpepper, any talk hosting she does will likely involve a Tea Party flavor. Doesn't seem like that flavor is your cup of tea, Mr. Progressive Washingtonian. Then again you may be more Texan and conservative than you might think after absorbing the culture here for so long. A down home Stockholme syndrome?

This morning I heard from Elsie Hotpepper regarding what Little Teapot had to say. Suffice to say Elsie did not take kindly to having her good character assassinated with this uncalled for Tea Party slur.

Does Elsie Hotpepper associate with people who associate themselves with the Tea Party? Yes, she does.

Elsie Hotpepper also associates with people who associate themselves with the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Progressive Party, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and any other party who might be a help with any of the many Elsie Hotpepper causes and issues.

In other words, Elsie Hotpepper is politically ecumenical.

The Yellow Pages Got Me Thinking About Fort Worth's Sundance Square & The Defunct Soviet Union

On the left you are looking at a screencap of the Sundance Square website.

I did not know til this morning that Sundance Square had a website.

I learned Sundance Square had a website when I was thumbing through the Attractions sections of the Yellow Pages phonebook which showed up at my front door yesterday.

The Yellow Pages entry....

Sundance Square
Sundance Square is a vibrant, award winning entertainment district spanning 35 blocks of downtown Fort Worth. The multiuse development attracts more than 10 million visitors each year. Sundance Square offers a shopping, dining and an entertainment district all in walking distance with free valet parking.

Way back when the old Soviet Union was mostly closed off from the West, with the communists in charge of the information propagandaized to the comrades, the Soviets had a tendency to boast about how wonderful living conditions were for the Soviets, how advanced the Soviets were, how superior the communist system was to the capitalist system.

Eventually the communists were unable to keep up the charade when way too many Soviets started getting a good idea of how much better living conditions were in the West.

Claiming Fort Worth's downtown has more than 10 million visitors a year seems such a ridiculous thing to be claiming. How is this count made? Who is counted? Am I counted the one or two times a year I visit downtown Fort Worth?

The implication is that more than 10 million visitors are attracted to visit the attraction known as Sundance Square.

But, there is no Sundance Square. Is there any other town in America which  refers to 35 blocks of its downtown as a square?  Up til a plaza was finally added to downtown Fort Worth most visitors thought Sundance Square was the parking lots where the new plaza is now located.

Who is this Sundance Square propaganda aimed at? The locals? To make them feel that their downtown is something special? When that local finds him or herself in another downtown do they react like a Leningrad Soviet visiting New York City?

Paraphrasing Mr. Galtex, downtown Fort Worth is a perfectly fine downtown, but why its promoters persist in pretending it is more than it is is a mystery to me.

I agree with the well traveled Mr. Galtex.

The Sundance Square website touts "Shopping".

But Fort Worth is the biggest town in America with no department store in its downtown.

No Macy's, no Nordstrom, no Neiman Marcus, not even a Sears or a Penneys.

There also is no grocery store, but I don't know if Fort Worth is the biggest town in America with no grocery store  in its downtown.

Somewhat related, Betsy So Pricey made an amusing comment to a blogging from a couple days ago...

Betsy So Pricey has left a new comment on your post "FW Weekly Has Me Doing Some More Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Questioning": 

That ain't no ordinary list of "co-chairs." With that many " chairs" and so many impo-tant folks, it seems more like the first class section of the Titanic. Ah, Fort Worth, the small town that wants to act like a big city but doesn't seem to know how to go about it other than talk big and waste taxpayer dollars. 

Betsy Price Thinks There Are No Other Cities That Can Pull Off What Fort Worth Pulls

This morning Mr. Ed emailed me a link to an article in the Fort Worth Business Press....

Editorial: Fort Worth arena is needed, plan deserves support

This editorial struck me as more of a paid political advertisement than an editorial.

I suppose a Chamber of Commerce boosting type article is what one should expect from an entity which bills itself as a town's business press.

Unlike this week's Fort Worth Weekly article about the Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena the Fort Worth Business Press asks no questions about this questionable arena plan. Such as questions about how traffic is going to be handled in this already congested zone.

Three paragraphs from the FW Business Press editorial, with the  first paragraph containing an embarrassing Betsy Price quote------

“There are no other cities that could pull this off,” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told the Business Press during a meeting with the newspaper’s editorial board. Bass also participated in the meeting and said the private portion of the arena’s cost would come from “a limited number of foundations, organizations and individuals that have been focused on this arena project for two decades.”

Price’s comment was appropriate and telling, for few if any cities can boast the cooperative spirit and sense of common purpose that has consistently brought the public and private sectors together to advance Fort Worth’s prosperity and growth.

Even in its heyday hosting rock concerts and sporting events the convention center arena was a pale harbinger of the Will Rogers venue that is now on the drawing boards and, if the voters see fit, on the threshold of realization. For starters, the convention center arena had a maximum seating capacity of 11,200; depending on the event, the proposed arena will seat as many as 14,000 – a number that will place the facility in the forefront of regional venues able to attract a variety of concerts and other events that in recent years have rarely found their way to Fort Worth.

"Few other cities could pull this off" according to Mayor Price. Uh, did not Dallas pull off building the American Airlines Arena where the Mavericks play basketball? Did not Arlington pull off building the Dallas Cowboys Stadium where the Cowboys play football?

This new arena will bring events to Fort Worth which currently pass Fort Worth by for bigger arenas, because this new arena can sell as many as 14,000 tickets, a whopping 2,800 more tickets than the existing Fort Worth Convention Center Arena?

Really? Those 2,800 more tickets are a tipping point which will cause One Direction or Beyonce to choose to sing in Fort Worth rather than Dallas or Arlington?

Few, if any cities can boast the cooperative spirit and sense of common purpose that has consistently brought the public and private sectors together to advance Fort Worth's prosperity and growth?

Consistently brought the public and private sectors together? Examples please. Advancing Fort Worth's prosperity and growth? More examples please.

Are we referring to something like the Cabela's hornswoggle which had Fort Worth granting a sporting goods store all sorts of concession because the city fell for the Cabela's con job that convinced those getting conned that this sporting goods store would be the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas. It soon was not even the only Cabela's in Texas, and now it is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Have any of those responsible for falling for the Cabela's con fessed up? Including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram?

Cooperative spirit and common purpose between the public and private sectors? I truly am drawing a blank trying to think of an example. The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? That slow motion underfunded project with no construction timeline?

The cooperative spirit and common purpose that brought fixing the Heritage Park eyesore on the north end of Fort Worth's downtown, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse?

Nope.

Nothing has been done to fix the Heritage Park mess for years now.

You want to talk about something legit about which Fort Worth can boast? Well, few if any major American cities can boast of having a rundown eyesore like Heritage Park at such a prominent location in their downtown.

Ed Bass claims private entities have been focused on this arena project for two decades?

After two decades they came up with a small arena that at its max holds only 14,000 tickets buyers? Costing almost a half billion bucks?

And the public is asked to vote yes or no on three propositions relating to user fees, such as yes or no on a $1 or $2 fee to use a livestock stall.

As for the public participation in this election farce, in this week's Fort Worth Weekly we learned that even if the public votes no on the three propositions the arena project will still go ahead. Meaning, the Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Election is not an election where the public votes whether nor not to build this arena.

You know, it just occurred to me that that goofy Betsy Price quote quoted above actually is likely true, "There are no other cities that could pull this off".......

A Cold Hot Tub Is Not Helping My Aches & Pains So Linda R Is Meeting Me In Houston

No. I am not at some tropical location, cliff side, looking at crystal clear turquoise water.

What we are looking at here is the eastern edge of my hot tub squirting water into a way too cool pool.

The hot tub is currently in malfunction mode. The hot tub doctor has once again diagnosed a broken pump as the culprit which caused the hot tub to stop being hot.

I do not know when the hot tub doctor will be returning to perform pump surgery on the hot tub. I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.

Speaking of malfunctions, and who isn't, I am currently suffering from a personal malfunction. I don't know what I did, but I've somehow caused my abdominal zone to be extremely sore, with occasional sharp pain pangs.

I don't think the cause of the pain is the plank thing the Queen of Wink convinced me to do to get rid of my swollen gut. The plank thing ceased being a pain long ago, along with the disappearance of the swollen gut. The swollen gut has now been replaced with what is commonly called a six pack.

I think the cause of the sharp pain pangs may be related to overdoing the bike riding a couple days ago when I rolled my wheels all the way to Quanah Parker Park, with several steep hill climbs along the route.

All I know for sure is ibuprofen is not being much help and I want this ache to go away, which I am sure it will, eventually. In the meantime, I am taking it easy. For the most part.

Changing the subject from my personal litany of woe, this morning I heard from one of my oldest and dearest friends, going all the way back to 1st grade, Linda R.

Linda is coming to Texas, to Houston, in a couple months and was wondering if I could make it there so we could have a visit. I indicated that that might be doable.

Since I have been in Texas I have only been to Houston twice. I really liked Galveston...

Solo Tandy Hill Hiking Hoodoos Before Town Talking Cabbage

That Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man was back on Fort Worth's best hills on this first day of November. Last Saturday I sort of overheated running up the Tandy Hills. This Saturday I was almost underdressed.

This morning we were colder here in the D/FW zone, at 39 degrees, than the balmy 50 something in my old home zone in the Skagit Valley of Washington.

I did not last long in the pool this morning. It was too cool and the hot tub was in  malfunction mode, as in it was not hot, not even warm.

Oodles of footprints on the new Tandy Hills trail seemed to indicate it is getting well traveled. I hope the trail blazers return to blaze some more trails.

On a perfect weather Saturday like today it is always a great puzzlement to me why there were no other hill hikers hiking hills today.

The Tandy Hills is pretty much at the center of a city with around 800,000 people, the majority of whom would benefit from more exercise. That city with around 800,000 people is part of a metropolitan area with around 6 million people, the majority of whom would also benefit from more exercise.

I've opined before that if something like the Tandy Hills existed a couple miles from the downtown's of Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Francisco, and many other towns, the hills would be alive with the sound of people on a day like today.

There is plenty of evidence that there are some people hiking the Tandy Hills.

Evidence such as the aforementioned footprints.

And there is also the Hoodoo evidence of humans on the hills. The Hoodoos don't build themselves.

Today's Hoodoo was shorter than the norm, but no less a feat of Hoodoo engineering.

After I'd had enough of the Hoodoos and the Hills I was off to Town Talk.

It's been a couple Saturdays since I've been to Town Talk on its busiest day.

Today I got another big chunk of Italian sausage, two big bags of russet spuds, strawberries, red kidney beans, two cases of soy yogurt, one lemon, one raspberry. I've not had soy yogurt before. I suspect I will like it. I also got a huge bag of already shredded cabbage.

Cabbage is currently my favorite vegetable. I think I will have some for lunch, as in right now....

FW Weekly Has Me Doing Some More Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Questioning

I found Ed Bass and Betsy Price in my mailbox again today. Along with a long list of co-horts calling themselves co-chairs, co-horting to co-chair a huge committee of committed Fort Worth citizens determined to convince Fort Worth voters to vote on Three Propositions to impose Three User Fees to pay for half of a new Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena.

I have opined previously that I think it is absurd to ask voters to vote on something as goofy as whether or not to charge a $1 or $2 fee per day for the use of a livestock stall in the new arena. Near as I can tell I am the only person who finds this to be ridiculous.

However.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly's Metro section is all about the proposed arena and asks some questions that really need answering, in an  article titled Worth Questioning.

In the FW Weekly article I got an answer to a question I have opined about previously. As in, are we to think these Three Propositions are a Yes or No vote on the arena? As in if the voters vote NO, does that mean NO arena? The ballot verbiage implies that that is the case, that No means no. I blogged about the ballot verbiage after I voted.

Regarding if voting NO means no arena, the following paragraph in the FW Weekly article indicated NO does not mean no arena....

"At a recent public meeting to discuss the arena, a city official told the crowd that if the voters don’t approve the tax measures, the project will still move forward with alternate sources of funding."

The FW Weekly article addresses another arena issue, one I had wondered about but did not know enough about to the point I felt like opining about it.

The "it" to which I refer is the cost of the arena. $450,000. That is almost a half billion dollars.

The proposed arena only holds, at its max, 14,000 people when it is in concert mode, only 9,000 in rodeo mode.

That is a rather puny arena for a lot of money.

I figured maybe it was all those livestock stalls for rent for $1 which might be the reason for the high price tag, that it was the multipurpose aspect that raised the cost.

What perplexed me is similar public works of which I am aware cost less than the cost of this little arena. Like the new Seattle Seahawk Stadium and the Seattle Mariner Ballpark. The Seahawk Stadium may have cost in the half billion dollar zone, I don't remember for sure. But, these are big venues able to entertain way more people than Fort Worth's proposed little arena.

Plus, the Seattle venues are right next to each other, with well designed means to move traffic in and out of the area, including freeway connections directly to the venues, underground transit in the form of light rail and buses. And this in a busy downtown zone.

The FW Weekly article touches on the lack of transit planning for the new Fort Worth Arena. I have received several blog comments from people who live in the Arlington Heights neighborhood impacted by events held in the Stock Show zone who are not happy about the bad planning and who foresee traffic nightmares.

The congested West 7th mess in the same area is an example of how bad Fort Worth is at adding needed infrastructure when new development occurs.

The FW Weekly article also touches on the costs vs. size issue, and has better comparisons than my use of the Seattle venues....

"They question why the cost is so high compared to similar event centers. The cost of the arena even makes the Cowboys’ huge Arlington stadium look like a bargain. AT&T Stadium has almost 10 times the capacity of the proposed Fort Worth arena but only three times the price tag."

"The proposed arena would hold 14,000 people for concerts and about 9,000 for rodeos and sporting events. It will cost 20 percent more ($100 million) than a similar-sized one on the Las Vegas strip that has a 20,000-seat capacity. The Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan., can hold nearly 16,000 people but will cost only half of what’s being planned in Fort Worth. Construction began on the Vegas arena earlier this year; the Intrust arena was built in 2010."

In addition to mailers, advertisements and yard signs the Forward Fort Worth Partnership, PAC has also been airing radio ads. In those ads Betsy Price touts how this new little arena will bring back big concerts to Fort Worth. And big sporting events.

Why would a concert booker book his act in a small arena that can sell only 14,000 tickets when other venues in the D/FW Metroplex can hold concerts which can sell multiple times 14,000 tickets?

As for a sporting event. Same thing. The only sport I can think of which might be held in such a small arena would be basketball. I assume the basketball capacity would be about the same as that for a rodeo, as in 9,000 spectators.

Methinks this proposed new Fort Worth arena idea needs to be sent back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan which delivers much more bang for the buck, as in way more seats for the almost half billion dollars. And which addresses the traffic issues.

And let the voters actually vote on the thing, for gawdsakes, like grown up towns do.....

Today I Rolled Wheels Over The Neighborhood For A Hilltop View Of Nurse Martha's Living Care Center

Early this morning I had myself a mighty fine time in the not too cool pool. The air was chilled into the 50s zone, with the pool feeling a bit warmer.

In the noon time frame I felt the need for speed so I opted to roll my wheels to the west to explore part of my neighborhood I'd not previously explored.

Driving west on Boca Raton I have long noticed a road to the right, the last road before Boca Raton terminates at Woodhaven Boulevard.

My rolling goal today was to roll down that road I'd not rolled before, then continue on to Quanah Parker Park.

Prior to getting to my intended right turn I took an unplanned right turn to the north, on Country Club Drive. That took me to a convoluted confusion of roads which eventually had me parking my handlebars to take the photo you see above, high above my neighborhood golf course, looking west at Nurse Martha's Living Care Center in the distance.

Back on my wheels I was soon going down a steep hill, then up a steep hill, then I took a right into an area of beautiful homes. That soon came to another steep downhill, which dead ended at a golf course hole. I reversed course and eventually found myself on Doral Avenue, which was the new road I had intended to roll on today, albeit coming on to it from the south, but instead I found myself exiting it from the north.

Continuing on to Quanah Parker Park I was surprised to find the route there, via the aforementioned Woodhaven Boulevard, had marked bike lanes on both sides of the street. I have driven this road countless times and never noticed it had bike lanes.

I really need to learn to be more observant.

I got to Quanah Parker Park, rolled that park's paved trail, then reversed course back to my abode.

Today's rolling through the neighborhood was a bit of a revelation to me. Years ago to get me some hill hiking action I would drive 25 miles to Cedar Hills State  Park. Or over 50 miles to Dinosaur Valley State Park.

And then I discovered the Tandy Hills, less than four miles from my abode.

When I lived in Washington I frequently biked on roads. In Texas I found that to not be as pleasant and safe feeling as I used to feel in Washington. But, all these roads I have now found right in my neighborhood, they remind me of why I felt perfectly safe rolling in Mount Vernon.

It appalls me to think of it now, because I now can not imagine doing so, but I actually biked all the way from where I lived in Bellingham to Mount Vernon. More than once. Both directions. That is over 30 miles, over roads with fast traffic and gravel shoulders. I was young and stupid.

When I lived in east Mount Vernon for about 14 years, before moving to Texas, my main bike riding was to simply roll down the hill from my abode and choose to go up a steep hill to the Eaglemont Golf Course to pedal its very hilly golf cart trails. Or roll the trails that cut across Mount Vernon, all the way to the Skagit River where I would access the river dike, roll around the riverbend zone and then head up steep Hoag Hill on the way back to my abode. About a 20 mile loop.

It had never occurred to me before, but how odd that little Mount Vernon, population around 30,000, would have non-vehicular paved trails one could use to get around the town, whilst the town I am currently in, Fort Worth, population around 800,000, does not have any non-vehicular paved trails that take one all over the town.

The paved Trinity River trails don't count. Although, those trails are convenient when I don't want to drive all the way to the Woodshed Smokehouse for lunch. I can simply park at Gateway Park and then bike the twenty-some miles to the Woodshed Smokehouse....

On Tuesday Vote To Set The Clock Back 50 Years To A Time Of Liberal Progress

I found that which you see on the left on Facebook.

I found it to be both amusing and to make no sense.

I suppose though if one was a right wing nut job, then I guess voting Tuesday to NOT set the country back 50 years might make sense, in an ignorant sort of way.

In the November election 50 years ago my favorite Texan, Lyndon Baines Johnson, won the presidency in one of the biggest landslides in presidential election history.

Along with LBJ getting elected president, after having become president due to the unfortunate demise of John F. Kennedy, the Democrats also increased their majorities in both houses of Congress.

When LBJ assumed the presidency in 1963 he used his highly evolved political skills to pass all sorts of legislation which resulted in things like new libraries, schools, hospitals, roads. The one thing LBJ was not able to pass, until after the election of 1964, was augmenting Social Security to provide medical care for the aged. That had to wait til 1965 when LBJ began to expand his Great Society programs.

In addition to what became known as Medicare, other anti-poverty programs were expanded, along with a multi-billion dollar federal aid to education program. Civil rights bills were passed which were first proposed way back when Harry Truman was doing a good job as a Democrat president.

It was Harry Truman who, in his Fair Deal, first proposed what later became Medicare. When it came time to sign the Medicare Act into law, LBJ flew to Independence, Missouri so that Harry Truman could be present at the signing of the bill.

Expanding Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights, other social programs. That is the legacy of the election of 50 years ago.

Only the most extremist right wing nut job in 2014 would dare suggest terminating Social Security or Medicare.

Or a Rick Perry type, too dense to understand why it would be a good idea for Texas to accept the Medicare expansion concept.

So, to me, it would be a very good thing if on Tuesday America gets set back 50 years to the time when one of the greatest Texans in history did some mighty fine things for all of America. Mighty fine things a Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz and others of their limited ilk would never consider doing....