Long Walk Checking Lake Wichita Revitalization Project Progress

Yesterday, if I remember right, I mentioned that Lake Wichita Has Been Reported To The Trump Administration.

I think I also mentioned that according to information I gleaned from what I believe to be the official Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website that Lake Wichita's Revitalization is expected to be completed somewhere in the mid 2017 time frame.

I think mid 2017 would be around June and July, about five months from this current Friday in February.

Til today it had been at least a month, likely longer, since I'd hiked to my neighborhood dam, that being the dam which causes Lake Wichita to exist.

I thought it would be interesting to check out Lake Wichita Dam, and the lake, to see if I can detect any of that much talked about revitalizing, what with the middle of the year and that completion date rapidly approaching.

Well. I could detect nothing that has changed since I last looked at Lake Wichita.

In the above photo we are rock and rolling on a wave tossed floating dock. That pimple on the horizon is Mount Wichita, looking like a floating oasis far out to sea.

The long range plan for a revitalized Lake Wichita includes building a new pavilion  on the lake.

Below is what remains of the former Lake Wichita Pavilion.

The Lake Wichita Pavilion was quite an attraction in its heyday. Eventually the pavilion became neglected and then at some point in the 1950s the pavilion burned to the ground, I mean water. The pilings you see above, sticking out of Lake Wichita,  are all that remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.

I think the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is an extremely good plan. I hope this plan comes to fruition. Soon.

Near the start of this century the Texas town I previously lived in announced a water revitalizing project, which eventually became known as the Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Or, more commonly, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision never has seemed like it was as well thought out and as good an idea as the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision has had projected project timelines over the years that never manage to happen. For instance a couple years ago American's Biggest Boondoggle had a TNT explosion celebration to mark the start of construction of one of three little simple bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Construction on that bridge was supposed to begin soon after the TNT explosion. Many months later construction did start on that bridge, with a four year construction timeline. About a year ago construction on that bridge was halted due to the discovery of design errors. No one knows if or when America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridges will get built.

I hope the Lake  Wichita Revitalization Project is not plagued with Fort Worth type inept incompetence.

Way back in 2010 I remember riding my bike on Fort Worth's Trinity Trail. Soon I found myself seeing a lot of dirt being moved and the trail re-routed, along with a massive amount of signage announcing "Trinity River Vision Underway".

Way back then the official name for what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle was a lot shorter than it is now, fitting easier on a sign.

That dirt I saw being moved way back  in 2010 was to make a pond for an absurdity which became known as Cowtown Wakepark, a product of the Trinity River Vision. Cowtown Wakepark soon went out of business, due to multiple issues, most of which common sense would have obviated the Cowtown Wakepark ever being built  in the first place.

I do not see an unseemly amount of signage about the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, certainly not at the bizarre Orwellian propaganda level of what continues to be seen in Fort  Worth with its embarrassing boondoggle.

Is that huge "Panther Island Bridges Under Construction" sign still displaying near the Henderson Street Bridge near the location of Panther Island Pavilion? Where there is no island or pavilion?

Lake Wichita Has Been Reported To The Trump Administration

I gleaned what you see here a few weeks ago from the Wichita Falls Times Record News, that being the newspaper which serves the area of Texas in which I currently reside.

I read the accompanying article and still could not figure out how Lake Wichita was in a report for Trump.

I have now been in Wichita Falls long enough to notice a thing or two which sort of vex me.

One of those vexations is the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, which I learned of within days of arriving in this burg.

This coming May I will have been in Wichita Falls a year. Lake Wichita is no closer to being revitalized than it was upon my arrival.

I have made note of multiple Lake Wichita Revitalization fund raising projects, such as car washes.

Trying to raise money for a big public works  project via things like car washes seems goofy, and well, just a bit bizarre to me.

Revitalizing Lake Wichita seems like such a good idea to me I have no idea why funding such is not submitted to the public, asking voters to support a bond issue to raise the money to pay for it. The cost estimates I have seen are in the $30 million range. This does not seem that large a figure for a town of over 100,000 residents. But it does seem like a large figure to try and raise with car washes.

The Texas town I lived in before moving to Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, has a bizarre public works project which has been crawling along most of this century. With little to show for the effort, despite a lot of money having been spent, much of which has gone to pay for the large number of employees employed by what has  become known  as America's Biggest Boondoggle, or the Trinity River Central  City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Currently America's  Biggest Boondoggle has been stuck for a year trying to figure out what went wrong with the construction of three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

I hope the Wichita Falls Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is not of the same ilk as Fort Worth's badly designed, ineptly implemented project, ambling along with little to show year after year.

Last year at some point in time I read that the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project was ready to submit its plan to the Army Corps of  Engineers. This submission sounded as if it was imminent. But a few months went by when I read again that the submission was about to be made.

On the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website I learned the following regarding this project's  projected timeline...

We expect to acquire a permit by the end of 2015 or early 2016. The project should take 1.5 to 3 years. With appropriate funding this project could be complete and ready for water by the middle of 2017.

Well,  we are rapidly approaching the middle of 2017. I have seen nothing which indicates this project is underway.

One of the reasons Fort Worth's water project has turned into America's Biggest  Boondoggle is the son of Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, was hired to be the Executive Director of  the project, even though he had no experience overseeing a large engineering project. J.D. Granger was hired in order to motivate his mother to obtain federal pork barrel money for the project.

I am assuming that no Wichita Falls Congressperson's ne'er do well offspring has been hired to over see the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, or I would have heard reference made of such.

If not the hiring of the incompetent offspring of a local politician being the reason, what is the explanation why the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project seems stalled?

Everything about this project seems like a good idea to me, with the result likely proving to be a HUGE asset for Wichita Falls and its surrounding area.  Go to the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website and see for yourself all this project entails. Unlike Fort Worth's, this is a vision which makes sense and seems very doable.

In other words, it seems to me the sooner Lake Wichita gets revitalized the better life will be for the people of Wichita Falls and the people who visit  this town....

Mystery Why Fort Worth Is Not One Of The Top Ten Best Places To Live In America

This particular blog post is sort of yet one more iteration of something I see in a west coast online news source, usually the Seattle Times, about something I would not be expecting to be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something related to Fort Worth.

No, I am not referring to the illustrative photo from the Seattle Times article showing part of the downtown Seattle skyline, with the iconic Space Needle, and Mount Rainier in the background, as something one would not expect to see in Fort  Worth.

Because, well, even though Fort Worth does not have much of a downtown skyline, nor any sort of iconic symbol.

Or a mountain hovering in the distance.

What I am referring to as something I would not expect to see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which I saw today in the Seattle Times, is an article about some legit entity naming Fort Worth as one of the top ten best places to live in the United States.

The legit entity in this case is U.S. News & World Report.

The rankings are based on migration, desirability, quality of life, “value” and job-market health, using U.S. Census Bureau data to compare income and cost of living to show how comfortably people could live within their means. along with crime statistics, health-care rankings and education rankings to measure the quality of life.

The rankings were also a bit of a popularity contest with U.S. News & World Report polling people all over America as to where they were most interested in living.

Sort of surprising Fort Worth did not rank high due to that popularity contest part of the survey, what with, you know, how Fort Worth regularly causing cities and towns, far and wide, to be Green with Envy over something in Fort Worth.

A Texas town, other than Fort Worth, did make this top ten list, coming in at #1 as the best place to live in the United States.

Austin.

These type rankings always seem a little bit goofy.

San Jose? I have been all over California, seeing many places in that state that would be a great place to live. But, San Jose? I have zero memory of anything about San Jose.

Des  Moines? Fayetteville? The rest on the list I have some awareness of.

I think Austin would be a mighty fine town  to live in. Except for being so close to all that mountain cedar pollen. That and the traffic.

If Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther City District Vision ever becomes something America can see, and no longer America's Biggest Boondoggle, I'm sure Fort Worth will zoom right up to the top ten of any list measuring the best places to live in America....

No Free Lunch With Hard Working Trinity River Vision Folks

 An amusing blog comment a couple days ago linked me to a not so amusing item about America's Biggest Boondoggle in action.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Has Anyone Seen Fort Worth's Imaginary 8.8 Million Visitors?":

Are the Trinity River Vision folks hard at work or hardly working? That's original, eh? I could work for the Eppstein group with comments like this.

Link: It's a working lunch kind of day...

______________

America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Vision Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has been boondoggling along for most of this century.

Currently, next month, as in March, it will be a year since construction ground to a halt of the Boondoggle's simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Some of the people you see in the above photo have been on the Boondoggle's take for over a decade, such as J.D. Granger, on the right at the far end of the table. Next to J.D. is his girl friend, Shanna, who has also been on the take for a long time.

Due to the Boondoggle becoming such, taking a long, long, long, long time to do very little, these people have been securely employed for years longer than they would have been if this public works project was properly engineered and executed by actual trained professionals with a history of accomplishing such things.

Instead of hiring a trained professional the Tarrant Region Water District hired a low level county prosecutor, who happened to be the son of Fort Worth's congresswoman, Kay Granger, to be the Executive Director of this project, thus to motivate Kay to secure federal pork barrel money from you taxpayers in more prosperous parts of America.

Go to the Trinity River Vision Facebook page and you will soon be seeing examples of propaganda and hubris, such as you see below.

The comments on the Boondoggle's Facebook page can be best characterized as being embarrassing.

As in people gushing about how wonderful this project is, asking when will it be ready, many seeming to indicate no awareness that this Boondoggle has been limping along for years, with stalled bridges and failed wakeboard parks and cancelled polluted river floats.

To one of the commenter's questions asking when will this wonderful project be finished the Boondoggle's Facebook spokesperson replied that the project's "infrastructure is almost complete."

A month or two ago J.D. Granger told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the project's infrastructure should be mostly complete by 2023.

2023.

How many more years is this absurdity going to continue before there is an intervention?

Very perplexing...

Snow School For Spencer Jack Today

Reading the Seattle Times this morning I learned Western Washington has had itself a snow storm, with accumulations sufficient  in some locations to cause school closings and other inconveniences.

I did not know, via reading the Seattle Times, if my old home zone, known as the Banana Belt of the Skagit Valley, also got hit with a blanket of snow.

The Skagit Valley is known  as the Banana Belt due to the fact that it is located between two of these things known as convergence zones. This somehow causes the blizzards which can rage between the Skagit Valley and a short  distance north to the Canadian border, to not reach the Valley of the Skagit.

Well, such is not the case with the current snow, which I learned minutes ago from Spencer Jack's dad who phoned me the above photo of Spencer Jack's Mount Vernon domicile, along with a text message which said, "Spencer Jack will not be schooled today."

Pre Super Bowl Wichita Falls Nature Bluff Hike

Yesterday, prior to going to ALDI for my Super Bowl Party supplies I thought it might be interesting to check out the current status of Wichita Falls and the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

A month or so ago I read in the Wichita Falls Times News Record that Wichita Falls was going to be having some work done. A new bridge, trail upgrade to the Circle Trail and a thing or two I am not  remembering.

I  thought I understood that this remodeling was a ready to go project with one of the points of the article being that access to Wichita Falls would be slightly compromised during the process of the upgrade, which I thought was to be quickly underway.

Apparently I thought wrong, because it looked to me as if nothing has been done in the area of Wichita Falls and it did not appear that anything was being prepared to be done.

It was a good walk to the falls, though. A lot of other people were also enjoying that walk along the Wichita River.

Speaking of which, yesterday was the first time I've seen the Wichita River not in muddy red river mode. It looked like normal river water, not that color that always reminds me of Utah type redrock,

After checking out Wichita Falls I meandered back to Lucy Park and then drove west to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, where I was expecting to see the project finally back being worked on after a long delay due to problems with the contractor the city had hired, who had to be replaced.

In the instance of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area the information I read in the Wichita Falls Times News Record matched what I saw. As in there has been a lot of work done since I last checked out this project.

I did not know what to make of those four coffin shaped cement structures, you see above, which have been added just outside the covered pavilion.

I saw a lot of work has been done on the bridge across the gully at the bottom of the bluff. And a lot of trail work is underway.

Judging  by what  I saw yesterday I would hazard to guess that when the Wichita Bluff  Nature Area is available for hiking it will quickly become my favorite go to place for that type activity, in the same way the Tandy Hills Nature Area used to be when I was incarcerated in the D/FW zone of Texas.

Hoping The Fog Lifts Before Lady Gaga's Super Bowl Halftime Show

One of my vehicles under the carport safe from the Fog

When one lives close to the ocean one expects to wake up every once in awhile to find ones outlook on the outer world to be foggy.

Such was the case this morning on this fifth day of 2017's February.

Super Bowl Sunday.

Super Bowl LI

I'm not much of a fan of the football game part of the Super Bowl, unless someone like the Seattle Seahawks is playing, or the Dallas Cowboys.

Apparently not many people are alive in 2017 possessing a living memory of the Dallas Cowboys playing in the Super Bowl.

I do remember the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowling a time or two in the past few years.

I used to find the Super Bowl commercials to have some entertainment value. But the commercials have not been all the memorable the last several years.

Nor has the Super  Bowl Halftime Show been memorable the last several years.

Today I will likely make  it through the Halftime Show before bailing on the 2017 iteration of the Super Bowl.

I like Lady Gaga.

I am expecting Lady Gaga to put on a super Super Bowl Halftime Show. If Lady Gaga does not deliver a super show I will be terribly disappointed.

Enduring Arctic Texas Cold With Green Siracha Sauce From Vietnam

I have lost track, due to not taking notes, of the number of aggravations currently aggravating me.

So, with a cluster of aggravations aggravating me I decided to layer on the outer world to venture out into the current return of the Arctic to have myself a cold, windy walk on the Circle Trail which circles around this tiny Texas town which calls itself Wichita Falls.

I lasted in the chill long enough to take the photo you see here, looking north at Holliday Creek Gorge, with the Circle Trail on the left, barely visible.

This latest Arctic Blast is scheduled to retreat in a couple days, with the temperature then returning to a more reasonable 80 something.

Shrimp is not on the barbie for lunch, instead shrimp is scheduled to be added to a nice hot stir fry of various vegetables including broccoli, bok choy and bean sprouts, along with jasmine rice.

Yesterday I got myself a new product to add some heat to whatever I stir fry.

Green Siracha sauce. From Vietnam.

Living in Texas is such a rewarding multi-cultural experience...

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

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

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

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

8.8 million  visitors to Fort Worth?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spencer Jack At Oso Mudslide Memorial Straining My Memory

This week Spencer Jack loaded up his new pickup and took his dad to the site of America's worst mudslide disaster, Oso, Washington.

FNJ & FNSJ emailed three Oso photos and the following explanatory text...

FUD --

The winter days are so long here. Spencer and I try each day after school to find something to do.  We have to do this immediately after school pick up time as the sun sets by 5 these days. Today we visited for the first time the nation's deadliest landslide.  The pictures don't do justice.  But if you want to do more research about this, google 'before and after pictures of the Oso mudslide.' A small community literally was covered when a logged mountain couldn't hold an abnormal amount of rain. I expected to do some hiking this afternoon, but the area is off limits to the public.  A makeshift memorial of this tragic event is located where we were able to stop and snap a few pictures. 

Tomorrow Grandma Cindy has Spencer Jack school pick up duty, but Wednesday, I'm hoping to take him bike riding around Lake Padden. Or perhaps the Interurban trail. Spencer bought a pickup truck last month so he can haul our bicycles to fun locations. He has only been able to do this once so far this very cold winter. Do you remember when you and Joey and I started at Larrabee State Park and rode our bikes to Lake Whatcom and back? That was a fun day. I remember we stopped at Haggens (when it was just local to Bellingham) for their deli Chinese lunch. Spencer and I need to do that soon. You should join us.

Hope all is well, FNJ

_______________________

Regarding the other pictures referred to,  you can see them on another blog via Oso Washington Mudslide Update From The Jones Boys.

I remember biking with Spencer Jack's dad and uncle from Larrabee to the Alaskan Ferry Terminal in Bellingham's Fairhaven District, which is about 16 miles roundtrip, if I remember right. But I have no memory of pedaling all the way from Larrabee to Lake Whatcom. That would be a long bike ride. I told Jason I don't remember that bike ride, but he assured me we did do so.

I trust Jason's youthful memory more than my own.

Whilst in Washington Lake Padden was one of my regular go to places, both for mountain biking and hiking. Miles upon miles of great hilly trails. And in summer a dip in the lake was doable.

When I moved to Texas I was appalled to find there were no grocery stores of the Haggen quality level. I used to frequently frequent the Bellingham Haggens Chinese and Sushi deli. When Central Market came to the D/FW zone I was pleased to see it was sort of like Haggens, but not quite. I understand, for reasons unfathomable to me, Haggens has fallen on hard times.

Something to do with Alberstsons.

When I lived in Washington Albertsons was the worst of the grocery stores. When I moved to Texas I was appalled, appalled I tell you, when I asked what the best grocery store was, to find myself being told it was Albertsons.

The Texas Albertsons were/are just as bad as the Washington version, in my humble opinion.

I wonder where Spencer Jack is going to take his dad next? I wouldn't mind seeing some pictures of Lake Padden. It's been many years since I have seen Lake Padden.