Why Fort Worth Has Fallen Behind Developing An Identity Crisis

Last week a couple jaw dropping articles appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram which once again had me appalled at the level of nonsensical delusion which is like some sort of infection infecting part of the Fort Worth population and the newspaper which so ill serves that town.

Let's look at the first of these two articles, the one which suggests Fort Worth has fallen behind. Here’s a plan to up our game.

The article's first two paragraphs focus on something I have mentioned more than once...

When a jumbo jet touches down at DFW International Airport, passengers often hear the flight attendant activate the intercom and say, “Welcome to Dallas.”

The greeting illustrates an unwelcome truth for Fort Worth community leaders representing the other named city in the DFW brand. Their community lives in the shadows of their Big D neighbor to the east. It’s an identity problem noted in the 492-page economic development plan just released by the city.

Just last August, after experiencing what is described above, landing at D/FW via American Airlines, I mentioned the usual pilot welcome to Dallas, with no mention made of the location of American Airlines headquarters, Fort Worth. This had a local, named Tim R. opining via a Facebook comment that he flies almost weekly and has never heard such a thing. Uh huh, I thought.

Pilots uttering that welcome to Dallas is no big deal. I mentioned it, as does this article in the Star-Telegram, because it is a symptom of something else, that being Fort Worth's absence from the national and international radar screen.

The second article Identity crisis: Is Fort Worth becoming a Dallas suburb? addresses that first article's Fort Worth national invisibility issue in its first two paragraphs...

When Toyota scoured the Metroplex to move its North America headquarters from California, Fort Worth wasn’t even on the list.

And, in a recent study, when people were asked where Fort Worth falls on the list of the nation’s largest 50 cities? They responded 45th. Fort Worth is the 16th largest city and in a couple years could move up to the No. 12 spot.

According to the Star-Telegram's Identity Crisis article Fort Worth spent $350,000 to find out this crisis exists and that this identity crisis is what prevents Fort Worth from attracting business.

Uh huh.

So, out of the study a supposed plan has arisen which the Star-Telegram says is "ambitious", with its focus on adding office and residential space downtown, along with corporate headquarters, attempting to add 30 companies.

The paragraph about the attempt to add 30 corporations to the central business district...

The plan is ambitious. It focuses on growing the central business district with more office and residential space, but also with corporate headquarters and jobs. In the next five years, Fort Worth should attempt to add 30 companies.

Again.  Uh huh. This type thing is what we mean when using the delusional word.

How many corporate headquarters have bailed from downtown Fort Worth in recent years? And why? We have the massive failure of the new Radio Shack corporate headquarters. We have Pier One Imports corporate headquarters, replaced temporarily with Chesapeake Energy til that embarrassment was run out of town. And, most recently, XTO Energy escaped downtown Fort Worth by heading south to Houston.

And now, somehow in the next five years Fort Worth is going to magically fix what is wrong and thus attract a couple dozen new companies to its downtown business district where no department stores, grocery stores and few restaurants exist, with public transit helped by a bus converted to look like a trolley called Molly the Trolley?

Regarding that "plan" two paragraphs from the Fort Worth Falls Behind article which illustrates part of Fort Worth's actual "attitude" problem...

Still, city and community leaders should be congratulated for commissioning this comprehensive exploration that doesn’t candy-coat economic weaknesses. Other cities might have put lipstick on their shortcomings and come up with a typical 30-year plan that gathers dust on a shelf.
Fort Worth is notably identifying challenges and adopting strategies to tackle them almost immediately. The plan calls for results in a five-year period beginning in 2018. That’s next month.

Really? Other cities may have put lipstick on their shortcomings with a typical plan which gathers dust on a shelf? Is this what shrinks call projection or transference? Why does the Star-Telegram persist with this type verbiage? What are these other towns which share Fort Worth's dire straits which put their plans to fix their woes on a shelf? While, notably Fort Worth identifies challenges and adopts strategies to fix them immediately?

Again, really? Immediately?

And fix those problems in a five year period, you know, unlike those other towns which get a plan and then put it on a shelf.

Does this five year plan have a plan to finally fix the downtown embarrassing homage to Fort Worth's storied history called Heritage Park?

I'm guessing having a boarded up, cyclone fence surrounded eyesore in a town's downtown, celebrating a town's heritage, is not a big selling point to a business thinking of locating to such a town.

And then there is this last paragraph in the Identity Crisis article...

Brandom Gengelbach, executive director of economic development with the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, said Fort Worth is a popular place and it will grow, but the city needs to become aggressive in its marketing.

Fort Worth is a popular place? Didn't we just read that most of America knows nothing about Fort Worth? What is going to be aggressively marketed? Also in the Identity Crisis article we learn that incentives to bring about the fix to this Identity Crisis will be ready in early 2018.

Once again.  Uh huh.

Last week we blogged about Fort Worth's bizarre "incentive" fixation and its sad history of failure in Fort Worth Needs An Incentive To Fix Its Downtown Embarrassments.

Speaking of falling behind. How do you fall behind when you are already behind? Would it not be more accurate to use the phrase "fallen further behind"?

As for an example of being delusional, the Star-Telegram in its two articles provides visual metaphors for the delusional tendency. At the top we have a Star-Telegram photo of downtown Fort Worth. This photo is rendered in what locally is known as the Luenser Effect. Digitally altered photo reality to create a hyper-reality view of reality. And then we have the other photo from the Star-Telegram, it being a totally realistic, non-Luenser Effect look at what the downtown Fort Worth skyline actually looks like.

Looks like a place about to become a boomtown doesn't it? Like a downtown oodles of corporations would want to move to.

The blurb under the Star-Telegram photo of downtown Fort Worth is bizarre. "Fort Worth should become hub for corporate headquarters, a new consultant's study says"?

"Should" is likely the operative word here. Change "should" to "could" and one can say something which actually is reality based and makes sense.

As in Fort Worth "could" attract corporate headquarters if it fixed what is wrong with the town. For one thing, Fort Worth is not just downtown Fort Worth. The impression the town makes is made by more than just its sleepy downtown.

More streets without sidewalks than any other major city in America leaves a bad impression.

The majority of city parks without running water and modern restrooms leaves a bad impression.

A bus system inferior to that in many third world cities leaves a bad impression.

The lack of modern public transit leaves a bad impression.

Molly the Trolley leaves a bad impression.

Being the host to America's Biggest Boondoggle leaves a bad impression.

Taking years to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect to an imaginary island leaves a bad impression.

A downtown with zero department stores or grocery stores leaves a bad impression.

Un-landscaped, littered, weed covered freeway exits to your town's only actual tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, leaves a bad impression.

Thinking it a good idea to have Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tubes Floats in a polluted river at the north end of your downtown leaves a bad impression.

A town with a population over 800,000 with zero public pools leaves a bad impression.

Ridiculously mislabeling a large area of your downtown as Sundance Square leaves a bad impression, because it makes no sense. Knock that off and rename the parking lots which eventually became an actual square as Sundance Square, not Sundance Square Plaza. And drop the embarrassing Nissan sponsorship of the little square. Such leaves a bad impression.

And lastly, one more paragraph from the Fort Worth Falling Behind article...

Proud Cowtown officials understandably don’t like the part of the report that states a lack of recognition on the national and international scene as one reason “Fort Worth has fallen behind its competition.”

Who is Fort Worth's competition? What does that even mean? Recently the Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy, in a post about Nashville's public transit development, said something like Nashville is often seen as a competitor to Fort Worth, which had multiple people asking who it was who sees such a thing, and why would they?

This is the type thing I refer to when I mention delusion. Why is this type ridiculous propaganda spewed? At least one person opined that maybe Austin might be seen as some sort of competitor of Nashville, what with both being known for their music, among other attributes. But Fort Worth?

This type delusion does not serve Fort Worth well. What do you think people think when they see Fort Worth for the first time. The downtown appears fairly tidy, some landscaping, clean, but there is that Heritage Park debacle. But what do they see when they head east on Lancaster? Or Rosedale? Or go north on Main Street? Or visit the neighborhoods around the Stockyards?

I can tell you what they see. If they come from prosperous parts of America they see rundown urban decay the likes of which they do not see at their home location. I was talking about this very subject a couple days ago with a fellow west coast transplant, how shocking it is when you first see this type thing, when you did not realize such existed in America.

And it's not just Fort Worth, though the slums of Fort Worth are bad, real bad. Recently a United Nations agency checked out parts of Alabama and declared they were seeing things which did not exist in other of the world's developed nations. I suspect they would be equally appalled at areas of Fort Worth. And Dallas, and my current location in Wichita Falls.

It would seem such is the type thing Fort Worth might focus on fixing in what will likely still be a futile effort to attract companies to locate their corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth.

And one more thing, really, what is it these "proud" Cowtown officials are proud of? Really, what? I draw a total blank...

Since Great Recession Has Thriving Fort Worth Boom Left Other Cities Behind?

I have been having trouble completing a blogging about a couple articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from last week, one of which had to do with a town falling behind other towns in the growing and developing aspect of being a thriving city.

And then this, yesterday, from the Star-Telegram, an article titled Boom and gloom: Since recession, a few thriving cities have left others behind.

The first three paragraphs from this boom and gloom article...

As the nation’s economy was still reeling from the body blow of the Great Recession, Fort Worth’s was about to take off.

In 2010, Radio Shack opened a headquarters in the north end of downtown Fort Worth — and then expanded eightfold over the next seven years to fill 36 buildings. Everywhere you look, there are signs of a thriving city: Building cranes looming over streets, hotels crammed with business travelers, tony restaurants filled with diners.

Fort Worth is among a fistful of cities that have flourished in the 10 years since the Great Recession officially began in December 2007, even while most other large cities — and sizable swaths of rural America — have managed only modest recoveries. Some cities are still struggling to shed the scars of recession.

Okay, if you clicked on the Boom and gloom: Since recession, a few thriving cities have left others behind above you already know I punked you. Punked is a younger generation phrase which means tricked, I think.

Here are the article's actual first three paragraphs...

As the nation’s economy was still reeling from the body blow of the Great Recession, Seattle’s was about to take off.

In 2010, Amazon opened a headquarters in the little-known South Lake Union — and then expanded eightfold over the next seven years to fill 36 buildings. Everywhere you look, there are signs of a thriving city: Building cranes looming over streets, hotels crammed with business travelers, tony restaurants filled with diners.

Seattle is among a fistful of cities that have flourished in the 10 years since the Great Recession officially began in December 2007, even while most other large cities — and sizable swaths of rural America — have managed only modest recoveries. Some cities are still struggling to shed the scars of recession.

Okay, well, it is painfully obvious to anyone with functioning eyes that Fort Worth is one of those cities still struggling. Hence the articles referred to at the top, which showed up last week in the Star-Telegram, about Fort Worth falling so far behind.

Suffice to say, in Seattle, and other thriving towns in America, there is nothing so pitiful as Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle struggling to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect a town's mainland to an imaginary island. Let alone letting a failed pseudo works project amble along in boondoggle mode, year after year after year, with no end in sight, and little to see.

The trouble I am having regarding blogging about that which is contained in those two Star-Telegram articles about Fort Worth's woeful woes is it is a lot of material.

Delusional, strange, embarrassing material.

Maybe I will get around to blogging about what the Star-Telegram has to say about Fort Worth falling so far behind tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. I have a lot on my mind right now, which is causing my focus to be a bit out of focus...

Theo & Ruby's Happy Birthday #7

Today is the Happy 7th Birthday of Theo and Ruby, my youngest nephew and niece.

That is Theo and Ruby's favorite uncle between them.

I believe we were at Point Ruston in an ice cream purveyor's shop, the name of which I do not remember. I do remember this ice cream shop was extremely popular, with the line waiting for cones extending out the door, and with the ice cream shop run with regular Pacific Northwest efficiency of the sort I miss when I am at a more moribund location on the planet.

I also remember the ice cream flavors we enjoyed. Theo asked for and got what seemed to me an usual flavor which turned out to taste real good. Lavender.

I got Cascade Wild Mountain Blackberry, which also tasted real good.

Ruby's taste in all things dessert oriented tends to be Chocolate. I did not sample Ruby's exotic choice.

I am almost 100% Theo and Ruby are in Tacoma today for their birthday. Last weekend the twins had an early birthday celebration at the Great Wolf Lodge. If I remember right the Washington version of that lodge is located south of Olympia. I may be wrong about this. I was going to look it up, but forgot.

Today Theo and Ruby came to mind, well, more Theo than Ruby, when I rolled my bike's wheels around Sikes Lake and came to the view you see below.

No, that is not a sandbar formed at low tide on Sikes Lake you see my handlebars pointing towards. That is one of the islands which have appeared on Sikes Lake due to a lack of rain. Some rain fell last night, but not enough to add any water to the creek which flows into Sikes Lake.

Anyway, I saw this sandbar island and thought of sand castle building last summer at Birch Bay. Ruby helped for awhile, but then left to go swimming with Spencer Jack and David. Meanwhile Theo and I kept working on our sand castle until the incoming tide rendered continuing the effort to be impossible.

I suspect the material which makes up this Sikes Lake sandbar is likely not sandcastle worthy building material. It would probably be more of a fun playing in mud type experience...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

THEO & RUBY!!!

Chilly Bike Roll To Thirsty Sikes Lake With Seagull Goose Peace Accord

Though the outer world temperature was barely over 40, looking out my flag viewing window on the world nothing seemed to be blowing strong enough to do any flag unfurling.

And so I layered on some insulative outer wear and rolled my wheels to Sikes Lake and beyond.

Sikes Lake is beginning to suffer from the mini-drought. The creek which feeds water to Sikes Lake is no longer doing so, which you can see via the view over my handlebars, looking west from the Bridge of Sikes, where currently no gondola can possibly float under.

It now seems obvious to me why swimming, kayaking, canoeing and other type water activities are not allowed on Sikes Lake. The lake is too shallow. The lake is so shallow now most of the birds no longer float in the water. They simply stand in it, which is what they are doing below.

Previously I made mention of the apparent conflict between the Sikes Lake invading Seagulls and the resident Goose population. An accord seems to have been reached, as you can see above, with the birds peacefully fraternizing and ignoring, for the most part, that adage about birds of a feather sticking together.

As you can see, beyond the birds, a beach has formed.

In other locations on Sikes Lake islands have popped up. How is the Sikes Lake fish population doing under this current stress?

With the exposed lake bottom one can see the type mud which made Mount Wichita, when late in the previous century Sikes Lake was dredged, with the dredged material hauled to Lake Wichita Park to be formed into the region's one and only mountain.

Methinks maybe it is time to dredge Sikes Lake again and maybe make another mountain next to lonely Mount Wichita.

Someday if the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project ever comes to fruition Lake Wichita will get dredged. So far I have not read of any plan to make that dredged material into a mountain, or mountains. Seems like an entire range of mini-mountains might be possible.

Possible and a real good idea...

Cold Walk In My Brown Leaf Covered Caribbean Neighborhood

With the temperature below 50, and with a strong wind blowing, I opted out of layering on sufficient outerwear so as to comfortably enable having fun rolling my bike's wheels somewhere in my neighborhood.

Instead I opted to layer on fewer layers of outerwear, but sufficient enough to comfortably move myself the old-fashioned walking method for a stroll around my neighborhood.

In the view here we are looking north. That is the Circle Trail on the left, heading towards some trees. On the right that ribbon of blue below the blue sky is Holliday Creek, currently not moving any water, reduced to a series of ponds.

It has been awhile since any precipitation has precipitated in the Wichita Falls location. I hope this period of dry is not the start of another long drought.

It is not lack of water which has turned formerly green vegetation to the shades of brown you see here. It is the first deep freeze of the Fall which has robbed the landscape of green. And that same deep freeze has caused the leaves in the trees to turn brown and fall to the ground.

Above we are deep in the heart of my Caribbean neighborhood. I don't remember if this is Haiti or Bermuda.

I rather enjoy walking across ground covered with fallen leaves in Texas.

Leaves on the ground in Texas are totally different from what I used to be vexed by at my formerly location in Western Washington. There the leaves are big, they fall in copious amounts, and they get wet and slippery. If one does not remove the leaves problems will arise. Such as with my house in Mount Vernon, with three flat roofs. No buildup of leaves could be allowed, or the drains would clog.

In Texas the leaves fall to the ground and quickly get dehydrated to the point walking over them is like walking over thousands of crunchy potato chips.

I see people here blowing leaves with those annoying noisy leaf blowers and wonder to myself why they are bothering. As in why not just let nature takes care of the leaves. And in the meantime enjoy crunching crackly leaves whilst walking over them...

Today I Got Sea Fever With John Masefield Floating On Lake Wichita

I really am never as grumpy as I manage to look whenever I attempt to take one of those annoying selfie photos. Then again, I always manage to look the same type grumpy in non-selfie photos taken by just about anyone.

Apparently the reality is I just look grumpy.

I am okay with that.

This morning, after I returned from the library, ALDI and the post office, due to the outer world being somewhat warmed into the near 60 zone, and with a wind blowing from the south, I opted to head my bike south to Lake Wichita, a location I had not visited for a week or two or three.

When I reached the top of Lake Wichita dam and the Mount Wichita pseudo mini-volcano came into view I thought it looked fun to ride out onto the floating dock and have myself some rocking wave action.

The rocking dock did not disappoint. When a long time has passed since I have been moved by actual saltwater ocean waves, I get sort of nostalgic for such, even when I am at a pale substitute like today, on the rolling dock floating on the open sea of Lake Wichita.

A moment like this, being one with the water, always takes me back in time to 4th grade. I was out of school for about a month due to having my tonsils removed. My teacher, at the time, Mr. Gerry, assigned me only one piece of homework to attend to during my absence. I had to memorize a poem of his choosing and recite it in front of the class upon my return.

The poem was by John Masefield, a wordsmith of renown who was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom longer than anyone, lasting as such from 1930 til Masefield's death in 1967.

The poem that 4th grade nine year old boy had to memorize is titled Sea Fever. This poem haunts me. Whenever I am in a wave rolling situation, like today, Sea Fever come to mind, I say the first lines and then never can stop myself from once again reciting the entire poem...

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; 
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

________________

This can not be normal to be haunted by a poem one had to memorize when one was nine.

Wichita Falls Run-Off Voting Leads To Solving Hamilton Park Slingshot Mystery

Saturday I had an interesting run-off voting experience in my current location of Wichita Falls.

With early voting one can vote in any early voting location, so I early vote in what seems a rather odd location, that being inside a mall, in the concourse in front of Penney's in the Sikes Senter mall, which someone unfathomably thought clever to spell center with an "S".

For election day run-off voting one must vote in ones precinct's voting location. For my precinct this was in the Hardin Administration building on the MSU campus. Not hard to locate, once one finds a map of the campus. Driving to that location on Saturday there was only one car parked on the north parking lot. Is this the right location I wondered? Then on the west side parking lot I saw a few more cars. But, no where did I see any "Vote Here" type signs. Or one of those ubiquitous red, white and blue American flags.

I parked and went in the only door which seemed as if it might lead somewhere. I came to a long hall. Down the long hall I saw an elderly lady sitting at a table, still no flag or signage indicating I was in any sort of voting location. I walked to the elderly lady to find I had found the correct location. Soon I had done my duty and voted for the only item on the ballot, Penny Miller for City Council at Large.

Penny Miller lost the run-off election. Most people I vote for lose. I should have voted for Trump.

After voting I told my fellow voters, who I had taken to vote with me, that I wanted to show them something I've seen growing in nearby Hamilton Park, the purpose of which was a mystery to me. A few days prior I had biked by this location to see what looked like a giant slingshot being assembled, with a lot of other material piled up on the parking lot awaiting assemblage.

Above is the photo I took of this Hamilton Park mystery last Saturday.

And now today, four days later, the Wichita Falls Times News Record, (I may have the order of those last three words wrong), had an article explaining what the giant slingshot is going to become.

An "artistic, modern and functional piece of equipment for “Doctor’s Park,” so named for the more than 100 trees planted there donated by the WCMA."

WCMA is the abbreviated version of Wichita County Medical Alliance.

I first saw initial groundwork on this project underway what seems a couple months ago. And now, with construction underway, completion is expected to take a couple weeks.

In addition to an actual project timeline another difference from something being built in Fort Worth was the following sentence...

"The playground is close to the Circle Trail, restrooms and near a large parking lot."

Do you see the item in the above sentence that you would not likely be seeing mention made of in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something being built in a Fort Worth park?

If you identified "restrooms" as the item, you are correct. Most Fort Worth city parks do not have modern facilities, no running water, no modern restrooms. Some don't even have that Fort Worth staple of an outhouse.

Shocking, shocking I tell you, for an imaginary world class city like Fort Worth to not have modern facilities in its city parks.

Meanwhile in another town in Texas, Wichita Falls...

Fort Worth Needs An Incentive To Fix Its Downtown Embarrassments

I see this incentive type headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and find myself once again wondering why this type thing is not seen as a problem in the town which the Star-Telegram ill serves as its only newspaper.

"AC Hotel, a brand popular in Europe, gets key incentive to build in downtown Fort Worth"

Does anyone in Fort Worth wonder what the problem is with downtown Fort Worth which requires incentives to get someone to build a hotel? Or why the voters have to be bothered to vote to help subsidize the building of a downtown convention center hotel?

I don't think towns with functional downtown's need to resort to incentivizing developers to develop downtown hotels, department stores and other such items common in most thriving downtown's which are not ghost towns on the busiest shopping day of the year, that being the day after Thanksgiving.

How many downtown hotels do you think New York City has had to offer incentives to get built? Or Chicago? Or San Francisco? Or Seattle?

Seattle has dozens of downtown hotels all built without the city offering bribes. The latest expansion of downtown Seattle's Washington State Convention Center includes another convention center hotel. Hotel developers competed to get to be the developer to develop that new hotel. And nothing as absurd as asking voters to help subsidize such a hotel happens in downtown's where developers want to develop hotels.

Fort Worth seems to have some sort of repeating pattern of having to offer what amount to bribes to get some developer to develop something. That or Fort Worth succumbs to ridiculous flattery, or a combo of both.

Such as when a sporting goods store called Cabela's wanted to build the first Cabela's in Texas. Cabela's convinced the rubes who incompetently run Fort Worth that this sporting goods store would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, thus making all the incentives Cabela's was asking for a bargain.

Fort Worth fell for that con job. Soon the Fort Worth Cabela's was not the only one in Texas. Now it is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro zone.

No way do I know of all the instances where the Fort Worth city government has been conned into incentives, or abusing eminent domain. Such as what was done so that Radio Shack could build their long defunct corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth.

Or that Mercado boondoggle on North Main Street, south of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Or the Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle. I know a con job was involved in that embarrassment, misrepresenting what that lame development would be. Were incentives also part of the scam?

Why doesn't Fort Worth focus on fixing its downtown? How many more years will that park celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, appropriately called Heritage Park, act as a metaphor for what is wrong with downtown Fort Worth? A boarded up eyesore allowed to deteriorate, sitting at a prime location at the north end of downtown Fort Worth.

Maybe the city could offer some developer incentives to re-open Heritage Park in all its former scenic glory.

Another fix for downtown Fort Worth?

Cease referring to part of the downtown area as Sundance Square. This is just goofy and confusing to the town's few tourists, even with the addition of an actual square, after decades of there being no square in Sundance Square, the downtown zone is still being called Sundance Square, with the actual square called Sundance Square Plaza, sponsored by Nissan.

And how does Fort Worth ever expect to have a vibrant downtown if few people live there? And why would many people choose to live in a downtown with no department stores, no grocery stores, and few restaurants?

And lose that embarrassing Molley the Trolley public transit device. Converting an old bus to look like a trolley and then charging people $5 to use this public transit is just bizarre. And like already said, embarrassing...

In Texas Trying To Fix Fort Worth's Blighted New Isis Theater Eyesore

A day or two or three ago potential U.S. Representative, Elsie Hotpepper, messaged me regarding that which you see here, an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about A drama teacher’s dream: Restoring this 1930s Fort Worth movie theater.

I had already seen this article and had already screen capped that which you see here, intending to blog about it, but then forgot about it til reminded by the aforementioned future U.S. Representative, Elsie Hotpepper.

I was not long in Texas when I was first appalled by Fort Worth's New Isis Theater, appalled because it appeared to be an abandoned eyesore blighting the good looks of what I then (and still do) think is Fort Worth's only actual tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards.

That was almost 20 years ago I first saw the blighted New Isis Theater eyesore. Soon thereafter I began my Eyes on Texas website. At that point in time I was still trying to come to terms with the culture shock of adjusting to Texas, after having spent my entire life in a more modern, progressive part of America, where something like the New Isis Theater would not be allowed to fester in such a sad state of decrepitude in such a location.

Early on in my Eyes on Texas webpage writing my take on what I was describing might seem a bit more harsh than my 2017 version of describing that which appalls me, because, like I already said, I was still trying to adjust to the culture shock.

Most of what is on the Eyes on Texas website predates when I began doing the blogging thing, hence some of the dates referenced on those webpages are from way back early in this century.

During that early in this century time frame I made a webpage documenting some of the tacky things I was seeing, calling that webpage Texas Tacky, if I remember correctly.

The Texas Tacky webpage has a section devoted to the New Isis Theater tacky eyesore. That generated some interesting feedback relevant to this latest iteration of a well meaning person trying to restore that long abandoned theater.

That is a screen cap of part of the Texas Tacky webpage's New Isis Theater section you see here. I will copy some of the text. You may find the message I received over a decade ago about an effort to restore the theater to be interesting...

THE FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS

This example of Texas Tacky is in Fort Worth's Stockyards. There is an abandoned theater on Main Street in the heart of the Stockyard's 'Historical District' called, ironically, the 'New Isis'. This theater appears to have long been abandoned, broken windows covered with plywood as per the Fort Worth standard for abandoned buildings. To add to the tackiness semi-current messages are put on the marquee. On one side the sign says 'Welcome to the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards', while the other side announces 'Christmas in the Stockyards', which would be fine, except this sign still says this, on the first day of spring, 2002, well after Christmas. It is difficult to understand how a major city would allow such an eyesore to exist in the heart of its main claim to tourist fame. Particularly an eyesore with such renovation possibilities. Where is the civic pride? Perhaps a city government group could be sent to other towns to see how they manage to fix such problems. Any of the tourist towns in Washington state would suffice, or any of the tourist towns on Highway 49 in California. Or any of the tourist towns in Colorado, Utah, Arizona or New Mexico. Or just stay in Texas and find out how the town of Archer City managed to renovate their town's famous theater.

UPDATE: In fall of 2005 the reader board on the ISIS was changed to indicate the eyesore was going to be re-modeled. The re-modeling does not appear to be underway.

UPDATE 2:  June 7, 2007 we received the following email:

From: Robert Adams
To: feedback
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:40 PM
Subject: The New Isis Theater

Dear Tacky Texas,

As an FYI - The New Isis Theater is currently in the architectural phase of renovation. This will probably take 3-4 months and the renovation approximately 14-16 months. Hopefully we can achieve a look which will remove us from your expertly crafted list of Stockyard buildings in need of repair. You could be very helpful in this process by informing your web viewers that the original seats from the inside of the theater are available for those who would like to purchase a piece of history. These will need to be replaced because of they are only 16 1/2 inches wide compared to modern theater seats at 21". (a testament to the decline of our culinary tastes over the last 70+ years.)

Regards,
robert@thenewisistheater.com

___________________

So, I hope this teacher has a lot of luck with this latest attempt to restore this long abandoned embarrassing eyesore blight on Fort Worth's only actual tourist attraction. But, if Vegas is taking bets I would not put any money on it happening, anymore than Mineral Wells' Baker Hotel getting renovated.

The Baker Hotel eyesore also seems to regularly re-surface as a renovation project which goes nowhere. I have also received multiple communications about such over the years. At one point I got to take a tour of the Baker Hotel.

The Baker Hotel is a bit more impressive than the New Isis Theater, renovation possibility-wise, but I really do not expect either to have a Grand Re-Opening in my lifetime...

2017 Merry Christmas From David, Ruby, Santa & Theo

Opening the mailbox yesterday yielded that which you see here, from David, Ruby, Santa and Theo.

The twins and their big brother's 2017 Christmas portrait with their favorite old gentleman in red.

In the note accompanying the photo I can not be certain who wrote it, as there was no identifying signature to indicate such.

I am assuming the writer was David, he being the big brother and thus the most literate of the trio.

The note told me that this year "We got to pick out what we wanted to wear for our picture with Santa. Ruby chose to wear what we chose for her to wear. Ruby has been real agreeable lately."

So, it appears David opted to attire himself like a young Tucker Carlson, before that particular right wing nut job went full loony and bow tie-less. Theo appears to be in football jersey mode. I can't quite figure out what David and Theo picked out for Ruby. The shirt looks like maybe an Orca is in Puget Sound in front of a rainbow.

David turned nine on September 11. Theo and Ruby turn seven on December 17. Which means I need to get a couple birthday cards prepared and mailed. Since the arrival of Theo and Ruby on the planet I have received a few other photo documentations of their Christmas visits with Santa.

Below are the three other David, Theo and Ruby, with Santa, photos I have archived, starting with what I think is the Santa photo from last year, then my favorite David, Theo and Ruby Santa photo of all time, and the third, the oldest one, when the twins were little toddlers, with it looking like David was likely the only walker of the three...

The next one is classic. The twins terrorized. With David just looking amused.

I wonder what Ruby and Theo have to say when they see the above photo documenting how happy they were to sit on Santa's lap that particular Christmas.

Ruby and Theo totally look like twins in the above Santa photo, before it started to be easy to tell which one was which. But, I am pretty much 100% certain that is Ruby on the left, on Santa's lap, which would make that Theo on the right.

And it looks like David is giving Santa an earful of all which he would like to see under the Christmas tree...