Star-Telegram Embarrassing Fort Worth Dallas Rivalry Editorial

A few days ago in a blog post mention was made of a study commissioned by Fort Worth to try and find out why the town is so backwards.

That is my paraphrasing use of the backwards word. The articles about this study which appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, rather than use the word "backwards", used words like 'identity crisis" and "fallen behind".

The blogging about this serious subject was titled Why Fort Worth Has Fallen Behind Developing An Identity Crisis.

The Dallas Morning News got wind of the fact that Fort Worth is trying to figure out why it is so backwards, falling behind, with an identity crisis, which led to an opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News titled One reason Fort Worth's lagging Dallas: Billions invested with public transit. This opinion piece was written by former Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Mitch Schnurman.

This then led to the Star-Telegram having its own opinion piece, in the form of an editorial, which, in typical Star-Telegram fashion, is clueless, embarrassing and sort of funny, in its, well, cluelessness.

The Star-Telegram's one semi-good reporter, Bud Kennedy, then posted about the Mitch Schnurman column on Facebook, which then generated a lot of interesting comments, many of which indicated quite clearly that not all Fort Worth natives are clueless about their town's problems and Dallas.

For example, two comments in the Bud Kennedy Facebook thread about this subject...

Sunni Roppolo The “Dallas rivalry” is so stupid and the only people that perpetuate it are Ft Worth residents! I’ve never understood why it’s an issue. Our friends that live in Dallas never badmouth FW yet all I hear is how terrible Dallas is all the time. Live where it makes sense and be nice! (Ft Worth native here)

Christopher D. Kratovil Interesting column by a good writer. To me, this is the money paragraph: “Fort Worth is home to two Fortune 1000 companies. But Dallas has 17 Fortune 1000 headquarters, Irving has nine, Plano has six and Richardson has two, according to the report.”

The Dallas bashing, as reflected in the Star-Telegram, perplexed me soon upon my arrival in Texas. I soon was to learn this bizarre civic pathology had a long history, dating way back to the 1800s when a Dallas reporter visited Fort Worth and then returned to Dallas to opine that Fort Worth was so sleepy he saw a Panther sleeping on the city hall steps. Or some such thing. This triggered the Fort Worth neurotic over compensating  civic inferiority complex which continues to this day, with Fort Worth thinking it is really showing Dallas what's what by naming this and that ridiculous thing with the "Panther" label. For example, in this century America's Biggest Boondoggle eventually came to be named the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, where you will find an imaginary island named after that sleepy Panther, along with a brewery, an ice rink and an imaginary pavilion on that imaginary island, all named Panther.

Okay, now that aforementioned insipid Star-Telegram editorial about this subject. The editorial is titled Forget it Dallas. We aren’t sitting at the kiddies table.

Let's all take a look at some choice bits from this editorial...

If ever Fort Worth has wondered whether Dallas is paying attention to us, we need wonder no more.

Wednesday, the Dallas Morning News devoted an editorial and a column to our city image versus that of Dallas. That’s a lot of journalistic real estate, and we want to thank Big D’s paper of record for considering us worthy of so much attention.

Oh yes, I imagine there are thousands of Fort Worth people wondering if Dallas is paying any attention to Fort Worth, what with there being so much to pay attention to, you know, things like worrying about a town encouraging its people to get wet in an e.coli contaminated river. But, now, those wondering if Dallas is paying attention need wonder no more, because the Dallas Morning News devoted a column to comparing the Fort Worth image to the Dallas image. Oh, and Fort Worth's sad excuse for a newspaper of record wants to thank Big D's actual newspaper of record for deigning to supposedly give Fort Worth attention with this one little column.

How pathetic can a newspaper get?

Let's take a detour here and focus on one aspect of Fort Worth's image problem, or more accurately, lack of an image problem. Last night I was watching YouTube news videos and it struck me how often the talking heads have some town's iconic image behind them, identifying where the talking head is talking from, without needing to identifying the town.

Ever seen such a news clip with a Fort Worth identifying image in the background? Nope. You have not, Hence one aspect of both Fort Worth's image problem on the national/international stage, and one reason for Fort Worth's obvious inferiority complex as related to Dallas, because a news clip with a talking head can appear with a recognizable Dallas background, because, like the Dallas Morning News column mentioned, Dallas has international recognition, for multiple reasons, including being the subject of what once was the world's most popular TV show, which showed the Dallas skyline to the world every time the show aired.

Can you imagine a prime time TV show called Fort Worth, with the opening credits zooming in on the downtown Fort Worth skyline? Zooming over the Heritage Park eyesore, trying to catch a glimpse of teeny Sundance Square Plaza sponsored by Nissan? Hence one of many reasons for Fort Worth's image problem complex.

And now this from the Star-Telegram editorial...

Fort Worth is nobody’s little brother. The people who live here are the city’s biggest fans.

We love Cowtown’s western history, its first-class arts district and a lively downtown filled with people day and night.

The people who live in Fort Worth are the town's biggest fans? How is this determination made? Fort Worth has fans outside of Fort Worth who are lesser fans? But those who live in the town are its biggest fans? And these fans love Fort Worth's western history, its first class arts district and a lively downtown filled with people day and night?

Fort Worth loves its western history so much that much of the Fort Worth Stockyards is a poorly maintained mess. Such as the New Isis Theater eyesore. Ever been to the Stockyards at night? Fort Worth's only actual tourist attraction is in dire need of a lighting upgrade. The Star-Telegram needs to get over attaching the "first-class" and "world-class" label to this that or the other thing in Fort Worth. As for the downtown being lively. Downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, due to the downtown's lack of the stores people shop in in other town's downtown's. Anyone who thinks downtown Fort Worth is lively day and night must have never been to any other big city downtown to think such a thing. Or the Star-Telegram assumes its few readers have never been to a thriving big city's downtown and thus do not know any better.

And then the Star-Telegram editorial spews some more embarrassing nonsense, further documenting the town's, well, the town's sad excuse for a newspaper's, Dallas neuroses...

The DMN editorial fairly mentioned as have we that consultants noted, “Fort Worth struggles with establishing visibility and name recognition, especially in comparison to Dallas,” and “Fort Worth appears to be on its way to becoming a suburb of Dallas County.”

Those pronouncements generated an outpouring of vitriol from Star-Telegram readers angered by the suggestion of secondary status:

“We live in Fort Worth because it’s not Dallas-like,” said one.

“Fort Worth has the most wonderful small town feel for such a large city. I love it and am thrilled it is so different from Dallas,” said another.

Finally: “Don’t Dallas my Fort Worth.”

The above is the type thing which is perplexing to newcomers to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, that being the Fort Worth attitude, expressed by what one can hope is a small minority, that there is something dire different about Dallas, that Fort Worth thankfully is not.

Fort Worth has a small town feel? For such a large city? Yes, it is true, most small towns do not have large department stores in their downtown's, just like Fort Worth. Many do, unlike Fort Worth, have grocery stores in their downtown's though. Most small towns downtown's are not ghost towns on the busiest shopping day of the year, so, really, how does Fort Worth have a small town feel? Such a sentiment may sound good, I guess, but it makes no sense.

Yes, it is true, Fort Worth is not Dallas-like in many ways. Dallas has a modern public transit system, including the nation's most miles of light rail. Dallas had a Trinity River Vision before Fort Worth copied the concept, except in Dallas the voters were allowed to vote on the project, while Fort Worth voters were not allowed to do so. The Dallas Trinity River Vision saw three actual signature bridges, two of which have been actually built, over actual water. While Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision lost its signature bridges and replaced them with three simple little bridges which are proving difficult to build over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Yes, it is true, Dallas is not Fort Worth. I suspect the people of Dallas, if they ever actually think about it, are content their town is not like Fort Worth. I suspect most big cities in America are content they are not like Fort Worth....

Freezing With Snowflakes Falling In Wichita Falls

I lack the technical ability to cause my phone to take a photo of itself, so when I saw the phone was indicating the temperature had dropped to freezing, and the phone's home screen weather animating thing was indicating snowflakes were falling, I used my old-fashioned digital camera to take a photo of my new-fashioned phone.

The temperature had been predicted to be dropping today, starting to fall soon after the sun's arrival. But, the temperature drop accelerated much faster than the predicted drop.

By the time I bundled up to drive to ALDI and Walmart the temperature was a couple degrees above freezing, with huge plops of rain getting my windshield wet.

Since I have been in Texas no snowstorm has ever behaved in the manner the weather predictors indicated it would.

So, I fully anticipate waking up tomorrow to find myself snowbound. Or worse, with the outer world covered with thick ice.

Til moving to the South I had never experienced an Ice Storm. I was barely in Texas two weeks, located in the far north Fort Worth hamlet of Haslet when an Ice Storm delivered a shocking blow. We did not know what to do with the two cows left behind by the previous owner. Or how to turn off the water to the barn. Or what to do with the pool. Or where the water shut off  to the house was. Suffice to say, survival was managed, but it was a rude wakeup to how nasty the weather in Texas can be.

I remember arriving at that new house in Haslet and asking why the hell is there a big fireplace in here/ Two weeks later all the new arrivals from the Pacific Northwest knew why there was a fireplace.

I have lost count of how many Ice Storms I have been through now. Why is it this southern location has such a weather event, when in all my years in Western Washington never a single Ice Storm? If such a thing happened up there the damage would be horrific. The trees, all those trees. But, why, with so much precipitation falling in Western Washington, and the occasional Arctic Blast, why no Ice Storms?

Perplexing.

I must go on an additional outer wear and blanket hunt now. This place has no fireplace....

Grocery Store May Open Near Fort Worth In 2019

In this last month of 2017 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has been doing a bang up job of providing absurdly ironic, embarrassing, pitiful fodder for commentary, with, apparently, no one at that sad excuse of a newspaper having a clue regarding such.

This first day of winter's edition had some fresh ridiculousness of the Dallas the Bogeyman sort. We may get to that later.

In the past couple weeks the Star-Telegram has had a couple articles lamenting Fort Worth's "image problem", "identity crisis" and that the town has supposedly "fallen behind".

The falling behind image problem identity crisis was blogged about in Why Fort Worth Has Fallen Behind Developing An Identity Crisis.

Overnight, via the stats, I see the latest blogging has had a few hundred, well, thousand, page views. The majority of those are from outside Texas. I do not know if this is any help or hindrance regarding Fort Worth's image problem and identity crisis.

Which leads us to this embarrassment from the Star-Telegram from a couple days ago.

For those not in Texas, HEB is a grocery store.

The screen cap you see above was taken from the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram online.

Yes, the imaginary newspaper of record of the town with an identity crisis and image problem considers it big news that a grocery store chain is inching closer to Fort Worth via opening a nearby store in 2019.

If one was part of a conspiracy to make a town look like Rube Central you really could not do a much better job than what the Star-Telegram does.

Does it occur to no one at the Star-Telegram that thinking such information to be newsworthy might be indicative of the town's image and identity problem?

I can not imagine the Dallas Morning News having a headline on its front page informing its many readers about a grocery store chain opening a new store in 2019 is inching closer to Dallas.

Can not imagine a headline in the Seattle Times telling its many readers that some grocery store is inching closer to Seattle, opening in 2019. Unlike Fort Worth, which has none, Seattle has multiple grocery stores in its downtown, and it would not be news that some grocery store is opening somewhere else, outside of Seattle, or anywhere in Seattle, for that matter.

Hence, one among many reasons why no one would ever suggest calling Seattle, or Dallas, Rube Central.

And then you have Fort Worth...

Texas Bicycle Thief Wichita Falls Edition

That which you see here is what my eyes saw, and my sinking heart felt, about 5 o'clock Sunday afternoon.

Heading to ALDI, as I backed out of the carport, suddenly I knew there was something wrong with what I was seeing, or not seeing.

My bike.

In broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon, a week before Christmas Eve, a thief cut the what I thought was supposed to be impervious to such, that being the cable which secured my bike to a metal post.

Broad daylight.

This is now two stolen bikes in Texas. The first involved breaking into my van to steal the bike and try to steal the van. That was in October of 2010.

It was almost two years later I got another bike, March of 2012.

I think this latest bike theft may be the end of my bike riding years.

Such will also end my new position as the Wichita Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau Outdoor Adventure Guru. Well, this will end the bike part of the Outdoor Adventure Guru-ing.

I reacted with resignation to yet one more bike theft. I quickly went into sweet lemon rationalization mode, thinking maybe it was the excessive bike riding which was causing my right knee to ache. Three days later I have no pain in my right knee.

I also rationalized that anyone so brazen as to steal a locked bike in broad daylight must have needed, or wanted, a bike real bad. Maybe desperate to give their kid a Christmas present. Or needing a bike to get to a job, or some such thing. I would think one would have to have a good reason to steal something of relatively little value.

My first evening in Tacoma last summer we went to a neighbor's Annual Potato Chip Party, where I don't remember getting any homemade potato chips, but I do remember getting incredibly good chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven.

That and the next door neighbor's tale of having three mountain bikes stolen from his garage the day before. He had arrived home, opened the garage door, went into the house for a brief time, came back out to find the three bikes stolen. At the time I thought myself grateful to be currently living in a low crime location in Texas, much safer than my previous location in Texas, in Fort Worth, where I lived behind security gates, which did not prevent stolen bikes and auto thefts.

A couple days later I had David, Theo and Ruby's bikes on the front lawn, along with the bike I was to ride. My sister informed me it was not safe to leave the bikes on the front yard, unattended, even though there is a fence, due to the rapidity with which Tacoma thefts apparently take place. I thought my sister was over reacting. Now I realize it was I who was his usual level of clueless naivete.

There is an Italian movie, a neo-realistic classic from well over a half century ago, regarded as one of the best movies ever made.

The Bicycle Thief

From Wikipedia - The Bicycle Thief is a 1948 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film follows the story of a poor father searching post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will lose the job which was to be the salvation of his young family.

This movie quite poetically shows the pain and troubles a bicycle thief can cause the victim....

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.