Washington Clamming With Spencer Jack & Hank Frank's Grandpa

Yesterday my #1 Arizona sister told me our #1 brother, he being Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's grandpa Jake, had flown to his former home zone the previous day.

So, last night I text messaged SJ and HF's grandpa "I hope you are having yourself a mighty fine time up in the Paradise of the North".

The reply was the photo you see here.

Yesterday my #1 Arizona sister told me our #1 brother was having a great time clamming and oystering.

What you see Jake doing in the photo is butchering a clam. I'm not sure what the correct verb is for this. Butchering sounds a bit harsh.

I have never been good at clam digging. All my other relatives are good at it. Crabbing, that I am good at, maybe because crabbing is funner than digging to get a clam.

I do not remember going clam digging this century. I don't remember the last time I was on a clam digging expedition. I do remember my last crab experience. It was in August of 2017 at Birch Bay, in Washington, a short distance south of the border. Nephew Theo and I chased a crab until uncle Jake, to Theo's amazement, scooped the crab out of the water for Theo to pet.

I am almost 100% certain the location where Jake is knifing a clam is a tidal flat on Hood Canal. Or he may already be up in the Skagit Valley zone, which would make this tidal flat being located on Samish Island.

I am heading to Arizona, again, next month. I do not know, yet, if Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's grandpa Jake will be back in Arizona at that point in time, or still enjoying the pleasantly temperatured Pacific Northwest...

Her Boob Brought Lubbock A Chance Of Rain

Yesterday, via the local TV news, I saw a news story start up with a big wall of dust looking like what I have seen when I am in Arizona.

A Haboob.

And then the news part of what I was seeing told me that this Haboob was doing its Haboobing a few miles to the west and south of my location, that being Lubbock, Texas.

No dust made it to my location, as far as I can tell.

And then this morning, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy, on Facebook, I saw that which you see here, that being the WFAA ABC out of Dallas weather guy, or maybe he's a news guy, or both, reporting on the Lubbock Haboob.

Only the captioning turned that news into "HER BOOB WILL BRING US A CHANCE OF RAIN'S".

Mr, Kennedy identified the WFAA reporter as being named Jesse Hawila, who took the "HER BOOB" fiasco good naturedly, saying “Closed captioning hates me and strikes again... I said, the storms that created the “haboob will bring us a chance of rain.”

I've lately been a little annoyed at the weather guys on the local stations at my current location, that being NBC and CBS here in Wichita Falls, and ABC beaming out of Lawton, up in Oklahoma.

Yes, the weather here can be dangerous. But, when the skies threaten a possible tornado, if you are watching network TV, during a possibly storm you are warned with a graphic in the upper left, and a screen crawl at the top, which announces itself every few minutes with dialogue obscuring beeping.

But, the most annoying is when the local weather guy on the CBS affiliate breaks in to the regular programming. He did that the first time I tuned in to check out the James phenomenon on Jeopardy.

You're already aware that Doppler Radar has detected some possible tornado rotation, via the info you've already seen. And then this guy goes on and on and on and on, repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again, til it begins to seem like a Cry Wolf syndrome type deal, particularly when he goes "live" to his storm spotter, who shows us some clouds which do not look particularly menacing.

I have seen the local CBS weather guy get all bollixed up, losing control of his graphics.

I do not watch all that much TV, so I imagine I miss a lot of the inept Ted Baxter type moments.

Recently, I do not remember what I was watching, the inept Wichita Falls CBS guy broke in and could not stop coughing. This went on for several minutes. Highly annoying. During a subsequent interruption he apologized for the previous coughing fits, explaining he had been eating when he was told to go into Weather Drama King mode.

A few weeks ago, I think it was on CBS, the local weather guy broke in, started in with his "warning" and then something happened to what he was trying to show the viewers, which had that guy saying "Oh crap", which really did not seem to me to be a professional TV broadcaster type utterance. Another voice then said "We are returning to regular programming". A few minutes went by and the guy tried again, apologized for the previous foul up and then proceeded with his tornado warnings.

I suspect, given enough time, if I watch enough local Wichita Falls TV, one of these guys will surpass the Dallas WFAA guy's HER BOOB faux pas....

Visiting Raccoon In Wichita River Flooded Lucy Park

This morning I thought it to be a good idea to take a walk in Lucy Park on my way to my final destination by Sheppard Air Force Base.

I thought I had read that the recently flooded Lucy Park was back open, but when I arrived at the main entry I found the gate closed, blocking access, with water across the road a short distance away, but not nearly as much water as the previous flooded visit to Lucy Park.

A local television crew was working on a news segment at the closed entry. I did not stop to give an interview, but continued on to another access point to Lucy Park, that being the way in by the Duck Pond.

From the Duck Pond the road was dry all the way to my regular parking location by the Lucy Park log cabin and pool.

As you can see others also made their way past the flooded zone to Lucy Park locations, like the public pool.

I forgot to mention that flooded photo at the top. This was a short distance from the pool, near the suspension bridge which crosses the Wichita River. As I stood there looking at the flood, suddenly a critter came into view.

A raccoon.

The raccoon was swimming from the fallen tree towards the river. When the raccoon reached the tree you see sticking out of the water it disappeared.

This was my first raccoon encounter this century. The last time I had a raccoon encounter was in Yosemite, at Curry Village, on the night the Cheers TV show finale aired. I don't remember what year that was. 1992 or 1993 seems about right.

The next photo shows more of the entire raccoon scene. The aforementioned fallen tree is on the left, The flooded suspension bridge entry is in the middle.

Continuing on the Circle Trail to the west side of Lucy Park I walked until the trail went under water.

The above scene looks peaceful.

Green, wet and peaceful.

I do not remember the foliage at Lucy Park looking so lushly jungle-like on any previous visit. This must be due to all the vegetation being well hydrated by the copious amounts of rain.

Downtown Wichita Falls Dodging Lightning Bolts With Littlest Big Blue Skyscraper

This morning I had a book or two which needed to be returned to their place of residence, the downtown Wichita Falls Public Library.

So, with the weather outside being only somewhat frightful, what with a few lightning bolts with occasional raindrops, it seemed at the time a good idea to take a walk around downtown Wichita Falls.

It had been a couple years since I had walked by the World's Littlest Skyscraper, which is the towering edifice you see here.

I wonder why Dubai does not try to take the World's Littlest Skyscraper title away from Wichita Falls?

The World's Littlest Skyscraper is close to the Wichita Falls Farmers Market. The market was open today, with a few vendors and few shoppers.

Downtown Wichita Falls has had some aesthetic improvements since I first saw this downtown three years ago.

When one walks around the downtown one sees a lot of vacant buildings, some with what looks like good restoration possibilities.

I don't know if anything, restoration-wise, could be done with the pair of vacant buildings you see above. The open space behind the still standing storefront on the right looked like it could somehow be made into a functional space for some imaginative use. Maybe the building on the left could become a saloon with the open space on the right a beer garden.

Downtown Wichita Falls is an extremely eclectic mix of architectural styles. To my eyes the older buildings look good. The modern buildings not so much. Such as the short skyscraper you see below.

The locals call the above building "Big Blue". This building has been a work in progress as long as I have been in Wichita Falls. The exterior of Big Blue has a lot of issues in dire need of fixing.

From what I have been told this was an older building which was updated. To make the updating cost effective blue cladding was stuck on the old building so as to easily facilitate modern plumbing and wiring changes. This has never seemed like a plausible explanation to me.

Near as I can tell most of the locals like Big Blue. To my new to town eyes this blue building sort of sticks out in an obtrusive eyesore sort of way. Methinks removing the blue cladding would be a real good idea.

There is another attraction near the Wichita Farmers Market. A railroad museum.

The railroad museum has what looks like a graveyard of vintage rail vehicles, from locomotives to passenger cars.

I need to return to downtown Wichita Falls sometime soon and check out the railroad museum and maybe takes some photos of some of the impressive looking old buildings, some with explanatory historical markers.

Hotpepper Haltom Hold'Em Burlesque Revue

Haltom City is a Fort Worth suburb which recently has been enjoying the restoration of the classic Haltom Theater, with the theater hosting a wide variety of performers, which one can enjoy whilst consuming vittles such as cheese sticks, wings, tacos and nachos, along with cooling libations.

This coming Friday, June 7th to be precise, the Haltom Theater is presenting the Haltom Hold'Em Burlesque Revue.

The first time I ever witnessed such a thing was years ago at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver. With the most recent such experience being the Crazy Girls Revue in Las Vegas.

I don't remember at which casino the Crazy Girls did their revue, other than it was on the opposite side of the Las Vegas Strip from Caesar's.

I strongly suspect that the Haltom Hold'Em Burleque Revue will not be quite as risque as those I saw in Vancouver and Vegas.

I have heard it rumored, but have no way to confirm the rumor, that Haltom City's Elsie Hotpepper is the headliner in the Haltom Hold'Em Burlesque Revue, performing Elsie's interpretation of Sally Rand's ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance, which Ms. Rand made famous at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

I can not remember the last time I saw Elsie Hotpepper's interpretation of Sally Rand's fan or bubble dance.

Sadly, I don't think I will be able to make it to Haltom City on Friday for the show....

Anonymous Leads Us To Fort Worth Bridge's Falsework

I know what you might be thinking looking at the photo you see here.

That being thinking that this photo is a look from a new angle, looking at one of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District bridges, with the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth hovering above one of the bridges which may one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Well, you would be incorrect if you were thinking this was one of America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridges which have been stuck in slow motion construction mode since 2014, with the current construction completion date some point in the next decade.

What you are looking at is not a Fort Worth bridge in the making, what it is is an elevated track for a Link light rail line heading into a tunnel in a suburb of Seattle. Which would make that part of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Bellevue you are looking at. The absence of any old buildings in the photo was likely a good clue this was not Fort Worth.

Bellevue is a relatively new town.

There is a good reason this photo was of interest to me. We will get to that particular "falsework" subject later in this blogging, but first I want to make note of the article in the Seattle Times in which this photo appeared.

The article's title is Don’t derail Sound Transit 3, Seattle and is a classic example of the differences I see in a real newspaper, such as the Seattle Times, and the extremely lame reporting I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about similar subjects, such as local public works projects and the ongoing status of those projects.

The subject in this Seattle Times article is the current project status of the Sound Transit 3 part of the ongoing Link light rail construction in the Puget Sound zone.

One does not read any sort of detailed examination of the current stymied status of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision public works boondoggle, which the public did not approve of via the voting method, unlike how things actually get done in modern America.

Fort Worth's pitiful excuse for a newspaper has never told its readers what exactly are the design problems which have caused the multiple construction halts to these simple little bridges being built over dry land.

Read the entire Don’t derail Sound Transit 3, Seattle for the full experience of the difference between a Star-Telegram article and a Seattle Times article, and also make note of the dozens of cogent comments on the subject in the Seattle Times.

Back to that aforementioned "falseworks" subject mentioned above.

Last week, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 to be precise, I blogged yet again about Fort Worth's bridge boondoggle, and in that blogging I asked a question about those bridges which generated an interesting question, which, when I thought about it, raised more questions.

First the comment, and then my questions...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Tale Of Two Town's Bridges":

"Why are all those vertical pilings required to help hold up the bridge deck, one can not help but wonder?"

Those supports are called falsework.

Wikipedia says that falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself.

_________________

So, apparently that is falsework holding up that Bellevue section of the Link light rail under construction. And that is falsework holding up the road deck of one of Fort Worth's pitiful freeway overpass-like imaginary signature bridges we see above.

That looks like a lot of falsework helping those imaginary "signature" V-piers hold up that road deck.

Falsework seems like an ironically appropriate term to apply to Fort Worth's hapless slow motion Trinity River Vision project.

So, is removing that falsework the source of one of the many delays in bridge building? Are the project engineers not sure those imaginary "signature" V-piers can hold up the road deck?

Without Fort Worth having a real newspaper there is no legitimate journalist finding out what the actual problems are which have caused these simple little bridges to be a construction congestion nightmare for years.

I remember in the previous century when the now long gone Kingdome was being built in Seattle. There was a point in the construction where there was this thing called an "O ring", which all the ribs which made up the dome's roof came together. The design called for the "O ring" to be removed with the roof's concrete ribs then coming together in compression, holding the dome up.

The original construction company was not confident this would work, and balked at pulling the "O ring" until further design analysis indicated it would work as planned. Eventually the original construction company continued to balk, and was replaced by a construction company willing to pull the "O ring".

And it worked.

But, myself, and many others, really never forgot that controversy and any time I was in the Kingdome I would look up at the high point of the ceiling, where those concrete ribs came together and wondered what would happen in a strong earthquake.

I have long wondered regarding what sort of foundation those Fort Worth bridge's V-piers are built upon. I don't remember HUGE amounts of dirt being removed and big foundations being poured.

I have also long wondered how it works to have these little bridges built, and then to dig a ditch under them, without compromising the structural integrity of the bridge.

These are the sort of questions the citizens in a town with a real newspaper would get the answer to.

I can't imagine a town like Fort Worth building anything complicated, like a domed stadium, or a transit tunnel, without the project turning into a hapless boondoggle...

Arlington #1 Fittest Town In America While Fort Worth #88

If you are thinking that whom you are looking at here is Elsie Hotpepper, on the right, and her mom, enjoying the great outdoors at Fort Worth's downtown Water Gardens, well, you would be thinking incorrectly, since I am almost 100% that the Texans in this photo are not Elsie and her mom.

Then again, I have not seen either in over a year.

The size level of people occupying various American towns came to mind recently via an in depth study by the American College of Sports Medicine which used a wide range of various criteria to determine the fitness level of the population populating America's Top 100 towns.

Of course I assumed a Texas town would be at the top of the list, or the bottom. So, I was not too shocked to see Arlington was determined to be the fittest town in America. With Seattle coming in at #2.

Then I took a second look and saw that the Arlington at the #1 spot was the Arlington in Virginia, not the Texas version of Arlington.

The Texas version of Arlington does not have a large enough population to make the Top 100 list, but many other Texas towns were big enough.

Such as Austin, with the Texas capital being the fittest Texas town on the list, at the #42 spot, followed by #44 Plano, #60 Lubbock, #61 Dallas, #72 El Paso, #73 Houston, #76 Garland, #78 Irving, #80 Laredo, #82 San Antonio, #88 Fort Worth and #91 Corpus Christi.

What a shock that Fort Worth is near the bottom of this list. Unfortunately one of the criteria was the percent of a town's population having a city park within a 10 minute walk. Along with the number of parks per capita. Perhaps having too many outhouses also factored in. Along with the majority of Fort Worth's streets having no sidewalk on to which to walk to one of the town's few parks. 

Well, basically Fort Worth did not do well in any of the fitness criteria.

You can read the entire report to see how towns ranked in the Top Ten of various criteria categories, including Bike Score, Best Air Quality, Personal Health Rank & Score, Community/Environment Rank & Score, Exercise, Aerobic Activities, Strengthening Activities, Park/10,000 Residents, Parks Within 10-Minute Walk, Walk or Bike to Work, Use Public Transportation, Walk Score, 2 or More Fruits per Day, 3 or More Vegetables per Day, Farmers Markets.

What a shock. Fort Worth showed up in zero of those lists of the Top Ten in any of the categories.

I remember way back when I first moved to close proximity to Fort Worth it was difficult to adjust to seeing so many people so much bigger than the people I was used to seeing on the west coast.

Soon thereafter I remember reading that many Europeans referred to Americans as the Balloon People. Had I read this whilst still living in Washington I would have thought it rude, and not understood why those Europeans would think such a thing.

I remember flying up to Washington in February of 2004, picked up at Sea-Tac, brought to a gallery in Seattle's Pioneer Square, where I watched the throngs pass by and I memorably remarked that it looked as if everyone has had the air let out of them, so used to, by then, seeing so many plus-sized Texans.

Last October, for the first time since 2002, Big Ed left Texas, well, other than going to Oklahoma, which is Texas-lite. Big Ed rode with me to Arizona. I remember telling him he was going to be surprised at seeing so many deflated people, with so few looking like candidates for one of those "People of Walmart" photo collections, unlike what he was used to seeing in Texas.

Ironically, when people in Arizona saw Big Ed for the first time in years one after another remarked that Texas had made him skinny. Thus began a three week effort to fatten him up.

I would have thought the Arizona towns I have visited in recent years would show up higher on this List of American Cities. However, Chandler where one of my little sisters lives, along with my favorite brother-in-law, is the #68 fittest town. Mesa, where one of my other sisters winters in an RV concentration camp, is #66, fitter than Chandler. Phoenix at #71 and Gilbert at #83 are even less fit, almost as misfit as Fort Worth.

Chandler, Mesa and Gilbert have multiple parks, multiple public swimming pools, miles of paved trails, streets with sidewalks,and plenty of fresh fruit, often free for the picking.

So, I have no idea why those Arizona towns ranked nearly as poorly as Fort Worth, a town with few parks, zero (some claim three) public swimming pools, few streets with sidewalks, and the only fruit I know of free for the picking is maybe prickly pears.

Anyway, read the American College of Sport Medicine Fitness Summary for all its interesting insight...

Final May Wednesday Tornado Storm In Fort Worth

When I got vertical early this morning I thought I would be spending the day in Wichita Falls, hunkered down whilst yet one more thunderstorm blew in to town.

But, around noon I found myself heading southeast on Highway 287, heading to Tarrant Parkway in North Fort Worth.

Rain was already dripping when I headed to D/FW. By the time I got to Decatur the rain had turned copious, with lightning bolts added. But not much wind.

Reaching the Fort Worth outer limits the phones began getting noisy with weather warnings of the tornado danger, take cover sort.

Exiting the 287 pseudo freeway I made a quick stop at the Tarrant Parkway Target. A couple minutes later, leaving the Target, people were standing outside the entry, alarmed by the tornado sirens which had erupted whilst we were inside Target. Rather than making a dash for their vehicles most people just stood there taking photos of the scary looking clouds with their phones.

I opted for the mad dash option.

I ran to my vehicle and continued on, got to my destination, took care of that which brought me outdoors on such an inclement day, and then headed towards the nearby WinCo.

But, before I could get to WinCo what one might refer to as ALL HELL broke loose. Power went out, killing traffic lights. I made it to the Costco parking lot, with Costco a short distance from WinCo.

It was whilst sitting in that Costco parking lot I shot the video you see YouTubed below. We had no way of knowing if a tornado was nearby, or what to do. Shopping carts were blowing by in Wizard of Oz mode, along with multiple litter projectiles.

After several minutes of extreme storming it calmed down a little. So, I made my way to WinCo, which still had power. I was able to get my regular WinCo supplies, such as their grind it yourself peanut butter.

And then it was time to head back towards Wichita Falls. For a few miles it looked like the drive home might be calm. And then, well before Decatur, rain started up, with a thick black wall of clouds ahead, shooting lightning bolts. Soon we were inside that thick black wall, stopping to gas up in Decatur. By the time we reached Bowie regular clouds appeared, soon with more blue, than gray, visible above.

Anyway, I was glad to get back to my home location. I'm getting way too old for this type activity. And below is that aforementioned video...

Flooding Memorial Day Wichita Bluff Nature Area Hiking With Linda Lou

Feeling the need for some Memorial Day aerobically induced endorphins, acquired via hiking some elevation gain, at my current rather flat location on the planet I have only three options of which I am aware available within a reasonable distance, as in less than ten miles from my home location..

Those three locations which rise above the surrounding flatness would be hiking to the summit of Mount Wichita, hiking to the top of the Wichita Falls manmade waterfall, or the option I took today, which is by far the best of the three, that being hiking the Wichita Bluff Nature Area section of the Wichita Falls Circle Trail.

As you shall soon see the Wichita River is again in over its banks mode. Thus the Circle Trail accessed from the newly opened east access to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area is currently under water. So, it was to the original west access I took myself, which would make it soon past the WBNA entry point you are looking at above.

I did not check it out so as to be certain, but I am assuming Lucy Park is also once again under water, and thus the Circle Trail access to the manmade Wichita Falls is currently not accessible.

Today on this Memorial Day hiking occasion I saw more people than I have ever previously seen enjoying this location, which is one of the most scenic one can find at this location on the planet.

Above you are at the highest point in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, looking down at the flooding Wichita River, looking way bigger and closer than it usually looks.

And below we have gone as far as we can, without going into swimming mode, which would not be a practical thing to do at this location.

If you look closely you can see the rapidly flowing Wichita River on the other side of the line of green trees.

I do not plan on doing any BBQing on this Memorial Day. It is too HOT and humid.

Yesterday I heard from my favorite Skagit Valley nurse, Linda Lou, that she will be on assignment in Seattle most of June, staying at a location in Seattle's Mount Baker neighborhood.

Since I knew this area overlooked Lake Washington, and that the I-90 tunnel goes under Mount Baker on its way to floating across the lake, I asked Linda Lou if she would be having a good view of that bridge for photo documenting purposes, so as to show people who can not even manage to build a simple little bridge over dry land that in modern America they somehow manage to float big bridges over actual water.

Linda Lou confirmed she will have a good view of the bridge, and yes was the answer to my question asking if the Seattle Link light rail ran through the Mount Baker neighborhood. Linda Lou confirmed that that was the case and that a station was within close walking distance.

So Linda Lou will be using modern public transit to move herself all over the Seattle zone. What a concept.

Maybe Linda Lou will take some closeup photos of the new Seattle Waterfront when she is out and about.

I am also curious to see via a photo of the I-90 floating bridge if the Link light rail installation is underway. That link of the Link, when completed, will make a loop through Bellevue, and then over the other floating bridge at the north end of Lake Washington. With a link, I think, off that loop, going to Redmond and the Microsoft complex. I know the downtown Bellevue section of that link is via a tunnel, of which the boring has been underway for quite some time. But, I have read no news about it for quite some time.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, when will Molly the Trolley be able to roll over any of those pitiful little bridges which have been under slow motion construction for years? Will Molly the Trolley roll by what remains of Radio Shack's corporate headquarters? What a boom town...

Tale Of Two Town's Population Boom: One Horizontal One Vertical

This past week's news gave me an opportunity I have not enjoyed previously. That being the two big cities with which I am most familiar, Fort Worth and Seattle, sharing a piece of news.

Thus, for the first time ever I can directly compare how the same news is reported in Fort Worth compared to Seattle, as evidenced by the two town's dominant newspapers, those being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram vs. the Seattle Times.

Just the article titles and the photos used to illustrate are revealing. Above we see the example from the Star-Telegram's Fort Worth’s booming growth refuses to slow down as city becomes 13th largest in U.S. article, while below we see the example from the Seattle Times Big-city growth slows across U.S. — but Seattle still ranks No. 2 in 2018 article.

The Seattle Times article about this subject is detailed, factual, comprehensive, well-written, and long. And the article has generated dozens upon dozens of intelligent comments reflecting wide ranging points of view.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about this subject is simplistic, reads like propaganda, and is not long. And the article has generated only a few comments, and those comments are short, simple-minded, for the most part, and with most not intelligently reflective of any point of view worth reflecting.

Let's take a look at the first four paragraphs of these two articles for illustrative purposes, and then end with a doozy of an embarrassing propaganda paragraph in the Star-Telegram article.

First the first four paragraphs from the Star-Telegram article...

The boom shows no sign of ending.

Fort Worth is now the 13th-largest city in the United States, behind Jacksonville, Florida, and ahead of Columbus, Ohio, as well as San Francisco, according to the latest Census Bureau population estimates released Thursday.

“Fort Worth’s rapid growth speaks to our incredible quality of life, business friendly climate and affordable cost of living,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. “Of course, substantial growth presents both great opportunities as well as new challenges to strategically manage our growth without compromising what makes Fort Worth a unique place to live, work, and play.”

Last year, Fort Worth ranked 15th but the city added 19,552 people between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018, to reach a population of 895,000. It was the third-largest gain behind Phoenix and San Antonio.

And now the first four paragraphs from the Seattle Times article...

Seattle’s decade of record-breaking growth may be slowing down, but it’s not done yet. There are still a lot more folks coming than going.

Census data released Thursday shows that from July 1, 2017, to July 1, 2018, the city’s population grew by more than 15,000, bringing the total to 745,000.

That pencils out to a one-year increase of 2.1%, which ranks Seattle as the second-fastest growing among the 50 most-populous U.S. cities. We were just a fraction behind No. 1, Fort Worth, Texas.

Even so, Seattle is slowing down a little. One year earlier, from 2016 to 2017, the city added 19,000 people, achieving a growth rate of 2.7%. And the year before that, Seattle grew even faster, and ranked No. 1 in the nation. In fact, last year’s 2.1% growth rate was Seattle’s slowest since 2010, when the city was still feeling the effects of the nationwide recession.

Okay, before we get to that aforementioned paragraph of embarrassing propaganda, mention needs to be made of the idiotic statement from Fort Worth's recently re-elected mayor, one of Donald Trump's best friends, and rumored former girl friend, Betsy Price.

Betsy thinks Fort Worth's population is growing due to the town's incredible quality of life and friendly business climate? Have we mentioned previously the town has way too few parks for a town of its size, that those parks, for the most part, do not have modern facilities, but do have a lot of outhouses. That most of the town's streets have no sidewalks. And there are no (some claim there are three) public pools. This town with the friendly business climate fails over and over and over again when trying to attract a corporation to re-locate, or open a facility, despite big bribes and incentives.

Fort Worth's population is growing fast because the town has long had HUGE areas of wide open spaces, due to annexing HUGE areas of open prairie, expanding the town's city limits.

When I moved to Texas it was to the hamlet of Haslet, at the north boundary of Fort Worth. Across the street, in Fort Worth, as far as one could see one saw open land, with Fort Worth's puny skyline poking up like matchsticks way in the distance. Same thing to the west and east, except for the matchsticks. Now, two decades later, all that land is filled in with thousands of houses. And a couple large shopping complexes. Little was done to upgrade roads, add new parks, install adequate drainage, resulting in a mess of a bad urban planning not worthy of a modern American city.

This unlimited open land population growth factor was mentioned by a couple Fort Worth locals in comments on this subject on the Star-Telegram's prize winning star columnist Bud Kennedy's Facebook post about this article in his newspaper.

A couple of those cogent comments...

Don Wheeler: Fort Worth: Where urban sprawl apparently has no limits.

Dan Pariseau: Bud, do you think Ft Worth has thought out this growth and developed the City correctly? Or as I feel that the city has grown in a haphazard way, with not much serious thought given to existing neighborhoods and infrastructure, like flooding problems, crumbling streets, and sewers not able to handle the loads now.

So, clearly Fort Worth is not totally populated with propaganda purveyors lacking in common sense regarding their town's population growth and its resulting sprawl.

A town like Seattle has no open land to expand to. Seattle is surrounded by large bodies of water and other towns. San Francisco and several other big American towns also do not have what Fort Worth has, as in HUGE areas of undeveloped land. Towns like Seattle and San Francisco have to build vertical when their populations increase. Poorly planned urban sprawl is not an option in modern well-developed American towns.

And now that aforementioned paragraph of embarrassingly dumb propaganda in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about the town's population boom...

“The jump to 13th largest city in the U.S. will boost Fort Worth’s recognition worldwide as a formidable city in its own right and help draw more visitors and business investments,” said Bill Thornton, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. “The Dallas-Fort Worth region, now fourth-largest metro, and the Texas brand continue to attract business and top talent to fuel our economy. When people see that Fort Worth is larger than San Francisco, it should pique some curiosity about what’s going on here.”

Oh my, where does one start on this nonsense? Okay, you living in the rest of the world, has Fort Worth's population jump caused you to recognize the town as a formidable city?

Within the last year I recollect an article somewhere in local Fort Worth media lamenting a study which had used some sort of analytical criteria to determine that while Fort Worth, at that point in time, was America's 17th biggest town, it was at #48, or #49, in being recognized. I assume people were asked what they knew about a particular town. And with Fort Worth the answer likely usually was that it was near Dallas, with nothing else about the town on the nation's, or world's, recognition radar screen..

Luckily few people outside the town know to answer that Fort Worth is that town that encourages its people to go inner tubing in the town's e.coli polluted river while listening to music playing from an imaginary island. Or that the town is the biggest in the nation with the fewest sidewalks. Or parks. Or that the town is the outhouse capital of America.

An increasing number of American's are becoming aware of the fact that Fort Worth is the host to America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Being the 13th biggest city will draw more visitors? To see what? To visit Heritage Park at the north end of Fort Worth's downtown? That park, celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, has been a boarded up eyesore for over a decade, in that town about which imaginary curiosity is piquing, wondering what is going on in this American boomtown.

Heritage Park overlooks America's Biggest Boondoggle. Does any legitimately booming American town sport something like a boarded up city park overlooking a public works disaster mucking up a huge area of their town's landscape with bridges being built in slow motion over dry land?

Is there no limit to the delusions? Fort Worth's population boom is not fueled by booming business coming to town, by corporations re-locating to Fort Worth, or by an imaginary incredible quality of life.

The population boom is fueled by people coming to the Dallas Fort Worth Metro zone needing a place to live, while Fort Worth has wide open spaces upon which to build new homes. That is the one and only actual factual explanation for Fort Worth's population increase...