On Top Of Mount Tandy Not Really Thinking Fort Worth Bad Seattle Good

It is yet one more beautiful day in May in North Texas, which you can clearly see, looking west from high atop Mount Tandy at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth water guys were back today, back to fix their washed out creek crossings, driving down the Tandy Highway in slow motion with a piece of heavy equipment emitting an extremely annoying beep that wreaked havoc with the peace and serenity of the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

Speaking of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. And who isn't?

So, a week or so ago, in Fort Worth Weekly's Blotch blog, Jeff Prince wrote a blogging about the epidemic of phallic symbols that have been seen sprouting up all over Tarrant County.

Somehow Durango was brought into the discussion, with someone named Anonymous saying, "All you need to know about that Durango dude is Fort Worth bad, Seattle good."

I was shocked. I do not recollect ever saying that Fort Worth is bad. Or that Seattle is good.

I have opined a time or two about things I may find a bit perplexing. Like when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first breathlessly told us about what was then called, I think, Trinity Uptown, saying this would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

I remember thinking, and asking, does this embarrassing newspaper not realize they may have a reader or two who has actually been to Vancouver and automatically knows how absurd it is to say anything could possibly turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South?

Then today, whilst hiking the hills, it occurred to me that I may have been wrong. The Star-Telegram may have meant that Trinity Uptown would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver, Washington of the South.

Now that might be possible. Both Vancouver, WA and Fort Worth, TX share a river with a bigger, nearby city. Vancouver with Portland, Fort Worth with Dallas. I suppose if Fort Worth did some major urban renewal it could turn itself into the Vancouver, WA of the South. Why Fort Worth would want to do this is a mystery to me.

Another time I remember making fun of something in Fort Worth, is also Star-Telegram related. That ridiculous newspaper claimed a very lame, long defunct, little food court called the Santa Fe Rail Market was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and public markets in Europe and was the first such public market in Texas. This particular Fort Worth Star-Telegram whopper was like shooting dumb fish in a barrel.

Now, regarding me supposedly suggesting that Fort Worth is bad, Seattle is good. Well, you have to keep in mind, til I came to Texas it was towns like Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., Portland, San Francisco, Denver, San Diego, with which I was most familiar. I'd not seen a downtown that did not seem like a big city downtown, of the sort that Fort Worth is, til I came to Texas.

I was used to lively downtowns where lots of people live, with lots of stores, restaurants and other good stuff. When I would read something about Fort Worth being the best downtown in Texas, or some other such accolade, it would just astound me and have me wondering, do these people ever leave Texas?

Now, a month or two ago a pair of lifelong Texans, now living among the few living in downtown Fort Worth, the Galtex's, ventured up to Seattle, the first time for Mrs. Galtex.

Below is what Mr. Galtex had to say about downtown Seattle. I share this with you as a way to help illuminate why at times, maybe, I sound like I'm saying Fort Worth is bad, Seattle is good, to put it simplistically, but I have perfectly valid reasons why I think such a thing.

Below are some excerpts from various postings from Mr. Galtex's blog........

We spent our first afternoon as we always spend our first afternoon in a new place, walking around the neighborhood. My first impressions are all good: we are in the middle of downtown, and within three or four blocks we've found a Belgian waffle shop, a gelateria, several Thai restaurants, three supermarkets, twelvety-seven coffee shops, and more fresh seafood than I could eat in a lifetime. People actually live here.

The train from SeaTac airport to downtown costs only $2.50, and it took us to within a block of our hotel. Buses and trains converge in the downtown area in a large underground tunnel, making it very easy to transfer from one line to another. A public transportation system that is logically designed and efficiently run -- it's enough to make an old Texan like me weep with joy.

Seattle is clean: little trash, no dog poop.

If you think there are a lot of Starbucks where you live, come to Seattle, where there are at least two on every block. High-rise office buildings have several, conveniently placed on intermediate floors. We've seen one McDonald's.

Seattle has fewer people than Fort Worth and half as many as Dallas. Yet downtown Seattle is much more urban than anything in Texas.

Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of apartments downtown and in nearby neighborhoods like Belltown and South Lake Union, and lots of residents means lots of shops and restaurants, even shopping malls, that are not dependent on customers in cars.

Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.

There you go, now if you wanted to be simplistic you could say Mr. Galtex is saying Fort Worth bad, Seattle good. But what Mr. Galtex is actually doing is describing his perceptions of Seattle, sort of compared to his perceptions of Fort Worth. Just like I've done over the years....

It's No April Fool's Joke: Fort Worth Is An All American City Finalist Due To Its Homeless People Programs, Mental Health Programs & Anti-Graffiti Programs

This morning Elsie Hotpepper pointed me towards something really bizarre.

On Wednesday Fort Worth was selected as a finalist in the National Civic League's All-America City Competition.

Along with 25 other cities, most of which I've never heard of, like several towns in California, such as Downey, Dublin, Yucaipa and Huntington Park.

Others I've never heard of include Eden, North Carolina. Dakota County, Nebraska. Dedham, Massachusetts. Belleville, Illinois. Lakeview, Oregon. Taylor Landing, Texas. Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Beloit, Wisconsin. Scott City, Kansas. Marshalltown, Iowa.

And then there are the towns I have heard of, like Cincinnati, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Kenai in Alaska, Torrance in California, Lakewood in Colorado, Tupelo, Ann Arbor and Seaside, Oregon.

Seaside, Oregon? That's just a little coastal town.

The criteria for being on this list is also what makes it very bizarre that Fort Worth is on it.

The cities are picked based on the strength of three specific items. Those being the town's participation in the Directions Home program that addresses the homeless people problem, the Mental Health Connection program, plus something called the We Are Legal Anti-Graffiti program.

Where do I start?

First off, you've got to hear what Fort Worth's goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief said about Fort Worth being in the running for this supposedly prestigious award....

"Fort Worth's credentials are stronger than a horseradish milkshake. Homelessness is not a new problem, but a different solution was certainly in order. Fort Worth was no longer going to sit on the sidelines. It was time to act. The same can be said for our local mental health care system, which was disjointed and ineffective. This community came together and did something about it."

I can't help but wonder if maybe Fort Worth's mayor is possibly insane.

Yes, Fort Worth took a different tack with its homeless population problem than most modern American cities. For instance, there was a functioning Shantytown west of Beach Street that the City of Fort Worth removed, right before the Super Bowl.

The City of Fort Worth's city government has been "studying" the homeless problem for years. Task forces have been sent out to modern American cities like Denver, Portland and Seattle to see how those towns handle the homeless. And then the task force comes back to Fort Worth where nothing changes.

The community came together and did something about Fort Worth's disjointed, ineffective mental health care system?

Really?

Because Fort Worth does not have a real newspaper the mayor of Fort Worth likely has not heard of the MHMR-TC shenanigans and the Paradise Center Scandal. How did the community come together and do something about Fort Worth's ineffective mental health care system? By sitting mute while the county mental health agency booted out a well-functioning mental health facility because that facility would not go along with an insurance monetizing scheme?

And what is it that Fort Worth has done about the graffiti problem?

Fort Worth's credentials are stronger than a horseradish milkshake? Does no one check over Fort Worth's mayor's press releases before they get released, to reduce the goofiness quotient?

Note to the National Civic League: On June 17 in Kansas City,  Missouri, if you pick Fort Worth as an All-American City based on your stated criteria, you will have rendered your All-American City Award meaningless.

Mount Rainier Made A Rare March Appearance For The Viewing Pleasure Of The Fort Worth Galtex's

I think I've already mentioned that a pair of downtown Fort Worth residents, the Galtex's, are up in Seattle enjoying the rain.

Yesterday the Galtex's took an elevator ride in Seattle's tallest building, the Columbia Center, to the Sky View observation deck.

The clouds parted, giving the Galtex's a rare March look at The Mountain known as Rainier.

In downtown Fort Worth, no matter how high you are, you can see no mountains.

Mr. Galtex has a blog called Glimpses on which he documents the Galtex Travel Adventures. Currently Mr. Galtex is documenting their Seattle visit.

I like Mr. Galtex's blog profile description of himself, "I am retired and do pretty much what I damn well please." I have no idea why Mr. Galtex uses a pseudonym on his blog, calling himself Mike Wegner.

A couple paragraphs I liked from Mr. Galtex's "Gone Seattle-ing" blogging....

We spent our first afternoon as we always spend our first afternoon in a new place, walking around the neighborhood. My first impressions are all good: we are in the middle of downtown, and within three or four blocks we've found a Belgian waffle shop, a gelateria, several Thai restaurants, three supermarkets, twelvety-seven coffee shops, and more fresh seafood than I could eat in a lifetime. People actually live here.

The train from SeaTac airport to downtown costs only $2.50, and it took us to within a block of our hotel. Buses and trains converge in the downtown area in a large underground tunnel, making it very easy to transfer from one line to another. A public transportation system that is logically designed and efficiently run -- it's enough to make an old Texan like me weep with joy.

I have no idea what number twelvety-seven is. But it sounds like a lot.

You can find a link to Mr. Galtex's Seattle photos on his blogging about Seattle.

In the photo with the Space Needle in the background you are looking at the Alexander Calder sculpture, "The Eagle" in the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park.

As you can also see, when the forecast is for clouds and rain in Seattle it does not mean for certain that is what is going to happen.

The Alexander Calder Eagle sculpture resided in downtown Fort Worth when I moved to Texas. It was displayed in front of the Fort Worth National Bank until 1999. I thought it was in front of the Bank One building, but Google tells me otherwise.

The Eagle was purchased by the Seattle Art Museum and spirited away in the middle of the night, to some local consternation, if  I remember right.

Please don't tell Mr. Galtex I swiped a couple of his photos from his Flickr account where it says the photos are copyrighted with all rights reserved.

The Galtex's Made It From Fort Worth To Seattle And So Far No Rain Has Fallen On Them

Well, I have heard from Mr. Galtex. He and Gail have made it to Seattle. And so far they have not been rained on. The forecast above seems that it might be indicating that this may not be the case for the duration of their visit.

Below is the report from Seattle from Mr. Galtex....

Hi Durango -- Gail and I made it here fine, and the train took us from the airport to within a block of our hotel. Yummy Thai food for dinner last night. First impression is that Seattle has a great downtown, lots of activity and places. And we haven't seen a drop of rain, yet.

Mr. Galtex and the Mrs. are staying at a hotel across the street from the new Seattle Public Library. Somehow this new building made it on a list of the Top 100, (or was it 150?) buildings in America, as picked by, I think, the public. I remember wondering how the rest of America already knew about Seattle's new library.

The Galtex's are within easy walking distance of the Seattle Art Museum, Pike Place Market, the monorail to the Seattle Center, the transit tunnel that runs under downtown, allowing one to zip, for free, across downtown Seattle quickly. They are also a short distance from the Seattle Waterfront where they can hop on a ferry to get out of the rain when it inevitably arrives.

Seattle has several downtown grocery stores, in addition to the sprawling multi-level Pikes Place Market. There are also 3 or 4 vertical malls in downtown Seattle, along with several large department stores, like the flagship Nordstroms.

Is "flagship" the proper term for a store chain's home location?

At Pike Place the Galtex's can find the world's first Starbucks. Among a lot of other things.

Meanwhile, back in Fort Worth, from whence the Galtex's came, you will find no downtown grocery stores, no vertical malls, no department stores, no tunnel to zip you around the tiny downtown.

I do not know if there will be a ferry to take people across the little pond that may result from the Trinity River Vision, giving Fort Worth a waterfront.

In Fort Worth, currently, you will find the air heated 3 degrees warmer than it currently is heated in Seattle. And, as you can see below, there is only one day in the 5 day forecast for Fort Worth where rain is scheduled.

Thanking Departing Despot Mike Moncrief For Making Fort Worth The Best Place To Live On The Planet

There was a letter to the editor in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram that I could not tell if the letter writer was making some sort of sarcastic joke or not.

The letter writer was thanking Fort Worth's departing despot, Mayor Mike Moncrief, for the amazingly wonderful job he has done as mayor, overseeing the poking of thousands of holes in his town, from which the departing despot profited hugely due to his ability to skirt by the ethics violations in the form of the mayor's rather obvious conflicts of interest, that would likely have the mayor in jail by now if Fort Worth was a city in the United States.

Below is the perplexing letter...

Thanks, Mayor Mike

Thank you, Mayor Mike Moncrief, for making Fort Worth the best place to live on the planet. Maybe we could send a carload of TCU players to bring you back in time for the May 14 election. We're sure going to miss your positive leadership. I am proud to say you still have my vote.

-- Steve McCans, Fort Worth

Mayor Mike Moncrief made Fort Worth the best place to live on the planet? What planet is this person speaking of? This person is suggesting a carload of TCU players kidnap the mayor so that he can continue his reign? Positive leadership? Has this person not seen a Fort Worth City Council meeting presided by the departing despot?

Fort Worth's Shanty Town For Homeless People Under Attack By Fort Worth

I just listened to the most depressing video. Basically the world as we know it will soon come to an end. As in, within the next two years the American economy will collapse, the U.S. dollar will no longer be the world's reserve currency, inflation will be astronomical, food riots will break out.

And Shanty Towns will spring up all over America, as Americans lose their homes. On the depressing video the depressing video maker said Shanty Towns are already springing up, some big, like in Fresno, California, visited by that savior of the downtrodden, Oprah Winfrey.

The depressing video did not mention depressing Fort Worth and its Shanty Town. I knew of Fort Worth's Homeless Person Problem. But I did not know we had a Shanty Town of around 50 tents, until one of Fort Worth's Best Texans, Steve Doeung told me about it.

The Shanty Town is not all that far from my abode. Just a short distance west of the Tandy Hills Natural Area, on the south side of the Trinity River near Riverside Drive and Lancaster Avenue.

The Fort Worth Shanty Town has a mayor, There is a kitchen tent with two camp stoves. Another tent serves as the camp's food storehouse. The residents of Fort Worth's Shanty Town are pretty much a cross section of America; Black, White, Mexican, a mom with a baby in a stroller, some old, some young.

Some of the residents have lived in Fort Worth's Shanty Town since it was first founded, over two years ago.

Despite sending out study groups to other towns to take a look at their Homeless People Programs, in places like Portland, Seattle and Denver, the City of Fort Worth has not come up with any new solutions to the Homeless Problem

Local churches fill the void, delivering supplies to Fort Worth's Shanty Town.

And now, despite Fort Worth's Shanty Town not really creating any real problems. And despite the fact that Fort Worth's Shanty Town is providing a community where Homeless People can sleep safe at night, the City of Fort Worth apparently has decided the Homeless People must abandon their camp and move elsewhere.

City Code Officers descended upon Fort Worth's Shanty Town and supposedly found many violations.

I can't help but wonder if the veracity of those violations is just as legitimate as what Fort Worth Code Officers found during their Gestapo Raids on Steve Doeung's Carter Avenue home, in ham-handed attempts to stifle Steve Doeung in his successful fight against the City of Fort Worth and Chesapeake Energy.

Supposedly the Fort Worth Shanty Town is on private property with the owner unaware his property has sprouted a town and with the owner telling the Code Officers that the Shanty Town residents did not have his permission to set up camp.

The residents of Fort Worth's Shanty Town believe they have been given 10 days to get out of their Shanty Town. However, Brandon Bennett, he being Fort Worth's Code Compliance Director said no vacate deadline has been issued, but criminal trespass citations could start being issued if the property owner wants the Homeless People off his property.

The whole scenario reminds me of the Grapes of Wrath. The part where the Joad Family finally got to a safe camp, ironically run by the government, with the locals not wanting them there and trying to stage an incident to cause the shut down of the camp.

Methinks that since it seems obvious that Fort Worth's Shanty Town is solving a problem the City of Fort Worth has not addressed, as in, finding a safe place for Homeless People to seek refuge, that rather than working to destroy the Shanty Town, the City of Fort Worth, working with area churches, should find an acceptable piece of land, somewhere, land with running water. Bring in Port-a-Potties. Fort Worth has a big supply of Port-a-Potties in its parks. And bring in a couple big trash bins.

Fort Worth's City Homeless Program Director, Otis Thornton, claims Fort Worth's homeless shelters have room to accommodate the Shanty Town's residents and blames the church groups for causing the Shanty Town to grow by delivering food and supplies.

I really find it hard to believe that all these people would prefer living in tents in a Shanty Town if there were decent facilities available to accommodate them.

And, please, don't let me hear some City of Fort Worth official get all high and mighty about supposed code violations in Fort Worth's Shanty Town, not when more than one Fort Worth City Park lacks running water or restrooms, but has picnic facilities.

I wonder if my favorite Cambodian-American ever thought he would see something like Fort Worth's Shanty Town in the America he envisioned when his family escaped Cambodia to start a new life in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?

That is, the Brave who have a Home....

The Dawn Of January 2 Thinking About Fort Worth's City-Wide TCU Rose Bowl Victory Celebration

This morning we are looking at the dawn of January 2 of 2011 from Miss Puerto's freezing balcony.

It is only 23 degrees this morning. That's cold.

Very cold.

I learned this morning that Fort Worth's TCU football team won the Rose Bowl.

Ten years ago I don't think anyone could have thought of a way the above sentence could possibly make sense.

I read this morning, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, we will be having a city-wide celebration to celebrate TCU's stunning Rose Bowl victory.

We have not had a city-wide celebration here in Fort Worth for years. Not since some obscure Washington, D.C. lobbying group picked Fort Worth as one of the Top Ten Most Livable Communities in America.

I do not know, yet, how the city-wide TCU Victory celebration will manifest itself. Will Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief make another attempt to dye the Trinity River purple?

I have no idea what this Sunday, 2nd day of the New Year, has in store for me. All I can rule out is I am almost 100% certain I will not be going to church.

The City Of Fort Worth's Personal Ad: I Am Fort Worth & I Am Looking For Someone To Love Me

Earlier today, on my Washington Blog, I blogged about an amusing article in the Seattle P-I in which the article writer conjured up a personal ad for the City of Seattle based on the various lists, rankings and polls that had Seattle on them, to varying degrees of it being a good or bad thing.

Seattle's Personal Ad went like this...

"Even though I'm getting up there in years (I was born in 1869), I'd like to find a young companion. A college student, maybe. Don't let my age fool you; I've been told I'm pretty cool and fairly romantic. I've also been told I need to work on my personal appearance, but I'd rather read a book than pick out clothes. Our first date probably wouldn't be too extravagant, and we'd probably have to take the bus. (I'm not a good driver, and bad traffic only makes things worse.) We'd probably go for coffee, or maybe to the nation's best cocktail bar. Or maybe we'll just read a book. Did I mention I like to read? You should know I'm especially good with men and extremely gay-friendly."

Fort Worth's Personal Ad goes like this...

"Even though I have been around for parts of 3 centuries I am quite immature in many ways. I have a big brother who I have always been envious of. He sort of dominates me. I've always felt like no one notices me. However, I have been told I am very easy to live with. I don't like to read, am a bit overweight, oh, all right, I'll be honest. I'm fat. I'm not the prettiest thing to look at, a little rough around the edges. Let's just say my infrastructure could use some work. I don't require indoor plumbing. I don't mind outhouses. Did I already mention I don't like to read? I also do not like to exercise. I do like fried food, donuts, catfish and anything BBQed. I can take you out to the world's biggest honky tonk. I do have some self esteem issues. I have been known to give away favors in exchange for promises that are never delivered. I have had more holes drilled in me than any other place in America. I'm a very cheap date. Really easy to bribe. I'll do just about anything for you if you dangle the right amount of cash in front of me. Did I mention I don't like to read?"

Okay. That was fun....

Jumping To The Ground & Jogging Through My Dangerous Fort Worth Neighborhood

You are with me looking down to the ground from about 30 feet in the air, looking through the bars of my patio prison cell.

No, I am not contemplating jumping.

What I was contemplating when this picture was taken was going jogging. And doing so in a novel, never before attempted way. As in go jogging right from my front door, rather than drive to a park to jog on trails.

I  am now back from this experiment. On the plus side, it saved time to not drive anywhere. On the non-plus side, I like jogging in a park better than sidewalks with cars in close proximity.

And my chronic aching right foot woe came back, which contributed to the jogging not being what I'd call a huge success.

It was warm enough to do the jogging in shorts and t-shirt. I currently have my windows open, due to the fact that I did jog enough to get a bit overheated.

Windows open on December 30. I do not remember this being doable in my previous Decembers in Texas.

This morning I blogged on my Washington Blog about an amusing thing I read in the Seattle P-I. That being an article that used the various lists, rankings and polls on which Seattle appeared in 2010 to compile what a City of Seattle Personal Ad would be like.

This had me wondering if I had enough creative juice to conjure up what a City of Fort Worth Personal Ad would be like.

This might be difficult to conjure due to the fact that Fort Worth does not show up on all that many of those type lists. And the ones it does show up on are usually not all that flattering.

Or it is some bogus thing.

Like a D.C. lobbying group, naming Fort Worth as one of the Ten Most Livable Communities in America. Which had Fort Worth, without looking too closely at the validity of the 'award,' having a city-wide celebration to celebrate this tremendous honor, while other, more informed places, like Tacoma and Pierce County, politely said thank you and then ignored it. With no city-wide celebration.

I'll see if I can come up with a City of Fort Worth Personal Ad. Later today. If I have the energy.

Fort Worth's Desperate Search For A Visionary To Take The Town To Top-Tier Status

Sometimes my jaded view of the world makes it hard for me to detect if someone is being serious.

Or not.

One of those confusing moments came to me this morning as I was reading the letters to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I'll copy the letter below and below that I'll comment on the letter.....

Seeking visionaries

Where are our visionaries? Those with big, bold ideas and the drive to see them through? Perhaps not on the City Council, which recently put the brakes on the modern streetcar initiative.

Where are the folks who approved the convention center hotel, supported the Trinity River Vision, Lancaster corridor improvements and new downtown park?

Our city is on a roll. We have momentum that other cities would kill for. But we still lack aesthetics and services that seem so natural to more cosmopolitan cities. Modern streetcars (i.e. efficient, light-rail mobility) are a perfect next step in our evolution to top-tier status.

Dallas has become a national leader in public light-rail transportation, and Denton, too, will soon launch its A train service. That leaves Fort Worth lagging in its vision for solving growing transportation issues, air-quality issues and the continuing vibrancy of our downtown.

We had the government seed money, the feasibility study and popular support. Now it's gone. On leadership one once said, "Search the parks in all your cities, you'll find no statues of committees." When will a visionary leader step up to deliver streetcars to our downtown?

-- Allen Wallach, Fort Worth

Fort Worth is on a roll? With momentum other cities would kill for? What momentum? What roll? The momentum to be on a roll to have the most boondoggles in a row?

Visionaries who approved the convention center hotel, the Trinity River Vision, Lancaster corridor improvements and a new downtown park?

What is this new downtown park the letter writer speaks of? Renovating the Heritage Park boarded up eyesore?

Lancaster corridor improvements? The weeds have been pulled, some lights installed, the Spring Palace is no longer surrounded by cyclone fence. But where are the restaurants and other developments that were supposedly going to occur on this restored corridor?

Fort Worth lacks aesthetics and services that more cosmopolitan cities have, like modern streetcars. And having streetcars are a perfect next step to evolving to top-tier status.

Huh?

Okay, if streetcars are the next step to top-tier status, what in the world was the previous step? It can't be the Trinity River Vision. All that vision saw was copying what was being done in Dallas with its Trinity River Corridor Project. And then downscaling the Dallas Vision.

Was the previous step to top-tier status allowing one of the few unique things in downtown Fort Worth to become a boarded up eyesore, again referring to Heritage Park's  current status. Really, would any town with any pretensions to top-tier status allow a well-designed park to fall into such a state, what with that park being across the street from a county courthouse and adjacent to a jail?

I do agree with the letter writer that Fort Worth is in dire need of a visionary. A visionary with clear vision. Not the type visionary who copies what he or she sees elsewhere.

What Is Kathleen Hicks Doing In Europe While Fort Worth Loses Its Streetcar?

Last night Fort Worth's City Council voted to stop studying whether or not it made sense for Fort Worth to build a little 6 mile round trip streetcar system, made up of 3 streetcars, carrying around 2,000 people a day.

I was astonished to learn this morning that $821,000 was spent on the now aborted study.

That is a lot of money. Who got that money, I could not help but wonder? They could have paid me $500 and I could have told whoever needed to know that the Fort Wort Steetcar was not a viable idea at this point in time.

How much did Fort Worth spend studying the obviously flawed Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle before that long defunct project actually went ahead to its fruitless fruition? For $500 I would also have gladly told whoever needed to know that the Santa Fe Rail Market was a seriously flawed idea based on erroneous misconceptions.

The thing that really caught my eye in this morning's news about last night's Fort Worth City Council streetcar vote, was that Mayor Mike Moncrief had to break a 3/3 tie due to District 8 Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks being out of the country.

In Europe. On City of Fort Worth business.

I think I live in Ms. Hicks' district.

What in this impossibly strange world could Kathleen Hicks be doing in Europe that is somehow City of Fort Worth business. Who is paying for this junket in this city that can't keep its libraries and swimming pools open?

Is Kathleen Hicks over in Europe studying European Public Markets, getting ready for a Part II of the Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle? Remember how that particular boondoggle was supposedly modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market. Yet somehow what Fort Worth ended up with bore no resemblance to anything in Seattle. Or Europe.

Maybe Kathleen Hicks is over in Europe studying how it is that no European city has an embarrassing eyesore across the street from its courthouse, like Fort Worth's Heritage Park, with Heritage Park being one of the few unique things that used to be a good embellishment to downtown Fort Worth, but is now a boarded up, rundown mess overlooking the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

In Hollywood you can go on a bus tour of the scenes of various Hollywood areas of notoriety and scandal. I wonder if any tourist dollars could be made by taking tourists on bus tours of Fort Worth's various boondoggles? Maybe Molly the Trolley could be used in this endeavor.

CSI Investigates A Chesapeake-ish Fracking Operation In Nevada That Is Killing People

A few weeks ago I discovered video on demand on my AT & T U-verse DVR. This enabled me to watch  CSI this afternoon while I consumed lunch.

I would have thought I would have already heard mention made of this particular CSI episode, it being Episode 8 of Season 11. Titled "FRACKED"

This episode of CSI aired November 11.

That is a screen cap from the episode, from a sort of tutorial a CSI guy watched to wise himself up to the evils of hydraulic fracturing.

This episode of CSI was not the first time CSI has used a Fort Worth crime for story fodder.

Years ago CSI used the incident where a Fort Worth women left a man to die, stuck in her windshield, in her garage. Which actually sort of took place in my neighborhood. High crime, dangerous place to live that it is.

In the CSI Fracked episode, people in a little town outside Las Vegas are dying from real bad cancers. As well as their animals. A couple guys turn up dead. Clues lead the CSI guys to a farmer who is also dying. The farmer knows it is the Chesapeake alias that killed his wife, killed his animals and is now killing him. The farmer does not quite know what the chemical stew is that the Chesapeake alias has caused to be in his water, but he knows it is explosive.

So, before the CSI guys can bring the guy in, he drops a match in his well, causing it to kaboom, toasting him.

One of the CSI guys, a CSI guy who an Erin Brockovich type newspaper lady, also dying from the Chesapeake alias cancer, had clued him into the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, turned on one of the now dead farmer's faucets and proceeded to light it on fire, like something you'd see in GASLAND.

Eventually the clues lead the CSI guys to the heart of darkness, that being the location of the Chesapeake alias's operation in the valley it is killing. There they find one of those "Evaporation Ponds" that Chesapeake Energy has installed in various locations on Fort Worth's landscape.

The first guy who had been murdered, got wonked on the head while trying to get a sample of the water in the pond, then was left in the pond til he drowned, and then moved to another pond where kids were skinnydipping. The next guy to get murdered was a Chesapeake alias inspector who was trying to do the right thing. Then the unseen Aubrey McClendon alias ordered one of his flaks to kill the whistleblower and then he ordered another flak to kill the whistleblower's killer.

I tell you, those people up in DISH think they have it bad with Chesapeake Energy and the other Barnett Shale Drillers. Apparently it is much worse in Nevada. And just like here in Fort Worth, the powers that be, the regulating agencies, the government, the people who are supposed to look out for the welfare of the people, look the other way, even when the crime is direct murder and murder by poisoning a water supply.

Anyway, this was an interesting episode of CSI, using Fort Worth and its environs for story fodder again.