This Saturday at noon I entered the Tandy Hills from View Street for the first time since the Prairie Fest, two weeks ago.
All that remains from the Prairie Fest is some orange markings on the grass and the art installation you see in the picture.
I know, post Prairie Fest that I read what this art installation was called or was supposed to signify.
But, my pathetically bad memory, combined with my pathetic case of AADD, has rendered that memory missing.
I think the forest of stick phalli, arranged in a circle, was signifying the fertility of spring. Maybe. Was it called "The Fertile Spring?" I wonder how many years this art installation will remain standing?
I saw today that the Tandy Hills Bamboo Teepee art installation is down to only 3 poles. If it loses one more pole that teepee is coming down.
I had an encounter with a coyote today. I was coming down a hill, it was heading up. It saw me and quickly turned around and ran off. I had no chance to take a picture. I have now encountered both a coyote and a roadrunner on the Tandy Hills.
After hiking like a maniac on the HOT Tandy Hills I took my HOT self to Town Talk, just like I do every Saturday.
Today I saw something at Town Talk that there was no way I was not buying. "Estilo Puget Sound Sopa de Almeja Con Tocino Receta del Restaurante Ivar's," it says on the package. Along with "Ivar's Since 1938." And "Acres of Clams."
Ivar's is a Seattle institution. Ivar was a restaurateur who had a famous Seattle waterfront restaurant, which in his later years, he greatly expanded, opening Ivar's in many locations. Wikipedia has an article about Ivar Haglund.
Why Ivar's is selling clam chowder in packaging in Spanish and where it is being sold is a mystery to me. Well, I know it is being sold today at Town Talk, but where did Town Talk get it? When Town Talk gets a new thing, like this, at checkout they give you a piece of paper with the directions on how to cook it.
The title at the top of the instructions says, "INSTRUCTIONS FOR IVAR'S PUGET SOUND STYLE CLAM CHOWDER."
You reading this in the Puget Sound zone, did you know there was a Puget Sound style clam chowder? I sure didn't.
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....
We are already halfway through April. I tire of lamenting the rapid passage of time.
I got up about the same time the sun did this morning. As you can see, looking at one of my views of the outdoor world, it is yet one more blue sky morning in Texas.
Yesterday's predicted Thunderstorm did not arrive in my location. I saw no mention made of lightning striking in other locations in North Texas, when I checked the news this morning.
CatsPaw identified the big purple wildflower I found on the top of Mount Tandy yesterday as a variety of bearded iris. Iris's are one of the flowers grown commercially in the Skagit Valley of Washington, along with daffodils, tulips and flags.
Speaking of Washington. I did not know, til I read it this morning, that a new section of light rail is under construction in Seattle, with the new line extending from downtown to the University of Washington.
It is a subway line. Building the subway tunnel workers discovered some long buried artifacts from earlier years. Items like shoes and long sections of boardwalk. Seattle used to have really steep hills that were made less steep by using water to do what was called re-grading.
Recently Mr. and Mrs. Galtex were in Seattle, doing some lamenting about the steep hills. I wonder if they knew the hills used to be way steeper and taller?
This morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram I read some lamenting about the lack of regional transit planning in this slightly backwards zone. It does sort of appall me that no one seems to think it makes sense to have a mass transit system connecting all the towns that make up the D/FW Metroplex.
Minimally, you would think someone would think it a good idea to connect Dallas and Fort Worth to Arlington's Six Flags/Cowboy Stadium/Ballpark in Arlington/Hurricane Harbor zone with a people moving system like the Dallas DART trains.
It is time to change the subject from the lack of public transit, where I am currently located, to last night's setting sun seen as I walked back here from doing my cat tending duties at Miss Puerto Rico's. The sun was glowing reddish-orange.
I suspect smoke from wildfires may have contributed to the coloring of the sun.
I think I will go swimming before it gets any later.
I have had myself a long day. And it's only a little past 6. I was up way before the sun this morning. In the pool for a long swim soon after the sun arrived. Up in Hurst in the noon time frame, which put me late on the Tandy Hills.
Hence the long Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man. It was semi-HOT on the hills today. In the 80s.
I encountered a pair of humans on the hills today. It sort of startled me. I was lost in my thoughts when suddenly a pair of what appeared to be hippies, who may have been living on the Tandy Hills since the 1960s, were right in front of me.
This may have been some sort of ghostly apparition.
The Paradise Center Scandal continues to be scandalous. I've written, maybe, 20 postings on this subject, on two blogs. These postings are generating dozens of comments a day. Putting it all together it becomes sort of a soap opera. You have villains, heroes, good guys, bad guys, nutcases and really creepy creeps.
The news of Elizabeth Taylor's passing really hit me today. The last star of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I just watched "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" a couple weeks ago. Elizabeth Taylor may have been at her peak in that movie. As was Paul Newman. Now they are both gone. It's depressing. To me, this is the saddest passing since Jackie Kennedy died.
Speaking of making me feel old, this morning Betty Jo Bouvier sent me a link to a funny YouTube video about "Fun Seattle Stuff You May Remember."
I remembered a lot of it. And put it on my Washington Blog. When I watched the "We Love It In Seattle" video I could not help but wonder if such a video could be made with Fort Worth material. Methinks not. Were Elvis or the Beatles ever in Fort Worth? Any killer whales make their debut on the Fort Worth waterfront?
Anyway, I have had myself a day and I still have hours to go.
You can watch the "We Love It In Seattle" video below....
It is Friday coming up on 5 in the afternoon in North Texas. Currently we are 4 degrees shy of 90 degrees.
I've got the ceiling fan spinning and am thinking of turning on the A/C for the first time this year.
If this was July and I was in the Northwest at 86 degrees, the locals would be in full whine mode over the horrible heatwave overheating everyone.
A couple days ago I read on Mr. Galtex's latest blogging about the Galtex's visit to Seattle, among his ponderings of things to consider regarding the idea of moving from Fort Worth to Seattle, was that he would be perpetually pale.
It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.
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.
I must disabuse Mr. Galtex of an erroneous notion. I have not had a single sunburn since I moved to Texas. In Washington I seldom survived a summer without getting sunburned badly at least once. In Texas my face remains suntanned year round, lesser so in winter. In Washington, in summer, I would get suntanned all over. Front, back, legs. In Texas all that gets tanned, in summer, is my back, face and arms.
Why is that?
Well, In Texas you can stand to be out in the sun at 100 degrees or more for an hour at the most. In Washington on a sunny summer day you can easily stay outside all day long, thus absorbing a lot of sun rays. If it's rainy on the west side, I could go east of the mountains and stay at Sun Lakes State Park for 4 days and come home suntanned.
In Texas, in North Central Texas, there really are no beaches where you would want and go spend a day. In Washington I had the pick of 100s of miles of beaches, on saltwater and lakes, where the day could be spent, outside, where you could have a fire and roast weenies. I can't imagine spending a day at a Lake Grapevine beach, with a fire, in July.
So, Mr. Galtex, when you and Gail move to Seattle, by the end of your first August, you will likely find yourself darker tanned than you've ever been. And then by October that will have faded to pale, until the next June, when you can begin the darkening process again.
Another big difference regarding suntans in Texas and Washington. I have seldom slathered on sunscreen in Texas. In Washington if I knew I was going to be out in the sun, I would slather on the SPF 30.
It was well into the 70s when I hiked the Tandy Hills today. Very pleasant with a minimalist need for outerwear.
The burned log I found laying atop the Tandy Escarpment yesterday was gone today. All that remained was a blackened spot on the Escarpment and ash. Where did the log go?
Yet one more Tandy Hills Mystery to add to the Bamboo Teepee and randomly placed rusted vehicles.
I've got the windows open with absolute minimalist clothing and I am overheating.
I think it is time for the first turning on of the ceiling fan in 2011.
Okay, the fan is spinning. Let's see if it cools me off.
I heard from Mr. Galtex regarding me swiping a couple of his Seattle photos. I mentioned this in a blogging earlier today. He said someone ratted me out. I hate snitches.
Mr. Galtex told me it's raining. In Seattle. That is shocking news.
I need to go attend to some rattlesnakes now. The ceiling fan has done its job.
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.
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.
As you can clearly see, by the long shadow, I am walking fast and carrying a big stick and wearing a shirt today for a windy short hike on the Tandy Hills.
I do not think I will be going swimming in the morning. It only got in the low 60s today. By morning the water in the pool will have likely cooled to a temperature that may be sufficiently low to induce an unwanted excessive shivering reaction.
I went to Town Talk after I was done Tandying. I have only one thing to say about Town Talk today. I wish people with hacking coughs would not go out in public. God knows what I was exposed to today in Town Talk.
I believe Gail Galtex and her husband are heading to Seattle today for the first time. Transplants to Fort Worth from Austin, the Galtex's are looking for a more cosmopolitan place to live. And are hoping Seattle may be the place.
I just checked the Seattle weather. Rain and temperatures in the 50s. I was afraid this would happen. March is not a good time to go to Seattle and hope the weather gods decide to remove the clouds and reveal the mountains.
Last week Western Washington had a clear day or two that the locals told me were gorgeous. I'm hoping the clouds part for the Galtex's and they get to see what Seattle and environs look like after a fresh scrubbing by Mother Nature, with the air sparkling clean and smelling of evergreens, with mountains and water in all directions. And, unlike here, in Texas, very little litter.
The Galtex's should find taking the light rail from Sea-Tac International to the downtown Seattle transit tunnel, to their hotel, to be a bit more convenient than the convoluted mass transit they had to use to lug their luggage from their downtown Fort Worth abode to the Fort Worth transit center to make their way to D/FW International..
At 63, currently, it is 10 degrees warmer than Seattle is right now. I have now shut my windows. I am not a big fan of getting chilly.
Usually I start my blogging day with the sunrise view from my portal on the world.
Tonight I am really seriously mixing it up by ending my blogging day with the sunset view from my portal on the world.
It does not look all that different. Sun comes up, sun goes down.
It's been one more miserably cold day in Texas.
When I lived in the balmy, semi-tropical Pacific Northwest zone of Western Washington I was of the impression that winter in the south was like being in Southern California.
Not Siberia.
Today the sun rose with a temperature of 14 with a REAL FEEL of -10. Tonight the sun goes down with a temperature of 23 with a REAL FEEL of 1. That is 1 degree Fahrenheit.
Right now, up in where I should be living, Seattle, it is currently 44, with a REAL FEEL of 41.
Looking at the Seattle 5 day forecast, above, it appears they will be having a couple sunny days, followed by a rather cloudy one, and then rain. And then some more rain.
This is reminding me why, usually, I remember what it is I like about living in Texas. That being the ability to enjoy the Great Outdoors whenever you want, for the most part. But not right now. Unless sliding on ice while being bitterly cold is your thing.
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?"
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.
From my point of view the article did not quite get to the real reason behind why many thought the Streetcar plan was yet one more Fort Worth Boondoggle in the making. And just did not make sense.
From the article this one paragraph bugged me...
"Fort Worth’s historical attitude of giving little value to mass transit was probably a factor in the decision as well. Funding for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) has also been on the low side compared to other cities, and the accepted view has always been that it’s mostly poor people who ride the bus — another reason the system gets little respect. Thus, better mass transit options have always been considered pretty much off the political radar screen."
Mostly poor people ride the bus? Why is that? And why is that the Fort Worth attitude towards bus riding? I've actually had someone tell me this in person when I opined that I thought riding the Fort Worth buses was fun, due to their theme park like wild ride aspect.
Now, the only other big city bus system that I have used is Seattle's. No one in Seattle would opine that only poor people use the bus.
In the picture above you are looking at the Pioneer Square station in the Seattle bus tunnel. Notice how many buses there are. This was on August 7, 2008. A Thursday, about 3 in the afternoon.
Seattle has a population a little over a half million. Fort Worth has a population over 700,000. Yet Seattle's downtown is way larger than Fort Worth's. There are several vertical malls, several department stores, grocery stores, theaters, two sports stadiums, museums, a symphony hall, Pike Place Market, all sorts of downtown attractions. And a lot of people from one end of downtown to the other, each and every day of the year.
Serving downtown Seattle, public transportation-wise, are surface buses, bus tunnel buses, light rail that runs through the bus tunnel, the SLUT streetcar and the Monorail. You can be at the Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is) hop on the Monorail to Westlake Center (an actual downtown square, unlike Fort Worth's Sundance Square, which is parking lots), take the escalator from the Monorail level to the bus tunnel level and hop on a bus, or train, to take you to the International District's sports stadiums, or stop at any of the other stations, along the way.
All this transit, except for the Monorail and the SLUT streetcar is free. You start paying once you exit downtown.
Is anyone familiar with Fort Worth getting the point I am making here?
I've only touched upon a few of the attractions in downtown Seattle that make public transportation a viable and necessary option. Another reason public transit in downtown Seattle is necessary and viable is because a lot of people live downtown.
Fort Worth's streetcar plan, from what I understood, was that the hope was, build it and the attractions, and people will come. That has worked in some other locales. Like Dallas, Vancouver, Portland and others. But, in Fort Worth, methinks the foundation is way too weak for that sort of dynamic to occur.
I don't believe the "T" currently has bus routes circulating through downtown Fort Worth. Unless you count Molly the Trolley. That fact is rather telling, streetcar need-wise.
What Fort Worth actually needs to do is figure out why there are no vertical malls downtown, no grocery stores, no department stores.
Figure out why Heritage Park is a boarded up eyesore.
Seattle has a park similar to Heritage Park. It also had some problems. I believe a murder was committed in Seattle's Freeway Park. Freeway Park has water features, like Heritage Park did. When Seattle's Freeway Park became a problem Seattle did not put cyclone fence around it and turn off the water features. Seattle fixed the problem.
To my eyes, Fort Worth tends not to actually address its problems. Instead it pretends the problems aren't problems. How long is that embarrassing courthouse annex going to stand? It's been years now since I read it was coming down, with the historic courthouse to be restored to its original glory.
To sum up, in my opinion, Fort Worth needs to figure out why its downtown does not have attractions that attract crowds of people day after day. And necessities (like grocery stores) that would make it a place people want to live. Fort Worth needs to figure out why, on the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town.
The year that downtown Fort Worth is not a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year is the year Fort Worth is actually ready to worry about building transit systems like streetcars.
Watch the video below I made of my Seattle visit of August 7, 2008. I was at Art in the Park in Pioneer Square (yet one more of Seattle's actual town squares). I walked to Westlake Center, then went into the bus tunnel. In the video you'll see one of Seattle's buses, on the surface, going by Westlake Center. In the bus tunnel you will see big, articulated buses, a lot of them, with a lot of people on board. You will notice that the bus I am on is standing room only. Picture the same scene in Fort Worth. You can't? Can you?
After the bus tunnel video I'll stick in one I made from the same day. Of Pike Place Market. On a summer Thursday afternoon. Make note of how big Pike Place is. In the video you see only a small fraction of the actual scope of the market. And note how many people are milling about. And how most of them look like they've had the air let out of them. You will see a big Texan or two, though.
Also, those who have heard me mention my disgust at how the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and downtown Fort Worth boosters touted Fort Worth's Santa Fe Rail Market as being modeled after Pike Place, well, the Pike Place video sort of shows you why I thought the local newspaper of record was not doing its job, and was pretty much spewing irresponsible propaganda....
And now a short walk through a small part of Pike Place Market...
Seattle does self-deprecating, as expressed in its newspapers, in a way I've never, or rarely seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I can't imagine why that is.
Really, I can't.
One of the lines in the P-I article says, "Seattle is a good place for young people, according to Forbes Magazine. Just not quite as good as practically every city in Texas."
Seattle ranked high, along with New York City for what Forbes called "Hipster Scenes," assigning a city a Coolness Rank and Nightlife Rank. Seattle was in 3rd place in Coolness and Nightlife. But, cost of living brought its score down, along with NYC.
In the Forbes article a sub-heading says "The Lone Star State Dominates."
Here's a blurb, "....uber-hip Austin is the best place to live if you're in your 20s and searching for a town filled with peers, good job prospects and fun things to do. The central-Texas metro, known both for a bustling tech community and a trendsetting music scene, ranks first on our list of America's Best Cities for Young Adults."
Houston ranked #2, Dallas #6 and San Antonio #9, hence the Lone Star State dominating line.
New York City came in #3, Chicago #4, Denver #5, Seattle #7 and Atlanta #8.
Seattle and NYC took a hit in the Forbes ranking due to their median age being older than other top ranked towns, with all the Texas towns ranked, being in the top 5 for the youthfulness of their median age.
Salt Lake City was ranked the most youthful. This must be a function of the Mormon tendency to over-reproduce.
I've never been to Minneapolis-St. Paul. That town came in at #38 out of 40 towns ranked, in terms of its nightlife.
I did not look at the entire list to see if Fort Worth showed up. It is well-known, in Fort Worth, that downtown Fort Worth is the liveliest downtown in Texas. It's true. Some magazine said so once....
This morning I mentioned that I was over come, again, with a bad case of "Why Bother Syndrome."
I can not say my case of WBS has gotten better as I have shuffled through today.
I have no idea what is ailing me. I suspect it is an allergy. It is not a cold. But, I'm stuffed up and have this weird slight difficulty breathing.
I'd blame my breathing woe on the recent reappearance of my Chesapeake neighbor and whatever it was they were doing to their gas well. But, that would be irrational. They are gone now.
I went to the Tandy Hills thinking some semi-fresh air might help. I had no trouble breathing going up the hills, which was my concern going in. If it weren't for needing to use a nasal spray to keep my nasal system working I'd think I was being a hypochondriac.
After MLK read my lament about suffering from a bout of WBS she prescribed a visit to downtown Fort Worth to give her a virtual visit to her old hometown, suggesting something weird/good/interesting might happen. Well, it is true that I don't think I have ever been in downtown Fort Worth when I did not see at least one weird thing.
But, sadly, the closest I could get to downtown Fort Worth today was looking at the stunning skyline of downtown Fort Worth from the Tandy Hills. So, MLK, that picture at the top is the best I could do for you today.
MLK's situation is the opposite of mine. I was exiled from Washington to Texas. MLK was exiled from Texas to Washington. MLK's specific location of exile is Tacoma. I know of one or two real serious nutjobs who live in Tacoma. MLK is not one of them.
I don't know when MLK was last in downtown Fort Worth.
It has changed drastically, and not in a good way, since I moved here, with the now defunct Radio Shack corporate headquarter's destruction of the huge, free parking lots and free subway that took you easily to the heart of downtown.
Fort Worth is now like downtown Seattle, well, not quite as bad as Seattle, but it is no longer easy to find free parking in the downtown Fort Worth zone. That last time I was there I paid, I think, 6 bucks to park in one of the Bass parking lots known as Sundance Square, for a couple hours.
The last time I parked in downtown Seattle, August 7, 2008, I paid, I think, $25 to park all day on a lot in Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square is not a collection of parking lots. Pioneer Square is an actual square, unlike Sundance Square, where there is no square, just parking lots. Where a square should be.
I think maybe I should go saloon hopping with Elsie Hotpepper. That might break me out of my current bad case of WBS.
