The Day Before Rapture 2011 In Texas With No Pool No Hiking & No Sundance Square

In the picture you are looking at my view of the world from my prone position, still in bed, this morning of May 20, one day before Rapture 2011.

Tomorrow, according to experts in the field of end of world predictions, around 200 million select Christians will disappear, while Planet Earth is rocked by a humongous earthquake.

One horrible disaster after another will follow in the ensuing months before Planet Earth meets its final doom in a calamitous fire on October 21.

According to the Rapture 2011 spokesman, John Dekruyff, tomorrow's Rapture will be what is known as a "Rolling Rapture." Gradually moving through the time zones, with the Rapture beginning at the international date line, then moving westward, with the first major landmass to be Raptured being New Zealand.

The international date line had not been invented at the time the Bible was invented, so how did the Rapture 2011 experts make this particular determination, I can't help but wonder?

As we can clearly see on one of the hundreds of billboards dotting the American landscape, the Bible guarantees Judgment Day May 21. And suggests we "Cry Mightily unto God."

And now on to equally goofy, but totally secular news.

In this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram I learned that a park-like plaza has long been part of the Sundance Square Master Plan.

There has been a long term plan to put a plaza in the square?

I have long opined that it is very goofy to call Fort Worth's downtown "Sundance Square." When there is no square.

When I was first in Fort Worth and saw the signs pointing to Sundance Square I found it confusing. Where was the square? Eventually I decided Sundance Square was the collection of parking lots at the heart of Fort Worth's downtown.

Very few big cities are able to have big downtown parking lots, because downtown real estate is so valuable. Fort Worth is very exceptional. Those big parking lots are just one of the many reasons Fort Worth is the Envy of the Nation.

An interesting tidbit from this morning's revelation about the incoming plaza was this, "Sundance Square is considering constructing two to three buildings as part of its long-planned central plaza project in the heart of its popular downtown entertainment, residential, office and shopping district."

First off, the dullest big city downtown I have ever seen is not popular. There are very few people residing in this dull downtown. Which is why there are no grocery stores in downtown Fort Worth.

Fort Worth is the only city in America, with a population over 500,000, with not a single downtown department store.

No, Macys. No Nordstroms. No Neiman-Marcus. Not even a Sears or a Penneys. Or a Target. Not even a Wal-Mart.

Are you able to detect that it annoys me when the Star-Telegram does its usual propaganda regarding something to do with Fort Worth? When the Star-Telegram misleads the locals into thinking downtown Fort Worth is a dynamic, popular, bustling zone, it does a disservice to the locals.

What does a local think when they visit the downtown of a city which actually does have a popular downtown entertainment, residential, office and shopping district?

Why does the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not put in some effort into determining why downtown Fort Worth is the only city in America with a population over 500,000 with no downtown grocery store or department store?

And yes, I do know, now, that Sundance Square is the name given the downtown Fort Worth re-development project. I shudder to wonder what downtown Fort Worth was like before this re-development.

I really think the Fort Worth Ruling Oligarchy needs to change the Sundance Square misnomer to something else. Or actually build that plaza, rather than study the feasibility of doing so, and call that new plaza Sundance Square, and end the confusion of the out of area tourists who visit downtown Fort Worth and can't figure out where Sundance Square is.

Yes, I realize that downtown Fort Worth does not attract very many out of area tourists, but, still, it would be a good idea to not be confusing to those few who do visit Fort Worth's downtown, who find themselves wasting time looking for the mysterious, non-existent Sundance Square.

Can you tell I am cranky this morning? I can't go swimming this morning because my pool got its first chemical shock of the year, yesterday, late in the afternoon. I have had no salubrious, endorphin producing hiking activity for 2 days. Wednesday due to being stuck up in Hurst, Thursday due to a doctor visit.

I may not get in any salubrious, endorphin producing hiking activity today, due to the likelihood of incoming thunderstorms.

My crankiness is likely going to be increasing exponentially.

Looking At The Forlorn Skyline Of Dull Downtown Fort Worth While Thinking About How To Compile The MHMR-Gate Scandal

In the picture we are on the Tandy Hills looking west at the forlorn skyline of the dull downtown of Fort Worth, Texas.

As you can see, today at noon, the forlorn skyline of dull downtown Fort Worth is under a gray, hazy sky. It has brightened up a bit since noon.

Usually I describe this view as looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Then a couple days ago, someone asked me if I really think the Fort Worth had a beautiful downtown with a stunning skyline.

Or was I being sarcastic?

I thought the sarcasm was obvious, but I guess I need to start using my sarcasm font when the sarcasm is not sarcastic enough for easy discernment.

The Tandy Hills hiking was nice today. Not too hot, not too cold.

Despite yesterday saying I wouldn't, this morning I braved the 8 degrees of freezing temperature and went swimming. Just like yesterday, due to the air being way colder than the water it made it almost seem like a heated pool.

Change of subject to the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

A "Sick-n-Tired Employee," of the Paradise Center or of MHMR asked me....

Mr. Durango,

Could we suggest that you, if feasible, combine all the various postings and comments about this foul smelling scandal in one section or something like that so that we and the public could examine more closely this major scandal?

Well, this is a blog, I don't really have the ability to arrange the blog postings. It doesn't work like a website. I suppose I could webpage the various bloggings and postings. But that would take some time to do. I'll think about it.

The Texas Dawn Of The Second Saturday Of The Second Month Of 2011 Is Abraham Lincoln's & My Little Sister's Birthday

The second Saturday of the second month of 2011 has dawned at 32 degrees with a nice clear blue sky heading to a possible high in the 60s today.

Today is the birthday of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. It is also the birthday of My Great Little Sister, Jackie.

I spoke to my Great Little Sister last week and I know she told me what she was doing for her birthday, but my ever worse memory did not record what that was. I have a vague recollection either Las Vegas or a cruise was involved.

Each morning seems to be bringing fresh fodder to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Seating Scandal. The City of Arlington released pages of emails which made it clear that Arlington building code inspectors were not happy with the temporary seating and how the Cowboys people were handling the problem.

I had the longest phone talk in over 2 and a half years with a Tacoma person last night. I learned all sorts of interesting things.

The big Fort Worth news in this morning's Star-Telegram is that Downtown Fort Worth is getting a grocery store.

Oliver's Fine Foods.

Downtown Fort Worth is currently the only city in America with a population over 500,000 without a downtown grocery store or department store.

I am not going swimming this morning.

Back On The Tandy Hills While Green With Envy Thinking About How Fort Worth Impresses America

I parked on top of Mount Tandy today to go do some cross country hilly trail hiking. I figured the trails would still be muddy, and they were, but making my own mud-free trail worked out fine.

In the picture we are to the south of the top of Mount Tandy and the Fort Worth Space Needle, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I have not viewed the stunning skyline of beautiful Downtown Fort Worth from the Tandy Hills since before ESPN arrived on one of the Sundance Square parking lots to broadcast Super Bowl coverage to the world to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth forever.

Unfortunately that did not quite work out the way Fort Worth boosters hoped it would. Unless the hope was to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth to being a snowy, icebound location.

This morning, it was in the news that polling showed that the national image of Arlington went from 73.7 percent of America having no impression of Arlington, prior to the Super Bowl, to having even less of an impression, at 74.4 percent, after the Super Bowl.

That is not impressive.

I can't help but wonder if the same polling company that polled about the Super Bowl city, Arlington, also polled about Dallas and Fort Worth.

I really don't think any reasonable person would argue with the proposition that a much higher percentage of Americans have some impression of Dallas than they do of Fort Worth.

When I am on the road, out of Texas, and asked where I'm from, I say Dallas, because people know about Dallas. When I lived in Washington and was on the road, and asked where I was from, I usually did not say Mount Vernon, or the Skagit Valley. I'd say I was from Seattle, because people know about Seattle and where it is.

I'd guess a very high percentage of Americans have an impression of Dallas, J.R. Ewing, JFK, Cotton Bowl, a recognizable skyline, among other things.

I'd guess, if polled, the percent of Americans who have an impression of Fort Worth would be closer to the percentage of Americans who have an impression of Arlington.

Or lower.

Afterall, Arlington has Six Flags, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Those 3 things would seem likely to have left an impression on some Americans as being associated with Arlington.

But, the only thing in Fort Worth that is remotely iconic and is associated with Fort Worth is the Fort Worth Stockyards. The Stockyards would seem to be the only Fort Worth thing that might give Fort Worth a possibility of having made more of an impression on America than Arlington.

Methinks Fort Worth could do some work on making itself more known to the rest of America. Like the town could arrest its mayor on corruption charges. Or have big protests on the Sundance Square parking lots demanding Regime Change.

I am constantly appalled at my bad memory. I'd forgotten that Fort Worth was recently the Envy of the Nation because a Fort Worth school won the Rose Bowl. I'm sure that really amped up the national impression of Fort Worth as being a very impressive place.

I think Fort Worth's best hope to make a national impression may be through the good works of the Fort Worth savior, J.D. Granger, and his Trinity River Vision.

When the Trinity River Vision finally opens for business I am sure it will be the talk of the nation.

If not the world.

The Fort Worth version of San Antonio's Riverwalk will likely once more make Fort Worth the Envy of the Nation, with cities and towns, far and wide, Green with Envy.

I'm done now.

On The Tandy Hills Looking At A Smoggy Fog Enveloping Downtown Fort Worth As Locals Go Nuts Over The Pittsburgh Steelers & ESPN

I don't know if that is fog or smog dimming the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth today when I looked west from the Tandy Hills.

Of the four short skyscrapers that you can see through the fog/smog, the one on the left is the Omni Convention Center Hotel. This is where one of the NFL teams is staying that is in North Texas for the Super Cold Bowl next Sunday.

I don't know if Fort Worth gets the Pittsburgh Steelers team or the New Orleans Saints. I know the buildings in both the downtowns of Dallas and Fort Worth have been color-cordinated to match the conference colors that town's team.

I know I've read which town is which color, but I forget. I believe one is blue, one is red. I also know I could likely get the answer to this probing question with about 5 seconds of Googling.

I just went to the Star-Telegram to see if I could easily find out what team is in town.

Well, apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived today and were greeted by a big crowd of screaming football fans. An ESPN person said they'd never seen this level of excitement so early in Super Bowl Week.

The Star-Telegram said Fort Worth has never seen anything like ESPN.

Below is a blurb from the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, titled A Texas-sized howdy for ESPN on 'opening day' ...

The TCU band blasted its music across Sundance Square, and the cheerleaders rocked the crowd. Mayor Mike Moncrief meted out some inspirational words, and Ed Bass shook more than a few hands. And that was all before 5 o'clock in the morning, all before ESPN even began broadcasting Monday from downtown Fort Worth.

ESPN folks said they never had seen such enthusiasm, not this early in Super Bowl week anyway. And, of course, Fort Worth never has seen anything like ESPN. 

This is all starting to seem somehow sad to me. Maybe I would understand if I were a football fan.

Up Early The Last Thursday Of The First Month Of 2011 After A Night Of Nightmares & A Morning Learning From Mayor Moncrief That Fort Worth Has Been Cleaned For The Super Bowl

I am up way before the sun looking at the view from my patio prison cell this last Thursday of the first month of 2011.

It is not freezing this morning at 3 degrees above the frost point. Even though it is not freezing I still think I'll avoid swimming this morning.

I had a rough night last night. I was up late talking to Elsie Hotpepper. After that I had myself a fitful night of nightmares.

Both nightmares had me back in the house I grew up in in Burlington, Washington. The first nightmare involved little troll-like monsters who were like Tasmanian Devil human flesh eaters.

The troll nightmare did not bother me too much, but the second nightmare of the night did. It involved snakes, lots of them. Inside the house, with my mom chasing them with a broom. At one point it was a copperhead and it was heading right at me.

I woke up.

And then immediately after waking up something made me think a snake was slithering on my bed. This caused me to let out what must have been a bloodcurdling scream.

On a different nightmare note. This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram online had an article on the front page titled "Mayor declares Fort Worth ready for Super Bowl Party."

I assumed if Fort Worth's Moron Mayor Mike Moncrief was doing some declaring that it likely was goofy and mockworthy. But, the Star-Telegram would not let me read the article. I'd get about 2 paragraphs in and I'd get switched back to the front page.

Eventually I succeeded in quickly copying and pasting the article into Notepad so I could successfully search for the goofy Moncrief quote.

I was not disappointed.

Here is what Moncrief said in declaring that Fort Worth is ready for the Super Bowl, even though the game is not being played in Fort Worth, "Are you ready for some football? Fort Worth is ready. When you're going to have a party at your house, you clean house. You want to make your home attractive. We are ready."

I guess I need to go visit Downtown Fort Worth. I can't imagine what it must look like now that it has been cleaned and made attractive.

Also, the article about being ready said that volunteers will be posted throughout the city to help visitors navigate Cowtown.

I can't help but wonder how this navigation system works. And where it is that visitors are navigating to.

The NFL & City Of Fort Worth Ban Yum Yum Food Truck From Downtown For The Duration Of The Super Bowl Madness

I learned of the latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense this morning from Agent cd0103.

And then a few minutes later I logged into Facebook to get beat by the Scrabble Queen of Washington.

On Facebook I saw this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense mentioned in a Facebook comment by former Fort Worth native, MBK, currently exiled in Tacoma.

MBK said, "Is Fort Worth turning into OLDFOGIEVILLE? So much for small businesses getting a piece of the Super Bowl action!"

MBK is referencing Downtown Fort Worth banning the very popular Yum Yum Food Truck til after the Super Bowl.

The Yum Yum Food Truck also has a Facebook page, where MBK further commented about this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense, saying, "This is outrageous. The old FOGIES that run DTFW should be ashamed! The restaurants downtown won't be able to provide good service to massive crowds. It will be WORSE than during concerts/Main Street Arts Fest. Big Wigs are turning downtown to Oldfogieville!"

Til sanity returns the Yum Yum Food Truck is moving to south of Downtown Fort Worth, to 1220 Pennsylvania Avenue in the Hospital District.

However there is a complication. The Food Network is coming to Downtown Fort Worth next week, with the hope of taping a show called Outrageous Foods on the Yum Yum Food Truck. Apparently Yum Yum is known for its massive 10 pound Super Super Monster Burrito.

On December 14 the Fort Worth City Toadies, I mean, City Council, adopted an ordinance that bans non-NFL Vendors from Downtown Fort Worth. Only approved Vendor Booths will be allowed on the parking lots known as Sundance Square.

The verbiage in the City Council's order banning non-NFL Vendors is interesting, saying this ordinance is needed to "promote and protect the festive image in the downtown area" and to remove anything that might "hinder security, obstruct traffic or cause congestion."

The City's Code Compliance Director claims the city is not out to harm any business, saying "We're just looking to protect that area  of downtown."

Yes, I can see how the Yum Yum Food Truck selling hamburgers and burritos would pose a security risk, impede the flow of traffic and greatly diminish that festive image that Downtown Fort Worth is so good at projecting.

I wonder how many Porta-Potties are being brought in to line up on the Sundance Square Parking Lots? Can only NFL-Approved Porta-Potties be used? Are they bringing in some of those really cool custom made Dallas Cowboy Porta-Potties that look so attractive on the Dallas Cowboy Stadium parking lots?

With the Super Bowl being played in Arlington and with Downtown Fort Worth really not having all that much going for it, I'm wondering why the Fort Worth Fogies think there is going to be a big crowd downtown during the Super Bowl Week? Downtown Fort Worth does not have a single department store. Not a one. No Nordstroms, Neiman-Marcus, Macy's. Not even a Sears.

This department store deficit really is a sad indication of just how lively Downtown Fort Worth actually is. But removing the Yum Yum Food Truck will help make Downtown Fort Worth appropriately festive.

The Yum Yum Food Truck's location, prior to its banning, had been on Throckmorton by the Tarrant County Courthouse. You know, that building across the street from Downtown Fort Worth's #1 Neglected Eyesore, Heritage Park. In its current sad condition Heritage Park really does not add a lot to that festive image Downtown Fort Worth thinks it is protecting and promoting.

And now the smallest downtown, of any town in America with over a half million residents, doesn't even have a Yum Yum Food Truck. Plenty of Grackles though. Very festive birds.

Fort Worth Does Not Need A Bus Tunnel Under Its Downtown To Take You To Its Professional Sports Stadiums

This week's Fort Worth Weekly had an interesting article about the demise of the Fort Worth Streetcar. The article attempts to figure out what went wrong. And who went wrong.

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...

Still Suffering From Why Bother Syndrome Even After Tandy Hill Hiking & Looking At Downtown Fort Worth

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.