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04/06/04 Let's just do a light show
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From time to time, I share comments from some smart
friend or other with you. I have several smart friends. Some don't
mind being outed, but some prefer to be anonymous. A smart friend called
to say she has the perfect solution for Our Mayor's String Thing Bridges --
create virtual images of the bridges.
We laughed, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea.
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It's not like we don't have perfectly good bridges right now spanning our
glorified creek, which we with Texas exaggeration call the Trinity River.
The bridge Our Mayor is so hot to build right now is the Woodall Rogers
connection that will primarily benefit the Hicks/Perot Arena property owners
(which she adamantly opposed a few years ago). Her String Thing Bridge
goes nowhere. We could create a fake bridge (to go nowhere) with lights to
camouflage the existing bridge (which goes nowhere). The existing real
bridge may not be very pretty but it is very serviceable with the exception of a
couple of times a year when our glorified creek actually looks like a river for
a day or so. |
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DFW:
We should carry the idea of virtual people to City
Hall ... Wait, we
already have that, don't we?
We have a Mayor who works in a
different dimension than the one we elected her to
- The ODB Zone.
We have a City Council that has
a force field around the
horseshoe to keep them from hearing the words ofcommon folks, the ones who
elected them.
We have City Staff who
undergo some kind of mind-adjustment where
they learn how to drink coffee and not write
citations.
And, we
have a City Manager who keeps clicking his heels
and saying - Just a few more months and I will not
be in OZ anymore -- just a few more months and I
will not be in OZ anymore...
It can't
get any better than this, can it?
God help us if it does. |
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We have an arena, but no development. We don't need more hotels or office
buildings in Dallas right now. Why not create a virtual development at
Victory with fake buildings that light up at night and disappear in the daytime?
A fast forward Brigadoon that
reappears every night rather than every 100 years or so. A virtual
development at Victory would be good for the environment, would not add to the
congestion of the area and would not drain existing office buildings and hotels.
After we create a virtual Victory development, we could create the twin building
to Fountain Place and even One Main Place. Then there's the West Tower of
CityPlace with the sky bridge that was to span Central Expressway several
stories up and connect the two buildings that never happened. All those
broken promises for which we granted so many zoning concessions and tax
abatements could appear every night at sundown.
We were promised a back to basics mayor in 2002 and again in 2003. Our
Mayor drank the water at City Hall and caught Big Ticket fever that infects so
many down there. Instead of pot holes and "putting people first" (one of
the slogans from her campaign against the 2012 Olympics), Our Mayor now thinks
the Trinity Project is the most important thing Dallas will ever do. She
would have us believe that stinky, polluted sludge pit will be a water park
where people will gather to recreate and communicate.
We have recreation centers for recreation and communication, except the city is
so broke most of the centers are not available for evening meetings and many of
the centers are in serious need of maintenance and upkeep. Think what a
light show around your local rec center would do for its appearance.
There might be vandalism problems since we are so short of police officers.
Then again, we could do hundreds of virtual police officers at night.
We are about to go through a bunch more faux community meetings to "select" our
new Chief of Police, when the only person at City Hall with the authority to
hire or fire the Chief is our inept City MisManager, who already knows he wants
Danny Garcia. Anyone who attends these faux meetings is an idiot or a
backer of Danny Garcia. Everyone else knows the decision has been made
(the fix is in). Rather than have citizens give up their evenings to
attend these pretend community meetings, we could have virtual meetings.
There is no end to the possibilities for this city if we just cut out all
pretense of seriousness and create a fantasy world reflecting the wants of the
current Mayor and could change with her moods or the priorities of her
successor.
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Another smart friend reminded me of the warning from
Our Mayor's predecessor of virtual fire trucks responding to 911 calls if
Congress refused to let local governments levy sales taxes on internet
purchases. Was Con Jerk ahead of his time? Nah! |
Dr. Bill Gordon furnished information that AOL has at
aolsvc.aol.com/travel/favcities/people.adp.
The survey is about traveling and lists several categories:
Dallas did not
make the top 10 in any of those lists. However, we beat the heck out of
every city in the nation with our crime statistics.
Think of what the list would look like next year with our virtual city that
comes to life after dark and goes away in the daytime. Thousands of people
go to Florida just to watch the sun set on the Atlantic. It happens every
night, and people still go there to see it. Even the locals stop and enjoy
the view.
Imagine what it would be like in Dallas to have everyone stop what they are
doing at sunset and wait for our virtual city to emerge. It would be
spectacular and would make Dallas truly unique for something other than sex
clubs and criminal activity.
Dallas once was called the "Can Do" city, but now we cannot control crime or
book conventions or attract new businesses. A virtual city at night would
make the elite happy because it would cover up the squalor they have to observe
on their way to the Meyerson or their upcoming Opera House.
Speaking of the elite, where are all those thousands of tourists who were
supposed to be coming to town to see the Nasher Sculpture Garden?
Ft. Worth has the Kimball, but they also have the Texas Motor Speedway.
Ft. Worth is a city of culture that never forgets its Texas roots.
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200,000 on their best behavior at TMS;
Crowd courtesy ensures crime's no spoiler
at speedway
10:07 PM CDT 4/04/04
by Jeff
Mosier/The Dallas Morning News |
FORT
WORTH ? The origins of stock car racing stretch back to the 1940s, when
Southern moonshiners souped up their cars to outrun federal agents.
But don't expect today's fans to
resemble NASCAR's outlaw forefathers. Police and fans said the crime rate is
at rock bottom at Texas Motor Speedway despite the more than 200,000 people
flocking to the track Sunday and tens of thousands camping there for much of
the week. ... |
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Can you imagine Dallas hosting 200,000 people with lots of money to spend?
Unfortunately, the people spending millions in Ft. Worth are not the kind of
folks Our Downtown Betters want spending their money here. The ODB want
facilities for small crowds where they can see and be seen. The ODB want
events with high dollar tickets to keep out the riffraff who are only supposed
to shell out their hard earned money to pay the taxes to build and subsidize
facilities intended for the city's elite whose entertainment tastes and needs
are more refined than Joe and Jane Taxpayers. |
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Dylan Cave:
Great deal for Ft. Worth. In fact, more and
more often I get the feeling that our neighbors to
the west are leaving us further and further behind.
In relation to a new stadium, it would be a little ridiculous for the Jones
camp to try to draw any kind of parallel between the two facilities,
but any time the DMN
runs a story I am suspicious of their motives.
What did you think about the Mayor opposing the transfer of the zoo to
Dallas County? At first glance, it upsets me because it's not like
the city can properly take care of it, or anything
else for that matter. |
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We need this virtual city idea. While the ODB (and the wanabee's) are
mixing so elegantly in expensive public facilities, the folks paying the bills
will be able to stare in wonder at the fake structures and bridges -- every
night. What more should Dallas taxpayers expect for our money?
Certainly not smooth streets, green parks and fair pay for our police and
firefighters!
Those wounded officers who will be without income when they go past 13 weeks of
sick time will have something to do to take their minds off Our Mayor's
disloyalty and the City MisManager's vindictiveness and their creditors.
That foo foo group of thinkers who want to "Imagine a River" ought to really get
into the idea of IMAGING a whole city.
Instead of "strike up the band", we could say "light up the city".
Instead of focusing on the mundane ("a city that works"), we could be a city
that plays.
Endless possibilities, all we have to do -- is just do it!
sb
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