08/23/04  Lots of Sin

Every time I drive by the three former topless bars at NW Hy and Webb Chapel Ext, I am reminded of the Hermit crab concept. 

Has anybody thought of pulling together some investors, with aggressive city incentives, to put something there before these guys come up with another loophole to use?

One idea I had: an amusement park.  Nothing fancy, just a small carnival, in
permanent fashion. 

The locals hang out at Bachman with their kids and sweethearts until 9 pm or beyond.  I'm sure they get tired of the lake sometimes.  A few carnival rides plays right in line with bringing family fun back to Bachman.  You can pick up the pace of a date by walking from the lake to the carnival.  You can also bring down the tempo of the date by leaving the carnival and walking around the lake.

The old Baby Dolls could be renovated to have the walls facing the parking
lots replaced with steel roll-down garage type doors.  That building can be
filled with walk-up games for prizes (darts, ring toss, basketball, etc), and a snack bar.  The old Planet Venus could be renovated into administration offices, First Aid center and large restrooms.  The old Santa Fe building can be demolished and removed. 

The rest of the paved areas there would be divided up as needed for parking and rides.  I would imagine that a great deal of visitors would walk up from the neighborhood or the lake, but an educated planner would have to come up with the appropriate numbers for parking.

Additionally, there is some building in the back that looks like it was built underneath a giant steel shelter.  If there is nothing going on there, that building could be removed and the steel shelter used to shade small rides for the smallest of children. 

If there is a business there, maybe we can leave it alone or see if they will take a relocation offer. 

Next to that shelter is an empty grass lot that could be useful.  The old Taco
Cabana could be torn down and used for parking.  I would like to see some
landscaping put back into the entire area.

One major issue affecting this would be a safe way for people to cross the
street from the park to the lake.  With kids everywhere, we would have to
come up with an arched bridge or something.  Everything would have to be in accordance with airport safety height regs, etc. 

I'm sure there a thousand legal items to address about the entire project, but this is just an idea.

Shane Reber