Archive for February, 2009

Fort Worth dawn over railroad tracks.

Today, as I drove down 6th Street south coming back from Berry Used Appliance where I had arranged for delivery of a clothes drier to replace the one that gave up two weeks ago, I passed by the austere-looking brick and stone edifice of George C.  Clark school, one of many inner-city school buildings, beside the chain link fence surrounding it, and suddenly a heaving loneliness pierced through the spring sunshine, and seemed to drench the entire landscape with the coloring civil solitude, of the peace and quiet determination of a district where people who are not told about in novels and magazines, whose feats are not considered in newspapers, dwell. The hosues here, clapboard frame bungalos, small by modern standards, were built in the first half of the 20th century and seem about at the end of their usefulness, the delay in pulling them down and replacing them with something better being, in fine, that there is nothing better we currently build, for everyday working people, than this housing. The cheap and garish apartments that replace these kinds of dwellings,which you can see at major intersections off of McCart, in cost and in who live there, are certainly inferior to these houses in many ways, from the standpoint of the people who live there. Still, no one but Habitat for Humanity continues to try to build affordable single family houses anymore, and so such homes are not vouchsafed to many Americans. The situation is bound to worsen, I suppose.

I had just watched a podcast suggesting our economy is in a long-term downgrade, and perhaps it had put me in a reflective mood, but as I turned right on Biddison Avenue, next to the rough grass and weeds besides the railroad track, I saw how the road here rises up and down, its trajectory and grading probably dating back to the 50′s. This was a place I had not realized existed. The scene took in long, narrow shotgun houses somehow both dull and multi-hued, with clothes drying in back yards, and an old man lining up a string where he planned to build a fence.

This is the other Fort Worth, in the other America. It’s beautiful, somehow, in its rusticity. It has a type of historic preservation based not in public agitation and outcry but in actual relative abandonment, and  it is lonely, in the strangest way, to be driving through and feeling as if this is a part of town that only the people living here and God know about.

Arts and Culture

At the Modern Blog, a game of “find me” is going on, with the prize two free tickets to the museum. The game is played this way: a blog post describes a work of art, and you email them what the artwork is to win. The only problem is if you haven’t recently been to the Modern, you probably don’t have a frame of reference on their holdings. That said, it is one of the most innovate blog promotions I’ve seen for a while.

Steve Smith at West and Clear Hates Valentines day.Eleiva at Chronotopia, on a similar note, says that she doesn’t think there should be just one day for all sweethearts. 

Steve also interviews Barbara Crane, whose retrospective is currently showing at the Amon Carter, in a podcast.  The Amon Carter Blog provides links to reviews of their new show, Barbara Crane retrospective …

And if you’re interested in Fort Worth Opera, you’d probably be interested in another Steve post, which is almost a year old but still relevant: “Darren Woods Raises the Bar at Fort Worth Opera.”  I do admit to being less than completely convinced that the new operas Woods has staged are bringing in young people. Meanwhile, we at Renaissance will be bringing a review of tonight’s performance of La Boheme as soon as Dean can be convinced to sit down and write it; he’s viewing as I write.

Meanwhile, Inkognegro blogs about his feelings during a college sociology class exercise spotlighting income inequality. Matthew J. Stevens considers the Stars’ recent game performance and worries they may not have the right stuff for the playoffs,  Food and Fort Worth updates with a review of Bombay Indian Grill near Central Market  . and Fort Worth ISD will be eligible for about 119 million in the new economic stimulus package, according to the Extra Credit Blog.

Blogging about their professions

David over at The Ranch gives us an ad which shows what Really Great Public Transit could look like … are you watching Kevin at Fortworthology?

Urban Issues and Metro:

Conservation Districts Could Slow Teardowns – Kevin at FortWorthology writes that neighborhoods in Fort Worth may soon be allowed to vote themselves “conversation districts” with the power to vote on new construction.  And adds his own wrap up on Heritage Park.

Pete Wann writes about the direction we need to take with regard to the energy crisis (a localized solution) at Cowtown Chronicles.

Fort Worth Can Do updates with additional research and information on possible health side effects of natural gas drilling.

Personal Blogs:

Kevin at 5ksandcabernets writes about the struggles of being a non-custodial dad of a toddler.

My out of town twitter friends:

David N. Wilson in North Carolina deserves honorable mention for his post “Writing 2.0″ in which he makes an effort to begin exploration of the economic and creative issues raised by online publishing, networking and Web 2.0.

And in New Mexico at the Joe Review, Joe has had some more bad brew: check out his review of Lizard Head Red.

Perhaps our Free in Fort Worth column is ahead of its time. Today, on Yahoo.com, a new economic report says that American consumers have largely stopped borrowing and started saving. In Local Economy: Worst is Yet to Come?according to Howard Davidowitz, American’s standard of living is undergoing a “permanent change.” While this could be a bad thing if you’re a mall retailer or a seller of upscale goods, in the long term it’s going to be good for the country’s economic health, he says.

Fort Worth is not in as bad a shape as coastal regions, largely because our housing market has always had values kept down by our relatively high property tax rates, and so we haven’t sufferered much from falling house values. Energy-related spending in the area has probably helped us as well. But we are really no different than the rest of the country in our credit and borrowing  habits. How many times have I looked at myself and my compatriots and thought, “We consume far more than we produce in economic terms. What is going to happen to us as a result?”

It’s pretty simple, really. If you watch the podcast you will see Davidowitz describe various steps: running out of money, then being more practical when it comes to food and clothing, not buying a new car, perhaps sending a child to a state university instead of private school.

This brings us to the work of radio host Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University. Long before the current crisis, Dave was constructing a new financial paradigm for American consumers that led to turning away from borrowing and towards savings, in order to master what he calls “Financial Peace.” Since my husband and I made the difficult decision to go to this program a year and a half ago, (really, the way things were going, the decision was made for us by our own desperation) we have tried to rethink our spending and savings habits, and since that time, we haven’t borrowed money from any bank or credit card. We have a savings account and it always has something in it. We talk about money. We make hard decisions about what we can buy. Sometimes we say “no” to stuff we want.  I know, it’s unAmerican. But we needed to make these decisions to keep our household afloat.

I heartily recommend economy, financial management, and Financial Peace University in response to the crisis Davidowitz is talking about. When he tells the interviewer that yes, this could be a good thing, I have to agree. After reforming our household finances, life is not yet heaven on earth for me and my husband and kids but it’s better. So check out Financial Peace University for a class in your area. And in terms of national finance, brace yourself for incoming fire. It looks like it’s going to be a rough ride.

On Valentine’s Day I had neglected to call ahead and get reservations at any of the top restaurants in town. On the morning of the day every $100-a-pair-of-plates venue in town was booked. I’d have to look for something less impressive, but still very nice.  And I felt like Indian food. 

The main difference between Maharajah and the swankier places, in my estimation, is the location. It’s been said that for restaurants location is critical, and this one is not prominently placed. Behind the Tuesday Morning store and facing Starplex Hulen Stabium 10 movie theater on Hulen Blvd, there is no border between the monolithically square, orange building in which Maharajah is housed and a vast parking lot holding hundreds of cars that stretches out in front of it. 

It’s not an exterior that breeds confidence. A neon sign advertising a lunch buffet completes the picture. But then you go through the door. 

There is a foyer, the first notice you get that Maharajah is more than a quick bite of cheap ethnic food. Looking in, you will see white and red cloths on the tables, and framed pictures of heros and gods, dressed in traditional Indian garb.  The smell of Indian herbs and spices wafts over you. Sitting down, you receive a menu with a good number of choices, featuring the products of the tandoori oven.

Chicken tandoori is marinated in yougurt and baked in the famous tandoor oven.

Naan bread and tandoori chicken are my main interests here, though the house certainly serves curries and vindaloo dishes, not to mention samosas and other delicious appetizers I can’t name, since the Tandoori Platter does not come with labels.  But it’s the naan bread that I dream of when I think about Indian. These flat, soft sheets flavored with garlic, herbs or just plain are served a la carte so you can get as many as you want.

We also ordered dinner, Tandoori chicken and Tandoori Mixed grill, both delicious and both very reasonalbly priced and served sizzling right out of the tandoori oven.

Some day I’d like to see what the commerical tandoori oven looks like, I’ve always imagined it to be a clay lined hole in the ground, fired with rough-cut logs, but that can’t be true. There are too many Indian restaurants in America that use it for it to be so impractically constructed. No, the tandoori oven must be something you get from the commercial food supply stores. I look it up on the web and discover one such oven that looks a bit like R2-D2. Another looks like a dishwasher. But oh, the taste of the food that it produces.

We left satisfied that we had had a tasty dinner in a fairly quiet environment (there were a couple of  mostly well-behaved children there when we visited). I will admit that the tables are quite close together, and that we overhead some really unusual comments from other dinners on Valentine’s day. But we had a nice evening, even though I had forgotten to reserve a fancier place.  A nice Valentine’s evening and some naan bread was my goal and that was what I got, so I can heartily recommend it.

A little piece of childhood, the simple rice crispy treat is perfect for the lunch box.

Rice Crispy Treats go back to my childhood, and I think they were there for the childhoods of many others as well, a  part of the 50′s Americana that I still like to keep around. When I look at the squares, I remember childhood, my parents when they were younger, and innocence and youthful optomism. Back then, in the 70′s, the world seemed to be just getting better and better. Remembering that phase is not a bad return on getting a few extra calories, and anyway I made a rule I can only eat one.

I like to make some of these on Sunday and pre-wrap them for lunches during the week. Then I put them into the freezer, so people won’t think about them. Otherwise, at least around here, they won’t last the night. This recipe uses less marshmallows and is less sweet than the prepackaged variety, but I like that better.

Melt 1/4 cup butter (or margerine, if you like) in a dutch oven. When the butter is melted, add 4 cups of mini-marshmallows. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. If you see any signs of the marshmallow browning, remove from heat and turn flame down before returning to heat. When the marshmallow is melted, add 8 cups of puffed rice, any brand. Stir until well-blended. Pay special atttention to mixing the marshmallow up from the bottom of the pan; it tends to pool down there.

Now dump into a greased 9 x 13 or so baking dish. Push into the pan with buttered hands. If you wait ten minutes to cut the treats, it will be easier; if you can’t, that’s okay too.

Recipe makes about 25 rice crispy treats.

Cut the cane about 2/3 of the way down. This takes away old tired growth and leaves plenty of room for new branches to grow

If you’re in DFW, I strongly recommend you prune your roses this weekend if you haven’t already. Right now the roses are starting to develop leaf buds and if you wait any longer, it will be too late. Fortunately, for most gardens, pruning the roses takes less than ten minutes, and the chance of doing more damage than good are not great; unless you cut off every single growth eye most roses will come back and be stronger if you prune.

Pruning roses removes old, worn growth and allows the plant to put all its health and vigor into new branches. It is particularly important in North Texas because the plants are so vulnerable to Black Spot fungus here, and the disease winters over and stays on the plants. Removing the old growth is the first step in defense. The second is raking away the old leaves underneath the plant after pruning. The third? After leaves appear, you may want to use an anti-fungal.

To prune your rose, take a studied look at the plant. A rule of thumb is to remove 2/3 of the length of the canes. Make sure there is a healthy leaf bud or joint on the cane below the place where you intend to cut. This is where the new growth will emerge.

A hybrid tea rose after pruning is finished.

Roses which are particularly vigorous, such as “Peace” or “Queen Elizabeth” may be pruned quite short; they will spring back. More delicate plants, such as the blue roses (actually purples) and plants like David Austin’s English Roses grow slowly and more growth should be left on the plant. With more-woody roses, such as minis and polyanthas, clean out the small twigs between canes as well. These reduce air flow around the plant and increase vulnerability to Black Spot.

When you’ve done, carry the canes and leaves you’re raked up away to remove pathogens, particular the fungus, from the area and you’re done. Now, wait for the blooms.

Looking in through the locked fence at Heritage Park

I got a call yesterday after 5 from Cityof Fort Worth Communications Officer Veronica Villegas, in response to my calling spree about Heritage Park.

Villegas carefully explained  the thinking behind the closing of the park. She noted that in 2007, Streams and Valleys, an organization associated with the construction and the support of Heritage Park, commissioned a study conducted by Carter Burgess, Inc.  on the safety and repair level of the Park. The issues turned up in the study included the following:

1. The park was built before enactment of  the Americans with Diasabilities Act (ADA), and was not ADA compliant.

2. There were a number of repair items, some related to shifting soil. The “works” of the fountains, the watercourses and piping, were not functioning as designed.

3. There were a number of generalized safety concerns about the park, such as places where water was splashing on flat concrete, creating a slip and fall hazard, steps without handrails, and places where visitors might easily fall into the water.

After the report was given to the City Council, they decided to close Heritage Park for an indefinite period. Funding concerns for repairs were at issue, as were legal liability concerns, especially after the shocking drowning deaths in 2004 of four visitors to the city at the Fort Worth Water gardens on the other side of downtown, and a murder in Heritage Park in 2006.

Non-Profit Preservationists Agitate

But it would not be simple to ignore the situation forever. The Park has strong support from non-profit orgaizations, and has been declared a Marvel of Modernism by the Caltural Landscape Foundation. It was also listed as one of 2009′s Most Endangered Historic Places by Preservation Texas. In response to these designations, along with a story in the Star Telegram, and, one would surmise, phone calls by citizens, the city has unvieled:

An Action Plan on the Heritage Park Closure

Villegas reported that the City is taking action by coordinating with the international award-winning landscape archetect Laurie D. Olin of the Olin Studio. He has worked with original designer Lawrence Halprin in the past and his design ideals are considered compatible. Olin will conduct a 2-3 day workshop with the public in April, 2009; specific dates are still to be determined. The workshop will have as its goal assessing the current conditions in the park, determining what Fort Worthians currently need, and determining the cost of repairs and redesign needed to address the safety concerns raised in the Carter-Burgess report. 

“It will take a lot of money to make the upgrades that will be needed,” Villegas told me. “And the upgrades will impact the design.” Olin will be addressing the cost and scope of needed upgrades, combined with the potential re-mastering of  the original garden plan, which is needed to make the park conform to ADA standards and current safety expectations. Will it be possible to undertake the repairs and pay for them? No one is sure at this time. 

The City, however, has taken a great leap forward in engaging Olin and pledging to open the process of study of the park to the citizenry. I think the City of Fort Worth deserves a hand. Don’t you agree?

The Heritage Park bluff as seen from the river.

I promised last week to try to find out more about the Heritage Park situation, in which the cultural landmark designed to commemorate the founding site of Fort Worth has been padlocked and its fountains turned off. Now, through calling local organizations and surfing the web, I think I”ve gotten a thumbnail sketch of the reasons for the City’s abandonment of the park.

(Late breaking update … I just received a call from a City of Fort Worth Communications Officer outlining that the City has just announced that it will be taking action on the Heritage Park redesign issue.  The city will appoint a landscape architect sympathetic to the original design to assess options for restoration. There will be a community workshop. More on this in tomorrow’s blog.)

Background on Heritage Park: There have been complaints, it seems about the cost of maintaining Heritage Park, partly due to the design and partly to our well-known Fort Worth soil’s tendency to shift and damage pipes and foundations. Another concern the city has mentioned is been general maintainance costs and an ongoing problem with transients, including a murder which took place in the park in 2006.  But the main controversy, I believe, is centered around one particular issue that only Fort Worth Weekly (yes, the paper that yesterday’s blog battle centered on) has been willing to address. That has to do with a new generation of councilmember’s assessment of the value of the work of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who designed Heritage Park, and the legacy of the architecture themes which go back to the 70′s, when the park was built.

According to Wikipedia, “recently many of Halprin’s works have become the source of some controversy. Some have fallen victim to neglect, and are in states of disrepair. Critics argǔe his pieces have become dated and no longer reflect the direction their cities want to take.”

There you have it in a nutshell. Halperin was based in San Francisco and his designs have become synonomous with the “California Style” of landscape design. His best-known project is perhaps the famous Sea Ranch on the central California coast. He also did a number of public squares in cities such as San Francisco, Portland, and across the country. His Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco is quite popular, while his United Nations Park, in the same city, has become a magnet for transients.

This may be due to Halperin’s stated interest in creating private spaces in public places, which he wrote about in his memoirs. The optomism, the trust, implicit in offering privacy in public is emblematic of the types of free-spirited ideas, including, one might say, the sexual revolution, that epitomized the 70′s, and infused its archetechture, its clothes and its music. In some areas, the idea of preserving these themes has been more popular than others. 

In conserverative Fort Worth, the expensive maintenance on a park which may seem to some a shrine to the cultural ideas of the free love generation and was also a magnet for street people may have just seemed a little bit too much. Water flow to the park’s fountains was stopped in 2007, and the park was closed, with the city citing  “safety concerns.”

How do I feel about this? I am of two minds. On the one hand, I am sympathetic to the historic preservationists. Certainly, the 70′s was a fertile time in landscape design and I grew up, in California, with the experience of rounded cement walkways and walls of water and a burgeoning optomism about human potentials.

However, I am also in understanding with the City Council if they feel that these ideals do not really reflect the historical or the current Fort Worth. “The Queen City of the Plains,” as it was originally called, is essentially a traditional place, much more well-represented by our Victorian Courthouse than a park full of watercourses.

I am pasting in, for those who wish to agitate for maintainance and reopening of the park, a list of phone numbers of City staff and other NPO’s which may be able to bring about a change in the park’s status. They come from the Cultural Landscape Foundation website.

Get Involved

Contact the following organizations and city leaders and let them know that you are interested in becoming involved in the maintenance and preservation of Heritage Plaza:

Jerre Tracy, Executive Director
Historic Fort Worth, Inc.
(817) 336-2344

Daniel Carey, Director Southwest Office
National Trust for Historic Preservation
(817) 332-4398

And I am adding my voice to Pete Wann at Cowtown Chronicles, defending local bloggers, the quality of their thinking, and value of their opinions. This was originally a comment submitted to the Fort Worth Real Estate blog, but as Pete said in his post, the “comment” option on the blog isn’t working. So, like him, I am posting my comment on my own blog, with link to the original entry. 

My comment:

“I can’t believe you called FW Weekly “Trash.” It is not a conventional daily newspaper. But it serves its purpose and while I don’t usually read it I do think it has some good journalism that other papers, tied to advertising dollars from stuff like Real Estate, can’t publish because they can’t afford to offend their advertisers. 

As for West and Clear, their credibility with me is very high, and when you bash them, it makes me wonder … what have they done to bother you? They are simply airing their anti-gas drilling opinions. Chesapeake has had tremendous sway over local media and it was only through reading West and Clear and Fort Worth Can Do blogs that I found out anyone didn’t like the drilling. I think these blogs are on the vanguard of a resurgence of the freer press, and I commend their work. ”

The text of the  Fort Worth Real Estate Blog post used to be below. However, they have since amended their post and appologized in general, so I’m taking it down as a gesture of goodwill. Maybe there is cooperation and accountability in the blogosphere! Their amended post is here.

I”m journaling again at 5 a.m., seems like the first time this year. Why did I stop? It was partly this blog, partly Twitter. Partly wondering if pens (and fountain pens at that) have a place in our world. It seems they still do. There’s something special about the scratch of pen on paper. I turn on my morning music, popular ballads that get my mind running forward on a positive track, and let the ink run onto the page.

Yesterday I went in the garage to pull out an old college transcript so I can apply for alternative teacher certification. As I opened the Steelcase file cabinet where we’ve long kept our papers, I saw my a disappearing type of history: a paper-based record keeping system, linear feet of paper in hanging folders growing dusty, year after year of tax returns, school records, notes my husband took in grad school, and letters to me that go back to when I was in college.

The majority of the letters are from my father, and these have always been rather precious to me. In Fort Worth you’ve got to worry about storage — damp and mold can destroy paper here. I drew a long sigh as I shut the drawer, realizing that I had to get the paper out of the garage if I cared about it. Though nothing but the letters really matters to me. 

My father has told me he has my grandfather’s letters too, a box of them typed on white paper going back fifty years. I decide to move the cabinet into the house, somehow, where it is drier, and tell my father I will keep my grandfather’s letters after he, Dad is gone. And then I pull aside my daughter, who’s up and about taking care of our two 9 week old puppies.

“When I”m gone, keep the letters in the file cabinet, for family history,” I tell her.  She looks at me a little strangely, like “you’re not checking out any time soon,” but nods. If this is to be my only demand, my only legacy, it isn’t too much. Then she goes to take her baby dogs outside for the necessaries. Such is the intersection between the momentary, dog care, and the long-term, family letters,  in the history of a family. And I go back to writing, on paper, freezing this moment in time.