Tag: cities

Fort Worth on my mind

top 10

I’ve had Fort Worth on my mind lately, though I’ve never been to the city in Texas. Two or three years ago, I was at a trivia contest at WAMC’s auditorium, the Linda. 

The final question said the state with the most Top 15 US cities by population had the 15th-largest city. We had to name the city. So which state would it have been? Some in our group said California, but I was positive it was Texas. My problem is that I didn’t know the rankings. I knew Houston was a Top 5 city and assumed Dallas was up there. Austin, where a friend lives, has been growing like crazy. I think we picked San Antonio, actually bigger than Dallas.   

The answer was Fort Worth. Fort Worth? It never crossed my mind. I thought it was just a Dallas suburb. According to Wikipedia, the 2025 estimate is that it is now a Top 10 city in the US, bypassing Austin.

A recent NYT Connections had the answer as FORTH, but my second guess was WORTH because of that experience.

I haven’t been to Texas since about 1995, when I was at a work conference in Galveston, which I enjoyed tremendously.

Texas wants you anyway

In the New York Times, the piece ‘They Picked the Wrong Candidate’: 12 Texas Swing Voters on the Paxton-Talarico Race asked some questions I found interesting. 

“All of you have lived in Texas for 10 or more years. What has changed the most about Texas in the time that you have lived in the state?” One replied: “The initial joy of living here over the last decade has definitely deteriorated. I don’t love living here anymore. I don’t like the weather. It’s like a desert seven months of the year. Initially, I thought I could deal with it. Now it’s like I’ve got to hibernate for a few months of the year.”

Moderator: “And has that changed in the last 10 years? Is that different?” Another replied: “It feels like the summers are hotter and the winters are colder. And the cities have grown so much. When I was a kid, San Antonio to Houston seemed so far away. Now you’re at the edge of one and into the other within about two hours.”

I found this insight useful. The cliché is correct: everything’s bigger in the Lone Star State.

To me, Fort Worth’s population explosion is matched or exceeded by other locales in the state. Of the U.S. cities with the greatest growth in 2025 compared with 2020 by percentage, four of the top 10 (Georgetown, New Braunfels, Conroe, and Lewisville) and eight of the top 20 were in Texas.  

Sending Immigrants to Sanctuary Cities?

The 2020 Census provides an opportunity for everyone to be counted.

Immigrants make America greatAs I’ve indicated, I read quite a bit from right-wing websites; I find it a useful exercise. The Daily Signal – about which you can read HERE – recently addressed, “Answers to 4 Big Questions About Sending Illegal Immigrants to Sanctuary Cities.” Because I don’t want to drive more traffic there, I’ve chosen not to link to it.

I will say, despite what I consider some bias, that it was a serious response. And it addresses what I initially thought was the regime’s flippant and retaliatory Tweet storm that apparently is being considered as policy.

First DS asked: “Where Would Illegal Immigrants Be Transported? More than 170 cities and counties have some sort of sanctuary law prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration authorities, and in some cases, jurisdictions may even obstruct enforcement.”

The Center for Immigration Studies lists eight states in this category as well: California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.

I’m not linking to the “Low-immigration, Pro-immigrant” CIS site either, which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group. Still, I think their list appears to be largely correct.

Why Would the US Want to Release Illegal Immigrants Anywhere in Country? The DS response is a combination of the facts – too few immigration judges in a lengthy process – and a challenge to sanctuary cities – “Do you really want them, or are you just grandstanding?” As usual, the regime can use this for its strategy of fear: targeting seniors with anti-immigrant Facebook ads.

“Would It Be Legal?” Perhaps. DS makes a convoluted argument.

“What’s the Harm?” Now we’re getting to the crux of the matter. “Besides not solving any problems with illegal border crossings, the policy being considered by Trump could create new problems… Sanctuary jurisdictions, generally in heavily Democratic areas, usually encourage illegal immigrants to fill out census forms already…”

I have to take exception to the tone of this. EVERY jurisdiction wants to count EVERYONE, in anticipation of redistricting in 2021. The complete count committees being developed across the country note this.

“The 2020 Census provides an opportunity for everyone to be counted. Tribal, state, and local governments; community-based organizations; faith-based groups; schools; businesses; the media; and others play a key role in developing partners to educate and motivate residents to participate in the 2020 Census.”

That said, as DS argues correctly: “Increasing the populations of sanctuary jurisdictions is just going to give them more political power, not less.” If billionaire George Soros were REALLY were behind every Democratic party action, as is supposed, he’d be building housing in sanctuary cities for refugees right now.

M is for mass transit systems

“While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not.”

Northampton Subway MapWhen traveling, I tend to judge a city, in large part, based on the robustness of its mass transit system. When I lived in New York City for a mere four months in the summer of 1977, I became rather adept at getting around via the subways.

From the Citylab article Why Did America Give Up on Mass Transit? (Don’t Blame Cars): “One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the U.S. plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.”

In NYC, the aging infrastructure has caused much of the L line in Brooklyn to be overhauled. This will be a major disruption to the businesses in the area.

The Boston Globe notes: “Dozens of T stations are crumbling, corroding, and leaking, as revealed by a new, detailed inventory the feds now require transpo officials to keep. As reporter Adam Vaccaro writes: ‘…hundreds of MBTA properties — stations, garages, and parking lots — are in disrepair, from equipment that seems permanently broken to shabby surroundings that make the daily commute that much more unpleasant.'”

From the Citylab piece: “This [abandonment] has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not… [They slashed expenditures instead of] improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.”

I’ve gotten around fairly well without a car in San Francisco (1988), Atlanta (1995), San Diego (2003), and Washington, DC (2018). I can get around much of Albany sans motorized vehicle if I have to, though Sundays are tougher. Having a car in Toronto (2011) was actually a hindrance. The car was parked in the hotel lot, and we didn’t use it for five days.

Unfortunately, the American attitude, as Shooting Parrots pointed out, inspired an American company to come up with their Seat Saver’ range of fake food and drink spills “to discourage people sitting next to them on public conveyances.”

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