Dallas Blog

I don't see any levees.

Gimme a sixer of Red Bull, a nice pair of scissors, ten books of multi-colored construction paper, and three days with nothing on my plate, and I think I build a great model of that model.

So let's assume that the bridges, at least, actually get built someday. The Hunt bridge does look pretty cool. But the McDermott bridge? Meh.

"Shit guys, you mean this is due tomorrow!"

The DMN article says "the model is impressive" and refers to it as a "huge and meticulously detailed rendering."

And from Back Talk Oak Cliff:

Charles Kendrick says he and his wife specifically did not create generic neighborhoods for the model, but instead wanted residents of Dallas to place themselves at their front door and really get a feel for their relationship to the park." Because of this approach, every house on the model will eventually be to scale, he says, down to the roof pitches and overhangs.

So the bridges look like a Cub Scout project done by an child with ADD, but the houses in Oak Cliff are going to be modeled down to the shingle?

Are we really sure this whole thing isn't a put-on sponsored by The Onion?

This country is fucked. I really think a bold development in the Trinity could be an awesome opportunity for the city of Dallas. This appears to be a convienient opportunity to loot us of our future.

The Federal Gov't owes $58 Trillion in debt, and now Dallas, which had been somewhat insulated from the problems of the rest of the nation is gonna blow half its money on two bridges which will provide what new feature? Cosmetics?

Seriously, for $20 million we could build a few earthen dams, built with the excavation from the lakes. Plant a couple hundred trees, and have nearly something equally pretty, equally utile, and something far more valuble. But hey, I'm just a landscape designer. What would I know. This is a fucking boondoggle.

I'm planning on leaving the country, you morons can inherit this political system where we debate nothing of substance, never discuss finances, without a coterie of whores willing to say anything for the come.

Wilonsky asked the key question: what's the rush? The Kendricks are by all accounts supposed to be top-notch model makers who have worked for major clients, and in some respects the model is up to their standards. But for them to let something so half-baked out into the spotlight could ruin their reputations, so why? Did the Trinity Trust suddenly change their schedule for some unknown reason? Is there some reason why they need to get people excited about it right now, e.g. some bad news is going to come out soon, and this is a pre-emptive propaganda maneuver of some sort? Maybe once Merten and Schutze stop laughing they can get some answers...

Google: Venice's "Bridge to Nowhere" Calatrava's latest project in Italy

Venice cancels opening ceremony for hated Santiago Calatrava bridge
Venice. The Fourth Bridge

Richard Owen in Rome
The Mayor of Venice defended a controversial new bridge over the Grand Canal as Italy’s “most important contemporary architectural achievement of recent decades” yesterday despite complaints that it was unnecessary, unsuitable and four times over budget.

Plans for a grand inauguration of the new steel and glass bridge — dubbed the “carpet of light” by its admirers — built by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect, have been scrapped because of the row. The 94-metre (310ft) single arching span links Venice’s railway station with Piazzale Roma, the car, bus and ferry terminal on the other side of the Grand Canal.

The bridge, Venice’s first for 70 years and only the fourth to be built over the Grand Canal, was to have been opened on September 18 by President Napolitano.

Right-wing members of the city council said that it was “a monument to bad administration and a waste of Venice’s money”.

Related Links
Venice bridge could be too heavy to be built
Architects cross swords over slippery bridge repairs
Architecture: Rising from the ashes
Critics also noted that it lacked access for the disabled.

Massimo Cacciari, the centre-left mayor, said that it was “typical of this city to do itself down”. The absence of facilities for the physically handicapped could be traced to the beginning of the project, when planners had assumed the disabled would use the existing ferryboat across the canal. A lift for the disabled would be installed but this would take “several months”.

Critics claim that the cost of the bridge has risen from an original estimate of ¤5 million (£4 million) to ¤20 million, partly because of delays and legal disputes with the construction company. The council insists that the final cost will be about ¤10 million.

Maria Rumiz, head of public works, said that the row meant that the bridge would be opened without fanfare “on or near September 18”.

The bridge, which was first planned 12 years ago and was scheduled for completion in 2005, was installed last summer after a two-year delay caused by fears that the bridge supports in the canal banks would prove unstable. Other late adjustments included a decision to add glass steps.

Vittorio Sgarbi, the art critic and former deputy Culture Minister, said that the bridge looked like a lobster and hid the Venice skyline from Piazzale Roma.

Arrigo Cipriani, the owner of Harry’s Bar, Venice’s famous watering hole near St Mark’s Square, said that he did not like the bridge at all, asking: “Can you imagine what it will look like with chewing gum visibly stuck to the glass?”

but this model is very impressive, even in it's 90% finished state

But the 10% that's not finished is the Trinity tollway, bridges, etc -- you know, the expensive stuff that the citizens are paying for, have the most questions about, and which the model is supposed to get us all excited about? Why on earth would someone finish that stuff last, while painstakingly reproducing the video screens in Victory Plaza and individual homes in West Dallas first? You know, if I want to visualize houses on Beckley, Google Earth works pretty well, or I can just drive down there and look around.

It's as if someone were commissioned to paint a portrait, and they displayed it prematurely, with a landscape in the background complete and rich with detail, but with one eye and some hair missing from the subject.

The citizens are not paying for this model

I'm aware of that. I was referring to the actual Trinity project.

It's not your toy so if it's not perfect than, shut the hell up.

Hey, have you read Schutze's article about the Great Trinity Forest? I can hardly wait for the scale model...

casie, you are a fool. We are paying for this model. There are no free lunches. This model is pathetic. It would have been sufficient to simply write, "Downtown" "OakCliff" and the like. Those are not the job at hand. And, if you don't think we are paying for this you are wet behind the ears. Nothing of value comes for free.

Just as the buyer pays all the cost when purchasing a house. It may be labeled otherwise on a piece of paper, but the one bringing the money to the table is paying for everything. There may be expenses that get paid out of the proceeds paid by others, but that is factored into the sales price.

Even if the model was done as a favor, that favor will be paid back. If you don't understand this, why don't you let me come give you a free estimate for your landscape design. I will give you a rough sketch for free, done while we talk. If you want anything prettier, I will gladly deduct the $300 fee from the final cost--which will not surprisingly have $300 hidden back into the price. I have to do some kind of sketch to present a price quote, but you don't get any real work for free.

sour grapes...sour grapes...you guys just won't give up with the sarcasm and criticism. You lost the election and you can't stand it. I guess this project gives you an outlet for your disappointment with your personal failures and shortcomings. Much easier to blame someone else than look at your own problems.

I just hope that when this is finished you will say you were wrong...yeah like that's gonna happen.

Interesting that the council's lone loon Angela Hunt hasn't joined in on the degradation of this event. Maybe she's wised up? Nah, she's probably just pre-occupied with her next PR about Jenny or working on another conservation district in east Dallas. But I'm sure we'll hear her shrill about this soon.

Some things never change.

ummm..is the company that's building the model doing the actual construction on the project? thought not...

Haha...oops Dallas. This is as funny as the "black hole" incident, or the exploding stadium idea.

With an Opie-from-Mayberry earnestness so genuine you instinctively reach to smooth down the missing cowlick Tim Rogers over at FrontBurner explains why Dallas will always line up, fidgeting with impatience, to trade the family cow for a handful of magic beans.

What Randy said.

[Charles Kendrick] wanted residents of Dallas to place themselves at their front door and really get a feel for their relationship to the park

Unless you can shrink yourself down to 1 cm tall, there's no way you can "place yourself at the front door of a house" in that model. Whereas with a CGI rendering, you could, and without having to go to the Trinity Trust's offices in person. Plus, if anything changes in the plan, e.g. the contour of a lake or the location of an offramp, it's relatively easy to modify a computer model, whereas with a physical model, it would be difficult and costly, and would require taking the model physically offline to do the modifications. So very 20th century.

My guess is that the old guys (and women) who control the money still like having a big physical model to show off. If that's what they want to spend their (private) money on, fine (and Tim Rogers appears to be positively wetting his pants with excitement over it), but I think to a lot of people, it's like a model train set on very expensive steroids, but with no moving parts.

But hey, if you bring any of these points up, you're just being negative, against progress, blah blah blah...

Tim Rogers is talkin shit over on frontburner. When will Schutze stand up and reclaim his honor.

Where are Emilio's cabras? Somebody get those model builders on the phone!

Harry: "steward of pubic funds"?????

"The model isn't finished... Everyone acknowledges that this model is not complete..."

Apparently some do not acknowledge that this model is not finished. How many of you have actually seen the model? It is impressive, even in its unfinished state. RoB, you have too much time on your hands.

Hey, anybody want to place bets on what will happen in the Trinity basin if Hurricane Ike holds its current forecast track?

P.S.- the "diving boards" like the one in the picture posted above have been fixed.