Seriously, This Cost $500,000? And Took Two Years? We're Doomed!

• kendrick has 3-4 more weeks worth of work on this model. he tried his best to complete it in time for the unveiling party, but rescheduling the unveiling could not be arranged. the finished model will have the tollroad elevations and much more. it is simply a work in progress and the finished product should point out both the good things and the flaws of the project. my hope is that the model can be a tool that results in a more informed and engaged general public dialogue that ultimately results in a better planned and executed project.

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

• I agree with Harry Trujillo,as I do on most anything he says. I cannot figure out what they will do with the flood of water that occassionaly fill the riverbed, overflows, and then fills the bottom land from levee to levee. Will someone explain that to the readers,the voters,and the council members.

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

• Anonymous, the point is that the "10%" that's unfinished is the Trinity project -- you know, the whole reason why the model was built in the first place? Being unfinished is fine -- having a big, publicized unveiling of it in that state is somewhere between ill-advised and pathetic.

• "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.

• Se�Nathan, Se�Tim is only doing what he is understands to do professionally, making the sweet, sweet love to whomever might conceivably hire him in the future if the big wind seizes his hat and whisks it away. And you are right! We see no <i>cabras</i>! Beware, though, no, fear for your very life and soul if you should see a tiny <i>cabra</i> with glowing, fiber optic eyes! Those would be the familiars of El Decherd Grande, he whose dark and sinister hand has landed heavy on Se�Schutze's knee and made of him the dancing Ross Avenue marionette! Trini Lopez Parkway! Lemon trees! Sunshine! Now and Forever! And where are our tiny <i>cabras</i>? Emilio

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

• I guess they needed Ron Kirk to lobby for the model. That would have ensured its success.

• 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!

• When I saw the model, I asked Gail Thomas whether or not the Trinity would still flood. She replied that it would��Once in a hundred years!� �Well, it will still flood every year,� she added. Then I asked her about the levees, and she said that the levees would be added later to the model but that, �The levees actually will be forty feet higher than they presently are, and the river will still flood.� Dallas is prone to flooding each year, and at least every hundred years flooding wreaks havoc on the river. At that time I wondered whether the Kendrick�s had bothered to take either a water hose or a big bucket of water and let the water run down the model to the point that the water would flood-out all the river portion of the model like it happens when it presently rains in real life. Without a proper flood control and sustainable urban drainage system operating�flooding will naturally occur. Much more planning and flood control need to be made to help prevent or reduce the flooding on the Trinity River. The Dallas city leaders and its city administrators and planners, should look at the San Antonio River Authority Flood and Drainage system that was put in to effect to control the flood and drainage and keep the river walk from ever flooding. For a park, I didn�t see any recreation centers, tables, theaters, barge traffic, boat ramps, trees, birds, fish, turtles, people, swings, seesaws, slides, children's play areas, or cable cars. Almost as if the park will be empty only to be viewed from the air for aesthetics. For some reason, I missed the toll ways that are going to be built on the model. There doesn�t appear to be any flood insurance placed as a label on the model; and, probably none on the project! Can somebody slap the back of Dave Newman�s head?�he should be serving as a steward of pubic funds and be helping make government work, and ask him to tell the mayor that he should keep his eyes on the bottom line�wait a minute, that�s Mary�s job.

• What Randy said. <i>[Charles Kendrick] wanted residents of Dallas to place themselves at their front door and really get a feel for their relationship to the park</i> 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...

• 1. How much of that model is to scale? And, if it is to scale, how were WFAA's tape-measure measurements of the tollroad so far off (i.e. how can the road be that much smaller than what the plans call for it to be?) 2. How many of the things in the model are funded? I can build a model of a Astin Martin DBS in my garage, but it doesn't mean I can afford the actual car. If the model is supposed to give us an idea of what we're getting, why don't we hold off on the model (even if we're not paying for it directly) until we know for sure what we can get?

• With an Opie-from-Mayberry earnestness so genuine you instinctively reach to smooth down the missing cowlick Tim Rogers over at FrontBurner <a href="http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2008/09/10/how-the-observer-abdicated-its-watchdog-role/#more-16680">explains</a> why Dallas will always line up, fidgeting with impatience, to trade the family cow for a handful of magic beans.

• Isn't it kind of old-fashioned to build models out of glue and plastic card stock? Properly executed, the result may be a testament to the skill of the model builder, but it provides a weird giant's view of the subject with very limited detail. Wouldn't it make more sense to create a computer model that would allow interested parties to navigate and see the subject as it would appear to a park visitor or a traveler on the tollway or a bridge? And a computer model could be visited on the internet instead of getting people to travel to a location to see a static scale model sitting on a table. This is the 21st century. If I were spending this kind of money on a model, I wouldn't settle for anything less.

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

• Incidentally, this morning on NPR there was an item about this, and the cost mentioned was $600,000.

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

• I hope when SPANKY says '...yeah like that's gonna happen.' was referring to the TRP getting finished. We can't even get a tiny model finished, how do we ever stand a chance at the real thing? =w=

• 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.

• Thank you for having such a down to earth perspective. Tim Rogers just loved that shit model. I don't see a town like Dallas ever pulling something like the TRP off -no way! =w= healthryder.blogspot.com

• 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.

• RoB, you're funny.

• <i>The citizens are not paying for this model</i> I'm aware of that. I was referring to the actual Trinity project. <i>It's not your toy so if it's not perfect than, shut the hell up.</i> Hey, have you read Schutze's article about the Great Trinity Forest? I can hardly wait for the scale model...

• RoB, no it's not. The citizens are not paying for this model. It was privately funded. If Alon and the Trinity Trust think that their $500K is sub-par for their own purposes of fund raising, then what does it matter to you? Painstakingly or otherwise? It's not your toy so if it's not perfect than, shut the hell up. It's a friggin model people, not paid for by your taxes or donations, but by a private non profit willing to share it.

• <i>but this model is very impressive, even in it's 90% finished state</i> 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 <i>last,</i> 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.

• Why does the water look like it was drained out of a porta potty? Is this a model of the riverboat ride at Six Flags?

• 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?�

• The model isn't finished. It was supposed to be installed two weeks ago, instead he rushed to install it last week. Everyone acknowledges that this model is not complete, in fact there are a few areas where he took up, to re do and put back later. The levees will also be installed later. Say what you will about the project but this model is very impressive, even in it's 90% finished state.

• 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...

• Jokes aside, honestly this thing is incredibly embarrassing, two years and over $500,000 later and this is what they came up with? Fiber optics and tiny video screen aside, they didn't even finish bridges or paint buildings. I don't care or know what the roofline is or the color of a single family home near the trinity river is but I sure know what color American Airlines Center is supposed to be. Part of me is glad that tax payer money wasn't wasted on this thing but part of me is upset that Alon couldn't find a better cause to spend half a million on.

• 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.

• Please pardon the typos ("now we now," "an child") - I blame the glue fumes from the model.

• 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: <i>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.</i> 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?

• "Calatrava�s bridges, for which he initially earned his fame, often evoke the shapes of lithe human forms, bending or lunging with Olympian vigor." model FAIL http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/01/080901fa_fact_mead

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

• Was that bridge designed specifically for us tax payers to drive our cars into the trinity after we realize how much money we spent on this disaster?

• 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.

• As a professional in the field of project replication, I appreciate your concern about the "unfinished" demonstration module for the Trinity River exhibition. We put every dime of the budget "on the screen" so the client and guests would be able to determine the direction and impact of the grand plan. At the last minute, however, as we were packing the materials for transport to Dallas from our offices in Geneva, we realized the dog ate our homework.

• 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.

• Now we now why everyone in the photos from this "unveiling" looks like they just shit their pants and is hoping no one else notices the smell. Half a million dollars and they couldn't do better than <i>diving boards?</i> What happened -- did the crafts store at the mall close early on Monday night? They ran over their budget for construction paper and balsa? This reminds me of the scene in <i>Spinal Tap</i> where they ended up with an eighteen inch tall model of Stonehenge for their stage show. All we need is for Leppert to play Guitar Hero next to the model of the string bridges and it would be perfect.

• I don't see any levees.

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