‘Our people’ make Fort Worth special, mayor says during State of the City
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker deviated from the usual recitation of facts at this year’s State of the City address and instead chose to highlight the stories of individual residents.
The move tied into the larger theme of the address, focusing on storytelling and the impact of the entertainment industry in Fort Worth.
Great cities aren’t just a collection of good roads, bridges and buildings, but rather the stories of the people are what define a city’s character, Parker said during the Oct. 16 event, speaking to an estimated 1,000 at Dickies Arena.
She talked about the city’s efforts to address homelessness, noting a recently funded high impact pilot program that connected 80 residents to services, and helped 76 get housing.
She illustrated the city’s work through a man named A.C., who after finding housing through Fort Worth Housing Solutions was able to use his skills as a farmer to set up community gardens at Casa de Esperanza and the Cowan Place, an affordable senior apartment complex in the Stop Six neighborhood.
Parker’s speech also highlighted the city’s investments in public safety. She celebrated the recent hiring of police chief Eddie Garcia, while offering praise to the Fort Worth Police Department for its efforts to help with recovery in the July 4 Hill Country flooding.
The mayor also cast a spotlight on Fort Worth firefighter Caleb Halvorson, who after sustaining life-threatening injuries during a Sept. 3 fire in the Historic Southside, was able to come home and be reunited with his son, who had spent over 100 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Parker celebrated the Fort Worth community’s efforts to rally around literacy and education.
She pointed to a partnership between Tarrant County College, the Fort Worth school district the New Heights Adult Technical High School.
A recently opened New Heights campus in Stop Six enrolled 800 adult residents in high school diploma programs and workforce credentials, Parker said.
“When you talk to the students, many of them will tell you they’re going back to school to inspire their children, and I think that’s a story worth telling,” she said.
The mayor also touched on the city’s efforts to address literacy issues in the Fort Worth school district, pointing to a recent visit to M.L. Phillips elementary school. Parker noted the school had jumped from an F to an A rating in one school year.
“The success story of M.L. Phillips Elementary School is what it looks like when entire communities and local leadership work together hand in hand alongside students,” she said.
Parker praised the leadership of Fort Worth school district superintendent Karen Molinar. She said she and the school board have taken on the tough challenge of addressing literacy.
While noting the possibility of a state takeover of the district, Parker argued the community should continue to rally around students to make sure they succeed.
The mayor concluded her speech with a focus on local storytelling and the city’s budding entertainment industry.
Since the Fort Worth Film Commission was established in 2015, the city has seen $1 billion in economic impact and over 50,000 jobs, she said.
Film and television are the next great industries for Fort Worth just like cattle, railroads, energy and defense, Parker said.
She also put out a call to residents, asking them to share their stories about why they think Fort Worth is so special.
Parker said she would use these stories in her capacity as an ambassador for the city to promote Fort Worth outside the Metroplex.
“This is what makes this place so special. It’s you. It’s our people,” Parker said.
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