Betsy Price: New Fort Worth mayor must continue equity work, prepare for city’s growth
Fort Worth’s next mayor will be the face of a city nearing 1 million diverse people, and as Mayor Betsy Price prepares to leave office she said she hopes whoever follows will work to unite a growing and evolving Cowtown.
Anyone who has heard Price promote Fort Worth knows she loves to cite a few stats about the city’s growth: 20,000 people move here a year, or that it is the 13th largest city and growing. These are great talking points about Fort Worth’s robust economy but they also represent one of Price’s greatest challenges during her decade in office — engaging a rapidly changing city.
“I don’t think you govern well behind a desk; I think you have to be out. How am I going to know what you need if I’m not talking to you? And most people aren’t coming to City Hall; they’re intimidated by that,” she said. “I do think it’s changed dramatically. Not enough, clearly, but it has changed.”
Price talked about her time as the longest serving mayor in Fort Worth’s history with Star-Telegram on Thursday after she announced Jan. 5 she would not seek a sixth term. Possible candidates include two council members, Brian Byrd and Ann Zadeh, as well as Tarrant County Democratic Chairwoman Deborah Peoples.
Certainly the zoning changes and backlog of street work that comes with a rapidly expanding city are frustrating to residents, but tension around racial equity and social justice have dominated the last half of Price’s tenure.
The viral arrest of Jacqueline Craig in 2016, who had called police during a dispute with a neighbor, touched off outcries over police bias. Price said the situation was “not handled well” by the city, but she hoped residents saw the Race and Culture Task Force that followed as a sincere effort from the city’s majority-white leadership to improve equity and engage a broad swath of residents.
Though the city is more than 35% Hispanic, Carlos Flores is the only Latino on the City Council.
The city has hired a police monitor to review complaints about policing and a diversity and inclusion director to ensure city services are provided equitably. But much of of the task force’s recommendations have been left partially adopted, including a civilian police review board, improvements to transportation and more access to health care in poor neighborhoods.
Racial tensions resurfaced when Atatiana Jefferson was killed in her home in October 2019. A white Fort Worth police officer shot the 28-year-old Black woman through a window during a welfare check.
Price said she believed the city “stood up and owned it” in a way that showed “tremendous learning.” The next mayor will have to continue that learning, she said.
“I hope that whoever comes in will be open to talking. I think the key is you’ve got to be open and honest about it,” Price said, referring to inequality and racism. “For far too long, not just in Fort Worth but everywhere, people just didn’t want to deal with it — it’s a tough issue. And most of us, probably including me, have been guilty of that.”
Managing Fort Worth’s growth
Price has had to balance what are essentially two Fort Worths: a sprawling suburban city and an aging urban core.
Fort Worth likely could have done a better job getting a handle on the rapid growth, she said, specifically planning better east/west roadways in the far north. Residents there have complained about clogged streets, but Price said there is a fine line between how much taxpayers can pay and how much developers will be willing to take on themselves. Last month a group of city council members called for a moratorium on rezoning for apartments, worried that density would hurt property values and cause congestion.
Trinity Metro, the city’s transit service, has lagged behind other large Texas cities in spending and coverage. Price noted the city partnered with the agency to open TEXRail, a commuter rail line to DFW Airport that stops in downtown and may one day be extended. Future leaders will have to think outside the box to solve the city’s transportation problems, she said.
“Most of the calls I’m on with other cities and innovative people, people just don’t really believe it’s going to be buses, or even rail. They think it’s going to be on demand services ... or something we may not even have seen yet,” she said. “Particularly in a spread out city like Fort Worth, transit has to get very creative about how they serve their citizens.”
Price is quick to brag about the 12 cents the city has cut from the property tax rate in her time, though homeowners have paid more as property values increased. If the city had cut more, the backlog of street work and other improvements would be greater, she said, and if the city had spent more, a higher tax rate may have kept Fort worth from growing.
The city has devoted nearly $15 million the past five years to five neighborhoods inside Loop 820 that had been neglected. The Neighborhood Improvement Program started in Stop Six, where crime is down 32% since 2016, and will continue in Como, where residents want to see a vibrant Horne Street business community. Price said she wants the program to continue, saying it was one of the city’s strongest efforts to improve equity.
This program would not have been possible if the city had concentrated on the suburbs, she said, adding that she believes Fort Worth’s future lies in a strong central city.
“If you’re not very focused on your urban core, you tend to lose your identity — cities die from within, so we’ve been very focused also helping rebuild the inner city,” she said “That’s what will keep these outer lining neighborhoods connected is a strong vibrant inner city.”
