Fort Worth mayor delivers first State of the City, focusing on building a 'world-class' city
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation nearing a million people with one of the youngest mayors of a major city—Mattie Parker at just 38-years-old.
On Thursday, Parker laid out her priorities to move the city forward.
Her focus is building what she calls a 'world-class city' and what that looks like for those who live in the city.
There's already a list of accomplishments Parker pointed out such as securing more than $400 million for flood control for the Panther Island Project and getting the Texas A&M University research facility in downtown Fort Worth.
"This is the state of Fort Worth, strong, prosperous, and growing," said Parker as she stood in front of hundreds inside Dickies Arena, "Our strength as a city lies in those differences and remember in Fort Worth, we attack problems and not people."
Some of those problems Parker said include making the city a cleaner and safer place to live. The recently approved budget adds more than 50 new officers to help combat violent crime in the city with 82 homicides to date this year.
"When you have a rise in violent crime, you have to focus those resources to help our officers fight violent crime and I think we're doing that in Fort Worth," added Parker.
Also on her to-do list—addressing needs for future generations and to keep people in Fort Worth.
"Focus on education and mobility, superior city services that really focus on the high quality of life and understanding the importance of leadership looks like, not only from elected officials but for everybody in the city and then that last thing I would say is we have to have a community where everybody feels welcomed and a seat at the table," said Parker.
With the cost of housing continuing to rise—Parker said she'll continue to find affordable housing, "We've even stepped up our infrastructure investments to some of these projects to make them economically feasible."
Parker also addressed the homeless situation in the city, "We're going to have housing unit for every person who is currently homeless in this city."
It's a list Parker admits may take several years to accomplish—but wants to help propel the city forward.
"Even with Fort Worth's long and rich history this is still a city that's just getting started," said Parker as she concluded her speech.