Fort Worth (WBAP/KLIF News) – The mayor of Fort Worth has laid out a vision for the next eight years. Betsy Price delivered her sixth “State of the City” address since taking office.
“My vision for the future of Ft. Worth is that we are the most livable, healthiest, best education, engaged, fiscally responsible and well-managed city,” Price said.
Price laid out her “Fort Worth 2025 Vision.” She says the city should focus on investing in children, improving struggling neighborhoods and bringing new investment and jobs to areas that are struggling.
Since 1990, she says the poverty rate in Ft. Worth has increased from 14 to 19 percent.
“That’s a big jump,” Price says. “When it comes to poverty, I’m sorry to say Ft. Worth is higher than the US average and higher than the Texas average.”
Price says about 420 people move to the city every week. Now, she says the city is 42 percent Caucasion, 34 Hispanic and 19 percent African American.
In 2016, she says the crime rate in Ft. Worth dropped. Next week, the city will open a new police station to serve Far North Ft. Worth, near I-35W and Highway 287.
Each city program, Price says, will have an education component to meet the Fort Worth Independent School District’s goal of getting 100 percent of third graders reading at grade level by 2025. The city’s “FitWorth” challenge includes a reading program; Price says Crime Control Prevention District grants should include a literacy piece.
“Those grants address crime, but they must have a literacy piece, too, because that addresses crime,” she says.
The Ft. Worth Transportation Authority has started offering express buses to Ft. Worth Alliance Airport and Denton. Price says the T is also working on plans for circulator services like “Molly the Trolley” in the West 7th area and Magnolia.
Price says Ft. Worth must consider all options to improve transportation. A review of police records in Austin shows DWI arrests increased 7.5% in May of last year from the year before, after Uber and Lyft stopped working in Austin.
Last year, Ft. Worth passed an ordinance that required ride-sharing companies to register with the city but did not require drivers to go through fingerprinting or background checks with the city.
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