Emerson Miller
Taylor Sheridan 6666
Before she got started Thursday on her first State of the City Address as mayor of Fort Worth — an event put on by the Fort Worth Chamber and Simmons Bank, the title sponsor — Mattie Parker took a second to break some news.
Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan is coming back to town to do more filming, an announcement she apparently teased to while she was in Austin earlier this week. This time the project is “1883: The Bass Reeves Story.”
The six-part series will be a sequel to “1883,” the Taylor series that featured Fort Worth and temporarily remade the west side of Exchange Street in the Stockyards for a period of three weeks a year ago or so.
In June, Sheridan, the co-creator and showrunner of the highly acclaimed “Yellowstone,” announced that he was planning to tell the story of Bass Reeves, who was born into slavery but in adulthood became somewhat of a legend as a lawman.
Filming will begin next month, Parker said. It accounts for millions of dollars infused into the local economy, the mayor said, and “a huge opportunity to put Fort Worth, Texas, on the map.”
This sounds like another good one from Sheridan, a Fort Worth boy obviously done good and better than many others who have tried that profession. And what’s not to like about a guy named Bass in Fort Worth. This is a natural.
That news of a series set in the untamed, lawless frontier was juxtaposed against Parker’s story telling in front of around 850 people who sat down for lunch on the arena floor at Dickies Arena, the crown jewel of Fort Worth’s notable public-private pursuits.
Her theme: Fort Worth as a world-class city in the 21st century. Parker spoke on the topic for the better part of the hour slot devoted to the event. A Q&A with Margaret Hoover, journalist and great-granddaughter of the 31st president, followed.
“We are home to an increasingly diverse population of nearly one million residents,” said Parker. “We range in age, race, gender, profession, economic background, and political affiliation. We attack problems, not people. And so, my biggest question for us all today: ‘What does it take to be a world-class city?’”
Sheridan’s shows help, no doubt, but we’ve obviously already been discovered on a map, as evidenced by the 328 people moving here every day, a number the mayor referenced. People want to live here. It’s a culture, history, and people you fall in love with.
To the equation we need to include more innovative companies and an infrastructure to cultivate the ideas of tomorrow.
Much has happened over the past year, which she noted. Last fall, Texas A&M announced that it would build a campus in Fort Worth, including a new law school building, a research arm, and nursing school for Tarleton State. TCU broke ground on a medical school building, and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) scored the $400 million in federal funding for the Central City Flood Control Project, better known as the Panther Island project.
Of Panther Island, an enterprise Will Rogers would have made a career out of, Parker declared without reservation: “This project is absolutely happening and will transform the north end of town.”
Yet, despite these notable triumphs, this is a city “just getting started,” she said.
Many of the themes she addressed have been in her sights since even before she took office.
No. 1 on that list: world-class education.
Parker is ambitious on this topic, noting that all international cities of significance provide world-class education opportunities to their children, who grow up to be a viable workforce for companies. Currently, there is a skills gap across all of North Texas. For example, projections show that there will be a shortage of 15,000 nurses in Fort Worth-Dallas by 2030.
At present, only 23% of students are graduating and earning a credential.
“My vision is that every single student has access to a credential or a degree before they graduate high school in Fort Worth,” she said.
She vowed to be a leading voice in how education is funded, noting that though the most important years of development are from birth to 5 years old, the state’s funding per child is a pittance compared to what it spends on children in kindergarten through the 12th grade.
The mayor also hit on needed mobility solutions to move the increased population, public safety, and cleanliness. Can you believe the city has only two street sweepers? The City Council approved a budget that includes 10 more.
More than $3.5 billion is being invested in transportation projects from 2018-26, a total accounted for through local state, and federal funds. The East Lancaster corridor redesign and the TexRail extension from downtown to the Medical District are priorities, she said.
In its new budget, passed this week, the city has also addressed the rising rate of crime, a matter afflicting every big city in the U.S. A world-class city demands world-class public safety. In the FY2023 budget are funds for 53 additional sworn officers, plus 14 civilian positions, as well as trainees to support 9-1-1 communications. Also in the budget is funding to support neighborhood patrol programs and crisis intervention teams.
The mayor said she and the council have a vision of public safety that is “pro police and pro community.”
Parker said development services will be remade — a “one-stop shop on a single floor” — with the new city hall. Permitting in old city hall is where businesses go to die, she joked. (I think it was a joke.)
All of these advancements will ultimately bring more people to the table of city government, inclusion perhaps her chief priority, she said.
Ultimately, Parker said, Fort Worth is a city that is “strong, prosperous, and growing.”
“We cannot take growth for granted,” she said. “We must manage that growth and vision for the city.”
In Mayor R.M. “Sharkey” Stovall’s State of the City Address in 1970, he issued words of caution that reverberate among every edifice in downtown: “Mankind tends to think of the future as if it will never arrive.”
The future already very much feels as if it is already here.
