FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker confirmed her intent to run for a third term and delivered the State of the City address Thursday at Dickies Arena.
Parker shared the city's efforts to address public concerns. Parker also confirmed that she intends to run for a third term as the city's mayor, though nothing will be official until filing opens in January.
"Sometimes, I wish people could follow me around for a week so they could see the fantastic things that are happening in our city," said Mayor Mattie Parker. "And also the hard things that we are facing. Just like I mentioned in the speech, it's not all roses."
Fort Worth ISD
Mayor Parker pledged to continue addressing the education challenges in the city's public school system. Fort Worth ISD parted ways with Superintendent Dr. Angélica Ramsey after the mayor and a list of community leaders asked for a clear strategy to turn things around.
The district has since named Karen Molinar as its interim leader. During her address, Parker shared that she is committed to making Fort Worth ISD the premiere public school system in the country.
Public safety
Mayor Parker also committed to improving public safety efforts. Parker spoke on the city's efforts to recruit more officers and implement more patrols in high-traffic areas.
For Fort Worth Fire, two new stations are in the works. Fire Station 43 is under construction, and Fire Station 16 in Como has broken ground.
Fort Worth is also making a major change on the ambulance front, transitioning from MedStar to its own city-run ambulance service. The city recently appointed its first 911 Administrator, Aubry Insco, to oversee operations.
Developing Fort Worth
All of North Texas is familiar with growth at this point, and Fort Worth is no different.
During her address, Parker flexed Fort Worth's largest project — the $630 million expansion of the Stockyards — among other improvements to the city's economic growth.
Along with the new projects themselves, Parker committed to advancing public transportation to and from Fort Worth's developing communities through TEXRail and the new Orange Line bus service.
Water woes
The mayor also talked about the challenges to improve Fort Worth's water issues. The city lost 5.9 billion gallons of water in 2023, according to self-reported audits submitted to the Texas Water Development Board.
Old pipes and main breaks are the largest culprits for water loss across Texas. Parker addressed concerns surrounding the aging water infrastructure, saying the city has been proactive in replacing cast iron pipes and faulty water meters.
Mayor Mattie Parker said, “You want the takeaways things you want your neighbors to think about, your business and community to be proud about and third is maybe I didn't know that was happening, or maybe I was a critic about things. I didn't know we had to clean up 4,200 homeless camps and realistically deal with really tough problems like homelessness."