[clears throat] Thank you for your patience. We're live streaming it, so we wanted to make sure that was up and running before we started. So, I'm going to have um Council Member Flores come up and welcome us and then we'll get started. >> Thank you, Michelle. Hey, good evening everyone. Thanks for coming here to our
2026 bond program uh discussion. This is an openhouse format as you have seen several of you circulating around the room talking with various staff members. We want to make it accessible to you uh in terms of information and also time. We value your time. So I'll just give
some short remarks. Okay. So what are we looking at here? We're looking at $840 million bond program. The city of Fort Worth is blessed to have the financial capacity every four years to do a bond program. We rely on bond programs to help us out with capital improvement projects, right? CIPs. And you know,
these take the form of, you know, major street repairs, road repairs, etc. Investments in our parks, community centers. Sometimes we build new community centers like what we did uh in the past bond program over in Diamond Hill. Now this bond you know bond
program 60% of it again is you know dedicated to road infrastructure. Okay that's very important especially in an older part of town which we find ourselves in because the longevity of those roads you know they start wearing out right and then the closer they get to their service life they start wearing
out even faster. So we need to attend to that. So if you're interested in roads you can talk to me about it. We also have our TPW folks that are back there and several TPW engineers that can give you uh really good detail as to part of what we're planning. Now, I just wanted
to hit some high points here. Uh you know, not to preempt, you know, uh Tony who's coming after me to give some more information, but um Diamond Hill, you know, that area is getting some uh good attention. Uh a lot of its roads, you know, are going to be repaired and
including an expansion of the Diamond Hill Library. That's a small library, but it's a very well attended library. We have Chris Campbell, who's my appointee on library advisory here. If you have any questions that he can field, you know, he can also be available, you know, to provide you with
those. So, I mean, library is getting some attention, right? So, I think that's good news. Community parks, Buck Samson Park, I think all of youall are familiar with it. It's one of our largest parks. It has, you know, a trail system. If you bike through it, you'll see it needs some attention as well,
right? So, we want to be able to connect those trails. But before we do all that, we need to have a plan. Okay. So, we're going to have a master plan for Buck Samson Park. And, uh, you know, with that plan, we're also going to have some design work done by staff so that we can, you know, hit all those uh
improvement points that we want to hit. Okay. Uh, as far as infrastructure, street infrastructure, I'll just point out just a couple of examples. Uh, they're in the Stockyards area and East Exchange in North Main. Uh we're going we did a traffic study there recently and because of the high volume of
traffic that goes through there, we want to be able to facilitate movement. We've had more than 10 million visitors of the stockyards. It's right in the middle of the north side neighborhood. So it affects us all. Right? If you're not going to the stockyards but have to go through North Main, we want North Main to be a functional street. So we're
adding a dedicated turn lane on North Main to West Exchange. That's going to help out a lot. So, traffic engineering is going to be on it and uh also uh to help out facilitate uh traffic in and through the Stockyards area, Northwest
25th and North Main is also going to get some improvements and I think in total we're looking at over $10 million. So, these are going to help at these critical intersections. Okay, major roadways. Uh Mechum Boulevard, there's going to be West construction going on between Blue
Mountain Road and I35 uh to the tune of 9.4 $4 million just to uh give you more information as far as what we're doing. Now, there's plenty of other information that comes. Uh let me hit this one. I think this one's important. Uh school
safety, right? Uh Mechum Middle School is going to get uh close to a million new crosswalks, upgrades to its existing crosswalks, infrastructure near schools that need to be improved. Uh sidewalks again on Ellis Avenue, Reynolds Northwest 26. Street lights in Northbrook and traffic signals on
Ephraim Avenue and Northwest 24th Street. That's a brand new street light. Uh $2 million East Long Avenue in North Sylvania is going to get a signal upgrade. So these are just some of the high points that I wanted to share with you and then I'm going to pass the mic on to Tony. Tony, you ready to take
over? Okay. And thank you all for being here. Uh if anyone needs a translation, Tony Mike. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thanks to you all for coming out tonight. Um before we get started with the bond presentation, we actually have a short presentation regarding the 2050 comprehensive plan.
Uh and with that, I have a short video. where our friends will build trees and where the choices we make today shape the world we live in tomorrow. >> Our city is growing faster than ever. But [music] growth takes smart planning, designing neighborhoods and districts where people can live, work, learn, and
play within reach. >> It's about thinking long term. And now is the time to reimag where we can go next. That's what the 2050 comprehensive [music] plan is all about. a vision and a plan for how we grow, connect, and
thrive over the next 25 [music] years. >> Think of this as a big picture way to plan. Instead of focusing on one property at a time, we look at how entire neighborhoods, streets, and districts fit together, how homes link to schools, and work sites, and how trails lead to parks and community
centers. IMAGINE TURNING AN EMPTY LOT INTO a playground. Imagine turning an empty lot into a new home or a business right down the street. >> We can create active neighborhood centers where people meet up with family and friends connected by green
corridors, trails, and efficient transit that link every corner of our city. This kind of planning keeps each area's [music] character intact while giving every neighborhood a chance to grow in a way that fits [music] its residents. Our future can be a place with even more
great jobs and innovative companies with advanced employment and higher education centers. >> Vibrant places, great neighborhoods, a city we're all proud to call home. That's the future the comprehensive plan helps guide for all of us.
>> So what will Fort Worth look like when I grow up? >> Those decisions start now and they start with you. Your voice, your ideas, your priorities, they shape the goals and policies that will guide our future. This is your chance to help decide [music] how land is used, how growth
happens, and how we enhance the character of our neighborhoods. >> Join the conversation, >> share ideas, and help us reimagine Fort Worth. This is our chance to make Fort Worth a better place with fun.
So, that kid is a really tough act to follow. Um, but I do love the video because it really shows who the what the who the comprehensive plan is for. It's not just for you and me. It's not just for our kids. It's for our grandkids and even our great grandkids. Uh so the comprehensive plan is really meant to
act as a summary of the goals, objectives, policies, and strategies that'll act as uh Fort Worth's official guide for growth and development over the next two and a half decades uh and beyond. Ultimately allowing the city to work alongside the community in developing stronger neighborhoods, safer
neighborhoods, and a strong resilient economy, particularly as we continue to grow uh from the 10th largest up to the ninth largest, eighth largest city in the country. Uh so where are we now in this process? So we're not starting just now. In 2024, we worked with the
community to develop an emerging vision uh for the city over the next two and a half decades. Now in 2025, as we move into 2026, we're really trying to hone in on that emerging emerging vision uh and develop the goals, strategies, and actions needed to turn that vision into
reality. Uh we're doing so by working with experts uh in the field. We're working with our departments across the city, all departments in here, everybody at the city. Uh and most importantly, we're working with the community and getting community engagement throughout the process. Uh we're doing so we're
doing so through uh inerson events, pop-up events, meetings, uh as well as online engagement. So our primary uh tool for online engagement will be connect. That's connectfw.com/comprehensive plan. It's also available through this QR code. And then towards the end of the
at the end of the meeting the QR code will also be available. This is a website where we have general project information. We have a project timeline. We have a schedule of events where we will be out in the um in the community. Uh we have any sort of online engagement
tools available there as well as uh updates throughout the process. And most importantly right now we have a survey that's going to be live through the middle of January. uh we were we're asking you all to participate in and share far and wide. Uh this survey is simple. It's five minutes and it really
goes directly into the plan your input. Uh it includes uh questions regarding overall community needs and priorities. Uh your thoughts on potential challenges and opportunities over the next again two and a half decades. Uh and then any sort of areas within the city where you
think there may be some interesting opportunities for redevelopment or development. Um, this is a neat interactive uh mapping exercise. And again, it's available through Connect Fort Worth. Uh, it'll be a image on the sidebar. You can just click it and take the survey. And it's all available
through that QR code. And um, I don't think I introduced myself. My name is Tony Herold. Again, I'm the planning manager for the long-range planning division with the city of Fort Worth. I'm here with my team. We have Eric Flatiger, our assistant director, as long as along with a couple of senior planners, Anthony Cisneros and Ari
Mitchell. Uh we would love to talk to anybody here about the comp plan or the planning process in general. Uh and then again we can walk you through the survey if you'd like. We can also uh participate in our in-person priority uh tool. Uh so with that uh this is the
comprehensive plan. I'm going to pass it over to April Rose to talk about the 2026 bond program. Thank you. >> Thank you Tony. All right. So with that we also have a very short video. So, I'm going to go ahead and move on over and then we'll continue our conversation on
the 2026 bond. In the 20 comprehensive plan, the city of Fort Worth looking far ahead, setting an ambitious vision for how our city will grow and thrive in the decades to come. But bringing that big picture vision to life starts with real short-term action. That's where the
[music] 2026 bond comes in. Every four years, corporate voters have the chance to shape city's future through a bond election, a way of funding essential public works projects. For 2026, the city is developing an $840
million package focused on the foundation keep Fort Worth moving forward. Out of the city's 67 tax rate, 15 cents go toward paying off debt like bonds. Proposed bond package fits within
that [music] amount, so your tax rate won't go up. Fixing every identified need across the city would cost billions. So we have to be strategic means making fiscally responsible decisions deliver the biggest impact with the dollars able using data master plans and community
priorities. City staff identify projects that can [music] leverage external funding partnerships and balance needs across every part of Fort Worth. More than 60% of the proposed bond package focuses on streets and mobility, designing and constructing major
roadways and intersections, upgrading and repairing bridges, reconstructing neighborhood streets, and improving pedestrian [music] safety. The prop transportation projects were chosen to advance the priorities identified in the city's master transportation plan.
Another 22% invests in parks and open space. Expand recreation and trails for our growing population guided by the city's new parks, recreation, open space, and public realm master plan. And the remaining funds support essential
community needs that strengthen neighborhoods across Fort Worth like public safety, animal care, library upgrades, and affordable single family housing. These projects aren't chosen lightly. They're shaped by data, careful planning, and most importantly, your
feedback. Help build our future. Use our interactive [music] balancing act tool to explore the proposed projects and share your input on what projects should be prioritized. [music] You and neighbors will vote on the bond projects in May 2026. The comprehensive
plan sets our long-term vision. The bond program helps make it happen. All right. So, three great great takeaways I always like to highlight when it comes to this video is one, given the bond program, given the capacity of 840 million, it will not
cause your existing tax rate to increase because of the bond. The second one is that it's informed by so many decisions related to plans that our staff, our various departments have worked diligently to help prepare. So, it can help inform what the next round of projects uh would be for the next round,
which is where we're at today in that we're able to present to you what this proposed project list looks like. And then third is that this particular project list, the existing 2026 bond program as it's being proposed today, is not entirely baked. We are here today to
be able to engage with you, to be able to hear back, uh receive some of your comments, any of your questions, uh so that we can help inform and aggregate all of that data to help inform council, help inform leadership, so that we can come back to you next um spring uh with
that final list uh to move forward. So, with all that being said, the 2026 bond program is as shown at 840 million. Now, 840 million, how did we arrive at that number? Well, the reality is is that this process started all the way back
near October 2024 where the city worked together with all of our staff to really aggregate what the true project need is when it comes to our capital public infrastructure. And that need was at the tune of $2.7 billion.
So, as a civil engineer by trade, in my background, I wish we could cover all these projects so that we can bring all of our assets up to a specific point where we can continue to utilize them, continue moving forward. But we also have to have a constraint. And that is what can we afford today? What can we
cover with that 840 million, right? And so that is where we've developed this particular proposition list where you see here where proposition streets and mobilities is at 60.9%. Parks and open space is at 22% and the remaining propositions from public
library and on make up the full to 840 million. Now of each one of these propositions which each proposition is voted on individually when it comes forward in May. So whenever you do see it, you'll see it as proposition for
streets of mobility as a single one. Um part of open space is another. So each one will be individual. But what I want to point out is that in each of these propositions, it also includes public art funding and that is per city ordinance that city council has adopted.
So 1% of public art um is funded for the street through the streets of mobility proposition and 2% are for all of the other propositions that are shown here. And again that ties back to our city council ordinance. Something else I do want to point out with each one of these
slides is that on the left hand side you'll see this exhibit that has a lot of really fun like little icons and some colors on it that all details and shows where all of the various projects are located. Um, but if there are citywide projects, which I'll talk about in a moment, you won't really see those
highlighted because the assumption is that it's all the way throughout the entire city. Um, but if you can't see it, say that you're sitting in the back, it's a little too hard to read. It's a little too detailed. Each one of our tables actually has um related to the proposition where these projects are located. And over at the entrance is
where this overall 2026 bond program exhibit is located. if you'd like to hop in and see a little bit more. So, for our very first proposition when it's related to streets and mobility, it's at 511.5 million. Mayor Prom really detailed a lot of the various projects
that are included on here, but um expanding the major roadways is at 199.1 million. Uh rebuilding the minor roadways, these are what we've kind of come to become familiar with with neighborhood streets. Uh that is at 129.2 million. uh new and upgrading
traffic signals at 44.6 million, upgrading intersections at 40.9, uh bridge safety and connections at 40.7 million. Now, I kind of like to pause here because our infrastructure is aging as we had mentioned before and bridge
safety is such an important factor as they are some connections and so it's so important that we're also covering that to be able to utilize some of our bond funds to be able to um cover related rehabilitation um concerns that we can assess through the bond itself. Uh we
also have sidewalk and school safety at 28.5 million and vision zero projects is 12.3 million. Now, you may ask, April, what's the difference between bridge or sidewalks and vision zero projects? Well, uh, vision zero projects really
looks at an entire corridor. And the goal of the vision zero safety action plan which was adopted by city council just this past August uh is really to look at entire corridor and see what are some of the safety features that can be implemented throughout that entire corridor so that we could try to
decrease the number of fatalities that are traffic um and transportation related from that sense. So that is what that safety action plan uh really helps guide as a north star and then from there our staff is able to utilize that 12.3 million to go through design to go
through implementation to see those projects come uh to fruition. Next our railroad costs at 6 million and street lightss at 5.2 million for parks and open space proposition. This is at 185.1 million and this
includes upgrading the metropolitan and community parks at 57.5 million. Uh you can consider that sort of like gateway park for example that's on this particular bond list at 25 million. Uh rebuilding the Atachanic car Jefferson community center at hillside at 30
million the open space and land conservation at 25 million. aquatic centers for 22 million. Uh the botanic garden upgrades at 10.5 million. Um the water garden upgrades at 10 million and the Fort Worth Zoo infrastructure at 4
million. So if you ever taken your friends over to downtown um even just some friends and family, you've seen the uh water gardens. So this kind of helps kind of curate additional projects from that amount. Um, one thing I'd like to point out between the parks and open space as well as with the streets and
mobility is that we're really utilizing these dollars to like to stretch and see what are some of the opportunities where we can leverage our bond dollars so that we can have uh some sort of match. Well, what does that match look like? Where does it come from? Right? So, we have regional partnerships. We are very
fortunate to live in the north the north Texas area where we have the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Uh, of course you have texttop, but we also have the opportunity for federal dollars. So these are some of our regional partners where we're able to work with them to understand what are some of the projects that we can
leverage. Say that we put in a dollar, right? And they put in an additional uh or say that we put in $2, they put in $8. Sort of like that 8020 kind of rule there, too. Um, so it's it's a pretty fun way to be able to make our dollars stretch and it's a lot of collaboration
that we're able to uh work together with all of our original partners to make more of these projects occur. So next is public library proposition at 14.6 million and this is the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the Southwest Regional
Library and the renovation of Diamond Hill Jarvis Library. So, the renovation projects that are on here, it's because some of these facilities are heading towards that 40-year lifespan and through a facility assessment as also part of the Fort Worth Library master plan. These two projects were next on
that list. And so, this is what we're putting forward uh for the community here today um to be able to consider uh for the public library proposition. And if you happen to have any questions, uh we do have Madori who's sitting right back over here um to help answer any of
this. So next up is the affordable single family housing proposition and this is at 5 million. So you may ask April how are these like separated? So uh 1 million within that 5 million is used towards buying vacant or blighted
properties. The other 4 million is utilized towards funding construction of infrastructure to develop affordable single family single owneroccupied housing um through within the city itself. So when we talk about the infrastructure costs, that's about
leveraging, right? Because again, this is about the public based infrastructure in that we're thinking about the sidewalks. We're thinking about potential water and sewer impact fees. Uh we're thinking about all this the the public aspect of things so that the
private developer on the other end they can put in their amount their share but they're able to again leverage our dollars to be able to lower the overall cost uh for that specific affordable housing. And you may ask also what does that look like? Well, our table over
here actually has some great exhibits as far as who would be individuals in starting salaries that would qualify for this particular uh proposition for these homes as well as with the what the affordable homes can look like. Um, so I highly encourage you to also walk on
over here with both Michelle and Diane for all of your questions. Next is public safety proposition at 63.9 million and this is for the new fire station 46 located in southwest Fort Worth at 19.4 million. Rebuilding a
fire station 40 at Northwest Fort Worth at 15 million and the new 911 call center. Now the new 911 call center is some of that funding at 28.3 is actually renovating the zipper building located in downtown Fort Worth. And so through
that renovation, they're able to incorporate some of the latest technology. As we all know, technology changes daytoday, right? Um but this is a way that we're able to bring in all of our services all under one home. So, whenever we think about fire, police,
emergency services, this is a state-of-the-art type of facility that we want to be able to create and to be able to bring together um so that we can continue and continue to increase our level of service towards all of our all of our residents here.
So, that is at 28.3 million. And we have Sunny here who can also help answer all of your questions for public safety. So, next is the animal shelter proposition at 59.9 million. And this includes building a new animal control shelter with increased space. And this is
intended to replace the current Chuck and Brenda Silcox animal shelter. Um, some of the background on this is that the existing animal shelter was built in 1998. So for reference on the 2000 census, uh,
we the city of Fort Worth is at 560,000 individuals here within the city. So we have since almost doubled since then. Now, in 2025, heading into 2026, and for every 1,000 individuals that move to the
city of Fort Worth, there's about 25 to 35 animals that enter the animal welfare system. And so, when they enter the animal welfare system, that goes into the existing space, but we're currently at we're heading towards that capacity, right? And we actually have about an 86%
live release rate. And from that uh to be able to have this type of facility uh city staff is proposing to bring it forward in a proposition um to be able to take us through for the next as a one-time capital expense for the next
couple of decades to come. So how did we get here and what are what's some of the history related to previous bond cycles? So in 2018, the city had a bond program of 400 million and this is where all the projects were located.
In 2022, you can see that the 2018 bond projects have been grayed back. And in 2022 at 560 million, you can see the level of impact of all of the various projects that were proposed in that bond.
Oo, there we go. And in 2026 at 840 million, you could see where this round, this proposed program is located. Again, it's still within the same ethos of applying all the way throughout the entire city. It's about how exactly, you know, what's what's that next round of projects? Um, how are we working with
staff? How are we listening also to our citizens from that perspective? And you could really see how that impact is um all the way across the city. So you may ask, okay, well what if I wanted to see one project in over the other? How exactly would that work?
Well, the whole proposition is to always recognize that we have 840 million within our bond capacity. So if one project were to say roll in, and I'm just going to pick a random one here. So rebuild fire station 12 in the stockyards at 15 million. Again, this is
a very high level cost. then that would mean that we'd have to identify another proposition or that same proposition to be able to swap a specific project out of that same amount. And so this is where we are here today to hear your comments to hear some of your questions
if you have any concerns over anything from that perspective. But you can also submit this through comments using this QR code. So, if you were to take out your phone, you can highlight this particular QR image and it will take you to the
www.connect worth.com. That's connectw.com website where you can have a bit of fun uh with a tool that our staff has created called the balancing act. So, this balancing act is a way that you can
see by each proposition some of the project or the projects that are on there. you can like remove one, add another, say you want to like really load up a specific proposition, you get to also make some of those difficult decisions um that council will have to make and also with our city staff
together when we come forward with that final list, right? So, just to also give you an idea of what we have to come as well in the future. Um, but the great thing that I really love about this balancing act is that for every submission that you put in, we're actually data aggregating all of that. So we're able to see in live time like
in in action um your input, your comments and you can provide it each by each proposition. So we're gathering that data so that we could provide it to our council and to our leadership. So we are here today when doing community engagements in fall 2025 and we will be
working to finalize the list towards the end of this year so that council can call election in the January February time frame so that we can come back next spring and early 2026. Uh really just talking about what the finalist looks like based off of all the input based
off of uh the process in which we work with our council. um so that on May 2nd, 2026, the bond election would be held so that our residents can head out and really make um their voices heard from that perspective. And so that was a whole lot of information in a very short
and quick time. But as much as I would love to answer all of your all of your questions today, we do have all of our subject matter experts in this room. So I'm going to go and open this up for questions, for comments, and at some point I may have to hand out the uh microphone. Um, so yeah, you can go to
start to raise it and please use your microphone because we are live streaming this event and so we'd love to capture that for our uh viewers at home. [clears throat] >> Thank you very much. Uh, I am Rick Herring. I'm with the Gateway Park Action Coalition, which is GPAC, and I
am here tonight to say a few things about Gateway Park. But first of all, thanks to all city staff uh for doing this over and over and over. uh you have to come out and give up part of your evening. So, it's very much appreciated. But uh before I get into some specifics
about Gateway Park uh and with the bond election itself, I just wanted to say why is it even important to discuss Gateway Park or to push for funding. There's several reasons in my opinion and that's what our uh coalition is
working towards. One, Gateway Park is one of the largest parks in Fort Worth. It's Fort Worth's only metropolitan park. It's about 800 acres. It's now bigger than New York's Central Park, although it's largely undeveloped. Um,
it's been called one of the big four in the park uh Fort Worth Park System. The others being the Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, and the Fort Worth uh nature center and refuge. And uh we do consider Gateway Park to be up there
with those others. Um Gateway Park, if you haven't been there, residents, you should visit it because it has something for everyone. It's got sports fields, it's got mountain bike trails, regular biking trails, hiking, walking trails,
uh throughout the park, uh fishing, disc golf, playgrounds, you name it, it's got it. uh just come see it and enjoy it for yourself. And the in the current bond proposal, there's $25 million slated for
Gateway Park if the proposition passes. And that is wonderful. But in 2024, the city council adopted a master plan for Gateway Park that has a price tag in today's dollars of about $175 million.
100? Yeah. Around $170 million. So getting 25 million every four years in a bond proposal is Gateway Park will never realize its full potential. But those of us uh involved with GPAC fully realize
that there will have to be more than just city funding to realize the full potential of the park. But we want to keep reminding city staff and city council members, Councilman Flores and others that um it is important to keep
pushing for the implementation of the master plan and provide those dollars to see that happen. And some of our members have been at every one of these bond meetings. We'll continue just to keep beating the drum for Gayway Park. And we may sound like a broken record, but if
you say it over and over and over, it'll stick with people and the people that uh make decisions and can make things happen. So, thank you very much, April, for your time and your excellent presentation as always. >> All right, any more questions or
comments? Yes, up here. Hi, my name is Cynthia Sbrano and my family owns some uh has businesses on Northwest 25th Street. This is my cousin Lydia. Uh she has owns Transport Srano on AEL Avenue and today we were talking
about uh the traffic, the volume of traffic on Northwest 25th Street. I love the direction where this is going. I love that 60% is going towards um uh developing the roads and fixing the um uh the sidewalks and everything else. So, my concern was more of uh asking a
little bit more about the vision zero um part of the plan because uh just today I went to lunch at my uncle's restaurant, Takia JB Jr.'s, also on 25th Street and it's right across the street from um Boil's uh hair um barber shop where a
car plowed through the building. Uh it's a brick building and it made a lot of damage. And I'm sure the prop uh the property owner is having to pay for it out of pocket more than likely and having to fight with the insurance and stuff like that. But that's not the first time that that's happened on that
street. My family also has a building on that street that that's happened to. Uh, luckily not the building, but a car that was parked there. My uncle has another building that literally this is the would be the fifth time that a car has ran into the building as well. So, I kind of wanted to get a little bit more
uh detailed on the u action items that y'all are working towards um that fall into that part of the vision zero plan. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh we have our transportation and public works uh representatives and so Raj uh will go ahead and help expand on the vision zero
safety action plan. Um, while the microphone is heading that way, I'll also take your your your email and we can also email you the safety action plan as well. >> And before Raj gets started, uh I can only share some limited amount of information. I know it's still under investigation, but that particular
accident uh it's due to a suspected uh person who was driving under the influence and cut someone off and that driver went into the building. >> Yeah. And that happens often on that street. So it's like gonna happen again. It's
just inevitable. You know what I mean? And so today we were talking about what can be. >> So today I was literally asking like a contractor and a GC to like what can be put on their like put against there so we can protect our buildings and we can make sure that our family's protected
there. And so we were thinking about just coming out of pocket to do so because at the end of the day I'm going to protect my family regardless of what the city's going to do. But with this plan, it seems like it's kind of aligning and a lot of the things that the city is doing is really um looking towards protecting the community as well. So there's an opportunity to
collaborate on that then by all means, but that's where the specifics come into play. So I'd love to, you know, make sure that we're all in line as well. >> Right. So there's two part of your question, right? One is vision zero and another is the crash happening at a particular location. We can definitely
look into that and see if there is anything we can do signage wise improvement. Usually we review those and make sure that you know whatever we can do we can do in that section. Now vision zero is the whole purpose of vision zero is to
you know that's why it says zero like we want to go to zero crashes. So basically we are looking citywide and we are also doing the comprehensive safety action plan. The comprehensive safety action plan will come up with the strategies that we want to implement and vision
zero is a part of the bond program where it's not it's a $12 million. So we are prioritize the location based on the data basically the crashes data pedestrian safety and we come up with a number of projects and as the fund gets
available we do those project and go through the list and when next bond come we expand that because vision zero is category to just focus on safety and how to reduce crashes because other categories are kind of like intersection
traffic signal those are already meant to go to a particular location. Vision Zero gives us a little bit flexibility of where we can do these uh short-term improvements like uh improving just the pedestrian and those kind of things. So,
but we'll take a a location and we'll look into what your concern is and see if there anything anything we could do. >> Thank you Raj and thank you for your question. Okay, any more questions or comments? All right. Up here.
>> Hello. Hi, my name is uh Tara Maldonado Wilson. I I do live in Mebrook and um I me and Rick did not know we were going to be here at the same time. But um I I I um have if you don't get the chance I say you should go and play with this
little tool about moving money from one category to another to figure out the things that are important to you. Um Fort Worth lab like kudos to this is one of the coolest interactive tools I think we've ever had in Fort Worth when it comes to this issue. Um I moved here eight years ago. I am an ER nurse. Um,
as far as I'm concerned, everyone in Fort Worth is my neighbor and as a Latina, I have a huge affinity for North Side and spend a lot of time in North Side as well. Um, but with my toggling, um, and with the future of us having this 2050 comprehensive plan and we had the option to pick what our what our
goals for our neighborhoods are and a lot of time and one of the biggest things is affordable housing and walkable neighborhoods and having resources in our neighborhoods like grocery stores and things that our families need. um with moving this around um I I found myself kind of um
and I've spoken at a couple of these meetings already uh but kind of concerned about what our priorities are for this bond. Um and considering that housing is not affordable for a lot of people. We have basically 50% homeowners and 50% renters in Fort Worth almost straight up and down the board. Um but
we know that Fort Worth has attracted a lot of people here, me included. Uh so I'm concerned that we're not focusing enough on affordable housing. So through my toggling of this budget, this is what I came up with. Uh we add actually 15 million to affordable housing. And at
the district 11 meeting on Saturday, uh assistant city manager Dana said that we would be taking that 5 million and leveraging it for a $20 million use overall. And I proposed that we should take 20 and leverage it for 80.
And I also believe that Gateway Park, which is is right um on the west entrance of Fort Worth, that's right off of I30, uh it needs more improvement. And so if we move money um at 15 million to Gateway Park, 15 to housing, we fund
the rebuilding of Fire Station 12 here in North Side. Um and uh that leaves us and we forego building the current animal shelter. It does leave us with $9 million to invest into the animal shelter, into vaccine programs, and into
creating a mobile unit that actually addresses the root cause of why we need a new animal shelter, which if we're taking a mobile unit into community and spaying and neutering and and giving vaccines and even maybe using some of that 9 million overage where we don't
build the animal shelter and actually put it towards a program that helps homeowners fix their fences for for when their animals are getting out that maybe all of those things outlined are also in support of public safety. We don't have animals roaming around. We have home
homeowners who have u uh u properties that have good fences on them. We have a park that is welcoming to everyone that's coming into Fort Worth from the west side. And we have a fire station that can actually serve the community of North Side. >> So if you have the chance, I would encourage you go play with that tool.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Terara. Any other questions or comments? Hi. >> Hi. I'm Sam Cordasy. I am a volunteer and foster with the Fort Worth Shelter. I was not planning on talking tonight and I have a tendency to ramble, so I
apologize ahead of time. The Fort Worth shelter, the new build is dramatically needed. If you take 10 minutes and go down to the old Silkco shelter, you will see how bad it is. Let me say that and
also say I love my shelter. I love my shelter staff. I love what they do. They don't have the ability to do their job with that current shelter. The way it's set up is that old school pound mentality. There's minimal ventilation.
The dogs don't have outside lighting to come into the building. The yards are not super secure. You have to walk the dogs out of a secure area to let them
get outside. And they only get outside for 15, 20 minutes, half an hour at a time. And it's not all of them. It's only a few of them. And that shelter houses hundreds of dogs. because of the way the air ventilation system is set
up, it it doesn't have the ability to adequately quarantine animals. It spreads disease. And I can say that having a puppy that came from the Fort Worth shelter from Silox. Three years ago when we had the December
outbreak, he ended up getting December. He is here now and he has multiple obedience titles and he's a great little crazy dog and I love him. But the shelter had to shut down during that distemper crisis because they couldn't
get a hold of it because it kept spreading. The mobile vaccine unit, great idea. That $9 million is going to go nowhere. it's going to last six months and it's not going to get to the right people. If you have this building,
this new building where we can have people come in to volunteer to see about fostering, you are going to get so many more of those animals out. You are going to build a community where you get resources to the people, to people that
need it. They are currently taking donations for food and supplies for dogs and families in the community that can't afford to feed their animals. They do free vaccination clinics all the time.
This shelter, it builds a community. Last year, I had my own special mental health crisis. And if it wasn't for seeing my friends that I created
from that shelter, I don't know where I would be today. Those people that I randomly met volunteering at the shelter, they were the ones that reached out to me and said, "Hey, you're not okay.
Here's how we're getting you help." I got emails from shelter staff and leadership saying, "Hey, we haven't seen you in a while. Come in. Even if you can't walk dogs or do training or
whatever, come in. We miss you. We want to see you." If it wasn't for those people, I don't know that I would be here today. So, to me, the shelter is not just about the animals. It's about the community that
it creates. When I first saw the numbers, I have the text message I sent over to my friend and went, "Holy [snorts] cow, that's an insane amount of money. It's all an insane amount of money. It's
just postcoid dollars." But our community has more than doubled, more than doubled since 1998 when that shelter was built. So, yes, it's a lot of money, but it's also a community center and it's something that's going
to help people in the area. That's my long- winded thing for the shelter. I'm sorry. >> Totally. Thank you so much for providing that comment as well. Okay. All right. Any other questions or
comments? Okay. Mayor Prom, would you like to have any closing remarks on this? I know that we do have this email and this QR code that we'll keep up. But thank you all so much for being part of this. We'll open it up for everyone else to still ask additional questions if you have any.
And with that, here you go. >> Thank you very much and thank you everyone who participated and thank you staff for being here. Um, you know, I think you will stick around for a little bit should anyone have any lingering questions. But again, uh, please be mindful, you know, of these QR codes.
They are helpful. And if I can be of any help, please contact my office. Uh I'm here tonight so is my district director Mari Soul and you know we're able to answer more of your questions and give you more context if you need it on any particular item. But thanks again
Thank you again one and all.