Nature Connects Made with LEGO Bricks – an award-winning and record-breaking exhibition that uses beautiful works of art made from simple toy blocks to explore animal endangerment, the balance of ecosystems and humanity’s relationship with nature – is coming to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden | Botanical Research Institute of Texas from May 6 through Aug. 1.

Nature Connects depicts important topics that New York artist Sean Kenney holds dear, from protecting an animals’ habitat, to planting a garden or showcasing a beautiful orchid – subject matter with particular appeal to gardeners.

“Through captivating art with an educational message, Nature Connects creates yet another way for visitors to experience the Botanic Garden,” said FWBG|BRIT Assistant Director Bob Byers. “The summer timing is perfect for children out of school and families on vacation looking for new ways to enjoy the outdoors.”

Explore the beauty and wonder daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a limited engagement May 6 through Aug. 1. Exhibit viewing is included with the price of garden admission or free with an annual membership.

Purchase tickets online.

Texas A&M University, Texas A&M School of Law and Camp Bowie District invite residents to tune in for a livestreaming event of a Fort Worth Mayoral and District 7 Council Candidate Forum.

The moderated forum features a Q&A with Fort Worth mayoral and District 7 runoff election candidates on issues facing the community. Topics include economic development, workforce development, community issues and the future of Fort Worth.

The forum at 6:30 p.m. May 6 will be livestreamed on Camp Bowie District’s Facebook and Instagram.

Mattie Parker and Deborah Peoples will face off in a June 5 runoff election for Fort Worth mayor. They had the top vote totals in the May 1 municipal election.

Runoff elections will be held June 5 for Council Districts 6, 7, 8 and 9 since no candidate in those races achieved more than 50% of the vote.

Four City Council candidates were elected, and there will be no need for a runoff election: incumbent Carlos Flores, District 2, with 64.94% of the vote; Michael Crain, District 3, 71.32%; incumbent Cary Moon, District 4, 51.39%; and incumbent Gyna Bivens, District 5, 62.81%.

Early voting in the runoff is scheduled for May 24-June 1.

View vote totals.

As an ode to the country’s perseverance throughout the past year, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will host a socially distanced America Strong concert at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on July 4. The one-night performance will feature more than 60 minutes of music from the highly regarded FWSO and world-renowned opera singers, all conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya in his final season with the orchestra.

“I am so proud of how this organization has continued to perform live during this pandemic. The gift of live music continues to provide a healing power to communities during some of the most trying times. The America Strong 2021 concert will feature leading composers and opera singers who represent the very fabric of our country and join the orchestra in performing for a live, socially distanced audience,” said FWSO Board Chairman Mercedes T. Bass. “This is our gift to the Fort Worth community and beyond for showing such resilience over the past year of this pandemic. We invite all of you to join us at Dickies Arena on July 4 for this celebratory concert.”

The America Strong concert will feature prominent composers and musicians from across the globe. Beginning with John Stafford Smith’s “Star Spangled Banner,” patrons will be surrounded by a united spirit of patriotism and passion before moving to the brilliant “Lightspeed – Fanfare for Orchestra” by Texas Christian University’s own up-and-coming composer Kevin Day. While the rest of the program will remain under wraps until the day of the show, the FWSO crafted a lineup to bring together a diverse range of music, performers and composers for DFW to enjoy.

Similar to the FWSO’s 2020 America Strong performance, this year’s concert will be broadcast live by WFAA on Channel 8 on July 4. Check local listings for broadcast time.

For those wanting to attend the event in person, tickets will be available to the public beginning at 10 a.m. April 26. All patrons must purchase tickets through Ticketmaster in pods of two, three or four seats, and pricing begins at $29.30 per person.

In an effort to keep all musicians, staff and patrons healthy and safe, the FWSO will implement the same guidelines it has enforced throughout its 2020-2021 season for the America Strong concert. Patrons will be required to wear masks throughout the performance, social distancing protocols will be enforced and tickets will only be available on mobile devices.

Work continues along the Seventh Street Corridor to provide landscaped medians, bike lanes and other improvements.

The project includes pedestrian, landscape, illumination and traffic signal improvements (two new traffic signals and five upgraded traffic signals). The project will also realign Museum Way to line up with Stayton Street. On-street parking will be retained throughout the corridor; however, some spaces may be unavailable during construction.

The project is funded by the 2018 Bond Program.

West Seventh Street from University Drive to Trinity River Bridge:

• The city awarded the contract to Reyes Group.
• The White Settlement Bridge is now open and construction activities on West Seventh Street started April 19.
• One-lane closures are anticipated during construction.
• A community meeting was held on March 3. Watch the recorded meeting.
• Estimated construction duration: one year.

• The project is under contract with 2L Construction.
• Signal poles have been installed and a portion of the roadway has been poured.
• Access to Trinity Park from Museum Way may be intermittently closed.
• Construction completion is anticipated in May 2021.

To learn more, contact Project Manager Ronak Rekani by email or at 817-392-6591.

Trinity Metro is hosting a public hearing for A Better Connection, the bus system redesign to make connections more efficient for customers.

The public hearing on the draft plan will be at 6 p.m. May 6 at Fort Worth Central Station, 1001 Jones St.

Attending the public hearing is not required to offer input. Residents may also submit comments in one of three ways by 5 p.m. May 7:

Send an email.

Write to Trinity Metro, 801 Cherry St., Suite 850, Fort Worth, TX 76102 to the attention of Planning & Development Department.

Call the comment line at 817-215-8793.

Learn more about the proposed system redesign.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will begin registrations on April 30 and open applications May 3 for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The online application will remain open to any eligible establishment until all funds are exhausted.

Established under the American Rescue Plan, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund provides $28.6 billion in direct relief funds to restaurants and other hard-hit food establishments that have experienced economic distress and significant operational losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Funds must be used for allowable expenses by March 11, 2023.

The SBA recommends qualifying applicants familiarize themselves with the application process in advance to ensure a smooth and efficient application experience, specifically by registering for an account in advance starting at 8 a.m. April 30.

For the first 21 days that the program is open, the SBA will prioritize funding applications from businesses owned and controlled by women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. All eligible applicants are encouraged to submit applications as soon as the portal opens. Following the 21 days, all eligible applications will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Consistent with the legislation and the intent of Congress, the SBA continues to take steps to ensure the equitable distribution of relief, particularly for the smallest businesses, by creating a $9.5 billion set-aside.

To learn more, visit the program site in English or Spanish.

Trail Drive Management Corp., the not-for-profit operating company for Dickies Arena, is hiring for part-time positions. Hiring will focus on filling hourly positions in the food and beverage, operations, parking and box office departments as well as other event-based roles.

Successful candidates will enjoy on-the-job training, flexible part-time hours, an employee incentive program, competitive wages and sporting and live events.

Minimum age to work is 18. Participants must preregister online.

The City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday evening to accept the final report of the Redistricting Task Force and establish criteria and procedures for the upcoming redistricting process.

In 2016, Fort Worth voters approved an amendment to the City Charter to increase the number of City Council members from nine to 11 following the completion of the 2020 Census. The Task Force on Race and Culture in December 2018 recommended the goal of ensuring that the City Council reflects the diverse communities that it represents.

In March, the Redistricting Task Force presented 10 criteria for redistricting. The task force also suggested that software training be provided to residents who are interested in the redistricting process, and that proposed redistricting plans submitted by residents be analyzed and presented to the City Council.

The group urged for transparency in the redistricting process by requiring all map drawing to occur at public meetings, with computer screens visible to all parties.

Beginning in the coming weeks and continuing through summer, city staff will provide software training for interested residents, using unofficial population estimates pending the release of official population counts. During this period, residents may also register communities of interest for redistricting purposes.

In addition, the task force has requested a joint work session with the City Council, to be held sometime in the fall after the U.S. Census Bureau releases block-level population data from the 2020 census. The Census Bureau is expected to release these population counts by Sept. 30, 2021.

Houston-based program and organizational change managers Athenian Group has been tapped as the project manager for the new City Hall and the programming-related moves and improvements to several other city-owned buildings.

The group will evaluate the future of the new City Hall’s office space utilization, programming functions for the new City Hall and nine other city-owned buildings, including assessment of the city’s leased spaces for possible cost savings. They will also determine workplace improvement plans at the new City Hall and construction of a new Council chamber.

Athenian is a Business Equity professional services firm that is Minority Business Enterprise-certified in Houston and is in the final stages of reciprocal certification in the Fort Worth market area. On this venture, the company has teamed up with Intelitrac, a Fort Worth-based government contracting firm, to help drive efficient building standards and overall community expertise.

City staff put out a request for qualifications in December 2020 for a professional project management team. The RFQ was advertised and forwarded to various consulting firms, Business Equity firms and interested parties, both locally and nationally. In February, the city received proposals from 16 consultant teams.

A selection team -- comprised of members from the City Manager’s Office, the City Hall Steering Committee, Property Management Department and the Diversity & Inclusion Department’s Business Equity Office -- reviewed the proposals and selected four firms to interview. Based on the qualifications and interviews, the selection team ranked Athenian at the top of the pack.

The Athenian team has extensive experience that makes them highly qualified for this project, including leading consolidation of the City of Seattle’s city-owned buildings into an existing 62-story downtown office tower and unifying the City of Houston’s public-facing services into the Houston Permitting Center, as well as a similar evaluation of Houston’s City Hall offices. Additionally, they have carried out other sizable consolidation, relocation and council chamber programming efforts for such clients as Los Angeles County.

Currently, the 10 city buildings to be programmed include:

• New City Hall at 100 Energy Way (former Pier 1 headquarters).
• Current City Hall on Texas Street.
• Public Safety Building on Throckmorton Street.
• Gordon Swift Building on Monroe Street.
• Municipal Annex on Monroe Street.
• Taylor Street Garage.
• Zipper Building on West 13th Street.
• 13th Street Annex.
• Business Assistance Center on South Freeway.
• Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods on Missouri Avenue.

The programming effort will aim to consolidate city functions, promote collaboration and innovation, reduce city leasing costs in other buildings and evaluate buildings for potential sale.