Please mark your calendars for a City of Fort Worth public meeting on Monday, August 28, 6:00-7:30 pm, regarding the attached Zoning Ordinance text amendment. We’ll provide a separate email with the meeting location in the West 7th area once confirmed.
For property zoned “MU-2” High Intensity Mixed-Use, this proposed text amendment would require applicants for new bars larger than 2,000 square feet to request a Conditional Use Permit through public hearings before the Zoning Commission and the City Council.
The City Council will consider the text amendment on Tuesday, September 12, at 6:00 pm as part of their regular meeting.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Announces
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map
On View October 15, 2023-January 21, 2024
Memory Map is the largest and most comprehensive showcase of Smith’s career, featuring more than one hundred works. Organized thematically, the exhibition offers a new framework to consider contemporary Native American art, addressing how Smith has initiated and led some of the most pressing dialogues around land, racism, and cultural preservation. It celebrates the artist’s dedication to creativity and community, emphasizes her deep political commitments, and offers essential and potent reminders of our responsibilities to the earth and each other.
Smith engages with modern and contemporary modes of artmaking, from an idiosyncratic adoption of abstraction to American Pop Art to Neo-Expressionism. She reimagines these artistic traditions with concepts rooted in her own cultural practice to examine contemporary life in America and interpret it through Native ideology. Since the 1970s, Smith has built a visual language that includes recurring imagery such as trade canoes, horses, bison, and flags, alongside common materials like newspaper, fabric, and commercial objects. Throughout her work she addresses urgent concerns about ecological disaster, the misreading of history, and the genocide of Native Americans, while also evoking the power of kinship and education.
This exhibition is organized by Laura Phipps, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with Caitlin Chaisson, Curatorial Project Assistant.
“Through her sophisticated use of color, materials, and humor, Smith’s work prompts important conversations about history and education—and ultimately about the obligations we have to each other and the world around us,” says Phipps. “From the inception of Memory Map, Smith and I had hoped for her messages and her art to reach audiences across the country and we are so thrilled to see them in the context of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.”
"The Modern is honored to host Jaune Quick-To-See Smith: Memory Maps. We are grateful to collaborate with the artist and the Whitney Museum on this important exhibition," says Dr. Marla Price, Director, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. "This is the first large-scale presentation of Jaune Quick-To-See Smith's work in our region, giving our community and visitors the opportunity to experience the important stories she tells throughout her groundbreaking career.”
For the third consecutive year, Fort Worth homeowners could see a decrease in the City’s property tax rate – the largest reduction in at least 30 years.
City Manager David Cooke has recommended the City Council lower the tax rate 4 cents, to 67.25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Even with the rate decrease, the City is considering adding 106 positions in the Police Department and 76 positions in the Fire Department as part of an ongoing commitment to maintaining high levels of public safety.
The theme of the fiscal year 2024 budget is So Safe. So Clean. So Green.
Although the property tax rate would go down, a property tax bill could increase depending on the property appraisal. Earlier this summer, the City adopted an increased homestead exemption for residents who are disabled or age 65 or older that will assist those eligible taxpayers in reducing their tax burden.
The City Council has lowered the tax rate six times in the past seven years, totaling 16.25 cents. The rate has decreased from 85.50 cents per $100 assessed valuation in fiscal 2016.
The Tarrant County Appraisal District placed the total appraised value of homes and commercial properties at $115.7 billion, up 15.6% from the previous year.
Total property tax revenue is estimated to be $735 million, up $71.5 million from the previous year, or 10.8%.
The council is scheduled to approve the tax rate Tuesday, Sept. 19. The City’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Learn more about the City of Fort Worth budget and opportunities for engagement.
he City of Fort Worth is planning the FY2024 budget and recently asked residents what they think budget dollars should be spent on. Feedback was collected June 6-July 9, where residents had multiple avenues to provide comments and photos.
Why it matters: Like in 2022, this year the City is looking for residents to provide feedback about what they think budget dollars should be spent on. As the City focuses on the next fiscal year, the City also wants to engage residents and understand what is important to them.
The bottom line: The top requests were:
What’s next: The city manager will present the proposed budget to City Council on Aug. 8. Beginning in August, a series of community meetings will be held to get. feedback and answer questions. The final budget for FY2024 will be approved by City Council in September.
Movies That Matter, a film series program of the City of Fort Worth’s Human Relations Commission, will present Paper Tigers at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St.
Event details: Admission is free. Make reservations online.
About the film: Paper Tigers (2015, 102 minutes, PG-13 strong language, offensive slurs and violence) chronicles a year in the life of Lincoln High School in the community of Walla Walla, Washington. The kids who come to Lincoln have a history of truancy, behavioral problems and substance abuse. After Lincoln’s principal is exposed to research about the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences, he decides to radically change the school’s approach to discipline. With the aid of diary camera footage, the film follows six students. From getting into fights, grappling with traumatic events in their lives, and on the cusp of dropping out, they find healing, support and academic promise at Lincoln High.
View a trailer.
Movies That Matter was created in 2010 as a way to create awareness in the community about human rights issues affecting people in Fort Worth and worldwide. The series presents human rights-related film screenings and moderated discussions. The program is managed by the Diversity & Inclusion Department.
The Fort Worth Art Commission this week approved new interpretive plaques designed to foster cultural equity and provide historical context for a series of scenes depicted in murals at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
About the artwork: Created to commemorate the Texas Centennial in 1936, two 200-foot-long, hand-painted tile murals trace the state’s settlement and industrial development. The murals were integrated into the facades of the National Register-listed Will Rogers auditorium and coliseum.
In 2019, a social media post raised concerns about the depiction of Black Texans in the auditorium mural. Alongside other agricultural workers, Black workers are depicted harvesting cotton.
The Mayor’s Office asked the Fort Worth Art Commission to seek community input and make a recommendation for responding to the concerns. Consensus emerged strongly in favor of presenting historical context for all segments of the murals.
An advisory panel recommended that permanent interpretive plaques be embedded in the plazas in front of the coliseum and auditorium. This was followed by more than two years of research and meetings with focus groups representing the diverse cultures depicted in the murals.
The goal of the project is to encourage viewers to learn more about Texas’ multifaceted history and to foster cultural equity and community understanding.
The plaque for the mosaic depicting Black fieldworkers would read:
“Use of the land and its value was changing dramatically. For the first two decades of 20th century, agriculture led the state’s economic growth. Texas produced almost one third of America’s cotton. This scene depicts tenant farming and sharecropping, systems in which freedmen, poor white, and Mexican workers farmed rented land for a share of the harvested crops. Sharecropping rarely resulted in farm ownership. After World War I (1914-1918), many laborers moved to cities for work, forcing landowners to modernize with machinery to harvest millions of acres of cotton, wheat, and other crops.”
View approved text for the other mural segments.
What’s next: City Council will be asked to consider authorizing a construction contract to fabricate, deliver and install the plaques.
The Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) and Mayor Mattie Parker recently recorded a new video about Fort Worth Safe:
https://youtu.be/17-Oz57jHvc
Why it matters: In 2022, FWPD implemented the Fort Worth Safe Violent Crime Strategy, focusing on preventing violent criminals from victimizing Fort Worth residents. Since the initiative’s implementation, there has been a 13% drop in overall violent crime in Fort Worth.
What's next: New technology and collaboration among units and agencies has helped the department increase its efforts. Additional programs have been developed to also assist in reducing violent crime.
View a list of resources and partners working together to keep Fort Worth safe.
Welcome to Smart Irrigation Month, a time dedicated to promoting water efficiency and raising awareness about the importance of smart irrigation practices.
Why it matters: Irrigation systems play a vital role in maintaining healthy landscapes, but they can also be a source of water waste if they are not properly optimized.
It’s easy: Follow these Environmental Protection Agency sprinkler tips:
Check the system for any visible leaks in the pipes, valves, or sprinkler heads. Examine each sprinkler head for proper alignment, damage, or clogs.
Review and fine-tune the settings on the sprinkler system controller. Check the functionality of rain sensors and ensure they are correctly connected. Inspect valves in your system for leaks, proper opening and closing, and signs of wear or damage
Ensure water flows and coverage is directed where it is needed. Adjust sprinkler heads to avoid overspray on to sidewalks and other hard surfaces. Group plants with similar watering needs into separate watering zones and adjust schedules and runtimes.
Explore alternative watering methods such as drip irrigation or micro-sprinklers. Consider upgrading to WaterSense labeled or smart irrigation system for automatic adjustments based on weather and soil moisture.
For additional help: The City of Fort Worth offers no-cost irrigation system evaluations by licensed irrigators to Fort Worth homeowners. No repairs or adjustments are made during the evaluation.
Go deeper: For more information or an appointment.
A City Council-appointed task force recommended reimagining the future of the building at 1300 Gendy St. as a world-class cultural hub and redeveloping the property accordingly.
A 2022 study identified $26.1 million in needed repairs and upgrades to the City-owned building known as the Community Arts Center. Due to inflation and other factors, those costs could reach $30 million in 2023 dollars.
The Community Arts Center houses 14 residents, including nine nonprofit organizations and five studio artists.
Task force representatives, including Chairman Leonard Firestone and Vice Chairman Glenn Lewis, on Tuesday told councilmembers that the task force considered three possible scenarios for the building’s future: restoration, renovation and redevelopment. Members used seven factors to evaluate each development strategy.
The task force recommended that future development:
June 13: City Council will vote on adopting a resolution accepting the final report of the task force and authorizing the city manager to proceed in implementing its recommendations.
June 21: Staff issues a request for proposals to redevelop 1300 Gendy St.
Sept. 14: Initial proposals are due.
October: Opportunities for public feedback on the proposals will be scheduled.
A five-member committee made up of City staff and community stakeholders will evaluate proposals.
FORT WORTH, Texas (June 5, 2023) — The Fort Worth Botanic Garden (FWBG) invites guests to visit the Garden with free admission Monday, June 19 in honor of the Juneteenth federal holiday, thanks to the generosity of R Bank, which makes this opportunity accessible to all for the second year in a row.
"The significance of Juneteenth spans our nation, but we are proud to celebrate this day in Fort Worth, home of the future National Juneteenth Museum and activist, Opal Lee," said FWBG CEO and President Patrick Newman. "Offering free admission is our way of honoring this significant holiday. We invite the community to create emotional souvenirs with their family and friends at the Garden on Juneteenth, and we thank R Bank for making it possible again this year."
"R Bank is proud to continue its sponsorship of Juneteenth at the Garden. We believe in celebrating diversity, freedom, and honoring the history that has shaped us. This is an integral part of R Bank’s commitment to being more than just a bank, but also a cornerstone of our vibrant community," said Kent McCune, Market President for R Bank Fort Worth.
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