FORT WORTH, Texas — In an emotional speech at Fort Worth City Hall two weeks ago, Mayor Betsy Price announced to a smattering of reporters that she would not seek a sixth term. She told the press she wanted to spend more time with her family.
“There's no perfect answer as to the time when you should step aside, but you should step aside when you have the feeling that you're ready,” she said in her speech. “Just as I felt called to do this job, I feel called to step aside.”
Her announcement elicited strong reactions across the local political spectrum. Well-wishers heaped flowery praise on the longest-tenured mayor in Fort Worth’s history, noting the city’s enormous growth under her steady leadership. Price’s critics celebrated her parting words and decried her as a gatekeeper of the status quo, who was unable to deal with the growing racial tension and class inequality citywide.
As Price wraps up her 10-year run as mayor, political gears around the city began to churn. In the days following her announcement, a spate of would-be replacements declared their intentions to run, including two City Councilmembers and the head of the Tarrant Democratic Party.
As the media cycle turns its attention to the next mayor, Price’s legacy is as much on the ballot as any one issue. Fort Worth has always been an establishment town, and Price was the darling of local kingmakers and power brokers. Her critics say she was a practitioner of a phrase commonly used by observers both in derision and praise: "The Fort Worth Way." Price’s predecessor, Mike Moncrief, used the term as a way to distinguish Fort Worth’s political discourse from the attention-grabbing vitriol of Dallas and other large cities. Other observers understood it to mean that only people who would toe the line could have a voice in local politics, and that deals were made behind closed doors before the public ever caught wind of controversy.
Price’s supporters say she was anything but an agent for business as usual. They point out that the city has changed drastically — even progressively — under her leadership. In addition to cutting taxes, balancing the budget, and keeping crime rates historically low, the city is covered in bike lanes and anyone can now catch a train to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Deborah Peoples is one of the many people vying to replace Price. She was the mayor’s most serious competitor during her last election. Though the election was unusually contentious by Fort Worth standards, Price eventually won comfortably.
Peoples is the head of the Tarrant County Democrats. She was at the helm of the local iteration of the party when Beto O’Rourke outperformed Ted Cruz and President Biden garnered more votes than Trump in Fort Worth. She is one of Price’s biggest critics and represents a growing group of outsiders who celebrated when Price announced she’d be stepping down.
“It was time for Betsy Price to go,” she said. “I think she stayed too long, but she had a very express mission to hold the line. And so she's probably weary from being on the battlefield, because I know she's got to be tired of dealing with those that are clamoring for change. But change is coming; change is inevitable.”
In an interview with Spectrum News 1, Price reflected on the incredible growth of the city and touted her many accomplishments. Perhaps more than any one issue, Price beamed when she spoke about how engaged citizens have become under her watch — and as a result of some of her initiatives, such as Steer Fort Worth — a 501c3 that cultivates young leaders.
“I went back recently and looked at my swearing in speech 10 years ago, “she said. “We had several [goals] in that speech, and we've been able to hit all of those. And that makes me incredibly proud, starting with public engagement. And we've worked very hard at being out and about in the community and hearing what people have to say. I've never believed you governed very well behind the desk.”
The mayor of the country’s 13th largest city, she added, was duty-bound to promote the city by welcoming tourist groups, luring businesses, and continuing to be a visible presence around the country speaking on behalf of Fort Worth.
“The mayor is the face of the city,” she said. “Clearly you have to depend on your city manager to do the day-to-day implementations, but the mayor needs to be out promoting the city, identifying issues that residents of the city might have, bringing them back to the city manager and say, ‘Here's your challenge? How are you going to solve this?’ ”
One of the enduring images of Mayor Betsy Price will be the many times she, donned in her traditional skin-tight cycling clothes, pedaled for the cameras during one of her “rolling town halls.” An avid cyclist, Price used her hobby as a way to peddle pieces of her agenda while listening to the public.
For some, seeing a proud Republican former county tax assessor and North Texas native embrace this kind of unstuffy brand of outreach appeared to be nothing more than off-brand political theater. To the surprise of cynics, the “Mayor Huffy” routine was not a bit. Bicycling — and a civic commitment to fitness, for that matter — caught on in Fort Worth, with Price leading the charge.
Rental bike-sharing stations, bike lanes, and the Blue Zones Project — a non-profit dedicated to helping people live longer, better lives by improving their environment — have all become pervasive over the past decade.
Price championed many other traditionally progressive initiatives, like the TEXRail train that runs from various cities to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the “complete streets” model of urban design, the creation of Hear Fort Worth — an arm of Visit Fort Worth that promotes local music, support the Fort Worth Film Commission, and other initiatives conservative mayors don’t usually take on.
True to her right-wing roots, Price also preached — and practiced — fiscal responsibility. She lowered the city’s tax rate by 12%, worked through a $45 million shortfall to balance the budget when she first took office, secured the city’s pension fund, overhauled the city’s health plan, and advocated for various bond programs for the city and schools district. Before the pandemic, Fort Worth also experienced its lowest crime numbers in the history of the city. Twice, the mayor strongly advocated for the Crime Control Prevention Tax, which funds elements of the police force. Both times the tax appeared on the ballot during her time in office, the measure passed easily.
During her tenure, projects including the revitalization of Sundance Square, the building of Dickie’s Arena, the redevelopment of the North Side, and others have all changed the look and function of major parts of the city.
Ann Zadeh, who is currently the City Council representative for the progressive District 9 and a candidate for mayor, said Mayor Price’s Steer Fort Worth group, commitment to public engagement, and public health were issues that we’re “close to [Zadeh’s] heart.”
“She always engaged the council member when she was doing things in their district,” she said. “Her office would reach out when she was going to do a rolling town hall or a caffeinated town hall in District 9, and we would collaborate on those things. And she was always very receptive to hearing about the issues that were coming up in District 9 that needed attention from the mayor's office, and really helpful with all of that. It's been a pleasure to work with her.”
In 2016, Jacqueline Craig called the police after having her neighbor assault her young son. When an officer wrestled Craig to the ground — and later arrested the woman and her two daughters — the video of the incident went viral, and the recording placed Fort Worth squarely in the crosshairs of the national spotlight.
Craig later filed an excessive force lawsuit. Mayor Price formed a Race and Culture Task Force after the incident, though many critics of the mayor point out the recommendations of that committee have gone unheeded. Price also supported the newly appointed police monitor, who, like the Race and Culture Task Force, doesn’t have any real authority to make meaningful change.
Price said the city and police’s handling of the situation was her biggest regret from the tenure as mayor.
“Our first response right out of the box to the Jacqueline Craig issue was not what it should have been,” she said. “We pretty quickly realized that and tried to make it better. I'm probably the most disappointed in that response from — not just for me and my office — but from the city in general. But in the tragic situation of the Tatiana Jefferson shooting, we did a much better job of owning it and really coming out to the community and letting them know that, yes, it was a tragic mistake and we're here to learn and to make them better and to do what we can and to really support that family.”
Price said she is proud of the way her office and the city responded to the backlash after the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed. Race relations in general have been a frequent source of criticism among Price’s detractors.
Peoples told Spectrum News 1 that she believes Price failed in dealing with race.
“She turned a blind eye to it,” Peoples said. “People were telling her, ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it.’ And she allowed those people to control that narrative. Over the last 10 years, she's had a rare opportunity to open up dialogue and to try to have a meaningful discussion [on race]. “This whole thing on the race task force — when you filled it up with people who would say what you want to say, then you really didn't have an honest Race and Culture Task Force.”
As protests erupted in Fort Worth and around the country, cities everywhere were forced to deal with the ravages of COVID-19. Price, who was stricken with the virus but overcame it easily after being treated with monoclonal antibody therapy, acknowledged the difficulties that accompanied the pandemic but said that she believes the city did well in handling the virus.
“Nobody's ever been through anything like this before,” she said. “I don't know that anybody had the perfect solution, and I'd stack our response to it up against anybody in the country. Early on, we knew our small businesses and our big businesses — but particularly our small businesses, mom-and-pop operations, restaurants, and banks —were struggling.
“The city got $158 million in Care’s [Act] dollars,” she continued. “And because we've been very responsible fiscally and solved our pension and kept our budget in-hand, we were dedicated to putting all of that money that we could into the community. So we put $60 million in the hands of small businesses. Another nearly $40 million into rental assistance, mortgage, and utilities payments — and then probably another $10 million went into helping people with home repairs and homelessness. I think our response was very good.”
Though not blind to her critics, Price did say that her frequent interactions with the public are what she’ll remember the most. She recalled an encounter with a waiter at a local eatery that she said will stick with her forever.
“When we finished eating, I asked the young man waiting on us for our check, and he said, ‘You don't have a check mayor price,’ ” she said. “I said, ‘Why would you buy my lunch?’ He said, ‘Because you came to my son’s school when he was a second grader who was struggling with his reading. Didn't want to do it. And you read to him and told him they all needed to read every day. It was the only way they were going to succeed.’ And he said, ‘My son is a ferocious reader now and reads every day … I’ll be eternally grateful for you for getting him going on reading.’ And I, that just touched my heart. It was just the sweetest story. We did leave him a really nice tip.”