 a Fort Worth boy with his song all about Fort Worth, Texas. Thank you all for joining us here today for my first official State of the City. First, I have to thank the Chamber staff for putting on today's event and importantly, Dickey's Arena staff for all of our wonderful food. Let's give them a round of applause really quickly. And to our corporate sponsors, because of your generosity, we can actually have a luncheon like this and talk about the future of Fort Worth. So thank you for stepping up as usual to make today's event possible. To my staff, you're amazing. I truly appreciate you. It's been quite a journey to get to this point in our tenure as mayor. Thank you very much. I love each of you. And to my awesome family that are here, my husband, David, my parents, my in-laws, couldn't do this out without you. Truly appreciate it. Now the emotional stuff is over with, right? So for the past year and a half, I've worked alongside an awesome city council who are all here today. I think they're spread out across the room. Just stand up for just a minute to my council. We've worked alongside our city staff, all focused on making our city stronger and truly what a year and a half it has been. First, Congresswoman Granger and Congressman Visee helped secure over $400 million in federal funding for the Panther Island Central City Flood Control Project. And I am so proud to tell you that this project is absolutely happening and will transform the North End of downtown. Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Gov Capital and UNT Health Science Center partner together with Techstars, a global investment accelerator to bring 10 high-growth physical health startups right here into Fort Worth, Texas. Texas A&M announced huge plans to expand their presence in downtown Fort Worth, which will also expand a major research facility. Even this longhorn can give you a whoop on that announcement. And TCU, of course, will celebrate its 150th year anniversary in 2023. Go Frogs. And we were incredibly excited to break down on the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. And the latest announcement that I'm thrilled that I get to share with you today is at Fort Worth's own Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Yellowstone in 1883, is bringing the Bass Reeves television series right here to Fort Worth, Texas. Filming begins actually next month, bringing millions of dollars into our local economy, a huge opportunity to continue to put Fort Worth, Texas on the map. We have record numbers of new jobs created over the last year, and this is mind-blowing. Over 328 people move to our area every single year. This is the state of Fort Worth. Strong, prosperous, and growing. And all of you in this room deserve credit for this, and you should be so incredibly proud. Ross Perot Jr. was speaking at an event a few weeks ago, and he told the audience, if you're a city that's not growing across this country, you're dying, and he's absolutely right. We can't take this growth for granted, but it is imperative that we manage the growth and also have an amazing vision for our future. President Ronald Reagan once said, something to the effect of all great change in America happens, begins at the dinner table. And I agree with this, but I think what we've learned in Fort Worth, it's not just what's happening around dinner tables across our city, it's also who's invited to the table at large that really truly matters. We are home, we are home to an increasingly diverse population of over one million people in the city. We range in age, in race, in profession, in economic background, and political affiliation. Our strength as a city lies in those differences, and remember in Fort Worth, we attack problems and not people. And so my biggest question for each of you here today is this, what does it take to build a world-class city? So I'm gonna take you through a few of our challenges, what we're doing about those, and really where we need to go into the future. First, to be a world-class city, you have to get our students on track and ready for the jobs of the future. The foundation of all healthy, developed countries, and international cities of significance, it all starts with education. The fourth of tomorrow is absolutely being shaped in the classrooms of today. And without being world-class education, you can't have a world-class city. And frankly, we have to come to the realization in Fort Worth that we, the collective we, have not ensured that it's actually possible for all students to be a part of our community's shared success. And that success is directly connected to the success and the future of Fort Worth. A child's life journey really starts on good footing before they're born with a mother's access to prenatal healthcare. And 90% of brain development happens between ages zero and five. And yet our investments in the state of Texas are completely backward. Current Texas Public Education funding looks like this, just under $1,500 per child, zero to five, and then over $12,000 per student K through 12. But I'm telling you the future of education in this state depends on better investments in quality, early childhood education, and importantly, support for our families across Fort Worth. Next legislative session, I'm incredibly excited to work alongside my council members and the Tarrant County Legislative Delegation to make smarter investments for the next generation. Locally we formed a blue ribbon action committee really focused on the childcare crisis that was honestly just made worse by the pandemic. And earlier today, you heard the best place for working parents awards. Congratulations to each of these recipients, but I'm telling you that's not just another plaque that goes on your wall. Importantly, we understand that family friendly policies are absolutely critical for talent recruitment and talent retention. And imperative that you have these things in place to have a healthy workforce, actually it all starts with your employees' families. And of course the final step in cradle to career is the career. And we need a world-class workforce in this city right now. And unfortunately we have an incredible skills gap across North Texas. For example, it's projected by 2030 in North Texas alone, we'll have a shortage of over 15,000 nurses in our region. We need nurses and data analysts and technicians and these are all high wage career paths. Companies like Lockheed Martin have shared that over the next 20 years, they will hire over 38,000 people at their company. And a third of those individual hires will be their artisans who are responsible for building and sustaining their defense products. The workforce need is truly mind blowing. And at the same time, we've known for years that only 23% of our students are making it to a two year or four year credential. That's why many of you in this room in our business community and our philanthropic community stepped up to help us found the Tarrant Two and Through Partnership or T3. And I'm so proud to tell you that we are making significant inroads, but there is still immense work to be done. Because we know that when adults demand better and get out of the way, our students actually succeed and surpass expectations. Brandon Irvin is just one example. I got to meet Brandon just past May when we celebrated our early college high school graduates. These students graduate with a college degree from Tarrant County College at the same time they graduate from high school. Brandon graduated from Crowley Collegiate Academy and is currently a student at Texas Wesleyan University. And he is set to graduate in one year. And he is just 19 years old, y'all. I think Brandon may be with us. If he's not, please stand up and let's celebrate. We have good reason to be proud of Brandon and other students that are just like him that are on similar tracks. But we need more students on more tracks and more pathways to higher wage careers. So we've created the Mayor's Council on Education and Workforce Development, chaired by Tom Harris. And this council is simply just a convener to come alongside our school districts and our business leaders to intersect with our students and help them find those missing pathways to higher education or career. This isn't rocket science, y'all. In 2022, when someone like Jeff Bezos can build a spacecraft and fly to space in a terrible cowboy hat we may need to take into the stockyards, cars can self park and a guy like Pete Davidson can land Kim Kardashian. I think we can figure this out. My vision is simple. That every single student in Fort Worth will have access to attain a credential or a degree before they graduate high school. Because that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you build a world-class city. We know that education and career opportunities are really key to be successful, but as city leaders on this council and as your mayor, it's imperative that we focus on how to build a world-class quality of life. So how do we create safer and cleaner neighborhoods and more effective city services for all of our residents? My number one responsibility as your mayor is to focus on public safety. We know that violent crime across this country has risen and unfortunately, Fort Worth is no different. Since April, our violent crime detail has made over 792 arrests from felony warrants. We've had 82 homicides, 19 of which were caused by domestic violence. So what are we gonna do about it? First, we're making investments that work for the community but also work for our police department for these most difficult jobs that they're doing every single day. Remember, we ask police to be all things to all people all of the time and these solutions are pro-police and pro-community. Our budget just passed on Tuesday along with some additional ARPA designations and here's what it looked like. First, we launched a new partnership between Tarrant County, United Way and the city of Fort Worth called the One Second Collaborative. We're just getting started to focus on fighting violent crime and in your budget as taxpayers, we have 53 additional sworn officers that are all dedicated to neighborhood patrol, traditional patrol and our crisis intervention team. We also added 16 firefighter positions with more on the horizon. It's clear we're prioritizing public safety as a city but it's also imperative that we focus on high quality of life for all of our residents because frankly, bad public policy can ruin your city in a matter of months. Many of you may have traveled to cities like Portland or San Francisco that are truly struggling right now with basic city services. So it all has to start with us being really smart with your tax dollars. There's been a lot of chatter across Texas in the last year about property taxes and affordability and frankly, I think those conversations absolutely need to be had. Right now in Fort Worth, we're prioritizing the right things and still having to keep up with being the fastest growing city. We approved a two cent tax rate reduction in your tax rate but in addition to that, we're also focused on really making new investments to our community that are new and different. City leadership brought us an opportunity with really an ambitious goal. What would it look like to be the cleanest city in the country? This includes addressing code compliance in our waterways, homeless camp cleanup and litter abatement. The city of nearly one million people currently has two street sweepers. Because of this budget, we'll move from two to 12. We currently have three litter abatement crews. Because of this budget, we'll go from three to 10 litter abatement crews thanks in special partnership with the Presbytering Night Shelter and the Upspire Program. We have the opportunity to hire formerly homeless individuals, giving them the dignity of work but also allowing them to help make our city beautiful. We know that one of the most difficult issues facing any American city right now is homelessness. And in Fort Worth, we're not just investing in city sanctioned homeless camps. That's the wrong policy and you're seeing it pop up across the country. Instead, we're focused on investing in housing and services for our homeless individuals. In partnership with Tarrant County and the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition, I can proudly tell you that these policies are the right policies to serve our homeless. We're making historic investments in housing and services and we've committed to nearly 500 units thanks to partnership with Tarrant County and additional 100 units to serve homeless families right here in our community. These are things that we absolutely should celebrate and I see Judge Whitley here. Thank you, Judge, for leading the commissioner's court to these solutions. We appreciate you. As one of the fastest growing cities in the country, we also have a responsibility to expand and protect our open space. This is crazy but in 2020, staff discovered we were losing 50 acres a week to development. And today I can tell you we proudly save 150 acres of open space for future generations across our city. This is natural landscape that needs preserving. When it comes to how the city really functions, let's talk about what we're doing right. I talked about the open space program that was started by Jennifer Dyke, one of the city of Fort Worth employees doing awesome work. But it's also people like Captain Matthew Grant. Captain Grant is a Fort Worth firefighter and just a few weeks ago, he saved this woman from rushing floodwaters. But if you look closely, he didn't just save her life, he also managed to save her purse, which I thought was a picture worth showing, a very smart man indeed. Congratulations to Captain Grant. I know that lady was definitely thankful. Many of you have probably heard me say this before, that when you think about our current city hall, we right now, the basement is really not a place that really endears a sense of innovation and opportunity if you've been down there. And sometimes I've really worried that really great economic opportunity ideas go to die in the basement of city hall. But that's currently where we've had our amazing development services team that do incredible work with a shortage of dollars and focus and we're changing that with this budget, thanks to the council's support. Right now we process around 19,000 building permits per year, on an average of three weeks to get your permit. I'm looking out in the audience, I can probably tell you many of you have had a different touch point at city hall. I get it. We have major room to improve. So here's how we're focused. Within one of my first meetings of coming into office this first few weeks, I sat down with my friend DJ Harrell who runs the development services department. I just asked DJ, what do you need to run your department in a better way? So we've started this process and it was all prioritized in this budget to really streamline city employees, focus on customer service, and I'm incredibly proud of the prioritization to make this possible. And by the way, we're just getting started. In our new city hall, the development services floor will be a one stop shop. And my vision for the future is really this, that we run city hall like all of you run your business. Better results ahead of schedule with a get to yes focus attitude at no extra cost to taxpayers. Because whether you're a multimillion dollar project or you're just a homeowner trying to fix your fence, you deserve world class customer service at Fort Worth City Hall and you're gonna get to do it in this fabulous new space. We want city hall to be an innovative model for the entire country. And you have my word that it absolutely will be. So we keep building on this concept of a world class city and you also have to be able to get around in it. So how do we create better transportation mobility solutions for our economy and for our workforce? I think by now, basically all of you that drive around this city know that everything is under construction. The red reflects construction. And we're really working to keep up with mobility infrastructure and demands of a very fast growing city. We're playing catch up, but I think we're forward focused with the right vision. From 2018 to 2026, we're investing more than $30.5 billion in transportation infrastructure projects. We know these will pay dividends and mobility solutions across the entire region. We also need to chase the private sector on where they're going and moving in mobility innovation. And lucky for us, it's happening right here at Alliance, led by Mike Barry and Hillwood at the Mobility Innovation Zone. It's imperative we partner with companies like these you'll see that are incubating solutions in our own backyard because the future of mobility is right here in Fort Worth. World Class Customer Service and World Class Cities also accompanied by World Class Transportation. And I think in Fort Worth, we've always really struggled around this, but I'm telling you, World Class Cities also have World Class Public Transportation. I'm incredibly excited by the new leadership of Rich Andresky, who is the CEO of Trinity Metro. And when it comes to public transportation, we must meet two important objectives. First is we have to meet the needs of our residents who depend on public transportation to get to work, to further their education, or have access to healthcare. And second, we need transit projects to spur economic development. We know this works. You see countless examples across the country. We also have several priority projects we're working on right now. One is the East Lancaster Quarter Redesign Project. Two is the Trinity Lake Station in East Fort Worth. It's set to open in October of 2023. And third is the important extension of text rail that takes you from the airport into downtown and soon to be into the medical district. By the way, last month Trinity, our text rail stations, our text rail line saw 47,000 riders over the month. You're gonna see significant ROI in these investments. And it's really thanks to partnerships like we have with Trinity Metro, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Tech Scott and Tarrant County to make all of these projects possible. Now you can't headline a chamber event without also talking about economic development. So the question for me is, what does it take to build opportunity around attracting innovative companies and ideas right here to Fort Worth? In one of my first meetings I had with John Goff, we were talking about the Texas A&M University Project. Yes, two Longhorns Aggies talking about Texas A&M and bragging about Texas A&M. And we really were focused on what the opportunity was in North Campus. And John said something profound, that this project we are changing the architecture of our city. And I could not agree more. These projects you're seeing in these pictures reflect just a few examples of announcements we've all made in the last year. Imagine where we're going in 2023 and beyond. This is not just about jobs, it's about discovering the next American Airlines or Lockheed Martin or Alcon or Bell. Jobs and corporate growth are also critical to supporting and expanding our small business community. Congratulations to all of our small business recipients that received awards today, because truly you're at the heart of world-class cities and economic development right here in Fort Worth. Remember, we're not Dallas or Nashville or Austin. We're doing all this in a way that respects the history and heritage of Fort Worth. And we are forward focused on being a city that embraces a global economy. Our world-class facilities in this city, destinations like the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Cultural District, the Fort Worth Zoo, the soon to be renovated convention center, and of course, this beautiful Dickies Arena are welcoming more than 9.4 million visitors per year from all over the world. Even with Fort Worth's long and rich history, this is still a city that's just getting started. Our pioneering spirit is a continued legacy from one generation to the next, and ensuring that we leave this place better than we found it. Many of you probably recognize that quote from former Mayor Bob Bowen, a man that all of us really admired. Mayor Bowen instilled in us a sense of leadership to our entire city. And all of you are leading and finding ways to make sure Fort Worth truly is a world-class city. Think about what the nation has been through in the last several years, and then stop and think about examples of government that don't work and are completely broken. Fourth is a part of the Heartland of America with tremendous opportunity, and our ability to work together, to come to the table will absolutely set us apart. There are people all over Fort Worth who are quietly showing leadership and making this city the very special place that it is. And I call them our Unsung Hero Awards. Let me mention to you one just now. Judge Brent Carr. Judge Carr served as a US Marine, and then started serving Tarrant County in 1983 by the year of the same year I was born. He joined the district attorney's office and now has presided over a bench in Tarrant County with three specialty courts, a mental health court, a court focused on treatment of veterans, and the third is a court devoted to women who have experienced or been involved in sex trafficking. Judge Carr has made an incredible impact on Fort Worth and helped countless thousands of individuals simply by giving them a second chance. Yes, I do think that great change does happen around the dinner table, but it often happens more often when we have people like Judge Carr who are making sure that all people have a seat at the table. We're sad to see Judge Carr retire at the end of this year. I think he certainly earned it, and that's why this year I'm giving him the inaugural Mayor's Unsung Hero Award. Thank you, Judge Carr. I had to surprise Judge Carr because he doesn't like the limelight and he wouldn't have come if we had told him that he was gonna have to stand up and get an award. That's just how he is. In closing, as your mayor, I want to make sure that we are building a stronger and safer Fort Worth, that we are nurturing thriving families, and that we're ensuring that every resident and every zip code across Fort Worth can experience the highest quality of life because, ladies and gentlemen, that's what it takes to build a world-class city. Thank you all for being here today. In the next part of our program, I get to invite a world-class journalist to the stage, Margaret Hoover, so we can continue this conversation. Secretary Condoleezza Rice. Pete Buttigieg. Liz Cheney. Stacey Abrams. Representative Wilher. Governor Chris Christie. Yo, yo, ma'am. Justice Gorsuch, welcome to Firing Line. It's my pleasure to be here. Hello, Fort Worth. I'd like to give Mayor Parker a round of applause for your state of the city and wait for it. You may or may not have checked your Twitter feed in the last 24 hours, but Fort Worth and Mayor Parker have been named to the Time 100 next-gen list, which is a list that the Time 100 picks to highlight emerging leaders shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science, and more. Congratulations, Mayor Parker. Thank you very much. Thank you. The list is so impressive, what's really impressive are the celebrities. And if anybody likes a little shameless Netflix occasionally, my favorite is Emily in Paris, and I think Lily Collins has been named. So I'll be the creeper at the event that just wants to meet Lily Collins, if I'm being honest. There's one in every crowd. That's really, yeah, exactly. Look, this is the part of the program. I was so grateful that you reached out to me to dive a little deeper into what you just laid out in your state of the city because you talked about how your goal is, for Fort Worth to continue to be a world-class city and to become even more so. And so I'd like to highlight a couple of the points that you mentioned in your speech and maybe ask you a few questions, get you to expand about it a little more. You have not shied away from pointing out that Fort Worth is the 13th largest city in the country, but it's one of several top cities in Texas. And you talk about what you're doing to distinguish yourself and to compete with the other top cities in Texas, Dallas, Houston, Austin, to keep talent, jobs, investment. What is your, I mean, you just laid out several priorities. But would you pick one as the driving force? How would you order them? What's your, yeah, I think for me, obviously this is, no one likes to give a speech that kind of seems like it's from a first person point of view because frankly, this job is not singular. You do it with a city council, with a city staff, and importantly with business to really tell the Fort Worth story. I think we've been set on this really excellent path of good governance in our community. I know Mayor Price is here, I don't know if Mayor Monkreef is here or not. Just great leaders that are focused on the right thing to build this community in some of the fastest growing time periods in our city. When you're the fastest growing city in the country, there's a lot of things that can go right, but there's certainly a lot of things that can go wrong at the same time. I think for Fort Worth, the biggest struggle has just been, hey, we're over here, right? You don't know who we are, but once you get people to our city, they fall in love with it. Business leaders do, visitors do, and families do. So I would think the biggest thing we have to do among competition among our other peer cities in Texas is just really tell a better story. And that has been an emphasis we've had at city council to partner with this chamber and others to really market Fort Worth differently across the region and be more proactive. So what is that narrative? Well, I think it's everything we've talked about today. Fort Worth has got this amazing Western heritage that also some people, I think, wrongly don't see the aspect of it that's so positive, which to me, it's incredibly individual, right? And it's all the things that have made us special, but at the same time, you can be cow town and funky town at the same time. You can be forward focus and progressive, but also have your roots and your feet firmly planted on the ground about what it means to be here in this city. And I think continuing to tell that story and that message, and I think it's okay also to be more selective on who we want to be here in terms of business and opportunity. The growth is already here. You've heard me talk about that. People are moving here. So the talent is coming to North Texas. So our key narrative right now needs to be focused on how to keep them here. And as a city government, our role around city services is this concept of clean and safe and superior quality of life I think will set us apart long-term. You said a safer Fort Worth and you just now said clean and safe. Public safety is obviously key to keeping people here. Attracting people and then keeping them here. And I mean, I don't have to tell this group that violence in major American cities remains dramatically higher today than it did before the pandemic. According to the council on criminal justice mid-year 2020 crime report, which looked at crime data from 29 cities across the country. Homicides were only slightly down from their peak during the pandemic, but aggravated assaults, robberies, property crimes have increased. And this is in 29 cities across the country. Fort Worth is not isolated from this wave. So what is your number one focus when it comes to public safety in terms of making this city more secure and improving upon this really backdrop of frankly a bit of a tragic decline when it comes to public safety? Well, I think it's the policies that we create investments we make in policing that are pro police and pro community. Policing has changed dramatically. We also understand it's really difficult to recruit young people to be in the profession when you can go make more money at pretty much any of the companies that are sitting in this room today. It is truly about public service. We're lucky in Fort Worth to have a phenomenal police chief that has 20 years tenured in our department. I think he has an excellent command staff and the right culture is built here. Look, I'm not a law enforcement officer. Neither are city managers. So our job is to really look at chief nooks and his commands and say, what do you need to do your job? And then on council, as we make allocation to those investments, each of our council members really has a touch point on their district and the things that people are saying to them. So if there's concerns in policing in our communities, it's our job to really communicate those back but recognizing when you have a rise in violent crime, you have to focus those resources to help our officers fight violent crime. And I think we're doing that in Fort Worth. And I do think you'll see it'll play dividends in the coming three years but we're playing a long game. Fort Worth has been through this before. I mean, many of you may have lived here when Mayor Granger was mayor. And at that time, unfortunately we had the dubious distinction of being called murder worth. That's a very different narrative than what you have today in our city. And we have to fight honestly to keep it from imbalancing again. And every city is really facing this. Sadly, I was on a panel last week and the mayor of Kansas City, Quentin Lucas was there and I said out loud the number of homicides we've had this year, 82. And Quentin was like, I'd give anything for that. We've got double and our populations half that. Well, when you have major American city mayors saying those types of things back and forth, we have a crisis as an entire country and we have to do it together. And I think Mayor Ross is here also and we have representation from Mayor Dallas. The entire North Texas region is working on this together because North Texas when it comes to anything, especially with public safety, we have to make decisions in lockstep. And I think we're doing that right now. The Fort Worth Chief Police, Neil Noakes, released a crime reduction strategy last spring and you all just passed your budget. Are there things you can point to in the budget that you think will pay dividends when it comes to this new public safety strategy? Well, the number one is adding more officers onto the street. So over 50 sworn officers plus civilian positions, that's what Neil asked for and that's what he got in this budget, which I think is really important. The other things that are absolutely related to public safety, 911 communications, making sure people when you call 911, you get a quick answer and a quick response which are investments in this budget. And then by the way, everything public safety and policing is not just public safety together. You also have other departments that have to work together. The broken windows theory is something we subscribe to in the city. So a clean city is also a safe city and all those investments are in this budget. As the journalists who came from New York to hear the broken windows theory. How's it going? They're not following it right now. But that, I mean, this was the strategy that turned New York around and it'd be great if another city rediscovers it. You've mentioned some of your colleagues who are mayors across the country. You're the first millennial mayor of Fort Worth, but you are not the first or the only millennial mayor in America. Some of your contemporaries who have made waves nationally, though they're not on the time 100 list, include Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, I bet he'd like to be. Cincinnati's off top for well. Cleveland's Justin Bibb, Phoenix's Kate Gallego. There's a wave, it seems to me, of next-gen leadership at the municipal level that to me stands in stark contrast to leadership at the federal level. When you look at the president of the United States who's 79 years old, the speaker of the house who's 82 years old, the former president who's 75 years old, Senator Cornyn who's 70, your governor's 64. I mean, there is a real age gap between your generation of leaders at municipal level across the country and the federal level. And I wonder how you, when you talk about leading with your peers across the country, how does your frankly generational gap influence your leadership style and how you approach the problems that you face in your city? I think it is different. I would also maybe say in city leadership, age is really just a number because you are so well connected to your community. Your age really doesn't matter as much as it does at a national level. Here's what I mean by that. When you listen to our president speak or Nancy Pelosi speak, they seem so disconnected from reality and I just think that's the Beltway of Washington DC whereas I think if someone the same age spoke here in Fort Worth, they would still get it. Things are just different when you're connected to your community. I do think you're starting to see generational shift which is absolutely natural. Business does the same thing. People don't ask so much about the age of a CEO as they do at age of a mayor or whatever else. But I also want to be clear. It's an odd thing for me because I'm technically a millennial. I don't often feel that way. I feel somewhat disconnected from the millennial generation at times. But there is this really interesting passing of the torch that is happening across the country and it does happen to be with our mayors as well. The people that you named have some of them have become friends or colleagues. I've gotten to know them all and we all have similar, we can commiserate over different deals. This is a funny story when we had the Big Fort Worth House at South by Southwest in Austin with this really fun party that visit Fort Worth through. There was this balcony overlooking a band plane. It was a hip hop artist and I invited some of the mayors from South by Southwest to come to the Fort Worth party. So I told staff and the people there that the mayors were coming and they're kind of like staying up there having a cocktail and mayor swore as Mayor of Miami. It's cold in Austin y'all by the way. He's standing on the end of this balcony with his shirt halfway unbuttoned. He's very tan, he has gold chains and he is dancing to the music. And one of the staffers leaned over to me and he goes, let me guess, that's the Mayor of Miami. And I love that because actually mayors usually do reflect their cities in a really unique way that I don't think you necessarily get at other levels of government. They somehow take on the character and the personality of the mayor. Right, so then, look, the Census Bureau has estimated that for seven years in a row, Texas has attracted more than 500,000 new residents every year. You're the mayor of Fort Worth. You're taking on the personality of your city. You're making a pitch to some of those folks who are coming in. Why Fort Worth? I think, first of all, I'm gonna give you the whole pitch. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I want the whole, no, I want the 32nd elevator pitch. No. Are there elevators? We've done this when I've had the opportunity for some big potential projects, some of which are still pending in our city. And my usual pitch is this, you will never find a city that is more focused on helping you be successful in business and importantly, what is your family like when they get here? It's this interesting blend of being forward focused and also really focused on the things that matter around your kitchen table, like I talked about earlier. And also, Fort Worth is hungry for success. There's a lot of cities and no offense to Austin. I love Austin, but they're at this point, they're like, we're growing, who cares about business? It's too expensive to live here, whatever. You're not gonna get that attitude in Fort Worth. We want you to build your business here in our community and be our next success story, which has absolutely worked. But the second piece is probably something we're trying to do better about in our community is usually peer-to-peer CEOs. They don't just want to hear from an elected official. They usually want to hear from other people that are in this room, that are running successful businesses in a city to understand what does it really look like to run a business in Fort Worth? What are the pitfalls you're experiencing or what are the things that really have made you successful? And I think that those strategies will pay off for us in the end. Your mom, your wife, you're a mayor, you actually represent the multifaceted dynamic of many millennials in the workplace, who have a pretty pragmatic approach to solving problems. How do you balance it all? And I ask you this because I think it's important for young men and young women to understand that everybody in elected life is a full person even though you see one side of them. How has this job been for you and how do you do it? I think it is weird to me that in business we expect people to be a whole person, to have lives and experiences outside of the workplace. That hasn't really translated into politics yet. And man is it worse when you get on social media. My city council colleagues and I kind of joke that we probably should be saving the meanest things people have tweeted at us or saved on Instagram as a DM is just sort of put it in a bucket and save it because people don't treat you as a human being oftentimes. They treat you as you're a thing. They don't like the thing that you said. And so now I'm gonna put it out into the world and the universe. I'll let to say that I just want elected officials to be real people and juggle the same things that I'm doing. No one balances that. No mom right now. You're in the same position as me with two young kids, right? There are balls that you can drop and there are balls that you can't and your family is a ball you can't drop. So you just kind of have to navigate that together as a family unit. My husband, David, lets me do this crazy job and we balance. I wouldn't recommend being in our house usually around between the hours of seven and eight AM or after work because it's a little bit chaotic. But all those things to say, I want politics to look different. And I think if it did, the partisanship and bickering you see right now across this country would go away. But right now you have people that are so focused on being in their little political bubble that they're unwilling to sit down with other people that might have a different political persuasion or a different idea and actually get stuff done. And I don't know about you but it's immensely frustrating to watch because I think the future of our country really depends on people that are more like you and I and the folks in this room that just want to move the country forward. Here, here to that. Here, here to Mr. Parker for making it happen. You said that you don't really identify with the millennial generation but I wrote a book about millennials 10 years ago and to me you capture the ethos of the generation because you're on the cutting edge of technology. You are pragmatic, not ideological. And you're talking about sitting down and just talking to people to solve problems. That is the essence of this generation. Talk to me a little bit about how that different approach has helped you to think differently about problems as you've had the chance to be mayor after having been a chief of staff and have worked for the city for many years. First of all, it's very different when it's your name on the door. It was very different for me to be the chief of staff to Betsy and support her and her work than the tables to turn and for it to be my name on the door in this day and age. And I've told this story publicly, many of you may be heard me say this, around the same time we were deciding to run for mayor, January 6th happened, right? And talk about a terrible time to enter the political arena was in that week or two that we had to make a decision to run for mayor of Fort Worth. Right now on the council, I'm joined by other like-minded people that also come from sort of this scrappy millennial generation that are just trying to get things done and raise a family and work and all the things and is a balancing act for each of them as well. But I'm also really well supported by every generation in this city. You know, I was really fortunate when I moved to Fort Worth with David about 15 years ago. You know, we were sort of opened arms from this community to say, we want you to be at the table, we want you to be successful and getting to be around this community has been incredibly impactful to me. But I do think our generation has a unique opportunity because of how we were raised and the generation where it came up in is to really hit problems head on and not be afraid and not bury them because honestly, the things I do today as mayor I absolutely will personally live with. My children will live with in this community, my grandchildren will live with. And so I really do think about that every time we take a vote or make a decision that's tough and how it infects our community. And I know my fellow council colleagues also feel the same way. Mayor Parker, what gives you hope? I think kids, like it sounds so cliche, it does. But when you're, I mean, there's nothing better to get out of your political bubble than to go home and your son has got gum all over the bottom of his shorts and then he decided to play baseball in it. So no, the gum has become grass on the same shorts and then you forget and you put it in the laundry and now everything has gum and grass on it. My poor mom had to figure that one out for me. There's not enough shout in the world for that to come out. It's just our lives are normal as all of your lives are. And in no disrespect to our folks that are serving in Washington right now, but that life is not normal. That is not the life of an average American family is to live in the Beltway and make decisions in isolation. And so my hope is really around this next generation. I've thought about that a lot lately of I kind of worry, you can't watch the news right now with your kids and it not be super depressing. You can watch Firing Line. I can watch Firing Line, that's right. Family viewing, 730 KERA Friday nights. But I think this is also, Fort Worth is a hopeful place. People are generally pretty happy about being here. We are imperfect. We have a lot of blemishes and things we're working on as a city. But generally speaking, I don't know how many of you get to travel across this country on behalf of your business or with your families. You always come home kind of taking a deep breath. Like I get to be back in Fort Worth. Be back in this amazing city. And I'm always thankful for that as well. So probably obviously our family and then this community. I will say I feel that my mom's from Fort Worth. I don't know if you know that. She grew up on Harley Avenue four blocks away from right here where we are now. And I say I feel a little bit of home when I come back here too, but this city has changed so much in the last 20 years. And under your leadership and the leadership of everybody in this room, it's gonna continue to change, continue to grow, continue to be a world-class city. So Mayor Parker, for your leadership and for having me here today, all of you here today at the chamber, thank you for your contributions. And let's keep making Fort Worth the world-class city that it is. Thank you.