Streetcars won’t change culture of Fort Worth

by Kevin Buchanan of Fortworthology

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Rather, it’s giving Fort Worth the ability to meet the cultural change that’s already happening in the United States.

One of the more interesting bits to emerge from Tuesday’s streetcar update to the Fort Worth City Council was observing what happened to opponents Jungus Jordan and Zim Zimmerman after HDR’s thoroughly researched, meticulously planned presentation blew holes in their earlier complaints. HDR clearly and concisely showed that the proposed Phase One would have good ridership (even using extremely conservative estimates), could be paid for entirely with TIF & grant funds (no money from the general fund, no money from residents of other parts of the city), that the streetcar competed in no way with Tower 55 or with commuter rail, and would give back to the city at a conservative estimate of four-to-one compared to its cost. In fact, HDR’s Charles Hales said something quite bold during the presentation, so much so that I actually contacted him afterward and confirmed the quote:

"The Fort Worth streetcar, on a cost-to-benefit basis, is the strongest I’ve seen in the United States."

When the presentation was finished and the councilmembers gave input, Councilman Jordan reached for a few straws and came back with this, quoted nicely by the Fort Worth Weekly:

"This is a culturally changing atmosphere for this city, and I’m not sure we should change the culture of Fort Worth from what we are now to what we are with streetcars."

Which I’m not sure even makes sense.

Charles Hales himself refuted Jordan’s statement very effectively, pointing out that this isn’t a forced change of culture for Fort Worth – rather, it’s giving Fort Worth the ability to meet the cultural change that’s already happening in the United States. There is a very real shift in many demographics back to walkable urban neighborhoods – HDR’s presentation on Tuesday included several sourced-and-referenced studies showcasing this. The streetcar helps attract and shape that kind of growth.

In addition, Councilman Jordan has been clear in his support of the Tower 55 improvements project as well as the Southwest-to-Northeast commuter rail line. Given that the streetcar would become part of an integrated, holistic transit system along with things like SW2NE and the existing TRE, one could make the case that Jordan should be opposing those projects as well, if the “culture” of Fort Worth shouldn’t change.

That’s not even getting into the historical streetcar culture in Fort Worth. Our central city neighborhoods, the ones being revitalized right now and in need of an effective neighborhood circulator, were built on the backs of streetcars. And who doesn’t have fond memories of riding the Leonard Brothers’ subway into Downtown? In many ways historically and culturally, Fort Worth is a rail town – just one that’s lost its way for a while.

It’s this “culture” thing I keep coming back to. I’d like to ask Councilman Jordan just what the “culture” of Fort Worth is? I wasn’t aware there was a monolithic “Fort Worth culture” that everybody hews to. If parts of Fort Worth differ in their culture, are they not “real” Fort Worth by Jordan’s definition? Is the “real” Fort Worth “culture” only the one expressed in Councilman Jordan’s district? That comes across a bit insulting, don’t you think?

Here’s a newsflash for Jordan, Zimmerman, and Scarth: This “culture” change is already here in Fort Worth.

It’s the culture of the Near Southside. The culture of the West 7th Street residents. The culture of Downtown, the culture of Trinity Bluff, the culture of the Near Northside, the Near Southeast, and more. While they’re all at different stages of evolution, the central city neighborhoods of Fort Worth are attracting people of this cultural shift that Jordan is so scared of. The people who embrace urban neighborhoods, bicycles, mixed-use, street festivals, and more are the same people who will embrace the streetcar. It’s not forcing change on people who don’t want it – this change is already happening. We can either twiddle our thumbs and ignore it, or we can embrace it to great economic and livability benefit – which doesn’t involve forcing it on people in Jordan’s district.

I’d like to ask him how his vision of the “culture” of Fort Worth squares with images like these.

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