Early voting in the municipal elections begins Monday; and arguably, the biggest prize up for grabs in North Texas is Fort Worth mayor.
Deborah Peoples and Mattie Parker were the top two vote-getters in the May 1 general election; but since neither broke the 50%+1 threshold, the two will now go head-to-head in a runoff.
The winner will succeed Betsy Price, who opted not to seek a record-extending sixth two-year term.
KRLD conducted a wide-ranging interview with both Parker and Peoples.
The interviews were both done Thursday afternoon over Zoom, and each candidate was asked the same nine questions word-for-word in the same order.
Neither candidate was briefed on the material ahead of time; both heard the questions during their interviews for the first time.
Audio of the interviews are posted below, in their entirety, un-cut and unedited:
Here are some highlights of the interviews:
On the plan to unite a city divided, both racially and politically:
Peoples: "I'm a Democrat, everybody knows that. I'm associated with the Democratic Party. But I have some of my greatest successes working with members of the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party (and) the Green Party, because we talk about what success looks like. And then once we determine what success looks like, then we all get to work toward a common goal."
Parker: "I think the number one thing a mayor has a responsibility to do is really listen and then show that actions speak louder than words when it comes to how to unite a community together."
On whether to move forward with the creation of a police citizens review board, as recommended by the city's task force on race and culture:
Parker: "To understand what it looks like to really have a community approach to policing that works for (all areas of) Fort Worth, Texas -- not just across the city. So whether that's a community citizens review board or some other hybrid model or, importantly, how do you change the perception that there is division between police and community in Fort Worth."
Peoples (explaining why she would likely move forward with establishing one): "The city leadership itself put together this amazing blue ribbon committee from people across the city, and they recommended it. And then the city leaders turned around and said no, we don't want it."
On how to keep the peace in the city during and after the trial of former police officer Aaron Dean, charged with murder in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson:
Peoples: "As mayor, I'm going to be out in the community, talking to people, working on healing our community and asking people to let the court system do its job."
Parker: "That's got to be a priority from day one upon taking office as mayor on June 15, is starting to meet with community leaders that are entrenched across Fort Worth, that understand the process of that trial, help us communicate across the community, (to) prepare for potential protests or concern."
On how to improve areas of the city, including Stop Six and Las Vegas Trail, that are considered to be neglected:
Parker: "One aspect I've been talking a lot about is the critical importance of smart technological infrastructure, like community WiFi across our city. What does it look like to pour additional investment dollars so that every single person in our city has access to high quality WiFi?"
Peoples: "There's a lot of work to be done around the care of our small businesses, the care of programs and prevention programs and intervention programs that are in those communities."
On the plan for attracting businesses and employees to Fort Worth:
Peoples (explaining that one of the keys is attracting a diverse workforce): "When they want to locate a company, they need to locate a company where all their employees -- not just some of their employees, but all of their employees -- are going to feel welcomed."
Parker: "Changing the student outcomes we see right now ... is important, because right now in Tarrant County, only 23% of our students ever make it to a two-year or four-year credential. And then you understand what's happening in our economy -- over 65% of jobs require some type of credential. We're keeping our kids out of the workforce."
On the biggest challenges in transportation facing the city:
Parker (explaining that the area north of 820 is rapidly growing and, as a result, getting more congested): "I want to work with councilmember Cary Moon and whomever is elected in District Seven (Leonard Firestone or Zeb Pent) on a North Fort Worth transportation infrastructure task force to help tackle the toughest challenges that are in that area, especially on those east-west corridors that we know are so clogged up with traffic."
Peoples: "The ultimate goal (is) to get us to a multimodal transportation plan. Great cities have them; and you can't say, 'Well, we don't have the money, so we're going to ignore it because we don't have the money.' No."
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