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Advocates ask Fort Worth to increase Gateway Park allocation in 2026 bond plan
Summary
A resident urged the council to allocate significantly more money to Gateway Park in the 2026 bond program, saying the park’s master plan is valued at $140 million while the parks department recommended $21 million for the next bond.
Rick Herring, a Fort Worth resident and longtime parks advocate, asked the City Council at a public comment meeting to increase the Gateway Park allocation in the 2026 bond program, saying the parks department’s recommended amount is inadequate to implement the park’s master plan.
Herring said the Gateway Park master plan carries a $140,000,000 price tag and that the parks and recreation department recommended $21,000,000 for the park in the 2026 bond program. “At that rate ... it will take at least 50 years for the Gateway Park master plan to be fully implemented,” Herring said, adding that advocates have requested at least $50,000,000 and would hope for $30 million to $35 million.
Herring also noted that when the master plan was presented last year, Richard Zavala described Gateway Park as one of the “big four” park projects in Fort Worth and that Mayor Parker had called it catalytic for the city. The city website describes Gateway Park as Fort Worth’s only metropolitan park, Herring said, and he asked the council to increase the allocation so work can begin on the master plan now rather than over multiple bond cycles.
The parks department’s recommended figure and Herring’s figures were presented as citizen testimony at the public comment meeting; no formal council vote on bond allocations was taken at this session.
