A Message From Our President - May 22
May 22,2020
A Message from our President
This week the Governor expanded openings for restaurants to 50% capacity. Bars, gyms, nail salons, hair salons and other personal services are permitted to open with limits as well.
Things are not back to normal - yet. The Convention Center is still being used as an emergency homeless shelter and plans are to have it close in mid-June. Some hotels have not announced a reopening date and some retailers may not reopen. Parking garage usage is still running lower than usual, a sign that offices are still implementing work from home measures.
But adaptations are taking place. DFWI has re-tasked some of our Ambassador team on targeted areas and our Clean Team has doubled down on street and high touch area cleanings. We've begun a new gateway planting effort at key entrances into the Public Improvement District and have worked with property owners on security issues.
We've been touching base with corporate tenants, promoting on street merchants, coordinating with security providers and holding virtual meetings with Downtown residents to gather information and provide answers to questions raised during these unusual months. All the while, we've been keeping downtown "show ready," ensuring that, to the extent possible, our center city looks and acts as it always has; as one of America's downtown showcases.
While all of that has been going on, we've also been looking to the future. We are working to advance a new, ambitious vision for Texas A&M in Downtown Fort Worth. We are poised to relaunch our national office marketing campaign. We've secured nearly $2M in funding for the next Heritage/Paddock Park design phase. We've finished fundraising for an African American Museum study to be conducted when group gatherings can take place again. We are (hopefully) going to produce the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival in the late summer and hope to produce a modified version of the Main Table in September.
As Texas begins reopening, we are enjoying the little things that make life so enjoyable. But we should be cautious not to undo the curve flattening that has caused so much personal and corporate economic trauma.
We should all be mindful to act with caution, following common sense and being "covid-gracious" about the requests proprietors make.
We hope to see you Downtown!
Andy Taft
President, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.