This article was edited for accuracy on April 7, 2011.
Q: Mayor Moncrief has had a very close relationship with TCU while in Office, implementing things like “Purple Fridays” and the “Go Frogs” sign painted on Trinity River. How would you continue a close relationship with TCU?
A: Well absolutely, I graduated from TCU in 1966 and I have a four-year-old little boy, and he is going to be a Frog too. So we come to the games, we are fans, and I love TCU — it’s a great school.
Q: Do you have any specific plans on how you would support TCU?
A: Well, Mike has set a good course, but Kenneth Barr, who was the mayor when I was on the council graduated from TCU with me, so there has always been a great amount of support there and I think it’s like anything else: I would call up the chancellor and say, what else can the city of Fort Worth do to make sure the world knows about Fort Worth and about TCU, because TCU is a very important part of Fort Worth?
Q: Why should TCU students vote for you?
A: Because I graduated from TCU. [laughs] No, well education is probably right up their with public safety for me. My dad was a school teacher here in Fort Worth and I think that the city has, well, since TCU came to Fort Worth the residents got together and they gave the land to TCU, so the support has always been there. But I think, I have a close relationship with some of the board members out here and I keep up with my fraternity, I was a Delt out here [at TCU] I think I have a very good grasp of the issues that are affecting young Americans. We live in a time that the world has become a strange place and I like to keep a close ear to what people, like you [young people] think about things, so I would always have an open door and I will come as often as I can. Of course, I’ll always be at the football games and the baseball games and the basketball games and all the other games, but there is a time also that I would really love to sit down with the student leadership up here [TCU] and say, tell this city council what we can do to help support TCU and I would do that for [University of Texas] Arlington also, I mean really all the schools around here. But I do have this special place in my heart for TCU.
Q: Speaking of small businesses the city has attempted to improve the Berry Street area, by adding more businesses, what are your feelings on this project?
A: Well I was there, you know, when we talked about the North Main initiative: Berry, Lancaster. Berry Street is one of the major streets in Fort Worth and you need to make sure there is zoning that is in place that doesn’t allow anything that’s undesirable to make its way in on Berry Street. It really is too close to the university and there are too many wonderful families out in this area. Of course TCU and Paschal and everything else is right there so it is a matter of management. It’s a matter of a city manager who understands the quality of life issues and makes sure that the council as a whole knows that these questions are popping up and making sure that there is a policy in place that doesn’t encourage businesses that don’t belong in these neighborhoods, you have to be really careful with that. If you come out on North Main you will see some sexually-oriented businesses that have absolutely no business being there, in my opinion. Unfortunately, they are grandfathers [claused], and they are still there.
The interviews were part of a joint effort of the Schieffer School of Journalism and KERA-TV/KERA-FM and recorded at the school’s facilities. For more information, visit http://www.kera.org/radio/news/voters.php.