Regional Voices

The Regional Voices column offers leaders from throughout the North Central Texas region an opportunity to share their views on environment and development-related topics of interest to North Texans. To be considered as a future Regional Voices author, please e-mail InSight@nctcog.org and use the subject line “Regional Voices”.

Choosing Quality of Life

By Danny Scarth, City Council Member, City of Fort Worth

I had an opportunity to discuss quality of life at the recent Vision North Texas Regional Summit. As public officials, we often promote, justify, or defend our actions by saying that they will preserve or increase the “quality of life” of our citizens. But what exactly does that mean?

Our nation’s Founding Fathers described their desire for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Today, the key to quality of life is no doubt different for each of us but continues to hinge upon—among other things—the freedom to choose how we live and how we make a living.

Vision North Texas is the region’s forum for discussion and action so we make better choices. Certainly, having an opportunity to live, work, and play within a walkable neighborhood without the burden of a long and inefficient commute is a good choice to have. The opportunity to make this choice depends upon specific land use decisions, the presence of adequate public infrastructure, and development of transportation options other than an automobile. We’ve been working to facilitate these and already new urban villages are popping up all around the North Texas region.

Our local heritage, though, is built on the legendary wide-open spaces of Texas. This means that development choices in our region will need to be more diverse than in many of the nation’s more dense and highly urbanized regions. We will need a unique approach that balances concepts of sustainability and new urbanism with the traditional farm and ranch lifestyle that is present even inside our city limits. We also must contemplate how to keep existing residential neighborhoods vibrant and sustainable.

Green spaces, recreational and cultural opportunities, education, and affordable housing choices all contribute to quality of life. These lose their importance in our daily lives, however, without employment. Our long term planning must therefore include jobs. Creating an environment favorable for business provides the engine that drives all the other parts of the quality of life equation.

Day to day governance can be all-consuming. That’s why it’s important that we take part in initiatives like Vision North Texas that help us think about the big picture issues that are critical for maintaining and creating last quality of life in our region.

Vision North Texas presents a great opportunity for local leaders to think long term about air, water and transportation. Working together, we’re developing a vision for what a sustainable, successful future would look like for our region. We’re creating North Texas 2050, a regional vision statement and an action package of strategies that can be used to achieve this vision.

I encourage you to get involved in the future by visiting www.visionnorthtexas.org. It’s a choice you can make today to benefit quality of life now and in our future.

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