UP Mayor Previews 2024 During State of the City Address

University Park residents have a lot to look forward to in 2024, including the city’s centennial celebration and progress on high profile infrastructure projects, Mayor Tommy Stewart said during his State of the City Address on Feb. 8.

The city, which celebrates 100 years of incorporation on April 12, will mark the occasion with a week of community programs and activities for residents of all ages from April 7-13, Stewart said. UP’s youngest citizens can leave their mark on city history by entering art and essay contests, and residents can purchase centennial bricks to be laid at Goar Park. 

The centennial celebration will culminate on April 13 with a community celebration at Williams and Goar parks. One highlight will be a more than 300-strong drone show. “I’m excited to celebrate and hope you all will be there,” Stewart said. Click HERE to learn more about the festivities.

The city expects to break ground on Snider Plaza improvements this spring. Those upgrades will address aging infrastructure, replace pavement and the Snider Plaza fountain, improve sidewalks, add a new parking lot, and upgrade the plaza’s landscaping, Stewart said.

The city will also complete designs for Miracle Mile roadway, sidewalk, traffic signal and landscape improvements later this year. It will begin replacing the water and sewer lines in the alley north of Lover’s Lane between Lomo Alto and Douglas in March or April.

Also in 2024, the city will continue the “enormous task” of stormwater system improvements. The city will divide the project into pieces, Stewart said, and begin by targeting high priority areas.

The city continued to make progress on action items from its centennial master plan in 2023, Stewart said. The plan is designed to help guide city leadership for the next 20 to 30 years. Residents can track the plan’s progress with its ONLINE DASHBOARD.

Progress so far includes the purchase of a building on Fondren Lane which the city plans to upgrade into a new public safety facility. It will include a 6-lane firing range where officers from University Park and surrounding cities will be able to train.

“The city remains an incredibly safe place to live,” Stewart said, praising the police and fire department’s four-to five-minute response times. He noted that in many of the city’s 31 vehicle thefts in 2023, the keys had been left inside the vehicle. “One of them even had the motor running,” Stewart remarked. “No wonder somebody got that car.”

Stewart also touted the benefits of the city’s direct alarm system, which “cuts out the middleman in the alarm world because our dispatch directly monitors your alarm.” Additional direct alarm features will be rolled out to the public in the coming months, he said.

City staff has submitted a boundary adjustment application to the city of Dallas to annex Boone Elementary School along with Northway Christian Church, Stewart said, and hopes to have a hearing with the City of Dallas Economic Development Council Committee in April.