In our last blog we asked if local elections are truly non-partisan and from the response we received most readers responded with a firm NO. We are not surprised by the response because we believe local races stopped being non-partisan a long time ago. Political campaigns are serious business according to the book Political Campaign Craftsmanship by Edward Schwartzman which notes that over one BILLION dollars are spent in presidential election years. Where do the candidates get all this money?
Candidates for political office at any level of government, must hustle to raise money to fund campaigns. Campaign finance laws dictate who can contribute, how much one can contribute and how those contributions must be reported. In Texas, campaign finance guidelines are published by the Texas Ethics Commission. Before any campaign can start raising funds, they must first file paperwork to identify their campaign treasurer who is responsible for keeping up with the campaign finance reports that must be turned in to the city.
Generally, when a person donates to a candidate they have a specific reason or purpose that drives that decision. People may donate to support a specific candidate or party whom they share the same values or has the same goals. One may donate to try and influence an election outcome in their favor or to gain access or influence with the candidate. In Frisco, who is donating to our city council members and what are they doing with the money you donated?
In an early blog called The Ethics Conclusion & The Bogus Ethics Policy, we addressed campaign donations going back and forth between candidates and how it can affect them from being able to be independent when an ethics complaint is filed against a member of the council. In our blog Dark Money, we talked about the corrupt campaign finance system that has shifted the power in politics from the residents to the pay-to-play system that developers in Frisco seem to take advantage of.
As we said local elections are no longer non-partisan so if you are democrat you mostly likely donate to democratic candidates and the same could be said for a conservative donating to republican candidates. We decided to start with John Keating because he is currently running for re-election and his campaign finance report has been the most colorful over the years.
John P. Keating is a registered Republican. In 2015, Keating announced he would not run for re-election in Frisco because he planned on running for Texas House Representative District 33. According to TransparencyUSA he has received contributions from some interesting groups, most likely during the time he ran for the Texas House District. Empower Texas PAC $52,160.01, Texas Right To Life PAC $10,000, True Texas Project PAC $2239.86, and the Collin County Republican Party as well as 2 republican woman groups. One interesting donation to point out is the James Webb donation during his run for Texas House. Webb donated $20,000 according to TransparencyUSA and he was convicted of Medical Fraud in 2016.
What about locally? Keating made several donations according to his campaign finance reports, remember this is money donated to his campaign. Keating donated over $3000+ to The Frisco Chamber of Commerce, the most recent donation in 2022. In 2017, he “sponsored” $1500 for the Collin County Republican Party. Fast forward to 2021, John Keating’s campaign finance report shows he donated $1000 to each of the following republican campaigns: Angela Paxton Campaign, Jared Patterson Campaign, and Pat Fallon for Congress. Also in 2021, he continued donating to republicans like the Chris Hill Campaign for $500, Jimmy Angelino for $1000, and the Rob Altman for $1000.
In 2022, from his campaign donations, he donated $1000 to each of the following republicans: Keith Self for Congress, Jared Patterson, Matt Shaheen, Drew Springer, Frederick Frazier, and the Jimmy Angelino Campaign.
In local elections, using his campaign donations, he donated $1000 to the Bill Woodard Campaign, and in 2022/23 he donated $2000+ to the Cheney Campaign. Now what is interesting is that John Keating and then wife Leslie Keating, made around $7000 in donations to Angelia Pelham, a registered democrat. We could not find the donations on his campaign expense reports so we are assuming that came from personal funds. QUESTION:Keating has always made campaign contributions to politicians from his personal campaign fund so why when it comes to Angelia did he change that? Keating has donated to some very conservative politicians in recent years and received money from very conservative groups over the years, so we are guessing he didn’t want his “REPUBLICAN” donors to know he was donating to a democrat which would have had to be listed on his campaign finance report. Since it came from his personal funds, the only way to know he donated to Pelham is by looking at her campaign finance reports.
Why is this important? First if you donate to a candidate like Keating, but you don’t support Cheney or Woodard, would you be upset to learn he is using campaign donations to support them? If you are democrat voting for Keating, and never researched his campaign funds, would you be upset to learn Keating has donated to and accepted campaign funds to some very far right conservatives? Lastly, Keating supported Angelia for council then and now and the fact that he gave her $7000 could be an issue for party driven voters. Maybe that is why he didn’t donate from his campaign fund like he did with all the other candidates. We don’t know the make-up of Angelia’s voters, but if most are democrat do you think they know Keating is donating to some very conservative legislatures and accepted money from some very conservative PACs over the years?
In our next blog we plan to deep dive into the other council members’ campaign contributions to see who they are giving their campaign money to which was been donated to them.
Over and over, we hear local municipal elections are nonpartisan, which means candidates do not officially run under “party labels” or political affiliations. While we would like to believe our local races are non-partisan in theory, it is simply not true. Unless you are living under a rock, you understand politics has heated up and taken center stage across the nation and that has caused more voters to ask a candidate their political affiliation at all levels of government.
According to Ballotpedia, the local government has become a testing ground for political movements and policy proposals. Many cities are starting to clash with state and federal governments over issues of immigration to marijuana legalization. They website lists out the 100 Current Mayors of the 100 Largest U.S. Cities by population. As of January 2024, the partisan breakdown of mayors for the 100 largest U.S. cities was 63 Democrats, 25 Republicans, 1 Libertarian, 4 Independents and 5 Non-Partisans. While several Texas cities made the list, the City of Frisco is not one of them.
Just recently worldwide politics took center stage right here in Frisco at the January 18th city council meeting when residents chose to address a very divisive and hot topic current issue. During citizen’s input, several members of the local Muslim community spoke out asking city leaders to pass a resolution on the Israel Gaza Conflict. One resident asked for peace and a “resolution” to condemn the conflict while another resident asked for a cease fire resolution. A young woman spoke and said she carries the weight of displaced Palestinians and talked of her people’s genocide. She called for the city council to call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza, facilitate unhindered aid to the region and put an end to the siege and address the occupation and genocide in Palestine. While I understand the residents’ concerns I am sure we have residents who have a very different opinion that the residents who spoke at council. It is simply false to say in 2024, that local elections are “NON-PARTISAN.” The proof is in citizens input, it shows most voters are not separating local, state and national/worldwide issues.
This week I was sitting at my favorite local coffee shop and a young college student walked in and sat down. We started up a conversation about politics and he repeatedly told me he is a proud Democrat, and that Democrats will take over Texas soon. I asked him if he would ever vote for a conservative, support a conservative, or donate to a conservative. With a stern tone he said, “no way, no that would never happen.”
I then asked him who he is supporting in our local elections for city council, and he told me Angelia Pelham and John Keating. I asked him to give me the reasons why he chose each candidate so I could understand his mindset. When he was done, I chuckled and said you know John Keating is a Republican, right? He looked at me as if I was a stupid old man and said that is not true. I invited him to my table, and I showed him John Keating’s campaign finance report on my iPad. I asked him if that changed his opinion, and he replied who is the Democrat running? I told him local elections are supposed to be “non-partisan” and he responded swiftly “well not for me.” It is further proof that people of all ages are not seeing local elections as non-partisan anymore.
Do you think local politics is non-partisan? If you do, would you be upset if you donated to a local candidate and then found out that candidate was using your money to donate to other candidates in state and national races who are affiliated to a specific party? Local politics has changed in very significant ways and we are diving into where the money goes in our next blog.
Campaigning has begun and we are excited to see how the next few months play out. We thought we should educate ourselves on the rules, so we read city’s Political Campaign Sign policy listed on the city website.
Rules 1 & 4 are pretty clear so we decided to look at the candidates social media pages and election websites.
Rule 1: Political signs cannot be placed on any City of Frisco, Community Development Corporation (CDC), or Economic Development Corporation (EDC) property or in a City of Frisco easement.
Rule 4: The City of Frisco logo cannot be used in any way for campaigning including on political signs.
John Redmond website appears to only be one page and has a short intro to who he is and his campaign logo. We could not find any social media pages for him. – Passed Inspection
Mark Piland website does not include pictures of political signs on city property, and it does not contain the official city logo. In a review of his social media, we did not see any violations either. – Passed Inspection
Angelia Pelham currently holds Place 3 and serves as Deputy Mayor Pro Tem. Her website passed inspection. However, her social media did not! On January 17th she held a filing party at city hall. She had several supporters come join her and there are numerous pictures of her and supporters holding Pelham campaign signs on city property and more so in the rotunda of city hall! That is a clear violation of Rule 1 even if it was temporary. The photos also violate Rule 4 regarding the city logo not being used for campaigning because clearly in several photos the official city logo can be spotted. It became campaigning when she turned into a filing party, had her political signs and several supporters wearing t-shirts. The photos appear on her political Facebook page as well as personal page and on Instagram.
We liked her campaign video, she looks good in red and has a catchy slogan. We are a little curious about one portion of the video which shows her standing at the back of the room with Frisco Public Safety officers from both the PD and FD. The video is tagged in the corner with her campaign logo which could give people the impression she is endorsed by either public safety group, which she is not. The picture includes Mark Piland who has announced he is running for Place 1 which made us curious how he feels his likeness in her video? Lastly, when the photo was taken we were pretty sure none of them knew down the road it would be used for campaign video. We are not sure if there is any violation here according to campaign rules or city rules, however one would think before using someone’s likeness, out of respect, you might want to ask them if they are okay with it. Many police departments have rules about offices being photographed and for the purposes they can be used for.
Lastly, we looked a John Keating’s website. He currently serves Place 1 and is the Mayor Pro Tem. We could not view his social media because has blocked us across all channels. Keating’s website is in clear violation of Rule 4. As soon as the page loads you see a picture of Keating with the slogan Promises Made Promises Kept and behind it is a watermark of the official City of Frisco Flag. Then if you scroll down, right after he asks you for your money, you can clearly see the official city logo.
On the “About John” page it shows him standing in the Frisco City Council Chamber up on the dais. This picture was taken on December 4, 2018, the night the council approved a plan for the PGA of America. The picture appears in an article for the Dallas Morning News.
The last page titled “The Mission” has a picture of Keating with the official city of Frisco Logo right behind him, which is again, a clear violation of Rule 4. Then under Public Safety he has a picture with Chief Shilson, Frisco PD which mislead residents of an endorsement that he does not have. Now the picture with Shilson may not be a violation but is misleading.
When it comes to campaigning, rules should be taken very seriously. We could understand how first-time candidates can make mistakes, but if they are running it is their responsibility to know the rules. As for the Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham, and Mayor Pro Tem John Keating, they have no excuse. If they are serving in the Deputy Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor Pro Tem positions then clearly they should know the rules. Keating has been around since 2011, off and on and if he doesn’t know the rules by now then we may have bigger issues. We go back to why are there rules for thee but not for me? I can guarantee if some of the previous candidates who ran for office committed these violations we would not hear the end of it. The city should also be accountable to uphold their own rules! Email the city council and ask them to uphold to the city rules now and in the future.
Every day we get emails, lots of emails! Some are from Whistleblowers and others are from those who say we are pieces of shXt for exposing the truth of what is happening in Frisco. The best one to date came from a man who is good friends with one of our sitting council members. He said that no one takes us seriously, people are laughing at us, and we are a bad joke. We laughed so hard because he was working overtime to make us think we don’t matter! I guess he thought he would hurt our feelings and it would make us stop uncovering the Shady Shit happening. News Flash…sticks and stones may break our bones, but your words will never hurt us.
Here is the thing, we do matter! Want to know how we know that? Well, it is simple. You are reading our page, you are thinking about us, you took precious time out of your life to focus on us, and you spent the time writing us an email. Another thing we should point out, we alerted the public to the glaring issues of John Keatings – KeatingForFrisco.com page it magically changed!
When we realized the next day his website changed we decided to scroll through and read the new content. First the picture of him and his wife that he cheat on is NOW GONE! We know Keating is narcissistic, loves himself and has an inflated idea of how good looking he believes he is, so we were not surprised to see he takes center stage on his new page.
The “About Me” section is interesting too! He claims to have worked on several of the important projects that brought some big-name businesses to town. One of them was the PGA Headquarters. To be clear, he voted yes for it, he went to the opening and took selfies, but did he help get it here? Mayor Cheney said during the vote that a very special thank you should be made to a local resident and father of two boys, David Ovard and to then councilman Will Sowell, who worked tirelessly on the PGA project. Funny, Cheney didn’t do a special shout out to Jammed-Up John Keating.
In fact there is a whole article in the DMN about Mr. Ovard and his push to get the Frisco PGA here and another article in D Magazine that talks about 3 Men, Blake Rowling (TRT Holdings), David Ovard (Frisco Resident) and Mark Harrison (Executive Director of the Northern Texas PGA), who scrambled to win the PGA Headquarters. None of the articles mentioned Jammed-Up John! As we said, Keating was there to vote Yes for the project, but I don’t think he did the behind the scenes work that brought the PGA Frisco here.
Next we noticed a picture of him and Mayor Cheney along with two woman wearing Fire Fighters Uniforms. We would have no issue with this if it was a social media post saying he participated in Citizens Fire Academy, but instead he used it as a political picture on his website. It gives you the impression he supports the Fire Department – which he does not! Next to the picture is verbiage about his goal to balance Frisco’s high level of amenities with low tax rates, talks about public-private partnerships, and corporate incentives. but he didn’t. The picture has nothing to do with the text on the page and clearly it was a rip off of what Mayor Cheney always talks about.
How do we know Jammed-Up John does not support the Fire Fighters and how do we know he is a LIAR? Let’s look at the Fire Fighters Association Candidate Survey he did in 2021 when he was running for re-election. It reads The National Fire Protection Assoc, recommends adequate safe staffing levels of a minimum of 4 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that the FD is currently maintaining staffing of 3 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that more citizens, increasing businesses and taller buildings require safe staffing levels. Lastly and most importantly, it says IF ELECTED TO THE OFFICE I WOULD SUPPORT REQUIRING A SAFE STAFFING LEVEL OF 4 FIRE FIGHTERS ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES.Signed by John P. Keating April 27, 2021
Jammed-Up John went on to leave comments on the survey that said, “AT THIS TIME, I SUPPORT FOUR FIREFIGHTERS FOR ALL TRUCK COMPANIES. FRISCO IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING CITIES IN AMERICA, AND WE HAVE TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY. WE HAVE TO BUDGET FOR A NEW 14-DAY PAY CYCLE, BENEFITS, FIRE STATION 10 (AND PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT), AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL FIRE FIGHTER PERSONNEL FOR ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES, WHILE MAINTAINING OUR ISO-1 RATING.”
Jammed-Up John lied to the Fire Fighters Association to get an endorsement! As we have said before his ACTIONS don’t match his WORDS. Keating did not support Texas House Bill 471 which relates to the entitlement to and claims for benefits for certain first responders and other employees related to illness and injury. He has not tried to get the city to reverse its decision to fire Kraemer, an almost 30 year Veteran of the Frisco FD for running out of his medical leave, who recently won his workers comp case. He supported and shared comments by former City Manager, George Purefoy where he was calling the Fire Fighters self-serving, accused the FF of misrepresenting city staff and leadership, and saying they don’t have Frisco’s best interest at heart. HEY KEATING – DID YOU JUST CALL THEM OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE SAME THING YOU SAID YOU SUPPORTED ON THE 2021 CANDIDATE SURVEY? Who’s self-serving? Who’s misrepresenting the facts?
Jammed-Up John is proud of his military service which he displays on his website. He talks about the 13 years he spent in the Army, and it is captioned with a picture of him in his Army Camo. We thank you sir for your Service and we will always support our Veterans, but as we have said you are still accountable for your actions, choices and decisions. What if I was running for council and I wore your Army Uniform and talked about how I support public-private partnerships, low taxes and claim to have been a part of the team who brought the PGA here. Would you be offended if a non-service person wore your Army Uniform? Would you be offended if it was for a political ad that mislead folks? I don’t think the Fire Fighters want you to discredit their profession or uniform with your lies and naked body pictures, then turn around and wear their uniform in a political website ad.
Next up his page regarding “The Mission!” He talks about how he supports Public Safety, and he will fight to ensure the men and woman in uniform have the resources they need. Maury said the lie detector shows, “THAT’S A LIE!” Then he claims to support fiscal responsibility but goes on city trips that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars to look at parks, art installations and streets. Then he says he supports creating jobs standing next to the H-E-B Red Ribbon opening. Pretty sure H-E-B created the jobs and that all you did was Vote Yes at a city council meeting. He says he supports Accountability and Transparency, since when? Just look at his own website, he has not been transparent at all. We could go on, but we have already thrown up in our mouth twice so just visit his page and look for yourself.
In closing, the haters can say we are a joke, and no one is watching or reading our site, but we know they are from our own analytics. Oh, and because Jammed-Up John changed his website. He stopped lying to people that he was happily married Christian man and just started lying about how he supports public safety. Guess what is glaringly missing from his KeatingForFrisco website. You, me, the citizens! He never once mentions how he is here to help serve the citizens he represents.He never says how he is here to do what is best for Frisco Residents and Taxpayers. He proved that during the Universal Theme Park vote when he looked at a room full of residents worried about their homes and property values and said, sorry I didn’t make it out to speak to you before the vote tonight. With his vacation red lobster peeling skin he looked at them and said, I had this Rotator Cuff thing and had to have surgery and well needed a vacation. Yes, he went to the beach instead of listening to THOSE HE SERVES. Jammed-Up John is committed to one person and that is big boy Mayor Jeff Cheney, his democrat partner in crime Angelia Pelham and well…..HIMSELF! Oh, did we mention, Keating has his Texas Real Estate License now, guess he is following his buddy down the road of Real Estate.
Bond, Frisco Bond! Yes, we took a line from James Bond aka 007! Sean Connery, who played James Bond in 1962, was the first to deliver this iconic phrase that would be repeated in several of the 007 movies. One thing is certain, none of the Bonds following Connery delivered the phrase with the same magic as he did the first time around.Connery was my favorite Bond, and he starred in seven of the films from 1962 to 1983. If you are a Bond fan then you know not to mess with a Bond, even a Frisco Bond! After digging into the Battle of the Benjamins (Budgets) we decided to take a deep dive into the Frisco Bonds put before citizens. We made “A Martini. Shaken, Not Stirred” as Bond said in Goldfinger in 1964, and started researching. Now it is time for you to grab some popcorn and watch Frisco Bond unfold!
What if we told you that since 2006, residents have been asked to approve a whopping total of $1,285,225,000 in bond propositions? Would that get your attention? Many don’t understand bond elections so first we wanted to answer the simple question of what is a bond. Simply put, bonds are loans governments or government agencies use to fund day-to-day obligations and to finance capital projects such as buildings, city parks, and/or future developments. Most cities pass General Obligation Bonds which are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the issuer (aka city) which has the power to tax residents to pay bondholders.
Now ask yourself, out of general election bonds residents have been asked to vote for since 2006, how many were issued? What capital improvement projects were completed? How was the money used? When we heard about the 2023 bond we started to follow the progress. There was a big debate about having an animal shelter on the bond. To be honest, we thought the city already had one, so we were surprised to learn the city outsources it to Collin County.
We watched a YouTube video by Be The Change with Jesse Ringness where the council and city leaders discussed the animal shelter and 2023 bond. It is hard to hear everything but from what we can tell Mayor Cheney started to lament which he does often and for a long time (29:36 mark). He said, we have never put anything on the bond that was not supported by the staff or that we didn’t think would pass. Then he mentions it feels like a disingenuous proposal and that it is more of an item used for postcard election votes, which he would know about. Then he suggests that the bond committee consider putting that request or $5 million into the city facilities request instead. This way if the city determines it needs an animal shelter down the road the money is there for a “city facility” otherwise they have the money to use towards another project.
Then he proceeds to ask, what are we actually putting on the ballot? Are you putting $5 million on the ballot to somehow seek citizen approval? And if it happens, which I would expect it to, because right now, everything we have put on the ballot in Frisco has passed becausewe have a lot of public trust. Citizens know when they see a ballot for a bond election, it is only for items the city needs, we know it has been fully vetted, we know that staff fully supports it, and we know Frisco needs it.
Mayor Cheney’s statements left us with some questions. We were curious, if the city will only put items on the bond supported by staff then why have a citizen’s bond committee? If we look at past bonds would we find all the items brought to the ballot were VETTED or something we know FRISCO NEEDS? It is time to jump out of the plane and find out!
We went back to 2006 to look at the 12 Propositions approved by voters for a whopping $198 million dollars. We found two articles with conflicting information. The first was a Dallas Morning News article in January 2015 that reported that $33 million of 2006 bonds had not yet been issued. Just 4 months later, in May 2015, Community Impact reported that “$22.5 million in authorized bond funds remain.”
Confused, we went digging and searched city records where we found that at the June 2006 Frisco City Council meeting they authorized the sale of $143,560,000 million from the 2006 bond election. The ordinance states it is for road improvements, constructing, improving, and equipping public safety facilities consisting of the fire department facilities, parking for the police headquarters building, public safety training facility, acquisition and installation of warning sirens, fire trucks, and equipment, and the acquisition of land and interest in land for such projects (Public Safety Facilities), constructing and improving parks, trails and recreational facilities, and the land acquisition of “Park Projects.” Might be easier to look at this Voted Bond Authorization photo below from the June 6, 2016, council meeting agenda package. We will reference it later.
Confused, we decided to break it down by some of the big projects. Bond loves to make a grand entrance so let’s start with Grand Park. In 2006 voters approved $22.5 million dollars for Grand Park, then in 2015, they approved another $10 million dollars for Grand Park for a total of $32.5 million dollars. In the 2019 bond election, Parks, Trails, and Facilities asked for $53.5 million, and in the 2023 bond election $43 million. Neither the 2019 nor 2023 bond election state that any of the money will be used for Grand Park as they left it more generic.
In an article discussing the 2015 bond the DMN noted that the $10 million being asked in the 2015 Bond would be combined with the $10 million in bonds approved by voters in 2006 for PHASE ONE near the DNT and Cotton Gin Road. If you reference the 2006 bond photo you will see voters approved $22.5 million for the Grand Park Acquisition and Initial Development. Out of that amount, $12 million of those bonds were issued and we are curious what for? Work was delayed for years in Grand Park due to the Exide Technologies battery plant contamination. Dallas Morning News reported in June 2013 that a report listed various problems documented over the years with contamination to Stewart Creek which runs right through the future Grand Park. So, why did the city issue $12 million of the bonds, what was it used for?
In 2021 CBS News 11 ran a story that Frisco’s Grand Park is no longer an “Urban Legend” as the city can finally finish the Exide cleanup. The story notes that City officials said the cleanup process could take another five to seven years to complete but the city has funding and, for the first time, the control to do it. CBS quoted Mayor Cheney, “This park will actually be bigger than Central Park in New York.” However, while it all sounds like a grand idea, after years of talk and no development, Cheney understands why many residents have become skeptical. Mayor Cheney said he hopes the city can put a shovel in the ground to start Grand Park by the end of the year. According to Community Impact, Big Bluestem Trail was finally ready for its public debut on November 19, 2022. City officials held an inaugural trail walk and Shannon Coates, Parks Director said “This is PHASE ONE of a multiyear development.” I wonder if they mean the Phase One they talked about in 2006/2015.
Well, if the 2006 bond was for PHASE 1 and we just completed Phase 1 in 2022 as Shannon Coates implied, then why did the city sell the bonds back in June 2006? Why would you ask citizens to vote for something that the city could not put a shovel in the ground for until 15 years later? The $12 Million issued by the city is that we paid for a contaminated future park. Did they use it to clean up Exide, if they did, voters should know that the money they voted for did not go to the park but to the clean-up of another issue that ultimately affected the park. Mayor Cheney, when the city asked residents in 2006 and 2015 to Vote Yes for the Grand Park propositions – WERE THEY FULLY VETTED AND SUPPORTED BY CITY STAFF? It sure does not sound like a plan was in place, maybe a dream, but definitely no fully vetted plan.
Next up is a place for Bond to park his sexy roadsters. In the 2015 Election Bond, Frisco asked citizens for $1.5 Million for a Police Department parking garage. A DMN article from January 2015, it noted the money would be combined with $1.5 Million from a previous bond election to fund the parking structure for police vehicles. Remember above, in June 2006 the council approved the sale of $143,560,000 million from the 2006 bond election. One of the items the ordinance stated it was for was parking for the police headquarters building.
Then, according to Community Impact in 2015, the city sold $59.8 million worth of bonds, the first from the $267.825 million from the voted approved bonds in the 2015 election. It noted the bonds sold would go to several items, one being the parking structure for the police facility.
Then in 2023, Frisco asked voters again for a parking garage for the Police Department. That means 3 times voters have been asked for a parking garage. Guess what? As of today, WE HAVE NO PARKING STRUCTURE! So again, we ask Mayor Cheney was this project FULLY VETTED?Was there a plan supported by staff? If yes, then why did we not build it after issuing the bonds back in 2006 and 2015, when it probably would have cost less? We all know that after the Pandemic, costs for construction have skyrocketed. Now we will be paying more for the parking garage that they approved the bond sale for back in 2006 & 2015.
Bond 007 likes a good Rembrandt, so let’s look at the Arts! In the 2006 bond election, the city asked for $5 Million. According to a Community Impact Article from January 2015, in 2006 voters approved $5 million and about $1 million contributed to the creation of the Frisco Discovery Center, which houses the Black Box Theater and art gallery. That is confirmed in the 2006 Bond photo above.
Then in 2015, bond committee member Tammy Meinershagen (currently a councilwoman) was pushing for $20 Million for the arts. The city ended up asking voters for $10 Million after a lengthy debate. The committee began discussing the performing arts center proposal because 6 out of 17 committee members did not recommend any money for the project.
Some members said a bond proposal for an arts facility should wait until a more specific plan, such as the square footage of the facility or the number of seats, is laid out. These members said they are not against an arts facility in Frisco but rather think the project can wait for a year or two. Tammy Meinershagen, the committee member who proposed $20 million for an arts facility, said she would like to provide specifics for a project, but she doesn’t want to wait to get the project started.
Purefoy said part of the reason city staff recommended $10 million for an arts center for this bond election is that the addition of the $4 million left over from the 2006 bond election, would bring the total close to the 2006 recommendation. The plot thickens, CITY STAFF RECOMMENDED? So the city staff supported and recommended money be put in front of voters that did not have a specific plan such as size, number of seats, location, etc.? Mayor Cheney, why did you allow or support $10 million to go through when the PROJECT WAS NOT FULLY VETTED?
Well, where is the $14 million today? As far as I can see we still have NO CULTURAL ARTS THEATER! Go figure! That is probably for the best since the Dallas Museum of Art just announced in October 2023 that they have executed a set of cutbacks including layoffs and reductions in hours they are open to the public.
Bond is known to scale a wall a time or two so let’s dive in the Fire Department (aka Public Safety). In the 2006 Bond, voters approved $20 Million for Fire Stations and Equipment. Then in the following bonds, they put Police and Fire together and called it Public Safety. So, in the 2015 Bond Election voters approved $41.5 Million, in 2019 voters approved $62.5 Million, and in 2023 voters approved $131.4 Million for Public Safety. Where did all the money go?
A June 2012 DMN Frisco Roundup reported that the Frisco City Council authorized staff to start the process of issuing $5.5 million in general obligation bonds from 2006 for fire engines, an ambulance, and other fire equipment to replace aging equipment. Then in July of 2013, the Dallas Morning News reported that the City Council approved issuing $20 million in general obligation bonds from the 2006 bond election for capital projects. The first $8 Million would be spent on Fire Station 8, the remaining $12 million would be spent on road projects.
If the 2006 bond was for Fire Station 8 as reported by the DMN, then that means the 2 new stations proposed by the bond committee in 2014 for the 2015 bond election would be for Station 9 and Station 10. On the citizens bond presentation on page 543, it says, “addition of 2 Fire Stations including new fire apparatus supporting those stations.”
WHERE IS FIRE STATION 10? There is NO FIRE STATION 10 which should be located near the new PGA. So, even though we are building the PGA Frisco, The Link, and Fields with multi-million-dollar homes as of today we have no fire station to support that. Why would a city allow developers to build out an area without first providing it services?
In 2019, voters passed another bond election for a total of $345 Million. Public Safety made up $62.5 Million of that. The pretty city flyer states that it is for Fire Station #11 and vehicles /equipment, a Public Safety Training Center (Phase 2), and a Police HQ remodel as stated in the city flyer. Guess what, as of today there IS NO FIRE STATION 11! Do you see the pattern?
Now in 2023, the voters passed another bond for $473.4 Million. Out of that total $131.4 Million were for Public Safety, Facilities, and Equipment. The 2023 Bond Flyer said the money was for Fire Station #11, Remodel Fire Station #4, and Fire Fleet Services Building. WAIT – DID YOU CATCH THAT? PLOT TWIST… Why are citizens being asked to PAY for Fire Station #11 TWICE? Remember in the 2019 Bond Election that money was for Fire Station 11 and the vehicles/equipment it needed. WHY ARE CITIZENS PAYING FOR IT TWICE?
What is the point of us looking into the Bond Elections? As we stated earlier, since 2006 voters have been asked to approve a whopping total of $1,285,225,000 in bond propositions. Most of us check our home accounts weekly and balance our budgets to know where our money is going so why not watch what the city is doing with our money? As Cheney said, whatever we put out in front of voters they will approve because they trust us. Should we trust them? His excuse for not wanting an animal shelter was there was no plan but it appears there were not a lot of plans for many of the items they asked for over the years. We still have no PD parking garage, no cultural arts facility or larger theater, no new FD fire stations, and we could go on. As TAXPAYERS, you should be asking yourself WHERE IS THE MONEY? HAVE THEY SOLD THE BONDS? HAVE WE PUT TO MUCH TRUST IN OUR CITY WITH NO OVERSIGHT? HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO BE ASKED TO PAY FOR THE SAME PROJECTS?
Well we love a good boxing match and now we have one! Today we came across an announcement that John Redmond is running for City of Frisco – Place 3 against Angelia Pelham! He was once quoted as saying he wants to be a good civil steward here in the City of Frisco. We can’t wait to learn more about what issue or hot buttons he believes the city is facing. For now we at Frisco Chronicles can’t wait to learn more about this candidate!
OCTOBER 27, 2023 – John Redmond is announcing his candidacy for Frisco City Council. Service does not come without sacrifice. And service to others is what those that run for office are called to do. 6 years ago Redmond ran for City Council in the most contested field in Frisco history. Taking the lessons of that election while remaining engaged and active, Redmond brings deep commitment to the betterment of our community and a wealth of experience and passion for positive change. Redmond stated, “I am announcing my intent to run for Frisco City Council. As a vibrant, diverse and ever-evolving community, we will run a clean and dignified race to serve the people of Frisco. We will remind elected officials that they work for their constituents and should govern as they campaign. Together through teamwork, innovation and community engagement, we will address whatever challenges remain before us while we embrace the opportunities that lie ahead”. Redmond4Frisco will be grounded in fiscal responsibility and accountability, free enterprise and support for small businesses, law and order and the true support of public safety personnel. With a long list of potential platforms, Redmond said that a ‘listening campaign’ would begin immediately to understand all of the issues that Frisco citizens actually hold dear. “From traffic, to infrastructure, to apartments and density, the overall development (and/or re-development) of Frisco, public safety, city staff and its’ leadership, art venues, animal shelters and more…while some things change, many political topics here in Frisco remain the same”. Frisco residents are encouraged to get involved, ask questions and share ideas with Redmond as he embarks on this journey to serve the community. To learn more about John and the campaign, visit www.Redmond4Frisco.com
For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Chris Fields campaign@redmond4frisco.com About John Redmond: John Redmond is the Co-Founder and President of InspectIR Systems. A Frisco-based company, for the last 6 years, InspectIR has been focused on innovation and research, delivering breath-based devices and solutions to provide more equitable diagnostics and screening at or near the point of care. With more than 25 years of experience in Fortune 500 companies, John is a human capital expert in the technology and consulting industries with leadership positions in talent acquisition and diversity and inclusion. John has a BS in Business Administration/Marketing from the Gies School of Business at the University of Illinois. Married with two (2) adult children, John has been a Frisco resident for over 18 years.
I went to her to ask for help with an issue my child that was getting nowhere with the school,…
So whatever became of the $17 million dollars that the city council gave the Mayor to beautify a drainage ditch?
At last count, there are 3 different "spa/massage" businesses in the small office park at the northeast corner of John…
I literally just saw this. Yeah, she used to forward everybody’s emails behind their backs.
You're dropping truth bombs! These mom and pop shops are what should be the least of Karen's worries. If they…