VOTE FOR PEDRO

by | Mar 24, 2023 | Elections, Politics

If you drive around Frisco on any given Saturday you will see youth sports teams playing on the soccer and baseball fields throughout the city.  Parents along with grandparents cheer on the kids while enjoying the nice weather and having fun family time.  Would it surprise you if I said there were more people on those fields, sidelines, and sitting in the stands than there are voters who show up to have their voices heard in city elections?  As of August 25, 2022, in Collin County, we have 72,427 registered Frisco voters and in Denton County, we have 55,106 registered Frisco voters.  You should be shocked that in a city with an estimated population of 218,314 people,  across both Denton and Collin County, we only have a total of 127,543 registered Frisco voters. This should SCARE THE HELL OUT OF FOLKS who call this city home. 

If you are a resident of Frisco who is registered to vote and you do not take the time or put in the effort to vote in local municipal elections, then you should be appalled and ashamed of yourself.  Coming from another country I can tell you that the most important right you have as an American citizen is the right to vote.  Originally under the Constitution, only white males over the age of 21 were eligible to vote.  In the 1920s women won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Then in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act which allowed African Americans the right to vote. Interesting side note, it was President Lyndon Johnson a white Texas Democrat who signed the Voting Rights Act into law.  In 1971, the minimum voting age changed from 21 to 18 years old because of student activism and the war in Vietnam.  Generations before you fought and some died so you would have the right to vote, so why don’t you vote?   

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” If Lincoln were alive, he would be shocked and probably disappointed to learn how many Frisconians turn their back on the fire and sit on their own blisters.  My favorite segment on some news and talk shows is the one where they send a reporter out to the streets to stop people and ask them a simple question, that 99% of Americans should know.  After hearing the question many looked lost, puzzled, and dumb founded before they throw out their answer.  The whole point of the tv segment is to show we have truly become dumb and chances are we are not smarter than a fifth grader.  In the spirit of fun let’s pretend I am the news host, and you are the street walker, ready to play?

In the Frisco General Election of May 2021, out of 127,543 total registered voters, how many turned out to vote at the polls?    A) 24,319   B) 850  C) 10,431  or D) 18,720

Which county turns our more voters in Frisco municipal elections?   A)  Denton  or B) Collin County

Alright, do you have your answers ready?  No cheating!  In May 2021 we had (C) 10,431 votes cast, the breakdown by county was Collin with 5,106 votes and Denton County with 5,325 votes.  That equates to a voter turnout of about 8.91%. Now, in a general run-off election, (B) Collin County has had more voters in the last five out six elections.  However, the script is flipped in a runoff / special election when (A) Denton County turns out more voters five out of five times. 

What if we told you that in March 2022 that out of 127,543 registered Frisco voters that a total of 4,912 votes were cast and that is about a 3.96% voter turnout.  It is the lowest voter turnout the City of Frisco has had since May 2016.  In fact, since May 2016 we have only had 4 elections with double-digit voter turnout percentages, the highest being 15.87%.   Which leaves 7 elections with single-digit voter turnout percentages, the highest being 9.14%.    Out of the four elections with a double digit % voter turnout, one was the November 2020 Trump vs. Biden national presidential election with a 78.15% voter turnout. 

Is your interest peaked?  Do you want to know more?  Take a minute and just look at the voter participation on the Frisco city webpage.  Voter apathy is a lack of interest among voters in elections and is one of the mail reasons for low voter turnout. Residents have lost the fire to fight because they don’t believe their voice matters and they believe they have no power to change the situation around us, but they do.  It is time to Vote for Pedro! The phrase Vote for Pedro is sometimes used in political protest as a way to express dissatisfaction with the candidates or the two-party system.  Pedro is a classic Spanish name derived from the Hebrew Peter meaning “stone” or “rock.”  There is a ground swell in Frisco right now and residents are starting to chant over and over and louder and louder each time, VOTE FOR PEDRO!  What they really mean is Dear God, let there be an alternative to what has been the corrupt norm of Frisco politics.  Ready for a shocking comparison?

If you paid any attention the last two months to the Universal controversy, you probably remember hearing about the “traffic study” paid for by Universal.  The famous phrase everyone latched on to was
“Universal will have less traffic than the new H-E-B grocery store.”  It said the park would only add 7500 cars/trips a day during the week and up to 14 to 20,000 cars / trips on weekend days. That means more people will come to Universal in one day versus the total number that have shown up to vote in a single election since May 2016.  Don’t believe me, well in general election of May 2018 we had a total of 7,144 TOTAL votes cast.  If you look at both the general and runoff elections together the highest voter turnout between both (minus the Nov 2020 election) was May 2017 when we had 14,186 total votes cast which is less than one weekend day of traffic to Universal if the traffic report is right. Let that sink in!

One of my favorite movies was Coming to America in 1998 with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall.  In one scene Eddie’s character (who is a prince) jumps out onto the balcony with Arsenio looking out the window at him.  He is excited to be in America to find a wife to be his queen.  From the balcony with his arms spread wide open, face filled with glee he yells Good Morning My Neighbors and in the background, you hear a voice awe F*#$ you, and Eddie’s character not knowing what it means yells back with a smile on his face and arms wide open, “Yes, Yes, F*%$ you too!”  Better yet the scene where he is walking home after dancing with the future queen, he starts to sing “To Be Loved” and jumps up on a light pole swings around, and continues to sing until he reaches the steps of his apartment.  We all need to find our inner Eddie Murphy!

It is time for us to take to the streets and start a revolution and chant VOTE FOR PEDRO!  Residents who have lost that fire to fight need to dig deep and find the furry again, then help get the word out that early voting starts in 40 days (give or take) and its time we use the powerful voice we have and cast a vote!  I hear it all the time from my generation, the youth today are screwed up, they have no concept of the real world, they want everything for free and finally they don’t know what a true day’s work is!  The harsh reality is that generation is the one who needs a good slap in the face because what example do we set for them when we don’t vote!  Truthfully we should be horrified and terrified regarding the rampant level of voter apathy in Frisco elections.

In 2023, it is clear residents are dissatisfied with representatives on both our city council and school board.    With elections right around the corner, we need to be spreading the word to friends and neighbors that is time to vote! 

Important Dates – May 2023 General Election

Last Day to Register To Vote – April 6, 2023 Click Here To Register

First Day of Early Voting – April 24, 2023

Last Day of Early Voting – May 2, 2023

Election Day – May 6, 2023

Lastly there is no time like the present, to look at the campaigns and candidates so we will start with the Mayoral Race and the incumbent, Jeff Cheney in our next blog.  

The Promised Land (Part 2)

by | Mar 14, 2023 | Blue Star Land, City Council, Dallas Cowboys, Developements, Developers, Jerry Jones, Politics, Taxpayer Dollars

There are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land. – Aldo Leopold

Remember that the land value of a piece of property includes both the value of the land itself as well as any improvements that have been made to it or around it, one could assume land around The Star would dramatically increase in value as the development came together and was completed.  Ready for the kicker, would it surprise you that the city sold the piece of land in question which is estimated to be worth $2.7 million to Blue Star Land Phase III for the sale price of $597,912.00 plus the city’s carrying cost of interest over the years?  At the time of the sale in 2019 it was all over the news, but did Frisco residents really pay attention?  Probably not and truthfully I had no clue until my curious nature got the best of me and I started looking into things last year.  Reading this, do you think it sounds like a win?  In theory yes, Frisco sold the land which will yield a substantial potential tax revenue.   

Stop the time clock, it is time for a replay so you can understand why Frisco residents should care.  First, if the city decided to sell that land no matter who bought it and developed it into an office building the city would be taking an asset generating no revenue and turning it into a cash-generating tax site.  We would not have lost an opportunity for the potential $190,000,000 in tax revenue.

Second, the city purchased all this land along the tollway years ago with taxpayer money as a future investment.  Selling it for the price we paid plus carrying costs seems to dilute the point of the purchase.  The Dallas Morning News reported the market value was an estimated $2.7 million and we sold it for $600,000 which means we gave away $2.1 million dollars of taxpayer money.  Anyone looking at this with basic common sense would see the land sale plus the potential tax revenue as a blockbuster achievement.   Sherlock Holmes might say, “Elementary, my dear Watson that is a win-win for the city and residents.” 

On the flip side, if you’re a DFW local then you know Jerry Jones, and his reputation for being a little pompous, arrogant, vain, egocentric, and self-centered.  He is not afraid to say what he thinks, show off or even be offensive at times.  It is “Jerry’s World”, and we are lucky to be in it and it has been that way for years.  He has worked hard, built an empire, and achieved the American Dream and he has every right to act or celebrate that the way he wants.  Keeping in mind Jones’s famous ego if the city did a public sale of the 2.4933 acres of land with direct views of Jerry’s empire including the player’s practice fields, do you think Jones would ever let anyone else buy it or develop it?  He would do whatever he had to do to protect his STAR!  That makes those 2.4933 acres a rare invaluable treasure that is irreplaceable to Jones.   Other developers would also see the value of that land and they would come out of the woodwork, and it could potentially create a bidding war for the holy grail tract of land.  Can you imagine what it potentially could have sold for?

We are left with so many questions, the first being who the real winner in this deal was.  Clearly, it is Blue Star Land.  The city is going to say the potential tax revenue outweighs the loss of profit on the land sale but as a taxpayer, I disagree.  I see the Superbowl moment for Frisco residents being the profit of the land sale and still achieving the potential tax revenue. 

Mayor Jeff Cheney has said multiple times over the years that the Dallas Cowboys moving to Frisco would create a “halo effect” for our local economy.  That means it would form a positive cognitive bias that would increase the city’s presence, brand, and attributes making it attractive to other developers and Fortune 500 businesses, so they would want to be and call Frisco home. That leads to my next question, which is logically thinking if we had to recruit businesses by offering oversized incentives before, then what does the “halo effect” do for us now?  Does it mean we will not have to dole out large incentives or deals as we had in the past?

Then I thought of marketing, the Dallas Cowboys logo, and the brand is one of the most famous in the world, and companies pay big bucks to do partnership deals with America’s Team.  In 1995 Jones had deals with Nike, Pepsi, American Express, and AT&T that were worth more than $60 million.  In 2013, AT&T bought the naming rights to the Cowboys Stadium for up to $20 million a year.  In 2022, it was reported that the Cowboys grossed $220 million in stadium ads and sponsorship revenue.  They also have million-dollar deals with WinStar World Casino, Lincoln Motor Company, Ford, Omni Hotels and Resorts and we could go on and on.  So surely in all these deals or incentive packages the city worked out something where we could put the Cowboy’s famous Blue Star on The City of Frisco webpage with a tagline “Home To The Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters” or when you open the Frisco EDC webpage to show off and increase the so-called “halo effect” to future companies looking to relocate to our great city.  A quick surf of our sites there are pictures of The Star but none of the famous and iconic Cowboys branding.  Nope, nothing, zilch!

What I did find interesting is a 2021 Dallas Morning News article talking about Monument Realty and how they were named the Official Real Estate Company of the Texas Rangers and you guessed it, the Dallas Cowboys.  Dak Prescott is listed as its “chief quarterback officer” and The Cheney Group hangs its hat there.  We are awe-struck really because we know that had to cost them a pretty penny to obtain those deals.  I mean one would assume that based on the millions of dollars other companies have to pay for partnership deals with these sports teams.

Halftime Show

by | Mar 14, 2023 | Politics, Public Information Requests

When we created Frisco Chronicles the goal was to get some simple questions addressed and expose some shady shit. What is our local governments purpose? Why do citizens have a lack of trust in our local city government? Why is our city so afraid of a transparent government? Why is our city afraid of ethics enforcement? Do we have an open budget process and our residents tax dollars being spent wisely? Why do residents have a fear of speaking up or calling out our leaders for what they believe is toxic or negative behavior? Is the business we are doing in public-private partnerships with reputable developers and companies? Why does our city charge and “arm and leg” for a Public Information Request and why are the prices differ depending on who files it? Why is everything from our leadership a sales pitch versus a fact finding to hear what residents want? We could go on … and on … an on but we won’t put you through that.

Corruption is widely defined as a breach of the public’s trust by government officials who use their public office to obtain personal gain. It is dishonest or sometimes illegal behavior by those in power which can affect the performance of local government and it erodes trust and weakens democracy.

Transparent governance means that government officials act openly, with citizens knowledge of the decision the officials are making. Important components include the availability of information on government policies and actions, a clear sense of organizational responsibility, and an assurance that governments are efficiently administered and free of systemic corruption. Transparent governance is important to local governments and the communities they serve because corruption threatens good governance, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms public and private sector development, and distorts public policy. 

Frisco Chronicles would love to hear from you! Do you have a blog idea or evidence of something shitty and/or shady going on? Confidentiality is of the utmost importance to us no matter who submits it (even if we are not too fond of you)! At Frisco’s Shady Shit, your secrets are safe with us! Please reach out to us by leaving a comment on a blog, send a direct message via our contact us page, or email us at FriscoWhistleBlower@protonmail.com

Now back to regular programming of The Promised Land (Part Two)