Friso Says “No Time!” to SB840

Frisco Takes A Calm & Cool Approach

Here’s my full list of all the to-dos that gone done in Frisco since SB840 went “live” on September 1st:

Crickets chirp loudly as my typing comes to a halt.

That’s right folks. In Frisco, them smart as smart city planning types just said “no time” to SB840. Meaning “we have no time or reason to do more of this and that.” To customers in Frisco, it will be just “do you want SB840 with your hamburger? Or something like that. It will be “supported” cause you gotta be supportive when the big State can sit and crush you if you don’t but you know maybe their not making it a thing is going to be a thing.

All I can tell you dear readers is this is a stunning contrast to what I’ve been hearing and writing about from other cities. There is no rule book fixins, map-a-roo changes, piling people into a zoom call. So do I have a story for you for Frisco or not? I do.

How Did I Find Out?

For starters, I called the planning department to see why I couldn’t find a little handout to add to the handy Resource page that keeps growing and growing like weeds in spring. I found out why. As I’ve already shared, there are no special handouts cuz the city didn’t make any. You following me?

Now that is the economical and friendly to the forest kind of action - no paper, no ink, no overtime. The city might just feel as though this whole thing will blow away in the wind so why get hot under the collar? I get that. Sometimes the “doing nuthin” plan of action gets the job done - and again, without overtime.

But then, there are the residents, you know the ones with the 30-year mortgages and all? Not every resident is living like they are part of the Cowboy’s football program with their 2025 budget of $10 zillion, 200 trillion dollars.

Yep, Frisco is home to those All Star Cowboys, who you’d have to assume can earn a living that is keeping pace with all the inflation and tax hikers, right? But for the “rest of us” if you will, things have to balance or make some sense in order to avoid having your car repossessed or. your home foreclosed upon, you know, the small things that come up from time to time when no one is paying attention.

So I can appreciate people wanting to say “Hold Up!” when they hear something that is gonna cost them some money as in “declining home values.” This idea, by the way, is the quiet part no one seems to like to say aloud but must mean something. Cuz every time an apartment is going to built it is traffic, noise and property value concerns - the trifecta as some on the ranch call it.

Well, does crime level change or doesn’t it once apartments get built in or near a single family home neighborhood? I hear crickets when I try to dig into that kind of published by those high-college-university level “off the chart” science type with data over-thinkers writing hundred of pages of something. It seems like the very subject is kinda sore to study, like riding in a saddle that isn’t quite your fit? Sore.

Now, if you are a Dallas Cowboy player, you likely do not feel the same financial pressures as say a small “c” cowboy or citizen living in Frisco. Plus, a Dallas Cowboy can withstand all kinds of tough physical hits and cold weather in those away games (where players get to wear shiny capes in public) but again for the regular folk with the small “c”, capes are a no-no except maybe on Halloween - and not every year cuz you got to rotate your costumes.

But, my focus isn’t on the costumes or those who fly first class just cuz. I’m focused right squarely on the regular homeowners.

Meet Frisco Dan!

For that reason, my hat goes off to this here resident I’ve nicknamed Frisco Dan because he did his homework and acted most nobly in my humble opinion.

Before I show this video, in the spirit of being true and honest with ya, I admit I stumbled upon this like a falling tree across a creek. I just was rummaging through the city site for information - and you know “search for SB840” was gonna come up lame, right? I mean how could it not if the city is doing its “just let me know” strategy rather than “I will tell you” strategy.

By golly did I strike gold from August 5th, eureka!

Well I had to make this the star of my Frisco story and how could I not? Family man, wanting to contribute to his city, his numerous efforts to communicate with them important city officials and all…yet, yet, the harshness comes out for all of us to hear. That’s the part that really hurt my heart, kind of like a gut punch.

He was told to stop talking by city types - not those he was facing that night. One ends up adding his two cents and then he shuts Frisco Dan down but in a somewhat polite way. You’ll see and you can decide for yourself.

To me, I yammer at the end of the video clip about your rights and tell me if you get treated this way. Why do I care so? Why for one, being told to shut up isn’t real friendly. Next, does saying “be quiet I don’t want to hear your opinions or thoughts on this matter” sound like our US of A, our America? Why just the thought of someone with more authority cuz of a set of rulebooks being on their desk trying to limit speech is way more than I can fathom.

Why those trying to do such a thing is like telling the sun it can’t rise or set if you ask me. It goes right up against the primary principles of our Founding Fathers - the ingredients needed to live a true and wholesome life (not Wholefoods, ok?).

God gives everyone - left, right and center - the chance to express themselves. Why? Because when you don’t ya get all bottled up in side and next thing ya know, there are medical type of procedures happening and it’s no fun. Get it out! Say it!

So without further ado, take a listen and you decide what should happen next? Frisco Dan To the Rescue

A Big Howdy and Big Thank You Frisco Dan!

Now I already spilled the beans, I disclosed that this was from the 5th of August which was three whole months ago (does it feel longer or shorter to you?). And, I told you City of Frisco's planning and zoning folks are not doing extra for SB840. You heard the man in the video, they tried. So what happens next?

Now as lessons go, I gotta hand it to both Frisco Dan and City Frisco for their contributions to my post to y’all. Frisco Dan made me come to my senses that all this blabber about “SB840 is using the big cities as a test place” is truly looking more and more true. Why it seems they wanted it ALL STATEWIDE the entire time. And by “they” I mean the writers and sponsors of SB840. City Frisco took my call. I didn’t know then what I know now about their efforts to try to stall or change or even get out of SB840. The mayor used a lot of flowery language but he sure made an effort to make an effort be known.

Have you seen any posts or podcasts talking about the story behind SB840? Sorta like a “People’s Magazine” kind of thing with photos and their favorite apartment building amenities listed ya know?

Does Anyone Out There Want to Get the Scoop?

I am feeling the itch to write about that “People” story that gives us all a way to know and see those smiling faces that created such bliss in getting SB840 into the system. I’d love to interview and ask their tips for protecting their own properties and if they had thought about the regular folks? Frisco Dan says it pretty straight up to his official elected leaders in that room sitting high up on the dais (I found this fine article on why the set up is so flawed, “But what is the council’s role—to serve as entertainment for an audience or to be a governing board? If it’s the latter, why do almost no other governing boards arrange their meeting space the way councils do?” link to source).

We may all just need to get our local city council to rethink their seating arrangement. Maybe that’s been the problem all along…anyway, I sure admire Frisco Dan and he rightly cares about issues impacting his quality of life such as noise, crime and property values.