Frisco Pets Over Frisco Politics – We Wish

After years of numerous meetings and attempts to continue to meet with Frisco, TX City Leaders, Frisco’s Pet Project (FPP) has been told, you need to show proof and convince the Mayor and Council the validity of your requests.

FPP has been asking for an animal advisory board, opportunities to volunteer for Frisco Animal Services (FAS), help create a local temporary-holding facility for FAS, help improve animal ordinances, to name a few, but to no avail. Frisco residents and nearby communities with rescue facilities, would like to see Frisco start plans for a future animal rescue and adoption center (aka shelter). To add, when did it become the responsibility of the City’s residents to exhaustively substantiate their requests to their City Council? Can you tell we are frustrated? And, why wouldn’t we be?

As early as 2016, Frisco residents tried to find a pet champion within the City to help navigate “the system.” No one stepped up and residents were told to try and find a voice on the City Council. After many attempts, none of them would speak up in favor of their Frisco pets and residents. Instead, any pet-related issue was and still is being met with opposition, both privately and publicly. So, politics it is.

First, Frisco City Council continues to drag their heals to ban the retail sale of puppy mills animals in Frisco. So, Frisco constituents asked Representative Jared Patterson for help and now the entire state of Texas is involved with House Bill 1818 soon to go before the House Senate. In a recent email to our FPP following, Frisco Council told residents, they want to wait and see how this turns out in Austin before they readdress the Frisco animal ordinance again. By the way, in their Winter Work Session, Council Members Huffman, Sowell, Livingston, Stricklin were all in favor of scheduling a work session to address the animal ordinance. This session has not be scheduled. To note, Mayor Cheney and Councilman Woodard are opposed to this. Councilman Keating appeared to remain neutral at the meeting, but in recent emails during his re-election campaign, he said he is opposed to “the sale of puppy mill animals” but he is in favor of the current animal ordinance that continues to support the sale of puppy mill animals in Frisco.

In shelter news, Frisco Mayor Cheney is also in opposition of a rescue center. You have likely heard or seen many of his blanket statements over the years opposing a shelter. From the expense doesn’t outweigh the benefits to our citizens, to our low intake numbers doesn’t warrant the expense of a shelter, he has a broad blanket statement to put the discussion on hold every time. We then have to demonstrate with our research that these sound bites are inaccurate. Case in point, the Mayor’s most recent inaccurate statement circulating social media before the upcoming runoff election between Angelia Pelham and Dr. Jennifer White.

In several recent postings online, Mayor Cheney states, “…and fund a massive cost of an animal shelter Frisco may likely one day need but would be a big expense now.” He is implying, that one candidate, and for that matter, FPP wants a “massive shelter”. To the contrary, this candidate from the first day of her campaign, has suggested the City needs a small affordable shelter, refurbished from an existing building to keep costs down. The other candidate states, she would need to see if it has a “broad resident appeal” and a shelter would need a ROI (return on investment). FPP from day one of our grassroots effort, were asking Frisco leaders for a “temporary-holding facility” so Frisco pets, when found, do not have to sit in an animal control truck while FAS officers look for pet owners, and in many incidents, haul them over to the County shelter in McKinney. It is the City of Frisco that keeps proposing a “massive shelter” and then uses the cost of a “massive shelter” to say we can’t afford it or that it takes a bond that will likely increase taxes. And, yes, we have the emails with these statements. They proposed a costly shelter back in 2016, and still today, even though FPP has presented several presentations to the City of alternative shelter models of success to consider, all under their $10M “massive” shelter.

So, Mayor Cheney, would you please define the word “massive”? The word “massive” is by no means an accurate representation of what Frisco’s Pet Project has been proposing for years, nor does it apply to the comments that the candidate that you didn’t endorse says. We will wait…