Dallas City Council member Lee Kleinman on Thursday afternoon chastised Collin County suburbs whose economic growth is fueling regional sprawl, for seeking public funds for transit service they’ve long refused to pay for with their own sales tax revenue.
He particularly took aim at Frisco officials, who are using public funds to provide economic incentives that are powering a building boom along toll roads in that city. The massive collection of developments includes a new corporate and training home for the Dallas Cowboys, the sports franchise behemoth owned by Jerry Jones, whom Kleinman referenced in his remarks.
“Why don’t they just not build another Jerry stadium up there?” Kleinman said at Thursday’s Regional Transportation Council meeting. “Why don’t they buy some buses?”
His comments came ahead of a vote on spending $3.87 million in regional transportation funds to provide makeshift and interim transit service to parts of Collin County. Officials there are grappling with how to operate and fund transportation for elderly and disabled residents in the wake of a rural transit provider’s unraveling last year.
It was unclear Thursday how much of that money — if any — would go to Frisco. But much of it will benefit other Collin County cities that don’t pay into a public transit agency, including Allen and Wylie.
Frisco Mayor Maher Maso is also a Regional Transportation Council member, but was out of town and did not attend Thursday’s meeting. In an interview, Maso said he has a great working relationship with Dallas officials, but that he doesn’t tell them how to plan and design their city.
“We all discuss and champion local control and it is not productive for a council member of a neighbor city, much less a city that we all consider is in a regional leadership role, to presume they know the finances, planning and desire of another community,” he said.
Frisco has a contract with the Denton County Transportation Authority to provide limited transit service. It may only benefit from the funds discussed Thursday if it instead ends up contracting with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which is working with other Collin County cities and rural portions of the county.
