Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney pictured on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023.
Lola Gomez/Staff Photographer
One Sunday about five years ago, Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney made a snap decision.
“Sitting in the parking lot still sweaty, I decided to buy a yoga studio,” Cheney said to a group of about forty residents earlier this month at “Coffee with the Mayor,” an event the city hosts at the Frisco Public Library.
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Hot yoga was the morning ritual that helped Cheney keep his sanity intact during his nine-year term as mayor. So when the studio he frequented announced it was shutting down, the mayor, who also owns a real estate business, stepped in to save it.
At “Coffee with the Mayor,” Cheney said that entrepreneurial spirit and comfort with taking risks shaped his tenure as mayor, during which Frisco attracted flashy projects such as PGA Frisco and the Universal Kids Resort and started to brand itself as “Sports City USA.” The city’s population boomed from around 100,000 to about 245,000 since Cheney was first elected to the City Council in 2007.
After a collective 18 years serving on City Council and as mayor, Cheney is term-limited. Four candidates are running in the May 2 election to succeed him as mayor. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, Cheney will serve until after results of the June 13 runoff are announced. The outgoing leader discussed a host of city issues at the event.
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Cheney said it has been “hard to swallow” speakers at recent City Council meetings decrying the growing Indian population in Frisco.
Before Frisco’s first city-sponsored Holi celebration in 2019, Cheney said the city received three emails from residents saying it was offensive to celebrate the Hindu holiday on public property. Cheney said he did not second-guess the decision to host the event.
“I was like, ‘those three people are idiots, and no, we’re not canceling,’ ” Cheney said.
Since then Cheney says residents of all backgrounds have participated in the city’s cultural festivals and gotten to know their diverse neighbors.
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Cheney estimates the city has spent 100 months preparing for the World Cup. Planning for the tournament bookended his term as mayor, he said.
North Texas will host nine matches at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium and Frisco will serve as a base camp for the Swedish team, who will practice at Toyota Stadium and stay at the Westin Dallas Stonebriar resort.
Swedish national soccer player Herman Johansson also plays for FC Dallas, the MLS team headquartered in Frisco. The city will host a watch party for every match in front of City Hall in partnership with FC Dallas, Cheney said.
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Cheney said when he was a council member, he was frustrated by how Plano would bag corporate relocations over Frisco.
“I was tired of being the bridesmaid,” Cheney said.
Now, in light of AT&T announcing its upcoming move to Plano and the Dallas Stars scoping out the suburb for an arena, the outgoing mayor has a more neighborly outlook.
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“We don’t have to have every amenity in Frisco,” Cheney said. “More amenities that our neighbors have will only help us.”
Cheney said his biggest regret as mayor was that Frisco did not build a performing arts center. Voters rejected two propositions that would have set aside $340 million to build a 2,800-seat theater last May. Supporters had hoped the project would attract Broadway-caliber stage productions.
“It would have transformed the art scene in Frisco and made us a hub,” Cheney said.
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He called the project a “political casualty” of tense City Council races last year and said he hoped the new mayor and council would pick the project back up again.
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Cheney told The Dallas Morning News he would not be endorsing candidates in the May 2 election, but may consider doing so if there is a runoff in the mayoral race.
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The outgoing mayor said he was not planning to run for office in the future but would probably stay involved in Frisco through groups such as the Chamber of Commerce.
“There is no higher office than serving on your local positions, because the closer you are to the people, the more impactful your decisions,” Cheney said.