\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFour state legislators who represent parts of Collin County spoke about growth and infrastructure in North Texas during a summer panel.<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/p>\n
The McKinney Chamber of Commerce<\/a> hosted a panel discussion June 18 called \u201cThe Future of Growth in North Texas: Policy Decisions Shaping Business, Infrastructure, and Workforce.\u201d<\/a> Legislators that were present for the panel include:<\/p>\n State Rep. Jeff Leach<\/a>, District 67Represents Allen, McKinney, Plano and moreState Sen. Angela Paxton<\/a>, District 8Represents Allen, Celina, McKinney, Plano, Prosper and moreState Rep. Mihaela Plesa<\/a>, District 70Represents Allen, Plano, Richardson and moreState Rep. Keresa Richardson<\/a>, District 61Represents Celina, Frisco, McKinney and moreLegislators discussed infrastructure needs, education, transportation, workforce development and housing affordability in North Texas. The panel was moderated by Barb Delk<\/a>, business development director for the McKinney Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n To end the panel, Delk asked legislators what has to happen between now and 2036 so that North Texas continues to \u201cgrow and prosper.\u201d<\/p>\n In their own words<\/p>\n Richardson said the area has to have property tax relief and that was going to be a \u201cnumber one issue\u201d in the next legislative session. Young families can\u2019t afford insurance for their homes or their cars and they can\u2019t afford the taxes, she said. Additionally, Richardson said they have to continue to bring businesses to North Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are laying the groundwork for businesses to continue to move here,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just have to get the infrastructure right.\u201d<\/p>\n Plesa said when she looks to 2036, she sees the state as \u201cbeing proactive, not reactive.\u201d Plesa\u2019s parents moved to the North Texas area in 1973. Plesa and her family benefited from \u201cforward-thinking\u201d groups that invested in infrastructure and education, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were communities like this that were thinking about families like mine generations later,\u201d she said. \u201cSo when I think of Texas in 2036, I think of those types of investments. I see the Texas miracle blooming.\u201d<\/p>\n Leach said community and state leaders need to continue communicating and listening to each other.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as we\u2019re still able to do what we\u2019re doing now … then I think that we\u2019re still\u201410 years from now\u2014going to be sitting in the greatest county, in the greatest state, in the greatest country in the history of the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Paxton said she thinks the future is \u201cvery bright\u201d but planning \u201cdoesn\u2019t happen overnight.\u201d Planning happens one decision at a time and one conversation at a time, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have to remember that if we\u2019re going to get there, we have to get there together,\u201d Paxton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four state legislators who represent parts of Collin County spoke about growth and infrastructure in North Texas during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117,123909,123907,123906,123908,123910],"class_list":["post-347018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-mckinney-chamber-of-commerce-hosts-ntx-legislator-panel","tag-mckinney-legislators","tag-mckinney-news","tag-north-texas-legislators","tag-north-texas-legislators-panel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}