Frisco Mayor Mark Hill Talks Tax-Base Boom

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**Julie Fine** (0:07)
How do you handle that growth moving forward?

**Mark Hill** (0:11)
In a very disciplined way, I think we've been growing for so long. You have to make sure that the growth that we have to come, and we are still growing, both from a residence and a commercial side, that we do it in a very disciplined, smart way that helps the current residents of Frisco.

**Julie Fine** (0:30)
One thing I found very interesting about your platform was shifting new development to reinvestment. What does that look like?

**Mark Hill** (0:38)
You know, Frisco has grown so fast, but there are parts of Frisco that are 20, 25, 30 years old, right next to places that are brand new, or within the last five years. And so, city leadership, and there's already a plan for this in place, will definitely be spending time and focus on making sure we're paying attention to some of the areas of Frisco that are a little bit older, that we're built at a different time in Frisco, and making sure we're giving them the attention they need.

**Julie Fine** (1:10)
When you look at something like the Star, you have the Star, then you have Toyota Stadium, you have FC Dallas playing there, of course. You have the Soccer Hall of Fame. Now you have Universal Kids Resorts. Is it time really to focus more on the downtown?

**Mark Hill** (1:26)
Yes.
I think you can do both. Downtown focus is certainly a passion of mine. It's a desire, frankly, of many in the city. It's something that during my time, I'm definitely gonna make a focus of, just because it's unique. You mentioned all these big projects and big things that are great for the city of Frisco. Downtown and the entire, what we call, the rail district is something that will definitely be a focus in the coming years.

**Julie Fine** (1:53)
What do you think is the reason that Frisco was able to grow so quickly?

**Mark Hill** (1:58)
A few things. We have an educated community. We have great schools in Frisco. And we also are a very safe community. And you combine those two things over time, it creates an environment that people notice and that people wanna move to.
And I think we've seen that for years, and we're experiencing that even to this day.

**Julie Fine** (2:20)
Overall, the big vision. Let's look at your time in office, your big vision.

**Mark Hill** (2:26)
Goodness. You know, we've had so much success and so much growth.
I really want to make sure we, as a city, stay focused on what we're doing to attract good families to the city of Frisco, and good businesses. And so if we're successful at that, then I would consider my role and my job a success.

**Julie Fine** (2:48)
You know, you're surrounded by large cities. You've got Plano, of course, the city of Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington. What is it like competing, and how do you get that edge to get the businesses to come to Frisco?

**Mark Hill** (3:02)
It's like I mentioned, you know, we have certain advantages that we have to make sure we keep. To your point, it's a very competitive environment out there amongst cities right now. And so as long as we focus on keeping the city of Frisco safe, keeping growth managed, disciplined, keeping our infrastructure up to speed, keeping our schools in Frisco strong, I think we will continue to attract good businesses to the city.

**Julie Fine** (3:33)
Biggest challenges moving ahead?

**Mark Hill** (3:35)
Competition. I think other cities and states are catching up to Texas as a whole, the city of Frisco, and so we have to make sure we stay ahead of the curve.

**Julie Fine** (3:45)
You know, you come into this, you want to run off. There have been some ethnic divisions, there have been some very heated meetings in your city. What do you do to bring everybody together?

**Mark Hill** (3:56)
You stay focused on how you improve the lives of the residents of the city of Frisco, on how we as city leadership can improve and help and make smart decisions that improve the lives of our residents. And, you know, I have, to your point, through the campaign or even now, I've kind of just stayed on course. I don't engage in a lot of issues that I think are outside of what I can control. And I think it's proven to be successful, and that's certainly something I intend to do.

**Julie Fine** (4:29)
Before we let you go, it is interesting to see how Frisco has really become an area, it's a destination for sports, for people that love sports.