I hope those who celebrate Easter enjoyed their Easter weekend. For me, Easter represents something special. It is all about new beginnings. It’s about sacrificing for others. It’s about re-affirmation of what I am doing day in and day out. I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people in my life. Erika is such a big part of my life and together, there is nothing we can’t do. As Bruce Springsteen sings in “Leap of Faith”, and it is an appropriate Easter message, “In your love, I’m born again.” Thank you baby, for everything you do for us.

 

Erika has gotten bitten by the Spring bug already. She started prepping the vegetable/herb garden last week and went to Shades of Green here in Frisco to get the compost and seeds and said it was really busy, which is always good to see when a local business is doing well.

 

Hopefully all the kids enjoyed their time off from school with last week’s Spring Break. We didn’t go anywhere this year but I hope that everybody who did take a break really enjoyed their time together.

 

Ok, so what has been going on since I last wrote? We had a joint meeting back on March 12 between the City Council and numerous City boards to get an update and give direction on the exciting Grand Park project.

 

On March 13 we drew for place on the ballot for the March 10 election and I was fortunate enough to choose Place 1 so my name will be listed first in the election for Mayor. Later that night was Elementary school open house. I really enjoy school open houses where you get to see some of the parents you don’t get to see otherwise and also get to talk with the teacher about how the kids are doing.

 

That weekend was then extremely busy. From a sports standpoint, we went to the Texas Tornado hockey game Friday night, the FC Dallas soccer game Saturday night and the Frisco Thunder game on Sunday night. It was also St. Patrick’s Day weekend and Lochrann’s had music and festivities all weekend long in the Frisco Square area. It was very well done. Also on Saturday was the big city-wide Easter egg hunt which attracted thousands of kids and their families.

 

During Spring Break, we had several campaign related events. Isabella’s Italian Restaurant was the host for an event on Monday, March 17, Coach Joe’s Sports Grille was the host for an event on Wednesday, March 19 and CrossRoads Winery was the host for an event on Saturday, March 22. Thank you to all of you who made it to any of these events and thank you to everybody for their continued support of our campaign for Mayor of Frisco.

 

We had a regular City Council meeting on March 18 and one of the items on the consent agenda was to allow the Arts of Collin County project to keep some money (they were under budget) rather than return to each city as stated in the agreement. Since there is a big meeting on March 31 where the Arts of Collin County group will give us an update as to where this project is going, I wanted to table the item until after then rather than expend any additional funds. A lot of money has already gone into this project and while I support it in concept, I am extremely concerned that nothing has come out of the ground and there is currently no timeline attached to this project. I have real concerns with what’s going on behind the scenes of this the project at this point and until I get a better feeling, I am not willing to expend any more Frisco taxpayer money.

 

Also during Spring Break week we were able to go to a Mavericks game against the Celtics and to the “Pros vs. Prospects” game at the Dr Pepper StarCenter here in Frisco. It was the fourth annual event and is always a great time. Neal Broten of the 1980 Olympic gold-medal winning hockey team (and Dallas Stars fame) was there along with Brett Hull and many other players. The Texas Tornado organization does such a great job with this annual event and I hope you catch the last Tornado game this Friday night.

 

Don’t forget about “Mornings with Matt” on Wednesday’s at It’s A Grind from 7:30-8:30am. Feel free to stop by to talk about any issues of concern to you in and around Frisco.

 

Only 35 days until early voting starts for our election to elect a new Mayor of Frisco. I ask and pray for your support to be that next Mayor of Frisco. Together we will make this city even greater than it already is.

 

 

As we have been doing in the past few blogs, here are some more Newsletter comments:

 

“I appreciate the time you take each week to put out this very informative newsletter.  I enjoy it every week!” – Lynnea, March 2008

 

“I would also like to add I like your newsletter you send out. I think it is a great tool.” – Mike, March  2008

 

“I admire your public service record, community involvement and your passion for the City of Frisco.” – Amanda, February 2008

Can you believe the fog we had this morning? I was driving at 6am this morning and could barely see in front of me. I have never seen fog so think and it has continued all morning creating a dangerous situation. So glad to see the sun come out and burn it off.

 

The Frisco Family Services Center annual gala event this past Saturday night was a great event and a huge success for such a great cause. Congratulations to our friends Dana and Jeff Cheney for winning the car! It was a busy night as we left the event for a short while to walk next door to the Tornado hockey game so that I could do the ceremonial puck drop. Unfortunately it didn’t help them win the game though!

 

On Sunday we had a pageant workshop at Nordstrom’s. Erika and I are the Co-Directors of the Mrs. Texas United States Pageant and I am absolutely and continually amazed at the passion and dedication that Erika constantly gives not only to the Pageant but to everything she does. The six-hour workshop had some amazing presentations and was invaluable to the contestants that were there. The pageant will take place the weekend of April 26-27 at The Westin here in Frisco.

 

We had a new employee start at HRchitect yesterday. Tiffany was hired as our Marketing Manager and we are so happy to have her on board.

 

Monday turned out to be quite a busy day as I had my monthly Frisco Square Management District meeting at 4:30 and then had to race over to the Frisco Chamber of Commerce new member mixer which started at 5:30. Erika did a great job setting up our table and outfitting us both in 70’s, disco-style clothing to match the theme of the event. It was a lot of fun and we won for best costumes!

 

Right after that event I had to go home and change and race over to the monthly meeting of FROC (Frisco Residents of Color). I really enjoy talking about public service and the importance of getting involved in your community.

 

Don’t forget about “Mornings with Matt” on Wednesday’s at It’s A Grind from 7:30-8:30am. Feel free to stop by to talk about any issues of concern to you in and around Frisco.

 

Only 48 days until early voting starts for our election to elect a new Mayor of Frisco. I ask and pray for your support to be that next Mayor of Frisco.

 

 

As we have been doing in the past few blogs, here are some more Newsletter comments:

 

“Thank you for everything you do for our Frisco community.” – Dorothy, October 2007

 

“We so appreciate you and your wonderful newsletter.  What would Frisco do without you?” – Terri, September 2007

 

“We love getting your email newsletters and hearing about everything you do for Frisco.” – Jack and Lisa, September 2007

 

“At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail. The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.”

 

Seriously. Do we really have to spend $42 million dollars to alert the public to expect a rebate check for the 2006 tax year? I can think of a lot better uses for $42 million – cancer research, AIDS research, a multitude of charities, etc. Proponents say it is necessary to avoid confusion. Huh? My response to this has nothing to do with partisan politics. I admire President Bush for the rebate program but I think it is foolish to spend $42 million dollars simply to alert people to the fact that they are getting a rebate check.

 

In any event, don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight as we make the change to daylight savings time.

 

Last night we attended the Frisco Fire department annual banquet at the Frisco Convention Center. We are so blessed to live in a city like Frisco where we have the absolutely best fire department and personnel in the nation. Congratulations and thank you to all the fire fighters.

 

I attended a breakfast this morning on behalf of Life-Changing Faith Christian Fellowship and Pastor Dono Pelham at the new Holiday Inn in Frisco. This is a new Church that will be meeting at the Holiday Inn and I was fortunate to meet some really great and passionate people this morning. What a great city we live in to have so many religious options available to us.

 

Tonight is the Frisco Family Services Center annual gala event at the Frisco Convention Center. We look forward to this event every year and it is for such a great cause. I used to sit on the board of the Frisco Family Services Center so it is something near and dear to my heart.

 

I will also be dropping the puck at the Tornado game tonight so I will make a quick change to put my Tornado jersey on as I leave the above event to go drop the puck. I’m a huge supporter of the Tornado and hope that you will attend their games. You can get tickets and find out more on their web site.

 

Only 52 days until early voting starts for our election to elect a new Mayor of Frisco. I pray to God every day for the guidance, strength and wisdom to do what I do and I ask for your support to be that next Mayor of Frisco.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

As we have been doing in the past few blogs, here are some more Newsletter comments:

 

“I don't know how many people thank you for all the work you do with this newsletter so I wanted to express my thanks.” – Craig, October 2007

 

“Thanks for listening.  Thanks also for communicating to all of us via your newsletter.  I look forward to it every Friday.” – Jim, October 2007

 

“Thanks again for your wonderful newsletter!” – Ann, October 2007

 

Can you believe the snow? Our kids had a blast playing in the snow for hours making snowmen and having snowball fights. All they could think about as they went to bed tonight was that there would be no school tomorrow. Growing up in Boston, I remember praying for snow days on those nights when snow was either coming down or in the forecast.

 

What a week this has been! My company, HRchitect, played a big role in hosting the largest HR technology conference right here at the Frisco Convention Center today. The conference attracted close to 200 HR professionals from all over and it was a big success! Karen and Rick did a fantastic job today and over the past couple of months in organizing this event.

 

I was going to stay at the Embassy this evening and talk with the Frisco Business and Professional Women’s group about “Political Involvement – How to Make Your Time Count” but the snow canceled the meeting. I hope to cover this in a future meeting as it really is a great topic.

 

We had our City Council meeting this week and it was rather short but a big accomplishment was passing a sexual offender ordinance. You can read more about it in the press release that was in this week’s newsletter.

 

On Tuesday, I was interviewed by students from Frisco High School about youth involvement in politics and the community and I am looking forward to seeing how the video comes out.

 

On Wednesday, Frisco Style Magazine did a photo shoot with me and my opponent for the Mayoral position, which should appear in their April issue. Right after that, I was able to get over to Centennial High School to catch most of my daughter’s softball game. I try never to miss any of the games that our children play in.

 

Tomorrow night is the annual Fire Fighter’s banquet at the Frisco Convention Center. Erika and I are looking forward to honoring the best Fire Fighters that the State of Texas has to offer.

 

It’s been an extremely busy work week as things continue to go great at HRchitect.

 

Only 52 days until early voting starts. I appreciate your support and your vote as we move further down the road on the way to becoming the next Mayor of Frisco!

 

As we have been doing in the past few blogs, here are some more Newsletter comments:

 

“I've been reading your weekly e-mails for a few years and really appreciate what you do to keep us informed.” – Brandon, October 2007

 

“Thank you for all that you do and good luck on the race.” – Shaun, October, 2007

 

“I love the weekly newsletter.  It is my lifeline to what is happening in this boom town!” – Linda & Sam, October 2007

 

I love weekends because it means spending time with the kids. Of course that usually means running around to some kind of event or game. Today was great as Erika and I got to go out and play Tennis this morning while some of the kids joined in, and then the rest of the day seemed filled with going outside and playing basketball, softball and football at various times throughout the day. Lots of exercise and fresh air today!

 

Yesterday (Saturday) started off early with breakfast at Solare Spa and Cafe with a citizen considering running for public office. After that, Bart and Jana Crowder hosted a reception for Sam Johnson at their home. Sam is a true American hero who is running for re-election to U.S. Congress. Erika had to take Joshua to his first T-ball practice so she wasn’t able to attend with me so my daughter joined me. Zach then had soccer pictures at Pizza Hut Park before his game. Thank you to the folks at Pizza Hut Park for allowing the Frisco Soccer Association to take pictures on the field. That was really special for the kids.

 

Later that night, I had the privilege of being on the field for the coin toss during the Frisco Thunder’s season opener. The game was very exciting for all the fans and the Thunder came away with a win to start the season. The Thunder play at home for the next six weekends and you can get tickets on their web site or by calling 972-731-6968.

 

We were able to stay until halftime but had to then leave to go to another well attended event at a friend’s house where Erika and I made many new friends.

 

Friday night we went to watch the Wakeland Baseball team play a double-header (Carl plays on the Freshman team) and then we watched some of the girls softball game. It was great to see a number of the girls play that I had coached many years ago.

 

If you haven’t yet voted in the primaries, Tuesday is election day so please exercise your right to vote.

 

In any event, only 57 more days until early voting starts (April 28) for the May 10 election. I’m looking forward to being the next Mayor of Frisco and appreciate everybody’s continued support in that endeavor.

 

As we have been doing in the past few blogs, here are some more Newsletter comments:

 

“Thanks so much for all your hard work in assembling and distributing this newsletter in Frisco.” – Sharon, February 2008

 

“I've lived in Frisco for 7 yrs and have truly enjoyed your weekly emails!” – Ligia, February 2008

 

“I always look forward to your updates and great newsletter.” – Claire, February 2008