Tag Archives: Princeton

economic news, local news

Mixed feelings over airport expansion

How am I feeling these days as I learn about the expansion of McKinney National Airport just down the road a piece from where I live in Princeton?

My feelings are decidedly mixed. Although I tend to support the expansion as an economic driver for a region that already is undergoing a tremendous population explosion.

I shall explain myself.

Voters rejected a $200 million bond issue a couple of years ago to expand the airport, creating a third commercial air terminal in North Texas. It wasn’t even close, with 58% of the votes saying “hell no!” to the expansion. Had I been able to vote on the project, I would have voted in favor. Voters had their say.

Aha! But it wasn’t the final word. McKinney officials weren’t to be dissuaded from fulfilling their dream. They have broken ground on a smaller expansion, costing about $70 million. They’ll add an air terminal, expand parking and dress up the grounds to begin commercial air service sometime late next year. A low-cost airline already has signed up to begin servicing the airport to be known in aviation-speak as TKI.

It is mildly troubling to me that McKinney officials chose to ignore the voters’ wishes by proceeding with the airport project. Opponents cited the massive change such a project would bring to a community that they liked as it stands. There could be noise pollution, traffic congestion and all the various elements associated with rapid growth. At the groundbreaking ceremony, officials spoke affectionately about the growth that will come this way.

Princeton, where I have lived for six years, is the fastest-growing city in the United States. It currently is terribly underserved by commercial establishments. This morning, for example, I drove to McKinney to purchase a $6 part for my bathroom sink. I couldn’t find a store to serve my needs in Princeton. I am going to presume that economic expansion will bring those services and many others eventually to my city.

Indeed, the landscape in the greater McKinney/Princeton/Farmersville area is now slated for some monumental change once the airport expansion is complete. All of that produces a mixed bag of emotions for my neighbors and me. Thus, I can declare my feelings remain mixed as the airport construction is set to begin.

I am going to pray it goes well.

local news, State news

Princeton still needs an ID

Princeton is a growing North Texas city that needs to establish a community event that delivers an identity to a rapidly developing community.

City Manager Mike Mashburn estimates Princeton’s population at 43,000 residents. It’s a far cry, therefore, from the tiny burg that straddles U.S. Highway 380.

Why bring this issue up again? I received my copy of Texas Highways annual Texas State Travel Guide. I have been reading Texas Highways magazine for many years. It is a premier travel magazine that highlights communities throughout our vast state, telling visitors of places and people of interest.

This year’s Travel Guide, just like all the rest I have seen over many decades, contains not a single mention of Princeton. The 2025 edition of the Travel Guide doesn’t list Princeton in the section dedicated to communities throughout North and Northeast Texas.

Farmersville, a much smaller community eight miles east of Princeton, is listed among potential destinations in Texas. Farmersville commemorates World War II hero Audie Murphy every year; the Rike Memorial Library contains an Audie Murphy exhibit; Chaparral Trail gets a mention; so does Freedom Park in the city’s downtown plaza.

Princeton, which is roughly 10 times the size of Farmersville, gets no mention at all.

I know that these identity issues take time to develop. Princeton clearly is a city in transition as it seeks to manage the explosive growth that at times seens to overwhelm local officials.

I have lived in Princeton for six years. I enjoy my life here. However, there seems to be little community enthusiasm for events that benefit the entire city … and make Princeton a place to visit and to enjoy the benefits of life in the growing community.

If Texas Highways magazine cannot mention this rapidly growing city, then the folks at City Hall need to redouble their efforts to stage an event that brings people here … if only for a day!

I want my city to get a mention in the state’s premier travel magazine. I guess I will have to wait until next year.

economic news, local news

McKinney airport to expand … but, why?

Perhaps there’s something that has sailed over my pointy head, but I’ll ask anyway: What is it that prevents McKinney Mayor George Fuller from accepting “no” from voters about expanding McKinney National Airport?

Fuller says he intends to spend budgeted money to expand the airport and introduce commercial air travel to the facility by 2026. He says this despite voters in his city twice refusing bond issues that called for the airport expansion.

I must stipulate I do not live in McKinney.  My home in Princeton is about six miles east of the airport and, yes, I do drive past the airport frequently as I scurry about on local errands. I also must stipulate that I do not necessarily oppose expanding the airport and I would welcome commercial air travel from a nearby terminal rather than driving all the way to D/FW International Airport or Love Field.

But the issue isn’t mine to decide.

According to the Princeton Herald: “Fuller said the city would use $60 million in bonds secured by airport sales tax revenue to fund construction of a 45,000-square foot passenger terminal and a parking lot for about 1,500 vehicles. The project manager said the size would vary according to tenant needs.”

Voters scuttled a $200 bond issue in May 2023 and rejected a smaller proposal in 2015.

I recall the 2023 campaign and opponents were clear that they didn’t want to see an increase in traffic in their city.

Does the new idea pitched by Fuller mean a return to those concerns? I don’t know. I do believe, though, that the mayor might be prompting some backlash from voters if they continue to resist calls for an expansion that could bring those concerns back into play.

If voters say “no,” that should stand as their decision.

local news

Stand tall, Farmersville!

I want to offer a brief blog bouquet to a community I have gotten to know and, frankly, gotten to admire.

Farmersville sits along US 380 about seven miles east of Princeton, where I have lived for the past five years. I went to Farmersville today to take part in a brief event marking Old Time Saturday, an annual event that clogs the downtown square with booths selling all manner of goods, goodies and services.

I discovered long ago that Farmersville is a community proud of its tradition and it shows itself off whenever possible. Old Time Saturday draws vendors from all over North and Northeast Texas. The historic downtown square is festooned laughter, excitement and good times and fun.

Farmersville also celebrates every June the life and heroics of its adopted favorite son, Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, who 79 years ago saved a French village virtually single-handedly from the assault of Nazi troops near the end of World War II. It is not clear whether Murphy spent much time in Farmersville, but he insisted on putting the name of the community on his dog tags when he enlisted for duty in the Army. That was good enough to persuade the city elders that “he is one of us.”

The city honors his memory every year for a weekend in June commemorating what he did in Holzwhir, France.

I was able to donate a pint of blood today and was proud to do so to help the city honor its heritage.

Farmersville does a good job setting the pace for how other communities — including Princeton — can honor their history.

local news

More on the monstrosity

That partially built apartment complex around the corner and down the street from my Princeton home just doesn’t leave my mind.

I want it gone. I no longer want it to be finished. Why? Traffic! That’s it, man.

You see, the 360-unit apartment monstrosity sits alongside US Highway 380, a multilane highway that already is congested beyond reason. The city is hoping to bring in a gigantic retail complex not far from where the apartment complex now sits fallow.

The Texas Department of Transportation wants to expand 380, adding more traffic lanes and, thus, making the traffic woes even worse.

I can remember when the Farmersville City Council nixed an apartment complex near the Brookshire’s grocery story complex some years back. The reason for the rejection? Traffic. Council members were concerned what the increased traffic would do to that area. Thus, I now wonder what the Princeton City Council must have been thinking when it approved the proposal to build the huge complex next to Wal-Mart.

The complex appears to be headed for the trash heap. I have no proof of that belief. I just believe it.

It’s just as good. We do not need any more traffic congestion to give us headaches as we do battle with the legendary D/FW traffic woes.

local news

How to enact moratorium

The city I call home has emerged near the top of an astonishing list of communities.

Princeton, Texas, is among the fastest-growing cities in all of America that have populations greater than 20,000 residents.

The Census Bureau released the figures recently. Princeton logged a population of 17,027 after the 2020 Census was taken, which nearly triple the size of the city in 2010. In 2023, though, the city grew by another 11,000 residents, pegging its population at an estimated 28,017.

Collin County’s growth has been equally staggering, standing at more than 1.2 million residents, according to Census Bureau estimates.

I look around my neighborhood and notice more lots being developed, with housing units being framed and utility lines being connected. I cannot estimate how many I see in my ‘hood; I’ll just suggest that there are possibly hundreds more units under construction.

Which brings me to my point. Mayor Brianna Chacon is tossing the idea around about enacting a single-family and apartment construction moratorium. I don’t know the particulars of what Chacon envisions, but I want to endorse — in principle — what she might want to do.

I have thought a little bit about the courage it has taken for Chacon to pitch this idea. She is a Realtor when she isn’t helping shape municipal policy, which suggests to me she is willing to take an income reduction if it results in a new public policy.

Chacon’s reason for favoring a stoppage in this construction is clearly defined: We don’t have the infrastructure to handle the flood of new residents. Our streets need repair; we have water needs that need improvement; we will need more first responders on the job.

Chacon said a while ago that Princeton has grown too rapidly, that it needs to play catch-up with the infrastructure it must provide the new residents who are coming here.

I cannot disagree with that. Oh, we also have that mammoth apartment complex on US 380 that has been stalled. It is partially built and only God knows when work will resume on it. My suggestion would be for the city to pull the plug on that boondoggle, knock it down and turn the site into more green space. But that’s just me.

I like living in a city that is attractive for others who want to live here. However, enough is enough … or so it seems, as Princeton continues to lead the way in urban growth.

business news, local news

Princeton’s evolution continues

My wife and I moved into a city that appeared to be a place without definition, without an identity.

Princeton, Texas, though, was — and is — a city in transition. It is transitioning from a tiny burg that straddles a major U.S. highway into something that is, well, considerably more significant.

The city council’s decision this past week to rezone a 91-acre parcel on the north side of that highway, U.S. 380, to make room for a major shopping complex signals how the city has decided to identify itself.

As a new resident, having lived here for five years, I welcome the change. It provides us with a variety of choices to spend disposable income and to boost the revenue stream for a city that is growing — rapidly, I must say — into municipal adulthood.

The retail complex will comprise 36 outlets. Some of ’em are huge, man. About the only thing missing that would satisfy my taste is a movie theater; but perhaps that also will be on the way … maybe even soon!

I have mentioned already that I do have a concern about the traffic that is bound to be affected dramatically along the aforementioned highway. It’s already become a proverbial “parking lot” during rush-hour in the morning and late evening; westbound traffic comes to a halt in the morning, while eastbound traffic does the same thing in in the evening.

The state wants to divert much of that traffic to bypass lanes that would skirt around the highway. Princeton is one of many communities facing the same traffic woes along 380.

I am going to welcome the new business that is headed our way. It helps turn Princeton into something much more than a community full of new houses with occupants who at this moment have to go somewhere else to invigorate other cities’ economy.

I certainly am hoping Princeton can join the municipal “big leagues” in pretty short order.

local news

County calls out TxDOT

Texas transportation planners apparently believe that what they giveth they can taketh away without being challenged.

Not so fast, according to Collin County’s Commissioners Court.

Commissioners have sent the Texas Transportation Commission a letter requesting the state return $490 million it had set aside for highway improvements that run through the heart of one of Texas’s fastest-growing counties.

Full disclosure: I live in the area affected by this still-growing dispute between the county and the state.

The letter references work planned for U.S. Highway 380 and Texas Spur 399 in McKinney. The 380 project includes a freeway bypass that TxDOT is considering for Princeton, as well as several other communities within the Collin County boundary. TxDOT wants to divert the money for high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Harris County.

Collin County commissioners are having none of it. Nor should they.

TxDOT has gone through a number of public hearings, taking hours upon hours of public comment on the impact of the highway improvements planned for cities such as Princeton, Farmersville, McKinney, Prosper, and Little Elm.

Now it wants to yank a sizable portion of the money it had set aside for that work to build HOV lanes in Houston?

I want to stand with Collin County’s Commissioners Court on this matter. I likely won’t live long enough to see the completion of the massive project being planned for Highway 380, but I damn sure want the state to listen to this elected governing board, which has stated in unambiguous language that it wants the money restored.

“Mobility is part of what drives the strong economic engine of North Texas and specifically Collin County,” commissioners wrote to the Transportation Commission. “A delay on such critical projects can have an impact on state revenues” and would have a negative impact on air pollution associated with traffic congestion in the region, they wrote.

Those of us who live here and who have to tolerate the stand-still traffic patterns along Highway 380 shouldn’t tolerate this takeaway of public money.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Time of My Life, Part 45: Back to where it began

I am positive you’ve heard it said that there are some things you always remember knowing how to do.

Riding a bicycle comes to mind.

Well, I spent the bulk of my journalism career writing opinion pieces for newspapers in Oregon and Texas. However, like most ink-stained wretches, I got started covering news events, or writing features, chronicling the events that made our community tick.

I am now retired from the daily grind. However, I have been given a chance to return to where it began for me. I am a freelance reporter for a weekly newspaper near where my wife and now reside.

I asked for this gig when we took out a subscription to the Princeton Herald, a weekly publication that is delivered via mail every Thursday. The publisher of the Herald, C&S Media, also publishes papers in other communities nearby. Farmersville is one of them.

The “S” in C&S Media is Sonia Duggan. She asked me recently if I would be interested in covering Farmersville, which is about seven miles east of Princeton. I said yes. So I am back in the game.

I attend Farmersville City Council meetings twice a month, reporting on what transpires at City Hall. I get to write the occasional feature story about Farmersville, a growing community in Collin County, Texas.

The most rewarding part of it, though, is getting to know the people who make the city. I am developing sources, becoming familiar with the community’s unique qualities. I am making my presence known at council meeting.

Man, it’s just like it’s always been.

Moreover, I get to cover these stories straight up, without injecting my own opinion into any of the text I write for the newspaper.

My boss knows, too, that my wife and I might not be available all the time to cover every story that comes along. Given that we’re retired, we have the luxury of traveling in our recreational vehicle, which we do during peak driving season in North Texas. That’s OK, she says, expressing her keen understanding that a freelance gig enables us to operate without too many burdensome requirements.

I just have to say, though, that learning about a new community fills me with great joy and, yes, even a bit of anxiousness. I expect the joy to remain even as I grow less anxious over what I discover about Farmersville.