Frisco council grapples with anti-Asian rhetoric, public comment rules change

Anti-Asian rhetoric has turned Frisco City Hall into a stage for a deeper fight over who gets to belong in one of Collin County’s fastest-changing cities. After more than 20 people used a February council meeting to raise off-agenda claims about H-1B visa fraud and an “Indian takeover” of the city, council members on April 7 approved new decorum rules but stopped short of shortening public comment time.

The new rules bar speakers from bringing signs, placards, posters, banners or props into the meeting room. They also prohibit people from using electronic devices to disrupt proceedings or physically approaching council members outside the designated speaker area without permission. Violators can be warned and then escorted out by police. The council did not vote to cut speaking time from five minutes to three, even though that proposal had been under discussion.

The debate has intensified as Frisco’s demographics have changed rapidly. The city says its current population estimate is 247,452 across 69.1 square miles, plus 1.0 square mile of extraterritorial jurisdiction. Census Bureau data list Frisco’s 2020 population at 200,509, up from 116,989 in 2010. The latest available federal figures show 28.1% of residents are Asian, 27.3% are foreign-born, and 33.6% speak a language other than English at home.

City officials have said the barrage of complaints has not produced a single actionable report the city can investigate, even as the rhetoric has spread beyond City Hall and drawn more people to speak. The council is trying to separate protected speech from complaints that might fall under local authority, a line that has grown more difficult to hold as online posts amplify the issue and invite larger crowds to public meetings.

The pressure on the council also intersects with politics. Mayor Jeff Cheney, who was first elected in 2017 and is now term-limited, said it would make sense for the next mayor to decide whether to pursue changes to speaker rules. Frisco voters will choose his replacement on May 2, with early voting set for April 20-28 and the voter registration deadline already passed on April 2.

The city’s own public-input policy dates to the late 1980s and had not been updated until this year’s debate. Under the current rules, speakers still get five minutes, or three minutes if 10 or more people want to speak on the same agenda item. Council members may still consider a multicultural advisory board as they look for a way to lower tensions without suppressing protected expression, a sign that the dispute is now as much about Frisco’s future identity as it is about meeting-room procedure.