Steven with Councilwoman Stephanie Housewright

Councilwoman Stephanie Housewright shares a little about herself and her vision for Cross Roads.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Stephanie Housewright
• 2:27 What are some of your goals?
• 3:39 What are some of the challenges you face?
• 4:28 What is your take on the upcoming Cross Roads High School?
• 6:55 Citizens should get involved
• 8:43 How do you see Cross Roads in a year from now?
• 9:45 How do you get involved?
• 14:35 What are some of the challenges you see as a councilwoman?
• 15:35 What kind of changes do you see in five years from now?
• 17:22 Announcements - Founders Day Coming Soon!

Transcript

Steven Killfoil: 0:12

Welcome to Crossroads podcasts. Those who want to be in the know. Good morning Crossroads on the show today, we have Councilwoman Stephanie house, right. I want to thank you, Stephanie, for coming on the show today. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?

Stephanie Housewright: 0:59

Well, thank you, Steven, for having me on the show. And again, thank you again for your graciousness with my rescheduling. I'm a New aunt. My little sister just had her first child Sophie Kathleen, awesome. Yeah, she decided to come two months early. So you know, we weren't ready. So on top of being an aunt, I'm also a mother, wife, a daughter, full time employee. I'm also a full time student. And I also volunteer on the Parks Board and on the council.

Steven Killfoil: 1:26

We have a few hats.

Stephanie Housewright: 1:27

I do. I do have a few hats. I like to stay very busy.

Steven Killfoil: 1:30

Great. Well, that's fantastic. First of all, I want to thank you for serving as a Councilwoman for crossroads, Mady and I support you and the other council members 100%, we have served in positions with the town. And we'll continue to do so in the future as we really love it here. What made you decide to accept the role of council woman here in crossroads?

Stephanie Housewright: 1:54

Well, I also really love it here in Definitely. So you know, we're working on building out that comprehensive plan and our vision 2035 to really maximize our economic development. You know, going through that 2035 vision survey, one of the biggest wants from the community was maintaining that no property tax. And I know that's, you know, a big draw to live in here in Cross Roads. And in order to keep that we need to make sure that we're building our business development and generating additional businesses that will bring in that sales tax revenue since that's our main source of income for the town. So really working with the mayor and the council to try to bring in those developers is a it's a huge focus of mine. Cross Roads as well. You know, I started volunteering for the Parks Board last year. And I've really found a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment from doing that. And when the opportunity arose to be able to volunteer with the council, I was, you know, more than happy to do so as I feel like I've been doing a great job with helping our Parks Board become a little bit more visible, and bringing in some additional events and things along those lines. So I was kind of hoping help make a difference, you know, on the council as well.

Steven Killfoil: 2:24

Fantastic. And I'm sure you will, well, what are some of your immediate goals for Cross Roads? And how do you plan on executing them? So far, so good. It looks like we're doing a great job. I see we have a microbrewery getting ready to come. It's they're in the process of revamping the old Fuzzy's Taco and several other businesses on the pike. I noticed that Prairie House is remodeled some and expanded and that's looking good. So I think we're right on the money. And where we need to be as far as is the business go in Cross Roads. What are some of the challenges that you've had feedback on with regards to all this wonderful construction on 380?

Stephanie Housewright: 3:47

Really, the big challenge is being able to see how to get into those businesses. So with all the different construction, you know, signs and pavers that are being moved around, a lot of our community members have been having trouble identifying the driveways to get into these businesses. So instead of actually trying to figure it out, they just keep driving because they don't want to deal with the frustrations. So one of the things that was brought to us that was brought to our attention as a council so we decided to work with TxDOT and got those blue driveway signs on each of the driveways to try to make it more visible to drivers to where to enter into the local businesses.

Steven Killfoil: 4:19

Fantastic. And I know those businesses are very happy that you're working with them and keep in business flowing to them. That's fantastic. Well, you and I are currently both participating in the Citizens Committee for our upcoming High School here in Cross Roads. What are your thoughts on Denton ISD's current plan and how will it impact our town?

Stephanie Housewright: 4:43

You know, so originally I wasn't very excited about it. I actually live right on the edge of Cedar Creek. So my backyard is going to be where the new high school is. So I was a little upset at first thinking you know, we moved there originally thinking we're going to have another neighborhood and that got thrown away. So I was just a little urky at first, but then after really seeing the plans and being a part of that Citizens Committee for the new high school, I'm actually really excited about it. I think it's going to bring in a great opportunity for our town and drive that extra business development for us having you know, they're trying to alleviate some of that traffic that's going down to Braswell. Yes. So and I think that's going to be great. They're looking to open in 2027. And with that added traffic coming through our town and that visibility off at 380. I think that's really going to put Cross Roads on the map. Because right now, I think we're just kind of a drive by with a Walmart.

Steven Killfoil: 5:36

Pretty well, I mean, it is true. It's one thing that I know, I would love to see, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people are too and it's in that comprehensive plan is eventually to have our own town square. Yeah. And I know that's coming up somewhere in the makes, just not sure when, but I'm excited about the high school. You're lucky in that, gosh for all the events, the football games and all that you'll be able to just literally walk over to the school yeah, and not even have to deal with traffic. Yeah, so that. That's pretty cool. I'm excited. They they were telling me, Mr. Wilson, the superintendent, that we will have our own JROTC program. That's exciting. I'm hoping that he'll have the United States Marine Corps run that because I'm partial to Marines. My whole family's been in the Corps, so they do a good job in JROTC. So I'm hoping that'll be that'll be neat. And then we can have Bulldogs be our mascot for our high school and just rock it on.

Stephanie Housewright: 6:48

My husband would like that he also served in the Marines. Excellent.

Steven Killfoil: 6:51

Well Semper Fi. Definitely, definitely, yes. So do you encourage our citizens to come out and participate more in the town meetings?

Stephanie Housewright: 7:03

So absolutely, you know, I've only been to a handful of our council meetings, since I've really started getting involved in town last summer. And there is a lack of involvement from our community members, not just from coming to our town council meetings, but also from volunteering, you know, on our different boards that we have with our Planning and Zoning Commission, you know, our MDD board, our parks and recreation board. You know, we're hurting for volunteers, and I'm not very big on social media, but I do see a lot of talk amongst the town members have concerns and things that they would like to see happen, but I don't see a lot of involvement. And I would love to I think that we have a great, you know, Council, I think we have great leadership, people and all of our boards. And we all just want to bring our community together and make it a wonderful place to live. And I would really like us to turn into a united front, you know, and really start to strengthen that community feel because I know that's what everybody wants.

Steven Killfoil: 8:00

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, when I'm not doing a play, I'll be there. I'll be at all the meetings. Oh, absolutely. And I'm not rehearsing. Every time we have a play all my rehearsals fall on the nights of all the meetings, because I love Parks and Rec, I was on that board. And I would love to go to another meeting again, just to sit in and see where you're at, I see that there's a lot of good things planned and coming down. And this time, finally action taking place in the park. So I'm excited for that. I'm, I just love the park. And I know that it can be so much more.

Stephanie Housewright: 8:37

Oh yeah. We've really been working on that beautification process and we're excited about it.

Steven Killfoil: 8:42

Absolutely. So how do you see crossroads in a year from now?

Stephanie Housewright: 8:48

I see a stay in very busy. You know, we're still working on that beautification process of the town. We're currently building out plans to build a restroom over there and a small concession stand. We've got a citizen committee or a local committee to look at playgrounds as we want to put in some playgrounds over there. The mayor also just started a veteran's committee as well advisory committee. So we're looking at doing a Veteran's Memorial over there. You know, so I think a lot of those plans are going to start to really play out and possibly start within the next year. 3d construction will still be a thing, unfortunately, we still have a little bit longer on that. So working with our local businesses to make, you know, make sure that they're getting those are community members to come in, you know, being able to identify where they can get in that with that construction happening. And then I think we'll also start to see some development happening with the new high school as well. Yeah, definitely. I'm so excited with that coming. Wow.

Steven Killfoil: 9:47

How would a person and I'm thinking a lot of our problem with getting volunteers is that just don't know how or whom to contact could you tell us a little bit about that? How would a person say for example, reach out to the parks and recs board to volunteer? Who would they call?

Stephanie Housewright: 10:10

Of course, um, so I mean, we have our volunteer applications on the town website. Parks and Rec, for example, does have their own Facebook page. So they're more than welcome to message us on there or respond to a post. I have my email address listed on our town website, feel free to reach out to me, if you see me out and about at a store, don't be afraid to wave me down. I tried to go to the markets every Saturday and talk to everybody that's around there. And I've gotten a few volunteers to come through from just speaking to people there. So I mean, we have plenty of resources available to easily become a volunteer.

Steven Killfoil: 10:44

Oh, yes, definitely. Well, when you're at the market, do you find that people are surprisingly uninformed?

Stephanie Housewright: 10:54

Oh, absolutely.

Steven Killfoil: 10:55

And this is the whole reason why I started this podcast, I wanted to be able to get people up to date information on what is going on here in town and in our surrounding areas. You know, you heard me toot my horn about the theater while I'm part of the theater, so naturally, I will. But I did want to start this podcast as a means of communication to all the citizens in Cross Roads and in the surrounding areas, as well as be able to just share a spot of news or a cup of coffee. And I'm in the process of bringing in some business owners on the podcast so I can help promote their businesses in Cross Roads. I'll give you a good example. Wednesday, I have an interview with Steve Burns, who's the manager of Brakes Plus.

Stephanie Housewright: 11:44

Oh, cool.

Steven Killfoil: 11:46

You'd be surprised how many times on my HOA website I've actually read. Where do I go to get my car worked on it, you know, because nobody wants to go to the dealership that dealerships are too expensive. Sorry about that Stanley Ford, but you guys are kind of high on the labor. Brakes Plus is a full service mechanic shop. And they've been working on my car, they work on my wife's company car. So I wanted to bring him in and promote them up. Now we have other shops, which I'll be happy to get with those guys and bring them on to. There's nothing wrong with good healthy competition. But I know Steve Burns personally, I have him work on my car personally. And he keeps it running great. But nobody knew. So I'm always getting back on their Facebook page of the HOA and saying, hey, guys go here Brakes Plus, it's just, you could walk over to it. And it's just amazing how many people really don't know. And I looked on the town website. And I still don't see. But a just a miniscule amount of businesses listed there with way more than that. But they're not on there yet. So how do we get them on there? I mean,

Stephanie Housewright: 13:02

That's a great question. I'm not 100% certain if they need to register with the town in order for us to share that information. But that's something I can definitely speak with our town administrator about. I've personally been to Brakes Plus a number of times, and I've always had wonderful service and I recommend them to anybody. Oh, yeah, I'm work on their vehicles.

Steven Killfoil: 13:21

And I did a walk about when I was on the Parks Board for Mady when she was serving on the MDD. And I actually solicited the several businesses on the corridor and told them, Go to the website, register your business, they want you to be on there. They want to promote it. You know, above and beyond on that. I don't think anybody has followed back up with them, obviously, because they haven't logged in yet. So we need to really be more proactive, I think and get out there and knock on the doors and introduce ourselves. Just say hey, you're not shy. Tell them hey, I'm Stefanie Housewright, I'm a Councilwoman for the town. What can we do for your business? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's that simple. Sometimes I think we try to overcomplicate things, oh, we need a script or, oh, we need no you don't need anything you just need to go in. Be real. Be yourself. Introduce yourself. Be proud of what you're doing and find out what they want. That's how you support your local businesses. Oh, yeah. Because if you don't ask them, you don't know what they need. You know, it's just crazy simple like that. But what are some of the challenges that that you see as a council woman?

Stephanie Housewright: 14:39

You know, um, I think just being human really, you know, as I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of hats that I wear and sometimes it makes it hard to be accessible just because I may be busy doing something else but that doesn't mean that I don't care. I do spend a lot of my time volunteering and a lot of my time trying to research. One of the things that I'm doing right now is working with with one of the fellow Parks Board members, and we're trying to identify grants that we could apply for, to help pay for the restrooms and help to pay for that Veterans Memorial and the playgrounds coming through. You know, as I stated earlier, our income is mainly based off of sales tax, and with 380 construction, it's kind of hurting our income as a town. And so trying to find some free money is really what our big goal is right now. So I've been spending a lot of time researching grants and seeing how we can get some, some government money to help us out.

Steven Killfoil: 15:36

Okay, well, what changes can the citizens of Cross Roads expect to see, in Cross Roads, say, five years from now?

Stephanie Housewright: 15:45

Well, in ive years, that new high school should be open. They are slated to open in 2027, which is very exciting, my daughter will be a freshman, so she can just literally right there. So she's excited about that. The 380 construction through our town should be complete knock on wood. And I think having some new economic development projects, either starting or you know, having started and completed. So bringing in some additional businesses along that corridor, I think will be a big thing coming in the next five years.

Steven Killfoil: 16:15

Absolutely. Well, that's kind of exciting. I'm looking forward to that. Most definitely. Well, is there anything that I might have missed that that you would like to add today?

Stephanie Housewright: 16:26

Well, I would like for all of our citizens to know that we do have our first annual Founders Day celebration coming up on September 16, we're going to be celebrating the 50th 50th year of our town over at Star Ranch. And we really want to make this an annual tradition and annual celebration. So we would love to bring in, you know, whoever would love to come and be a sponsor, whoever would love to come and be a vendor. We've been speaking with our vendors at the market with We've been speaking with local businesses, but even if you have a small business, I believe you signed up to be a vendor at the event.

Steven Killfoil: 17:01

I am going to be there with a booth and I'll be doing the podcast.

Stephanie Housewright: 17:06

Awesome. So you know, if you would love to come and be a part of this great annual tradition that we're starting, reach out to us reach out to the town feel free to reach out to me and I'd love to get you set up.

Steven Killfoil: 17:17

Fantastic. Yeah, we're looking great. Greatly forward to that. That's gonna be a lot of fun. Well, you heard it today from Stephanie Housewright. Thank you for coming again on Cross Roads Podcast, Stephanie, and we wish you the best of luck. As you and your fellow Councilman and women work hard making Crossroads a nice place to visit and live. For questions or comments, please email us at crossroadspodcast2023@gmail.com. And for some local announcements up and coming is the play at the Garage Door Theater, "The Importance of Being Earnest." Mark your calendars. The performances are August 18th, 19th, 25th, and 26th at 7:30 PM in the evening, and August 20th, 26th, and 27th afternoon

matinees at 2: 18:11

30 PM. For tickets, go to www.garagedoortheater.org and come on out for a great night of laughs and fun this play is G rated so it's very family friendly and it's very family funny you don't want to miss it. Make sure to check on the town website, crossroadstx.org for local meeting times. Here are some upcoming events to mark on your calendar September 5 Town Council meeting at 6pm. Planning and Zoning meeting at 7pm September 6 Park and Recreation board meeting at 6pm. Saturday September 9 will be the Mega Market at the park from 9am to 2pm. The Municipal Development District meeting will be on September 14 at 6pm. And the most important date to mark on your calendar just like Stephanie said is Saturday, September 16. Founders Day at Star Ranch located at 8400 Fishtrap Road in Cross Roads just down from the park. The celebration will be from 3pm to 9pm. There will be live music, food trucks, games and many more fun things to do. Bring out your kiddos and have a relaxing fun day. While You Learn how the town came about. Remember to like us on our Facebook page Cross Roads Podcast. To help support the podcast go to www.buzzsprout.com/2118488/support to become a supporter. You can pledge $3, $5, $8 or $10 per month. Keep those comments and questions coming to our email crossroadspodcast2023@gmail.com. On remember to check the town website at www.crossroadstx.org for local meeting times and events. Stay tuned in every Monday morning as we bring you more amazing guests. Until next week. I'll see you at the top