Jason Abati[/caption]

Jason Abati has filed for the Place 6 seat on Frisco City Council.

The seat is currently held by Council Member Scott Johnson, who is term-limited this year.

Abati is part-owner of hotel management company Flagship Services Corp.; a general manager of residential real estate investment firm HouseMax; and owner of The Abati Group, a property management company. He also used to work for Deloitte, a financial consulting firm.

“I feel with my experience in real estate, construction, development, management, hospitality and finance that I really think I could do a great job at filling seat 6 and keep the legacy going forward,” he said.

If elected, Abati said he would like to focus on managing the growth and density of the city. He said he would like to take a look at zoning in the city to allow fewer garden-style apartments and concentrate urban-style apartments along the Dallas North Tollway.

He said he would also like to help manage traffic in the city, and he agrees with the use of roundabouts at certain intersections in Frisco. He said he would like to work with the Public Works Department, the Frisco Planning and Zoning Commission and the Frisco Economic Development Corp. to find solutions to reduce traffic.

“Until Prosper and Celina start getting more of their jobs up there, everybody is just going to keep coming down south,” Abati said. “It is going to take some time, and the residents will have to be patient. There’s only so many roads we can widen.”

Another one of Abati's priorities, if elected, would be to build a partnership between the city and Frisco ISD in order to keep the school district's tax dollars in the city rather than being distributed to other poorer school districts in Texas under the state-mandated Robin Hood plan.

Abati has lived in Frisco for about 10 years. He said he likes the way City Council has led the city so far and would like to stay on the same track.

“I have a lot of passion for this city,” he said. “I have a lot of passion for the way it’s grown and the history of it."

For more information about Abati, click here.

Brian Livingston, Bobby Roberti, K.D. Warach and Rui Zhang have also filed for Place 6.