Addison City Council - At-large Positions 2, 4, 6

Howard Freed

Posted Monday, April 6, 2026 10:43 am

Editor’s Note: The Branch Herald sent identical questionnaires to all candidates in this race. Responses are published in full and have not been edited for content, clarity or length, except for minor formatting.

This coverage is part of our ongoing commitment to transparency and informed local decision-making in Farmers Branch, Addison and Carrollton.

Independent local journalism like this is supported by our readers. As part of our This Spring campaign, we are working to grow our subscriber and member base to sustain election coverage and accountability reporting year-round. Support local news coverage. Sign up for our free newsletter.

1. Name: Howard Freed

2. Occupation: Retired President of Freed’s Home Furnishings, LLC

3. Education: Graduated Richardson High School (May 1974)

Graduated University of Texas @ Austin (May 1978)

Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology with honors

4. Campaign Phone: (214) 697-8773

5. Email: hfreed@addisontx.gov

6. Website: Under Construction

7. Facebook: Yes

8. YouTube: No

9. Other Social Media: None

10. Length of residency in the Town of Addison: Since September 1999 (26-1/2 years)

11. Why are you running for city council, and why now? I ran for office in May 2024 to make sure ALL residents and businesses in Addison have a voice, and that their voice will be heard by our City Council.

I am running for re-election because I think this City Council is making some positive changes for Addison, and I want to be a part of that.

12. What specific experiences have prepared you to serve as city council member? I was president of my high school fraternity.

I was president of my college fraternity.
I worked as VP in a family business for 13 years after college, Freed’s Furniture Co.
I started, owned and ran my own business for 30 years, Freed’s Home Furnishings.
I was the founder and president of the North Dallas Design District.
I have served on the Addison City Council for the past two years.

13. What distinguishes you from the other candidate in this race? My extensive background in the retail furniture industry.



I am retired and widowed, so I can put in the time to do this job right.
I have been a leader in every organization I was involved with and in my business.
I have many years of experience working with and negotiating with large groups.
I have many years of experience dealing with legal and financial. situations.

14. How many Addison City Council meetings have you attended or watched online in the last year? ALL OF THEM!

15. What do you see as the three most important responsibilities of city council

members?

1. Fiscal responsibility with the towns finances.

2. Listening to and acting on the resident’s needs and desires.

3. Listening to and acting on the business’s needs and desires.

4. Listening to and acting on the staff’s needs and desires.

Sorry, I listed four!

16. How will you balance council duties with your professional and personal responsibilities? My kids are grown and married. I do not have a job or a wife, so balancing is easier for me than for others who may be serving on council.

17. Have you served on any Town of Addison boards or commissions, which ones? Addison City Council from May ’24 to May ’26.

18. What other civic responsibilities have you undertaken? What other offices have you run for? When? NONE. I was a work-a-holic in my business. I did not have time for this

19. What community organizations do you belong to? None at this time.

20. How accessible do you think council members should be to residents, and how will you ensure accessibility? I think council members should be totally accessible to residents, and I try to always be available.

Residents need to be able to communicate with their representatives, and to know they are being heard! I try my best to answer or return all phone calls, text messages and emails on all devices.

21. How would you ensure transparency in town decision-making? Don’t hide anything from the public. Always be open and honest.

22. What do you see as the steepest learning curve if elected? When I was elected I knew very little about how municipal government operated. It took me several months to get up to speed. I think if I am re- elected, there should be no learning curve for the 2nd time around.

23. What is your vision for Addison over the next five years? Mobility has been the biggest issue since November.

I see Addison exiting the fixed-route DART bus system, and moving to an on-demand, web-based transit solution that will serve our residents more efficiently at a much lower cost.

I believe we will be successful in building a new Police and Courts facility, as well. I believe the additional revenue Addison will gain by exiting DART will allow us to tackle projects like the new

police facility without the need for adding more debt to our town.

24. What is the biggest opportunity facing the town right now? Leaving DART!

25. What is the biggest risk or threat facing the town? Staying in DART!

26. Should Addison remain a member of DART? Why or why not? If the town remains, what changes would you advocate for?

Addison should absolutely exit the DART system.

Dallas controls the DART board, and DART is using Addison and 5 other cities to subsidize DART’s service to Dallas. Addison’s voice on the board is less than 2%, and DART has the power to place debt on Addison. DART calls itself a Regional Transit solution, but only 13 cities out of over 100 North Texas Cities are DART members. The cost is too high for any other city to join, and DART makes it practically impossible for any of its member cities to exit. 13 cities alone should not bear the cost for a “Regional” Transit Agency. DART cannot make ends meet, and borrows BILLIONS on the backs of its member cities. The DART “fixed-route” bus system is antiquated and over-priced compared to “On-Demand” solutions available from other transit companies that operate in non-DART cities all over the country at a fraction of the cost. These DART cities only have the opportunity to exit DART once every 6 years. Highland Park, University Park and Addison are the only 3 DART member cities that can vote to exit on May 2nd. After rescinding their elections Plano, Irving and Framers Branch must remain in DART until at least 2032. Why did they choose to rescind? One reason might be that Plano and Irving would each have to pay over $1 BILLION to exit! That’s a pretty good incentive to stay in! The other 7 DART member cities could call for exit elections in November 2026. These DART member cities haven given DART a blank check to place debt on their towns that must be repaid in order to exit the agency. Member cities of TRE (Trinity Rail Express) and DCTA (Denton County Transit Authority) only pay 1/2 of 1% of their sales tax to belong to those agencies, while DART member cities pay twice that amount. DART member cities are at a serious disadvantage compared to non-DART cities when it comes to budgeting for their town’s needs and expenses since these DART member cities are giving up 50% of their available sales tax revenue to belong to DART.

Addison deserves better!

If Addison remains in DART I would advocate that DART is not able to place any more debt on its member cities unless the vote is unanimous to do so. Why should other cities have the power to place debt on Addison? Each city should have the power to Veto any new debt! And, if Addison votes to stay in DART, DART absolutely should give Addison the rebate DART has promised the other cities who are remaining in DART, and not penalize Addison for exercising its statutory right to call for an exit election! This is the way DART negotiates, and this is one of the main reasons Addison should get out!

27. What kind of town do you want Addison to be in 10 years? Vibrant, exciting and fiscally sound!

28. What principles would guide your decisions on property tax rates? The staff and the council must prioritize needs vs. wants. The needs (payroll, public safety, infrastructure, rent . . .) must be met. The wants ($330K to update pool bathrooms, $100 to decide where to put free weights at the AAC, other unnecessary items . . .) should only be done if there are funds left over.

If Addison can recover the sales tax allocation currently going to DART through a successful DART exit election, I would advocate for Addison to reduce property taxes as much as possible, andthen work to reduce/eliminate our debt, which would eliminate our debt service, so we could lower property taxes even further and be competitive with other cities that have low property tax rates when negotiating with business possibilities in order to encourage more economic development in Addison. Between high property taxes and increasing homeowners insurance premiums, I am hearing rumblings that some of our residents may not be able to continue living in their homes.

We have to find a way to lower property taxes.

29. What areas of the budget deserve closer scrutiny or potential reduction? Every area needs closer scrutiny.

Most of the projects staff brings to council to put into the budget seem very high. I’m not sure if we are not getting enough bids, or simply going back to the same places year after year for new bids, but these guys are always rather high. It feels like the contractors see a municipal project, and automatically quote high because tax dollars are paying for it!

30. What types of businesses should Addison actively recruit? Profitable, successful, state of the art business that will bring or hire a bunch of smart, new, enthusiastic employees to live, work and play in Addison.

31. How should Addison approach redevelopment of aging office buildings and commercial properties? Engage with the property owners to see if the Town can partner with the current owner to offer tax incentives for the Landlord to “fix up” or sell their properties to new Landlords that are willing to invest to bring these properties up to current, competitive standards in order to attract new, better or higher end tenants.

32. How would you evaluate the town’s performance on streets, parks and facilities? Overall I think Addison does a good job on keeping up with our infrastructure maintenance. We spend a lot on parks, and we put a lot into most of the parks. Maybe we could cut back on some of the park expenditures to take

care of other needs we put off longer than we should. I think we take too long starting a street project, and then it takes too long to complete them.

33. What public safety challenges do you anticipate in the coming years? Our police force has outgrown its home, and we need to create a larger, more efficient police and courts facility. As much as we need to do this, I really do not want to issue bonds to finance the project because I don’t want to place

any more debt on this town. I am hopeful that if Addison successfully exits DART, we will be able to pay for the new Police & Courts facility with additional sales tax revenue from leaving DART, rather than buy issuing debt with bonds.

34. How do you describe your leadership style? I am a salesman. I prefer to “sell” people on my ideas rather than to “tell” them we need to do my ideas. I treat others respectfully, and hope to be

treated that way in return.

35. How do you handle disagreement with colleagues? Same answer as number 34. There will always be disagreements. But if we are civil and respectful to each other when we disagree, I think we can reach compromises that can address most of the disagreement, so that each side can feel like there was give and take in the solution, and no one feels as though his or her opinion was not considered.

36. Describe a time when you changed your mind after hearing opposing viewpoints. I changed my mind about DART just a few months ago. I have always been Pro-DART. I thought it only cost 1 penny, and I believe in public transit. Then 4 cities called for exit elections, and I started reading, studying, attending meetings and asking questions. My research resulted in my decision to vote for Addison to call for a DART exit election! Once I have spent a great deal of time studying an issue, learning the facts and forming an opinion. It is difficult, sometimes even impossible, for me to change my mind. However, when I first hear about an issue, and I have not spent the time studying it, I am very open-minded to discussion, learning and forming an opinion along the way.

37. How should Addison balance the interests of residents, businesses, and property owners? All three are extremely important, yet very different. Property owners can be residents, residential landlords or commercial landlords. Businesses can be owner occupied businesses, or they can be tenants. Residents can be homeowners or tenants living in a rent house or an apartment. We are elected by residents. We are elected to represent the residents. We must be available to listen to their wants and needs, and solve their concerns if at all possible. However, we must also represent the businesses who are not allowed to vote unless they also live in Addison. The same is true for the commercial landlords. Landlords and homeowners actually have “skin in the game.” I consider them stake holders. Business owners, either tenants or owner occupied businesses, also have “skin in the game,” not because they each own their real estate, but because they each own their business. They chose to create that business in Addison. I want them to succeed and to remain in Addison. One of my main goals is to attract and retain businesses in Addison. All business owners and all property owners (including landlords) pay property taxes in Addison. Addison depends on this tax revenue to pay its bills and to balance its budget. It is critical that all council members understand the importance of the interests each of these three groups: residents, businesses and property owners.

38. Addison has far more workers and visitors than residents. How should that reality influence town decision-making? Because Addison has close to 125,000 people in our city most days of the week, we have to run the town as if our residential population was actually that large. We must have a police force large enough to police a city of 125,000. The same is true for the fire department. More people means more needs for life saving responses. We also have to have roads to carry the traffic, and crews to repair the roads because of the traffic. These additional workers and visitors pay in most of the sales tax revenue received in Addison, but because these same individuals cause our expenses to go up, Addison needs the sales tax dollars it is contributing to DART to pay for these services instead of raising property tax dollars to pay for those services! That is one of the main reasons Addison needs to exit DART!

Howard Freed

Chili cookoff spices up Carrollton American Legion

Hiatus Day Spa expands in Addison with new spa, …

Carrollton renews $1.2 million Flock contract amid …

Internet gap affects 1 in 10 Farmers Branch children, …