stlokc, Hot Rod and I all have one thing in common. We are not currently living in OKC, but we love this city and share the enthusiasm with every progressive step the city takes. It is hard for me not to be in Oklahoma City and be apart of the renaissance.

Some of you know, I have been trying to get my Oklahoma City Tour Book published for the last three years. I have faced many hurdles, and so now I am resorting to a print on demand service because I am NOT giving up until this book gets published. But here is the best part, I have to make revisions with each passing month it goes unpublished. That is how much Oklahoma City is changing. And the tally grows...

NBA franchise
Reviving MidTown
Growing Western Avenue
Up and coming Automobile Alley
Downtown housing boom
I-40 Relocation under way for a completion date of 2012
Devon Tower, one of the tallest in the country, set for construction in 2009 and due for completion in 2012
Ford Center improvements underway (we needed that WITHOUT the basketball team)
A mayor that is mass-transit happy

2012 is a magic year for Oklahoma City, isn't it? I definitely don't want to miss out on that. I am a bit disappointed that the anti-OKC league members in Tulsa, Dallas and Seattle have it out for OKC and want to make sure we don't succeed under ANY circumstances. We have just as much a right to celebrate our city's progress. This country's most thriving cities started out the same way. Give credit where credit is due. No one agrees on how Oklahoma City got an NBA franchise, but you all without sin can cast the first stone.

As for us who aren't in OKC but want to be, we wear our city pride on our sleeves. Our dream was to see OKC become what it is becoming today. To see Devon unveiling an engineering feat that will change Oklahoma City's face as we know it, to see the changes taking place for a better Oklahoma, and to see the enthusiasm for Oklahoma City that no one thought possible... it's beyond words. And not one soul from anyplace in this country can take that from us. And now, I can't wait for my healthy twin boys to enjoy Oklahoma as well.

I wouldn't say the Mayor is mass transit happy, I wouldn't even come close to saying that. If anything, I'd say a Mayor willing to warm up to the idea of mass transit. Mick is far from being mass transit happy. Notice is several of us third party non-profit groups and such trying to push for mass transit and not the city pushing it.

Here, here from another soul in exile. I feel the same way about being away with all the excitement going on. I am so proud of OKC I could burst.

I wouldn't say the Mayor is mass transit happy, I wouldn't even come close to saying that. If anything, I'd say a Mayor willing to warm up to the idea of mass transit. Mick is far from being mass transit happy. Notice is several of us third party non-profit groups and such trying to push for mass transit and not the city pushing it.

We'll know how well Mick Cornett views mass transit when they release MAPS III. If mass transit, including bus and rail, is part of it which we think it will be then we can say he is proponent of mass transit. Right now, outside of discussing his intent for OKC to have better transit, he hasn't done anything.

I wouldn't say the Mayor is mass transit happy, I wouldn't even come close to saying that. If anything, I'd say a Mayor willing to warm up to the idea of mass transit. Mick is far from being mass transit happy. Notice is several of us third party non-profit groups and such trying to push for mass transit and not the city pushing it.

This post encouraged me to write an email to the mayor's office requesting him to make mass transit a priority. I recommend everyone that cares do the same.

mayor@okc.gov.

We need to get the past (Wellington Webb) and current (John Hickenlooper) mayors of Denver to come have a talk to Mick about mass transit. They took a sprawled out city that rivals what we have in OKC and have created one of the largest and most used transit systems for a city its size in the country. Denver's transit system was similar to how ours is now about 15-20 years ago and is now one of the nation's best and it all came down to city leadership. Mick has the support of the people and that showed when it came down to funding the Ford Center. Now he has the convince voters mass transit is yet another strong investment for this city. As much as I admire his efforts to get the city to lose weight and be healthy I almost feel that is ALL he is focusing on right now and mass transit has taken the back burner...

Well said BG, again, MAPS 3 will probably have some form of mass transit, but I can guarantee you it won't be the system all of us are hoping for if we don't start pushing city leaders more. C2S will take the lions share of Maps 3 and there will be some budget for a mass transit system, but we really need to push harder for a quality mass transit system AND C2S projects. MAPS 3 really needs to be over $1 billion. Again, notice Urban Neighbors, Bricktown, and Urban Land Institute as the ones who are stepping out in front of the mass transit issue, not the city. The city barely admits there is a problem.

I wouldn't say the Mayor is mass transit happy, I wouldn't even come close to saying that. If anything, I'd say a Mayor willing to warm up to the idea of mass transit. Mick is far from being mass transit happy. Notice is several of us third party non-profit groups and such trying to push for mass transit and not the city pushing it.

From 2007 State of the City (Mick Cornett speaking)


That dependence on the automobile is not all bad. Through the years, it’s led us to create a great network of roads. And that network of roads is the envy of cities around the country. We have very little traffic congestion. There is more good news for us. Generally, the cost of gasoline is affordable. And that combination - free moving traffic and affordable gas - are key ingredients to our quality of life. We are very mobile. We go where we want, when we want. And in many of our peer cities, those days are gone.

But we are kidding ourselves if we think this is sustainable long-term. Traffic congestion is going to increase. Fuel prices are going to increase. And there are other costs to an automobile-friendly lifestyle. Although we remain one of the largest cities in the country still in compliance with the Clean Air Act, that status is in jeopardy. The exhaust from the cars is polluting our air. Fifty percent of our pollution comes from automobiles. Plus, our reliance on the car has created a sedentary culture. As a community, too many of us are overweight, and the increased cost of healthcare is weighing on our economy.

...

Now, public transportation means different things to different people. There is an inner city aspect of public transportation where you have a core of downtown that is served. There is commuter transportation that might get someone down Northwest Expressway or up Shields. And then there is the growing number of people that choose to live in Edmond or Moore or Norman or Choctaw or any one of the suburban communities. A lot of those people work in Oklahoma City. They need to get to work. There’s certainly a tourism aspect to public transportation, but when you start sorting all of these opportunities into one idea, it becomes massive, it becomes complex, and it certainly becomes expensive. Over the past two years, we have completed an exhaustive, futuristic look at transportation in our community.

Now, the plan includes four distinct methods of public transportation: Bus Rapid Transit, Commuter Rail, Downtown Streetcar, and Enhanced Bus Service.

And if you care to see the details, and I encourage you to look at them, they are available on the Internet. It is called the Fixed Guideway Study and the web address is: OKFGS.org (http://www.okfgs.org). Now, this conversation about public transportation needs to continue, but this much is clear - public transportation needs to be addressed not only from the core, but needs to be addressed on a regional basis. The funding needs to come from a regional basis. And it’s not only going to be able to come from the metro, it’s going to need to come from the state as well.

You know, in the coming years, we are going need to accelerate this conversation and move into action. We’re not going to be able to ignore our public transformation problems forever. The study and research is done for now. We’re at a point where we need to start thinking about long-term implementation. What are we going to do about it?


He knows, he cares, it's a priority.