From the Oklahoman:

City to track your ideas on projects
Survey to gauge interest in light rail system and other items considered in bond election


A light rail system to Norman, new police headquarters and municipal court building are on the wish list some Oklahoma City residents are being asked to choose from on a survey mailed last week.


It’s the latest tool used by city officials to gauge taxpayer interest in a scheduled December 2007 multimillion-dollar bond election — maybe the most expensive ever in Oklahoma City.
Road improvements are the priority, city officials said. But there are several other ideas in the 16-question survey mailed to 3,600 residents.
The survey asks recipients to rate projects such as road resurfacing and widening, traffic signal installation, emergency vehicle replacement and capital improvements to parks and other public buildings.
It also asks how much of a monthly tax increase citizens would be willing to pay for a downtown light rail or street car system.
"We want to give citizens every opportunity to be able to provide input for us,” budget director Craig Freeman said.
Kansas-based ETC Institute is being paid $30,000 for the survey and is expected to have results in January, Freeman said.

The company also was hired last year to survey citizens for the city’s budgeting process.
Police want new home

The aging police headquarters and municipal court complex are falling apart and driving up maintenance costs, while the buildings have security concerns, officials said.


The oldest part of police headquarters, the city jail, was built in 1934 at 701 Colcord Drive and the main building was built in 1954.
The municipal court complex was added a decade later at 700 Couch Drive.

There have been various remodeling projects over the years but no new construction since 1964. The last major renovation was to the municipal court buildings in 1980, Oklahoma City police Capt. Tom Jester said.
"We’re hurting for space over here,” Jester said.
Ward 4 Councilman Pete White said replacing the buildings is inevitable.
"I think that’s going to be a pretty high priority,” White said.
"It’s not a good situation and it needs to be remedied.”

A local architecture firm, Frankfurt Short Bruza, has been hired by the city to assess the headquarters and municipal court buildings.

"They will go through our building, find out how our infrastructure is, find out how our mechanicals are holding up,” Jester said. "Then they will make recommendations as to the best way for us to go forward with our buildings.”
Transit solutions sought

Mass transit never has been popular in Oklahoma City despite having a sprawling metro area.


Automobile transit dominates, but replacing city buses with more technologically advanced buses to cut down on commute time is mentioned in the survey.
It asks whether citizens would support a tax increase to improve the bus fleet.

White has been thinking further down the line. He’s convinced light rail is the answer.
"The fact is you’re looking at a different rider for light rail than you are for the bus system,” White said. "The bus is essentially an inner-city shuttle.
Light rail would be a commuter system.”

Though the survey only mentions light rail and shuttle options in the downtown area, White said it’s time to start thinking about extending commuter transit lines to the edges of the metro area.
"I think it would even work today,” he said.

A report made public last week shows a phased plan for implementing a light rail line stretching from Edmond to Norman by 2030, as well as modern street cars and enhanced bus routes in the inner city.
It was prepared by a consultant hired by the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority to study mass transit possibilities.
"At some point in time, this romance with the automobile that we have will go,” White said. "When that happens, we’re going to have to be smarter about how we move ourselves around.”

Freeman said city officials have been discussing light rail for quite some time and hope the survey shows them if citizens support it.

But for now, White and other officials remain realistic. They know next year’s bond issue is all about roads, roads and roads. "That’s what bond issues are really for,” White said. "The meat and potatoes kind of stuff.”