Mayor Cornett on new convention center

[betts]

We had MAPS for Suburbs - it was called "1950 to 2009". The City spent billions building parks, sidewalks, roads, and other infrastrucutre. It killed the heart of OKC.

Absolutely. Look at every great city. You want to be downtown when you visit, not in the suburbs. The suburbs have great tax bases, they can raise their own sales taxes, and they can take care of themselves, as far as I'm concerned. I think the suburbs are fine, if you want to live there, but they don't need Oklahoma City money.

[andy157]

You guys are too easy.

[Doug Loudenback]

You guys are too easy.

Easy is good.

Aside from that, lets get behind what Chris is trying to do and have a good old fashioned Christmas parade ...



With some good Christmas spirit, perhaps a toddy or two, maybe we'll all come together ... take care of police and firefighter needs, take care of city development. During Christmas-time, everything is possible.

[Rover]

Convention centers almost always are downtown where there is a concentration of services suitable to support them and where they can help support the infrastructure a vibrant city requires. Having them in the suburb is just a bad idea.

One thing that is lost is that one of the benefits of having a competitive convention center is that it brings 10s of 1000s of business people to our city...people who make decisions about expansions, relocations, investments, etc. So, it is not just about the money that a particular event brings, but it is the also about the city being able to display a quality of life to future investors in it. It's like a 72 hour ad to a captive audience.

[andy157]

Easy is good.

Aside from that, lets get behind what Chris is trying to do and have a good old fashioned Christmas parade ...



With some good Christmas spirit, perhaps a toddy or two, maybe we'll all come together ... take care of police and firefighter needs, take care of city development. During Christmas-time, everything is possible.

Due to recent developments it is very possible. I hope it happens.

[betts]

I thought this paragraph in the Gazette article was interesting, and am hoping it is true that a decision has not definitely been made. There's no mention of the location adjacent to the park, although perhaps the "south of the Ford Center" location is that location:

Regarding the convention center’s exact location, Williams said four possible sites are being considered: south of the existing Ford Center, at Producers Cooperative Oil Mill facility, the lumberyard north of that facility or the Deep Deuce area north of Bricktown.

Cornett said the community will have input in public discussions for all potential sites if MAPS 3 is approved.

MAPS 3 proposal contains details you may not know | OKG Scene.com