Maps 3 in the News

[jbrown84]

Has anyone seen any non-local coverage of MAPS passing? Perhaps we could post articles to this thread.

[Thundercitizen]

Excellent idea. I'll be back later.

[Thundercitizen]

From "The Street.com;
OKC Voters Decide To Extend Sales Tax For MAPS 3 | Earnings | Financial Articles & Investing News | TheStreet.com

Off the AP wire.

[mugofbeer]

Jim Cramer has been somewhat of an OK booster of late. He and Aubrey McClendon seem to see eye to eye on things. He did his show from OU a few weeks back and now he is starting to become a booster of companies and events that can bring us out of recession. MAPS3 goes right down that line.

[betts]

This is from row2K news. It's got some commentary from Mike Knopp and the US Rowing CEO:

row2k News: Oklahoma City Project to Include $60 Million in River Improvements

[Thundercitizen]

And another:
Oklahoma City Voters Say “YES” to Historic MAPS 3 Proposal

Excerpt:
Findings from an Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department study show the dollars spent by tourists in Oklahoma County grew from $857,880,000 in 1990, to $2,104,720,000 in 2008, an increase of about $1.25 billion. This dramatic growth coincides with the 1993 approval and subsequent investment projects implemented by the original MAPS.

New revenue for Fire and police?

[craigbanks]

OKC voters decide to extend sales tax for MAPS 3 OKC voters decide to extend sales tax for MAPS 3 Looks like Seattle and San Francisco have taken notice.

[joseph]

From the US Olympic Committee website: Oklahoma River to Receive $60 Million in Improvements for Rowing, Canoe/Kayak | News | Team USA

[Platemaker]

Terrific article and comparison of Jacksonville to OKC.

Moving Forward: Oklahoma City | Metro Jacksonville

[flintysooner]

Terrific article and comparison of Jacksonville to OKC.

Moving Forward: Oklahoma City | Metro Jacksonville

Good article. I look at those pictures of Oklahoma City and it always amazes me at what a wonderful change has occurred here since MAPS.

[Doug Loudenback]

Very nice! I see 2 pics from OKC: 2nd Time Around that were not credited (the before/after pics looking at where the Bricktown Canal would be/became, looking toward the ballpark in the foreground) but it's pretty amazing that someone in Jacksonville would go to this much trouble to put together the article. Very nice kudos to Okc from Jacksonville, Florida.

[Spartan]

Very nice! I see 2 pics from OKC: 2nd Time Around that were not credited (the before/after pics looking at where the Bricktown Canal would be/became, looking toward the ballpark in the foreground) but it's pretty amazing that someone in Jacksonville would go to this much trouble to put together the article. Very nice kudos to Okc from Jacksonville, Florida.

Yeah, that's partly my fault. They copied several posts from my blog for the article and they left out where I attributed the pics that were Steve's or Doug's.

[Doug Loudenback]

Not a problem at my end, Spartan, and congrats for being a place from which images were gathered for the main article.

[MikeOKC]

Terrific article and comparison of Jacksonville to OKC.

Moving Forward: Oklahoma City | Metro Jacksonville

Well, we now know what Kerry's moonlighting job is in Jacksonville!


Just kidding! That was an excellent article.

[Spartan]

Not a problem at my end, Spartan, and congrats for being a place from which images were gathered for the main article.

Thanks Doug, that's an honor coming from you.

[CCOKC]

What a great article that was. I just love living in a city that is put up as a model of success. I could not always say that about my fair city. That article probably gives us more credit thatn we deserve though. We have definitley improved a lot over the last 15 years but we have a long way to go. And after the Maps III projects are done we will have a long way to go from there. I have never been to Jacksonville and about the only thing I know about it is that it is larger in area than OKC (which is really hard to believe). If I am not mistaken they have a lot of water within the city limits though. I am sure it is not as dire as the article makes it seem. I am sure if someone from here did the article in reverse there would be a lot of nice things to say about them. Looks like we can always learn from other cities successes and failures.

[soonerguru]

LOL, anyone else find it funny that OKC has better density than Jacksonville? That city must be really, really spread out.

[Spartan]

It is.

[Doug Loudenback]

Before reading this thread and the lead article, I'd not spent more than 60 seconds thinking about Jacksonville, ever. The article got me to wonder a bit. Here's just a bit to see:







The wiki article is Jacksonville, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Here's an excerpt:

[okclee]

did anyone read all of the comments at the bottom of the page? good reading here to.

[Dar405301]

jax is a pretty cool place. i've enjoyed living here, but i can't wait to come home! from living here i can tell you that okc has way more going for it than jacksonville. okc got an nba team, jax is close to losing the jags. downtown okc is growing and becoming a place where people want to live and spend time, downtown jax doesn't have that kind of atmosphere. the only reasons i go downtown here are for the occasional jags game, or to drive to the westside, from where i live, it's easier to drive through downtown than to go around on 9A. it's kinda strange to me that okc has a higher population density, because the traffic in jax sucks.

[Kerry]

jax is a pretty cool place. i've enjoyed living here, but i can't wait to come home! from living here i can tell you that okc has way more going for it than jacksonville. okc got an nba team, jax is close to losing the jags. downtown okc is growing and becoming a place where people want to live and spend time, downtown jax doesn't have that kind of atmosphere. the only reasons i go downtown here are for the occasional jags game, or to drive to the westside, from where i live, it's easier to drive through downtown than to go around on 9A. it's kinda strange to me that okc has a higher population density, because the traffic in jax sucks.

Dar - you must live pretty close to me. I am near the St. Johns Town Center. Traffic in Jax is getting better but nowhere near as bad as other large cities. As for Jax density. Jax has a huge city limit (bigger than OKC) but 75% of the area is rural. Almost everyone lives inside the 295/9A loop and those that don't, live within 2 miles of it. That would be like everyone in OKC living inside I-240, I-44, and and I-35.

[betts]

My son is soon to move back to Jacksonville (he has a house in Springfield that he renovated basically from a shell). It's always reminded me of Oklahoma City. It has one huge advantage over us in that it has a beach, and based on what the city has been doing with Springfield over the past few years, it's always surprised me that the downtown doesn't have more options for residents.

[Kerry]

My son is soon to move back to Jacksonville (he has a house in Springfield that he renovated basically from a shell). It's always reminded me of Oklahoma City. It has one huge advantage over us in that it has a beach, and based on what the city has been doing with Springfield over the past few years, it's always surprised me that the downtown doesn't have more options for residents.

The problem with downtown Jacksonville is this - they put all of the homeless shelters there. Just try and venture out any time of the day or night in downtown Jacksonville and you will be hit up for money constantly, see people taking a crap on the sidewalk, and large congregation of seemingly unemployed people hanging out on various street corners. Not exactly the place for women or children.

There use to be a children’s museum just between Springfield and downtown Jax. My wife took our two kids there on a Saturday and was hounded by someone wanting money to the point she was actually afraid for her safety and then realized if something bad happened there was no one around to help her. It was the last time she went.

[Spartan]

Well another big problem with Jacksonville is that, as great as Springfield is, it's cut off from downtown by a few streets. Downtown Jax has some potential it's just really rough right now. There's some good potential for Deep Deuce-style lofts over in La Villa.

Saying that 295/9a confines the sprawl isn't entirely true..there is a TON of sprawl outside the loop. The beach is a ways outside the loop..which is probably the densest area in all of Jacksonville.