Re: Convention Center Hotel
Originally Posted by
MikeOKC
Because I don't want my tax dollars going to the local government to hand over to private hotel developers. Times are going to get tougher for this country and we'll need to prioritize; we don't need government funding private enterprise to compete with hotels already here and operating without government subsidies. It's amazing how many "conservatives" want the government to act as the stimulus on so many things downtown. We can't afford it.
edit: And I sure can't support the arrogant attitude of government knows best and the backroom deal ways of non-transparency 'for our own good', as proposed by Lucca above. It's that kind of thinking that make people suspicious of everything that comes from City Hall. Sometimes I think this town is as "Good Old Boy" as its ever been - just with different names and faces. But when it's written as boldly as Lucca wrote it - I fear that some will always see local government as their own private sandbox, just using the idiot citizens to pay for it all. In my opinion, it's a shame to see praise for that post and that way of thinking.
We'll see that kind of attitude backfire. While other cities are cutting back on subsidies to business and refocusing on their primary mission, it looks like some want to milk this city dry while we lay off police officers and put them in a building fit for Timbuktu, let go of firefighters, cut back on city parks, let our roads deteriorate and generally forget that there is more to this city than frickin' downtown.
Really? Really? I have to disagree with you, Mike. Didn't OKC just restore a number of positions to its police and fire departments.
A city doesn't need to prioritize on a special improvements package tax when it comes to general operations. General operations needs a constant source of funding. MAPS 3 was created specifically for projects to keep the momentum going. Other cities are cutting back because A) They don't have the type of tax laws or tax models to accomplish what we can accomplish here, and/or B) They don't even have a properly functioning government.
Hard times or not, you cannot focus on a single solitary area of operating a city that may or may not have issues. Do that and other components fall behind or fail althogether. Each component of a city has its own funding source.
Our roads are funded by three ongoing GO Bond Issue-funded packages from 2000, 2005 and 2007 that total more that $1 billion. Our schools and parks are funded by GO Bond packages, the state and the federal government. Our police and fire projection is funded by a dedicated .75% sales tax. Dedicated. Meaning it doesn't expire like MAPS.
And let's not forget that the coveted state of Texas is DAMN good at corporate welfare, yet many Oklahomans still salivate over Texas.
Continue the Renaissance!!!
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