How would you spend $25 million to improve the quality of life in Oklahoma City?

[Larry OKC]

kevinpate; agree...for some reason I am drawn to the older looking building with the boarded up windows...LOL

2nd choice is the faux open glass apartment/office front
3rd is the modern art looking one (the solar panels) maybe this is a place were they could apply the 1% art requirement??

[Downtowner405]

i posted this question on twitter, but thought this community might have some different ideas to offer:

how would you spend $25 million to improve the quality of life in oklahoma city? #thinkbig

p.s. - the money is real, just a matter of deciding where best to spend it.

Extend the bricktown canal as per what has been discussed. Look at how the original canal has improved investment and ultimately quality of life in okc. We've already proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that infrastructure projects like this ultimately spawn private investment and grow revenues to the city over the long term.

[metro]

I would buy 25 Million tacos for everyone in OKC tonight on $1 taco night at Qdoba. Hey that's about 23 taco's a piece!

[CaseyCornett]

Why would I buy $1 tacos at Qdoba when I can get them for $1 at Iguana? (Edit: ohhhh, I see that you posted this on Monday night. Oops)

[Platemaker]

I wonder too... especially coming from YOU, metro!

[okcpulse]

I would take that $25 million and start a technology company that would attract talent and create high-paying jobs. That in turn would pump money into Oklahoma City's economy and help improve the city's quality of life.

[plmccordj]

I would fix the joke that is Metro Transit. One thing that is frustrating to me is that you cannot depend on a decent bus system in this city. The routes are sporadic, fragmented, and just not usable for the average citizen. It is my belief that it is done this way by design. The Oklahoma City bus system named Metro Transit is a very poor example of a bus system. Our leaders such as our Mayor Mick Cornett use the argument that it is unwise to use the bus system in areas that do not have the density to make it economically feasible to serve. This argument though it may seem to have its merits on the surface do not address the whole picture. While not having population density in certain areas may seem to be a real issue, it ignores the spotty and sprawling nature of the Oklahoma City metro area. Sure there may not be the density in some areas but there are very dense areas just beyond those areas. In other words, excluding an area of the city from coverage simply for not having the population density, also excludes very dense areas just because they are slightly beyond the less dense area. An example of this would be that people in Del City, a low income area that is very densely populated, get no bus coverage at all because of a lack of density between downtown and Del City. And then you have no coverage to Tinker AFB, the largest single site employer in the entire state. Anyone that has been to the area knows that traffic is horrible around Tinker AFB both at the beginning of the day and at the end. They cannot use the excuse that Tinker is a secure base because I lived in Denver, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona, and Phoenix, Arizona, all of them having bus service right onto the base.

A bus does not have to stop at all at a stop where no one is present or no one wants off the bus. In the areas where the density is lower the bus can simply look at the stop and keep driving if no one is there. Many times I hear people say that it is not worth it to have a decent bus system because no one rides it. Of course no one rides it because they cannot be depended upon. If a bus only comes through twice a day, then it is not useful for anyone. Secondly if the bus takes a strange route similar to some of the Congressional districts where they snake around in no useful fashion then no one can depend on it to get them where they need to go. When a bus system is designed with population centers in mind and not through normal thorough fares then it is doomed to fail. It is my belief that our leaders know this and make these decisions for the sole purpose to be able to say that the bus has low ridership and therefore not worth the investment. They do not want to spend the money on it because they want to use it on their own projects.

I would be willing to put money down that would guarantee that if we had a bus system that went all the way through the city on all major North/South and East/West through fares over a period of time, that it would be a major success. Their making excuses is just another way to not do the right thing so they can build their train downtown that only benefits a rare few. I am not opposed to the MAPS3 so much as I am opposed to proposing new thing like a rail system downtown while ignoring the rest of the city. If the leaders would just “suck it up” and do the right thing in the beginning, they would be a success in the long run. I have nothing against Mick Cornett or any of the council members but I do think they are deflecting the issue in the name of density and everyone suffers. Even though Mr. Cornett’s own MAPS3 campaign had a web site where citizens were allowed to vote on things they would like to include in the MAPS3 initiative, the citizens chose public transportation as the number one item. The number one issue that people were willing to pay for and the Mayor and council ignored it completely. Mr. Cornett in his speech addressed public transportation as though it was going to be addressed and then submits a rail system for downtown as fulfilling this requirement. This was a slap in the face of those that voted for this initiative. Since then, the citizens have complained that we need public transportation and the Mayor and council talk about density. How many times are we going to hear this? How many times are we going to get a council that has such tunnel vision as to ignore the wishes of the city?

I support the efforts and successes of Mayor Mick Cornett on so many fronts but this issue is not going to go away. The population continues to grow and the South Central part of the city is falling apart with gang activity and yet they purposely ignore the wishes of those that put them there. It is rare to hear me complain about not spending public issues since I am a conservative but I think we can all agree that in this day and age large cities need a real, comprehensive bus system that can be depended upon for people to get to work. Our city covers more than 600 square miles not counting the suburbs and many people do not have cars. They can however afford to pay for a bus ticket. I say do the right thing and get us a real bus system.

[Larry OKC]

So, how is the $25 million going to be spent?

[betts]

I think living on the edge of 600 square miles should be considered a luxury where mass transit is concerned. People shouldn't be buying out there and expecting the city to provide transit for them. Of course I also think the city should deannex the outskirts, which would make the necessity of providing service a nonoption. I do not see us having the money to run buses to the outskirts of a city this size. What I would like to see is a transit analysis, with buses running frequently and reliably where we know there is significant ridership. If buses could manipulate the traffic lights, then perhaps they could run more reliably, and I would also like us to make bus tracking available for people with cell phones, so that there is never a question of where the bus is. I think using any additional ongoing funding to improve bus service is a viable, good idea.

However, I take exception to anyone saying that most MAPS voters were voting for bus transit. I believe most people knew they were voting for a streetcar, and knew if was going to be short mileage and downtown. I never heard any misdirection by the mayor or anyone else on this subject. As has been said multiple times on this forum, MAPS money, by nature of the fact that it is transitory, cannot be used to fund salaries or services that require ongoing funding beyond the time when MAPS expires. Most of us know that our MAPS money is used for high visibility projects that offer more lesiure time options, bring money into the city or help maximize other people's perception of our city.

[Spartan]

So, how is the $25 million going to be spent?

Buying the OG+E substation.

[kevinpate]

Buying the OG+E substation.

Probably. More's the pity.