OKC Mayor Race 2014

[Bellaboo]

That's not a very good story.

Well, I removed my comments......so you know I didn't think very much about it.

[Edgar]

Again good sir, young man, young lady, whichever is appropriate ... whatever the council sought to do or did not seek to do, the actual real world results of such action are that with the exception of the cc, the only project which seems to concern you at all regarding a timetable shift, and the wellness centers, every other single aspect of MAPs 3 has well reported, and often visible, activity taking place to move those items forward, with real construction underway or almost shovel r something. Design, how to work the land deal, other? I don't know.

What I do know is by and large, even urban Okies are animal lovers. the 'hey, they changed the timeline on the cc' gambit has become a flogging of a very dead and rotting stubborn mule of a talking point. For whatever reason, the cc is not rushing forward, and indeed, it is possibly fair to note it may have lost some of its ground as certain financial realities arose. If your candidate wants to be a shining knight riding in the save a city that is not in need of saving, it's time to find a live critter to ride, and either have the grace and dignity to bury the dead mule that's been publicly flogged for so long, or sell it to a glue factory and by a new headline that has some modicum of attachment to the real world.

Nobody really cares to keep seeing what Mr. ED the talking points horse is doing to that dead mule of an argument. It's just so very sad.

See Kevin, Shadid could have saved everyone time and aggravation. The financial realities of a new cc is just what the Doctor was rushing back from vacation to enter into public record when divine intervention grounded his plane. Glad to hear people are being roused from their pipe dreams.

[Edgar]

Hey. I consider myself a progressive and the last person I want representing me politically is Shadid. He's not progressive in any way I define it. Personally, I think he's a goofball at best and a bit of a megalomaniac at worst. He acts alone and is not willing to consider anyone else's POV. He doesn't lead. He wants to be king. Which as I said much earlier, is pretty much how many surgeons think. He's been the sole ruler of his little world (operating room and office) for years. Surgeons are pretty totalitarian. I'm not sure why I'm surprised he sees the world in the same way as his operating suite. There, his is the only opinion that matters. Outside of it...pretty much the same. That makes those he sees as beneath him his lackeys, whose only value is carrying out his orders. I've spent a lot of years working with surgeons and I wish I were exaggerating. But the medical culture of a surgeon either selects people who already thought that way or it creates them. It's a stereotype and not always true, but I've dealt with enough to know this is a stereotype that has some substance.

Hey you just described OKC governance.
Never met Ed myself. My sister has and said he is a very nice intelligent man. Didn't mention any goofball traits. From what I've read in quotations, he is spot on.

[Bellaboo]

Edgar,

I guess you were just born to be a troll...... to each his own. At least you are a good troll.

You mentionED divine intervention for Ed not to be able to make it back from his vacation......? You might have hit the nail on the head here. If he really wanted to be there, he should have schedulED his trip back a day early.

[kevinpate]

See Kevin, Shadid could have saved everyone time and aggravation. The financial realities of a new cc is just what the Doctor was rushing back from vacation to enter into public record when divine intervention grounded his plane. Glad to hear people are being roused from their pipe dreams.

Stated another way, See Edgar, the good folks of OKC and their elected representatives tend to recognize certain realities even when someone, who may possibly think his opinion is the only one that actually matters, isn't even a part of the discussion or decision making process. It's pretty much his own doing that has caused him to be so isolatED from the realities of the political process.

[warreng88]

Edgar, answer me this: why does Ed think he knows more about streetcars because he went to a few weekend conferences about them than the people who have decades of experience dealing with streetcars? The same question applies to the convention center, park and fairgrounds.

[betts]

Hey you just described OKC governance.
Never met Ed myself. My sister has and said he is a very nice intelligent man. Didn't mention any goofball traits. From what I've read in quotations, he is spot on.

You've never even met him? You had no significant credibility before, but you just dropped into the negative area of the register. And your sister says he is nice and intelligent? So am I and I'm a doctor too. That doesn't qualify me to be mayor. Plus, we've given you multiple examples of him not even being nice. While he may be intelligent, I see no evidence that he has any political common sense. While I agree that some of his ideas are reasonable, more are not. Not to mention he has yet to come up with a workable plan for any of his reasonable ideas. Grow up a bit Edgar, get some real life experience and then come back and talk to us.

[Bellaboo]

I'll swear, Edgar is not old enough to vote, even though he couldn't since he lives in Norman......SMH

Edgar is an 'agginer'..... It was that way with water rights issues, Tulsa music and now the mayors race.

[kevinpate]

betts, FWIW, you wouldn't make a bad mayor. You have consistently demonstrated here and in other places you have the ability to work well with others, listen, not merely hear, and to not make a decision just because someone else thinks it's a jim dandy idea that favors their perspective even if there are some clear flaws to many others.

Frankly, you're far above many politicos I've heard, met with and/or haggled with over the years.

[CaptDave]

betts, FWIW, you wouldn't make a bad mayor. You have consistently demonstrated here and in other places you have the ability to work well with others, listen, not merely hear, and to not make a decision just because someone else thinks it's a jim dandy idea that favors their perspective even if there are some clear flaws to many others.

Frankly, you're far above many politicos I've heard, met with and/or haggled with over the years.

I would vote for betts.

[catch22]

I would vote for betts.

I would too.

Slogan:

Only safe betts for our city's future.

[betts]

Seriously, I'm not mayor material. But I would like to think that I wouldn't promote any ideas that I didn't have a rock solid idea of how to implement. And I would hope to unite citizens, not try to divide them. If I asked the people what they wanted (in a plebiscite), I wouldn't go against what I believe is the equivalent (anthropomorphizing here) of a promise by the city to implement their demonstrated wishes. I would respect the weak power given to the mayor and use compromise and political good will to try to reach my goals. I would work for a better bus system and shelters, but as part of a larger regional transit authority also working toward improved rail transit. I wouldn't promise I can cure poverty or fix the educational system. I would do everything I could, given the limitations of city finances, to make quality of life as good as I could. Have I described Mayor Cornett? Not that far off....

[Urban Pioneer]

i would too.

Slogan:

Only safe betts for our city's future.

cute!

[PhiAlpha]

I have to go earn my keep today but I'm going to leave this with a story.

Two men are delivered to a doctor and the ambulance driver tells the doc "I think this man has a broken left leg." The doctor announces on the hospital intercom they may have a broken left leg in the building and they are in the process of x-raying it to find out.

The ambulance driver then tells the doctor "I think this other man has a broken right leg." The doctor drops the mic, turns and walks away like he didn't hear anything. The nurse steps in and tells the ambulance driver "If he thought he had a broken left leg he would x-ray it to find out."

Cool story bro...

[Urban Pioneer]

I noticed your comments on the Red Dirt Report Phi Alpha. I hope that they actually leave them up. They deleted mine.

[LakeEffect]

I noticed your comments on the Red Dirt Report Phi Alpha. I hope that they actually leave them up. They deleted mine.

Red Dirt Report took it to a whole new level, essentially comparing Shadid to the Pope. Shadid says holistic, "planning-centric paradigm" is key to OKC's future | Red Dirt Report

Here's my rub - I certainly agree that more planning and thought needs to go into the way our city develops. I just can't stand this campaign and the accusations and hysterics that are being thrown about.

I wasn't at the ULI event, so maybe I'm missing the context, but I don't agree with his understanding of new urbanism and the supposed problems it causes.

[warreng88]

So Ed Shadid is talking about income inequality but he owns a house in Gaillardia (valued at over a million dollars), a condo in the Founders Tower (valued at approx $400k) and a house in the Greens (valued at around $300k)? Anyone else see a problem here?

[mkjeeves]

Red Dirt Report took it to a whole new level, essentially comparing Shadid to the Pope. Shadid says holistic, "planning-centric paradigm" is key to OKC's future | Red Dirt Report

Here's my rub - I certainly agree that more planning and thought needs to go into the way our city develops. I just can't stand this campaign and the accusations and hysterics that are being thrown about.

I wasn't at the ULI event, so maybe I'm missing the context, but I don't agree with his understanding of new urbanism and the supposed problems it causes.

This part?

“And as much as I love New Urbanism, it has an Achilles heel. And that is sometimes practiced in a ‘top-down-developer fashion.’ It can lead to gentrification. It can lead to segregation. If you have tremendous investment and dollars in one geographic area and you’re not careful and take precautions to preempt the rising poverty levels and displacement of the poor and gentrification it can lead to segregation of the poor.”

Read mine, JTFs post following and my response specific to OKC here:

http://www.okctalk.com/general-civic...tml#post647170

I think we've whipped that horse a few other times and places on this forum too.

[Urban Pioneer]

Just read this piece. Rick Cain is retiring because he wants to retire. Its not because of some internal conspiracy regarding transit. Geez...

[Urban Pioneer]

double post

[soonerguru]

Fortunately, our city leaders are devising ways to incorporate affordable-rate housing into our downtown development. Also, OKC has bountiful land, we are not landlocked (like SF and NYC and DC), and we have entire square miles of industrial and blighted areas to be developed. In OKC's case, "gentrification" is not a dirty word, so Shadid's concerns on this front don't apply.

[mkjeeves]

Fortunately, our city leaders are devising ways to incorporate affordable-rate housing into our downtown development. Also, OKC has bountiful land, we are not landlocked (like SF and NYC and DC), and we have entire square miles of industrial and blighted areas to be developed. In OKC's case, "gentrification" is not a dirty word, so Shadid's concerns on this front don't apply.

Specifically who and what ways?

[betts]

Gentrification, since we live in a society that does not limit where people can live, which houses or apartments they specifically can buy, nor how much they can spend, is always happening somewhere. For some period of time, until a neighborhood is 100% gentrified, you actually have a lot of economic diversity. Certainly more than in housing developments in suburbs like Edmond. Not too much diversity in upscale neighborhoods in East Edmond. Imagine announcing you're building low cost housing in Oak Tree.

But, if you look at neighborhoods like Gatewood and even parts of Mesta Park, you see a lot of economic diversity. As areas gentrify schools there generally improve and it's good for everyone. Crime tends to decrease, which is good for all the children and families, regardless of income. Places like that generally have residents who are less afraid of lower cost options being available in their neighborhoods. Gentrification, as it is occurring, is not necessarily a bad thing. Watch Classen Ten-Penn over the next few years and tell me that what's happening there is bad for the residents.

[Dubya61]

I noticed your comments on the Red Dirt Report Phi Alpha. I hope that they actually leave them up. They deleted mine.

Just read the article. No comments. In fact, very few if any comments on most of the articles. I guess RDR doesn't garner the comments it wants.

[soonerguru]

Specifically who and what ways?

You must have missed the numerous discussions here about Steelyard, The Alliance's efforts to get affordable housing, the brouhaha recently about the Low Income Housing proposal in Midtown, etc.

I'm growing weary of conversing with you. You are starting to seem like a troll. It seems you ignore extensive conversations here that cite facts and plans on subjects -- like the conversations on lower and affordable rate housing -- and then just question everyone like you're some kind of prosecutor.

Not everything Ed Shadid says is going to be true. In fact, a great deal of it is hogwash. And not everything needs to be viewed from the prism of politics. Because Ed is trying to find any scab he can pick, he makes everything political, such as the departure of the city planners Sid Burgess references. It's exhausting.

Here are the facts: The Alliance for Economic Development is working to improve areas of Downtown that have been vacant and underutilized for almost half a century. They are trying to stimulate more retail, office, and residential development. Among their goals is to ensure that there are increased housing opportunities for dwellers with different incomes. This is happening.