OKC to host annual US Conference of Mayors in 2010

[betts]

Oklahoma City to host meeting of mayors group
Associated Press - June 25, 2007 6:55 PM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Mayor Mick Cornett announced today that Oklahoma City will host the annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in 2010.

Cornett says that hundreds of mayors from across the nation generally attend the annual meeting, and guest speakers often include US presidents and other national political and cultural figures.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, US Senator Hillary Clinton and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson all spoke at this year's annual meeting in Los Angeles.

The meeting was held in Las Vegas last year and Chicago in 2005.

It'll be held in Miami in 2008 and in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2009

[John]

Not bad company...

[HOT ROD]

This is BIG news for OKC. We need to put on a good show, so the mayors can help spread the news about OKC.

surely they will wanto to tout their own cities, but if OKC is a good host and shows its big city appeal - then we could develop relationships with other big cities where we could at least share in their successes (instead of everyone thinking of OKC as new/virgin territory).

Furthermore, this will assist us in our quest for national recognition and retail! No doubt about it - we need big conventions like this, regularly.

[metro]

Exactly HOT ROD. This is huge news on the PR front. It will only help spread the good word about OKC faster than we could on our own with an advertising campaign.

[Nixon7]

Exciting news!! Too bad our new boulevard won't be ready by 2010.

[HOT ROD]

That's ok Nixon.

Hopefully by then, we will have our own NBA/WNBA teams and the retail/developments that usually come with that. Hopefully also we will sport a downtown population 3 times the estimated 4K that it is today.

And that along with our other attractions will be what the mayors will go home with. Also, I hope some of the mayors are able to meet with local business and the chamber so that relationships can be developed. This is what will do OKC some good, big time - networking/relationships AS A BIG CITY!!!

And that is what this convention does for ya.

[Doug Loudenback]

Very nice.

Okc recognition continues to spiral upward ... as we Okie-Citians already know that it should.

COME ON DOWN, Hillary, Arnold, whoever! We'll treat you right!

[jbrown84]

They are really upset over in Tulsa, because they lost the bid on this to us.


The American Indian Cultural Center should be open by then, so that's one more world-class attraction.

[Pete]

What a great get for OKC!

Just goes to show how highly regarded our city is starting to become... Certainly seen as the model for what some others hope to do.

Mayor Mick has done a great job with these types of things.

[Doug Loudenback]

They are really upset over in Tulsa, because they lost the bid on this to us.

Link, JBrown84?

[jbrown84]

Tulsa To Bid On Hosting Mayors' Conference

[bombermwc]

I thought Tulsa was working on a bid for '11 not '10.

[jbrown84]

I thought so too, but the Tulsa World is saying whatever they bid for, we beat them out for.

[foodiefan]

perhaps because they (Tulsa) know it won't go to an Oklahoma city two years in a row (i.e., OKC in 2010 and Tulsa in 2011).

[jbrown84]

City loses bid for mayors conference to OKC

By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
6/26/2007

Tulsa has too few downtown hotel rooms within walking distance of convention facilities, organizers say.

Tulsa lost its pitch to host the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2011 to Oklahoma City because organizers said the Tulsa doesn't have enough downtown hotel rooms for the event.

Mayor Kathy Taylor, who is attending the annual conference in Los Angeles through Tuesday, said she lobbied hard.

But the loss, she said, backs up her position that City Hall needs to be relocated to One Technology Center to free up the site for a future hotel.

"We're going to have the largest ballroom in the state at the Convention Center, and the BOK Center will hold 18,000 people," Taylor said.

"We must address the need for more hotel rooms downtown or we won't be able to fully capitalize on the public investment in these facilities."

The City Council is reviewing the mayor's plan to consolidate city offices into the high-tech, 15-story glass building at 100 S. Cincinnati Ave. and is expected to vote on it in July.

Taylor's administration has said that if the plan is approved, the city would spend no more than $67.1 million on the purchase and the move.

"This latest development with the U.S. Conference of Mayors is another economic impact that I'm sure the council will consider during its review of the plan," she said.

Suzann Stewart of the Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau said she wasn't surprised that Tulsa lost the conference to Oklahoma City.

"We have about 1,200 hotel rooms downtown, and we need at least double that," she said citing a hotel demand study released last summer.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors needed 600 rooms within a short distance from the Convention Center, but organizers felt that too few rooms were close, Stewart said.

The conference would have had an estimated $3.5 million economic impact, she said.

Other events that haven't been secured recently because of a lack of hotel space near the Convention Center include the National Square Dancers Convention and the Adventist-Laymen's Services Industries.

Two others -- the American Legion and the United Pentecostal Church International -- are waiting until a new downtown hotel is announced to decide on whether to come to Tulsa, Stewart said.

"We're not going to get these major bookings unless we have the rooms within quick walking distance to accommodate the amount of people that come with them," she said.

That's why both the Tulsa Metro Chamber and the Tulsa Hotel & Lodging Association support moving City Hall, Stewart said.

"That site is the perfect location for a hotel," she said. "I'm confident that if it were available, it would be snapped up."

Before the City Hall site came into play, officials pitched a property at Third Street and Cheyenne Avenue across the street from the BOK Center for a future hotel.

But a request for proposals last year drew only one response. The land is now being touted as a prime location for commercial development.

"What we know from that process is that a convention hotel really needs to be connected to the Convention Center," Taylor said.

"The experts are telling us that the City Hall site would be ideal."