Their rationale is that our vibrant arts community has limited area for expansion; making it unlikely that it could develop in Bricktown or the much-beloved Paseo District. The center of interest for a “new Santa Fe” is in the Market District with the Farmers Public Market as the hub. There is ample room for art […]
Commentary
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Things to learn in Denver
One key to Denver’s success is how its components connect and work together. Its convention center, transit, public spaces and other developments serve and support each other. The project manager for FasTracks, Denver’s 122-mile rail plan, explained it this way: “This is not a transit-building project. This is a city-building project.” The objective is not […]
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Loving our guns to death
So let the people say amen! If only it were this simple. The truth is, people with guns kill people, and in America, we kill more people with guns than anywhere else on earth. In America, where citizens can legally buy assault rifles with high-capacity ammunition clips, disturbed or despondent young white males commit mass […]
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Hey, Legislature, nothing’s happening here!
In 1971, the Legislature enacted laws authorizing public school district employees to collectively bargain. The power of employee unions in the district has grown incrementally ever since, including a teachers’ strike that shut down the district in 1979. Although the American Federation of Teachers recently has acknowledged the need for more teacher training and accountability, […]
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Questioning power and authority
So why do we, as citizens, often treat police officers with a general mistrust, suspicion and fear? The answer is both simple and complex. Americans are wary about police officers because we have entrusted them with such a critical duty. More important, we have handed to them an authority that — even if slightly abused […]
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Re-examine the convention center
To replace it, we must keep our eyes on two goals: designing a convention center that best serves our present and future needs and conducting the design process with openness and transparency. Few dispute the fact that convention business has tanked nationally, particularly regarding larger conventions. The Oct. 13 Wall Street Journal reported on the […]
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Oklahoma’s post election rise
Why and how are we Okies different, and what does that mean for the future? It might help to look at California, which is where four more years of Obama-style tax increases, hyper-regulation and deficits will take us. California just doubled down on liberal policies, electing veto-proof Democratic majorities in its legislature and approving draconian […]
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The land of Bibles and bigots
I saw a highway billboard in Colorado Springs, Colo. (an extremely Christian area), showing Obama in knickers and holding a golf club (elite snob) beside this caption: “Obama holds key to your next colonoscopy! Grab your gators!” Next to this warning was a pair of Americans who are shown bending over to receive their “reward” […]
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Solutions for progressives
President Barack Obama was reelected in an Electoral College rout; Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin were elected to the U.S. Senate, Tammy Duckworth won a U.S. House seat, three states approved same-sex marriage and two states passed legalized marijuana. The country’s demographics are changing and so are cultural and social attitudes. By the 2016 presidential […]
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Whither a Kardashians court?
No, that’s not the name of next season’s Kardashian family spinoff, but rather the possible future of Oklahoma judicial retention elections as scripted by the State Chamber of Oklahoma. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce became a shrewd and dominant legal player at the turn of the millennium, transforming formerly quiescent, low-dollar state Supreme Court elections […]