Marilyn Hughes Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma Ethics Commission Executive Director Marilyn Hughes and Ethics Commission General Counsel Rebecca Adams provided an overview and some practice filling out the new forms required of certain municipal and local candidates. In 2013, Oklahoma City voters will go to the polls to elect council wards 1, 3, 4 and […]
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Road warriors
Credit: Shannon Cornman City Public Works Director Eric Wenger and city Planning Director Russell Claus updated the Oklahoma City Council on the boulevard project at the body’s July 31 meeting. Wenger reviewed five areas of construction that will be built on the existing right of way of the old Interstate 40 crosstown. Funded by the […]
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Shedding tiers
The proposed $252 million convention center was to elevate Oklahoma City from a lower Tier 3 convention site to a higher Tier 2 site, said Roy Williams, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber CEO and MAPS 3 convention center subcommittee board member. However, funding from the 1 percent MAPS 3 sales tax may not be enough to […]
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Positive predicament
Jim Couch addresses city council. Credit: Shannon Cornman The expected surplus comes from the estimated 3 percent growth the city will see over the next fiscal year following higher-than-anticipated sales tax collections in May and June. The City Council on June 12 adopted the city’s $951 million 2012- 13 budget, and it was agreed that […]
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Puff-less parks
Ed Shadid Credit: Mark Hancock The city is also seeking a state Attorney General opinion on whether it can ban tobacco use in public parks. State law currently preempts municipalities from establishing smoking restrictions that go beyond what has been enacted by state lawmakers. City Manager Jim Couch said he will bring whatever design city […]
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Get on the Sunday bus
Lauren Branch Mikayla Holden Incredible things are happening in every corner of Oklahoma City, but — despite the new restaurants, revitalized neighborhoods, art festivals and more — our community comes up short in one vital aspect of city life: public transportation. In my work as president and CEO of NewView Oklahoma, formerly the Oklahoma League […]
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Open books
Last year the city saw unprecedented spending on City Council elections on behalf of independent expenditure groups that attempted to shield their financial backers, a situation made possible by the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case, Federal Election Commission v. Citizens United. The proposal, passed on to council from that body’s legislative committee, supported a state […]
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Walk this way
That’s where the Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma comes in. The organization has an online survey inviting people to help prioritize how the MAPS 3 Trails and Sidewalks Subcommittee should allocate $10 million for the construction of sidewalks along major streets. Neighborhood Alliance Executive Director Georgie Rasco said sidewalks are important for beautification, safety and […]
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Lawn games
Bicentennial Park, located west of Walker Avenue between City Hall and the Civic Center Music Hall, is home to several memorials and statues commemorating historic individuals including Wiley Post and Stanley Draper, and events such as the state centennial. In January, the city’s Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC) was presented with a plan to make […]
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Move school board elections
When one looks at the Oklahoma City Council races and the untraceable funds that poured into them — and, the fact that so few voters vote in these types of races — it is easier to “stack the deck” against the larger sample of voters who vote in general elections. School boards are controlled by […]