While city revenue is expected to grow at a rate of around 3 percent, city Budget Director Doug Dowler told the council on Jan. 31, forecasts show overall expenditures are likely to increase at a rate of around 4.4 percent over the next five years. The biggest anticipated expenditure growth lies in personnel services and […]
MAPS 3
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Alternate route
The MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board voted Jan. 26 to recommend the City Council approve purchase of the Santa Fe Train Depot to serve as a convergence for several modes of transportation in the city, including car, rail, bicycle and possibly bus. The city already set aside $10 million of the $127 million in MAPS […]
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Bummer in the city
In the annual speech, slated for Thursday at the Cox Convention Center, da mayor is expected to recount some of the wonderful things that have happened in OKC over the past year, from continued development of MAPS 3 to Boeing bringing more than 1,000 jobs here. While that’s all fine and dandy, CFN holds little […]
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Working toward walkability
Oklahoma City was developed around the automobile as the primary means of travel. While the city is well-geared for travel by car, other options are more difficult because the infrastructure either does not exist, or is not continuous. A lack of a continuous trail and sidewalk network has left Oklahoma City citizens without the option […]
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Hub flub
The Oklahoma City Council, on Sept. 13, approved submission of a grant application to the U. S. Department of Transportation for $17 million. That $17 million, coupled with sales tax from MAPS 3, money from the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, would total $26 million to fund the first […]
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Back to the future
Doug Tennant, senior planner and project manager at Jacobs (the consultant for the hub plan), walked the council through the winnowing process that started with 10, and later three, potential sites. right Sketched plans for the forthcoming hub “The Santa Fe site was absolutely head and shoulders above the other two,” Tennant said. “Some people […]
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Thick as a brick
MAPS 3 provided a spectacular new John Marshall High School building and an equally impressive new U.S. Grant High School building, but one school had news-making student discipline problems when it opened and the other school had teacher problems. Millions of MAPS money is being spent on the Classen School of Advanced Studies building, a […]
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Alley oops
What? All over the city, we have inventions called traffic control systems and sidewalks to help her. If people are dumb enough to purchase those overpriced, poorly located tiny boxes that pass for housing near Bricktown, just so they can walk to the park, then they need to question their own desire to walk. They […]
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Walk the line
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Council was scheduled to possibly decide what to do with $30 million set aside from convention center funds and a more detailed draft timeline on the MAPS 3 modern streetcar project was unveiled. In May, the City Council approved a recommendation from the MAPS 3 convention center subcommittee to put the […]
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‘Line in the sand’
The measure, authored by Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid (pictured right) and Ward 4 Councilman Pete White, failed in a 4-5 vote. Ward 7 Councilman Ronald “Skip” Kelly and Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell joined Shadid and White in voting to approve the measure. Shadid criticized The Oklahoman at the meeting. Prior to the citywide […]