The framework for Phase 1 of the streetcar system has now been approved. This initial route will connect civic treasures, institutions, major employers and new housing downtown, reinforcing the significant economic engine that drives sales tax revenue benefiting our entire city. In addition, we are in the process of acquiring the historic Santa Fe Depot […]
transit
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Million-dollar members
This year, each of the city’s eight council members will receive a $1 million allocation to spend on projects that were not previously funded. The discretionary spending program comes from the city’s reserve fund, typically 8-15 percent of the total municipal budget. In six of the last 11 years, excess money from the reserve fund […]
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Street smarts
Skyline Ink Organized as a way to inform, educate and clear up misconceptions about the MAPS 3-funded project, city officials and their paid consultants delivered a bevy of facts and figures that centered on previous studies, future construction and success stories from other cities. Mike McAnelly, senior planner and project manager for Jacobs Engineering Group, […]
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Looking for laws
The items on the legislative program, which the council passed unanimously, are first recommended by city department heads to the city manager, who then passes the recommendations on to the council’s legislative committee. Last year’s agenda items that were eventually passed into law included restoring December city elections in odd years, requiring counties to notify […]
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Core issues
ADG, the lead consulting firm hired by the city for MAPS 3, joined with Hargreaves Associates and Jonathan Rose Companies for the limited study after some city officials questioned whether Core to Shore was still valid amid the changes that have taken place in the city and with the MAPS 3 program. ADG’s Mike Mize […]
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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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Transit should be a priority
The report’s findings combined the performance in Oklahoma City with service provided in Guthrie, Edmond and Norman. The report indicated a disconnect between accessibility and usability: More than twice as many people can access transit than jobs that can be reached using transit, and the typical transit user can reach only a small percentage of […]
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MAPS streetcar steps forward
The “transit spine” accepted provides a key corridor for the MAPS 3 streetcar system, almost ensuring immediate ridership success while enabling the easy future expansion into the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. The Robinson (northbound), Broadway Avenue (southbound) rail corridor will immediately connect Bricktown to Midtown, while establishing the opportunity for easy future expansion into the Plaza […]
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Streetcar for the car-free
It is hard to believe, but that feeling of confinement and limited freedom so many of us experienced for a few days after the storm hit, is the everyday experience for tens of thousands of people living right here in our community. You’ll find clues that point to this fact throughout the city, particularly in […]
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A years-old winning design for a bus stop will jump from sketch to street
“Hey, what is it that you like about this stop?” “What do you think could be done here to improve being on public transit?” And so it went, from the mouth of David Brewer, an architect at Glover Smith Bode Inc. His reason for giving the third degree? Research. Brewer served as captain of a […]