Mayor David Holt: The state of Oklahoma City is dynamic

I recently delivered my fourth State of the City address to an audience of more than 1,300 at the Oklahoma City Convention Center. The full text and video are available at okc.gov/mayor. I hope you can get a chance to read or view it in its entirety, because these civic issues affect your personal and professional goals more than we sometimes realize. In the meantime, I can share some of the highlights here.

With the pandemic in a very different chapter now and with the commencement of my second term, I am in a mood to look forward, and I sense the city is, as well. There is as much energy in this city right now as there has been in its history. As such, my remarks were very forward-looking. I communicated how critical it is that we consider the opportunities and challenges presented by the new chapter we have just entered as America’s 20th-largest city. To stay in the top 20, we will have to act like America’s 20th-largest city. The topics I covered addressed what I think that means in the years ahead.

Core services

We are a city that is the same geographic size as eight Clevelands, or 10 Pittsburghs or 17 Miami, Floridas. This poses unique infrastructure and service challenges. To answer this challenge, we are still engaged in the largest street repair initiative in city history. “Better Streets, Safer City” is putting nearly $800 million into street repairs through 433 projects. In the next four years, we will again talk about investing in our infrastructure, and we must aim high. Public safety is also a major focus at City Hall. We will continue to stay focused on pursuing the 39 recommendations of the Law Enforcement Policy Task Force, as well as filling the over 120 new police officer positions approved by the voters in 2017.

Public transit

Our city has made huge strides in public transit the last two decades, and we’re now engaged in the construction of our first Bus Rapid Transit line up Classen and Northwest Expressway. Lines to the south and the northeast are coming through MAPS 4. The next major progress will come when the Regional Transit Authority develops and finalizes its plans for commuter rail that goes from Edmond to downtown OKC to Norman. This is something we have to pursue to ensure that we’re staying ahead of growth that will undoubtedly increase traffic. The RTA has always been driven by the Edmond/OKC/Norman corridor, and those three cities are committed to seeing it through. This is a separate government entity chaired by former Gov. Brad Henry, and their plans will come forward in the years ahead.

Major league professional sports

Much has been written on this topic since the speech, and I am glad that the public has swiftly recognized the need. We all know what the Thunder has meant to OKC, economically and culturally. We don’t want to go backwards, and to maintain a long-term relationship with major league professional sports, we have to offer appropriate facilities. Our arena is the smallest by square footage in the entire league, the second-cheapest in the league, one of only two that was planned without an NBA tenant, and is now 20 years old in a league where every arena but one is less than 32 years old. It will take years to implement a plan, so we have to start now. We also have to start now because the Thunder’s agreement to play in OKC was set to expire in a year. They have recently added three years so we can have time for a collaborative dialogue. I am optimistic we will come forward with a mutually agreeable plan and that we will secure a long-term relationship with major league professional sports. This is vital to our future civic aspirations in all areas.

MAPS

MAPS 3 is about to complete some major final projects, including the doubling of Scissortail Park. MAPS 4 will welcome its first groundbreakings this fall. No other city in America has a pending $1 billion commitment to quality of life ready to roll out over the next decade, and it ensures we’ll continue to have wonderful new improvements to look forward to.

Homelessness

Our population of people experiencing homelessness has declined or at least stayed flat over the last 17 years, at a time when our overall population has grown 30%. We rank 82nd among American cities for most people experiencing homelessness, even though we are the 20th-largest city and the 42nd-largest MSA. These are encouraging numbers, but we still take this issue seriously, because those affected are our neighbors. 83% of those experiencing homelessness are from OKC or a neighboring Oklahoma community. Much work is underway, including the implementation of our recent task force report and the $50 million in truly affordable housing from MAPS 4.

RiverSport

RiverSport continues to welcome major regional, national and international events, with some of the biggest paddlesport events in the world coming here the last weekend in August. RiverSport’s success has also deepened our relationship with the Olympic movement, something we will continue to pursue.

Public education

This year, our largest district — Oklahoma City Public Schools — is expected to ask the voters for approval of a bond issue that will finally bring the district closer to the funding levels already enjoyed by peer districts in the suburbs and in Tulsa. The OKC district has had to meet its challenges with lesser resources than other districts for too long. We must all rally around this proposal when it comes forward.

Economy

We have recently experienced the lowest unemployment rate in city history and currently have the longest streak below 3% since 1999. Diversification in the local economy is stronger than ever. We also remain focused on equitable economic growth. Exciting developments we continue to see on NE 23 illustrate this commitment.

The state of our city is dynamic, and it is unified. I truly believe we are lucky to live in this time and in this place, in America’s most unified and dynamic city. We have big dreams yet to realize, and we will be focused on that work in the exciting years ahead.

David Holt is the mayor of Oklahoma City.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mayor David Holt: The state of Oklahoma City is dynamic, unified