#OKC BOX SCORE

Parking makeover means higher rates

An on-street parking makeover in downtown Oklahoma City will include an increase in rates for parking on a meter. The Traffic Commission meets Monday to consider ordinance changes accommodating a new generation of electronic parking meters. With “pay-by-plate,” motorists will choose a parking spot and, at a nearby kiosk, type in their tag number, choose a length of time — up to a max of two hours — and pay with a card or coins. The new rate will be $2 per hour. Under the current ordinance, allowed rates range from a low of 10 cents per hour to $1.50, with one-hour, two-hour and fivehour parking zones.

Worth noting: Traffic commissioners’ recommendation will go to the city council for a final decision. Proposals include new regulations for spaces reserved for charging electric vehicles.

Job cuts lead to layoffs

Oklahoma City let three employees go at the start of the new budget year July 1. Layoffs hit two deputy marshals in the Municipal Court and one code inspector. All three had been with the city less than four years. The city has cut 101 positions in the past two years. Most cuts were absorbed by getting rid of vacant positions or shifting employees into vacancies from jobs scheduled for elimination.

Duty shift: Eleven marshals were cut from the Municipal Court. The police department picked up those investigative and warrant enforcement duties, adding positions for a lieutenant and eight officers.

Bond summary: Libraries, arena

Voters will cast ballots Sept. 12 in the 2017 bond election. Thirteen propositions, to be voted on separately, are on the ballot; here’s a summary of library and Chesapeake Energy Arena proposals:

• Libraries: Construct a new library near SW 59 and May,

$8.8 million. Renovate Belle Isle Library, 5501 N Villa, Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 NE 23, and Downtown Library, 300 Park Ave., $12.7 million.

• Arena: Repair and renovate the downtown arena, home of the NBA’s Thunder, $8.9 million.

Learn more online: Browse https:// data.okc.gov/ for GO Bond Projects (2017).

They said it

“In Oklahoma City, if you look at what government built in the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, a lot of it was built as cheaply as possible.”

— Mayor Mick Cornett, in remarks last week to the downtown Rotary Club. In previous eras, Oklahoma City had built some nice things but, Cornett said, “we lost our attention to style.” The advent of MAPS in 1993 ushered in an era of higher standards, he said. Cornett was responding to a question about promoting healthy lifestyles, a topic that has been a focus for him in his 14 years as mayor. The commitment to quality is translating to health, he said: “We’re not going to be a prosperous society, prosperous state, prosperous community, until you do better at health and education.”

• $13,500: Amount paid by Oklahoma City to the Los Angeles attorneys who sued over accessibility issues at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, home of softball’s Women’s College World Series.

• $1 million: Estimated annual cost for trash carts. When the vendor, Cascade Engineering, said it could no longer supply carts with lids meeting weight specifications — an issue when the wind blows — the city agreed to accept lighterweight lids.

By the numbers

Streetcar construction

MAPS 3 streetcar construction is intensifying throughout downtown. For updates, follow @william crum on Twitter and the weekly downtown area traffic advisory online at http://okc.gov.

The week ahead

The Oklahoma City Council meets at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 200 N Walker.