Parking increase, fee approved

The city council approved an increase to $2 per hour for downtown parking meters, in line with rates for city garages. Also approved was a $50 fee on vehicles impounded after an individual’s arrest. Together, the parking rate increase and fee are expected to raise an additional $1 million per year.

By the numbers: Arts and culture

Kelsey Karper, project manager for astudy of the arts’ economic impact on the city and state, told the city council the study was “about changing the conversation around investing in the arts.”

• $602.7 million: Spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their patrons in the greater Oklahoma City metro area, in fiscal 2015, supporting 20,571 jobs.

“I think this is a mythbuster for a lot of people,” Karper said. “Arts organizations tend to be very good business citizens.”

Learn more: ok4arts.org.

Tweet of the week

“Court: Oklahoma’s vehicle sales tax is constitutional”

— @NewsOK, read coverage of the Supreme Court’s reasoning at NewsOK.com. The court acted on a challenge to the Legislature’s decision to lift a sales tax exemption on auto sales.

Early voting is this week

www. Early in-person voting for Oklahoma City’s 2017 bond and sales tax election is this Thursday and Friday. Election Day is Sept. 12, when polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters are deciding on a quarter-cent sales tax increase for public safety. Extending the MAPS 3 sales tax for streets and 13 bond propositions also are on the ballot.

Streetcar construction

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

It’s a fact

Oklahoma City residential utility customers can drop off junk and yard waste at no charge, at city landfills, on “free landfill day,” 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 9. Details: okc.gov.