UNIQUELY OKC
Chamber official says OKC’s economic diversity is growing
Roy Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, fielded question’s along with The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer during Friday’s OKC Central Chat. This is an abridged transcript of that conversation. To see the full transcript, or to participate in next week’s chat, go to NewsOK.com
Q: Roy, as we are in the midst of MAPS 3 construction now and moving forward toward completion in the coming years, is there any discussion within the chamber membership as to what they’d like the next MAPS project to focus on?
Williams: There is not so much a MAPS focus as there is a discussion of significant issues the city is facing, such as criminal justice facilities we may need, more transportation infrastructure like regional transit, expansion potential of some of the MAPS 3 projects like the streetcar, discussion about the innovation district including a potential capping of I-235, potential expansion of the Bricktown Canal and more dams along the Oklahoma River. But they are not so much in the context of MAPS 4.
Q: What would be the best funding source for the Innovation District and capping I-235? A tax increment financing district? A business improvement district? Bonds? Williams: All the above. Q: How bad is this education crisis hurting your efforts to recruit new employers?
Williams: So far it hasn’t. This is happening all across the country. We’re not the only state or metropolitan area facing the same things. Also, you can find pockets of excellence in education as well. While the state of Oklahoma has different kinds of educational qualities across the state, there are some really great school districts in the metropolitan area.
Q: Roy, you all do great work, but given the current economic climate in the state it is absolutely critical to diversify the job sectors. I’ve seen us make strides, but what can we expect in the short-term and long-term future? Not all of us are in oil and gas and our grads have no place to go.
Williams: When you look at Oklahoma City, when you look at diversity, whether it’s population, income levels, industry diversity, demographics, and especially in job diversity, the metropolitan area does not look like anywhere else in the state.
We are a city-state. We also provide 40 percent of the gross state product. Oil and gas in the metro is less than 3 percent. In the state it is
a much higher percentage, but in the metro it is very little and the percentage of energy jobs in the metro is continuing to go down due to the growth that is taking place that is not in that industry sector. Aviation, aerospace, bioscience are all more than double the employment levels of oil and gas and growing faster.
Wallet Hub, using statistical calculations, ranked OKC as the seventh most diversified large city in the United States. Cities behind us that are least diversified are Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami. There is not a metro in Texas more diversified than Oklahoma City.
We're currently working 64 projects. Twenty-seven are in manufacturing. Ten are in distribution. Six are office projects. Five are shared service centers. Five are call centers. We need entry level jobs, midlevel jobs, executive jobs because we have all kinds of people coming into the labor force. They are not all college graduates or proficient in skills. You do not have everyone able to come in for the highest paying jobs. So just like diversity is desired in the kinds of companies, we also want diversity in the kinds of jobs.
Q: Roy, what hurdles does the chamber constantly deal with that us readers might be surprised to hear?
Williams: The image that is created by our Legislature in many, many ways such as our obsession over guns, social issues and other issues that continually get us national press that keeps companies from even engaging with us is a problem.
Q: Roy, I work in the area of I-40 and Meridian. The homeless population continues to increase in this area. What is the chamber's stance on this issue and how are you working with the city to alleviate the problem?
Williams: The homeless issue is a significant part of the criminal justice initiative we have underway. We are working on a daily basis with service providers in the area to come up with resources and solutions. I've had three meetings just this week on this problem.
Q: Regarding criminal justice reform and even mental health services, are these things that we can tackle as a city, or is it necessary to have the state’s backing?
Williams: Ideally you want the state's backing. But unfortunately, not just in Oklahoma but across the country we are seeing state legislators cut back resources that directly impact their cities. And it's not just in criminal justice, it's in education, it's in public safety, infrastructure, and more and more we as cities and regions are going to have to figure out a new model for backfilling what state government is no longer willing to do. Just because state government doesn't fund it doesn't mean the problem goes away.