INSIDE Can MAPS 4 dare to address city’s toughest challenges?

Twenty-five years after the first Metropolitan Area Projects initiative was passed by voters desperate to bring life back to a battered Oklahoma City, a very different populace is being asked to “dream big” and create a MAPS 4.

This time, the mayor leading this campaign is David Holt, whose life experience is very different from his predecessors. Born in 1979, Holt’s entire adult life has been one shaped by Oklahoma City being a visionary community on the rise. And when he was elected mayor earlier this year, he inherited a City Hall that is politically stable, has a great credit rating, great reserves, a respected staff and a growing and diversifying economy.

The original MAPS, led by then Mayor Ron Norick, kick-started the city’s economy, culture, quality of life and self-image. The ensuing private development solidified the renaissance of a downtown that was declared “dead” by the city council in 1988 with an admission “we helped kill it.”

The original MAPS, however, could have ended in disappointment. It was all new for City Hall, and those early days of going from planning to construction were plagued with criticism that the projects were often behind schedule and over budget.

Norick was succeeded by Kirk Humphreys, who led the city council away from its growing consensus of killing the arena part of MAPS to bring it within budget and convinced voters to extend the penny sales tax to “fix MAPS right.”

That decision could have left our city without the Thunder, without a venue for concerts and other major events we’ve come to take for granted. MAPS ended up well, giving us the arena, ballpark, canal, library,

rebuilt music hall, much needed fair park improvements and a revitalized Oklahoma River.

Even as those additions were spurring the development of the boathouse district, a downtown art museum and a booming entertainment district, Humphreys launched the second MAPS — a “MAPS for Kids” to answer the question “what about our schools?”

MAPS for Kids rebuilt or renovated every public school in the city. It’s a partial success in that kids aren’t going into buildings without air conditioning or with ceilings caving in and bad plumbing. The situation with teacher pay, class sizes and other challenges remain far from being resolved.

Mick Cornett, steeped with a passion and understanding of major league sports and desire to improve community health, brought in the NBA, and persuaded voters to pass a short successor tax to MAPS for Kids to upgrade the arena and build a practice arena.

Keep in mind, the sales tax rate through all of this stayed the same since the temporary increase was passed in 1993. After each expiration, voters were given a chance to extend it to go after another wish list.

When the arena tax expired, Cornett led voters in passing MAPS 3, which funded more improvements at State Fair Park, the Oklahoma River, as well as funding senior wellness centers, a downtown park and convention center.

MAPS 3 also funded construction of trails and sidewalks throughout the city and a streetcar system that covers most of downtown.

But as Oklahoma City residents are repeatedly dared to dream big, they often, and rightfully, ask

“what about crime?” or “what about our streets?”

Cornett did Holt a favor by successfully following up the end of MAPS 3 with the Better Streets, Safer City extension that adds 120 police officers and is an unprecedented investment in a rapid reconstruction of streets and addition of more sidewalks throughout the city.

Holt is next at bat. The tax again expires in March 2020, and if there is to be a MAPS 4 ballot, it likely will need to go to voters in late 2019.

Discussions about MAPS 4 have been going on behind the scenes for months. Now Holt is starting a public discussion on how to proceed.

We can expect some sort of requests to continue improvements at State Fair Park, where a pitch has been made to replace the 1960s era Jim Norick Arena that is used by state basketball tournaments, equine shows and other events not big enough for the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation needs more venues to generate activity throughout the year as it seeks to fill the funding gap left by the tragic loss of its biggest cheerleader, Aubrey McClendon.

Other suggestions will include more street lighting, more sidewalks, beautifying key corridors and doing something ("anything!" people will cry) for schools.

We will hear pitches for joining Edmond, Norman, Midwest City and others in creating a real regional transit operation.

Indeed, transit is one of the few "basic" city services still not up to par.

The economy may be going great, but we still have a lot of poverty. We’ve built a city, 621 square miles, that is for people who can afford a car, gas and insurance. We’ve invested hundreds of millions in streets for those who have a car, while cutting back public transit

funding for decades.

Public support is on the rise for transit. We’ve seen improvements. The streetcar system may take folks from one side of downtown to another, but it excludes nearby working-class neighborhoods in Capitol Hill, Classen-10-Penn and the east side. Find a way to connect those folks to the jobs at downtown’s hospitals, restaurants, hotels, the arena and convention center, and suddenly the streetcar is a game changer for our community’s less fortunate.

Streetcars won’t solve the entire riddle. Expect a call for more funding for expanding bus service and creating a bus rapid transit line along Northwest Expressway.

Expect some innovative ideas to emerge when it comes to toughest challenges.

Our nonprofits are struggling to keep up with the collateral damage caused by state lawmakers cutting funding for mental health and addiction treatment. Homelessness remains a problem. Criminal justice reform is still needed.

We have poverty. Horrible poverty with a 15-minute drive of anywhere one lives in Oklahoma City. Poverty, mental illness and addition — this all plays into why it is so tough to turn around a large innercity public school system like Oklahoma City Public Schools.

So “what about” all these “what abouts”?

This is where Oklahoma City residents don’t just get to dream big, but they might actually help figure out how to triumph over some of the biggest unresolved challenges plaguing just about every city in America. MAPS 4 isn’t just a chance to dream big. Everything up until now was relatively easy compared to what’s left. But thanks to 25 years of work leading up to where we are today, Oklahoma City is in a position ... to do something amazing.