Mayor begins MAPS 4 talks
Oklahoma City residents are being invited to submit ideas for the next chapter of MAPS, the initiative that has built “transformative” public projects and spurred a wave of private investment over the past 25 years.
“It is time to dream big again,” Mayor David Holt said in a video released Thursday to kick off planning for MAPS 4. “If we do this right,
we can have a community conversation that includes everyone in the city.”
“What will extend our city’s renaissance?” he continued. “What will ensure we are meeting new challenges and seizing new opportunities?
“What will ensure our renaissance is felt by everyone in our community? What will help us to continue to build a city our children want to call home?”
Over the past 25 years, the mayor traditionally has led planning and campaigns to win voter support for MAPS proposals and their signature 1-cent sales tax.
The new iteration will be the first led by Holt, who was elected mayor in February.
“As we consider how best to continue investing in our future,” Holt said, “we want to have an inclusive conversation, and we want every voice to be heard.”
Branded with a “Dream Big” theme, MAPS 4 could be the first billion-dollar MAPS program and likely would unfold over the course of a decade.
Ideas will be collected at ideas4maps.com. A link takes residents to a form where they are asked for their name and email address and given space to describe their idea.
Ideas are being sought on social media with the hashtag #ideas4maps.
Tweeting with the new hashtag, Chiquitita Chicoraske said, “I can’t wait to see what amazing ideas come out of the @cityofokc’s #Maps4 #Maps4ALL #1OKC #Ideas4MAPS.”
No deadline was set for submitting ideas, nor was a timeline set for when a projects list would be finalized for voters to review.
Who will decide what makes the cut will come later.
MAPS is always a temporary
sales tax.
The current 27-month MAPS for streets extension for street resurfacing and related improvements expires April 1, 2020.
Based on past practice, an election on a MAPS 4 extension probably would be held in about 14 months.
Early ideas
Some ideas have emerged over the past couple of years and appear to have advocates for inclusion in MAPS 4. They include:
• More sidewalks and trails, both popular components of MAPS 3.
• Senior health and wellness centers, popular with voters and in high demand.
• A horse show arena at State Fair Park, to replace the aging Fairgrounds Arena.
• An extension of the MAPS 3 streetcar route, which opens in December.
Ideas tossed around at a business leaders’ event in August included more green spaces and bus rapid transit to the airport.
One idea spelled out in all capital letters on Postits on an easel was: “S-TA-D-I-U-M.”
Voters approved the original MAPS, or Metropolitan Area Projects, in 1993, financing the Bricktown Canal and ballpark, the downtown arena and library, and Civic Center Music Hall renovations.
Subsequent initiatives financed basketball arena improvements — “Big League City” — and MAPS for Kids, for construction and renovation of public school buildings.
Approved in December 2009, MAPS 3 has raised more than $820 million.
Voters were promised trails and sidewalks; senior health and wellness centers; a downtown park, convention center and streetcar; a whitewater park, and fairgrounds expo center.
Projects generally have stayed within budget, opened on time and been well-received.
Promoting development
Voters approved the MAPS for streets extension last year to raise an estimated $240 million to resurface streets, build trails and sidewalks, and finance related improvements.
Stimulating economic development is at the heart of MAPS. Roy Williams, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, the city’s leading business organization, said Thursday it was estimated that through 2014 private investment downtown since the passage of the original MAPS totaled about $3.9 billion.
He said an updated study was expected to be done later this year.
Voter approval and the 1-cent sales tax have been hallmarks of the MAPS 3 brand.
The MAPS model is a major departure from most municipal financing schemes that rely on borrowing and burden new projects with interest payments in addition to operating expenses.
MAPS projects are built only after taxes are collected and money is in the bank.
They open debt-free. Recruiting nonprofit organizations as operating partners and contracting for operating services, such as with Herzog Transit Services for the streetcar, limits growth of city government.
In his own tweet Thursday, Holt said, “It is time to talk about MAPS 4. It is time to dream big again ... submit your ideas to help write the next chapter in our city’s history.”