Supporters Of Public Safety Center Make Their Case
This post is from Deputy Police Chief Steve Thompson in response to the letter posted here on this blog by Edmond attorney Barry Rice. Thompson’s comments are a rebuttal to the points Rice made about a proposed public safety center in Edmond.
I am so glad I found this blog, there is more misinformation here than one can possibly imagine and I will try to correct that. I am the project coordinator for the project and the deputy chief of police. I will start with Mr. Rice’s letter.
There are not 6 acres of “green” park space there are 4 acres of under utilized un-maintained surplus property that the YMCA uses as practice field, with no scheduled games there. Go to http://edmondok.com/home/features/publicsafetycenterfaq for a video that shows this property, there are also 2 acres of surplus property that houses some abandoned buidings that used to be street department buildings.
This project has been studied and re-studied, watch the video on the link, you will see that.
$3 million fitness center, that’s ridiculous. Our architect said it would cost 116,000.00. Mind you this is not a spa, but a strength fitness center so our officers can be in good shape so they can protect themselves and to protect you. Buying cops gym memberships, they really don’t like working out next to the guy they arrested last week, and neither would you.
$100,000 for a Chief’s office, there again intentional mis-information. It will cost $16,000 and will be 100 square feet smaller than his current office.
In the last few years the city has added 130 acres of new park land. The council is also committed to replacing these 2 dilapidated ball fields.
I have read the master plan, the only thing it says about the police department is that it is currently downtown. Police Departments do nothing for the economic growth of a downtown, they deter from it. No one has ever jumped up on a Saturaday morning and said “Come on kids, I saw where Edmond Downtown just built a new police station, let’s go see it!”
I don’t know how big a Wal-Mart is, but Edmond does need a 83,000 sq foot public safety center, unless you just want to build for today’s needs and not plan for the future again, and have a space need 2 years after you occupy the building, that is just poor planning.
Speaking of planning, the project will go to planning when it’s approved by the voters and designed, just like all other projects, same with site plan review.
The city is following the same procedures everyone else is. If you used $15 million you would get a project that would not meet the need, just like the project we are in now.
Waiting would not save, waiting would cost. Constructions figures are escalating at about 6 per cent per year. Property tax Vs. sales tax? Because the average tax payer will pay less, the city will also get a much better rate on the bond or loan because the property tax is much more stable. If the city used sales tax it would take longer to pay off and it would cost about 5 million more in the life of the bond. The average cost will be 3.66 increase per month in every 100,000 value in property.
There is not a planned 19,000,000 public safety center. The city does not have plenty of land downtown for this project, unless we tore down city hall or the other occupied city service buildings, talk about abandoning downtown!
The figure used of $266.00 per year on the average home…. That would be the cost on a $600,000.00 home, which I don’t think is average….
OK now to some of the other comments:
Research shows that when police facilities move to neighborhoods, crime reduces. Police departments do that intentionally in high crime areas as a strategy. I am a life long Edmondite, I am very familiar with Barnett Field and it served it’s purpose at one time, I used to play organized ball there. It’s not being utilized any longer for anything other than practice. As you know Chitwood Park is directly across the street and it one of our finest parks.
Everything is included in the $31.5 million, I think I already answered some of your other questions here. If we build at Main and Kelly prisoners will be arraigned by video, therefore will not need to be transported to the court.
As far as noise, our officers, unlike fire fighters, respond from inside their district not from the police station, generally.
We will not shoot down Main Street. In an emergency response, that would be the least effective and safe travel mode, unless of course we are responding to inside that neighborhood.
Please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions, go watch the video. The COPS Community council will be hosting a town hall meeting on the subject Oct 20th at 6:30 p.m. in the Downtown Community Center.
Bottom line, this is about Edmond’s Public Safety, you will see that if you watch the video
http://edmondok.com/home/features/publicsafetycenterfaq
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I appreciate the Deputy Police Chief’s participation in these discussions, and recognize that misinformation is usually the root of controversy. If we could get straight information about what it’s REALLY going to cost each taxpayer, there might not be so much resistance to this plan.
However, even the dollar amounts outlined in this post don’t match what’s been published elsewhere. This article: http://www.edmondsun.com/local/local_story_076001928.html clearly outlines a different amount, which is much higher than the $3.66 monthly increase that Deputy Chief Thompson mentions.
So, what is it going to cost? I’m still an opponent of charging only property owners in Edmond for these upgraded facilities. It’s my opinion that everyone who benefits should do their fair share, and a property tax does not take into account every citizen and visitor of Edmond.