Hard to believe it was a “blank slate” since it was supposed to have been put in front of voters a year earlier when it got bumped for the Ford tax vote (3/08). Think the only question then was what to replace the $120M slot formerly occupied by the Ford.

MAPS 3 was being considered at least as earlier as 7 years ago (2/9/03, when Humphreys was Mayor and Burns Hargis was the head of the Chamber) in this article written by Steve:

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:mPcRKHS2Aa8J:www.mynewsok.com/city-seeks-right-track-for-proposed-rail-system/article/

[Quote]At a recent chamber of commerce retreat, light rail dominated discussions of what could be a future “MAPS 3 to follow the original downtown improvement projects and public school overhaul now under way. Hargis envisions a light rail connecting State Fair Park, Will Rogers World Airport and downtown by the state’s centennial in 2007.[/Quote]

captcha = immersed bull

maybe we should not be so quick to throw rocks and assume the worst in the city leadership that has, so far, gone light years in pulling us out of the disaster that was the late 1980s. just a thought.

Doug, to be 100% honest, I haven’t had one discussion with him on the convention center. On the few occasions I get to talk to him the convention center seems to slip my mind.

If the best site is the lumber yard site, then I hope it goes there. If the best site is south of the Ford Center, then I hope it goes there. If the best site is…I want what’s best for this city and knowing my dad’s passion for this city and all that he has sacrificed in his life being mayor, I’m sure he wants the same.

We hope for the same thing, Casey. And I share your and your dad’s passion for our city. For each of us, however, to pursue our personal aspirations is not sacrificial in nature and I do disagree with your choice of words in that respect. Pursuing one’s goals, whatever those goals may be, merely represents an individual choice about doing what one feels strongly about doing and individually sets out to do. The personal reward is either in the accomplishment, or at least in the attempt to accomplish, whatever the personal goals may be. In that context, there is no sacrifice. There is only the self-satisfaction for doing one’s best, and that is enough.

All that verbiage aside, make no mistake from my remarks:

I regard what your dad has accomplished as mayor of your and my city in the highest regard. Among other things, he was the closer on the Skirvin Hilton project; he was critically important, probably paramount, in the Hornets temporary location here which was step one in the path which no one could then say where it would lead; and, ultimately, in his leadership concerning the Ford Center sales tax vote which paved the way for the city hosting the team which would be named the Thunder. Without that leadership, I am of the firm opinion that our city would not have a professional NBA team today. Our city owes your father much for what he has done and that fact is not lost on me for a moment.

It would not be a bad thing, though, for him to lay out the reasons for locating the convention center south of the Ford Center. Many in this city are hungering for an open discussion, ideas pro and con. I want your dad to lead the way in the discussion, and, in the end, for a consensus to emerge. That next step, though, is not up to me, is it.

OK?

However I will say that I do NOT think that the “crying wolf” on the convention center location is baseless. I think it’s patently obvious that there is a very clear effort from City Hall to make absolutely certain the convention is next to the park, for whatever reason..at times against the advice from within the planning department.

Look at the people planning C2S–its biggest fans. Most of them are marketing people, not city planners or architects–for the most part.

This is my final writing on this topic.

Anyone with a quarter of a brain can draw fair and accurate presumptive inferences as to why you said what you just did.

Before I go off the deep end and get into political stuff yet again (which I really DO NOT enjoy doing), I am:

(1) Saving every comment made in this thread;

(2) Waiting for a few days to see if you begin writing on this topic again. If you do not, I will presume the worst.
If it gets deleted, I will be inclined to post it elsewhere. Hopefully, no need will exist for that to occur.