Doesn’t hurt to ask
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says the city is in much better shape than many around the country, but that won’t stop City Hall from seeking federal stimulus money. Same goes for Tulsa. The U.S. Conference of Mayors invited municipalities to put in requests for any money Congress sees fit to send their way. Oklahoma City’s request was modest relative to Tulsa’s - $501 million vs. $944 million. That Tulsa wants nearly a $1 billion of Uncle Sam’s money strikes us as bit overreaching, but you can’t fault a city for asking. In his 2009 State of the City speech, Cornett noted that “with the rest of the world dealing with such severe economic issues, it is only fair for us to acknowledge that our envious position should be valued and protected. And at City Hall we are asking those in charge of our city government’s finances to maintain the same conservative principles that got us here.” We wish those in charge of the federal government’s finances had asked for the same thing.
New phone books
Phoning the future
The new residential white pages being distributed by AT&T in Oklahoma City features a rendering of part of the “Core to Shore” development proposed for the area between the existing Interstate 40 route and the Oklahoma River. This visionary drawing, although future-oriented, is already out of date because its depiction of the downtown skyline doesn’t include the Devon Tower or the actual design of a pedestrian bridge that will spin I-40 once it’s moved. The “SkyDance Bridge,” like Devon’s building, bears a striking design. It’s meant to invoke movements of Oklahoma’s state bird, the scissor-tailed flycatcher. As proposed, the bridge would be 18 stories tall – 36 fewer than the Devon Tower. For many people, the phone book cover offers the first look at the “Core to Shore” plan, an exciting if ambitious vision for what is now a blighted area.
