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January 09, 2008
OKC mayor: Feel the intangibles!
With the Oklahoma City council having voted last week to set a March 4 referendum on spending $122 million to upgrade the five-year-old Ford Center to lure the Seattle Sonics to town, OKC Mayor Mick Cornett started his campaign for yes votes yesterday:
"People don't have much of an image of Oklahoma City in other parts of the country, and that plays into our ability to create jobs and create economic development. An NBA franchise can do wonders for your image nationwide. Now that's hard to put a dollar figure on, and I don't gravitate toward it much because it's just not that tangible. But I believe it's very real."
Actually, numerous studies have shown that when corporations decide on where to locate, the presence of a pro sports team is way, way at the bottom of the list. (Good schools and infrastructure are usually at the top.) And studies by Robert Baade, among others, of cities with and without pro sports teams have found no evidence of any measurable economic boost from a team's presence. But if the mayor believes there's an effect, I guess that's half the battle.
Thanks for this site. In our case, Oklahoma city wants taxpayers to fund $122 million with a penny sales tax. With about 500,000 people that means each of us (man, woman and child) has to pony up over $200.
The total OKC budget is only $758 million a year. They want to spend 16% of our budget on this corporate welfare project.
Posted by Ray Sears on January 18, 2008 12:08 AM
I just registered www.mapsformillionaires.org and will have info on this matter up soon. Thanks for your good work, keep it up!
Posted by Steve Hunt on January 20, 2008 10:21 PM
I live in El Reno,work in OKC,wouldn't go to see a NBA game,won't pay a penny in MAPS taxes but would ride mass-transit to work if it was available. Especially if the bus/light rail had a rack for my bike. I discussed mass transit with Wallace Collins at the Democratic convention in 2007 and agree wyth his stand wholeheartedly. And Wanda Jo is a DYNAMO!
Posted by Rodney Lee Boegel on January 25, 2008 10:30 PM
I live in El Reno,work in OKC,wouldn't go to see a NBA game,won't pay a penny in MAPS taxes but would ride mass-transit to work if it was available. Especially if the bus/light rail had a rack for my bike. I discussed mass transit with Wallace Collins at the Democratic convention in 2007 and agree wyth his stand wholeheartedly. And Wanda Jo is a DYNAMO!
Posted by Rodney Lee Boegel on January 25, 2008 10:30 PM