two lessons in success

I went to a talk tonight out at the college sponsored by the Chamber, MBOR, and Ashland Co. Economic Development. Kirk Humphreys, former mayor of Oklahoma City, and Wes Stucky, of Ardmore Development Authority (Ardmore is about 35,000 pop) spoke about their two cities economic transformations and how they were engineered.
Wes stressed that the number one priority was creating a good place to live in order to attract outside industry/business. The biggest question for an employer is "where will I get my workers?".
Kirk gave the more comprehensive presentation about Oklahoma City. He became mayor after their MAPS project was under way (Metropolitan Area Projects). It was a plan funded by a one cent sales tax for 5 years that built a ball park, an arena, a renovated music hall, a new downtown library, Bricktown canal district, transformation of the Oklahoma river with three dams, a trolley system, and expansion of the fairgrounds. The projects totalled out at $363 million from the taxes (extended six months to complete the projects) and $54 in interest earned on the money. Brick and motor projects that have come about by other private funding because of the MAPS projects have totaled almost $3 billion.
The initiative for MAPS came after United Airline turned the city down in favor of Indianapolis. Their reason for choosing Indianapolis, in spite of Oklahoma City's offer of $100 million out of a sales tax increase, was because they wanted their employees to have a better quality of life than they would have in Ok City. It was then that they decided to start projects that would make the city and surrounding areas more attractive for themselves, instead of going out and trying to drag employers in.
The city is currently in a new phase called MAPS for Kids, which is a cooperative effort between the city school system and 23 surrounding districts funded by one cent sales tax and distributed 70/30 between the city and the suburban districts.
The most disappointing thing about the talk was the empty seats. Maybe 75 people at the most were there, a good number from a college class , and no sign of Mansfield mayor, mayoral candidates, or county commissioners.