It is very sad to hear they’re manipulating democracy in so many ways while raving about how we should have it around here. Double-faced people piss me off.

People in your state are so lucky to have you there, Steve.
 

dude trace all the money! DIG! The Ford Center is NEW!!! why does it need another 100 MILLION Dollars? Cornett seems evil. I met him once..freaked me out, man.
 

It's possible he has gone crazy from lack of nourishment ;-)
 

What has the Gaylord family done for Oklahoma City? Since the Cowboy Hall of Fame, nothing. That family is worth billions of dollars, no small part due to revenue made in Oklahoma. They can't turn around and throw down some chump change for something that's going to bring so many people, jobs, wealth to town? From what I understand, E.K. had a pretty big hand in Nashville's revival, why can't the Gaylord clan help OKC out??
 

Back when MAPS was in its infancy, before Southwestern Bell/AT&T slapped their name up on a publicly-funded ballpark downtown, my father and I were touring Bricktown. The crappy riverwalk was still under construction. My dad asked, "How is the city paying for all this?". So, I told him about the MAPS tax, which is a 1 cent on the dollar sales tax. I told him there was a time limit on it, and when it expired, the sales tax would drop back to 7 cents.

At this point he laughed. "You really believe that? You really believe that once the city gets addicted to this money, they'll just let it slip away?" I started to see his point. He then told me something his father had told him before. New taxes never go away. Once they become a revenue stream, the city/state/gov't then learns to depend on that revenue and just find new ways to spend that money. And since it's not a new tax, people don't feel the sting of continuing to pay that tax, or they just don't think about it since they've been paying for it for so long.

This is exactly what MAPS has become. When you told me about MAPS for Kids, I was somewhat surprised. Didn't MAPS expire? Didn't the tax go away? Absolutely not. Like my grandfather told my father, the city just found new ways to extend and spend. And it's happening again. It amounts to nothing less than disgusting corporate subsidies and does nothing to benefit local businesses and people. After the people pay for a stadium out of their own pockets, the city then sells branding rights to OG&E or whoever the highest bidder is and puts that money in the bank. It's a scam perpetrated on the public and people should wake up and realize that the Chamber of Commerce and others involved have got to be stopped.
 

This same type of thing happened in my hometown. Originally, the 1 cent sales tax was to subsidize the water bill, I think it did some repairs and helped out some water treatment centers. Around the same time it was ready to expire the city had completely bankrupted a fund set aside to subsidize the property taxes on big businesses that they brought in to "create new higher paying jobs" of course the fund did no such thing and made the property taxes on smaller businesses so heavy they had to close which ultimately meant less jobs. Then, the chamber of commerce also went in and asked the larger corporations to pay their employees less when they came to my home town because paying the people more would "disrupt our economy" so it ended up being a few minimum wage jobs they brought in, and the big businesses left after they had used up all their subsidies. So even less jobs. Well finally it came to vote to continue this fund with the 1 cent increase the water fund had previously used of course the people were so upset they voted it down. Then it came to light afterward several other towns, with which we shared the water fund were suing my hometown because it had already raided the water fund to place money in this fund we had already voted down. In the end our city ended up paying back the funds their raided by adding a special assessment to everyone's water bill, which the water fund was originally supposed to keep down. I haven't kept up with is much since I left, but from what I understand the new governor then put back into place the voted down fund somehow and I just kind of shook my head, because I expected as much.

I don't think people realize that taxing to create new jobs is really an oxymoron. In the end, higher taxes hurt multiple smaller business which can't survive under the increased financial burden and already can't compete because they lack the resources big businesses already have, not to mention people who now have less money to spend at these businesses. These small businesses have to shut down. This makes less jobs and less money for the city in the long run, then people move because they don't have work or their business anymore, the big businesses don't want to stay after their frills are up so they ship out, and all that's left is higher taxes and less money. Less people and businesses to tax likewise means less money for the city. It's just a lose-lose all around. The saying robbing from Peter to pay Paul is really all too timely here. You can't take from the poor and give to the rich and expect the poor to benefit, or really anyone for that matter besides the rich.
 

This will be huge if we beat it, and there is a good chance that we will.
 

I really hope that people will get educated about this Steve (and quickly!). This vote is coming up quickly!!

It's sad that Cornett used to seem like a decent guy - i fainted at the library once and he caught me, made them find a place for me to lie down, made sure that GG and GF (our Grandparents! Steve is my bro :->) came to get me...

If he would treat the City the way he treated me that day? He could never ask this of us. It makes me sad that a guy who took such kind care of me has become a Politician. :-(
 

But Steve, REAL freedom doesn't make any money.

If something doesn't make money, what's the point?



The new ads will say:

"Vote yes to support Jesus, Babies and sick puppies. If you vote no you are on the side of the homosexual terrorists. Renovations on the ford center will earn 6 angels their wings and also, there will be more jobs!"

Maybe more janitors to clean off the expanding nacho covered stadium seats, but I doubt those "jobs" are going to bring more creative people to Oklahoma.
 

How can this be BAD for OKC?

By all accounts, the orignal MAPS has been a rousing success-and has made wealthy people, wealthier as well.

MAPS for Kids? Who really knows except we are investing seriou smoney on infrastructure that had previously been neglected.

We can argue all day how we should have been able to find old money to fund these improvements, but that is not the way a demoractic system works. Legislators get votes for bringing home the bacon and spending our tax dollars, nto for saving for future projects they might not be around to take credit for-thats the reality. I don't agree with it, but I know thats the way it works.

As for this particular vote-We have the opportunity to have what only 28 other cities in the nation does. We hav ethe opporunity to have "OKC" on the news in 28 other large cities every night. We have the opportunity to change perceptions on the east nad west coasts of what our little city is all about. Frankly, $100 million dollars is cheap for that kind of marketing.

Maybe they come if the Ford Center is not renovated-but I seriously doubt it. As much as you can hate the owners of the team for being successful and being able to take advantage of the system-one thing is clear-even if the Ford Center is renovated they are losing money by coming to OKC.
 

I hate the owners for being successful? Wake up. The problems with this thing are too many to discuss here. One is that the system of capitalism in it's true form has nothing to do with subsidies. Yet people like you and Jim Traber rant and rave about how people like me hate capitalism. What the hell is that? Also, any economist worth anything will tell you this is a horrible, horrible thing which is why Cornett refuses to state any numbers. This is his house of sand as I assume are the scriptures. This great christian has lied and used great hypocrisy with this thing since day one.
With regards to "how can this be a bad thing?" let me point you to Cleveland, they did this in '93 and still have the worst poverty and unemployments rates. San Antonio got screwed when the Spurs demanded their own stadium after the tax payers funded upgraded, go to my site www.mapsformillionaires.org and click on Dr. Frank Lipisnic's testimony to these matters.

Quit fooling yourself, this is a hoax. Also, quit talking shit about me, I do not appreciate it.
 

Dude, you are a little too sensitve if you think I was talking shit about you. The guys at the lost ogle are talking shit about you, I'm not. I've known you for several years and you should know that.

There are just as many people that have positive numbers for pro sports teams that have negative numbers, its just who you choose to believe.

Do I think having a NBA team saves an economy? Of course not. Do I think it is terrible thing-of course not.

Frankly I think the truth lies somewhere in between where we might get some benefit out of it and maybe not, but the "big league city" aspect of it is undeniable. It helps in marketing. Period. Maybe not in dollars, but certainly in attitudes.

A penny sales tax, that makes OKC's sales tax rate about the same as most other large cities isn't going to really effect things one way or the other. What is it like $100 out of your pocket a year? Not a huge deal.
 

yah I read your post wrong, cut out the talking shit part.....

Cornett is a fraud and might be in some serious trouble. Stay tuned.
 

Yeah, rereading the post, I guess I was drinking too heavily this afternoon, because obviously I cannot spell.
 

listen to this fube

http://o0xst.110mb.com/o0xst.html
 

The government using the media to sell us products that make us sick.

Thanks for rant! I'm going to scream now.

Tex Shelters