July 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 24

MEMBER TO MEMBER

Former Oklahoma City Mayor Michael Earl
Cornett Sr. talks about the city's history
during the Innovation Lab.

Throughout the late 1990s and
2000s, the first generation of MAPS
projects, or MAPS-1, began and included an Oklahoma City Parks and
Recreation-managed canal in the
Bricktown neighborhood, renovation of the Civic Center Music Hall,
a waterway restoration of the Oklahoma River and the expansion of the
convention center. Among MAPS'
earlier achievements was the unveiling of a new ballpark for the Minor
League Oklahoma City Dodgers in
April 1998. Thus, the city's economy
began turning around.
MAPS-1 was eventually followed by an education-focused
MAPS for Kids, or MAPS-2, that
passed in 2001. This $700 million
project served as a catalyst for the
city by refurbishing the inner-city
school system and investing in the
revitalization of 75 neighborhoods.
In 2003, MAPS-3 passed, focusing
on quality-of-life improvements,
such as parks and recreation.
Sustainability Is Key
Innovation Lab attendees had an
opportunity to explore the city,
where the success of MAPS is
evident throughout. They took a
water-taxi tour of the Bricktown
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Canal and a boat tour of the Oklahoma River. Even on a quiet spring
day, tourists and locals alike filled
the pathways and restaurants along
the canal in an area that used to be
completely abandoned.
The second day of the Innovation
Lab wrapped up with a panel discussion of Oklahoma business leaders appropriately set in the stunning
Hall of Mirrors in the MAPS-revitalized Civic Center Music Hall.
The panelists - Nancy Anthony,
executive director, Oklahoma City
Community Foundation; David
Rainbolt, executive chairman,
Bancfirst; Roy Williams, CEO,
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
of Commerce; and Tom McDaniel,
president, American Fidelity Foundation - agreed that the business
community has a vested interest in
the Oklahoma City community and
a vision for what the city should be.
When they support the city's work
in tax initiatives, they, according to
Roy Williams, ask, " You can find a
lot of ways to spend your money,
but will the project transform the
community? And, will the voters
vote for it? "
Sustainability is also key to Oklahoma City business leaders. With

the sales tax being the primary
means of supporting the city's general fund, and, therefore, the operating budget of city agencies such
as Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation, initiatives, like MAPS, that
increase the sales tax and create new
projects, can seem unsustainable.
" We're not the healthiest place in
the world here in OKC - we need
to provide more places for community members to get healthier. We can
pass bond issues, but operating money is tough. How do we get people
into the parks? " asks Oklahoma City
Community Foundation's Anthony.
She contends that when parks are
not nice, people don't want to pay for
them. Furthermore, parks must sustain themselves.
The Role of Parks & Recreation
The next morning of the Innovation Lab, attendees gathered at the
MAPS-3-funded Riversport Center, a world-class rowing, kayaking
and whitewater rafting facility located along the Oklahoma River in
the Boathouse District. First, they
heard from Terry Clower, Ph.D.,
deputy director of the Center for
Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Virginia, who
shared how parks can make the
case for quality of life. Dr. Clower and Dr. Mark White, who collaborated with NRPA on its 2015
and 2018 studies on the economic impact of local parks, stressed
the following for park and recreation agencies: " Don't be afraid
to shamelessly promote yourself!
Find metrics and anecdotes to back
your agency's story. "

July 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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