Quote Originally Posted by DC Crappie Kid View Post
All this time I had no idea Mayor Mic was a member of crappie.com!

All kidding aside, I'd love to know where you parked for $5 when there was a Thunder playoff game, the arts festival, a redhawks game, and a 6A high school prom in bricktown. I had the honor of working two such nights, and parking was ridiculous! Send me a PM if you don't want the whole world to know your secret spot.
Its no big secret, they are all over the place. Start with the Santa Fe garage, and a city lot under I-40 off Harvey, any lot more than 1 or 2 blocks from the Ford. There are $5 lots all through Bricktown. I don't see your problem here, the only $20 parking I see is in the Marriot right next to the Ford. And the lots across the street from the Ford to the west are $10.

There's no secret spot, $5 parking is everywhere. You were parking with the muckety mucks if you paid $20 .

Again, I agree with most of what you're saying. In my industry (LASIK eye surgery), if the economy is not growing, we're one of the first to feel the affect. I'm all-for growing the economy. The only problem I have is when you admittedly attempt to grow a city without the necessary PRIMARY infrastructure.
I don't see the problem you're speaking of here. Just flat don't see it. Our three percent sales tax is plenty high enough to support city operations and there's other methods of funding these " infrastructure " needs you say are not there, mainly through bond issues.


You said "The last thing you do in bad economic times, is raise your tax base." And I agree. You can split hairs by saying the Maps3 tax is temporary so it's not in the "base," but for 7 years plus, we can count on it to be as steady as the base tax. So what we've just done is raise taxes in bad economic times. Unfortunately, we did so for frivolous venues that could have waited a year or two. Then AFTER the vote, we're told they're going to take even more money 'cause the prison needs some work. And all I'm asking for is a few sheckels so we can have decent fishing without driving an hour.
Its not splitting hairs that MAPS3 is temporary.

The reason you do not raise tax rates in down times, is when the economy recovers , tax revenues far exceed necessary levels and when was the last time you saw any government body lower tax rates during good economic times. They don't usually , they find new programs to fund, new ways to spend that new money. The only time I've seen that in my lifetime was the State lowering income tax rates a few years ago. If they don't lower the tax rates, then after a couple of economic ups and downs, tax rates become too high and government growth is out of control.

And its during the down times is when an opportunity arises to become more efficient, again it does not hurt for government to trim some fat and find out what is important and necessary .......... and what is not.

Again, I know this is hard for many to comprehend, but MAPS3 is an entirely separate financial entity than the every day operation of city government. MAPS3 is an investment in the future. And it was not a tax increase, it was continuation of a tax in place. And a majority of city residents have decided its worth the investment.

And this whole idea of tax decreases stimulating an economy only works on a national level. That concept really does not apply to local level. It has such a small impact, its negligible.

As for the hatchery, what bothers me most is that the money has been there for the hatchery through a lot of good and bad times. If it survived the 1980's, then it should survive any economic downturn. My best guess for what has happened in Parks and Rec dept, is over a period of time, say the last 10 years , they've added new programs when their revenues were fat. And now, they have decided to keep funding the new programs over the hatchery. That's merely my best guess.