Quality of life matters to city

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has an important message for cities wanting to duplicate his community’s economic development success: Quality of life matters. A lot.

Cornett, who also is president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, spoke Wednesday at a summit of mayors from this region. He also met with The Eagle editorial board.

Cornett shared how Oklahoma City transformed itself from a city battered by the ups and downs of the commodities market into a more diversified, growing and dynamic community. The key was improving the city’s quality of life – especially its downtown.

Oklahoma City’s downtown used to be nearly barren, with no retail and little activity in the evenings or on the weekends. If you lived in downtown at that time, Cornett said, you were probably in jail.

A big catalyst for change occurred when Oklahoma City lost out on a major economic development project – despite offering millions of dollars in economic incentives. What officials later learned was that the company secretly sent some of its managers and their spouses to visit Oklahoma City and see if it was a place they might like to live. It wasn’t.

Oklahoma City realized it needed to invest in itself before others would be willing to invest, Cornett said.

That eventually led voters in 1993 to approve the city’s Maps project – a $350 million sales tax-funded initiative to revitalize downtown and provide new and upgraded cultural, sports, recreation, entertainment and convention facilities.

The project was such a success that voters have since approved additional Maps initiatives – one to rebuild the city’s public schools and another to build a new downtown convention center as well as new sidewalks and jogging and bike trails.

What motivated Oklahoma City to put itself on a new trajectory was that it hit bottom.

“We had the asset of desperation,” Cornett said.

Wichita is not in the same place, thank goodness. It wisely has been investing in quality of life amenities, including Intrust Bank Arena, the new airport, downtown and riverbank improvements, bike lanes, and a soon-to-be-built new central library. The Wichita City Council is holding a public hearing Tuesday on whether to build a new ballpark to replace Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

But the lack of desperation also presents a challenge, as many people in the community aren’t convinced about the need for bold action. Some hold out hope that lost aviation jobs will return. Others argue that what really matters is low taxes and few regulations, not bike paths and downtown apartments.

But Cornett contends – as does Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell – that a key to economic development is the quality of life of your community.

If Wichita isn’t a place where people want to live or visit, it will be difficult to grow and prosper.

This story was originally published December 4, 2016 at 5:06 AM with the headline "Quality of life matters to city."