A group of Oklahoma City citizens, spearheaded by the pledge of major financial and volunteer support by The Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police and The Oklahoma City Firefighters Association Local 157, announced their formal opposition to the MAPS 3 initiative at a morning news conference held at the Firefighters’ Local 157 building in downtown Oklahoma City. Ward 5 City Councilman Brian Walters also attended and lent his public support to the effort to defeat MAPS 3.
The Not This MAPS Coalition filed its campaign papers with the Oklahoma City Clerk on October 29 and organizational efforts have been under way since that time.
“We were deeply disappointed – but not surprised – by comments made by Mayor Cornett and others at yesterday’s news conference,” said Phil Sipe, coalition chairman and president of Firefighters Local 157. Sipe stressed the fact that the December 8th election is about the citizens of Oklahoma City deciding whether or not they approve a package of projects totaling three quarters of a billion dollars and is not about negotiated issues between police and fire and the city. “As public servants, we want to make it very clear that we love this city very much, and have dedicated our lives to protecting the citizens of this city. We have established enormous public trust by providing excellent public safety services and programs. For these reasons we feel that MAPS 3 is a bad plan,” Sipe continued.
Sipe continued, “For weeks the Mayor has touted a list of projects in the MAPS 3 initiative which would include a new downtown convention center, a new 70-acre central park, a new rail-based streetcar system, and improvements to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Yet, never once has the Mayor talked about public safety needs as part of that list. Not one time have you seen mention of public safety on their website or in any printed brochure or audio visual presentation from the “Yes MAPS Coalition?” Not until yesterday. And I believe we all know why – the Mayor and others have come to realize that the public by and large does not support this MAPS proposal.
“This MAPS proposal costs too much money for too many unneeded projects at a time when too many people are concerned about their own job – not a pie in the sky promise of new jobs that might be created if MAPS 3 passes. Furthermore, I believe the public is both aware and concerned that they have adequate fire and police protection before they have another nice park or even more sidewalks or riding trails,” Sipe continued.
“This coalition wants to be perfectly clear about our intentions and goals,” said Gil Hensley, vice chairman of the group and FOP president. Police and fire are united in this effort to defeat this MAPS proposal because it costs too much - $777 million dollars, for too long – seven years, with no written guarantees that the named projects will ever be funded or in what order. The citizens of Oklahoma City work too hard, love their community too much, to give a blank check to a group of politicians in these uncertain economic times.”
Both men also stressed that comments from Mayor Cornett a day earlier were designed to confuse the public when he suggested that the city would give MAPS 3 use tax revenue for public safety.
Sipe questioned the timing of the Mayor’s comments on Thursday by saying, “If Mayor Cornett was so interested in making certain public safety was part of MAPS 3, why did he wait until just yesterday to talk about it?”
“Firefighters and police officers are joining ranks with citizens from all parts of the city and all walks of life in this campaign,” Hensley said. “We will knock doors, put up signs, make calls, and do everything possible to get our message out about why this is not a good proposal and should be rejected by the voters on December 8,” he added.
Ward 5 Councilman Brian Walters also spoke at the news conference. “I am convinced by the number of calls and comments I have received in recent weeks that many Oklahoma City voters have already made up their minds about this election and plan to vote no on December 8th. The supporters of MAPS 3 would suggest that opposition to this proposal means we do not support our community or want to see progress in the future. That is simply untrue. There is growing support against this MAPS proposal because it is too much money for too long with too few safeguards – that is why I opposed it on the City Council and why I stand today to publicly oppose it once again,” Walters said.
“We encourage the citizens of Oklahoma City who want to see a more responsible approach to future MAPS-type proposals to join our effort,” Sipe said. A website has been launched at www.NotThisMaps.com and individuals who want to get involved, have a yard sign, or secure a speaker for their club or group, can call campaign coordinator, Kris Masterman at the campaign headquarters, 506-2720.
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