Tag Archives: OKC

OKC Rail Plan: Questions & Crime

By Jonathan Small

In multiple states, failing large-scale public transit projects have produced demands for state-taxpayer-funded bailouts. This has happened in California, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, to name just a few.

That’s why all Oklahomans should be concerned about Oklahoma City metro officials’ efforts to create a $1.8 billion commuter rail system covering 39 miles from Edmond to Oklahoma City to Norman.

Proponents claim passenger rail will boost economic development in the metro, but similar rail services have augmented the worst problems of urban settings—homelessness and crime—and spread them throughout surrounding areas.

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Metro rivers: one hot one not

By David Arnett, Publisher

OKCOklahomaRiver1Steve Lackmeyer writing for the Oklahoman reports that in just a few short years, a series of improvements along the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City have transformed the one time flood control channel into one of Oklahoma City’s top attractions.  Tulsa’s natural Arkansas River continues to be abused and ignored.  This story is much more about Oklahoma City’s success.

Lackmeyer writes:

It’s more a happy accident of design rather than intentional civic promotion that has thousands of cross-country travelers wondering about the “amusement park” they see rising up along the Oklahoma River.

The sight of dozens of kids crawling all over the 80-foot-high SandRidge Sky Trail alone is proving to be a draw for some of the 111,500 motorists who travel the new highway daily. Mike Knopp, director of the Oklahoma Boathouse Foundation, can only imagine what the response might be once the master plan for the area is fully realized over the next few years.

“People see the Sky Trail, and they come here thinking it is an amusement park,” Knopp said. “And in some ways, you can say it is. We like to call it an adventure park.”
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