So, of course, you chose to follow the lead of those esteemed county commissioners, eh?

Ah, yes, someone else who drank the Vaughn kool-aid...

That's the whole point of this issue - there's not one shred of proof that so much as one day of additional longevity or one penny's worth of additional employment will come as a result of this boondoggle. Further, we have absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that the funding generated by the increased property taxes will even be used to purchase the GM plant should those benevolent county commissioners discover some other "urgent" project under the heading of "economic development" that needs the funding worse.

Did anyone hear that those same Tinker leaders said it would take "considerable" monies to revamp the plant into something usable, whatever that might be? There's a stairstep implicit here - first, you have to identify the work; then you have to decide if the plant is adequate for it, then you have to assess the cost of retooling it, then you solicit funding for it. That's a loooong way from the "thousands of jobs" the "friends" of Tinker promised.

What is certain is that the poor property-owning saps in Oklahoma County will be zapped with a tax bill to finance this scheme, and they'll never know just whom is truly profiting. If we had a truly investigative news source in Oklahoma, we might find out who the winner in this Ponzi scheme -- the promise of vapor jobs for "just a few pennies" of your hard-earned tax dollars - really is.

And color me skeptical, but I have a sneaking suspicion it isn't gonna be the taxpayers.

Wonder how long before we find Gene Stipe hooked into it somehow :sarcasm

this is sincerely not meant as a cheap shot, but, the best analogy I can come up with is . . .sorry. . . don't have the time, energy, or inclination to explain try and calculus to those haven't yet mastered 3rd grade math. And it doesn't have anything to do with the County Commissioners. . . .it's the business end of the largest single site employer in the State of Oklahoma. Whether you care if it is "government" or not, it's a fact. Further, I'm not into Kool-Ade. . .I'd much prefer Caymus. . .

I'm normally pretty trusting of leaders until they prove otherwise so I see nothing sinister in this plot to defraud the taxpayers of OKC

With a grand total of 3 or 4 major employers in the metro I am all for enhancing the prospects of the largest as long as it's not outrageous...Tinker gets shut down or severely downsized we are all hurting big time

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Dr. Spaceman: Now Jenna, medically speaking for your height your weight puts you what we call the "disgusting" range. Fortunately there are solutions. For example, crystal meth has been shown to be very effective. How important is tooth retention to you?

Yes and those same Tinker officials have publicly committed $100million towards the necessary up grades to the plant in Federal money.

Further there are numerous old buildings currently on Tinker that will be shut down and torn down and the work moved to the facility.

Third, I believe I mentioned this had the endorsement of the Secretary of the Air Force. I DONT believe the Generals and commanders of TINKER would have came out for this without the approval from on high.

Further the Air Force is working towards private sector tenents for the unused portion of the building.

Further General Reno has also went through BRAC closures. And he has publicaly stated the He is NOT worried about another BRac Attack.

Further I would rather believe a current active two star general rather than a retired general that has been removed from several different positions because of his mouth.

Further there were numerous public breifings given which included Tinker officials who supported this acquistion.

Further Bob Conners a retired SES'er from tinker who was the former ALC commanderFurther, who ya gonna believe..................I chose who I would believe based on the information presented and based on personal knowledge of the truthful nature of the person involved.

Further when the move occurs and the jobs are relocated I will be sure to re-resurect this thread to show you .....you were wrong............maybe.
Time and only time will tell..........

Wow, what a grudge.

Redskin 70: Plaudits!!

Sounds and looks to me that he was dismissed for NOT supporting a position on an issue that the Chamber DID support.

Yes. But that will soon be a thing of the past.

Yep, this is one scam they can't blame on "ole" Gene. He's not the Vice-Chair of the Chambers Aviation and Aerospace Committee.

I guess not as of September! So we just did the federal govt a favor AND GM one also (Hey thanks for leaving, GM, let us take this burden off of you now!)

Follow the money, asks who benefits. 2000 more voters decided a property tax increase was good for all home owners in the city.

I bet that 2000 don't even own their own homes...

Yeah its not really worth beating a dead horse...its done...still not real happy about it..time to move on though.

Is that a real issue for you David? Would it have been better, or worse, from your perspective, if the outcome of the vote had been based on a majority of 200 or 20,000 rather than 2000?

Like the outcome or hate the outcome, the number who care enough to vote, in either direction, will always have more say than the multitudes who can't turn off the x-box, telly or set aside their freakin' spiderman paint by numbers sets for a mere 20 minutes.

Where can I get one?

craigslist?

HA!

Maybe we should have put the GM plant on craigslist...

I will tell you why he supported the sTinker vote, the chamber has a nice cushy job or a few "speaking engagements" lined up for him as soon as he retires. Not mention I am sure a nice little thank you kick back is waiting for him after retirement.

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Hi Kevin, Nice to see someone using their own name. You are right about the numbers. Majority wins, but so few/by percentage are actually voting. Special elections massively favor special interests. It is for moneyed interest to sway and roll out a small subset of votes to get issues passed that benefit their interest. It is difficult for disparate opposition to battle against these kind of things. I believe if more people understood the issue the outcomes would be different - difficult to change but some of us are working on it.

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How could this possibly have been budgeted in the current fiscal year when it wasn't even a proposal more than a couple of months ago?

Also, which upgrades, and when is work scheduled to begin? Which projects are these upgrades going to support at the GM facility? You don't have the answer to that, because you don't know what work - if any - is going there. Therefore you cannot know what kinds of upgrades are going in, and the "$100 million commitment" is a vapor commitment.

Oh, I thought the GM plant was being purchased to bring Tinker thousands of new jobs, not just to shift the location of existing jobs.....

This is supposed to make the county's purchase of the GM plant and subsequent gift rental to Tinker sound better??? Listen to yourself - if the objective was to give it to private sector tenants, then county voters just got duped into the sacrifice of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in facility rental revenue on top of the loss of property tax revenue formerly headed to the Mid Del school district? Now you've REALLY sold me on just how keen a project this was.
[quote]Further General Reno has also went through BRAC closures[/quote.]

He has never gone through a BRAC round as a Tinker commander.

Here we go again, crapping on Burpee. What in the world is your issue with him? His kid beat up yours and steal his lunch money or something? Burpee found hiimself at odds with the Chamber of Commerce because he refused to toe their line on several idiotic positions, and he was right in doing so. He spoke his mind about this most recent boondoggle, and again he was right in doing so.

If your buddies come through with the "thousands" of new jobs they promised in their advertising, you'll have every right to do so. But I'm not worried, because it isn't going to happen. And when that fails, your buddy Ray Vaughn and his minions won't have one shred of accountability for the Brooklyn Bridge they've sold the taxpayers.

Hey, I hope lots of jobs DO come here. But you've just said yourself they're going to transfer existing jobs in and fill the rest of the space with private sector tenants - doesn't sound like even a fraction of the "thousands of new jobs" your buddies promised. I'd love to think your idealized faith in our local county leaders were merited.

As someone else has pointed out, this debate is pointless, the vote has been taken, and everyone in Oklahoma county gets to foot the bill for this nonsense. Won't matter one penny to me, because I don't live in Oklahoma county, but scams like this still frustrate and annoy me to no end, for they prove that good ol' boy politics is alive and well.

Oh pleezzeeee and next we have the sequel of the "Sky is falling"

[quote=SoonerDave;143358].
Here we go again, crapping on Burpee. What in the world is your issue with him? His kid beat up yours and steal his lunch money or something? [/i]

Dont think so. Son was 10th SF so I doubt a airforce wennie kid could do that.

You have an anger problem perhaps??????????? Or just dont like being contradicted????????

Tinker brass forecasting 5-year move to GM plant | NewsOK.com

See............Theres the commitment....Its in the paper.

Now back to the original premise.
Your argument is fallacious so you resort to retorts so childish as the above................

Did anyone else happen to read the May 15th article by Bryan Dean? It was on the front page of the DOK Business section and titled, "Land use may put Tinker at risk". The jest of the story deals with the intent of City Officials in Del City to move forward with a plan, that would allow a proposed retail development to be built in an "Accident Protection Zone" located near I-40 and Sooner Road.

The proposed development will be too close to a runway at T.A.F.B. and would put the base at risk of being CLOSED. How crazy is that? Although I live in OKC, I also live in Clevland County. Thank God. But I would still feel sorry for, and hate to see you Oklahoma Countians spend $55,000,000. for nothing.