View Full Version : An American City That's Getting It Right



Guy Noir
09-30-2010, 12:57 PM
Seems no-one picked this up...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203514704575510304194792166.html

fuzzytoad
09-30-2010, 01:14 PM
Seems no-one picked this up...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203514704575510304194792166.html

Probably because you have to subscribe to read the article...

anyone have the full text? from first glance it looks like a rehash of Mick's appearance on Fox Business News

BDP
09-30-2010, 01:38 PM
Try this one:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203514704575510304194792166.html

Well that didn't work. When I go to this Google SERP and click on the the article I can see the whole thing.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=Known+to+many+Americans+as+the+site+of+the+worst +act+of+domestic+terrorism+before+Sept.+11%2C+the+ capital+city+of+Oklahoma+is+rebranding+itself+with +its+economic+success&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS398US398&ie=UTF-8

Doug Loudenback
09-30-2010, 03:49 PM
Thanks, BDP. That worked. I'll go ahead and paste the article



An American City That's Getting It Right
Mayor Mick Cornett explains how Oklahoma City turned into an economic success story during tough times.

But given the crises that local governments have been facing, — including declining tax rolls, rising demand for services, and widening budget gaps – we decided to shine the spotlight on a city that is defying the national trends.

So hats off to Oklahoma City.

Known to many Americans as the site of the worst act of domestic terrorism before Sept. 11, the capital city of Oklahoma is rebranding itself with its economic success.

In the midst of a weak national economy, the city is experiencing job growth, a stable housing market, and increased infrastructure spending.

We spoke with the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, Mick Cornett – serving his third term in office – about the conditions that contribute to the community's success. Let's hope that other local political leaders can learn something from Cornett's words.

Barrons.com: Starting with the labor situation, unemployment in Oklahoma City is about three percentage points lower than it is for the national average. How have you done it?

Cornett: It's 6.4%. We've been No. 1 [among cities] in 12 of the last 19 months. We have a huge amount of entrepreneurial activity. And the job creators — the entrepreneurs — are successful, because we have created this incredible quality of life. So the young and highly talented and educated 20-somethings are not only starting in Oklahoma, but they are actually moving here from California and Texas and other places.

So, if a job creator comes to Oklahoma City there is a talented workforce to grow their business. And there is just a very healthy economy in general. If you were to walk into the city today, you would see an amazing amount of construction, more construction then probably in a hundred years.

There is a skyscraper going up right across the street from City Hall. It sends a message of vitality to our citizens. Our own sales tax revenue is up over 10% the last two months. That's partially because 2009 was so lousy. But the other part of it is that it feels like the recession is over here.

Q: If people who aren't familiar with Oklahoma City thought about the employment base, they'd think, ''As goes the energy market, so must go Oklahoma City.'' But the fact is, there's a more-diversified base of employers than that.

A: That's right. In the 1980s we were very reliant on the energy industry, and we saw what happened. It started with the Penn Square banking scandal that went under. The energy industry tanked. Our banking industry followed. Over a hundred banks went broke in Oklahoma in the 1980s. And coming out of that our leadership decided we have got to get more diverse. We identified aviation and the biomedical industries as sectors that we wanted to grow. We are also the region's tourism center. Ten years ago we had one downtown hotel and it wasn't doing well — now we have seven, and they are full.

Q: Who are some of the employers that are actively hiring?

A: Boeing recently announced they are moving several hundred jobs to Oklahoma City. We believe this is the beginning of a long and very deep relationship with Boeing. The nearby Tinker Air Force Base has about 27,000 jobs associated with it. Boeing is part of that infrastructure. Boeing is continuing to grow and continuing to look at Oklahoma as one of the best places to do business.

Our cost of living is about 90% of the national average, and our wages are about 107% of the national average. That discretionary income adds to the quality of life. Because your housing prices are so low, you have money for restaurants and tickets to NBA games. And your housing dollar goes further in Oklahoma City than just about anywhere. When people see the quality and the size of the house they can own, that usually seals the deal. We have very good success in getting people to move to Oklahoma City after they've come to visit.

Q: How has your housing market held up so well?

A: We never had the housing bubble. In fact, we've had a fairly consistent growth rate – about 5% — which is decent growth, but not crazy growth. As a result, we didn't have the bubble, and we didn't have the downfall. Sales dropped a little bit, not necessarily in price, but just in activity over the last year or two. Your house might sit on the market a little bit longer. But I never saw prices retreat in the marketplace, and that is partially because they didn't escalate the way they did in other parts of the country.

Q: What are the biggest economic risks that Oklahoma City faces?

A: Traditionally if you went back a generation and you looked at commodities, you'd ask, ''How would Oklahoma City be affected?'' You would say, what is a barrel of oil and what's a bushel of wheat, and those would be two indicators of our economy. Today, it's what's a unit of natural gas because we have two of the largest natural-gas companies located in our downtown. [Those are Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy.] The natural-gas industry is very tied to the success of the community.

Q: And yet natural-gas prices have weakened over the course of the last year or so. Wouldn't that be a harbinger of some sort of distress on the horizon?

A: Just think how good our economy would be if it was higher.

Q: The city government has undertaken some stimulus initiatives – for instance, the revitalization of your parks areas. But overall how does your spending patterns compare with cities across the nation?

A: We are spending more money than any city in the country, on a per-capita basis. We are building a new convention center, revitalizing the downtown, spending on street cars, new parks, new bike trails. We are redesigning all of our intercity streets. We are building new gymnasiums in the grade schools. We are building new jogging and biking paths. On the river, we are creating the premier venue in the world for the sports of canoeing, kayaking and rowing. And so this is the golden age for Oklahoma City. And everything I have mentioned to you is funded.

Q: Some Tea Party folks are going to show up at your door and say, "We have to get these rascals out of here for all this spending."

A: Well, keep in mind that Oklahoma City always has the longest string of Republican mayors of any city in the country. I'm the third consecutive Republican mayor. We have had Republican mayors for the last 23 years, and all of the initiatives that I just mentioned to you kept the tax levels at the same rate.

Q: And you have also had some notable successes —the ability to attract an NBA team to the community is, obviously, one of them. [The Oklahoma City Thunder moved to the community from Seattle for the 2008 season, and made the NBA playoffs last season.]

A: Well the NBA team was the result of our efforts to rebrand the city. We have never been protective of our brand. I felt that if we could bring in a major league sports team, it would allow people on the East and West Coasts to associate Oklahoma City with something positive. That's why you have teams called the Oklahoma City Thunder, not the Oklahoma Thunder. We've got to brand this city with things that are positive.
All in all, I think that the mayor represented us well in this interview. I can even forgive him for mentioning the fact that we have had 3 Republican mayors in succession since it was mentioned against the background of a Tea Party question. Otherwise, since we have a non-partisan ballot in city elections (and since I think that is a good idea), I would have faulted him for that reference.

OUman
09-30-2010, 07:34 PM
Cool! Great publicity for Oklahoma City.

bombermwc
10-01-2010, 06:45 AM
Q: And yet natural-gas prices have weakened over the course of the last year or so. Wouldn't that be a harbinger of some sort of distress on the horizon?

A: Just think how good our economy would be if it was higher.


Now that one is nice PR work from a trained professional. He completely avoided the question and turned it around to be something positive for himself. Props Mayor Mick, you speak the game well. LOL

BG918
10-01-2010, 07:41 AM
Now that one is nice PR work from a trained professional. He completely avoided the question and turned it around to be something positive for himself. Props Mayor Mick, you speak the game well. LOL

Once natural gas prices do go higher, and they will, there will be another boom in Oklahoma. It will make our current progress look like nothing.

Larry OKC
10-01-2010, 09:34 PM
Now that one is nice PR work from a trained professional. He completely avoided the question and turned it around to be something positive for himself. Props Mayor Mick, you speak the game well. LOL

Caught that too and I agree

Just think how much better the nations economy would be if it hadn't been for the dot.com bust...the housing bust...etc etc etc

Nearly every business out there has its ups and downs. If you can hang on long enough through the down time, the up will usually eventually come back.

Would have been nice if the reporter (in Tim Russert style, RIP) would ask the question again until he got an answer to the question asked...

Steve
10-01-2010, 09:46 PM
I had an interview like that (asking the same question over and over) today with Amtrak. He was ruthless in his commitment to say much without saying anything. After 10 minutes I gave up and had to admire the guy for what was one of the best performances since Baghdad Bob.

Larry OKC
10-02-2010, 01:20 AM
Steve:

LOL. Good old Baghdad Bob...he was entertaining wasn't he?

Mr Russert would usually give it 3 attempts and then move on. He may have done it, but never heard him say, "Since you won't answer the question, we'll move on". That way it makes it perfectly clear that they aren't fooling anyone with their non-answers.

All to often, the media (not directed at you) just seems content to get a sound bite/quote and thats the end of it. Understand that you aren't always allowed the luxury of follow-up questions, but how often have we all heard an interview and the person says something and immediately the bells go off...hey, wait a minute, that isn't what you said last week/month/year.