Thanks Oklahoma City for continuing the momentum!

Your vote of approval for MAPS 3 ensures that our city will continue to grow and prosper. Unofficial election results put MAPS 3 passing with a 54% Yes vote. The one-cent sales tax for MAPS 3 will begin April 1, 2010, the day after the end of the sports facilities sales tax, and will last for seven years and nine months.

Click to view MAPS 3 press conference (WMV).

The ordinance calling for the election was introduced at the September 22nd City Council meeting.

The initiative contains a diverse list of eight projects:

• A new, approximately 70-acre central park linking the core of downtown with the Oklahoma River
• A new rail-based streetcar system, plus potential funding for other rail transit initiatives, such as commuter lines and a transit hub
• A new downtown convention center
• Sidewalks to be placed on major streets and near facilities used by the public throughout the City
• 57 miles of new public bicycling and walking trails throughout the City
• Improvements to the Oklahoma River, including a public whitewater kayaking facility and upgrades intended to achieve the finest rowing racecourse in the world
• State-of-the-art health and wellness aquatic centers throughout the City designed for senior citizens
• Improvements to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds

“This proposal dreams big, and it continues the momentum and renaissance of the last 15 years,” said Mayor Cornett. “I believe it will achieve the goals that have always defined MAPS projects – creating jobs and improving our quality of life. I think it recognizes the needs of the world-class city we are becoming, and I think it will capture our imaginations. If this initiative moves forward, the next 10 years of this City’s history will be more exciting than the last 10. We have hardly scratched the surface of what this City is capable.”

MAPS 3 is a seven-year, nine-month one-cent sales tax. Collection of the sales tax will commence on April 1, 2010, the day after the conclusion of the sports facilities sales tax collection that voters approved in March, 2008.

The estimated total cost of the initiative is $777 million. That total cost includes $17 million in contingency funds.