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<\/a>Scott Downs & Linda Verin<\/strong><\/figure>\nToday\u2019s guest columnist are Scott Downs & Linda Verin:<\/em><\/p>\n Linda Verin, Birmingham resident:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the late \u201880s, after developing a very successful business in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas for nearly 15 years, we felt forced to move due to the depressed economy in the southwest from the oil bust.<\/p>\n We chose Birmingham.<\/p>\n Look at Oklahoma City now.<\/p>\n Oklahoma City is a big time success; Birmingham, not so much.<\/p>\n Both cities had similar opportunities, but OKC took a chance on a solid plan and <\/span>Birmingham was offered a flawed proposal.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Since I\u2019ve been away from OKC for so long, I asked my good friend, Scott Downs, who still lives there what happened.<\/p>\n Scott Downs, OKC Resident & booster:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Oklahoma City is one of the 20 fastest-growing cities in the U. S.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t always that way.<\/p>\n Thanks to the \u201973-74 oil embargo crisis Oklahoma experienced an oil boom like no other.\u00a0 Money flowed, jobs were created, loans that shouldn\u2019t have been approved were.\u00a0 Bankers drank champagne out of cowboy boots in expensive clubs while signing off on unsecured oil well loans.<\/p>\n Unfortunately all good things come to an end.<\/p>\n While high oil prices were good for the local economy, high prices triggered conservation which led to an oil glut.\u00a0 Prices dropped, shady bank loans defaulted, banks failed.\u00a0 When the local economy suffers, everyone suffers. OKC suffered through the \u201880s\u00a0with nothing to fall back on.<\/p>\n In 1991, OKC bid on a United Airlines Maintenance Facility that would have created 7,500 jobs.\u00a0 It was a disappointing, embarrassing loss.\u00a0 We had nothing to brag about.<\/p>\n We lost out on a microchip manufacturing plant, a Corning plant and others. The United Airlines loss was a huge wake-up call.<\/p>\n In 1985 my office was in OKC\u2019s warehouse district \u2013 dusty brick streets, dilapidated abandoned buildings, and an abundance of crime.\u00a0 For lunch it was a 5 mile round trip to a greasy spoon inside a motel for a sandwich and chips.<\/p>\n Today that dusty warehouse area is called Bricktown<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a thriving entertainment district with more than five million visitors a year!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s conservatively say each visitor spends $10.\u00a0 That\u2019s fifty million dollars annually in a former run-down area!\u00a0 My parking spot is now a beautifully landscaped canal.<\/p>\n Tourists pay $15 for a 45-minute canal ride while learning the history of OKC. Riverboats are available with tours offering more views. (The OK River had been dry as a bone and mowed 3x a year by the city).<\/p>\n Now the Oklahoma River plus adjacent River Sports facility are full of water. US Olympic athletes are training for rowing, canoeing, kayaking.\u00a0 Two events for the 2028 L. A. Summer Olympics will be held in OKC!<\/p>\n My 1985 office is now a private party area in Coyote Ugly Saloon.\u00a0 There are more than two dozen wonderful places to dine within walking distance.<\/p>\n Across the street is the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The OKC Comets, the AAA Affiliate of the L. A. Dodgers, host 75 home games a year.<\/p>\n Down the street is The Paycom Center where the OKC Thunder play 42 regular season home games.<\/p>\n Across the street is our newest, finest hotel, the Omni, one of dozens constructed to meet demand for visitors.\u00a0 Connected to the Omni is a new Convention Center.<\/p>\n Across the street is our new Scissortail Park<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n All public projects paid in full before they\u2019re built which made private investments flourish \u2013 more restaurants, theaters, entertainment centers.<\/p>\n How did all this happen in a few decades?<\/p>\n Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS)<\/strong><\/p>\n A one penny sales tax that funds exciting, tourism-driven projects like Bricktown Water Canal, a baseball park, an NBA arena plus transportation improvements like street cars and river boats.<\/p>\n OKC enhanced its infrastructure to attract tourism and also made significant improvements for residents by developing parks, pools, YMCAs, libraries, bike lanes, hiking trails, and much more.<\/p>\n Since the initial MAPs project won approval in 1993, three more MAPs extensions have been passed.<\/p>\n Taxes didn\u2019t increase.\u00a0 They\u2019ve simply extended the one penny sales tax for more exciting projects. Sure\u2014we pay 1\u00a2 sales tax but so do all the visitors MAPs projects attract!<\/p>\n Hard to believe one penny can do all that?<\/p>\n I was skeptical too.<\/p>\n I was wrong.<\/p>\n People do come to OKC on vacation, more every year!\u00a0 They also come to see baseball, softball and NBA basketball.<\/p>\n Hollywood films movies here.<\/p>\n People move here for the job market and the low cost of living \u2013 then stay because we have so much more to offer.<\/p>\n Young people stay after graduation instead of bolting for Dallas or Houston.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud of this city!\u00a0 I remember where we were in 1985; in 2025 the future of OKC has never looked brighter!<\/p>\n Linda Verin:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I follow Oklahoma sports.<\/p>\n I learned college football isn\u2019t a sport, it\u2019s \u201ca bloody religion.\u201d\u00a0 When OKC got the Thunder I was shocked.\u00a0 Someone I knew had \u201cstolen\u201d the team from Seattle.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think they would really take off.\u00a0 It\u2019s a crazy college football state like Alabama.\u00a0 But the Thunder have an average attendance of 17,450, almost capacity!<\/p>\n Birmingham turned down the MAPS project in 1998.<\/p>\n From Bham Wiki<\/em>: The name and structure of MAPS was similar to a 1993 proposal approved by 55% of voters in Oklahoma City. MAPS benefitted from being fully paid without borrowing.<\/p>\n Voters in the Birmingham metro defeated the proposal 57% to 43%.<\/p>\n Turnout was the largest since the 1992 presidential election. 96,490 voters, mostly in communities surrounding Birmingham, opposed it; 71,495 voters mostly inside Birmingham supported it.<\/p>\n OKC since MAPS:\u00a0 Now their downtown has completely transformed into a thriving, fun place, they have a major league sports team and because they legalized gambling the state has over 100 casinos. Truly, I never thought any one of these things could happen there.<\/p>\n Of course, Birmingham has made many strides since the defeat of MAPS \u2013 new stadium, City Walk, lots of restaurants and condos, Woodlawn \u2013 but still not the success MAPS provided OKC.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s time for Birmingham to consider a new MAP\u2019s initiative closer to the OKC model.<\/p>\n Linda Verin was a prior owner of electronics stores Soundtrak and Long\u2019s Electronics.\u00a0 Now owner of ad agency Ads That Work, creator of Call Goldberg jingle, does PR for nonprofits + radio\/tv\/print\/speeches\/websites for political campaigns.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Scott Downs was born and raised in Oklahoma and has lived there all but 10 years when he was in Atlanta.\u00a0 He was a JVC representative calling on Linda.\u00a0 He has also worked for the OKC Comets baseball team, OKC Thunder, the census bureau and in movies.<\/em><\/p>\n David Sher is the founder and publisher of\u00a0ComebackTown<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).<\/em><\/p>\n