Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said Thursday it’s important Enid residents invest in their city to make it an attractive place for future generations in the face of growing urbanization.
“This urbanization is a trend. It’s probably going to continue,” Cornett said. “I think Enid needs to grasp that and realize there’s an opportunity there for Enid to grow.”
Growing Enid was Cornett’s major point of emphasis Thursday as he spoke at Enid Regional Development Alliance’s annual meeting at Oakwood Country Club.
In order for Enid to become part of the urbanization trend, Cornett said all residents of the city need to invest in it — even though they don’t believe they benefit from it directly.
“When I was in the MAPS campaign — these things get heated, and you get called all sorts of names and you’re defending all sorts of crazy allegations,” Cornett said. “At the end of the day, though, people just want to know why it’s important to invest in the center part of the city, why is it important to invest in general. In fact, why spend tax dollars on anything that doesn’t specifically help that person seemingly that day. Why invest in anything in a big picture perspective.
“And what I tell people is, ‘Look, if you really want to create a city where your kids and your grandkids are going to want to choose to live, you need to keep voting for these things.’ And sometimes that’s not the message that a retiree living in the suburbs wants to hear, but they also know it’s true.
“They realize that if you’ve got a young person and they’re educated or even highly educated, they have options. It’s a world where they think they can do lots of different things, they can certainly choose to live in lots of different places. And we believe in Oklahoma City and I believe that Enid fits this category as well, if we’re going to be more successful than not.”
Cornett finished his address by voicing his support for a $20 million bond issue that would renovate Convention Hall/Mark Price Arena and build a new event center next to Cherokee Strip Conference Center. The vote is set for Aug. 24.
“Be sure to pass this (bond issue) in August and I’ll be watching closely,” he said.
After the address, Cornett took a few questions regarding the purpose behind the Oklahoma City MAPS projects and how he categorizes the urban areas in the state.
Through the MAPS projects, Cornett said, he wanted to give Oklahoma City a sense of identity by moving the city toward being a pedestrian city and not so much an automobile city.
Cornett suggested a way to make Enid and other cities stand out is to “brand” the city, make it feel special and unique compared to other cities.