Oklahoma City Council discusses business climate, dangerous intersections
Reporter Michael Kimball live tweeted from the Oklahma City Council meeting Tuesday morning. Read about discussions and agenda items below.
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Published: November 20, 2012
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Reporter Michael Kimball live tweeted from the Oklahma City Council meeting Tuesday morning. Read about discussions and agenda items below.
@OKC_Beat
8:40 a.m.
Only a few notable items in this pre-Thanksgiving meeting.
8:41 a.m.
One is Greater Oklahoma City Chamber President Roy Williams presentation on business in the city, which happens every few months.
8:42 a.m.
That's right up top.
8:43 a.m.
Williams is speaking now, has a business report to share.
8:43 a.m.
Williams: Stable local economy with job growth.
8:43 a.m.
Williams: 59 percent of companies plan to expand employment. Up from 44 percent last year.
8:44 a.m.
51 percent expanded last year, 4,500+ jobs of $63,000 avg salary. Chamber interviewed 350 businesses.
8:46 a.m.
Williams: Larger companies are hesitant in comparison to smaller ones because of broader concern about national economy.
8:46 a.m.
RT @DavidTCopeland: @OKC_Beat while there....will you tell at them to fix the road that goes around lake Hefner? TYVM
8:47 a.m.
Williams: Companies finding shortage of trained, educated workers in some fields.
8:49 a.m.
RT @NewsOK: LIVE: Follow updates from this morning's Oklahoma City Council meeting newsok.com/live-updates-f…
8:50 a.m.
That's it from Williams. Light Q&A from council coming up.
8:55 a.m.
By the way, you can read the agenda or watch online here okc.gov/AgendaPub/meet… or check out Cox channel 20 if you live in OKC.
8:57 a.m.
Ed Shadid asking if there's a way the Chamber can help companies develop healthy lifestyle plans for companies.
8:58 a.m.
Williams says Chamber does that as a "connector" for companies looking to do that, motivation is typically to reduce healthcare costs.
9:01 a.m.
On the agenda item here in a minute, an item about Infant Crisis Services getting a $2,500 grant. okne.ws/S7o4Oo
9:01 a.m.
(That link was to a story for some background.)
9:02 a.m.
The grant is part of recognition of OKC by the America's Promise Alliance as one of its 100 Best Communities for Young People.
9:04 a.m.
Moving on to the longest, on paper, part of the meeting, but typically the shortest in time. The consent/concurrence items.
9:08 a.m.
There's another interesting item in the consent agenda that Councilman Pat Ryan just brought up -- high-rise firefighting equipment.
9:09 a.m.
Devon Energy Corp. is donating some equipment to the city so firefighters can handle problems in the 50-story Devon Tower.
9:09 a.m.
Ryan is wondering if that kind of equipment should be required. Fire Chief Keith Bryant says no, but this is a good piece of equipment...
9:10 a.m.
... that's reflective of a good relationship with Devon. It's not a requirement for others, but would be nice.
9:11 a.m.
Undecided I think. But that would be amazing. RT @StateImpactOK @OKC_Beat please say it's grappling hook guns.
9:13 a.m.
Councilman Shadid is bringing up some issues related to the MAPS 3 senior centers.
9:15 a.m.
Shadid is stressing flexibility in the forthcoming RFP for operating partners. Background: okne.ws/ZNUdfR
9:15 a.m.
One of the ideas is that maybe the city doesn't need to build four senior centers, but rather two bigger ones.
9:15 a.m.
It's interesting though because four were promised to voters in the MAPS 3 campaign.
9:16 a.m.
And some on the council recently made a big stink about voters having been promised 70 miles of sidewalks, but $ will be short.
9:17 a.m.
Shadid and Councilman White were some of the ones saying that the loudest, but they are wanting further study on two center issue.
9:17 a.m.
All that said, for Shadid in particular, the guy goes to lots of MAPS 3 subcommittee meetings. He knows what's going on, pays attention.
9:17 a.m.
So it's a worthwhile discussion, and one that's happening.
9:18 a.m.
White also warning that recent hints the city could think about subsidy for senior centers could be a bad idea.
9:18 a.m.
Councilman Gary Marrs also pointing out residents thought they were getting four centers.
9:18 a.m.
By the way, this discussion comes from a related item in the consent agenda. Just an architectural contract.
9:19 a.m.
And as someone who also attends lots of MAPS subcommittee meetings, I can tell you one thing about that subsidy for sure.
9:19 a.m.
It looks like it will be really hard for those centers to have a pool without a city subsidy. Pools are hugely expensive.
9:20 a.m.
But aquatic element of the senior center was one of the most popular with voters. So stay tuned on that in the next year or so for sure.
9:21 a.m.
Great for firefighters. Even better for senior centers. RT @StateImpactOK @OKC_Beat please say it's jet packs or tower-scaling waterbots.
9:21 a.m.
Councilman Skip Kelly says he wants to explore multigenerational use of the facilities. That's been discussed at some of the meetings.
9:22 a.m.
Now we've moved on to the zoning issues. I'll let you know if any interesting ones come up.
9:25 a.m.
Actually, hardly any zoning issues. And few items of individual consideration that are very interesting either today.
9:25 a.m.
There's an update report coming up on OKC's 10 most dangerous intersections. We did a story on that recently. Let me see if I can find link.
9:27 a.m.
Here it is: newsok.com/intersection-o…
9:27 a.m.
(That's a @rmedleyokc story I just linked to.)
9:30 a.m.
We're on items from council. No action items. Most of the interesting discussions probably already happened, but you never know.
9:38 a.m.
By the way I forgot to mention Councilwoman Meg Salyer is absent today. Mayor Mick Cornett was here but apparently had to leave early.
9:39 a.m.
Councilman Gary Marrs is in Cornett's seat. It's his turn as Vice Mayor for I think six months.
9:48 a.m.
There is some discussion of some parking stuff now, generated by Shadid. Still lots of parking needs downtown.
9:52 a.m.
OK, now it's time for the top 10 most dangerous intersections presentation.
9:53 a.m.
This presentation was spurred by @rmedleyokc's article that I linked to a bit ago.
9:55 a.m.
Public Works Director Eric Wenger is making the presentation.
9:55 a.m.
Right now he's highlighting things done city-wide to try to help traffic safety issues in the city.
9:55 a.m.
No. 1 worst intersection is NW Expressway and Belle Isle. Worst means most accidents, etc.
9:57 a.m.
City data shows that collisions have declined from 86 to 58 in the first two full years city took ownership of intersection from ODOT.
9:57 a.m.
City made some changes to the signs and signals there.
9:57 a.m.
No. 2 is NW Expressway and Rockwell. As Wenger points out, these are high-volume intersections. So of course there will be more collisions.
9:58 a.m.
No. 4, NW Expressway and NW 63.
9:58 a.m.
Notice a trend on the NW Expressway?
9:59 a.m.
No. 5, NW Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway.
9:59 a.m.
6. NW Expressway and Penn.
10:00 a.m.
No. 7, NW 39 and Meridian. I used to live there. It is indeed dangerous.
10:00 a.m.
No. 8, MacArthur and Reno. Down to about 20 accideents per year at that intersection, although 18 through six months of this year.
10:02 a.m.
9. Is Western and SW 59. 10 is NW Expressway and Lake Hefner, east side (so I guess the other one was the west side).
10:02 a.m.
Essentially, the efforts to help this are part of city-wide efforts to make some changes to signals and intersections.
10:02 a.m.
Brighter lights, signal timing, dedicated turn lanes, etc.
10:04 a.m.
Shadid says "dangerous" intersections should also include what pedestrians face, not just vehicles.
10:11 a.m.
That's it for today's meeting. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
If you prefer your thoughts to appear in The Oklahoman's Opinion section, we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor.
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