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Oklahoma City could use foundation to fund MAPS 3 park operations, study finds

A study commissioned by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation suggests the city could use a partnership with a private foundation to help maintain and operate the MAPS 3 urban park and Myriad Gardens.

BY MICHAEL KIMBALL mkimball@opubco.com | Published: July 18, 2011 Comment on this article

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Article Gallery: Oklahoma City could use foundation to fund MAPS 3 park operations, study finds

We've been pretty successful in finding partners when we've built a new park project.

Wendel Whisenhunt

director of the Oklahoma City's Parks and Recreation Department

“They're going to have to do some real careful budgeting, but I think they do that,” Agee said.

The existing Myriad Gardens Foundation could morph into a new foundation that would raise private funds to help operate the gardens, the MAPS 3 park and the nearby and much smaller Bicentennial Park, the study said. The city could assign employees to the new foundation, which could also use its own employees to serve the parks.

The city hasn't committed to a way to fund operation of the parks, but Wendel Whisenhunt, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the proposed foundation would be similar to other arrangements for city parks.

“We've been pretty successful in finding partners when we've built a new park project,” Whisenhunt said.

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