By Patricia Carter
January 11, 2010

The citizens of Oklahoma City have voted to implement a new capital improvement plan called Metropolitan Area Projects 3 (MAPS 3). The one-cent sales tax for MAPS 3 will begin April 1, the day after the end of a sports facility sales tax. The MAPS 3 tax will last for seven years and nine months and maintain the city's sales tax rate where it currently stands.

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; a new downtown convention center; sidewalks 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; state-of-the-art health and wellness aquatic centers throughout the city designed for senior citizens; improvements to the Oklahoma River; and improvements to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett sees the MAPS 3 program as an extension of the momentum and renaissance that the city experienced over the last 15 years. According to Cornett, MAPS 3 will create jobs and improve the quality of life for people living in Oklahoma City, contributing to transformation in the city. "The physical changes of the city are exciting and easy to see. The cultural changes are less visible but just as exciting. And we are no longer in the beginning stages but a couple of steps down the road toward making Oklahoma City a more pedestrian-friendly and healthier community," said Cornett.