By Zach Patton
November 22, 2010

In 2006, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett stepped on a scale and came to a realization: <0x201C>I was obese.<0x201D> Cornett<0x2019>s epiphany wasn<0x2019>t just personal. Oklahoma City had begun appearing on multiple lists of the country<0x2019>s fattest cities, and the mayor decided it was time to do something about it. His idea? Put the city on a diet. (To drive the point home, Cornett held a press conference standing in front of elephants at the city zoo.) The results of the weight-loss initiative are impressive -- 43,000 participants already have lost a combined 600,000 pounds and counting. Cornett himself has shed 40 pounds, down to 180.

The mayor<0x2019>s crusade against obesity became the cornerstone of a whole new vision for the city<0x2019>s future. <0x201C>We had an automobile-centric culture, a drive-through restaurant mentality,<0x201D> he says. <0x201C>We hadn<0x2019>t built a pedestrian-friendly community.<0x201D>

So Cornett crafted a bold idea to remake Oklahoma City as a walkable urban center. His ambitious $777 million plan included an extensive new downtown streetcar system, sidewalks throughout the city, a 60-mile network of bicycle trails and walking paths, a new convention center and a new 70-acre park downtown.

Cornett spent much of 2009 trying to convince voters to fund the plan by extending an existing 1-cent sales tax. First elected in 2004, Cornett, an Oklahoma City native and former sports broadcaster, garnered a record-high 87.6 percent of the vote in his 2006 re-election. He put his popularity on the line by backing the new plan, says Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. <0x201C>He was so passionate about it that he was willing to risk his political capital.<0x201D>

Voters approved the new plan in December 2009. Cornett says he<0x2019>s just continuing the city<0x2019>s existing momentum: With two similar tax increases in the 1990s, Oklahoma City has been on an upswing for the past 15 years. Still, he recognizes the revolutionary nature of his vision. <0x201C>It<0x2019>s all part of this culture shift where we<0x2019>re creating a healthier community. This is a renaissance time for Oklahoma City. We<0x2019>re in a golden age.