Published: September 13, 2022 | Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 2:53 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — During their regular meeting Tuesday, the City Council for Oklahoma City got a quarterly update from the City’s economist on what inflation and potential recession means for Oklahoma City.
The Council went on to approve a string of five major allocations for real estate developments and improvements in the downtown area, and an ordinance to make it easier for the police to impound cars used in certain crimes.
And, in a rare moment of collegial togetherness, the Council honored their long-term Chief of Staff Debi Martin. Martin has been with the City for 50 years.
Marty Peercy reports Local government
Economist Update
Russell Evans, an economist contracted for several years now by the City of Oklahoma City, was at Tuesday’s meeting to provide an update on the economic outlook for the remaining three quarters of the fiscal year.
Evans’ message was neither morbid, nor especially hopeful.
Evans began by saying the question “are we in a recession” is easily answered by simply looking around. According to Evans, a recession would come with plummeting wages and a rise in unemployment, which we are not experiencing across the country.
However, demand for products has outpaced supply, resulting in a rate of inflation that is not sustainable.
What that means for Oklahoma City, Evans explained, is some financial pain in the near future, but we are reassured things will likely come back to a manageable level before the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2023.
In the short term, it will mean continued anomalous sales tax collection growth for the City, as we’ve seen over the last few months. Sales tax is indexed to inflation, since it is attached to actual dollars spent for goods. That means the city will likely see a retraction in the wild collection growth experienced recently.
Evans expressed that he believes we will be in recession for some of the time between now and June, but that the Federal Reserve System is applying “the brakes” in a way that avoids the very hard ending of the presumed recession, while not quite offering a “soft landing.”
The state’s economy remains largely the same as it has been in recent years, and is not expected to recede significantly over the next year.
Development-a-rama
The Council was treated to presentations and requests for financial allocation for five projects, largely related to major real estate development in the downtown area.
The allocations, totaling $21,855,000, will come from several funding sources.
First of the five is a project called the Nova Project, that will receive $775,000 from TIF 2 funds. This will be a mixed-use development abutting the BNSF railroad between NW 6th and NW 7th Streets. The project will renovate an existing building for mixed-use. In addition to luxury loft apartments, the project will bring a full-service grocery to Downtown OKC for the first time in years.
The development project is partnering with locally-owned and operated grocery Urban Agrarian in order to offer fresh locally grown and raised vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, and other products. In addition, the parking garage will have a new greenhouse constructed on top to grow some produce for sale at the market year-round. Other vendors including a coffee shop, a bar, and a bakery will be part of the development as well.
The second project is a $2,010,000 from the Residential Development category of the Downtown/MAPS Economic Development Project Plan. The project will provide for sanitary sewer line improvements to support development in the Midtown area. The project will take place in the area bounded by Shartel, NW 6th, Sheridan, and Western.
Third is a project requesting $2,000,000 of General Obligation Limited Tax (GOLT) Bond funds for an affordable multifamily housing development called Fairgrounds Flats. The multi-story complex will be built at May and General Pershing Boulevard directly across May from the State Fairgrounds. The target demographic for the homes is people making up to 60% of the Area Mean Income (AMI). One-bedroom apartments are slated to start at under $850 per month.
The fourth is called the Citizen Project, reflecting the name JRB Citizen, LLC, developing the project. The mixed use building and attending garage will serve largely office space, with hospitality and potential retail on the street facing ground-floor. The project seeks $1,080,000 of TIF 2 funds.
Finally, the largest allocation, $16 million of TIF 2 funds, was requested by a firm representing the Strawberry Fields development immediately west of Upper Scissortail Park.
The project will begin with an office building, then will move on to a hospitality complex, followed by a multifamily housing development featuring some portion of “workforce housing,” and finally for sale condos. This is only the first phase of development of the area.
All allocations were approved as part of the Council’s Consent Docket.
Fast & Furious
The Council held the final public hearing on a new ordinance expanding the cases from which local police may impound privately owned vehicles.
Legal staff for the city explained previously that the ordinance was largely designed to curb street racing by declaring it a nuisance worthy of vehicle impoundment. Staff and Chief Wade Gourley of the Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) explained that there was no real intention to enforce the ordinance, but rather that it would be a tool to discourage future crime.
Critics have pointed out that the wording of the ordinance includes impounding any vehicle stopping traffic. This would include bicycles holding up cars for large groups of riders or protest marchers, infringing potentially on First Amendment Rights.
Also, the language of “speed contests” could easily be applied to persons hurrying to pass before a stoplight.
Ward 6 Councilor JoBeth Hamon* spoke up to say she could not support the ordinance because it is government expansion by allowing the seizure of private property, which would serve to further erode public trust in the city and its police force.
Ward 6 Councilor James Cooper echoed these sentiments and said that traffic-calming designs would do more to curb vehicular crimes than a threat to seize property.
Ward 4 Councilor Todd Stone said that he hoped this would be a tool to address human trafficking. Nothing in the ordinance addresses human trafficking in any way. Cooper and Hamon, who each voted against the ordinance, used their comment time at the end of the meeting to push back against the implication that voting against the ordinance made them somehow complicit in not ending human trafficking.
The ordinance also provides for impounding vehicles used in police evasion, drive-by shootings, or soliciting and transporting prostitution.
Debi Martin honored
City Council Chief of Staff Debi Martin was honored at Tuesday’s meeting for her incredible 50 years of service to Oklahoma City.
Martin came to work for the City of Oklahoma City in 1972 and has filled many roles over her tenure, the most recent being chief of staff for the Council. That job includes onboarding of newly elected councilors, as well as coordination of meetings between council members and staff from across the many departments of city government, as well as facilitating the Youth Council program.
In her comments upon receiving the acclimation, Martin pointed out that many participants of that program are now on commissions, trusts, and departments that serve the city.
Martin received a rousing standing ovation from the gallery that was full of family, friends, and city staff.
The Council will meet again on September 27 at 8:30 a.m.
*Disclosure: Reporter Marty Peercy is the husband of Oklahoma City Council member JoBeth Hamon.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
