History of Oklahoma City - Recent History and Renewal

Recent History and Renewal

By 1992, the city was in such dire need of improvement that it was losing jobs, population, and even air carriers to more attractive cities. With this in mind, Mayor Ron Norrick pushed through a massive plan for capitol improvements throughout Downtown called the Metropolitan Area Projects Plan, or MAPS. MAPS called for a five-year, one-cent sales tax to fund a new ballpark, a canal through Bricktown, a new central library, a large indoor arena, renovations to the fairgrounds and the civic center, and a series of low water dams on the North Canadian River to make it attractive and accessible to small boats. Though still stinging from the failure of "urban renewal", the people of Oklahoma City passed the measure, eventually raising over 1 billion dollars for improvements to the city and bringing life back to the central city. As Oklahoma City moves through the 21st-century, new changes continue to bring population, jobs, entertainment, and improvement. In 2004 a new Dell call center brought over 250 jobs, and plans to employ over 19,000 more jobs in the future. 2005 brought Oklahoma their first major league Basketball franchise, the OKC/New Orleans Hornets, followed by becoming the permanent home of the renamed Seattle NBA franchise, now the OKC Thunder, in 2008. Many other corporations are finding OKC their home and the population is once again increasing at a very high rate. Also, a new addition to the downtown skyline, Devon Energy Center, was recently topped-out at 50 stories and a height of 850 feet.