Click here to sign up for the Comeback Town newsletter.

Today’s guest columnists are Scott Downs & Linda Verin:

Linda Verin, Birmingham resident:

In the late ‘80s, after developing a very successful business in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas for nearly 15 years, we felt forced to move due to the depressed economy in the southwest from the oil bust.

We chose Birmingham.

Look at Oklahoma City now.

Oklahoma City is a big time success; Birmingham, not so much.

Both cities had similar opportunities, but OKC took a chance on a solid plan and Birmingham was offered a flawed proposal.

Since I’ve been away from OKC for so long, I asked my good friend, Scott Downs, who still lives there what happened.

Scott Downs, OKC Resident & booster:

Oklahoma City is one of the 20 fastest-growing cities in the U. S.

It wasn’t always that way.

Thanks to the ’73-74 oil embargo crisis Oklahoma experienced an oil boom like no other. Money flowed, jobs were created, loans that shouldn’t have been approved were. Bankers drank champagne out of cowboy boots in expensive clubs while signing off on unsecured oil well loans.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end.

While high oil prices were good for the local economy, high prices triggered conservation which led to an oil glut. Prices dropped, shady bank loans defaulted, banks failed. When the local economy suffers, everyone suffers. OKC suffered through the ‘80s with nothing to fall back on.

In 1991, OKC bid on a United Airlines Maintenance Facility that would have created 7,500 jobs. It was a disappointing, embarrassing loss. We had nothing to brag about.

We lost out on a microchip manufacturing plant, a Corning plant and others. The United Airlines loss was a huge wake-up call.

In 1985 my office was in OKC’s warehouse district – dusty brick streets, dilapidated abandoned buildings, and an abundance of crime. For lunch it was a 5 mile round trip to a greasy spoon inside a motel for a sandwich and chips.

Today that dusty warehouse area is called Bricktown, a thriving entertainment district with more than five million visitors a year!

Let’s conservatively say each visitor spends $10. That’s fifty million dollars annually in a former run-down area! My parking spot is now a beautifully landscaped canal.

Tourists pay $15 for a 45-minute canal ride while learning the history of OKC. Riverboats are available with tours offering more views. (The OK River had been dry as a bone and mowed 3x a year by the city).

Now the Oklahoma River plus adjacent River Sports facility are full of water. US Olympic athletes are training for rowing, canoeing, kayaking. Two events for the 2028 L. A. Summer Olympics will be held in OKC!

My 1985 office is now a private party area in Coyote Ugly Saloon. There are more than two dozen wonderful places to dine within walking distance.

Across the street is the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The OKC Comets, the AAA Affiliate of the L. A. Dodgers, host 75 home games a year.

Down the street is The Paycom Center where the OKC Thunder play 42 regular season home games.

Across the street is our newest, finest hotel, the Omni, one of dozens constructed to meet demand for visitors. Connected to the Omni is a new Convention Center.

Across the street is our new Scissortail Park.

All public projects paid in full before they’re built which made private investments flourish – more restaurants, theaters, entertainment centers.

How did all this happen in a few decades?

Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS)

A one penny sales tax that funds exciting, tourism-driven projects like Bricktown Water Canal, a baseball park, an NBA arena plus transportation improvements like street cars and river boats.

OKC enhanced its infrastructure to attract tourism and also made significant improvements for residents by developing parks, pools, YMCAs, libraries, bike lanes, hiking trails, and much more.

Since the initial MAPs project won approval in 1993, three more MAPs extensions have been passed.

Taxes didn’t increase. They’ve simply extended the one penny sales tax for more exciting projects. Sure—we pay 1¢ sales tax but so do all the visitors MAPs projects attract!

Hard to believe one penny can do all that?

I was skeptical too.

I was wrong.

People do come to OKC on vacation, more every year! They also come to see baseball, softball and NBA basketball.

Hollywood films movies here.

People move here for the job market and the low cost of living – then stay because we have so much more to offer.

Young people stay after graduation instead of bolting for Dallas or Houston. I’m proud of this city! I remember where we were in 1985; in 2025 the future of OKC has never looked brighter!

Linda Verin:

I follow Oklahoma sports.

I learned college football isn’t a sport, it’s “a bloody religion.” When OKC got the Thunder I was shocked. Someone I knew had “stolen” the team from Seattle. I didn’t think they would really take off. It’s a crazy college football state like Alabama. But the Thunder have an average attendance of 17,450, almost capacity!

Birmingham turned down the MAPS project in 1998.

From Bham Wiki: The name and structure of MAPS was similar to a 1993 proposal approved by 55% of voters in Oklahoma City. MAPS benefitted from being fully paid without borrowing.

Voters in the Birmingham metro defeated the proposal 57% to 43%.

Turnout was the largest since the 1992 presidential election. 96,490 voters, mostly in communities surrounding Birmingham, opposed it; 71,495 voters mostly inside Birmingham supported it.

OKC since MAPS: Now their downtown has completely transformed into a thriving, fun place, they have a major league sports team and because they legalized gambling the state has over 100 casinos. Truly, I never thought any one of these things could happen there.

Of course, Birmingham has made many strides since the defeat of MAPS – new stadium, City Walk, lots of restaurants and condos, Woodlawn – but still not the success MAPS provided OKC.

Maybe it’s time for Birmingham to consider a new MAP’s initiative closer to the OKC model.

Linda Verin was a prior owner of electronics stores Soundtrak and Long’s Electronics. Now owner of ad agency Ads That Work, creator of Call Goldberg jingle, does PR for nonprofits + radio/tv/print/speeches/websites for political campaigns.

Scott Downs was born and raised in Oklahoma and has lived there all but 10 years when he was in Atlanta. He was a JVC representative calling on Linda. He has also worked for the OKC Comets baseball team, OKC Thunder, the census bureau and in movies.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected]