BigRedJed
7/5/2008, 12:06 PM
There's a good column (http://newsok.com/norick-horrow-started-this-nba-thing/article/3266167/?tm=1215234219) in the Oklahoman today by Berry Tramel (yes, really). As a follow-up to the NBA relocation, he talks about what got us to this point, and discusses one of the unsung heroes of MAPS, consultant Rick Horrow.
He doesn't explain in detail what Rick's role was, but he is the person who came up with the concept of bundling nine projects together as a pass/fail. Therefore, people who wanted to keep pro baseball here, or who wanted to improve horse show facilities at the fairgrounds, ALSO had to vote for a new library and performing arts center overhaul. It was all-or-nothing, which coupled with a dedicated sales tax had never been tried on this scale anywhere in the United States.
Rick is the guy, basically, who got American Airlines Arena built in Miami, and specializes in sports facility consulting.
I've been lucky enough to spend some time with Rick, and he is thoroughly engaging, incredibly positive, and known by a number of original MAPS, City of OKC and downtown people as a "pied piper" of sorts. What Tramel says about him loving OKC is true. I got to show him around a year or two ago, after he hadn't been here in a while, and he was absolutely beaming.
Of course you can't discount the work of Ron Norick, who was the main visionary on the project, and who burned up the shoe leather to get it passed, but Rick was an integral part of the success. Factor in that we were lucky enough to have an outstanding get-it-done mayor in Kirk Humphreys to follow Ron, and then a mayor who was great at marketing the final product in Mick Cornett, and we have been incredibly lucky from a leadership standpoint for the past 15 years.
It's also important to remember the countless people from city managers (with a heavy emphasis on the current one, Jim Couch), MAPS office staff, other city staff, MAPS oversight committee members, and a myriad of downtown volunteers, architects, engineers and tradesmen. Perhaps most importantly, the taxpayers who repeatedly demonstrated faith and confidence in those people made it truly a community effort.
But the fact that Rick Horrow is getting a little press locally makes me really, really happy. The fact that he's able to go out and sing our song to the national and international media, due to the relocation, makes me even happier.
He doesn't explain in detail what Rick's role was, but he is the person who came up with the concept of bundling nine projects together as a pass/fail. Therefore, people who wanted to keep pro baseball here, or who wanted to improve horse show facilities at the fairgrounds, ALSO had to vote for a new library and performing arts center overhaul. It was all-or-nothing, which coupled with a dedicated sales tax had never been tried on this scale anywhere in the United States.
Rick is the guy, basically, who got American Airlines Arena built in Miami, and specializes in sports facility consulting.
I've been lucky enough to spend some time with Rick, and he is thoroughly engaging, incredibly positive, and known by a number of original MAPS, City of OKC and downtown people as a "pied piper" of sorts. What Tramel says about him loving OKC is true. I got to show him around a year or two ago, after he hadn't been here in a while, and he was absolutely beaming.
Of course you can't discount the work of Ron Norick, who was the main visionary on the project, and who burned up the shoe leather to get it passed, but Rick was an integral part of the success. Factor in that we were lucky enough to have an outstanding get-it-done mayor in Kirk Humphreys to follow Ron, and then a mayor who was great at marketing the final product in Mick Cornett, and we have been incredibly lucky from a leadership standpoint for the past 15 years.
It's also important to remember the countless people from city managers (with a heavy emphasis on the current one, Jim Couch), MAPS office staff, other city staff, MAPS oversight committee members, and a myriad of downtown volunteers, architects, engineers and tradesmen. Perhaps most importantly, the taxpayers who repeatedly demonstrated faith and confidence in those people made it truly a community effort.
But the fact that Rick Horrow is getting a little press locally makes me really, really happy. The fact that he's able to go out and sing our song to the national and international media, due to the relocation, makes me even happier.