Opinion
MAPS 3 might bring more tourism to OKC
EDMOND — In “City of Gold, Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism” English author Jim Krane documents how the rulers of the emirate of Dubai have managed to transform their small state on the Persian Gulf into a world-class city that is a financial center and tourist destination. Krane details how Dubai was a village whose inhabitants lived in poverty until the early 1960s when its then-ruler Sheik Rashid Maktoum decided to modernize the emirate.
He began by creating a modern port by dredging the waterway that connected Dubai to the Persian Gulf. He also saw there was a need for a dry dock facility where ships that carried oil from the Middle East to the rest of the world could be repaired and serviced, and ordered the construction of such a facility.
In time the port was serving ships from around the world and the dry dock was working at full capacity. He also welcomed business people from across the world to Dubai. While Sheik Rashid was a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day, he said that people of other faiths were welcome in the emirate that he ruled. In time the emirate developed an ethnically and religiously diverse population that prospered in its free market economy.
After visiting London, and being impressed with that city’s underground mass transit system, Sheik Rashid ordered that a mass transit system be built in Dubai. An international airport also was constructed, and the visionary sheik created an airline that soon linked Dubai to cities across the world and brought people to it.
Krane points out that when Sheik Rashid first contemplated many of those undertakings his advisers thought they were impractical and would not be worth the money spent on them. The sheik ignored the misgivings of his ministers and proceeded with his plans.
To bring tourists to the city, a mall was created that included an indoor ski slope that allowed people to ski or slide down the slope on inner tubes. Visitors soon flocked to Dubai to enjoy the ski slope, and Krane points out that the maintenance of snow on that elevation despite the city’s desert heat is an engineering marvel.
And during the month of December, Oklahoma City has somewhat similar attractions in the snow tubing mountain that is constructed in the Bricktown Ballpark and the ice skating rink that is located adjacent to the Civic Center. And the maintenance of snow and ice at those locations despite the fluctuations of weather conditions in Oklahoma during the holiday season also is an impressive achievement. Tourists come to Oklahoma City to enjoy those amenities and others that are offered as part of the “Downtown in December” program.
Oklahoma City has a visionary civic leader in Roy Ackerman, who first proposed the construction of the Bricktown Canal and the development of what is now the Oklahoma River that was approved by the city’s voters in the first MAPS project. And the man who served as the city’s mayor at that time, Ron Norick, also could be described as a man of vision.
If the current MAPS project is approved by the electorate, Oklahoma City will begin work on a mass transit system in the downtown area that in time could provide light rail service to Edmond, Norman and Midwest City.
In recent years the Oklahoma City metropolitan area has welcomed an ethnically and religiously diverse population of immigrants who have been drawn to the opportunities the city offers them. And in time Oklahoma City may become a world-class city of finance and tourist attractions.
WILLIAM F. O’BRIEN is an Oklahoma City.
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