Oklahoma City's Maps plan and Tulsa's Vision plan

Wednesday, October 1st 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

He's an unfamiliar face to most Tulsans - but he - and the city he represents had a lot to do with the Tulsa Vision plan. Heâ€™s the mayor of Oklahoma City - who enjoys giving progress reports on what's happening down the Turner Turnpike.

Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys, "Now we've got November 20th Bass Pro opens, a new 16 screen theater, broke ground on the canal last week, John Hammonds announced a 3rd downtown location on the canal last week, Sonic opens there headquarters on the canal soon.â€

There's no argument that Oklahoma City is booming - and that Tulsa is not. Thatâ€™s why business leaders here in the downtown Rotary Club - wanted to hear to expect from the "Vision plan.â€ Itâ€™s similar to the Oklahoma City "Maps" plan that started 10 years ago. "All the Maps projects will finish within the next months, they're all first rate, and our people have incredible pride in the projects."

Tulsa's Mayor LaFortune - who has always said the Vision plan wasn't about copying Oklahoma City - now freely admits it was the model of what Tulsa could be - but just because it was the closest example. â€œIt played a role because it was an example of what private and public sectors investing, all those issues, they were there and we could go look at them, we didn't have that before as an example.â€

Oklahoma City's mayor predicted that naysayers will pick apart the Vision plan - at least until the projects get started. He said it's hard to find anyone against the Maps plan in his city - he predicted the same change of heart for those opposed the Vision plan in Tulsa.