Broken Arrow Residents Discuss Making 20-Million Dollars Worth of Improvements

A city that's growing by leaps and bounds is asking its citizens for advice.<br><br>Broken Arrow, like many northeastern Oklahoma towns, seems to be bursting at the seams. <br><br>City planners

Saturday, June 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A city that's growing by leaps and bounds is asking its citizens for advice.

Broken Arrow, like many northeastern Oklahoma towns, seems to be bursting at the seams.

City planners are hoping to do 20-million dollars worth of improvements and they're asking the people who live there to give input on how it's spent.

Broken Arrow is going full-speed ahead with plans for a larger city.

They've got all kinds of ideas on how to do it and a 20-million-dollar bond issue in the works.

But it's the people of Broken Arrow who are spending their Saturday morning prioritizing those ideas.

It's not an easy job because everybody has their own wish list.

"My particular one on public safety was to get the 911 system compatible with cell phones so you have locations when you call in for an accident," says Broken Arrow resident Jim Doherty.

"I want to see a larger Broken Arrow historical museum built so we can show off all the different things that Broken Arrow has in the past," says Virginia Johnson, also a Broken Arrow Resident.

More than a hundred people are volunteering their time to help city leaders pare down the list.

The city manager says he's never seen something like this happen.

"Actually, it's a very unique situation for 100 citizens to give up their Saturday morning to come together and think about the future of their community," says Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Kadlecik.

The December bond election will include the final plans decided by volunteers and city officials.

Most of the money will go to streets and transportation issues.

One street on the list is in the Indian Springs subdivision.

That's where the town's main sports complexes are and that means lots of cars using a two-lane road.

The News on Six has told you before how cars speed through these neighborhoods trying to find better routes. That makes it dangerous for children who play in the area.

"There's been a lot of complaints so if we widen it to 5 lanes it would approve the appearance and approach to the area," says Kadlecik.

There are dozens of other ideas on the list such as new fire stations and new tornado sirens.

But it will take more meetings and months of planning before it's ready to go to the town for a final vote.

City leaders say taxes will not go up with the bond issue, because it will replace expiring bond issues.