07/13/2018
I think everyone knows that I'm a passionate supporter of building a great Downtown Stillwater.
The attached video was released today, and produced by some of the young entrepreneurs starting to call downtown home. As an old downtown entrepreneur, their passion gives me great optimism.
In my view, we absolutely need the Stillwater (Re)Development Plan (aka, the TIF) in order to kick start the process of enhancing the economic value of the core of the City. That new economic value will translate into additional ad valorem taxes for the entities that receive them.
There is a petition circulating to suspend the TIF and bring it to the vote of citizens in APRIL 2019. Some of the projects currently under discussion might not be able to wait that long (e.g., a new movie theater). Therefore, based on my knowledge of various pending projects, I will not be signing that petition.
https://www.facebook.com/DowntownStillwaterOK/videos/202066380456398/