All Posts Tagged With: "Oklahoma City"

Okie Politics appears to be less than thrilled with the Oklahoma City Council’s decision to begin charging residents for ambulance service with a $3.65 fee added to their monthly utility bills. Residents may opt out if they so choose. According to The Oklahoman …

The fee is needed to help cover the shortfall between EMSA’s revenues and what it costs to provide ambulance service. The city has been paying for that shortfall out of sales tax funds, which are increasingly needed for other priorities.

In his post, “Cornett, Council give thumbs up to socialized ambulance healthcare,” Sam laments:

A regressive tax for a social program. Odd.

Interesting twist as Mayor Mick is consistently in the top five on the Goober-Ten standings. A move towards the left, while a subtle one, on healthcare may provide a tool to change voter perception of the pro-basketball mayor.

We should have seen this one coming. We’ve had socialized fire service and socialized police protection for years now. What’s next? Socialized education and socialized street maintenance? Oh, the “horror” — the horror!

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Certainly among the Christmas favorites for many of us in Oklahoma, there’s a story behind this song:

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is a Christmas novelty song written by John Rox and performed by Gayla Peevey (10 years old at the time) in 1953. The B-side of the original 78 featured the song “Are my Ears on Straight?”

Peevey was a regional child star of the Oklahoma City area. According to legend, this 1953 hit was recorded as a fund-raiser to bring the city zoo a hippo. When released nationally by Columbia Records the song shot to the top of the charts, and the city zoo got a baby hippo named Matilda. In a 2007 radio interview with Detroit-based WNIC radio station, Peevey clarified that the song was not recorded as a fundraiser originally. Instead, a local promoter picked up on the popularity of the song and Peevey’s local roots, and launched a campaign to present her with an actual hippopotamus on Christmas. The campaign succeeded, and she was presented with an actual hippopotamus, which she donated to the city zoo. The hippopotamus lived for nearly 50 years.

7:04am, Main Street Parking, Downtown Oklahoma City
Looking south from the 7th Floor of the Main Street Parking garage in downtown Oklahoma City, you can see the Ford Center, new home of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team, on the left and the historic Colcord Hotel on the right.

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* Taken with my iPhone

11:58am, Park Avenue at Robinson Avenue, Downtown Oklahoma City
Downtown bustles during the noon hour as people venture out to enjoy the beautiful day over their lunch break. Today is absolutely gorgeous and the perfect temperature!

(Check out the Google Maps Street View of this intersection.)

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* Taken with my iPhone

11:59am, Richey’s Grill in the Oklahoma Tower, Downtown Oklahoma City
Karla joins me for an impromptu lunch date, an instant cure to the Monday malaise. (The gorgeous mid-day weather certainly helped act as an antidote to the Monday-induced mental dreariness.)

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* Taken with my iPhone. Standard disclaimer about the photography quality applies.

12:02pm:
A snapshot from my iPhone from the second floor balcony looking down on the first floor atrium area in Leadership Square in downtown Oklahoma City.

Earlier today, Devon unveiled its plan for a new skyscraper in downtown Oklahoma City. It will be 54 stories tall, making it the tallest building in Oklahoma, 20th tallest in the country and 54th tallest in the world, according to News9.com. It will cost $750 million and is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

I’m really excited about it and it’s generating a great deal of buzz both downtown and in the community at large.

With news that the Sonics NBA franchise is on its way to Oklahoma City, I thought it would be a good time to roll out the welcome mat and provide those Sonics players, coaches and staff with a preview of our city, its recent growth and its continuing development. Here’s an well-produced promotional video by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

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