Re: Sales Tax Extensionby DeputyRe: Sales Tax Extension - I have been reading with great interest some of the comments being made. While some valid points have been made, I am a bit curious about some of the circular reasoning that has gone into these decisions. "Oklahoma is literally overrun with tribe-owned casinos. The new ones being built seem bigger than the next. And the new casinos are often equipped with some kind of venue where entertainers can perform." It seems to me that the tribe-owned casinos are profitable. If they were not, the tribes would not be investing in them."Casinos aren't legal in Texas. And "white" businesses in Oklahoma can't have casino gambling either."You are absolutely right casinos are not legal in Texas. However, for the longest time they seemed to have a lottery that millions of Oklahoma dollars went to for years. Now Oklahoma has one as well. It seems though that the revenue for the school systems here in the state have not been solved. So, is it a matter of time before Texas follows our lead and allows casionos?As to "white businesses", not being allowed to set up gaming establishments. My answer is that, why should they? Oklahoma's success I believe does not rely on one type of bussines endeavor but an eclectic variety that promotes growth. Oklahoma has several road blocks that blocks Oklahoma's potential."The city is already doing quite a few things in advance of this growth. The sales tax initiative is an elemental, must do effort in beefing up the infrastructure. It is not a negotiable thing that can be put off in favor of something else."You are absolutely right, the sales tax if used correctly would go along way to fix infrastructure problems. However, are we as a community addressing the real problems. If you examine what problems the city has had, it seems like the city publicizes some problems and not others. The problem is how the City spends the money it gets. For example Keith Jackson has said that each ward will get about $850000 for street improvements. That means that each ward gets an equal share of the money. Each ward does not have an equal number of streets nor does it have and equal number of population. So some streets might not get repaired. If you examine documents available on the city's website, you will see that Ward 1 has the smallest population while ward 2 has the largest. Digging deeper, Ward 2 is mainly Ft Sill. Is the city expected to repair streets on Ft Sill? How much revenue comes from this largest portion of Co... [OKMET.ORG -- Lawton Feed]
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