We have some good news and some really really good news to report!
First, the good news.
The Maps 4 Thunder Arena vote passed by a landslide margin of 71% to 29% – a Thunder money ball ass-kicking that will cement the team's future in OKC for at least the next 25 years and give the city a shiny, brand-new, non-sardine-can arena to host concerts, sporting events and monster truck shows.
Naturally, Mayor McSelfie celebrated the victory in the most eye-rolling, dramatic way possible:
Reflecting on the voting outcome of the new OKC arena, Mayor David Holt praised the city.
"Tonight, we told the nation, we told the world, that Oklahoma City is and shall remain a Big League City," Holt said.
"Today it was OKC versus the world, and we won," said Mayor Holt.
Question – Is it possible to have a more annoying mayor? OKC versus the world??? Really? 90% of the people in our city didn’t even know there was an election yesterday, much less the rest of the world that doesn’t even know our city exists! I pray pray pray that Holt has a new job before the new arena opens up, because I’m not sure I can stomach a mayoral mic drop on opening night.
While the arena vote passing is the good news, here’s the really really good news!
With the vote behind us, we’ll soon be free and clear of the preachy, naggy, and very uncompromising “publicly-funded arena” debate that’s gripped and divided the OKC social media scene for the last couple of months.
Well, that is until 2048 when the Thunder and Chamber launch their push for a Maps 6 sales tax initiative to refurbish and update the arena. Then it will fire back up again.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, taxpayer-funded sports arenas are the abortion and gun control of civic improvement debates.
People's opinions on the topic are usually uncompromising and set and stone, and although they can make a reasonable debate for or against the issue, they generally rely on sensational rhetoric and personal insults to get a message across.
For the most part, the online arena “debate” was triggered by a preachy, sanctimonious, and very very amplified-by-social-media-algorithms minority who really don't care about sports, and generally oppose everything our city does.
For some reason, they just can’t wrap their head around the fact that a strong, bipartisan majority of civically engaged Oklahoma City residents of all political persuasions are totally fine chipping in a penny on every dollar they spend to have an NBA team, even if it means fattening the wallets of oligarchs who control the city in the process.
For example, Utah carpetbagger Chad Whitehead – the guy who commandeered Tower Theatre by negotiating a sweet deal for himself with some national venture capital vultures – shared his preachy two cents about the vote yesterday.
Even though Chad didn’t live in Oklahoma City when it really sucked, and is only here thanks to the revitalization triggered by previous MAPS initiatives, he encouraged people to vote against the measure because he thinks having a new arena and an NBA team is a bad deal:
Yep, too many secrets and coercion with this arena plan, says the guy who secretly sold out his business partners and employees at Tower Theatre. Good to know.
As the results flowed in last night, the arena debate hit its antagonistic apex.
Thunder Arena Supporters – most of whom were tired of being labeled brainwashed dupes who hate the homeless simply because they like the Thunder and want the team to have a new arena – celebrated the huge victory by talking friendly trash to the throttled No Voters.
For example:
Sorry. I couldn’t resist having some fun. 95% of the time, I’m on the losing side of Oklahoma elections, so it felt pretty good to not only be a winner but to win in an absolute ass-kicking! This must be how OSU fans on the rare occasion they blowout OU in football!
Naturally, this trash talk upset the sanctimonious social media nannies who had no stake in the game:
Instead of treating the massive loss as a wake-up call and revelation that maybe, just maybe, they’re on the wrong side of the issue, the anti-arena folks primarily dug in their heels and doubled down on their stance that all Yes voters as nothing more than mindless lemmings who hate the homeless and poor and were tricked by the mayor and Chamber into voting against their own self-interests.
To her credit, OKC Councilwomen JoBeth Hamon – a vocal arena detractor who literally opposes private property rights – didn’t play that game. Instead, she huddled up at a bus stop and amplified all the gloaters who talked trash in an effort to portray herself as a victim of online bullying.
I've had the Twitterati come after me multiple times in my life, so I get what JoBeth is going through. It only takes 20 or so people to @-you on social media to make it feel like an army of 20,000 is coming after you.
For what it’s worth, the Yes voters did take things too far when they vandalized JoBeth’s front door and hallway with pro-yes vote stickers.
That’s not cool.
First of all, people should be able to freely express themselves online without fear of some weirdo harassing them at their home or apartment. Second, the Chamber vandals should have sprinkled a bunch of pennies over the floor while they were at it. That would have been actually funny.
Although the online arena funding debate will resurface whenever the city chooses a location (a.k.a. the old Myriad), releases renderings, or holds a groundbreaking ceremony, I’m stoked to see the debate disappear back into the void, and for the OKC social media scene to get back to its regularly scheduled programming of general insufferablity and annoyance.
You know, the thing we'll eagerly and happily contribute to.
Until then, stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
