Last week Lawtonians were presented with a bold vision for its future. Renewing existing taxes to create a large multipurpose sports center.
Last week Lawtonians were presented with a bold vision for its future. Renewing existing taxes to create a large multipurpose sports center.
Two years prior to the founding of Fort Sill in 1869, Secretary of State William Seward with a bold vision for territorial expansion negotiated a treaty with Russia to purchase Alaska. Critics were quick to nickname the purchase “Seward’s Icebox” or “Seward’s Folly.” The later, of course, becoming a part of the lexicon.
Criticism was to be expected. The Secretary had just spent $7.2 million on barren, in hospitable land. Yet, to his credit, he paid just two cents an acre for land that today serves as a buffer between Russia and the mainland U.S.
More than 100 years later leaders in Oklahoma City presented a bold vision to revitalize Oklahoma City. The vision was a response to the City losing a major employment opportunity due to the perception of the quality of life. The plan was a $350 million public works project.
Once again criticism ran rampant over the facts and vision. While I truly believe that any discussion regarding levying and spending taxes should be exhaustive and spirited, many of the arguments were simple statements of no. The debate to some wasn’t about which projects should take priority but rather that none of the projects would work. Some critics were quick to call the plan Norick’s Folly.
The Klondike Gold Rush brought about an end to the criticism of Seward’s bold vision of purchasing Alaska and, while it is tough to establish the exact point that the MAPS vision became a success (there were many), today it is clear that Norick and those around him had a bold vision that would prove successful.
Will Lawton embrace bold leadership and invest in its future or will it be content with stagnation?
Over the next few months, the city council and others will turn this vision for a sports complex into a plan. Estimates and ideas will become budgets and blueprints. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to say more than no. We must become engaged in the process, offer real ideas and solutions rather than baseless negativity.
I am not saying this project is “the project.” I am not saying we need a sports complex, nor am I saying we don’t. What we need more than anything is bold leaders with a vision.