Mick Cornett, the mayor of Oklahoma City, grew up there and saw the city he now leads rebound from the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building. He’s the incoming head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which meets in Indianapolis this weekend.
In a conversation with Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd, Cornett weighs in on how a city recovers from a terrorist attack, and describes the crisis facing virtually every mayor in the U.S.: how to pay for repairs to crumbling infrastructure like roads and bridges.
Mick Cornett, mayor of Oklahoma City. He tweets @MickCornett.
Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett was upbeat during Wednesday’s 2016 State of the City address.
Cornett touted a 10 percent decrease in the crime rate, and ran through a number of publications that ranked Oklahoma City as one of the best places in the country to start a business or visit.
Mayor Mick Cornett and representatives from Google gathered on the rooftop of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art Wednesday to announce Google Fiber, a high-speed internet service, might come to Oklahoma City.
On a clear, blue afternoon with the Oklahoma City skyline as his backdrop, Cornett said Google has been in town for weeks, exploring the sophistication of the city and gathering data about infrastructure and the ease of doing business.
Oklahoma City covers more than 600 square miles, and completely surrounds several communities. That can lead to lost or delayed revenue, which is becoming even more problematic with the rise of so-called “gig economy” businesses like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, Oklahoma City’s assistant treasurer Matt Boggs said Oklahoma City recapture $1.1 million in lost revenue during the fiscal year that ended June 30.