Mayor with a Mission
Who you calling fat? Mick Cornett and the citizens of Oklahoma City have gone on a health kick.
by Devin Pratt
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Do you have plans to promote more bicycle use in the city?
We're slowly building a bike path system through the city. I intend to pump it up and finish it out at a much more accelerated pace. We don't have the funding in place to do that just yet, though. We're behind with actual bike lanes on our streets, too. We did such a great job of creating the interstate highway system in Oklahoma City that we don't have traffic congestion. You can actually get a speeding ticket during rush hour in the city. That's how great our traffic flows. But the downside to our zoning is that we don't have the bike lanes that commuters need to get from home to work.
You mentioned the number of drive-through restaurants in Oklahoma City. Is it true that you're working with the fast-food chains to develop more health-conscious choices?
Taco Bell saw what we were doing with the city diet and they contacted me. They're attempting to introduce a lower-calorie, tomato-based condiment that you could opt for instead of sour cream and guacamole. They asked if they could use the city's new health initiative for their regional advertising effort. With 40 Taco Bell restaurants in the Oklahoma City area and 35,000 visits per day by our citizens, that's a great opportunity for us to have a strong impact on the choices people make when it comes to their diet.
Speaking of food, the Oklahoma state meal consists of cornbread, sausage gravy, chicken fried steak, and pecan pie. That makes Taco Bell sound like a light snack.
That was something the state put together 20 years ago. It would be odd for a state to come out with a meal like that nowadays, but I guess that wasn't the case a few decades ago. To be honest, I didn't even know about the state meal until I started this initiative.
If you could change the state meal, what would it be?
Fruit salad would be my No. 1 choice. I am a connoisseur of fruit salad. Then again, I do love steak and potatoes...
You've been lobbying hard to get an NBA team in Oklahoma City. Do you believe there's a correlation between having a pro sports team in the city and having a more active community in general?
I do. We had an NBA team for the past two years due to the displaced New Orleans franchise. We've seen the kind of social impact a professional sports team has on a city. A team brings high-profile role models into your community who are healthy and they're great images for the city to gravitate toward, especially for kids. I worked so hard to get [the Hornets] in the city, and there were a number of people who didn't think it would affect them because they weren't basketball fans. But I've had mothers come up to me and say, "I didn't really care about the NBA team coming to town. But I did notice that my kids took a break from video games and started going outside to play basketball." These parents were trying everything to get their kids to go play sports and suddenly there was a cultural shift where basketball was fun and interesting and kids wanted to play.
Is it true that you are trying to get the Seattle Sonics to move to Oklahoma City?
Yes. The Sonics announced that they want to leave Seattle for Oklahoma City. They've tried to get a new arena but it hasn't worked out to this point. I recently pushed for an initiative to improve our existing sports arena. It's only six years old but it needs more revenue stream, more restaurants, and better locker rooms if we're going to get an NBA team. We held a public vote on whether we wanted to improve our current arena and build a practice facility for an NBA team. The vote passed and the NBA's Relocation Committee will be in our city later this month. That will be our chance to show why Oklahoma City is a good choice for an NBA team. There are still legal issues involving the current lease in Seattle—but the question of whether the Sonics are coming to Oklahoma City will be determined by the NBA in the next few weeks.
Check out www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com to see how Oklahoma City is shedding the pounds.
See Also:
Mayor Mick's Fruit Salad
The Fittest and Fattest Cities in America
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