Mayor Holt tackles bond vote, homelessness in annual State of the City address

Yahoo

17-07-2025

Oklahoma City has climbed mountains in the last three decades, but still has more to climb, Mayor David Holt said in his annual State of the City address.
Speaking to a sold-out crowd of about 1,475 people including elected officials, city employees, developers, business owners and others lucky enough to get a seat, Holt said the state of the city is 'assured.' The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber hosted the event at the Oklahoma City Convention Center on Wednesday, July 16.
While the capstone of the event was the unveiling of renderings for the city's new NBA arena, Holt had much more to discuss.
He reflected on the last three decades and pointed out the investments that Oklahoma City has made in itself that have paid off many times over. Those include efforts such as MAPS, bond initiatives and single-issue sales taxes, among others.
He said the city stands at the metaphorical peak of a mountain and the city's rise is complete, though he joked that geographically, OKC is bereft of actual elevation.
More: A 360-degree skyline view: Arena designs reveal a glass encased downtown jewel
'Now we stand upon the peak of that mountain that we were climbing for 33 years, and you know what you see when you stand upon the peak of a mountain? New mountains to climb,' he said.
The arena's unveiling and Holt's address received a positive reaction. Krystal Yoseph, owner of Konjo Concepts, said the video of the arena brought tears to her eyes.
'I know we're all here because we love the city, and so that was awesome punctuation to the summer that we've had, and it'll be an exciting timeline leading up to that opening,' she said.
Ward 7 Councilmember Camal Pennington said the arena design represents the city's vision for unity and standing together.
'I think it's going to look so unique and be a centerpiece for downtown Oklahoma City,' he said. 'You'll be able to be a part of everything that's going on in the community when you're inside the arena. And just the fact that it's going to be designed for basketball, it's going to make the experience inside watching the game even better.'
City officials, chamber leaders anticipating October bond vote
One of the first topics Holt discussed during his address was the Oct. 14 vote on a list of proposed bond projects, which encompass a whopping $2.718 billion worth of infrastructure, city maintenance, parks and recreation, drainage, libraries and learning centers, and economic development.
The bond would be the largest in the city's history. Holt previously told The Oklahoman the bond issue is timed to follow the payoff of prior bonds and will not result in an increase in property taxes.
About 56% of the funds are allocated to maintaining and upgrading city streets with a total of 433 potential projects if the bond is passed. The city has nearly 9,000 lane miles of roads to maintain, but the city's Pavement Condition Index, which ranks street conditions on a scale of 0 to 100 has increased in recent years. In 2010, the score was 60, but after investment in streets in bond issues for 2007 and 2017, the citywide average score is 70, which is considered satisfactory, Holt said.
'... This is not sexy stuff. These are the city's fundamental needs. But if we want to maintain our ability to dream big, to have the luxury of pursuing more ambitious improvements in quality of life, we have to take care of the basics first,' he said. 'We've routinely done that in the modern history of our city, and this is the next chapter of that story.'
Pennington said the bond issue will allow the city an opportunity to invest in affordable housing initiatives that will help increase the supply of affordable housing.
'Maybe with some changes in policy, we can better make the investments to just increase our housing supply to make more people be able to have a great place to live all across our city,' he said.
Holt recognized the eight city council members, City Manager Craig Freeman, who is now the third- longest serving city manager, and city employees for the work they do.
The mayor thanked and acknowledged city employees for their efforts during times of celebration, such as the Thunder victory parade, but also in times of crisis, such as the aftermath of tornadoes that ripped through parts of the city last November.
Holt also said the city broke a record with the longest streak of unemployment below 4% since the city started keeping track in 1990. Two months ago, the city had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, he said.
'Our economy is still strong, and is actually on a run that might qualify it as the most stable economy we've had in modern OKC history,' Holt said. 'I think we're just at the beginning of the OKC economic boom.'
Holt: OKC making progress in public safety, homelessness
Holt highlighted the creation of the Mobile Integrated Health unit, managed under a fire department program developed through the city's Public Safety Partnership — that is meant to divert mental health emergency calls away from police and toward trained behavioral health professionals who can better address the caller's needs.
He talked about public safety and said crime rates against persons and property have declined by more than a third over the last decade.
Holt spent time talking about homelessness and affordable housing, noting that a smaller percentage of people are experiencing homelessness today than they were two decades ago.
'One person experiencing homelessness is too many and that's always the attitude we'll take,' he said.
The average annual population of people in OKC experiencing homelessness in the three years from 2005 to 2007 was 1,656. The most recent three-year average of people experiencing homelessness is not much larger than it was in 2007, Holt said.
Holt acknowledged there was an increase in the number of unsheltered homeless people in 2020, but the number has decreased over the last four years.
'Our population growth is not slowing down, so this issue isn't going away,' he said. 'Homelessness numbers fairly predictably correlate to overall population, and so as our city continues to grow, we will have to work harder to maintain these numbers or even reduce them, and our population growth will also put pressure on housing prices, which will contribute to the challenge.'
OKC looking forward to 2028 Olympic events
Along with the excitement of the new Thunder arena, OKC is anticipating another high-profile event: the 2028 Olympic games. The city gets the honor of hosting the first and only competition on 'Day Zero,' the day of the opening ceremony on July 14, 2028, as canoe slalom commences at 9 a.m. at Riversport.
Canoe slalom and softball events will be held back to back, which means 16 straight days of Olympic sports in the city.
'The magnitude of this opportunity is still really beyond comprehension. No other city outside of southern California is slated to host the entirety of any sport in 2028, much less two, as we are,' Holt said. 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our city, our state and this entire region of the country.'
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC's recent achievements highlighted in Mayor Holt's annual address
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