MAPS3 Passes

And by a pretty good margin:

Hoping to continue Oklahoma City’s renaissance, voters on Tuesday passed a far-reaching MAPS 3 initiative aimed at continuing citywide progress that began with the first MAPS in 1993.

"Oklahoma City’s golden age continues,” Mayor Mick Cornett said at a watch party for the Yes for MAPS campaign as red, white and blue confetti blasted into the air. "Let’s enjoy this. Let’s take stock of who we are and keep in mind we’re creating a city our kids and our grandkids are going to be proud of for generations to come.”

The penny sales tax that will pay for the $777 million package passed with more than 54 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting.

Voter turnout was about 31 percent, about twice as high as a typical city election, said Doug Sanderson, Oklahoma County Election Board secretary.

The final vote was 40,956 yes, 34,465 no.

Though some quick math with these numbers and those from the pro and con groups public filings will tell you the anti-MAPS forces were about as twice as efficient with their resources as the pro-MAPS forces. Also, I doubt anti-MAPS watch parties were "dining on upscale foods and vast selections of artisan breads, cheeses, meats and fresh vegetables" like the pro-MAPS watch parties were. Not that I'm trying to start a class war here or anything but this detail fits in nicely with my earlier David vs. Goliath theme. This time, Goliath won.

You've got to hand it to the pro-MAPS people. They got their message out there with a carefully planned campaign and what they were selling was irresistible: bright shiny new projects painlessly paid for by a sales tax that's already in place. Now they'll have to keep their promises and there's no reason to think they can't; it's only a matter of will.

For the anti-MAPS forces, now's the time for gracious losing. They had their chance and the people decided. If nothing else, they should be grateful for that. I know I am.