Norman Residents Petitioning For Public Vote On Entertainment District Funding Plan

A group of Norman residents called “Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development” are coming together to petition for a public vote on the funding plan for a $1.1 billion entertainment district and new OU arena.

The group began collecting signatures this weekend, just days after Norman's City council voted to approve a controversial Tax Increment Financing district to fund part of the project last Wednesday. 

OU Economics Professor Cynthia Rogers is one of the people collecting signatures.

“$600 million in 25 years is a massive spending program,” Rogers said. “All the general obligation bonds for bridges and roads and those things, much smaller, we get to vote on those because it uses public dollars. So, I think, in theory, it should be treated the same. We should get to vote on very big spending programs.”

Rogers didn't need to go door to door to find people who agreed with her.

A simple Facebook post on Norman's community page brought dozens to Yellow Dog coffee shop for the sole purpose of adding their signature.

“I don’t have a problem with the arena and new growth in Norman. I have a problem with the way that it’s funded and the way the financing is going to happen,” Opal Frasier, a Norman resident who signed the petition, said. “I think that it’s something that we need to decide on as a community.”

Others who showed up agreed and said they would vote against the TIF plan.

“How can you make this huge decision behind closed doors out of the public eye and then not have a vote on it?” Roger’s questioned. 

The group has 30 days to collect 6,200 signatures from registered Norman voters.