go ponca

Weekly Update

07/25/08

SAVE OUR STARBUCKS...as you may know, the Ponca City Starbucks is one of 600 Starbucks on the company's hit list for closure. PCDA spoke with Starbucks before the list was announced since the main criteria for a store to be on that list was that it had just opened. The Ponca City Starbucks, you will recall, only opened in February. We continue to talk to the company about keeping this store open. The company says they will look more closely at "remote" stores, (stores that are the only stand alone stores in a community). Translation: It's not over till it's over. They invited people in Ponca City with opinions about keeping the store open to email them and let them know they want it to stay open. It would be most helpful, to put it mildly, to bury them in emails not to mention sales. We can't advocate any business over another but some of our conversations with the local crew were over a very delicious strawberry lemonade which the store sells for a reasonable price. Please, if you want to see the store remain open, let them know! Send your note to dvoss@starbucks.com.

YES...VOTING STARTS TODAY!!!...the election for the renewal of the Ponca City Economic Development sales tax actually starts today. Early bird voting is taking place at the Kay County Courthouse in Newkirk. It goes through 5:00 p.m. tonight. You can vote again tomorrow, (YES, Saturday) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can vote again on Monday from 9 to 5. You can also vote at your friendly neighborhood polling place on election day which is Tuesday. PCDA, as you can imagine, cannot advocate any particular vote on this question even though it relates directly to the continuation of Ponca City's economic development program that has, in the last five years, created 1,800 net new jobs, raised incomes by dramatic levels, cut the unemployment rate by much more than half, has more people working in Ponca City than ever before.....not that we're suggesting anything. If, however, you asked us if you should vote, we can emphatically say YES! you should vote, and YES! you should ask your friends to vote and YES! you can attend the special election night vote watch party sponsored and paid for by "PCDA YES!" the committee running the YES side, that will be held at Evans and Associates, 3320 N. 14th Street from 6 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday night. If there was an opposition party we would be obliged to tell you, but, alas, we know not of one.

MOTORING THROUGH THE WEEK...if you are in Ponca City this week, you know the Motocross is in town. You likely saw the kids on bikes, visitors and other happy people who came to town to enjoy Ponca City. In addition you may have noticed PCDA meeting with a company on Monday and having a proposal in their hands on Tuesday. You may also have seen us meeting with the new California based CEO of a recent addition to the Ponca City business community. It's possible you glimpsed us talking to a company that wants a building we don't have...and suggesting a build to suit option. Who knows, you may have even stumbled across us working on a reformat of the PCDA website, putting an interactive educational map on said web site, working several sides of the housing issue or even walking through one of two PCDA on time, on budget construction sites...if you were here this week.

UPCOMING...

 Tue. July 29th: Election for the renewal of the economic development sales tax

 

Ponca City Development Authority. 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601