It’s Not a Matter of Money, it’s a Matter of Priorities

Oklahoma City Council voted today to give $8 million of taxpayer money to Scheels Sporting Goods so a company that brings in an estimated $1.7 billion a year in sales in 2024 and around $130 million a year annually per store will build a store in far northwest Oklahoma City.

The vote was 8-1, with only Ward 6 Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon voting no, making her officially the only remaining true progressive on city council. That’s right, even the representatives in traditionally progressive wards signed off on yet another sports-related corporate welfare giveaway. That makes at least a billion dollars that we’ve given to subsidize sports entities: $17 million for Bass Pro Shops, $3.5 million for sporting goods store Cabela’s, $68 million for Riversport, $900 million minimum for the new OKC Thunder arena, and now $8 million for Scheels.

Only one OKC Council member voted no on the largest retail incentive package in Oklahoma City's history.

Meanwhile, the city remains severely underfunded when it comes to helping those who need it the most. Our homeless population continues to rise, available beds and programs for mental health and addiction treatment are practically nonexistent, and our police department continues to arrest low level offenders and feed them into the deadliest, most inhumane county jail in America.

If we really feel the need to give tax breaks to businesses, why not at least spread those subsidies out across the city by helping the locally owned family-run businesses that provide 40% of the jobs in OKC? We should have learned from the toxic, predatory Walmart model that has for decades used corporate welfare to run tens of thousands of smaller local businesses into the ground and decimate countless Main Streets across America. Mega-corporations already have an unfair advantage over their smaller locally owned competitors, they certainly don’t need our tax dollars to help them run local stores out of business.

Oklahoma City, we have a severe problem when it comes to spending money. It’s not that we don’t have the money to deal with our crumbling infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, rising poverty, and deficient healthcare crisis, it’s that we don’t have the money to fund Mayor David Holt’s twisted vision of becoming a sports mecca for the haves and help those who are truly suffering or struggling. It’s not a matter of money, it’s a matter of priorities. We have made a conscious decision to abandon the least among us in favor of massive taxpayer giveaways to multi-billion dollar corporations so the rest of us (or at least those who can afford it) can distract ourselves with sports while the core services that a healthy government should provide are severely neglected.

Maybe it’s time we quit cheering on our own imminent demise and take a close look at our city officials. Who funds their campaigns, what boards do they sit on? Are they truly representing all of their constituents, or just lining the pockets of the ultra-wealthy? The next round of municipal elections is in 2027, maybe it’s time to demand that Oklahoma City prioritizes responsible, compassionate government that serves all the people of OKC instead of giving our hard earned money away to a handful of mega-corporations, rich developers, and greedy billionaires.