Vince Orza has done many things in Oklahoma: ran for governor, owned restaurants, a former news anchor and a dean of business at a Oklahoma college. Now, he operates a television station and wants to showcase Guthrie.
Vince Orza speaks to members of the Guthrie community at the Pollard Theater. Photo By Chris Evans
Orza met with several civic leaders and Guthrie citizens on Tuesday evening inside the Pollard Theater and talked about the new look that KSBI will debut starting next week.
He talked about the town’s downtown area and how it reminded him of towns back east where he grew up before finding Oklahoma for college. The business and marketing guru talked about a variety of ways Guthrie could move forward with development and bring more visitors to the downtown streets.
Orza also took the time to listen to several speakers talk about Guthrie and what makes it a special community.
Among those who spoke were Guthrie Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Simpson, who talked about the school system being the largest employer and how the school is looking to make changes within the community.
Next to speak was Logan County Economic Development’s Kay Wade and Guthrie’s newly hired Economic Development Director Cody Mosley, who each spoke about bringing businesses to the Guthrie area.
As Orza took notes and asked questions of each speaker, City Manager Matt Mueller, Mayor Chuck Burtcher and Chamber President Mary Coffin each spoke about different aspects of the city.
KSBI has been in town for a couple of days and recording segments for an upcoming show that will showcase Guthrie.
The date is set for September 26 and will be aired on “Oklahoma Live” beginning at 1 p.m. The stations local sports show “OK Sports Wrap” will broadcast from Guthrie at 6:30.
WE SHOULD TAKE CARE OF OUR CITIZENS NOT ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET FOR TOURIST WHO DONT SPEND ANY MONEY HERE ANYWAY. LETS MAKE GUTHRIE A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE NOT A NICE PLACE TO VISIT.
Mr. Carey,
If it was not for the tourist that come to town and spend their money Guthrie would be a ghost town. You need to drive down Oklahoma and also Harrison streets especially on Sat.
and see all the cars and look at their car tags and see where everyone comes from.
Have you noticed in the newspaper and also on here how much the sales taxes for Guthrie have increased? It is not coming from the locals it is coming from the tourist. Most of the businesses in town have to depend on the tourist to stay in business.
THE CITY OF GUTHRIE IS MORE INTERSTED IN DAZZLING THE TOURISTS WITH OUR OLD BUILDINGS. THEY FORGET ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT PAY ALMOST 9% SALES TAX 365 DAYS A YEAR.
My vision for Guthrie is a town that is pedestrian friendly and an easy place for the disabled to get out and enjoy our beautiful town. Having a disabled grandson who sometimes uses a wheelchair it is often difficult for him to manuever around the many cars that block the sidewalks in our little town. I would love to see sidewalks all the way to Walmart so those that do not have a vehicle can walk safely while out doing their shopping.
One cannot walk safely with vehicles jumping the curbs and driving down sidewalks.
Christy- Get involved with the Guthrie Transportation Authority and tell them what is going on.
If you try to use a wheelchair in our beautiful downtown, you will have to zig zag to maneuver around a bunch of obstacles. The light poles, trash cans, chairs and benches and flower pots are okay but then the store owners drag out sandwich signs and place them right smack dab in the center of the sidewalk which is clearly in the way of pedestrians and extremely dangerous to anybody that is vision impaired. I have had three eye operations to correct my vision and still require corrective lenses. There is a possibility that I could go blind as I age. I refuse to do business at establishments that place their signs directly in the path of pedestrians or park their vehicles on the sidewalks.
The sales tax is currently 8.5% (down from 9.25% after sale of hospital) and 3% of that is from the City of Guthrie. The average in Oklahoma for a “city” tax is 3.77%.
State 4.5%
County 1% (.75 jail and .25 fire districts)
City of Guthrie 3%
Chris you are right the City of Guthrie is typically the one that everyone thinks gets all the sales tax and that isn’t the case as you have shown above.
We have lived in our Westside Guthrie home for 19 years. 2 things have remained very consistent. 1. Guthrie has never had enough money to spend. and 2. If you have issues with the physical aspects of W. Noble, your issues are with ODOT because that’s State Highway 33.
Ramps, tactile devices, safety protection from vehicular traffic etc. are all no doubt requirements for new public area construction. Fact is, there is seldom any new construction in a historic town like Guthrie. National trends are to permanently eliminate all vehicular traffic from key downtown areas. Those areas then become very safe for, and very attractive to pedestrian traffic.