Lawton, Oklahoma

The rebranding effort, led by the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the City of Lawton, included downtown community gatherings and block parties for all ages, pre-COVID. Events were intended to shine a light on local businesses, as well as create a refreshed sense of community and show off the historical beauty of Downtown Lawton. “We have a mixed-use district that is a live, work, zoning district that we established for the downtown area,” says City of Lawton Deputy City Manager, Richard Rogalski. “We’re beautifying our streets, putting in trees and brick pavers – several million dollars in projects. We have a public/private partnership that took out about a hundred acres of blight and put in a brand new shopping center. So, we really have been working very hard on trying to get our downtown revitalized and we are excited for new developments in that area.” Increasing walkability in the City is a topmost priority, not only downtown but throughout all of Lawton, and this is another area that will be improved upon through the recently passed CIP. Dubbed “PROPEL” (Pursuing Renewed Opportunity and Projects to Elevate Lawton), the initiative extended the life of a dedicated sales tax with 64.1 percent of the vote. Key areas included funding for demolition and curb appeal projects, infrastructure improvements, technology maintenance, airport renewal, youth initiatives, public transit needs, and facility upgrades, as well as industrial development. “As part of the CIP, the City voted on approving $18 million for streets and sidewalks with $5 million set aside for sidewalks, specifically,” Cleghorn explains. “We’ve also invested a record amount of money to our Parks and Recreation Department and associated programming and projects to make sure we are a city where young families want to live, work, and play.” With a population of approximately 94,000, Booker says that he expects that number to increase after the next census. He bases that Deputy City Manager, Richard Rogalski