Isaiah McCaslin for House District 44

Building and maintaining a strong infrastructure is a primary responsibility of state government. That includes roads, mass transit, water, and electricity, but also much more. Infrastructure is the playing field and the rules of the game — in other words, both the regulations and physical structures that provide a fair, convenient, and efficient environment in which citizens can make their own futures.

In particular, I see three core areas of infrastructure that our state government should give more attention:

Transportation

Oklahoma needs to maintain its roads and bridges for economic efficiency and the safety of drivers. However, it is also vital for the future of our state to invest in rail and other mass transit options.

The benefits of mass transit are many:

• Less congestion: More people riding transit means fewer cars on the road, which speeds up transportation for drivers too and saves the many productive hours lost sitting in traffic.
• Economic development: Examples from all over the country show rail investments leading to extensive development and prosperity in surrounding areas. Simply put, people want to live, work, and shop near transit stations. In particular, many of today’s young professionals want to live in a place with real transportation options. Lack of those options contributes to the brain-drain of people leaving our state. This hurts our competitiveness to attract businesses that need a diverse, well-educated labor force. We are falling behind even nearby areas with similar density, like Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Dallas, which all have very successful commuter and/or light rail systems.
• Less pollution: Mass transit reduces both carbon dioxide and ozone emissions. Ozone contributes to health problems like asthma, and Oklahoma City and Tulsa have had frequent problems with going above the EPA’s ozone limit, which may soon bring on federal sanctions.

Zoning

Mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods are good for the environment, property values, and quality of life. For these reasons, developers and municipalities are becoming increasingly interested in sustainable development. However, their efforts are sometimes hindered by zoning laws which have not been updated to meet our current priorities.

While zoning is primarily handled by local governments, the state can play a role in recruiting expertise, developing new standards, spreading awareness, and providing information resources to smaller communities who may lack the resources to do it on their own.

Health Care

Health care is not commonly thought of as an infrastructure issue. Yet ensuring that we have healthy bodies and access to necessary care is just as important for productive citizens as good roads and clean water. We need affordable health care not just for employees of government and large corporations, but also entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business. No one should be afraid to pursue an innovative idea because they might lose their insurance, and no one should go broke just because they got sick.

Significant changes in health care will soon be on the way from the federal government, and we need state representatives who you can trust to watch out for Oklahomans as these reforms are implemented.

If you have any comments on the issues discussed here or on anything else that our state government should be doing, please contact me using the form below.