Lifetime Oklahoma City resident and neighborhood leader Mark Stonecipher announced his campaign for reelection to the City Council this week.
“Serving the people of Ward 8 has been a great privilege and I hope to continue to work moving our city forward with improved infrastructure, roads, and exceptional police and fire protection,” Stonecipher said.
“During my tenure on the council, we have found ways to buck the national trend and instead of defunding the police, we have increased funding. We are addressing our infrastructure needs and investing in diversified economic development to grow our city.
“All of this builds on the progress made by past generations who set a goal of making Oklahoma City a place where we all want to live, work, start businesses, and raise families,” Stonecipher continued.
“The recent census and survey data confirms what we are doing is working. I am proud to have been a part of the Oklahoma City Council when the city became the sixth fastest growing and twentieth largest city in the United States.
“But I am even more proud that in a recent survey of Oklahoma City residents, 81% rated [the city] as an excellent or good place to live, 76.8 rated OKC as an excellent or good place to work, and 70% rated [the city] as an excellent or good place to raise children.
“All of these statistics significantly exceed the national average. My goal for my next term is to see that these numbers only increase as Oklahoma City moves into the future.”
Stonecipher credits this increase and growth and citizen satisfaction to a commitment to a committed focus on our core issues such as police, fire, infrastructure, and economic development.
“Public safety and infrastructure will always be my top two priorities,” said Stonecipher.
“That is why I was proud to support and promote portions of our Better Streets Safer City initiative that is adding 57 new firefighters and 129 additional police officers in our city while also undertaking the most significant street improvement package in our history.”
Stonecipher again emphasized that the numbers show that the Better Streets Safer City initiative is working. “For many years, the City’s average number of potholes recorded was over 80,000 per year. In 2016, prior to the passage of Better Streets Safer City, the city repaired nearly 86,000 potholes. In the 2021 fiscal year, that number reduced to below 54,000.”
Stonecipher continued: “As Vice President of OKC’s Water Trust, I am very involved in building a new water infrastructure that will serve our children and grandchildren city through 2060. “
“I am also proud that I have been able to work with the city council to come up with common sense solutions to various problems. For example, in 2019, I created an initiative called the Clear Your OKC Warrant program that allowed citizens to resolve unpaid traffic and parking offenses.
“As a result of this program, the city has collected over $1,000,000 in unpaid traffic and parking tickets while resolving nearly over 9,000 traffic related cases,” Stonecipher stated.
In addition to what his announcement release described as “great things happening citywide,” Stonecipher also pointed to individual projects in Ward 8.
“Since 2019, I have supported and requested approximately sixty infrastructure projects such as arterial resurfacing, drainage control, residential resurfacing, sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, traffic control, and road widening in Ward 8 alone,” said Stonecipher.
In conjunction with announcing his reelection campaign, Stonecipher released a list of over 50 community leaders endorsing his election.
“Throughout my time in office, I have worked to bring all parts of our city together. In doing so, I have developed many relationships and am humbled that these leaders from business, arts, church, non-profit, and other parts of the community are willing to put their names forward,” Stonecipher stated.
Raised in south Oklahoma City, Stonecipher served as the president of two different neighborhood associations, the committee to revise the city charter, and the Oklahoma City Board of Adjustment prior to running for the city council.
An attorney by trade, Stonecipher and his wife, Debbi, have lived in Ward 8 for more than 30 years and have been married for over 40 years.
The press release sent to The Oklahoma City Sentinel was described as “Authorized and paid for by Mark K. Stonecipher for City Council 2023.”
Ron Norick is serving as Honorary Chair for Stonecipher’s campaign.
Other members of the “Honorary Election Committee,” the campaign press release said, include:
Janet Akers, Dave Amis, Mark Beffort, Clay Bennett, Tom Blanton, Andy Bogert, Vicky Bogert, Todd Booze, Cassie Bowen, Charlie Bowen, Bob Brock, Linda Brock, Gary Brooks, Joel Bryant, Deane Burnett. John R. Burnett, Lori Byrd, Tommy Byrd, Dr. Chris Carey, Ruth Carey, Oklahoma City Councilman Bradley Carter, Greg Castro, Jane Childress, Lonnie Childress, Dennis Clowers, Rhonda Coast, Luke Corbett, Mick Cornett, Kenna Cornman, Jim Couch, Nolan Coyle, Jeana Craig, Kailan Craig, Shawn Craig, Scott Cravens, Mark Davenport, Don Douglas, Jana Drummond, Carl Edwards, Tom Fanning, Clay Farha, Hossein Farzaneh, Jalal Farzaneh, Mohammed Farzaneh, Brian Ferguson, Carter Foree, Cindy Fulkerson, Shawn Fulkerson and Doug Fuller.
Also listed in the Stonecipher campaign press release as members of his Honorary Committee were: Susie Fuller, Billy Garrett, Kim Garrett, Pat Garrett, Robert Gibson, Mike Giles, Vicki Gourley, Fred Hall, Kirk Hall, Arlen Halvorson, Linda Haneborg, David Harlow, Judy Hatfield, Frank Hill, Erica Hogan, Randy Hogan, Rhonda Hooper, Jim Hopper, Kris Hopper, Dick Horton, Pastor Bill Hulse, Dusty Hutchinson, Tim Johnson, Carol Kaspereit, Don Kaspereit, Bryan King, Michelle Kirby, Hank Kraft, Michele Kraft, Bradley Krieger, Bill Lance, Guy Liebmann, Judy Liebmann, Kay Lindsay, David Lopez, Lu Ann Stout Margo, Gary Marrs, Judy Marrs, JW Masburn, JoAnn McAtee, Larry McAtee, Carol McCoy, Hugh McCoy, Tom McDaniel, Gene McKown, Richard McKown, Vernon McKown, Liz McLaughlin, Tim McLaughlin, Mike Means, Nicole Miller, Anthony Mirzaie, Rick Moore, John Nail, Larry Nichols, Cheryl Noble, Don Noble, Gabi Noble, Tommy Noble, Kandy Norick, Cathy O’Conner, Paul Odom, Becky Pitt, and Brook Plank.
