After a six-year effort raised only $22,000 from private philanthropy, Edmond voters are being asked to dedicate public funding to build an $8 million comprehensive veterans memorial in the city.
The project is one of 22 included in Edmond’s upcoming GO bond election, a $231 million effort to fund street, park and public safety improvements citywide. Citizens will cast votes in three bond categories Nov. 5. Should any of the three bond segments pass, residents will see a roughly 14.3 percent property tax increase. If all three categories pass, the tax increase will last 10 years.
While the sizable tax increase has caused some Edmond residents to oppose the bond election as a whole, others are hesitant to cast a vote that would commit $8 million of taxpayer funds to a proposed memorial that only generated $22,000 of private support during the six years that an Edmond advisory committee sought donations.
U.S. Army retiree William Roberts said he wonders how much more $8 million could do for veterans in need.
“I’m fortunate in that I’m a veteran, but I don’t have a lot of needs that I can’t meet myself,” Roberts said. “There are a lot of veterans that do need additional resources. That money could be better spent, and so (using) that money for a memorial — with memorials it’s kind of like, who’s really going to go there and benefit from them? Is that really where we ought to spend taxpayer money? The veterans that have needs, they’re not going to get anything from going to a memorial.”
Lissa Wohltmann, a U.S. Navy veteran, called the memorial an “unwanted disaster” in a letter to Ward 3 Councilwoman Christin Mugg. Wohltmann objected to the memorial’s currently planned location in Bickham-Rudkin Park, south of East 33rd Street and east of South Boulevard.
“I am a 26-year Navy veteran and I can’t see destroying our beautiful park for another memorial,” Wohltmann wrote. “Our neighbors surrounding the park don’t want it, we runners and casual cyclists don’t want it, and the committee went back on their word (to privately fundraise).”
‘It’s a big beast’
Edmond’s current Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee was reorganized from the Veterans Memorial Task Force in 2020. Committee Chairman Mustafa “Kujo” Koprucu, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, was not on the original task force that decided on potential locations and designs for the proposed memorial. He said most of the $22,000 raised by the committee for the $8 million project came from a single donation: $13,000 given by Edmond’s Frank H. Collings American Legion post.
At the committee’s current pace, Koprucu said, private fundraising is not a tenable way to see the project through. As a result, he said he approached the GO Bond Advisory Task Force that vetted and compiled the 22 projects on the Nov. 5 ballot.
If the park portion of the GO bond election fails, the future of Edmond’s proposed veterans memorial will be uncertain.
“I did the math. If I raise $1,000 every single day, day-in, day-out, that’s $365,000 a year,” Koprucu said. “It’ll take me 13-plus years to get there, and that’s if I don’t miss a day raising 1,000 bucks. It’s a big beast. (…) Our only chance, I believe, of getting this memorial built is for the city to have it funded through the GO bond.”
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But even some of Edmond’s most outspoken veterans are against public funding for the project. Retired U.S. Army Col. Leonard Scott — known as “Old Ranger” — said the $8 million project is “a waste of money and a waste of time.” And even if private financing existed for a comprehensive veterans memorial, Scott quibbled with the location.
“Most veterans, whenever it’s Veterans Day, we go out to the cemeteries,” Scott said. “That’s where pretty much everyone’s buried, so way out by the duck pond, that’s not the place for it to go.”
Koprucu said the advisory committee’s fundraising struggles have been less about citizens’ appetite for the memorial and more about their ability — or willingness — to contribute toward it.
“I give at least a briefing a week to different outfits, from Rotary clubs to church groups to veterans organizations, and everybody loves it,” Koprucu said. “Everybody says, ‘Yeah, we need this.’ But when it gets to, ‘Great, how much can I sign you up for? When can you whip out the checkbook?’ it’s, ‘Well, now’s not a good time.’ Obviously some do (contribute) those $50, $100 donations. Every little bit helps, yes, but big-ticket donors aren’t opening their wallets.”
Todd McKinnis, chairman of the GO Bond Advisory Task Force that created the project list, echoed Koprucu’s thoughts.
“I don’t think that’s a fair determination whether or not people want it by how much cash has been raised,” McKinnis said. “It didn’t appear to me that was part of the analysis by the task force when we included that in the projects.”
The proposed memorial would reshape Bickham-Rudkin Park to include a fishing dock in the park pond, more ADA-accessible trails, improved restroom facilities, expanded parking and a flag plaza. It would include “a history walk honoring Edmond’s veterans,” which Koprucu said would incorporate a searchable, digital database of Edmond veterans’ service histories.
But with no significant experience in fundraising, Koprucu said he and the committee were handed a Herculean task to fund the project. To his knowledge, Koprucu said VMAC is the only city citizens commission with a charter directing it to raise money for a specific project.
“Maybe a better fundraiser than me could get put to task there, but it’s a tough nut to come up with that type of money,” Koprucu said. “Most nonprofits I’ve spoken with, they’ve got full-time staff. They’re putting in 40-, 60-hour weeks doing nothing but donor management and fundraising. That’s the effort it takes to come up with millions of dollars. (…) I said, ‘Hey, I’m willing to put 10 to 20 hours a month into this thing, but I have other interests, too.’ The level of effort required, I think, to do that, is not within the charter of a bunch of citizens on a city committee.”
Edmondites will vote on the GO bond packages Nov. 5. If the parks portion of the proposal is turned down, Koprucu said, VMAC will explore what to do with donations it has already received and how to return the money if donors desire.
