OKLAHOMA CITY -- If anyone still doubts the correlation between obese America and our fast-food culture, consider Oklahoma City, where the mayor has asked residents to join him on a diet.
The city best known to many Americans as the site of Timothy McVeigh's horrific act of terrorism in 1995 is also the fast-food axis of the nation and the eighth-fattest, with an obesity rate of 25 percent.
Mayor Mick Cornett is hoping to change that. On New Year's Eve, he challenged citizens to lose 1 million pounds and launched an interactive Web site where people can sign on and track their weight loss (thiscityisgoingonadiet.com).
As of this writing, 14,688 dieters, including interlopers from 40 countries, have lost 27,153 pounds, or about 13.5 tons.
Sitting in his office in downtown Oklahoma City, Mr. Cornett is 38 pounds lighter than a year ago. By the end of February, he hopes to make his goal of losing 42 pounds, from 217 to 175.
Mr. Cornett is losing about one pound per week the old-fashioned way. He simply cut his calories from about 3,000 to 2,000 per day and plays tennis three days a week.
The mayor, who has always struggled with weight, says he wants to remove the "blanket of shame" from excess poundage.
The OKC diet isn't an isolated initiative but is part of this rebirth after "the Bombing," which receives uppercase treatment around here. The overhaul actually started in 1993 with a voter-approved penny sales tax that would last five years (later extended) to fund everything from downtown redevelopment and river restoration to education improvements.
The Bombing broke city momentum only temporarily. The sales tax raised more than $309 million and went toward nine projects, including a sports arena, ballpark, trolleys, dams and building renovations. Today, the formerly desolate downtown boasts seven hotels where there used to be one, and thousands of residents are moving back into the inner city.
Thus, dieting is just another piece of a cultural shift toward a new self-image and higher standards in quality of life. OKC is the 12th-fastest-growing large city in the nation and has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the best cities in which to find a job. The city has added 65,000 jobs since 2004. Also, air quality has always met EPA ozone standards, unlike a majority of American cities, which makes OKC attractive to new industry.
OKC is also, apparently, a great place to open a squat 'n' gobble. The fast-food business model works well here because land is cheap and people drive everywhere. OKC is the third-largest city geographically in the nation (behind Jacksonville, Fla., and Anchorage, Alaska). Taco Bell alone has 40 restaurants here and boasts 35,000 visits per day.
Mr. Cornett is tackling that factoid, too, talking with Taco Bell executives about co-promoting a tomato-based "fresco" alternative to the usual sour cream/guacamole fixings.
As part of OKC's new identity, the city is also trying to change from sprawling and automobile-centric to pedestrian-friendly and, as a result, more fit than flabby. To that end, citizens approved bond issues to install 350 miles of new sidewalks and to build new gymnasiums in all 47 inner-city elementary schools.
In a time of cynicism and partisanship, it is refreshing to find a community so united in common goals.
Kathleen Parker's syndicated column appears Thursdays in The Sun. Her e-mail is kparker@kparker.com.