City voters will be asked Dec. 8 to decide yea or nay on a proposed $777 million series of projects known as MAPS 3.

In order to pay for eight separate projects, Mayor Mick Cornett and the city council will ask voters to extend the penny sales tax currently funding Ford Center improvements and a practice facility for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Benefits and concerns surround each of the projects, and the plan as a whole. As Oklahoma and the nation works to put the Great Recession in the history books, many are still without work and fear that the unemployment rate will continue to get higher before leveling off and coming back down.

A "no" vote on MAPS will keep a few more coins in the pockets of those in Oklahoma City. But Cornett and the council dreamed big and worked up a plan they hope will bring more money into the state from visitors and conventions.

For those who don't frequent the Downtown area or the Oklahoma River, a few key MAPS projects might be deemed worthless. However, for those who live and work Downtown - or plan to - the improvements have the potential to improve their quality of life.

The first MAPS brought a library, a canal, a museum and Ford Center to Downtown. With MAPS 3, Downtown could get a new park, convention center and streetcar system. Other parts would fund improvements at the state fairgrounds, make improvements along the Oklahoma River, create health/aquatic centers for senior citizens and build sidewalks and bike trails around the city.

The initiatives, dubbed a "transformation process," will be voted on together in an all-for-one type package.

"One of these projects wouldn't do it," says Greater Oklahoma City Chamber President Roy Williams. "But when you put it all together