PLANiTULSA preview tomorrow (Tuesday) night
Tomorrow evening, Tuesday, July 15, at 6 p.m. TulsaNow is sponsoring a public event at the OSU-Tulsa Auditorium which is intended to help Tulsans understand what the comprehensive plan update is all about and how they can participate in the process. John Fregonese, head of the planning team handling the update, will be the main speaker, and there will be opportunities to ask questions. Here's the press release:
TulsaNow Invites Citizens to Get Involved and "Think Big"Citizen Input Key to Success of Comp Plan Update
If you think the term "Comprehensive Plan" sounds like a boring document created by bureaucrats in the basement of City Hall, then you haven't met John Fregonese. As the lead consultant to Tulsa's PLANiTULSA project, Fregonese stresses that all great plans begin by engaging the community. PLANiTULSA will be about "implementing the community's vision," and the process starts with a basic question: "What do people want?"
TulsaNow believes that citizens are eager to get involved and share their thoughts. They just don't know it yet.
That's why TulsaNow will host a public event called "PLANiTULSA: Think Big! (Dreamers Wanted.)" Speakers will include John Fregonese of Fregonese Associates and Gary Reddick of Sienna Architecture Group. The event will take place from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15 at the OSU-Tulsa Auditorium, located at 700 N. Greenwood on the campus of OSU-Tulsa. The event is free and open to the public.
The purpose of the event is to help Tulsans understand the importance of the comprehensive plan, and how they can play a role in shaping Tulsa's future.
According to Sarah Kobos, President of TulsaNow, "Whenever I talk to people about PLANiTULSA, the first thing everyone says is 'Now, what exactly is the comprehensive plan?' Once you explain it, they get all excited. Most people have opinions about what Tulsa needs, or how to make Tulsa better, but nobody ever asks them what they think. We want people to understand that they can get involved in PLANiTULSA and really make a difference. Every voice counts."
Learn more about PLANiTULSA and the Comprehensive Plan Update: www.planitulsa.org
If you plan to be involved in planning Tulsa's future, plan to attend this event tomorrow night at 6.
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Is the basement where all those creepy bureaucrats are kept?
How to Engage the Community for Planning, WITHOUT Really Trying.
In Bogota, Columbia, they call it the ciclovia.
In Portland, Oregan, they call it Sunday Parkways.
Grassroots urban planning in Tulsa is CHALLENGING because community engagement is mostly limited to the "well-intentioned" oligarchy. Or, at least, that is the impression.
It is the "well-intentioned" oligarchy who attend the meetings, speak out, and set the agenda for the rest of the silent majority in Tulsa.
We should expose the community to the ultimate end result of all urban planning: How to use the public space to serve the needs of the public. Take the planning sessions out into the community. Citizens want to feel they are part of the process. We need a new paradigm for engaging the community, beyond the four walls.
I propose the ciclovia charrette approach in updating the Comprehensive Plan.
1) Close off 26 miles of City streets to auto traffic on the first Sunday of the month, from May to September. The automobile serves to separate Tulsans from each other in our daily lives. One day each month should be used to bring us all together, face-to-face.
2) Invite corporate charities to fund the closure. Allow farmers' markets to conduct business. Encourage garage sales. Collect taxes on the larger ones.
3) Intersperse interactive planning charrettes focusing on various community issues.
Route 66 Marathon and Tulsa Run already close City streets to auto traffic. Why can't streets be closed for a far more important work, such as PlaniTulsa?
Along with Ross Perot's crazy aunt.
I attended last night.
The September citywide workshops sound interesting, but I think they are on a Monday and Tuesday. If so, I might not be able to schedule vacation time on such short notice. I was presuming that at least one of the workshops would be on a Saturday or Sunday or broken into some evening sessions.