Whirled needs correction about Solow

Time doesn't permit a thorough deconstruction of the Whirled's Sunday article on the opposition, in which opposition leaders' remarks have been sliced, diced, and spun to make us look as incoherent as possible. I'll get to it; I promise.

But I have to correct an error which could and should have been checked before it was published. Regarding Tulsa County Coalition co-chairman and downtown businessman Tony Solow, the Whirled says:

Solow, who also opposed returning the Main Mall to a through street, said it is crazy that every time something comes up “the city wants to use a sales tax to pay for pie in the sky.”

I was at the Council meeting the night (in 2001 I think) when Tony Solow spoke eloquently in support of reopening Main Street and 5th Street, at a time when several Councilors and many downtown workers were trying to stop the project. Tony, who was a long-time Tulsa Tribune reporter, and who has an appreciation for the dynamics of downtown shaped by years of running a small business there, is opposed to the general idea of closing streets in downtown. He is in good company: Jane Jacobs and many other urban experts maintain that downtown street closings and "super blocks" disrupt traffic flow and help to drain the life out of downtown.

I've got more bones to pick with this article, but they'll have to wait.