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Ewing re-elected; Henderson, Mansur face November challengers; county incumbents file
Filing for November's Tulsa City Council elections ended at 5 Wednesday. Tulsa District 4 City Councilor Blake Ewing (a Republican) has been re-elected, having failed to draw an opponent. Long-time District 1 Democrat incumbent Jack Henderson is being challenged by fellow Democrat Twan T. Jones, while Republican District 7 freshman...
Randi Miller's misleading mailer
Tulsa County District 2 Commissioner Randi Miller has been on the radio asserting her veracity in her dispute with fired Expo Square CEO Rick Bjorklund. He says she told him to get Big Splash water park's problems "off the radar," which he then did by not pressing park owner Loretta...
Just keep rolling 'til you're gone
Irritated Tulsan weighs in on the Big Splash rotting timbers & held checks scandal and Expo Square CEO Rick Bjorklund's firing by the Fair Board. I'm not defending Bjorklund, but I do believe he is a political scapegoat. Instead of creating controversy, it appears Miller wants to create the impression...
Bjorklund fired
Expo Square CEO Rick Bjorklund was fired today, as the scandal involving special treatment for Loretta Murphy's Big Splash continues to grow. Big Splash's annual rent payment to Expo Square of $130,000 was due last October; it still hasn't been paid. An rent check from 2006 of $68,000 was held...
Cleverly disguised
TulsaNow forums participant cannon_fodder reminds us that on November 15, 2007, at 7:20 a.m. on KRMG radio, Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller said: Whoever came up with the idea the space would just be surface parking was misinformed. cannon_fodder has photos of the stripey, flat, asphalty-looking thing where Bell's used...
Daryl Woodard to replace Clark Brewster on fair board
A press release today from Fred Perry, recently installed as this year's chairman of the Tulsa County Board of Commissioners: Commissioner Fred Perry today announced that he will be recommending Daryl Woodard as an appointment to Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority (TCPFA), generally known as the fair board. "In my...
Is it for the children? Is it for the young professionals?
Those are two questions about two major thrusts of the campaign for the proposed Tulsa County sales tax increase for river-related projects. In this week's column in Urban Tulsa Weekly, I ask whether this river tax plan is what we need to do for the sake of Tulsa's children and...
KOTV investigates Bell's eviction
I just watched a lengthy investigative piece by KOTV about the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority's decision to boot Bell's from the Fairgrounds. If you've been reading about the issue here and in Urban Tulsa Weekly, there won't be too much that you haven't already heard, but they do a...
Sizing things up
A couple of facts for everyone afeared that Expo Square will lose its competitive advantage if the City annexes the Fairgrounds, subjecting it to city sales tax, and all the boat shows, car shows, RV shows, etc., will relocate to the new downtown arena. From the Expo Square website: The...
For Bell's the bell tolls
A Myspacer copies a plea for help from the owners of Bell's Amusement Park in Tulsa: In case you haven't heard Bell's Amusement Park which has provided entertainment for Tulsan's and others in Oklahoma for fifty years is having hard times. The Bell's are close freinds and are good people...
At-large barge runs aground; Murphy's sweet deal
The final report from Tulsa's Citizens' Commission on City Government is the topic of this week's column in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The commission, appointed by then-Mayor Bill LaFortune last December, finished on schedule, made some constructive recommendations, including a recommendation against adding at-large seats to the City Council. You can...
Scary bypass
An edited version of this piece was published on April 26, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web on August 18, 2010. It appears that Tulsa's development lobby, discouraged by the results of the Tulsa City Council elections, has decided to...
<em>UTW</em>: How Good An Ol' Boy Are You?
An edited version of this piece was published in the October 19, 2005, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. How Good An Ol' Boy Are You? Tulsa County's aversion to competitive bidding might very well be shortchanging taxpayers by Michael Bates Smokey Robinson's mama...
Timeless relationships: F&M Bancorporation board of directors and officers
In an earlier entry, I called attention to the large amounts of campaign cash given to certain incumbent councilors by donors affiliated with F&M Bank. I have in front of me a page from the 2001 annual report listing the Board of Directors and Officers of F&M Bancorporation, which is...
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