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What Tulsa needs to do for Route 66
The City of Tulsa is asking for public to submit ideas for Route 66-themed artwork to be placed at the Admiral and Mingo traffic circle. Tulsa is considering installation of new public art in the Traffic Circle at the intersection of East Admiral Place and North Mingo Road, on the...
Tulsa Metro Chamber's 2011 election manifesto
Here is the Tulsa Metro Chamber's "candidate priorities" -- effectively the Chamber's "manifesto" for the 2011 City of Tulsa election. Candidates seeking the endorsement of and funding from the Chamber's PAC (TulsaBizPac) were interviewed and questioned about these issues. I have added bold font for emphasis on the most controversial...
Historic US 62 bridge photos
Getting caught up: Early last month (best defined as the very cold windy period between the big Christmas snowstorm and the big late January ice storm), I had two back-to-back business trips, both involving graveyard-shift hours, separated by less than a day at home. The first trip was to Altus...
All wrote out
Over the last 9 days, I: Wrote two regular columns for Urban Tulsa Weekly Wrote two extra thousand-word pieces, which will appear in UTW's Spring Thing, one of the paper's two annual full-color special inserts Edited and cross-checked a 75-page technical proposal, writing or re-writing sections of it, working 10-12...
Urban design experts looking at Evans-Fintube site
A group of urban planners from the Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD) is in Tulsa today looking at the city's most significant brownfield: The Evans Electric and Fintube plants, which are located east of OSU-Tulsa, north of Archer St., between the BNSF (formerly AT&SF) tracks and US 75. The...
Tulsa "a baby of a city"
From alumni of the Pratt Institute, who visited Tulsa for the National Preservation Conference: First of all, Art Deco. It's everywhere. This Deco boom town was nouveau riche ripe with OIL! when they built it. We walked some of the shiny, shapely and well loved lobbies on our tour of...
A recap of the National Preservation Conference
My column in this week's UTW is a recap of the National Preservation Conference, which came to Tulsa back in late October. Below are some blog entries with reactions from conference staff and other conference attendees, but first I want to spotlight a blog I've just recently learned about: Rex...
National Preservation Conference: Get yourself downtown!
If you have any interest at all in fixing up older buildings (even if you don't think of them as particularly historic), visiting and promoting historic landmarks, economic revitalization of small towns and rural areas, walkable communities, "green" buildings, infill that respects existing development -- if you like pecans or...
Preservation conference continues
The 2008 National Preservation Conference is underway right here in Tulsa. On Wednesday some conventioneers took buses to field sessions here in Tulsa and around northeastern Oklahoma, while others attended panel discussions and workshops on various topics related to historic preservation. Late in the afternoon was the opening plenary session,...
Preservation conference field sessions open to the public
The National Preservation Conference, which comes to Tulsa next week, is making tickets for several Saturday, October 25, field sessions available to the public. There is a cost for each event, but you can sign up for these events without having to pay the conference registration fee. There are five...
Preservationists coming to Tulsa
The long-anticipated National Preservation Conference, the annual convention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is just around the corner -- next week! -- and that's my column in the current issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly is a preview of what Tulsans will find in the exhibit hall, field sessions,...
Historic preservation strategy workshop
From the Tulsa Preservation Commission blog: Please join us Wednesday, August 27th for a Community Workshop to shape and evaluate Tulsa's Historic Preservation Strategy. This public workshop will be from 5:30 - 7:30pm in the new City Hall, 175 E. 2nd Street, 10th Floor South conference room (map it). On-street...
2008 National Preservation Conference planning meeting, June 19
It's a great privilege for Tulsa to host this year's National Preservation Conference, to be held in October, and it's a great opportunity for Tulsans concerned about historic preservation, adaptive reuse, sensitive infill, neighborhood conservation, art deco architecture, and urban design to raise local awareness on these issues. Here's an...
National Trust official praises NCD column
Feedback on columns and blog entries is always appreciated, especially if it's positive. Urban Tulsa Weekly received a note earlier this week from Daniel Carey, southwest regional director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, regarding my March 5th column on the specific provisions of the first draft of a...
Midtown Tulsa on endangered historic places list
Midtown Tulsa is on Preservation Oklahoma's 2008 list of the state's most endangered historic places. Details will be released later tonight, along with the other locations on the list. Here's the Preserve Midtown press release: Midtown Tulsa has been placed on Oklahoma's Most Endangered Historic Places List for 2008. On...
Property owners owe Tulsans downtown preservation
An edited version of this piece was published in the August 23, 2006, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The edited, published version of the piece is online in the Internet Archive. Posted on the web September 17, 2013. Property owners owe Tulsans downtown preservation By Michael D. Bates A memo...
Downtown Tulsa Unlamented
This week's UTW column begins with an imaginary letter from the Convention and Visitors Bureau to delegates to the 2008 National Preservation Conference, inviting delegates to admire the parking lots where historic buildings used to stand. Don’t miss the site of the Skelly Building on the northeast corner of 4th...
Come thou Fount of smears distressing
Remember the late, unlamented election for Tulsa County District Attorney? In my Urban Tulsa Weekly column on the race, I examined and refuted the misleading claims being made by challenger Brett Swab about DA Tim Harris's prosecution record. Swab's negative campaign also included claims about DA office spending on remodeling...
Developers want no hindrance to conversion of downtown to parking lots
CORE Tulsa, a group of Tulsa Preservation Commission staffers and volunteers, did a study on how to keep more of downtown from turning into surface parking lots. According to the Tulsa Whirled, these were the report's recommendations: For the city to conduct a comprehensive review of all downtown buildings with...
Citizens' Commission starts winding down; SB 1324 update
The charter review commission that Bill LaFortune put in place last December following the failure of Tulsans for Better Government's supercouncilor initiative petition is nearing its scheduled conclusion. I spoke at last Friday's meeting at the invitation of Co-Chairman Ken Levit. This week's Urban Tulsa Weekly has my report on...
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