Search this site
Matching entries from BatesLine
Cross-country cyclist falls in love with Tulsa
Originally posted on April 3, 2016. Bumped to the top for those who may have missed it during the election. We've been hearing lately that we need dams in our river to attract creative young people to Tulsa. Yeah, no, it doesn't make sense to me either, but given that...
John Oliver on taxpayer subsidy of pro sports stadiums
On his HBO show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver provides an entertaining and enlightening encapsulation of America's ridiculous habit of taxpayer subsidies for sports stadiums. MORE: The new Major League Baseball commissioner, perhaps inspired by the NFL holding LA relocation over the heads of existing NFL cities, sees the value...
Pizza in Tulsa: Shakey's menu, summer 1967
Jane Dunlap Maxey posted this on the Facebook group "North Tulsa 50's 60's & 70's - The Real Outsiders." It's a menu from Shakey's Pizza, labeled summer 1967. I thought it deserved reposting in a more permanently accessible location. Shakey's Pizza Spicy - Supreme - Robust - Exotic ... From...
A peach of a day
My wife wanted more blueberries. She and the two younger kids picked an astonishing amount (18 gallons?) a few weeks ago at Thunderbird Berry Farm east of Broken Arrow. Nevertheless there didn't seem to be enough to cover pie baking, freezing for later, and random noshing. She wanted more, if...
Sullivan wins passage of regulatory relief bill
Yesterday, Tulsa Congressman John Sullivan's bill to provide regulatory relief to the American cement industry, HR 2681, passed by a vote of 262-161. According to an email from Sullivan, the bill "puts the brakes on a costly, overbearing EPA rule that threatens to shut 20% of the U.S. cement manufacturing...
TMAPC & PLANiTULSA: The hearing and the delayers
I spoke at Wednesday's TMAPC public hearing on PLANiTULSA, Tulsa's first comprehensive plan in a generation. I haven't had time to write my thoughts on the event, but my friend Jamie Jamieson copied me on an email to a Pearl District neighborhood leader. He did a fine job describing yesterday's...
PLANiTULSA - "Which Way, Tulsa?" - last day to respond
Time to stop procrastinating and pick a scenario for Tulsa's future growth. Tomorrow (June 18, 2009) is the deadline for completing the "Which Way, Tulsa?" survey. Dear Tulsan: Over the past 8 months, input from thousands of Tulsans has been gathered at public workshops throughout the city, collected through surveys...
High and dry in rainy Portland
The theory, as I understand it, is that cities with some combination of great public amenities, natural beauty, and a vibrant cultural scene will attract the Creative Class. Bright young people now pick a place to live, whether or not they have a job waiting for them. The presence of...
Livable Green Country
A couple of nice accolades: Forbes named Tulsa the 5th most livable city in America, just ahead of Oklahoma City in 6th. The top 10: Portland, Me. Bethesda, Md. Des Moines, Ia. Bridgeport/Stamford, Conn. Tulsa, Okla. Oklahoma City, Okla. Cambridge, Mass. Baltimore, Md. Worcester, Mass. Pittsburgh, Pa. The criteria: To...
Riding out of town on a rail
On April 24, INCOG, the regional planning agency, is presenting a program to "begin a community dialogue about transportation options, including rail," although from the description, it looks like rail will be the predominant topic: What about RAIL? Public Open House Jazz Hall of Fame at Union Station Tulsa, OK...
Thoughts on the Tulsa Landing / ballpark announcement
The developer of Branson Landing has announced plans for a $500,000,000 retail and entertainment complex on the west bank of the Arkansas River at 21st Street. The plans would include a 20,000 to 22,000 seat ballpark intended for a Class AAA baseball team. The deal is being described as contingent...
Alaskan out of the way
Some time ago, David Sucher, author of the great urban design book City Comforts, rechristened his blog as "City Comforts, temporarily known as Viaduct, The Blog." His focus has narrowed from a wide variety of urban design issues to (mainly) a single crucial issue affecting his hometown of Seattle: Whether...
"A fundamental challenge that Tulsans need to overcome"
The following comment, by Tom Gulihur of CalCoast Realty, was posted on a much earlier entry, Will the Real New Urbanism Please Stand Up? Gulihur is a California-based real estate broker and financier with a fascinating resumé and deep Oklahoma roots. This essay wasn't likely to get much readership in...
Give IRV, and the Towerview, a chance
When I filed this week's column Monday morning, I had no way of knowing the final result, but I felt certain that whoever won the Republican nomination for Mayor would win without a majority of the vote. I thought that was the optimum time to write about the advantages of...
A look inside the petition industry
The good news is that Tulsans for Badder Government has decided to drop its petition effort for dismembering three Tulsa City Council districts and replacing them with three elected city-wide. The bad news is that, word has it, Mayor Bill LaFortune is going to set up a blue-ribbon panel to...
A very Lileks Christmas
James Lileks' Bleat returned from a brief hiatus earlier this week with notes on his family's Christmas observances. From Monday, about his three-year-old's dance recital: There’s a vast difference between remembering Dad coming to your recital and being Dad at the recital. The first is a memory that dead-ends with...
Are families important after all?
Richard Florida has received a lot of press recently for his new book about the "creative class" and how a city prospers when it is a place that the creative class wants to be. There was a review of his book in the first issue of The Next American City....
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'Portland'. [What is this?]
