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ahha closes, OKPOP delayed: Is Tulsa's oligarchy competent?
Looks like Tulsa's billionaire overlords aren't as competent as they pretend to be. If they're going to insist on being in charge and push us to elect their minions, couldn't they at least show some signs of competence? And maybe a little frugality along the way?
Oklahoma State Question 800: Creating the Oklahoma <s>Slush</s> Vision Fund
Oklahoma State Question 800 would add a new section to Article 10 of the Oklahoma Constitution. It would siphon off part of the gross production tax into a fund that the State Treasurer could invest in private businesses. I'm voting NO, AGAINST SQ 800. Here is the new section that...
Tulsa County Property Taxation: Introductory and advanced
Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel, recently re-elected to a fourth four-year term, provides a wealth of information on ad valorem property taxation in Oklahoma. For some time now, he has posted slide presentations online, under Statistics and Analysis, that cover basic and advanced property taxation topics and are chock-full of...
College football realignment: Why not the English system?
Once upon a time, conferences were straightforward. You had a group of universities within a bus ride of one another, and they played each other in football, baseball, basketball, and other sports. At the major university level, you had a dozen or so conferences, each with no more than 10...
Wagoner County Commission's second thoughts
When you've been away from blogging for almost a week, it's hard to know where to begin again. We returned Thursday night from a week-long family vacation in Branson. We spent several days at Silver Dollar City, visited Branson Landing one night, went to the Butterfly Palace, and swam in...
Council tribute to Roscoe Turner, Maria Barnes, and Cason Carter
Friday afternoon, my daughter and I attended a brief reception at City Hall to honor the three departing members of the Tulsa City Council: Roscoe Turner, Maria Barnes, and Cason Carter. They were each presented with a plaque honoring their service. The plaques were read and presented by their colleagues....
TIF 201; Perry responds to "Realistic River Development"
Last week I wrote a primer on tax increment financing (TIF) districts. My column in this week's issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly is the advanced course: TIF districts as applied to Jenks' proposed billion-dollar River District development and a Branson Landing-type development on Tulsa's west bank. You can read all...
Wal-Mart says no to downtown Tulsa, East Village
Wal-Mart has notified the developers of a proposed east downtown mixed-use development that they won't be building a store in downtown Tulsa. The change in plans is part of a nationwide decision to slow down the construction of new Wal-Mart Supercenters. Tulsa is one of many cities across the nation...
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) 201: Advanced concepts and case studies
An edited version of this column appeared in the November 7, 2007, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is available online courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Here is my blog entry linking to the original column. Posted online September 9, 2017. TIF 201: Advanced concepts and...
TIF 101
My latest Urban Tulsa Weekly column, in the November 1-7 issue (the adoption issue), is a primer on tax increment financing (TIF) districts. There's a lot of debate about the topic in Jenks and talk about using a TIF district in Tulsa to enable west bank commercial development, and people...
Tax Increment Financing (TIF): The Basics
An edited version of this column appeared in the October 31, 2007, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is available online courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Posted online September 9, 2017. Infrequently Asked Questions about Tax Increment Financing: The Basics By Michael D. Bates What's all...
Wisdom and Eloquence (and me, too) at the Renaissance
Saint Augustine Academy's fall banquet, titled "Wisdom and Eloquence at the Renaissance" (the Renaissance Hotel, that is), was a wonderful event. People even thought the 25 minutes when I spoke went well; at least that's what they told me. It was a privilege to serve as the keynote speaker. I'm...
A curious change in terminology
This struck me as strange. Maybe this was unintentional, maybe not. You be the judge. There's a shift in the way the Tulsa World refers to the potential commercial development on the west bank of the Arkansas River at 21st Street. Prior to the October 9 Tulsa County sales tax...
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...
2006 Tulsa City Council general election preview
An edited version of this column appeared in the March 22, 2006, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is available online via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. My blog entry linking the column is here. Posted online October 6, 2017. Council General Election preview By Michael D. Bates...
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