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Tulsa animal ordinance rewrite slights public input
UPDATE 2020/04/27: CCP Bat Virus has delayed the Tulsa City Council's final vote on the new animal ordinance, which is now set for the regular council meeting on May 11, 2020, 5 p.m., at City Hall. If you raise backyard poultry in the City of Tulsa, if you sell...
Vision Tulsa: North Tulsa perspective -- a 93.4% rotten apple
One of the joys of this campaign has been getting to know some valiant community leaders that I had not previously met. Tracie Chandler, a leader in the North Star neighborhood, was instrumental in getting the city to do a small area plan covering the 36th Street North corridor between...
Kanbar bailing out of Tulsa?
There are indications that downtown Tulsa's biggest property owner is looking to sell and get out, despite big plans announced last fall and very recent affirmations of his commitment to Tulsa. Last month's Tulsa People had a Q&A with Maurice Kanbar, the San Francisco inventor who owns over 2 million...
This Land in print (and me, too, with "Who Owns Downtown Tulsa?")
You may know This Land Press as the folks behind Goodbye Tulsa, a podcast devoted to well-known and well-loved Tulsans who have recently shuffled off this mortal coil, but (as reported here a few weeks ago) the online This Land project has expanded to be something much bigger, and now...
My wife wants a Maria Barnes yard sign
My wife asked me the other day if we could put a sign in our yard for Maria Barnes, the former Tulsa District 4 city councilor who is seeking to take back that seat. For my wife, the decision comes down to this: Incumbent councilor Eric Gomez, who defeated Barnes...
Eric Gomez on SLAPP suits
Tulsa District 4 City Councilor Eric Gomez isn't fond of public scrutiny, evidently. He was none too happy that I had my camera running during his answer to this question: "Are you aware of SLAPP lawsuits? Would you consider a lawsuit or threat of a lawsuit against a constituent for...
Politicians v. freedom of speech
One of the stories that broke while I was focused on the day job involved Tulsa City Councilor Eric Gomez's threats to sue Julie Hall of Who Owns Tulsa? over her criticism of his actions as a councilor. You may have missed it, too, so here's the KOTV News on...
SLAPP upside the head
Oklahoma has inadequate protections against SLAPPs -- strategic lawsuits against public participation. So argues Laura Long in the Summer 2007 issue of the Oklahoma Law Review. (Click here for a direct link to the PDF of her article.) If you're not familiar with the term, here's the description from Wikipedia:...
<em>Whirled</em> in a stall spin?
The Tulsa World announced today that it has laid off 28 employees, 26 of them members of the news staff. Two of the three members of the paper's State Capitol bureau were let go. This is the second major cutback in a year. The paper closed its Community World bureaus...
NIMBYs threaten to SLAPP homeowners
The Mental Health Association in Tulsa, an organization that is being used as a tool by the downtown NIMBYs in their (futile) efforts to clear the chronically homeless and mentally ill out of downtown, is threatening to sic Uncle Sam on homeowners who are protesting MHAT's plans to build a...
Who Owns Tulsa? monthly meeting tonight
Who Owns Tulsa? will hold its monthly meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of the Franklin Youth Academy, 1136 S. Allegheny Ave. (Allegheny is one block east of Yale.) In a press release, WOT Chairman Julie Hall describes the meeting: The agenda will include an update on 10...
"Who Owns Tulsa?" benefit concert today, 1 - 5
Who Owns Tulsa? is holding its "first annual jam" today (Sunday) to raise funds for their ongoing efforts regarding the Admiral and Yale "apartments." The benefit runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Sunset Grill, 5800 S. Lewis Ave., and it features the Wanda Watson Band, Stanky Brown, Salty...
State of the city
Jamie Jamieson, developer of the Village at Central Park and outgoing president of TulsaNow has written a letter reflecting on the state of the city and the state of TulsaNow to mark the end of his term of office. Jamie reviews some of 2004's positive developments, including the emergence of...
More notes on the recallers
Did some digging to learn more about Jon Davidson, the Chairman of the Coalition for Responsible Government 2004, which is backing the recall of City Councilors Chris Medlock and Jim Mautino. The Whirled story mentions that he recently resigned from the board of the Tulsa Metro Chamber, but the October...
Paducah: Soho of the south?
A friend sends along a couple of Chicago Tribune articles (free registration required) about Paducah, a small city (27,000) on the Ohio River in western Kentucky. The city is providing incentives to encourage artists to relocate in and revitalize a struggling older neighborhood. So far they've spent $600,000 on direct...
The cargo cult approach to economic development
I've been listening to a lot of otherwise intelligent folks spout a lot of nonsense lately. Rational in many respects, they have an irrational attachment to the notion that promised projects for the billion-dollar sales tax increase (September 9th is the election) will elevate Tulsa to the heights of prosperity....
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