1. For the first time in 30 years, Tulsa will be creating a new Comprehensive Plan. What do you think are the key issues that need to be addressed in the Comp Plan?

The key issue that must be addressed is ‘What does Tulsa want to be; what is it’s Vision? The difficulty in planning is winnowing down so much input and information from citizens, consultants, and planners to create a vision..Next is the hard part. Politicians/city councilors today and in the future have to be committed to supporting and implementing the plan, and keep it from being continually changed through lobbying of specials interest groups; people who didn’t know there was a plan.

The issues are revenue generation/replacement, a dying infrastructure, flight to the suburbs, getting back to neighborhood schools, and obviously transportation due to energy/commuting costs, and the need to revitalize downtown. The river needs to be the focal point, and most citizens in Tulsa County just don’t understand the impact this has on a region. Rethink Section 8 housing.

2. What kind of downtown do you envision for Tulsa? What kind of downtown do you think we need in order to compete effectively with other cities?

The problem is growth in the suburbs may cause business, especially with better paying jobs, to relocate north and south, leaving downtown in its current vacuum. Every planner, consultant, etc. has an opinion. I thought the River plan was great, and we should have been on our way. Following is ‘out of the box’ thinking. (You won’t read this from campaign managers who answer most of these letters).

Take advantage of our weakness-cheap real estate. Cheap is good for attracting business…its bad for home owners. Make Tulsa a retirement destination (Atlanta is), focusing on downtown. We all know there is brain drain in our state. I have a daughter in Dallas, another in San Francisco. Tulsa is boring. Develop downtown into a Loft/Housing District, with shops, grocery stores, ‘people moving systems’ (mini monorail), entertainment, golf course like St. Andrews, and tie into the river, BOK Center, Driller Stadium.

3. What steps can Tulsa take to stop the sales tax drain from the city to suburban municipalities?

You can’t stop people from spending money where they want. What’s the cause of our predicament? Everyone knows it’s the flight to the ‘burbs’ to get away from crime and a deteriorating infrastructure. Tulsa has to address the root cause of the problem, and this is always a politically incorrect subject. Politicians have no sense of urgency to accomplish this. It takes their time and attention to effectuate change. If you ‘build it’, will they come? What if you don’t? You have to sell something, and that is a place where there’s ‘some action’.

4. 30% of Tulsans don’t drive (the young, the elderly, the disabled, those who can’t afford a car, and those who prefer to walk or bike). What can we, as a city, do to make Tulsa more walkable? What role should mass transit play in Tulsa’s future?

Every possible idea and funding solution has been tried with transportation. Maybe the problem is too big. In question one, we outlined a vision for a downtown area built around activity. Say you develop a downtown people moving system unlike anywhere else that would move people from 18th& Main to the Brady district. Then, tie this into a District Transportation system, which ties into a suburban system. Create greenbelts like you see in some California areas, where there is a park every mile or so. The effort here is to develop a walking and people moving system. The problem to solve is weather.

5. The current city council passed a resolution requiring police officers to check the immigration status of “all suspected illegal aliens.” Do you support or oppose this resolution and why?

Absolutely NOT! This is simply the most pompous form of self-serving, mean-spirited, political grandstanding by politicians to ‘pander to’ the Populist movement to bash Hispanics in order to gain votes! First, this is a federal government problem. Second, the human damage is irreparable. Third, we need immigrants. ‘We Baby Boomers’ are making our ‘Bucket List’. Politicians know that their actions will be overturned by the Justice system because it ALREADY has-in Harrisburg, PA. That didn’t turn out too good for Harrisburg, as legal immigrants left, leaving businesses, job openings that can’t be filled, and no one to buy ‘starter homes’ We have a manpower shortage now for construction and manufacturing jobs.

The jails are full. The court system is overbooked. The police can’t catch the legal criminals, so why would I want them wasting time enforcing this city resolution. This adds cost to the city government, takes workers out of the workforce, which reduces tax payers and consumers, and is just plain mean.

6. What should the City of Tulsa do to help support historic preservation efforts, both in neighborhood and downtown? Do you think “old” buildings are important to our future? Why/why not?

Tough question. The City of Tulsa should participate in identifying what is really important, and take steps to preserve it. After that, neighborhoods have their own agenda. It’s time for change. The BOK Center and the Williams Communication center really send a message. Downtown could actually be one of the most modern cities in this country, since we have so much open space downtown that could be developed right now. Look what’s happening in the developing countries-modern.

7. If an anonymous donor wanted to give each council district $5 million to be spent in any way, how would you spend it?

. First, go around to every school in the district insure theyhave first rate bathrooms. The daughters went to public schools in District 9, and when I went to basketball games, I always made it a point to check the bathrooms. It tells you a lot about whether we really care or not, as well as the behavior of the students.

I would invest the money in a transparent District 9 fund that could be viewed by computer daily; find volunteer fund raisers, and set a target of say, $25MM. While this is being raised, planning would be ongoing to determine where in the district the money will be spent. Now that I have a significant amount of money, we can do some great things, with the pride of the district knowing they did it for the district.