Who was there?
I saw, AA but he was busy in a conversation so I didn't interupt. I got to talk to pmcalk for a bit.
The excercise was interesting, but very broad strokes and certainly not enough time to get all of our points across. The dynamic at my table was interesting. Everyone had their "agenda" that interested them, but it was amazing how like minded we all were. Everyone was down to business and engrossed in the process.
As I walked around and looked at other tables plans, I saw incredible similarities in what the attendees pictured for their city:
Mass transit, bike trails, sustainablility, preservation, increased development in Downtown, North, West and East Tulsa and around the river and airport.
I wonder if anyone used the "trends" package. I didn't see any table that placed a strip mall sticker on the map.
I was there. Our table was made up of younger people, so we chose the "Attracting and Retaining" youth category. We also had a guy who had only been in Tulsa for about 1-2 weeks, so that was exciting. It provided a fresh perspective on how planning could work.
We even got to present our map, which was exciting. I loved seeing what other teams had developed, and I walked around afterwards to examine some of the maps that weren't presented.
I was at table 7 w/ Darrel Gilbert. We picked "neighborhood empowerment" as our over-riding priority. A hub and spoke light rail system with bus line feeders was our biggest transportation initiative.
However, once we opened our packet of stickers, we felt that there were way too many subdivision stickers. We seemed more interested in village or urban type planning.
My only criticism of the whole event was John Fregonese went a bit fast on the opening presentation. Ponder and I mentioned it to him and he promised he'd slow down today.
We had a "Tulsa sucks" oldster at our table, and another fellow at our table who is convinced we will all be driving flying cars in 15 years.
One thing I did see randomly eavesdropping on others was a desire for economic development in north and west Tulsa.
I saw a lot of people I know and finally got to put a few faces with names. All-in-all I'm glad I participated. I liked the random nature with which we were seated. Every demographic, geographic area, and socio-economic group seemed to be represented last night.
Others from here I saw were: Michael Bates, Wevus, Pfox, DS Jeffries, I think TURobY (was that him presenting one of the maps?) & PonderInc. I wouldn't know PMCalk, Carlton, AA, or Chicken Little if I saw them. Sorry we didn't get to meet.
Quite a few movers and shakers from around the city as well. It was nice to chat with the Mayor, I like that she usually stays to the end on functions she attends and she participates, rather than making a ceremonial appearance and leaving. She also has a pretty good sense of humor.
I'm going to be there today as will LeArtist. Dunno who else.
I was there. Saw Pmcaulk, Conan71, Dsjeffries, TUroby, MichaelBates, and dozens of the usual community participants.
More importantly, I saw hundreds of people who don't normally appear at civic events. I loved looking around to see tables with a variety of people all working together. Young/old, black/white, male/female, gay/straight, East Tulsa/West Tulsa, etc, etc...
The energy was great and the enthusiasm high. Fregonese was impressed with the tournout, and by how many people stuck around until late in the evening to hear the presentations by different tables talking about their maps.
There's going to be an "overflow" session in October. I talked to a couple of the transportation consultants, and they said that there's going to be a public workshop focused solely on transit in February. This is great b/c so many people at the workshop included various types of transit in their plans. There's obviously a desire to create a working transit system in Tulsa.
Fregonese also mentioned that everyone who attended will have the opportunity to nominate neighborhoods for additional focus at later workshops. These will be the "zoom in" workshops that target specific parts of town.
quote:
Originally posted by Conan71
...I think TURobY (was that him presenting one of the maps?)...
LOL. Yes, I actually presented with DSJeffries. I grew up in East Tulsa and I talked about further developing the ethnic villages in East Tulsa and taking advantage of the redevelopment of the Eastgate Metroplex.
I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.
We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.
I doubt that anyone present was interested in the "Trend" package...basically continuing the status quo, with housing and jobs moving into the suburbs.
Our table chose "Attracting and Retaining Youth" although it was a very similar package to the "Neighborhood Empowerment" one. We ended up with a lot of unused residential subdivision stickers. (It seemed redundant to put them on a map of Tulsa that's already defined by that sort of development.)
Our theme, as it turns out, was "more green, less sprawl." There was a consensus to improve quality of life with strategic infill/density, better transit including rail, more street beautification, more walkability, etc. Basically a desire to offer a variety of options for a variety of tastes, not just "one size fits all" as the current zoning code demands.
quote:
Originally posted by carltonplace
I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.
We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.
Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?
quote:
Originally posted by Conan71
quote:
Originally posted by carltonplace
I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.
We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.
Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?
I was table two also. No Josh Walker. We were joined by a gentleman who'd been a volunteer planner for years and said he has done work on the Pearl District.
I was at today's session at the BOK Center as a facilitator. Another huge turnout. This time I spotted Sgrizzle, TheArtist, AA, JoMamma (Great presentation, JM!)...and a lot of TN members and forum "lurkers." There were so many tables, it was hard to see everybody.
quote:
Originally posted by PonderInc
I was at today's session at the BOK Center as a facilitator. Another huge turnout. This time I spotted Sgrizzle, TheArtist, AA, JoMamma (Great presentation, JM!)...and a lot of TN members and forum "lurkers." There were so many tables, it was hard to see everybody.
I was there today. We had representation at our table from East Tulsa, North Tulsa, Midtown, South, Riverside. We mostly focused on reclaiming blighted areas and identifying key places for commercial and industry. I saw a LOT of similarity in maps from table to table. It will be interesting to see how this moves forward.
Me there too, today...I'm hooked. I was talking to an older gentleman who was pretty skeptical about trying to figure out 30 years of growth in three hours.
But think about it. Between today and last night, there's over 3,000 man-hours of work in those maps. If you've ever hired consultants (at $100/hr or more...sheesh), you know that what's transpired amounts to serious work. Further, I think that the expert local knowledge about all parts of the city is something that you really can't buy at any price.
Now, who do I submit my bill to?[;)]
Instead of asking for a street lighting policy that puts a higher priority on improving vision than how much electricity the utility gets to sell, I was trying out the WiFi at St. John Medical center.
It's not what I planned, but that's how it worked out. Really aggressive blocking filters they have there, too, and they also must assume everyone reads their mail through MS outlook.
The "overflow" session is at night when I usually work, but who knows what could happen.
Im encouraged that im not the only one in Tulsa who is aware of how much money we waste on street lights that do such a poor job of lighting streets (and some of those people also work for the city...)
quote:
Originally posted by Conan71
quote:
Originally posted by carltonplace
I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.
We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.
Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?
Josh Walker was at table 10--other end of the room.
I saw tremendous consistency as well. Develop underserved neighborhoods like north, east & west, Historic Preservation, green emphasis. Lots of focus on better public transportation. We chose neighborhood empowerment--but we really wanted to encourage young people; we just thought the other package had better chips. And we thought an entreprenuer based economy was likely to be inviting to young people. I really expected many more battles, but I was amazed at how like-minded our table was.
One of my table participants was blind. Kid you not. Our facilitator was a nice guy, but not much help.
Saw DoubleA there as well. "Mr Equal Representation" voting twice?
Maybe he registered under his Canadian name, DoubleEh.
Why pre-determined packages and not just packages with everything available?
It's a 1984 conspiracy, MD.
When they want your opinion, they will give it to you.
i was there.
saw william, sarah, michael bates, sgrizzle and his lovely wife, jamie jamieson... so good showing by the tulsa now board!
i loved the process.
the group i was with was AWESOME, and we all really got in to the process and had some great ideas and discussions. we had 2 residents of n. tulsa, a couple of real estate folks (maybe one of them was a developer?), a dude who works w/ the osage tribe, and me. 'had a lot of fun, and really wish we had more time to discuss, make revisions, and really refine our ideas.
i can't wait to see the compilation of the data.
michael bates took pics of the event and of his table's map. he very generously agreed to photograph my table's map as well, and i've got that on my flickr account w/ comments about what we discussed. ...eventually i want to provide more details, and even geocode our areas that we felt need more development / mass transit, etc.
really looking forward to the more detailed meetings and getting involved as this process continues. so far so good, planiTulsa!
quote:
Originally posted by MDepr2007
Why pre-determined packages and not just packages with everything available?
The packages presented the facilities needed for a set number of people (I believe 100,000) including shopping, work, and living. If you'll note that required almost 200 75 acre sections with the "continue trends" packet but with the "attract youth" it only needed 135 sections to house and emply the same number of people.
sgrizzle: u must have taken better notes than me. where did frego get the #s that they based the packets on?
that's one thing that i never understood about yesterday. who's to say that the population of tulsa will grow by _x_ amount, or that we will be able to attract _x_ jobs? ...for that matter, what kinds of jobs are those?
I think there are a lot of gross assumptions which go into long-range planning like this. For being pro-entrepreneur, the Neighborhood Empowerment packet seemed like it didn't have enough opportunities for ED to me.
The 75 acres required for each type of development becomes daunting when you start looking for space on the map which is not already occupied. [;)]
Not complaining, it was an interesting exercize and I hope I get to participate more in the future.
I think they just too the general trends that have prevailed over the last couple decades and extrapolated out from that. Not just locally but nationally esp considering population numbers and demographics. I dont think anyone can predict what will exactly happen for Tulsa, but you have to have some place to imagine where you are going. We may lose population for all we know. However, even in that scenario I think a lot of the map designs would end up creating a better city than we have now. Most of the maps seemed to be concerned with infill and redevelopment of older areas within the city.
I personally really liked how in the presentation they pointed out the various housing options that Tulsa has available how it lacks in 2 areas, high end and affordable, urban living. Thought it interesting how some people at my table, not part of the usual TN group, pointed out how they wanted neighborhoods and areas that were mixed income, how those areas would be more interesting and desirable than areas that are of a "single class".
I also heard several groups going about it the way we did. We tried starting in a different manner but kept falling into the situation that we needed to decide first where any mass transit options were going to go. Whether it be BRT or some type of rail. Once you figured that out then it became a lot easier to center redevelopment nodes around the mass transit options and connecting those nodes. Even if you werent going to put in any mass transit immediately, it seemed wisest to focus redevelopment in areas where you would most likely be able to put mass transit in the future.
Our map tended to focus a lot on downtown, areas just north of it and west Tulsa. Then there was a line that went from 21st and Utica along 21st all the way out to the east side with a main street and urban living type node on the east side. We kind of wanted each section of the city N, E, W, and S to have at least one main street/urban type area. A sense of place and identity. A pedestrian friendly place from around which new development could grow and spread. While all the time trying to keep it mixed income, have park and plaza spaces, and connectable to other nodes and downtown.
quote:
Originally posted by cmoreno
sgrizzle: u must have taken better notes than me. where did frego get the #s that they based the packets on?
that's one thing that i never understood about yesterday. who's to say that the population of tulsa will grow by _x_ amount, or that we will be able to attract _x_ jobs? ...for that matter, what kinds of jobs are those?
That was part of how you picked your packets. If you did "continue trends" you were placing industrial and office parks. "Retain Youth" gave you live/work arrangements and more entrepreneurial focus.
I don't think they were "basing it on numbers" they were were just saying, If tulsa grows by 100,000 people (roughly 50% being local kids, 50% coming from outside of Tulsa) then how should we provide for that growth. Should we build lofts and condos and provide for young and upper class or should be build lots of cheap residential and factories.
'guess i might have been trying to read too much in to it and was looking for their research / numbers to back up their theories.
one thing i would be interested in doing is to dust off the work that came out of 'step up tulsa' and see if the numbers, research, demographics, etc. match up w/ what frego' is saying.
thus far it seems that the public has only seen the tip of a huge iceburg of stuff that all the researchers and consultants, etc. are seeing and we get to play with stickers and take surveys.
don't get me wrong, like i have said over and over again i love the process and i think this is great and i really love all the public comments and such that have come from this, i just REALLY want to dig deeper and want to know where i can go to do that.
I had the pleasure to be at table two. What a great group of positive people who have a real interest in planning Tulsa's future. I really enjoyed our work session. Thanks for such a great experience. Good to see you Conan! Dave Strader, The Pearl District Association, President
Wish I had had a more pleasing experience lol. I had some urban planner/professor guy at my table and we ended up getting kind of loud and heated in our exchanges lol. Was about to take that stick and start beating him with it.[B)] The poor facilitator had to stop us a few times to get some order. The urban planner guy ended up looking frustrated and backed off, then worked with a couple of girls to do some stuff around the downtown area. Since I was sitting at the other end of the table towards the west side of the map, me and this one lady kind of just made our own little urban core/node over there lol. Our map was pretty crappy to be honest lol. [xx(]
Can I have a redo? lol
What was the stick for?
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
What was the stick for?
If the facilitator has a question that is outside of their expertise, they can raise the stick for more assitance.
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
What was the stick for?
To beat people who put cra*** development in your neighborhood.[;)]
quote:
Originally posted by TURobY
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
What was the stick for?
If the facilitator has a question that is outside of their expertise, they can raise the stick for more assitance.
Someone should've told mine, although I'm not sure when he would've lowered it.
My facilitator kept trying to get me to put urban lofts around Woodward park. While I really like density, I just can't bring myself to rip down any oil mansions to get there.
quote:
Originally posted by sgrizzle
One of my table participants was blind. Kid you not. Our facilitator was a nice guy, but not much help.
Saw DoubleA there as well. "Mr Equal Representation" voting twice?
Maybe he registered under his Canadian name, DoubleEh.
I saw plenty of others who did the exact same thing. I'll go to as many of these as I can. Especially since there were people who don't even live in Tulsa participating at the tables I sat at both times. I didn't care much for the whole sticker chip process, I focused more on the comments section at the bottom of the map. I was surprised more tables didn't focus on getting utilities ran underground considering the ice storm and resulting chaos last winter. When I brought this up, it was a bit hit at our table and enjoyed enthusiastic, unanimous support.
quote:
Originally posted by cmoreno
sgrizzle: u must have taken better notes than me. where did frego get the #s that they based the packets on?
that's one thing that i never understood about yesterday. who's to say that the population of tulsa will grow by _x_ amount, or that we will be able to attract _x_ jobs? ...for that matter, what kinds of jobs are those?
Scary thought: They decide to let the Chamber start providing the estimated numbers
@MDepr2007: oh. wow. *L* then i will go and seek some of my own for sure.
@theartist: presumably you would be able to attend the oct. one. hey! maybe we form a tulsa now table at the next workshop and combine all our ideas & can think between now and then what we would have done different. my table focused on transportation and we had a pretty good thing going, but i saw some ideas from some of the other tables that i thought were brilliant.
...that's another thing i would have liked. instead of presenting maps from way far away that u could barely see, it'd have been better for us to just mingle around the other tables and talk to the other groups about their stuff.
You know what would have been really superb would have been to make this thing a 2 day event, perhaps on a weekend, or an all day and evening event if possible. First day or first half everyone do just as we did, but also then get to mingle around and hear others ideas. When listening to some of the other presentations I was like..."Oh, now thats a neat idea." So would indeed have been great to go back and rethink and redo the map.
I am actually baffled at how well thought out some peoples ideas were and all the different ideas they had. I mean I have plenty of ideas and could have done a neat map by myself and with a couple of the other people lol. BUT there were a couple of people at our table that just kept arguing every idea I had lol. And a couple that were very sweet but just didnt have any knowledge or grasp of the ideas and issues so kept having to try and educate and explain. So between the arguing and the explaining we barely got our stickers down and didnt write anything on the map.
The urban design guy kept talking about cities in China and how dense they were and kept wanting to put practically every sticker downtown. Then one lady kept telling stories about how she lived way out in the country, past Claremore I think, and wanted rail out there. Then when I mentioned the idea of having the area around Woodland be able to infill and become more dense and urban, the urban design guy almost had a fit thinking I was nuts and saying it couldnt handle the traffic? Then one lady wanted rail down Memorial and Yale. And the urban design guy didnt want rail of any type, anywhere, including downtown, or to Claremore lol, saying it would never work. Neither seemed to want to hear any compromise. I think the most reasonable people at my table were the two high school girls lol.
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
You know what would have been really superb would have been to make this thing a 2 day event, perhaps on a weekend, or an all day and evening event if possible. First day or first half everyone do just as we did, but also then get to mingle around and hear others ideas. When listening to some of the other presentations I was like..."Oh, now thats a neat idea." So would indeed have been great to go back and rethink and redo the map.
I am actually baffled at how well thought out some peoples ideas were and all the different ideas they had. I mean I have plenty of ideas and could have done a neat map by myself and with a couple of the other people lol. BUT there were a couple of people at our table that just kept arguing every idea I had lol. And a couple that were very sweet but just didnt have any knowledge or grasp of the ideas and issues so kept having to try and educate and explain. So between the arguing and the explaining we barely got our stickers down and didnt write anything on the map.
The urban design guy kept talking about cities in China and how dense they were and kept wanting to put practically every sticker downtown. Then one lady kept telling stories about how she lived way out in the country, past Claremore I think, and wanted rail out there. Then when I mentioned the idea of having the area around Woodland be able to infill and become more dense and urban, the urban design guy almost had a fit thinking I was nuts and saying it couldnt handle the traffic? Then one lady wanted rail down Memorial and Yale. And the urban design guy didnt want rail of any type, anywhere, including downtown, or to Claremore lol, saying it would never work. Neither seemed to want to hear any compromise. I think the most reasonable people at my table were the two high school girls lol.
Did it ever occur to you that your ideas suck? Maybe the majority of Tulsans don't think that the best thing for Tulsa is dense overpriced, trendy, loft housing that only caters to gays, single people, and downsizing retirees. Welcome to the real world that exists outside of the mutual admiration society that is Tulsa Now. I'm glad to hear that most people at your table didn't buy into Electric Artistland.
you know what would be fun is if we did just get together w/ a huge map informally @ some place w/ tastey beverages and just took all the time we wanted to discuss, scheme, plot, draw, and combine our thoughts.
not @ the board meeting of course but maybe afterwards, or on a weekend or some such.
i wonder if we could get a copy of one of the workshop maps just to play with? that'd be awesome. i really wanted to study it more. one thing that might be interesting is to mark areas where we already know future development is coming, like vision 2025 enhancements, the stuff that tcc / ttc is doing, the growth of osu-tulsa, the river developments in and near jenks, the millions being poured in to the area near bixby, the stuff that the tda is doing in downtown and in e. tulsa... the tulsa hills development around turkey mountain...
it seemed to combine a WHOLE LOT of info that i didn't feel like i got NEARLY enough time to study.
quote:
Originally posted by Double A
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
You know what would have been really superb would have been to make this thing a 2 day event, perhaps on a weekend, or an all day and evening event if possible. First day or first half everyone do just as we did, but also then get to mingle around and hear others ideas. When listening to some of the other presentations I was like..."Oh, now thats a neat idea." So would indeed have been great to go back and rethink and redo the map.
I am actually baffled at how well thought out some peoples ideas were and all the different ideas they had. I mean I have plenty of ideas and could have done a neat map by myself and with a couple of the other people lol. BUT there were a couple of people at our table that just kept arguing every idea I had lol. And a couple that were very sweet but just didnt have any knowledge or grasp of the ideas and issues so kept having to try and educate and explain. So between the arguing and the explaining we barely got our stickers down and didnt write anything on the map.
The urban design guy kept talking about cities in China and how dense they were and kept wanting to put practically every sticker downtown. Then one lady kept telling stories about how she lived way out in the country, past Claremore I think, and wanted rail out there. Then when I mentioned the idea of having the area around Woodland be able to infill and become more dense and urban, the urban design guy almost had a fit thinking I was nuts and saying it couldnt handle the traffic? Then one lady wanted rail down Memorial and Yale. And the urban design guy didnt want rail of any type, anywhere, including downtown, or to Claremore lol, saying it would never work. Neither seemed to want to hear any compromise. I think the most reasonable people at my table were the two high school girls lol.
Did it ever occur to you that your ideas suck? Maybe the majority of Tulsans don't think that the best thing for Tulsa is dense overpriced, trendy, loft housing that only caters to gays, single people, and downsizing retirees. Welcome to the real world that exists outside of the mutual admiration society that is Tulsa Now. I'm glad to hear that most people at your table didn't buy into Electric Artistland.
Well actually that was the one idea everyone did agree on that they did like lol. Its also why they chose the "retaining youth" scenario though I was pushing for "neighborhood empowerment". They even opted to trade many of the low density housing chips for more high density housing ones.
Btw, even if most people in Tulsa do not want those things for themselves, and I certainly agree, I think its perfectly fair to have at least some areas that are more dense and urban and have high priced, trendy loft housing. The vast majority of housing is not of that type, will not be of that type, and those who want that type of housing have a hard time finding a good selection of it. Its an underserved population. But I also kept pushing to have a mix of housing, to make sure that lower income people would also have plenty of options. I know you dont give a crap about me and my concerns or of people like me and others who like tht kind of urban housing, but I will still push to make sure your voice is heard on the issue of the need for affordable housing. This should be a city that serves the needs of everyone at every stage of their life and economic attainment.
Its not an either or situation. There is plenty of room for all kinds of people. All of us who live here, of all types and economic situations deserve to have a voice and a seat at the table, and be able to have the kind of housing they want.
We see and hear examples of lower income people or housing, moving into an area and the neighbors complaining that it will bring down their home values. That it will bring down the neighborhod and it will become a bad area, pushing them out of their housing. Then we hear the opposite of some high end housing coming in and pushing up home values and pushing out the affordable housing. I contend that in well designed places, mixes of different income levels, even housing for the mentally ill and homeless, can all work together. That a mix of incomes in an area is a good thing. I would rather live in a funky neighborhood that is a mixture of all kinds of people of all income levels versus one that is boring and bland of one income group.
You may think that only working class or poor people count and that their needs are the only ones that matter. But I think your in the minority on that idea. I do not think most Tulsans would agree at all. I think most Tulsans would agree that there should be a mix of housing types of all kinds, for all ages and economic circumstances.
I heard that kitchen tables can be a good place for sitting around working on a map.
From being at both workshops, I think there was overwhelming agreement that the status quo (with our one-size fits all land use policies and zoning code) is a recipe for failure.
The current land use policy (and supporting zoning code) would force almost all future growth (jobs and housing) outside the city of Tulsa.
Unless our zoning changes, we can consider Tulsa basically "fully developed." (This is obviously false if you drive around and look for the blank spaces. You'll see the thousands of acres of space wasted on oversized, underutilized surface parking lots throughout town.)
Sure, some folks will always want single-family homes on large lots, separated from jobs and entertainment where they have to drive wherever they go.
A growing number of people, however, want other options. The statistics and trends suggest a growing number of singles (both young and old) will demand a different lifestyle. Less lawn mowing and driving; more pedestrian-friendly community and accesibility to vibrant, interesting areas.
Tulsa has more than enough room for both. The goal is to add options to our currently limited palette of choices.
I facilitated both workshops and agree that the status quo is very unpopular with the participants. Both of my groups chose the "Neighborhood Empowerment" packet, but also strongly considered the "Retain Youth" packet. Both of my groups wanted a more sustainable and walkable Tulsa that had more options in terms of mobility (i.e. Tulsa needs more transit options). One group wanted rail and bus rapid transit, the other just bus rapid transit.
In the first workshop, all my group members, except for one, were 20 somethings and they were all from Midtown. My group in the second workshop was more diverse in terms of age and where they came from (most from Midtown, but one from north Tulsa and one from south Tulsa). I had a couple of retired gentlemen and the rest were probably in their 40's.
I was particularly surprised by the older gentlemen, in that they wanted Tulsa to be like it was when they were kids (i.e. walkable and everybody was very pro-Tulsa - oil boom days). At first, I figured they would be anti-everything, but again, I was quite surprised.
All in all, I am very excited about this process and am optimistic especially considering the large turnout.
I went to the third city-wide workshop as a backup facilitator in case they needed me. Looked like they had about a hundred people or so there. (About 300 had signed up.) Still, it looked like a pretty good mix of folks, who were interested in participating.
I didn't stay for the whole event, since they didn't need extra facilitators. For those who were there...how did it go? How did it compare to previous workshops?