http://blakeewing.wordpress.com/
Sorry to steal it wholesale Blake, but i saw this on someone else's Face Book status and thought it was one of the best "how to" books on improving Tulsa I've seen:
QuoteGrow up, Tulsa. Grow up Tulsa.
April 3rd, 2011 § 3 Comments
Recently, I had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting with Tulsa's communications officers to discuss the city's communications. These were Tulsans from the TPD, EMSA, Riverparks, PAC, the mayor's office, etc., all meeting to discuss why a recent survey of Tulsans showed that only half (roughly) of Tulsa is satisfied with the city's communication.
We started by discussing some of the many resources the city currently uses to share its message. Traditional media, social media, the mayor's action line, and TGOV were all mentioned and discussed. I think many of us started the meeting scratching our heads, wondering what could be done to better communicate with the citizens of Tulsa. These days, there seems to be a decent number of ways to receive and transmit information and I believe our city's staff is generally making good use of those methods.
Could it be that the issue is not the method, but rather, the message? I proposed that theory to the group. Perhaps we need to reconsider not just our methodology, but what we're saying. I made the statement that we'll (citizens) take good news however you want to give it to us. You can shout it from a rooftop; send it by carrier pigeon or pony express. If the message is good, put it in a bottle and send it to me. I'll take good news any way, any time.
That, of course, sparked a conversation about the message. What do people want to hear? From who do they want to hear it?
I've written in the past few weeks about our city's leadership. I've had my complaints, but hadn't yet crafted a solution...at least publicly. Here it is: Grow up, Tulsa. The "tongue in cheek" name refers not just to our increasingly obvious need to have city leaders who stop acting like children, but also to the very simple thing we should all be working on – making Tulsa a grown-up city.
In my businesses and with my clients at The Engine Room I like to start at the end and work backwards. I know this isn't revolutionary, probably because it makes so much sense. Most strategic planning sessions start with listing the goals and then figuring out how to get there. Often times these goals seem lofty, but when we start piecing together the structure beneath them, we realize they're not so out of reach. Thoreau said "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
So what's the "castle in the air" for the city of Tulsa? I think we can look at what some other cities are doing and start there. We can determine where we want to be by dissecting where other cities are. Isn't this how we do life anyway? Don't you do that with your career, your body, your house, your car, and your behavior? Is it not the case that our best resource for self-improvement is the mass of things around us with which to compare ourselves?
We can use comparisons to set goals, determine standing, and define value. This is also not revolutionary. It's just what we humans do.
So, to what cities should we compare ourselves? Who's doing it right? What makes sense? New York? Los Angeles? Dallas? Who do we want to be? The cities I've chosen are the ones that share some of our existing traits, are smaller, growing rapidly, and talked about often. For the sake of the discussion, let's pick Portland, Austin, Louisville, Albuquerque, and even Oklahoma City. These are cities that people can't shut up about. They're what I like to call "grown-up cities."
What do grown-up cities do?
They take advantage of their resources and promote their assets.
Grown up cities are very aware of who they are and what they've got. If there's a river running through the city, they have development along it. If Rt. 66 runs through the city, it's celebrated. If they have a great music history, they don't shut up about it. They know what makes them special and they "sell" those things all the time. Tulsa has great, yet underutilized resources. We have unique assets and we forget to talk about them. We may be "livable" and have affordable housing and the chamber of commerce may talk about our acres of public parks and our nice golf courses, but I think we're missing the bigger picture. I often think we're like hollywood starlet dressed in sweat-pants who refuses to wear make-up. It's like we don't want people to think we're cool. Look up Portland's plan for taking advantage of its resources and don't get too jealous reading about Louisville's Waterfront Park project. As for promoting assets, Austin had a great music scene and therefore started proclaiming themselves "The Music Capital of the World." What asset of ours are we promoting?
They attract and retain creative people.
Tulsa has a history of producing creative people, though not necessarily of attracting new ones or keeping the ones we have. Creatives have found it a frustrating place to be at times and often lament our inability to provide the welcoming environment that some of our neighboring cities have created. Even Oklahoma City, known forever as a sports-oriented cow town, has outpaced Tulsa in recent years in its efforts to attract creative people. Austin is one of the creative capitals of the United States and continues to grow its reputation as a cultural center. Musicians and filmmakers now have options beyond Los Angeles and Nashville and they're responding by flocking towards Austin. Tulsa has an incredible history of creativity. We've produced actors, filmmakers, and musicians. We're home to The Cain's Ballroom, The Brady Theater, and Leon Russell's Church Studio. It's undeniable that our comparison cities are good at this. Austin and Portland and Albuquerque especially have made great strides in the last twenty years and are now known as some of the most creative cities in America. They have great music venues, festivals, and studios. They pander to filmmakers, artists, and designers. They have job opportunities in a creative workforce. The long-term effects of building a culture of creativity are impossible to ignore. Companies needing creative employees locate themselves in these communities. The best result is that creatives in these communities do what creatives do, they create. Nothing is as good for a city as creative people.
They provide basic amenities.
At the end of the day, it's possible that it might not even matter what bells and whistles a city has. If it doesn't have clean and drivable roads, a sound public transit system, a nice trash service, public parks and pools and a solid police and fire department, the other things aren't sufficient to satisfy the public. Tulsa has struggled with all of these things. Our roads are nearly always a topic of frustrated conversation, our public transit system ranks near the bottom nationally in service, we have no trolleys, cable cars, or light rail and our bus service is under funded. Our trash service is currently operating on a 30 year old contract and the city has been fighting about how to install the new system. Our pools are closed. Our parks are un-mowed and our police and fire departments are understaffed. Some of our issues here are the result of wasteful spending, strong unions, unfavorable weather conditions for roads, and a bad economy, while some of these issues have everything to do with lack of vision, foresight, and leadership. It's really this simple though: If you visit another city and see a level of maintenance or a basic amenity that you don't see in Tulsa, that's not okay. We can do better.
Their local government provides sound infrastructure and supports development.
This is a fact: You will find loads of developers who will tell you that they developed in the suburbs because the city of Tulsa is a difficult place to develop. We're awkwardly zoned, our building code is stringent and prohibitive, our fire code is unreasonable, and while many at City Hall are wonderful and are doing the best they can with what they have, others seem to enjoy making development difficult. PlaniTulsa has called for changes. New zoning codes, new structure, and a more sound and liberal interpretation of the existing building code would help. Grown-up cities recognize the value of intelligent and creative new development and are known for their progressive design and unique attractions. Again, it's simple. If you visit a city and see a unique and attractive development that our city's code doesn't allow, that's a sign that our code needs to change. If you see a mixed-use development or a pedestrian friendly district, or a balcony over the right of way or an attractive sign on a roof or a restaurant operating in the open air, or streets closed to cars after a certain hour to allow for pedestrian use, or trolleys and cable cars, or river ferries, or buildings surrounded by other buildings rather than parking.... You are seeing a grown-up city and it simply has to be that Tulsans stop shrugging our shoulders at the inferiority of our zoning and our code. We're keeping Tulsa from growing up by overlaying too many rules. Our actions to avoid offending a few people should be too offensive to everyone else to allow. In Tulsa, someone will propose a change to our current system and a few angry idiots will show up to protest it, and we assume that they're representing a much larger group of people than they actually do. Grown-up cities are not afraid of upsetting idiots. As long as we sit by and accept our current system, we'll keep visiting other cities and coming home frustrated that we don't have what they have.
They have a vibrant urban core.
One thing every great city has in common is the presence of a strong and vibrant core. When the downtown area is thriving, it produces and endless ripple effect of positive revenue and positive morale that changes the face of a city. We only have to look as far as our neighbors down the turnpike to see the effects of a flourishing downtown. Oklahoma City's citizens are more proud than ever of their hometown and their excitement continues to grow. They've passed their third initiative to improve their downtown and are reaping the benefits. OKC went from looking up at Tulsa, to laughing at our inability to keep up. While there are exciting things happening in downtown Tulsa, and news of new restaurants and residential development continues to come, we're still not seeing the type of energy that most grown-up cities see. For many Tulsans, downtown development isn't seen as a priority. As long as our citizens are keeping their focus on the small geographic area immediately surrounding their home and neglecting or ignoring the rest, Tulsa will suffer. We won't stay the same, we'll get worse. The people that like Tulsa just the way it is may soon find that the city they love has gone away. We have to define our path of progress and that involves looking at the bigger picture. It's okay if each part of town has its own personality, layout, amenities, and infrastructure. Those things have to also work as a part of a bigger plan that considers the future. A dynamic core actually makes south Tulsa better. It's not a competition between parts of town. We have to stretch the pride we have for our unique neck of the woods beyond its boundaries. Grown-up cities have citizens who are proud of their city, not just their neighborhood. Tulsans have struggled to think bigger. This is epidemic here. Tulsans often root against the parts of town that we don't consider to be ours. How often have you heard a mid-towner rip south Tulsa or vice-versa? I know this exists a little bit everywhere. I've even been guilty of it myself. Grown-up cities have citizens who at least tend to all agree on something – their part of town is just a part of their town and a developed downtown is important because it makes the whole city better.
They celebrate small local business.
Every city needs a Wal-Mart and a Target and a TGI Fridays. I'm not against those places at all and I'm glad that Tulsa has them. They play their own role in legitimizing a city. They don't, however, do anything to distinguish one place from another. Locally owned small businesses do. If Wal-Mart is the blue oxford button down, the local boutiques are the tie and cufflinks. You accessorize and distinguish a city with locally owned businesses. What's better? Those small businesses sometimes become big businesses (which is awesome.)and having lots of small businesses is as good or better than having one large national corporation. Corporations move, get bought out, go bankrupt, downsize, etc. One bad event (or a series of nasty ones) can take down the whole company and there go the jobs. A large group of small businesses as a whole has much more stability.
Tulsa hasn't neglected these things altogether. We can look at any one of these characteristics and see some examples of positive strides being made in our hometown. The things that are great about Tulsa are not lost on me. We've done some things well, especially in recent years, and I think we should celebrate those successes and learn from them. A defined set of goals and values for our city would help those types of things to be more frequent. If we could get all of the major parties with a stake or a say-so (city council, mayor, TMAPC, INCOG, chambers of commerce, school boards, neighborhood associations, state reps and senators, US reps and senators, and entrepreneurs and developers) to push everything through the same set of filters, I think we'd see marked improvement as a city in a hurry. If at every level we had to ask the question "Is this what a grown-up city would do?" we might start seeing a different type of behavior across the board. I know it's a little cheesy, but it's the principle that's important. I'm trying to communicate that we really can stop wasting time with silly bickering and minute policy making and start getting to work growing up.
Grown-up cities are full of people who work together, who get the big picture, and who share a passion and a vision for their city. Let's be those people. Let's be that city.
http://blakeewing.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/grow-up-tulsa-grow-up-tulsa/
[edit]ridiculous typos[/edit]
Glad you posted this. If you hadn't I was gonna get it on here.
Spot on.
I agree with all of Blake's points.
I wish we could extend the feeling of community to the metropolitan area and not just the border on a map that defines the City of Tulsa. I recognize that there are legitimate funding issues when crossing the border but when someone out of the area asks where I live, I tell them "near Tulsa" before I say Bixby. This isn't any different than saying I grew up near Philadelphia, PA rather than specifying Springfield, Delaware County, PA (There are 2 Townships named Springfield near Phila.) The recent pictures of I-35 ending at the Oklahoma/Kansas border just reinforce that image.
There are things a big city can support, with the help of its suburbs, that little towns cannot. Most are quality of life items like the PAC, the BOK center, the Ball Park, a district like the Blue Dome. I remember my dad (Ham radio nut) and an Uncle shopping for surplus electronic parts in Philadelphia before places like Radio Shack were around. We have been through the city vs. suburb discussion many times. I would like to see the argument about living on the wrong side of the street end.
Look, we get it. We get the "we can do better" message. But in this post I didn't see the "how." Take us from A to B and then you can run for mayor.
QuoteLook, we get it. We get the "we can do better" message. But in this post I didn't see the "how." Take us from A to B and then you can run for mayor.
Sorry, Floyd. That's what I thought I was doing in that post, especially here:
QuoteA defined set of goals and values for our city would help those types of things to be more frequent. If we could get all of the major parties with a stake or a say-so (city council, mayor, TMAPC, INCOG, chambers of commerce, school boards, neighborhood associations, state reps and senators, US reps and senators, and entrepreneurs and developers) to push everything through the same set of filters, I think we'd see marked improvement as a city in a hurry. If at every level we had to ask the question "Is this what a grown-up city would do?" we might start seeing a different type of behavior across the board. I know it's a little cheesy, but it's the principle that's important. I'm trying to communicate that we really can stop wasting time with silly bickering and minute policy making and start getting to work growing up.
I see how I might have lost some people there. I tend to ramble, so I'll summarize.
1. Define a set of goals. (The whole post implies that our goals should be based on achieving our potential in the categories listed)
2. Ask our leaders at every level to commit to pushing things through the same set of filters.
3. Stop bickering.
Naturally, this type of thing will have to come from someone more influential than I am. Right now, all I can really do is propose solutions and join the conversation. What I'm trying to say is, if you want me to actually be the one who takes us from A to B, you'll have to elect as the mayor.
In the meantime, asking your current mayor to do something like what I just wrote is about as good as we can hope for.
Sorry - I came across with more snark there than I intended. I definitely agree that the level of discourse among city leaders is terrible.
The big thing I took away was Tulsa needs to set a goal and work towards getting there. Quality of life, income/jobs, devlopmen... show me a vision and inspire me to work towards it! Tulsa needs vision and ambition.
Tulsa needs new leadership, first and foremost. Then it needs another Vision 2025 that includes projects people can get excited about. The River Tax had people excited and generated a lot of great discussion but when it failed it sort of took the wind out of the sails, so to speak. I was living in Denver at the time and remember thinking I wasn't sure if I could return to a city that seemed to lack vision to move forward. I lived in Oklahoma City for a couple years after that and it was amazing to see how efficiently everything worked there, and the pride people had in their city and its progress. You used to see that in Tulsa and still do to an extent but not on the same scale as in the past and not like people do who live in Denver and Oklahoma City.
I have to say, that when I moved from Tulsa in '98, Tulsa was stagnent, and any growth and development was moving south, and east, and downtown was someplace that after five in the evening, that you went to for an event, (Oilers, concert, PAC) and if you were going to an event downtown, you went to eat somewhere else before going to the event, and then went elsewhere afterwards, and that was the way that it had been since the late 70's early 80's. Yes, 18th and Boston had it's time, and to me it's sad the the Williams Center Forum had a short life span (I personally think it was ahead of it's time).
I'm glad to see that places like what Blake and others have started are growing and the two best things to happen are BOk and ONG Field, as well as the redevelopment of the areas around them for residential use. (Never thought those words would come out of my mouth)
Tulsa is in it's early stages of bringing life to something that was for the most part left to sit for 20+ years, and I don't mean just downtown that was just left to sit.
Yes, Tulsa needs new leadership at the City level to make changes to policies and how development is done. (I know I don't need to say that) From what I have read there are a lot of good local people that are investing themselves in downtown, Cherry Street, and Brookside, that it's moving from A to B. Growing up there I don't remember there being this kind of support and this kind of energy being put into making Tulsa better.
Just the thoughts of a native looking in on where I came from.
Quote from: SXSW on April 04, 2011, 10:35:49 PM
Tulsa needs new leadership, first and foremost. Then it needs another Vision 2025 that includes projects people can get excited about. The River Tax had people excited and generated a lot of great discussion but when it failed it sort of took the wind out of the sails, so to speak. I was living in Denver at the time and remember thinking I wasn't sure if I could return to a city that seemed to lack vision to move forward. I lived in Oklahoma City for a couple years after that and it was amazing to see how efficiently everything worked there, and the pride people had in their city and its progress. You used to see that in Tulsa and still do to an extent but not on the same scale as in the past and not like people do who live in Denver and Oklahoma City.
If Tulsa does try for another V2025 type initiative we need to do it at a COT level and not a county-wide vote. I'm not certain that another sales tax increase would pass with the current prevailing outcry against taxes and government at the national level.
If there is any hope of such an initiative passing it would have to be creative in financing, have a tangible impact accross the city, be comprised of "common sense" projects and have plenty of visual support so people can see what they are voting for.
My wish list doesn't meet the criteria above:
Public transportation
Some sort of mixed use parking structure for City Hall/The PAC/Blue Dome
Limited River development (on bank only)
Additional funds to promote downtown housing
Seed money for public/private partnership to build Cathedral Square
Pull the top off of Elm Creek where feasible to promote development
Student Housing for OSU Tulsa
East End project to promote development (park/pond perhaps)
Quote from: carltonplace on April 05, 2011, 08:12:34 AM
My wish list doesn't meet the criteria above:
Public transportation
Some sort of mixed use parking structure for City Hall/The PAC/Blue Dome
Limited River development (on bank only)
Additional funds to promote downtown housing
Seed money for public/private partnership to build Cathedral Square
Pull the top off of Elm Creek where feasible to promote development
Student Housing for OSU Tulsa
East End project to promote development (park/pond perhaps)
What sort of development has been proposed on Elm Creek?
none that I know of...but Dr Crowley had some interesting ideas.
FYI, the Pearl district is in the Elm Creek Flood plain, as is Veterans Park
Quote from: carltonplace on April 05, 2011, 08:12:34 AM
If Tulsa does try for another V2025 type initiative we need to do it at a COT level and not a county-wide vote. I'm not certain that another sales tax increase would pass with the current prevailing outcry against taxes and government at the national level.
Oklahoma City pulled it off during the worst part of the recession (2009). The demographics of Oklahoma City are comparable to Tulsa. The difference? People believe in their city there, and in Tulsa many do not. The reason? Ineffective leadership. There needs to be a top-down change in leadership at City Hall which includes the mayor and city council. Until that happens I don't see Tulsa getting any better, even with applauded efforts of local business leaders like Blake. Tulsa is currently spinning its wheels and, while not in reverse like some of our peer cities, we're not in forward gear either..
Quote from: carltonplace on April 05, 2011, 08:47:51 AM
none that I know of...but Dr Crowley had some interesting ideas.
FYI, the Pearl district is in the Elm Creek Flood plain, as is Veterans Park
The Pearl is ripe for redevelopment; but it is going to be an uphill fight.
It looks to me like the Pearl will be highly dependent on what happens in the East End.
Thanks for the clarification.
Quote from: Gonesouth1234 on April 05, 2011, 08:27:55 AM
What sort of development has been proposed on Elm Creek?
He was talking about the suggestion to take those areas where it is running in concrete pipe and change it back to an open creek. It would be integrated with parks and paths to create a scenic waterway through midtown/downtown down to riverparks.
Good work Blake. By the way, I like the radio commercials.
I agree that we need another Vision 2025 soon and that it should be in the city rather than county. The reason the river tax failed was that the suburbs not near the river didn't think it helped them and some of them only care about what is within a mile of their house. It would have easily passed with just Tulsa voters. The only way to get the county on board is to give each suburb lots of perks like the original Vision 2025 had.
Hopefully the zoning and blockades will be changed soon and the city can make some real progress.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on April 04, 2011, 09:29:20 PM
The big thing I took away was Tulsa needs to set a goal and work towards getting there. Quality of life, income/jobs, devlopmen... show me a vision and inspire me to work towards it! Tulsa needs vision and ambition.
I agree. We simply need to find leadership which has a common vision and doesn't think they all need to have competing interests.
"Quote from: cannon_fodder on April 04, 2011, 08:29:20 pm
The big thing I took away was Tulsa needs to set a goal and work towards getting there. Quality of life, income/jobs, devlopmen... show me a vision and inspire me to work towards it! Tulsa needs vision and ambition. "
Damn. You mean that vision thing didn't stick the first time around? It's going to take more than leadership. If you are going to compare us constantly to OKC(hitty) then you need another major interstate and an additional 300,000 peeps. It wouldn't hurt to have higher PUBLIC education and a better quality of life(as in clean air, clean water and more tolerant population).
Enough of this and that development. It's what lies below the surface that means the most to a city.
Quote from: Teatownclown on April 05, 2011, 01:40:06 PM
Enough of this and that development. It's what lies below the surface that means the most to a city.
Yes, it is the Oil!
Quote from: Gaspar on April 05, 2011, 01:44:23 PM
Yes, it is the Oil!
Yes, you are so right! Everything is about the oil! ;)
Absolutely! :) Nat gas too! Just don't frack with me!
The quote said nothing about okc. Your post said nothing constructuve. I do not believe Tulsa is for some reason incapable of betteriing itself.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on April 06, 2011, 12:46:12 PM
The quote said nothing about okc. Your post said nothing constructuve. I do not believe Tulsa is for some reason incapable of betteriing itself.
The relevance of his posts are inversely proportional to the heat of his pipe.
Quote from: Teatownclown on April 05, 2011, 01:40:06 PM
It wouldn't hurt to have higher PUBLIC education and a better quality of life(as in clean air, clean water and more tolerant population).
Speaking of higher Public education. Isn't OSU Tulsa expanding sometime? Anybody know of a timeframe?
great post blake...
Just got back from a 5 day weekend in west Seattle and Portland.
Spent the whole tim wondering why we can't be more like Portland
Flew back with a voodoo dozen on my lap. Got em on my way to airport. Was almost mugged for em. My kids think I'm a superhero...
Quote from: brunoflipper on April 06, 2011, 02:44:02 PM
great post blake...
Just got back from a 5 day weekend in west Seattle and Portland.
Spent the whole tim wondering why we can't be more like Portland
Flew back with a voodoo dozen on my lap. Got em on my way to airport. Was almost mugged for em. My kids think I'm a superhero...
I'm not sure if you can put on a show like Portland without all the looney liberals.
Or bike nuts....oh sorry C.
Quote from: carltonplace on April 06, 2011, 03:11:54 PM
Or bike nuts....oh sorry C.
LOL...too bad Tay didn't stay out there
Still can't understand why we feel so compelled to compare ourselves to Oklahoma City so much. I have spent way too much time there and it just ain't all that much. Tulsa has so many things more going for it (even BEFORE the Crashship!), and we just can't seem to appreciate what we have. And in many ways seem to be in a headlong rush to kind of crap it up.
On a unrelated side note; was driving around way south the other day and went by an addition (gated of course) called Wind River Addition. Big places. Then went by Holland Hall and saw the nice neighborhood north across the street. Couldn't help think that I would be having to sell across from HH and move to Wind River!
QuoteStill can't understand why we feel so compelled to compare ourselves to Oklahoma City so much. I have spent way too much time there and it just ain't all that much. Tulsa has so many things more going for it (even BEFORE the Crashship!), and we just can't seem to appreciate what we have.
Exactly. So many Tulsans constantly say "Why can't we be like OKC?" and all that crap. OKC has two things that we don't have. Devon Tower, Thunder. Aside from that Tulsa has almost everything that they have. I've heard of many OKCites that are jealous of Tulsa's Brookside, Cherry Street, Brady District, and Blue Dome District. The closest thing OKC has to any of those is probably the Plaza district, Deep Deuce, and maybe Bricktown. And really, a lot of people from OKC only consider Bricktown to be for young families and tourists. I don't consider Tulsa to be trailing OKC. We are simply developingin a different way. So let's stop comparing ourselves to OKC. Let them do their thing, and we'll do our thing. I really don't see the need to have two exactly the same cities in Oklahoma.
QuoteExactly. So many Tulsans constantly say "Why can't we be like OKC?" and all that crap. OKC has two things that we don't have. Devon Tower, Thunder. Aside from that Tulsa has almost everything that they have. I've heard of many OKCites that are jealous of Tulsa's Brookside, Cherry Street, Brady District, and Blue Dome District. The closest thing OKC has to any of those is probably the Plaza district, Deep Deuce, and maybe Bricktown. And really, a lot of people from OKC only consider Bricktown to be for young families and tourists. I don't consider Tulsa to be trailing OKC. We are simply developingin a different way. So let's stop comparing ourselves to OKC. Let them do their thing, and we'll do our thing. I really don't see the need to have two exactly the same cities in Oklahoma.
Just a few more things OKC has that we don't:
1. A competent and focused city government
2. A citizenry that actually votes
for civic improvements
3. A "big picture" mentality that has them believing they belong in a different conversation
4. A much smaller chip on their shoulder
5. A public that doesn't feel like they're blaspheming their city if they ask it to achieve its potential or compare it to another city.
I've never asked that Tulsa be exactly like OKC. In fact, I'm on record as saying we should be much different. There is one way I'd love for us to be like them. I wish we had their elected officials, their belief that they can be something special, and their proud and cohesive voters.
I'll take exception with anybody who says "let them do our thing, and we'll do our thing." While they were doing their thing: developing downtown, passing bond issues, attracting NBA teams, etc., we
were doing our thing: voting down a river initiative and passing a streets bill. . . while our council and mayor continue fighting with each other.
Some of you guys act like any time someone references Oklahoma City, we're admitting our inferiority. It's simply not true, at least in my case. They're not the better city, but they will be if they stay on their path and we on ours...We can't keep doing this "everything is better in Tulsa" thing. It's not. Our leadership and vision is not better.
I wasn't comparing cities
as cities. I was comparing our citizens and leadership. Theirs are positive, focused, proud, and motivated. Who cares about comparing amenities and shopping districts? I wasn't doing that and I resent it that you insinuate otherwise. You guys have got to get over this competition thing. Comparison is not bad. It's not an admission of inferiority. It's a means by which we determine where we are in the national landscape. What are other places doing? What are we doing? What are we not doing? Find me the business that isn't looking at what other businesses are doing and I'll show you a failing business. It's how we grow. I look at every detail of every restaurant I enter. It's not about comparing for the sake of comparing. It's about learning and growing and I learn more from the things they do better than I ever will from the things they don't.
My post was simply suggesting that we look at the cities that have great things going on (the grown up cities) and work to implement the things that accommodate their progress.
We can do better. You guys are acting like the parents of the "C" student who don't want the teacher to use red ink while grading papers. You can love your "C" student. Just don't pretend that student is perfect. It hurts you both. Red ink serves a valuable purpose sometimes....and often times hurt feelings lead to improvement.
We can do better. There's nothing wrong with saying it. More of us need to start saying it. More of us need to start believing it. Say it out loud, ZYX...."We can do better." We deserve better than our leadership is giving us and it's time to start expecting something much different than we're getting.
Love,
Blake
Blake,
I'm sorry if you thought my post was intended to be a comment on your writing. It was really meant to be a reply to TTC's post. I actually thouroughly enjoyed your writing, and agreed with nearly every point you brought up. I feel bad now because I was really not trying to put down your writing or be rude. I'm just tired of some people (not you) constantly saying or implying that we are inferior and always will be inferior to OKC. I agree that we have a terrible city government. I get insanely frustrated with them because nothing gets done in this city because all we ever hear about is more fighting at City Hall. I also agree with you on the whole "chip on your shoulder" thing. Many Tulsans cannot hear one word of criticism of them or their city. I don't mind hearing criticism, but I do dislike always being considered OKC's little brother. There are so many
things that they have done right, and so many things that we have done wrong. But I think one amazing thing about Tulsa, that OKC cannot currently claim, is that we have fought through bad government, and an unsupportive populace. People like you have allowed this city to prosper during a time that it seemed almost impossible. Without brave entrepeneurers, this city would be on her death bed right now.
Once again, I apologize that my post was misconstrewed(sp) as being derogative to your writing. I can only imagine how much time that took you to put together. Thanks for all you have done for Tulsa, and I will say it with you..."We can do better."
I would like to add that just because I don't like to constantly hear Tulsa put below OKC, I am not one that has been tricked I to believing that we are better. We're not. But I really don't think that OKC offers much as a city that Tulsa doesn't.
This is why we need to change our form of government. I've always hated the strong-mayor government. Makes infighting with the legislative body and the executive body inevitable. It works at the federal level because there are three branches with checks and balances. The judicial at a municipal level doesn't carry the same weight that it does at the federal level.
Change government types, then kick the asshats out!
One thing Tulsa has always had going for it is its arts and music scene. That is why losing events like the Overground Film Festival and DFest has been hard to watch because those were celebrations of the arts scene here. Both were on their way to being much larger and influential especially DFest. It pains me to see OKC now with an even better PAC (Civic Center Music Hall renovated by MAPS) and a superior film festival (DEADCenter). Norman also has a music fest that is getting bigger and better every year. Tulsa still has great festivals like Mayfest and Oktoberfest but I really wish we still had Overground and DFest.
Tulsa will not have the NBA (or other pro teams) anytime soon and we don't have OU in our backyard like OKC. We have TU and our arts and music scene, including nationally famous museums and concert venues. That is one of our most unique attributes and what we need to build on. That and our Art Deco and Route 66 heritage, along with natural assets like the river and its miles of trails and our parks.
One of our key challenges besides unifying city government is to build a 4 year public university downtown. That and continued growth at TU are very important for Tulsa to attract good jobs and educated people. Our peer cities that are performing the best all have a top university, public or private, that provides a major impetus for growth.
Quote from: JoeMommaBlake on April 06, 2011, 09:54:50 PM
Just a few more things OKC has that we don't:
1. A competent and focused city government
2. A citizenry that actually votes for civic improvements
3. A "big picture" mentality that has them believing they belong in a different conversation
4. A much smaller chip on their shoulder
5. A public that doesn't feel like they're blaspheming their city if they ask it to achieve its potential or compare it to another city.
I've never asked that Tulsa be exactly like OKC. In fact, I'm on record as saying we should be much different. There is one way I'd love for us to be like them. I wish we had their elected officials, their belief that they can be something special, and their proud and cohesive voters.
I'll take exception with anybody who says "let them do our thing, and we'll do our thing." While they were doing their thing: developing downtown, passing bond issues, attracting NBA teams, etc., we were doing our thing: voting down a river initiative and passing a streets bill. . . while our council and mayor continue fighting with each other.
Some of you guys act like any time someone references Oklahoma City, we're admitting our inferiority. It's simply not true, at least in my case. They're not the better city, but they will be if they stay on their path and we on ours...We can't keep doing this "everything is better in Tulsa" thing. It's not. Our leadership and vision is not better.
I wasn't comparing cities as cities. I was comparing our citizens and leadership. Theirs are positive, focused, proud, and motivated. Who cares about comparing amenities and shopping districts? I wasn't doing that and I resent it that you insinuate otherwise. You guys have got to get over this competition thing. Comparison is not bad. It's not an admission of inferiority. It's a means by which we determine where we are in the national landscape. What are other places doing? What are we doing? What are we not doing? Find me the business that isn't looking at what other businesses are doing and I'll show you a failing business. It's how we grow. I look at every detail of every restaurant I enter. It's not about comparing for the sake of comparing. It's about learning and growing and I learn more from the things they do better than I ever will from the things they don't.
My post was simply suggesting that we look at the cities that have great things going on (the grown up cities) and work to implement the things that accommodate their progress.
We can do better. You guys are acting like the parents of the "C" student who don't want the teacher to use red ink while grading papers. You can love your "C" student. Just don't pretend that student is perfect. It hurts you both. Red ink serves a valuable purpose sometimes....and often times hurt feelings lead to improvement.
We can do better. There's nothing wrong with saying it. More of us need to start saying it. More of us need to start believing it. Say it out loud, ZYX...."We can do better." We deserve better than our leadership is giving us and it's time to start expecting something much different than we're getting.
Love,
Blake
+1 Blake.
Can someone email our city leadership with a copy of this?
Have to use email since Dewey doesn't carry a cell anymore due to the burning odor. ;D
I was looking at one of those "best places to live" rankings and was actually surprised to find that per our populationwe actually have fewer museums than those "best places". Perhaps its another of those stories we have told ourselves for so long, "we have great arts this and that" but haven't kept improving, and have instead stagnated while others have kept on pushing and have passed us by. I think we will be making progress when and if the Cains Museum, Oklahoma Pop, and the downtown Philbrook expansion in the Matthews building gets going. Plus I of course hope to have an Art Deco museum in the mix. Which brings up one of my beefs which is that we don't loudly promote our architectural heritage. We need to "tourist up" our art deco heritage, build on it, and create a unique and fun destination. One of our ultimate goals would be to create a National Art Deco Museum here in Tulsa with all of the states contributing an exhibit. Its a brass ring we should snag before someone else does.
Quote from: JoeMommaBlake on April 06, 2011, 09:54:50 PM
I'll take exception with anybody who says "let them do our thing, and we'll do our thing." While they were doing their thing: developing downtown, passing bond issues, attracting NBA teams, etc., we were doing our thing: voting down a river initiative and passing a streets bill. . . while our council and mayor continue fighting with each other.
You really do have a good take on the issues and I agree with your entire post with the exception of one point. The citizens didn't fail on the River Tax, the City Of Tulsa's leadership failed.
Here's the mistakes:
1) There was never a reason for the county to lead on that project other than the mistaken notion that people in Collinsville, Owasso, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Sperry, etc. would vote for such a Tulsa-centric project because they helped pass Vision 2025. Tulsa got the lions share of that project however each community and each demographic has benefitted from V-2025 funds. Everyone in the county got something out of it.
2) I've never been clear if Mr. Kaiser approached the county with his gift or they approached him. At any rate, it was a huge mistake letting Randi Miller take the lead on it. She was already embroiled in controversy over the handling of Bell's lease and many of us more cynical types assumed she was little more than a puppet for former commissioner Bob Dick, whom many thought was incredibly corrupt.
3) In the haste to get a tax grab from the voters, they put together an incredibly sloppy plan without even knowing if the USACE could permit parts of the plan on the waterway itself as crucial studies would not be completed until AFTER we voted for this package.
4) The marketing on this sucked. Many people when polled still thought this was The Channels project which had been proposed the year before. As well, many potential yes votes were put off by ads featuring children who were pleading as if there was no future for them if we didn't approve this tax package.
5) There was little accountability built into the proposal to ensure we would get any or even most of what was promised in the package.
6) There were certain individuals who would profit handsomely from the deal without regard for how much taxpayers were being put on the hook for it. Namely the concrete plant property. If IIRC, the city or county would pay $50 million for the concrete plant and turn it over to a developer for around $5mm. I believe that patch of land is around 5 acres. I'm sorry, but I don't think even property on Rodeo Blvd. or Vail Village sells for $10mm an acre. That was ludicrus.
7) There was property to the south of the 21st St. bridge which the city promised it would jettison if we approved the OneTech purchase along with some other city properties. As predicted, that M & E center is still there and to my knowledge not one job transferred from that facility to OneTech. The proposed move of the maintenance operations to the old Downtown Airpark was scrubbed when that was sold to the Osage Tribe for little or nothing.
8) The proposal came about four years after V-2025. The arena was not finished yet, we'd not gotten promised improvements on Zink Lake at that point. Basically no one was appreciating great results out of V-2025
at that point.
Our streets were in deplorable condition. It was obvious we weren't taking care of basic in frastructure
needs prior to
asking for more funds for infrastructure
wants.
9) Along those lines, OKC has had clear projects in mind with MAPS and it's been done in stages, each new stage coming up as a former one comes to completion if I understand correctly. OKC's sales tax rate, even with MAPS, I believe is about the same as Tulsa's if not slightly less. It may have been a really poor calculation to have assigned the river program as a sales tax rather than as bonds or a property tax. There again, I don't pretend to be an expert on powers the county has to raise revenue.
While I definitely appreciate the gesture Mr. Kaiser made, many really felt the conditional nature of it was a ransom. As well, many people who use River Parks for recreation and exercise appreciate the open green spaces without a bunch of commercial clutter.
People kept talking about the canals in OKC and San Antonio as models for what Tulsa's river development should look like. There's simply no comparison. The Arkansas river is about 1/4 mile wide at Zink Lake. It's not even the same scale. A far better use of development funds would be opening Elm Creek near the Pearl or on the south end of downtown if people want a walkable commercial area with a water feature.
The voters didn't fail on this one. The city failed by not taking the lead on the issue, had they done that, IIRC the vote would have passed. As well the city and county both have a history of not delivering on promises to voters as well as mismanaging the funds they do have.
I always look forward to reading your posts and wish you had more time to contribute here. As one of the leading figures of downtown redevelopment it's always great to hear your viewpoint.
Many of the same roadblocks seemed to be in place when Taylor -- an unabashedly pro- and smart-development mayor -- was in office. She got some amazing things done but also racked up some notable failures. I don't fault her for the failures, but think that how the failures went down point to the larger problem, which Blake also alludes to but doesn't quite address, and that is: a sizable portion of Tulsa residents themselves are against smart development. They don't believe in downtown, they don't believe in big ticket projects, they don't believe in dense or multi-layered zoning, don't believe in life outside the Big Box, and don't believe in tax dollars being sunk into any of these.
These people exist in every city in the country to one degree or another but here the balance of power is tipped in their direction. We can locate the blame in city government -- and it absolutely IS atrocious right now -- but my point is that even when the stars aligned behind Taylor, the amount of pushback from the folks who DON'T. WANT. CHANGE. was almost enough to derail many of the deals (and in some cases did).
I absolutely believe that we always end up with the government we want. Maybe not WHEN we want it, but we get it in the end. I think this government reflects a lot of what some Tulsans want with regards to development -- and that includes the gridlock (seen in some quarters as a feature not a bug).
We can talk about improving the functioning of our gov -- and I agree with everyone so far, and especially Blake that we need some vision at the top -- but I also think that we haven't won over our fellow Tulsans yet, and that's ultimately where the strength to continue will come from.
Quote from: we vs us on April 07, 2011, 10:34:45 AM
Many of the same roadblocks seemed to be in place when Taylor -- an unabashedly pro- and smart-development mayor -- was in office. She got some amazing things done but also racked up some notable failures. I don't fault her for the failures, but think that how the failures went down point to the larger problem, which Blake also alludes to but doesn't quite address, and that is: a sizable portion of Tulsa residents themselves are against smart development. They don't believe in downtown, they don't believe in big ticket projects, they don't believe in dense or multi-layered zoning, don't believe in life outside the Big Box, and don't believe in tax dollars being sunk into any of these.
These people exist in every city in the country to one degree or another but here the balance of power is tipped in their direction. We can locate the blame in city government -- and it absolutely IS atrocious right now -- but my point is that even when the stars aligned behind Taylor, the amount of pushback from the folks who DON'T. WANT. CHANGE. was almost enough to derail many of the deals (and in some cases did).
I absolutely believe that we always end up with the government we want. Maybe not WHEN we want it, but we get it in the end. I think this government reflects a lot of what some Tulsans want with regards to development -- and that includes the gridlock (seen in some quarters as a feature not a bug).
We can talk about improving the functioning of our gov -- and I agree with everyone so far, and especially Blake that we need some vision at the top -- but I also think that we haven't won over our fellow Tulsans yet, and that's ultimately where the strength to continue will come from.
People saw what downtown was the last 30 years and the pathetic piecemeal efforts from entities like DTU which did absolutely nothing other than some lame events. They almost were like paying homage to "Uncle Carlo" if you catch the drift. The ROI to those who remained downtown was pathetic. Anyhow I digress.
Fast forward to 2011 and critical mass has finally arrived. It took visionaries with their own money to make it happen, but I think more and more people are caring about downtown every day because they can see the effort is paying off in spades. We've got a downtown to be proud of again and the cities investment is being returned with people like Blake & Elliot, the Fat Guys people, the major developers who are putting more guest rooms down there, etc.
Dense infill is one trend which is incredibly slow to adapt since Tulsa has been about sprawl for the last 50-60 years (or perhaps since it's birth as a city). That's a hard mind-set to reverse. People choose to live out here instead of a place like NYC because they enjoy having their own space and a plot of land. They don't literally live on top of or below their neighbor.
I think the paradigm about downtown is changing more than you realize.
Blake said a lot of good stuff. I'm keeping your blog as a reference point into the future.
Couple comments about your comments about OKC.
1. Competent government.
My exposure is probably tainted by too short a time frame. I don't see it as any better than Tulsa's over the LONG run. (Current mayor excluded.) Most of the people I know and have several days per week contact with are not that enamored with the city. Granted, the people I know and have contact with are NOT the "movers and shakers" in OKC, but are blue collar types just trying to get by on a "wages for pay" job.
2. A citizenry that actually votes for civic improvements.
Split almost down the middle like pretty much the rest of the country. No huge majority of forward looking ready to spend people there any more than most. 54% for MAPS.
3. A "big picture" mentality that has them believing they belong in a different conversation
See number 1.
4. A much smaller chip on their shoulder
Quite likely the biggest thing in their favor. Seems to go to the point in number 1 about too busy working to make ends meet to bother with extraneous effort.
5. A public that doesn't feel like they're blaspheming their city if they ask it to achieve its potential or compare it to another city.
?? Not sure exactly what that means. Never felt like blaspheming Tulsa just because I want it to pull its head out and get better.
Passing a river initiative isn't an end unto itself. We have a great river laboratory in place right now that is about what...1/2 empty? And OKC river area is still plugging along, but every time I go there, it changes. Right now, there seem to be some new places, but there is still a lot of empty places that were full 5 years ago. It shifts from time to time and the overall view right now is that it is overbuilt by about twice. Over time, that should change, I would hope, but for the last 5 to 10 years it is a mixed bag.
I admit NO inferiority to OKC. I believe their original river plan was motivated at least in part by their internal perception of "inferiority" to Tulsa. They are making great strides in getting over that. There is a better attitude overall than 25 years ago. After all, they rebuilt the Skirvin!! (Beautiful old downtown building!) How are we doing with the Mayo??
Will give the leadership point. We don't have much.
I wasn't comparing cities as cities. I was comparing our citizens and leadership. Theirs are positive, focused, proud, and motivated.
Ours are positive, proud and motivated. Just unfocused and without leadership.
Leadership and business development;
We took a couple big shots at it with Kimberly-Clark and Whirlpool. I bet other companies have looked at that and said, ...meh. We gave with one hand and took with the other. We still have more and better technology companies in Tulsa area than OKC, even though we have been losing out somewhat. (Bed Check, Murphy Company - these type places being taken over by out of state owners.)
But OKC has lost a ton of stuff, starting with GM. Hitachi has reduced its presence dramatically. OKC had to buy the old GM plant and give it to the Air Force to attempt to bribe them into staying. (I don't think they would have left anyway, but that was one of the selling points given by that admired city/county leadership.)
I absolutely agree we can do better. Have been harping about that to family/friends for 40 years. And now in the last decade or so, we seem to be doing so. Downtown has always been a special place to me since I spent so much time there when young. For so long, nothing got better - in fact during "urban renewal" it got horribly worse, losing so many of the old buildings just to get a replica World Trade Center. Water under bridge.
My post was simply suggesting that we look at the cities that have great things going on (the grown up cities) and work to implement the things that accommodate their progress.
We can do better. You guys are acting like the parents of the "C" student who don't want the teacher to use red ink while grading papers. You can love your "C" student. Just don't pretend that student is perfect. It hurts you both. Red ink serves a valuable purpose sometimes....and often times hurt feelings lead to improvement.
I agree completely with that. And the list of cities to study/emulate. When you go to those places for the main attraction, you can always look around and find neat little corners where there are points of interest that give an overall ambience that creates interest. Quirky little shops. Oddball little hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Strange people - yeah, even like that bicycle guy (Tay??). Stuff that builds a character in the area. (How about a troll under the Union train station area? Oh, wait, Seattle already has that. Something off the wall like that.)
Oh, yeah. Basic amenities. We have all wondered how Richard Daley (father) ran Chicago for so long. Well he took his 10% off the top, but you got fire dept., police protection, water, sewer, trash disappeared, and roads! (Now, not so much as before...) We struggle (and fail) every day with roads. We have good fire and police and water - but all badly mistreated by the regimes we have put in place for a long time. Sewer and trash are ok, but very much works in progress with much work needed. (I agree with Blake pretty much down the line there.)
And no trolley since the 50s. I remember riding on the trolley from north Harvard to downtown as a kid. It was a blast for me. But then GM pulled their "destroy the public transportation" move and we all had to buy cars instead.
One thing Blake mentions is closing streets to vehicular traffic. I was in Memphis last week and while the place as a whole is a huge mess, the famous Beal Street is closed much of the time for pedestrian use. Pretty clever, I thought. But then, parking is catastrophic. Kind of like Tulsa. Ok, actually much worse, but ours still sucks.
Quote from: Conan71 on April 07, 2011, 10:08:29 AM
You really do have a good take on the issues and I agree with your entire post with the exception of one point. The citizens didn't fail on the River Tax, the City Of Tulsa's leadership failed.
Here's the mistakes:
1) There was never a reason for the county to lead on that project other than the mistaken notion that people in Collinsville, Owasso, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Sperry, etc. would vote for such a Tulsa-centric project because they helped pass Vision 2025. Tulsa got the lions share of that project however each community and each demographic has benefitted from V-2025 funds. Everyone in the county got something out of it.
2) I've never been clear if Mr. Kaiser approached the county with his gift or they approached him. At any rate, it was a huge mistake letting Randi Miller take the lead on it. She was already embroiled in controversy over the handling of Bell's lease and many of us more cynical types assumed she was little more than a puppet for former commissioner Bob Dick, whom many thought was incredibly corrupt.
3) In the haste to get a tax grab from the voters, they put together an incredibly sloppy plan without even knowing if the USACE could permit parts of the plan on the waterway itself as crucial studies would not be completed until AFTER we voted for this package.
4) The marketing on this sucked. Many people when polled still thought this was The Channels project which had been proposed the year before. As well, many potential yes votes were put off by ads featuring children who were pleading as if there was no future for them if we didn't approve this tax package.
5) There was little accountability built into the proposal to ensure we would get any or even most of what was promised in the package.
6) There were certain individuals who would profit handsomely from the deal without regard for how much taxpayers were being put on the hook for it. Namely the concrete plant property. If IIRC, the city or county would pay $50 million for the concrete plant and turn it over to a developer for around $5mm. I believe that patch of land is around 5 acres. I'm sorry, but I don't think even property on Rodeo Blvd. or Vail Village sells for $10mm an acre. That was ludicrus.
7) There was property to the south of the 21st St. bridge which the city promised it would jettison if we approved the OneTech purchase along with some other city properties. As predicted, that M & E center is still there and to my knowledge not one job transferred from that facility to OneTech. The proposed move of the maintenance operations to the old Downtown Airpark was scrubbed when that was sold to the Osage Tribe for little or nothing.
8) The proposal came about four years after V-2025. The arena was not finished yet, we'd not gotten promised improvements on Zink Lake at that point. Basically no one was appreciating great results out of V-2025 at that point.
Our streets were in deplorable condition. It was obvious we weren't taking care of basic in frastructure needs prior to
asking for more funds for infrastructure wants.
9) Along those lines, OKC has had clear projects in mind with MAPS and it's been done in stages, each new stage coming up as a former one comes to completion if I understand correctly. OKC's sales tax rate, even with MAPS, I believe is about the same as Tulsa's if not slightly less. It may have been a really poor calculation to have assigned the river program as a sales tax rather than as bonds or a property tax. There again, I don't pretend to be an expert on powers the county has to raise revenue.
While I definitely appreciate the gesture Mr. Kaiser made, many really felt the conditional nature of it was a ransom. As well, many people who use River Parks for recreation and exercise appreciate the open green spaces without a bunch of commercial clutter.
People kept talking about the canals in OKC and San Antonio as models for what Tulsa's river development should look like. There's simply no comparison. The Arkansas river is about 1/4 mile wide at Zink Lake. It's not even the same scale. A far better use of development funds would be opening Elm Creek near the Pearl or on the south end of downtown if people want a walkable commercial area with a water feature.
The voters didn't fail on this one. The city failed by not taking the lead on the issue, had they done that, IIRC the vote would have passed. As well the city and county both have a history of not delivering on promises to voters as well as mismanaging the funds they do have.
I always look forward to reading your posts and wish you had more time to contribute here. As one of the leading figures of downtown redevelopment it's always great to hear your viewpoint.
I agree the rejection of the River Project is really not a fair criticism of Tulsa and its attitude towards progress. While all of Conan's points are good, I think # 8 was the most critical in its rejection - it simply came too soon after the V2025 vote. Most voters who supported V2025 did so based on desparation and/or hope. When the river vote came along, the BOK Center (unquestionably the centerpiece of V2025) was not yet completed and may not have even been started. Tulsa County voters had taken a chance with V2025 but had not yet seen any of the predicted successes come to fruition. There were still a lot of critics saying the BOK would be a White Elephant that would not only fail, but drag down the whole city with it. There was no tangible evidence to point to that the critics were wrong.
HPA, I thought the city already owned the GM plant as a part of a convoluted arrangement to get GM to OKC in the first place. I believe that's the space Boeing is putting 500 jobs into.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 07, 2011, 02:01:37 PM
And no trolley since the 50s. I remember riding on the trolley from north Harvard to downtown as a kid. It was a blast for me. But then GM pulled their "destroy the public transportation" move and we all had to buy cars instead.
Most of Tulsa's trolleys were gone by the mid-30s due to GM, Firestone, and Standard Oil (National City Lines). The Sand Springs trolley ran until the 50s.
As for comparisons with OKC, I think it is healthy and natural that we look down the turnpike for a way to gage our successes and failures. First, we are in the same state and will always have a natural rivalry. Second, we share similarities in demography, geography, history, and culture that make comparisons easy and useful. If something works or doesn't work there, why would or wouldn't it work here? Third, we both have to deal with the same state regulatory/political realities – the same goofy liquor laws afflict us both. While I think some Tulsans' view of OKC's success is more a product of perception than reality, it is unquestionable that OKC is spanking Tulsa in several areas:
1) Job creation: In addition to the enormous growth of Devon and Chesapeake, Continental Resources recently announced it is moving its headquarters from Enid to downtown OKC (it bought the old Devon building). Additionally, in recent years, Dell built a large facility downtown and Boeing is hiring hundreds of engineers and other professionals. Health care and research continue to grow. In contrast, I can't think of a single high profile company of any significance that moved here in over a decade (I don't count Vanguard since it was the mayor's husband's company and it is already gone). At the same time, many of our prominent companies have left or disappeared and Dollar/Thrifty will be gone soon.
2) Population growth: This is a direct corollary to job creation. OKC is not only bigger than Tulsa, but it is growing at a faster rate every year. Thus, the gap is continuing to get larger. And yes, size matters when it comes to companies and new businesses' decisions of where to locate or open new stores. Additionally, growth begets growth that ripples through every aspect of a city's development. More people and more businesses lead to more businesses and amenities that attract more businesses and more people. More people mean more dinning, shopping and entertainment venues that only locate in "big" cities, more direct flights to more U.S. cities, etc.
3) Functioning Local Government: Whether real or not, OKC's government appears to be functioning harmoniously with everyone moving in the same general direction towards agreed upon goals. Since V2025 passed, Tulsa has had almost zero harmony at city hall and no sense of direction has been provided by city leaders.
4) Civic pride: Thundermania is only one manifestation of it, but when I talk to anyone from OKC they are unbelievably proud of their city and the improvements made in the past decade. In contrast, Tulsans seem more intent on bad mouthing our city than talking about all the good things that have happened in the past few years. OKC has a swagger about it that Tulsa simply doesn't have.
While I don't think Tulsans should obsess over what OKC has or doesn't have that's better than us, we do ourselves a disservice if we ignore reality. Tulsa has great potential. In the past few years we've tapped some of that potential through the efforts of people like Blake and Elliot Nelson, and even George Kaiser, but it has been in spite of our shortcomings and problems. To a great extent, I believe the successes in OKC are what prompted many Tulsans to take the chance and vote in favor of V2025. If it takes continued comparisons to that city on the other end of the turnpike to bring about more positive change in Tulsa, then let the comparisons begin and let's get moving.
Quote from: DTowner on April 07, 2011, 03:31:06 PM
4) Civic pride: Thundermania is only one manifestation of it, but when I talk to anyone from OKC they are unbelievably proud of their city and the improvements made in the past decade. In contrast, Tulsans seem more intent on bad mouthing our city than talking about all the good things that have happened in the past few years. OKC has a swagger about it that Tulsa simply doesn't have.
I call it Tulsamyopia.
People get too focused grousing about what we don't have rather than being proud of the good things we do have.
Tulsa has a really vibrant downtown and other entertainment/shopping areas. We've got a park and trail system which rivals many other larger metro areas. In fact, our trail system is one common complaint I hear from my cycling friends in OKC, they don't have anywhere close to a cohesive trail system like we do. We have great museums, great natural beauty which can be observed from so many places around and near the city. Great recreational lakes within 1 1/2 hours or less. Many people from OKC must go to Texhoma or up to one of our area lakes for a big lake experience.
Edit to add: we have a great festival scene that OKC hasn't matched. We also have several excellent farmer's markets. We get great A-list concerts now, too.
I'll keep adding.
Everyone should compile a list of the great things they enjoy about Tulsa. That's the best way I know to learn to appreciate what you have instead of focusing on what you think you don't.
I think Tulsa has turned the corner and is heading for better times. I have said it for years now, 2014 is going to be the year when Tulsa's downtown finally feels like it is living up to its potential, and it will be immensely different than it was the decade before.
But, I do agree that we are itching for some sort of new project/projects or vision that we can aspire towards. But it does have to be something that fits Tulsa. Perhaps it won't be 1 huge thing, but a series of smaller projects. You can make a lot of waves by throwing in a big boulder, or a lot of coordinated pebbles. Don't over do the river as a focus but make some good progress there and some projects scattered around the whole city. Hopefully we can have some good leadership that will wrap it all in a positive vision for what Tulsa can be like.
6th street and the Pearl.
Steps to begin a project to connect Brookside to the River via Crow Creek or the Veterans Park project.
Reconfigure the Zink Dam
A few more nice additions to the parks all up and down the river, including something far south for those folk.
Something for Higher ed. (especially something that will enhance an industry that we would like to nurture)
A downtown arts and sciences school.
Downtown housing incentive.
A small starter rail project from Brady Heights in the north to the uptown area.
Some sort of streetscaping/redevelopment projects for far east and west Tulsa.
Oklahoma Pop museum and some tourism projects.
Some sort of healthcare or childcare or educational/business project for north Tulsa
That, with perhaps a few tweaks here and there, imo would be a great next step for Tulsa. Its big enough that it would have a good amount of impact, but not so grandiose and expensive as to get shot down in a vote. If these are done well and are well received, there can always be the next time for other projects. These would add on to what we have already started, and are projects that can all themselves be expanded and made better down the road if we desire.
How is the Art Deco museum going? Any progress towards that?
(I am looking forward to it.)
GM got a bunch of incentives, so common in city government these days, but the city did not own it. They allowed the city to buy it from them - the numbers I heard were $55 million. And I think it was actually a lease to the Air Force. And Tinker is making good use of it now, so it will work out well for the base. Just should not have had to pay that money.
GM should have returned it to the city for the money they got in the first place. Or the base should have bought it - that place at $50 million is very few pennies on the dollar.
Built plant in 70s. They spent $700 million to convert to Malibu production in about 2000 or so. Should have just turned it back over.
About 2,400 people worked there at its peak with another 7,000 or so in the area said to be affected by the plant.
(And it was back in 2005 that Rick Wagner announced dumping 30,000 people and closing this and other plants. That is how he got his bonuses - by "saving" GM. LOL, LOL, LOL,....etc, etc.)
I want Tulsa's leadership to realize higher education is very important to the future growth of this city. TU, OSU and OU all have potential to be major job creators if given the resources.
I want to see TU maintain its position as a selective Top 100 university but also get bigger so it can be more like TCU or Vanderbilt and generate more of an impact. I would also like to see TU embrace Route 66 and redevelop its stretch of it which would benefit that entire area, and to focus more on research. TU needs a dedicated research facility on or near campus. If not on campus then somewhere like the Wilson MS property (if it closes) or the auto dealership/industrial area at 11th & Yorktown which could be paired with a mixed-use TOD with the adjacent rail line into downtown.
I want to see OSU break its ties with Langston-Tulsa and be able to provide a wider range of undergraduate degrees in Tulsa. I want to see OSU partner with TCC and expand as a joint OSU-TCC campus at 10th & Boston with the existing Greenwood campus becoming OSU's main research park. OSU should use its Tulsa campus for the majority of its grad and doctoral programs currently in Stillwater and offer an urban alternative in select undergrad programs. I also want to see OSU better fund and expand the OSU Med Cent
Finally I want to see OU continue to expand its campus at 41st & Yale and develop a teaching hospital in Tulsa (already in the works). I want to see Hillcrest become OU's main hospital in Tulsa and its facilities modernized and expanded. Tulsa with two medical schools, one DO and the other MD/Community Medicine-based would be great for generating more healthcare and medical research jobs. Research facilities at OSU and TU would also create high-paying jobs. There already is a lot of manufacturing, energy, aerospace and general technical expertise in Tulsa and such facilities would better tap that and attract people to the city.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 07, 2011, 08:55:25 PM
How is the Art Deco museum going? Any progress towards that?
(I am looking forward to it.)
We have had contact with a downtown property owner who has expressed interest in allowing us to use a space in one of their buildings. Hopefully more on that soon.
But we are early in our game and are still working to flesh out our collections and displays. Though we could readily have enough artifacts to fill a museum, you can't just put them out on card tables lol. And I don't want to have a museum thats like the Modern Streamline show at Philbrook (I like the displays themselves to be interesting, fun, over the top and fanciful not just square pedestals and glass boxes with an object or two in or on them) So we are working on creating wonderful displays and having artifacts that go with each other into creative and interesting groupings. I want our museum to be a place where people are engaged and looking at things wide eyed, smiling, laughing, pointing and talking.
The other thing we will be doing until we get a space is have window displays downtown. Look for us to turn the dark, dingy window space in the Mayo Motor Inn across from the Mayo Hotel, into a beautiful showcase of art deco artifacts. We will have that done in time for Mayfest.
We will also be having a mini "pop-up" museum the entire month of December in the PAC gallery space. So all of you going to the ballet and other events in December, and those who arent lol, go check us out!
So we have plenty of things (Gatsby Picnic and Bazaar, in the Fall at Harwelden) we will be working on to enhance our visibility and to showcase the world of art deco, until we get our first space. I am actually in no hurry at this point to get a space for as more time goes on it simply allows us to create even more, bigger, better, funner displays, so that once we do get a space, we will really be able to put on a wonderful show for you.
Btw, did you know these people are in Tulsa? http://www.jonathanmartincreative.com/ I am working on a couple of projects with them right now, and they don't just do churches. Its great to have such talented people in Tulsa who can create these wonderful "roomscapes". Can kind of give you an idea of what we hope the DECOPOLIS "The Deco City" and Tulsa Art Deco Museums themed environments can be like.
I like the "wish list" aspect that is coming out in this thread and I agree with most of the wants. Should we start a thread just for this purpose? A good way to get our leaders working together is to define clear goals for them and give them something to work (together) towards.
My opinion is that Tulsa and the surrounding area should target an industry and work collaboratively to build and attract it. My suggestion is to focus on defense and security. I would like to see the universities leveraged to attract this industry.
For example,The University of Tulsa has an excellent program called CyberCorp which focuses on computer security. They also have agreements with many security agencies in Washington D.C. OSU also has a security emphasis in it's IT program offerings.
OSU can utilize it's agricultural background and focus on items around food/water security as well as developing textiles that can be used as cutting edge clothing technology for the military. OSU and a company out of Ponca City were developing a mobile security unit recently. (Story in the Oklahoman on April 7).
OU and OSU can focus on bio-terror efforts with their health programs.
Tulsa already has connection throughout the country with the fiberoptic network built by the old Williams Communications group so the connectivety issue shouldn't be a problem.(Wasn't Google going to build a server farm in Pryor?).
I'm sure there are many other possibilities where this type of technology can be used but hopefully you get the point. The War on Terror (and other security issues) aren't going away unfortunately.
If government and education leaders would put there efforts in a targeted coordinated effort--they would stand a better chance of attracting and retaining new and vibrant companies. The trickle would bring more revenue/population and technology companies tend to attract a younger demographic. If you can start building the revenue pie, you can start to effect all the other items on the wishlist.
Quote from: SXSW on April 08, 2011, 12:37:40 AM
I want Tulsa's leadership to realize higher education is very important to the future growth of this city. TU, OSU and OU all have potential to be major job creators if given the resources.
I want to see TU maintain its position as a selective Top 100 university but also get bigger so it can be more like TCU or Vanderbilt and generate more of an impact. I would also like to see TU embrace Route 66 and redevelop its stretch of it which would benefit that entire area, and to focus more on research. TU needs a dedicated research facility on or near campus. If not on campus then somewhere like the Wilson MS property (if it closes) or the auto dealership/industrial area at 11th & Yorktown which could be paired with a mixed-use TOD with the adjacent rail line into downtown.
I want to see OSU break its ties with Langston-Tulsa and be able to provide a wider range of undergraduate degrees in Tulsa. I want to see OSU partner with TCC and expand as a joint OSU-TCC campus at 10th & Boston with the existing Greenwood campus becoming OSU's main research park. OSU should use its Tulsa campus for the majority of its grad and doctoral programs currently in Stillwater and offer an urban alternative in select undergrad programs. I also want to see OSU better fund and expand the OSU Med Cent
Finally I want to see OU continue to expand its campus at 41st & Yale and develop a teaching hospital in Tulsa (already in the works). I want to see Hillcrest become OU's main hospital in Tulsa and its facilities modernized and expanded. Tulsa with two medical schools, one DO and the other MD/Community Medicine-based would be great for generating more healthcare and medical research jobs. Research facilities at OSU and TU would also create high-paying jobs. There already is a lot of manufacturing, energy, aerospace and general technical expertise in Tulsa and such facilities would better tap that and attract people to the city.
OSU and Langston seem to be fused at the hip now. Major purchases for Langston's main campus in Langston now come through OSU purchasing in Stillwater. In a sense, Langston has become an extension of OSU though I don't think they will ever take away the identity of it for historical value and there are likely people who would consider it racist if the Langston identity were dropped. There I said it. Fiscally, I'm not sure if Langston can stand on it's own anymore. It's one of those universities which could easily be closed to save money as it's proximity to Stillwater and the Guthrie/OKC areas don't make much sense for it's main campus to still exist.
This really isn't a Tulsa leadership issue near as much as the boards of regents at the various schools. As we've seen repeatedly over the years, no one seems interested in combining forces in the Tulsa market. The shame of it is, we wind up spending way more than we really need to on higher education because of all the facility costs for multiple campuses and multiple institutions.
TU is only limited by it's imagination and donor $$. They are in the best position for growth as they rely soley on private funding for capital projects and deciding which programs they want or don't want in their curricula as well as how big a student body they want to serve. TU is a great "destination" school which brings new people into the city. As it is now, other than the medical programs at OU and OSU (which are very small comparative class sizes to other majors) our public higher education doesn't make Tulsa a destination city for education like Stillwater, Norman, Austin, etc enjoy.
Red Arrow,
There was a trolley that ran on north Harvard to downtown until late 50s. That's the one I used to ride. It was in that grassy median between lanes. Had electric poles with wires overhead. Don't remember the exact route, 'cause I wasn't to the point where I paid attention to stuff like that.
But GM won - for a while. They got rid of most of the trolleys in the nation for a long time. Now they got rid of themselves. Poetic justice?
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 08, 2011, 10:28:30 AM
Red Arrow,
There was a trolley that ran on north Harvard to downtown until late 50s. That's the one I used to ride. It was in that grassy median between lanes. Had electric poles with wires overhead. Don't remember the exact route, 'cause I wasn't to the point where I paid attention to stuff like that.
But GM won - for a while. They got rid of most of the trolleys in the nation for a long time. Now they got rid of themselves. Poetic justice?
The Sand Springs trolley extended past downtown Tulsa. I forgot to look on the map last night.
But SXSW, high paying jobs are exactly NOT what the people in the state legislature now want.
It's a catch 22.
All that other stuff is good stuff. We need to consolidate some schools in Tulsa area. (OSU, Langston, TCC) The hodge-podge we have is in great part due to the reluctance and foot dragging to bring a true university to Tulsa in the first place. Now that obstacle has been overcome, let's move it forward a couple more steps.
Due to the sprawling nature of our population, we need some sprawling of facilities. Administratively, consolidation could be very helpful. But since OSU and TCC serve two greatly differing markets in so many ways, can't see making a "Super OSU" here by completely combining the two completely (see the conflict inherent with the above statement - not to mention the bad grammar and sentence structure? I'm a graduate of both and TU!).
Comparing to TU is going back to that old idea about running government like a business. It is tough to do at all. And it is impossible to do well. (TU has a TON of money to work with!)
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 08, 2011, 10:39:18 AM
(TU has a TON of money to work with!)
Unfortunately, a TON of money doesn't buy what it used to buy.
:D
They aren't hurting at all.
Doing much better than the public schools.
An interesting response to Blake Ewing's blog:
http://tulsatightwire.blogspot.com/
This came up this morning about Edmond. We don't need another Italian eatery, but a glassblowing studio would be very cool. If it could stay in business. Have thought about doing a little woodworking studio thing, but the economics just can't get there from here.
Bring a little piece of Silver Dollar City to the area.
http://newsok.com/edmond-getting-glassblowing-studio-italian-eatery/article/3557767
Quote from: akupetsky on April 12, 2011, 01:22:03 PM
An interesting response to Blake Ewing's blog:
http://tulsatightwire.blogspot.com/
The blogger is one of our Tulsa Now members.
Quote from: akupetsky on April 12, 2011, 01:22:03 PM
An interesting response to Blake Ewing's blog:
http://tulsatightwire.blogspot.com/
I think the blogger took things too literally. I too caught the line about "a few negative voices" and could have spent time disagreeing with that. But I understood what Blake was getting at over all, what he was trying to say, what his words meant to him versus me nitpicking and focusing on one misspoken sentence and going on for paragraphs about it. Blake himself has been one of those dissenting, but positive, voices trying to create change. What I think he was getting at was that over all our city has a negativity slant. From the top down the predominant tone is downbeat and negative. There are positive voices trying to get positive things done, but, when the over all tone is negative, it seems like those few negative folk who are speaking out then become the main, amplified voices. Its most of what you hear.
When you do hear the positive voices and projects, they are drowned out by the constant, constant, never ending drumbeat of (I hate Tulsa, this city sucks, there is nothing to do, our government is horrible, downtown is nasty, Tulsa is full of crime, our roads are horrible, the suburbs are much better why live in Tulsa, the schools are terrible, the fighting in City Hall).
Diversity of voices,,,, I am all for it. Great to hear the negative dissenters. But when the major tone of the city and most of what you hear is negative whining, sprinkled with a few diverse, positive notes here and there,,, thats when I think one might justifiably say something is different with Tulsa compared to the apparent prevailing pride you see in other cities like OKC for instance. Sure OKC has its naysayers, and thats great, but they aren't the main voice and attitude present in the city like they are here. I think we do need a positive champion in City Hall. I would love to see a monthly news conference where the Mayor and Councilors are up there together, championing some positive news thats happening in the city. Start turning around the constant negative tone and start creating a positive one by pointing out things we can feel proud of. Whatever the cause or the cure, or even the reality, the over all tone is negative compared with other cities I have been in. And that hurts us. Thats a reality imo. A reality that then creates even more negativity and so on. Any change can be difficult and met with opposition, but it can be even more of an uphill battle in a negative, naysayer environment, to make positive changes happen.
I have an "I love Tulsa" t-shirt. Honestly, I have had more people laugh at it and say "Why?" than have said "Hey, nice shirt." In many places in our city its almost like you can't say something positive about the city yourself for fear of having to then listen to the negative responses and you having to JUSTIFY your position. Thats not normal in most cities we admire. I can't imagine anyone here really expects us to believe that? Sure, again, every city has its negative naysayers. But the over all balance here IS very negative.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 12, 2011, 01:27:20 PM
This came up this morning about Edmond. We don't need another Italian eatery, but a glassblowing studio would be very cool. If it could stay in business. Have thought about doing a little woodworking studio thing, but the economics just can't get there from here.
Bring a little piece of Silver Dollar City to the area.
http://newsok.com/edmond-getting-glassblowing-studio-italian-eatery/article/3557767
There's a glassblowing studio on Brady, near Caz's. You can have them help you make something. You might be able to watch from the patio at Caz's Chowhouse, not sure about the view from there.
TheTed,
I will go find them. Thanks!
Love to watch glassblowing. Would like to try it myself, but way too many other 'projects'.
Artist,
I get to (have to?) spend quite a bit of time in lower OKC. (From about Bass Pro Shop to Norman is normal traffic area for a few days a week, most weeks.) I hear a lot of whining there. Haven't found an equivalent forum to this one, but talking to people is kind of like talking to Tulsans. But then, like I said before, I don't hob nob with anyone of importance like the movers and shakers.
Maybe living in Crossroads Mall area (Valley Brook) shapes a persons mindset in a different way from the richer parts of town. I do have a friend from childhood who lives in OKC and loves it, so it ain't all griping. But I am not sure why?
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 12, 2011, 05:33:11 PM
TheTed,
I will go find them. Thanks!
Love to watch glassblowing. Would like to try it myself, but way too many other 'projects'.
Artist,
I get to (have to?) spend quite a bit of time in lower OKC. (From about Bass Pro Shop to Norman is normal traffic area for a few days a week, most weeks.) I hear a lot of whining there. Haven't found an equivalent forum to this one, but talking to people is kind of like talking to Tulsans. But then, like I said before, I don't hob nob with anyone of importance like the movers and shakers.
okctalk.com?
Thanks Hoss. (You could probably tell I haven't spent a lot of time looking for one either. Have been going by word of mouth.) This place keeps me busy trying to keep up.
Quote from: TheArtist on April 12, 2011, 02:26:41 PM
I have an "I love Tulsa" t-shirt. Honestly, I have had more people laugh at it and say "Why?" than have said "Hey, nice shirt." In many places in our city its almost like you can't say something positive about the city yourself for fear of having to then listen to the negative responses and you having to JUSTIFY your position. Thats not normal in most cities we admire. I can't imagine anyone here really expects us to believe that? Sure, again, every city has its negative naysayers. But the over all balance here IS very negative.
That is very true. When I was in Denver I never heard anyone say anything bad about it and all I heard was praise. It was almost annoying. In Tulsa there is very little praise but instead constant bemoaning about the city's problems. Even by people heavily invested in the community. I asked a relative who is a long-time OKC resident if this was once the case there and he said yes, and it was probably much worse. People absolutely hated their city and were leaving it to rot and die. If any of you had been in OKC before the late 90's you can remember what it was like. Tulsa is in nowhere near the same condition, and in fact many parts of the city look better than ever. Yet people are still so down...I don't get it.
I have known two people who were from Tulsa and lived here and moved to OKC because it was "more exciting". I never thought I would see that, yet here we are. I don't think all of it can be traced back to ineffective city government but most of it can. That is why we need another Vision 2025 so citizens can come together and rally around something. Or even a city-backed commitment to the Pearl District (canal/streetscape/flood control improvements) with the grassroots efforts being seeded by ordinary people with the Street Cred event this weekend. A mix of public and private funds for the greater good of an urban neighborhood..
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 12, 2011, 05:36:17 PM
Thanks Hoss. (You could probably tell I haven't spent a lot of time looking for one either. Have been going by word of mouth.) This place keeps me busy trying to keep up.
There are some common posters between here and there. Some of them get bent out of shape when we start harping on the hole down the pike.
I'll add I think a lot of people in Tulsa don't realize how nice a place it really is, and how well economically we are doing compared to most cities right now. I saw this today where Tulsa is ranked in the Top 10 in small business vitality i.e. the market that is most condusive to the creation and development of small businesses. Tulsa is ranked #6 between Seattle and Raleigh (OKC is #2, Austin is #1).
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2011/04/austin-tops-small-business-rankings.html# (http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2011/04/austin-tops-small-business-rankings.html#)
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on April 12, 2011, 05:33:11 PM
TheTed,
I will go find them. Thanks!
Love to watch glassblowing. Would like to try it myself, but way too many other 'projects'.
Artist,
I get to (have to?) spend quite a bit of time in lower OKC. (From about Bass Pro Shop to Norman is normal traffic area for a few days a week, most weeks.) I hear a lot of whining there. Haven't found an equivalent forum to this one, but talking to people is kind of like talking to Tulsans. But then, like I said before, I don't hob nob with anyone of importance like the movers and shakers.
Maybe living in Crossroads Mall area (Valley Brook) shapes a persons mindset in a different way from the richer parts of town. I do have a friend from childhood who lives in OKC and loves it, so it ain't all griping. But I am not sure why?
I'm somewhat of a dual resident of Midwest City and Tulsa these days and admit I'm largely detached from the government goings on in OKC. It could be that their city manager, mayor, and council all get along so famously that KTOK and the Oklahoman have nothing to report on, or perhaps that when I'm in the OKC area, I'm focused on FMC and don't waste time on the news. When I'm here by myself during the week I have nothing better to do than be bothered by the goings on of our pathetic government here to keep my mind off the fact I'm not with Future Mrs. Conan.
Thank you, William.
Perhaps I've been misunderstood. Hopefully I can clarify some things here.
My response to Michelle's response to my blog post....
1. When I used the term "same page", I did not mean I want or expect all of our elected officials to agree about everything. It meant that I'd like them to stop trying to sue each other and ouster each other from their elected offices and focus on making Tulsa better. We can ask our officials to be on that same page: making/keeping Tulsa great. I meant, simply, that I wanted them to grow up. If they were bickering over ideas and policymaking and zoning and planning, I'd be thrilled. Instead, I've heard tons of fighting over senseless things, and very little discussion over things that could mean progress. Michelle mentioned something about being alarmed by political systems in which we hear no dissent. When was the last time you heard the council upset with each other? Hasn't happened in a while. They've been united and focused on one thing - taking down the mayor and vice-versa. How that's part of a positive process is lost on me. Additionally, the insinuation that I think everyone should agree with me is also wrong. I have my opinions, but I'm well aware that the things I value are not the same as many of my fellow Tulsans and I'm not just okay with that, I like it. I think I even mentioned in my blog that our distinct parts of town and ways of thinking should stay that way, making us a better and more "grown-up" city. I don't like the burbs, but I get why people do and I think they should exist and thrive. I don't live in west Tulsa, but I'd love to see that area grow and develop in a way that's right for them. If there's anything on which I think everyone should agree with me, it's that we, as citizens, can do a much better job of stepping up and running for office, electing and appointing our leaders, and demanding maturity and big picture thinking from them. . . and to William's point, being positive about our hometown and what it can be.
2. I didn't suggest that other cities don't have squabbles. My comparison to those cities wasn't to say we should be another incarnation of them, but that we should look at some of the positive things they've done, and follow that example. I don't mean that we should try to copy their amenities, districts, etc., but that we should work to create attractions and accentuate our positives the way that they have.
3. Michelle's assertion that the Chinese student who stood up to the tank shares anything in common with the Tulsans who perpetually show up to TMAPC and council meetings to protest everything from fence heights to sign placements is off base and insulting. It's a crazy comparison used only to make a point. Our celebration of those in our community who love to argue is probably in some part responsible for our ridiculous code, our awful zoning, and our reputation as one of the most difficult places in the U.S. to get a permit. Pair that with elected and appointed officials who haven't had the courage or conviction to consider the bigger picture over the emotion of the moment, and you'll start to understand why our current rules exist. There's nothing at all wrong with disagreement. There's not even anything wrong with hyper-vigilance. It's when we allow those things to rule that we suffer. Unchecked preservationists, developers, fire marshalls, inspectors, city employees in the permit office, TMAPC members, etc all contribute to the problem. They all serve their purpose and should be asked to advocate for the specific interests of their groups, but we need to be able to count on our city leaders to be able to see the bigger picture and weigh all the costs. When I say "grown up city", I mean a city that, like good parents, knows what's best for its kids and makes decisions based on a more complete understanding of all of the factors. Sometimes parents really do know best. Kids tend to only see the moment. As a child, I didn't understand things that Mom and Dad did and their decisions didn't always make sense. They, however, had a different and more informed perspective. They cared about me and and guided me wisely to a better future. Our city leaders should be asked to do the same for us.
4. This is what Michelle wrote:
So then, how is Tulsa to "grow up" as Mr. Ewing implies? Part of the problem I see is the assumption that somehow great cities are "grown up." Cities, like people, should never be grown but should be constantly growing, changing and evolving. To "grow up" connotes an ending, not a process. What we need to determine is how we can continue evolving as a city instead of stagnating. While bickering is normal, it must move us forward, must produce new ideas and compromises. But it is actually the bickering that produces something new. Think of the city as a large chemical reaction: when the chemicals are frozen and still, they are the least likely to react. When heated, the atoms move quicker, badgering and bumping each other, until something new is formed. We need to figure out, not how to all get on the same page, but how the bumping and badgering will produce something new. I don't presume to know where our city needs to go; it will go where the entire city pushes it, and I am just one person in that process. But I do have some ideas of how people can help that process. Here are my suggestions.
Michelle is insinuating that "grown ups" have stopped growing. I'm not. "Grown up" doesn't connote an ending, it connotes someone who doesn't act like a child and who makes decisions based on "big picture thinking" mixed with logic and reason. I never suggested that we stop the process, but rather that we actually start engaging in it. What's happening now is so far away from useful that to call it anything but that is ludicrous. These "heated atoms" at city hall aren't forming anything, except a lack of hope and a discouraged citizenry. To call what's happening "bickering" is really understating it. I'd love to see some "bickering." What we've got is full on fighting.
At the end of her article, Michelle lists her ideas about how people can help the process. Those seem to be right in line with the types of things I've written on my blog over the last few months. The only thing I might take exception with there is her departing jab about grown-ups not being willing to try new things. I'm a grown up. I try new things.
While I think Michelle took my blog way too literally, I'm glad to have more voices in the conversation. I hope that all of us on this forum can avoid reading things through "Tulsa government eyes" which have a history of analyzing things from a "what can I argue with?" position, and instead try to understand the heart of things.
To her point, her response atomically pushed me to clarify my positions, hopefully to the benefit of other readers.
Conan,
I was reading through your note and could not figure out how FMC - Fat Mama Cheeseburger - related to your life. Future Mrs. Conan made a WHOLE lot more sense when I got there. Congratulations!! Maybe she can straighten you out!!??
Ever since Mark Shannon died, the KTOK thing just hasn't had that psychotic RWRE rush you would expect! Oh, well,...
Don't have time to read Joe's post now - sadly. Will get back to it asap.
I don't know, Blake, I think Michelle made a point that had to be made.
As an initial matter, I think Tulsa is doing great. I mean, just look at your restaurant and the McNellie's group, ONEOK stadium, the BOK Center, the River Parks and everything coming down the pike. I've never been more excited about Tulsa - and I'm spreading the word to my colleagues and friends around the country.
Has the city been seriously injured by the squabbling over power plays by the Mayor and the City Council? Recall that the city recently adopted the new Comprehensive Plan, on which everyone stacked hands. And we are getting ready to work on zoning code amendments to implement it. I don't see the sqabbling interfering with these key steps in shaping our development.
As I recall, the fighting was about Mayoral decisions made early in this administration, dealing with firefighters and police. Without taking sides, the fighting seems to have resulted from a failure to work together at the beginning. Our system requires that the Mayor and City Council bargain and compromise. If they don't, then each side can back themselves into a corner neither can get out of. We don't need to change the system - we need some people to lower their back.
What will hurt Tulsa is if Tulsa's citizens are not brought along with Tulsa's progress. When you say that development is being held up by naysayers, you are playing into a narrative that says that Tulsa is in such desperate shape that we must have development everywhere and at all costs. The truth is that Tulsa needs development in accordance with the Comp Plan supported by the city's people and with due consideration to Tulsa's quality of life, including neighborhoods. That means some conflict of ideas, and in the past that has led to demonization of those standing up to those who, ironically, use the "Tulsa sucks" mentality to push through their version of what Tulsa should be.
And, speaking of irony, your reaction to Michelle's China tank example could benefit from the same moderation you seek from the city. Surely you understood it was an example of the way we appreciate the lone protester and not an attempt to equate the principles they stand for.
I certainly appreciate Michelle's willingness to serve our city in the way that she does and her articulate blog. Forgive me that I don't see a point there that "had to made." I saw her misunderstanding and debating my post, then concluding her entry by completely agreeing with the same solutions I've been blogging for the last few weeks.
I'm glad you think Tulsa is doing great. I think some Tulsans are doing great and therefore, I suppose, some parts of Tulsa are also doing great. I think we've got potential, but I may have traveled too much and may be a little too close to the action to consider what our city is doing as great. We're a wonderful city and can be even better, we're just not "doing great."
I think the ballpark and the arena are wonderful additions to downtown. I love what Elliot's doing and I'm proud of what we've accomplished downtown. I'm an optimist. Trust me. I'm as positive as it gets about where Tulsa is going and as excited as anyone about what we can be. I'm not, however, willing to say that what we're doing is great. Some great things happening isn't enough to give that assessment to the whole city and while our downtown is improving, take one guy (Elliot) out of the mix and it looks very very different today.
PlaniTulsa is exciting and I'm hopeful that its implementation will bring about some much needed changes to our outdated and shortsighted zoning and code. Until those things change, greatness will be significantly more difficult to achieve.
I agree completely with your points about the mayor and council. This situation is exactly what I'm talking about. Time to grow up.
I don't know that development is being hurt by naysayers or that I've said that. If so, I'll clarify. Development has been hurt by years of poor leadership at city hall. Consider my perspective. Back Alley has gone through over two months of administrative review and is now involved in another one. I'm spending thousands (no joke) of dollars in architectural fees, etc. just to have the conversation with city permitting about our project. It's delayed construction and therefore delayed my opening, costing me even more money. The very same day we finally (after two and half months) got a permit for our courtyard and rooftop bar (complete with sprinklers under the decking), our sign application was denied (because it's on the rooftop and on the side of the building and not the front). If I want that argument to be heard, I have to go before the board of adjustment (a 45 day process and another $600+). It's ridiculous, guys. I can't say it enough. Our code is absolutely nuts in so many ways. Logic, reason, and common sense are not often a part of the process. I could write a book. Seriously. I should just start blogging the details of our attempts to develop downtown and the resounding "eh..." we get from city hall any time we want to do something unique and special. This code came about because elected and appointed leaders didn't stand up to the vocal few, and the way it continues to be interpreted and enforced is a result of the same lack of leadership and vision of which I've spoken. It is critical that our new master plan produce dramatic changes. Due to message board and blog dynamics, I think I must not be coming across the right way here. Tulsa is great. The process is great. I've never said anything to the contrary. When I'm voicing frustrations, it's because I think we should be moving the ball forward at city hall. Instead, very different and fruitless things are on the agenda to the detriment of our great city. Developers should be flocking to downtown right now. Our very own city and its code is playing a role in keeping that from happening. That isn't just frustrating, it's infuriating. I'm writing because I care so much. I want so badly for us to be what we can be and when I care more than the people we've elected, it gets me really riled up.
Trust me that I'll never use the "Tulsa sucks" mentality to push through my version of what Tulsa should be. I might, however, start preaching from the rooftop that our code sucks and when our leaders are blowing it, I'll call them out. Tulsa is way too great for a code this bad and for our leaders to be letting us down like this. I feel like I'm doing my part. I know many of you are doing your part. I'm just wanting the people who ran for office to do theirs and remember why they wanted to be there in the first place. We need to expect them to act like worthy stewards of our city. We need them to think as big as we do.
As for the China tank example. I don't think it was appropriate for a number of reasons. I wasn't nitpicking that and I'll stand by my statement, though I appreciate that you cleverly caught it and brought it up =). I know she wasn't equating their principles, but she was was using intense hyperbole, which makes the discussion an unfair one. Let's be honest, though. Protesting an oppressive government in historic and dramatic fashion can hardly be compared in any way to showing up at a meeting at city hall to ask the new church to mitigate their light pollution. The lone protesters deserve to get to have their say (and celebrated when they're standing up to something bad). I just want our leaders to consider the much bigger picture when making rulings and recommendations and I want us to debate fairly.
I think we're all saying the same basic things. If there's one thing I feel like I should keep clarifying it's this: I don't think questioning the things that are not right about the city (especially its government) means I don't think the city is great. I'm not complaining to hear myself talk. I'm asking us all to believe in something even better for ourselves and for Tulsa. I wan't that to be a good thing. I believe my employees can be better. I think they can grow and learn and improve. It doesn't mean I don't love them and value them today. In fact, I'm proud of them and glad they're in my life and in my company. I think it actually shows less love and concern if I just blindly proclaim their greatness and spare them the high expectations. I don't want to have to keep defending that. I love this city as much as anyone. I'm passionate about it and am wired to be a part of shaping its continued growth and improvement.
Blake—
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. And to those who responded, as well. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and what you have done downtown (not to mention a great love of your pizzas). The reason I wanted to respond to your post was because I have grown tired of the constant drumbeat that city hall is destroying this city, which you hear from many sources, not just you. You hear it mostly from our daily paper, which constantly bemoans the dismal state of city hall, all the while foaming at the mouth because nothing sells paper like drama. I have lived in cities whose battles and scandals make Tulsa look tame (I was in New Orleans when Edwin Edwards was hauled off to prison & DC when Marion Barry was released). So, one of our councilors believes the mayor violated his oath of office, and is therefore filing a petition provided for under state statutes. Heck, at least there are no hookers involved (that I know of). I'm not saying it's good, just that it's not really destroying our city. Good things are happening, and will continue to happen. Of course, when papers & leaders repeat over & over that it is destroying our city, I worry that it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As I said, and as you pointed out, there are probably more areas upon which we agree than disagree. I simply wanted to provide a different perspective, that perhaps all of the disagreements are good in that they will eventually lead us to some place better. And while the lone Chinese man standing before a tank may have seemed a bit over the top, I was simply trying to convey that the passion that some people feel for issues, and their willingness to stand up to adversities, is a good thing, it's what makes our country great. Like akupet said, it wasn't intended to equate someone arguing about zoning with someone standing up to a dictator. We all have our opinion about issues affecting our city--who is a lone visionary fighting against the odds, and who is simply a nay-sayer, is subjective.
As for the zoning code, I completely agree with you, but disagree a bit at how we arrived at such a pathetic code. First, it was written in the 70s. At the time, it was state of the art. But of course it was designed to create the types of structures and neighborhoods that were desirable in the 1970s. Since that time, our city has been reactionary, not visionary, when it comes to amending the code. Every time something bad happens, we try to amend it to prevent that from happening again. Through the years, there have been hundreds and hundreds of small amendments here and there, so that it no longer functions in any coherent way. Like a car that has been jerry-rigged one too many times, it has become an ugly, monstrous jalopy. But I would say that some of your problems seem to stem not just from the zoning code, but from the building code, which really doesn't get the same kind of public scrutiny. Perhaps it should. Also, I'm not a developer, but I wonder how different Tulsa really is compared to other cities when it comes to bureaucracy & new development. We recently had dinner with a cousin who owns a restaurant in Brooklyn. He had some real horror stories. Again, not saying its a good thing, but I suspect that doing something new and inventive can be difficult in most cities.
Finally, you're way too young to be a grown-up. Of course, my line for "grown-up" keeps moving as I get older. I'm thinking maybe 60s now. My comment about grown ups and change was based upon a recent observation involving a 60 year old and an iPhone.
Some good stuff here from both of you.
I got a snarky little comment about 70s zoning being "state of the art". I definitely disagree about that. This is the zoning code that tore down the Rialto, the Orpheum and got us the Williams tower where it is. And I do believe it could benefit from some revision. (No specific recommendations now, just a general feeling.)
1. This is the best message board discussion anywhere for a very long time.
2. The 1970s code comment makes so much sense. We are trying to fit the entire city into an east Tulsa box.
3. The discord at city hall, the code, and our development challenges are a reflection of widespread apothy about Tulsa. If you aren't proud of your city, you don't care. And that has become too common.