Bridge at about 86th and Lewis into now closed Southern Villa Trailer Park where relatives lived for over 40 years. ID’d by Greg Morris, Robert Franklin and Nancy Oswald. We’ll have a fun Sandite lunch.
Having spent ten years as the first city councilor from Tulsa’s District 4 I do try to stay informed and was pleasantly surprised to learn that four qualified candidates are seeking election for the open seat in the upcoming August 28 nonpartisan primary. I found information about them and a link to each campaign website here on Sustainable Tulsa’s site. After reading the information about each I became even more uncertain about who would earn my vote so a friend and I decided to take matters into our own hands and host sequential neighborhood gatherings for all four.
After contacting each candidate, by the end of the following day we had scheduled Juan Miret followed by Kara Joy McKee on Thursday, July 19 and Daniel Regan followed by Barbra Kingsley on Wednesday, July 26, allowing each an hour to make their pitch and answer questions. I learned later that there were candidate forum opportunities that I could have attended, but as a frequent candidate myself I was never fond of those events because you spent most of your time listening to the other candidates and thought each would appreciate having quality time to interact with several voters. We had about fifteen voters each night with half that number attending both nights.
The four hours of local democracy at its best made it no easier for me to choose a candidate to support, EXCEPT I told myself in advance that, barring a clear favorite emerging, I would vote for the one who, without prompting, volunteered the most passion for improving public transportation in Tulsa. Let me explain why.
Mayors everywhere are expected to fix most everything that is wrong, but what is actually within their responsibility is determined by the laws of their state and city. Based on my fourteen years as an elected official with the City of Tulsa here are the primary functions of our city government and my brief evaluation of how well they work in Tulsa:
Airport: we have one and you can fly lots of places on several airlines.
Cultural, Athletic, Convention and Entertainment Facilities: we have the BOK, OneOk Stadium, the PAC, our convention center and Gilcrease Museum, pretty nice for our size city.
Police, Fire and Emergency Medical: call 911 and well-trained professionals respond.
Floodplain and Stormwater Management: we have a model system that was established after the 1984 flood and functions to prevent flooding like that which devastated our city in the 70s and 80s (knock on wood).
Land Use Development and Zoning: we got it and it’s the rare homeowner who has to worry about a Sonic going in next door.
Municipal Court: I’ve paid my share of tickets there and our judges are competent and honest.
Parks and Recreation: forget the TV series, I love Woodward, Mohawk, River Parks and can’t wait for the Gathering Place.
Refuse Disposal: it gets picked up on the appointed day with recycling to boot.
Water and Sewer: turn on the tap and there it is, likely better for you than the bottled stuff you choose to pay for (so my dentist says); then you flush and it’s gone.
Streets, Expressways and Traffic Engineering: I don’t like orange barrels either, but asphalt and pavement beat the gravel and dirt roads that still serve cities elsewhere on our planet, plus in midtown we’re 15 minutes from everywhere.
My point is we may have our gripes here and there and concerns with costs and choices for some of them, but fairly rated all of the above deserve at least passing grades and most much better than that. The one exception for Tulsa city services, fairly rated, is our public transportation system. I intend no disrespect for or disparagement of the work done by the good people employed by Tulsa Transit. The reality is that Tulsa, for decades, has grossly under-funded public transportation and the result is it just doesn’t work well by any reasonable measure.
Linda and I lived four years in Philadelphia without a car and became very familiar with its transit system. It had its problems and still does, but we were able to lead a pretty normal life, getting to work, school, shopping and entertainment seven days a week. Just like turning on the tap, flushing the toilet, or dialing 911, the buses, trolleys and subway cars kept coming and got us where we needed and wanted to be; I don’t recall ever having to check a schedule.
Try to do that here in Tulsa; seriously, put your car keys away for a day or two and you will see what I mean. Here’s how Linda and I would have managed our day on Friday, and we’re retired.
- Walk a block from our house to catch the 112 northbound at Lewis and 17th at 6:24 am. Get off at Freeway Café at 3rd and Rockford about 6:34 am to meet friends for breakfast at 7.
- Breakfast ends at 8 so hopefully catch the 112 northbound at 8:04, if missed catch it at 8:49. Arrive at 3rd and Boulder to collect granddaughter from her mother’s work a few minutes later.
- Walk a block to downtown transit station and catch the 112 south bound at 8:25 am arriving back at 17th and Lewis about 8:45 am.
- Decide to see movie at Circle Cinema at 2:20 pm so catch 112 northbound again at 1:54 pm getting off at 3rd and Lewis where it heads downtown, then walk a block to the Circle. Movie ends two hours later so catch the 112 southbound at 4:54 pm back at 3rd and Lewis arriving about 5:08 at 17th Street.
Not too shabby, but very fortunate the 112 uses 3rd Street to access downtown. Now let’s pretend I work a 7-3 shift at St. Francis hospital.
I catch the 112 southbound about 6:25 am, a block from my house and get off at 51st and Harvard about 6:38 am, hoping we arrive before the 210 southbound connects at 6:46 am, which gets me to St. Francis at 6:56 am, not too bad if I can clock in by 7 am. If I don’t have any margin for error, then I start my trip 45 minutes earlier because these buses run 45 minutes apart.
To get home I catch a 3:13 pm bus easily connecting with the 112 by 3:54 pm and get home an hour after I began. If my shift changes to a 3-11, I can make the 3 pm start by catching the 112 before 2 pm, but the last bus home that night leaves St. Francis at 11:05 pm and I get to walk the last half mile home. I live close to several routes; try it where you live.
There’s another aspect to this—family economics. Read Sunday’s article in the World about Tulsa’s high eviction rate. An attorney handling evictions for landlords is quoted saying, “Nobody making $11 an hour can afford an apartment in Tulsa. Not on their own, anyway. They just can’t afford it.”
What does an article about evictions have to do with public transit? These same individuals and families being evicted must also struggle with affording transportation, i.e. car payments and insurance and repairs. This harsh reality, in my opinion, explains why around 25% of Oklahoma’s drivers are uninsured. Imagine what a difference it would make in many families’ lives if they could get by with one less car or no car at all. We did that for many years and the money we would have spent on operating a car went to purchasing a house.
Also a large percentage of Tulsans cannot physically operate a car—yet they get to pay sales and property taxes to maintain the streets we car owners drive and park on. In cities where public transit works a huge financial burden is lifted from many and their lives are greatly enhanced. I made these arguments repeatedly in many settings with Tulsa policy-makers during my fourteen years at City Hall, mostly falling on deaf ears because, I think without exception, none of my colleagues had ever been transportation dependent, as I had chosen to be earlier in my life, and just couldn’t get it.
I suspect all four Council District 4 candidates actually do get it, or readily would if challenged to, but the one who volunteered his experience and passion with improving public transportation in Tulsa was Daniel Regan. He’s getting my vote.
As always lunch is on me for the first to ID the photo location, which is somewhere along the 112 route.