PLANiTULSA Vision - Economic Development

[PonderInc]

From the PLANiTULSA "Our Vision" chapter on Economic Development
http://www.planitulsa.org/vision/planchapters/econdev

Economic Development

The city should help strengthen partnerships between employers and educational and training institutions.How Tulsa's future is shaped will depend a great deal on its economic prosperity.  Tulsa will need a vigorous and strategic approach to economic development. It must be coordinated with policies on land use, housing, transportation and the factors that affect residents' quality of life like parks, open space, and education.

While we can improve our economic fortune by focusing on our strengths, like aerospace, energy, and health care, we must also support entrepreneurs and emerging small businesses, who will grow the industries of the future.

Recent increased coordination by the city economic development department and Tulsa's chambers of commerce have seen important gains in all areas of the city. This coordination should continue to be a focus in the city, with renewed emphasis on a unified city development group that advocates projects and programs in conjunction with the city's chambers and makes available a complete package of tools to support economic development negotiations.

Testing Innovative Building Models

The PLANiTULSA team collaborated with builders, financial institutions and stakeholders to create several innovative building models for Tulsa. These models exemplify the mixed-use places that were popular in the public workshops. They combine housing, retail, and employment uses and use innovative parking techniques. 

The models were calibrated with realistic financial and construction cost assumptions gathered from local builders and financiers.  These will serve as guides for proposed changes to Tulsa's zoning code, and will provide examples for developers on how to help make the vision a reality.

How we get there

To achieve this economic future, Tulsa's public- and private-sector leadership will need to align interests and embrace partnerships that can:

Pursue business retention and recruitment efforts that build on existing and emerging industry clusters.
Stimulate aggressive redevelopment in downtown, town centers, corridor and existing industrial areas.
Expand existing business ventures, recruit new ones, develop a more vibrant, sustainable downtown and new centers.

Create an environment that welcomes new ventures, particularly those generated by the creative class.
Strengthen workforce development programs and partnerships with higher educational institutions.
Enhance connections among higher education research and programs, private business and public agencies.
Improve the quality of all public schools, through planning, strategic partnerships, and neighborhood revitalization.

Ensure that the city captures its share of regional job growth, about 40,000 new jobs.
Stimulate job growth in target cluster industries, such as health care and aerospace, which provide good wages and that are expected to grow.