Capital improvements bond issue

[RecycleMichael]

I went last night. I saw a few other TulsaNow posters there.

The public made no presentations nor speeches, but was instructed to write questions on 3x5 cards that would be screened and maybe answered. We were also given three round stickers to put on sheets with simple headings.

There were ten sheets on the wall to pick from. The titles were Police, Information Technology, Public Facilities, Transit, Streets and Transportation, Sanitary Sewer, Flood Control, Planning and Economic Development, Culture/Recreation and Fire.

Almost nobody voted for Fire, Police, Information Technology, Flood Control and Sanitary Sewer. The most votes by far were for Culture/Recreation. The second most were for Streets and third was Transit. Public facilities were fourth and Planning/Economic Development was fifth most in dots.

[Townsend]

So was it worth while?  Do you feel there's an attempt at getting public input?

[RecycleMichael]

Here is the TulsaWorld story...

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130305_16_A9_Reject121996


Rejecting the $800 million capital improvements package that is likely headed to voters in November would put Tulsa in "a scary situation," City Councilor Blake Ewing said Monday at the first in a series of town hall meetings over the proposal. "I don't want to be too dire and I don't think this should be driven by emotion," he said. "But I think this is a scary situation to think about what happens in our community if we stop investing in the necessary components of the city."

Seventy-three residents attended the meeting at Tulsa Community College's downtown campus, where city officials collected votes on which types of projects should be emphasized in the proposal when it heads to voters. Although officials stress that the focus will be street repairs, which could get as much as 84 percent of the funding, they have said that opinions gathered at the town hall meetings will be used to whittle down $806 million in other capital needs that have been identified for the coming years.

Residents who attended Monday's meeting in Ewing's council District 4 were told to place three stickers of support on pieces of paper that represented various project categories, such as streets, police and parks. The categories with the most stickers - and thereby the most support - appeared to be streets and transit.

Officials also collected comment sheets and answered written questions from residents.

"The goals and objectives that are set by the public ... they help give us a good guide about which (projects) we'd like to do," Mayor Dewey Bartlett told the crowd. "We certainly want to listen to your priorities. This is your money. This is your city." City officials have been collecting project requests from department heads and city facility administrators for months and hope to draft a firmer list of projects to present at another round of town hall meetings early this summer.

Funding would be available from fiscal years 2015 to 2019 and would come from renewing the Third Penny and 0.167-cent 4 to Fix the County sales taxes, which were used in the 2008 Fix Our Streets package, and by issuing general obligation bonds.

Those funding streams would generate $336 million more than Tulsa voters have considered in any previous election - partly because sales tax renewals and bonds were previously considered in separate elections and partly because the first Fix Our Streets package used only part of the Third Penny tax. Bartlett and Ewing said at Monday's town hall meeting that failing to renew Fix Our Streets' funding would be like putting off critical maintenance on a house.

"We all know what would happen if we did that," Bartlett said. Ewing added: "Your streets will get worse. Your parks will get worse. Your police and fire departments will not have the equipment that they need to do their jobs. "Basically, the guts of our city - the nuts and bolts of our city - will not have the repairs and the maintenance and the upkeep they need in order to be healthy."

Officials have said they intend to include only essential needs, not desires. Projects requested by city departments and facilities so far have included street widening, sewer repairs, City Hall renovations, Tulsa Zoo exhibit construction and Performing Arts Center expansion.

Bonnie Letshaw, who lingered after Monday's meeting to speak with city officials, said she is still looking for more information and would encourage other residents to do so, as well. "I'd like to be involved in the process and know what they (city officials) are doing," she said. "I want to keep them accountable. "I know it's difficult to engage the public to actually take part in anything like this because people are busy ... but if you don't start paying attention, you won't know what is happening."

[RecycleMichael]

You can comment through here...

https://www.cityoftulsa.org/our-city/elected-officials/office-of-the-mayor/city-hall-in-your-neighborhood.aspx

[RecycleMichael]

The TulsaWorld has also done a great job of linking all their related stories on this topic...

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/continuingcoverage/default.aspx/Fix_our_Streets/164

[heironymouspasparagus]

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