Tulsa's former City Commission form of government

[MrRon]

Is there anyone out there, like me, who yearns to return to the Tulsa City Commission form of government?
Everything went so much better when we had city commissioners such as Street Commissioner, Police and Fire Commissioner, etc.
Back then, when we had too many potholes, we could demand that the Street Commissioner fix them...or he would not be re-elected! It got much more attention...the public benefited!
I would hope that a petition could get started that would put the City Commission vs. City Council form of government to a public vote. We certainly cannot let the current City Council vote on it...they are not about to vote themselves out of office!!!
Help!

[RecycleMichael]

There was some good and bad things about the old form of government. It did work well getting some problems fixed, yet it caused some others.

One of the real examples was in getting debris cleared off a road. The street was the responsibility of the Street Commissioner and the drains and ditches the responsibility of the Street Commissioner. If there was a branch on the road, the street guys would throw it in the ditch and vice versa the water and sewer guys would put it in the street.

The old form of government meant that you had five mini Mayors. When they worked together, it was mostly good. When they didn't, bad governance happened.

I think a problem with our current form of government is nine councilors. It we had five council districts (like most cities), each would have to represent a larger and more diverse area. A councilor would not only have to campaign and manage west Tulsa or north Tulsa. Their work would be more on the city as a whole. If we had fifteen councilors, we would have a more broad cross section of types of councilors and there would probably be a role for a dissenting opinion without too much controversy.

Our current form has it's problems. A strong Mayor has ultimate responsibility and power and if done right, can be the most effective at getting things done. If not, people can feel that they are not able to effect change.

[RecycleMichael]

I almost forgot...welcome to the forum!

[heironymouspasparagus]

Is there anyone out there, like me, who yearns to return to the Tulsa City Commission form of government?
Everything went so much better when we had city commissioners such as Street Commissioner, Police and Fire Commissioner, etc.
Back then, when we had too many potholes, we could demand that the Street Commissioner fix them...or he would not be re-elected! It got much more attention...the public benefited!
I would hope that a petition could get started that would put the City Commission vs. City Council form of government to a public vote. We certainly cannot let the current City Council vote on it...they are not about to vote themselves out of office!!!
Help!

Welcome!

Now, just gotta ask - how old are you?  (Rhetorical, don't need an answer).  The real question is, "Did you live through those previous times?"   Potholes were just as bad!!  (I had the blown tires and broken car steering parts to prove it.)  The cops were no better than they are now.  Trash did get picked up, but it still does today, too.  With what appears to be a similar mix of city trash pickup and private pickup.

John Thomas as Water Commissioner was in for years and let the city infrastructure go downhill to the point where we were pumping 120+ million gallons
of treated water a day and only billing for a little less than half that.  The rest was going into the ground from leaks.  Just because he wouldn't raise water rates by a quarter a month to actually FIX something.

I have seen no benefit at all to what we have now - I railed against the change when it happened - but the previous way probably wasn't any better.  Be careful what you wish for - you might get it!

[Conan71]

Streets are improving per the street package Tulsans voted for several years ago.  Most recently, Yale from 31st to 21st has been paved with new concrete and Harvard from 49th to 41st got a new smooth asphalt overlay.  There's plenty of work going on around town, it just takes time to revamp so much roadway that had gone to crap. 

[Hoss]

Streets are improving per the street package Tulsans voted for several years ago.  Most recently, Yale from 31st to 21st has been paved with new concrete and Harvard from 49th to 41st got a new smooth asphalt overlay.  There's plenty of work going on around town, it just takes time to revamp so much roadway that had gone to crap. 

I drove that stretch of Yale just yesterday.  MUCH better.

They're also about 2/3 complete with that monstrosity of front-end killers known as "Memorial between Admiral and 11th".  They have the northbound lanes complete, obviously dual purpose for right now.