Tulsa History Repeats Itself - Again?

[Friendly Bear]

Suffering from Insomnia again, I've been Watching the Eminence Grise/ Prince of Darkness/ Rainmaker Long-Time City of Tulsa Attorney Charles Norman on TGOV explain how the City of Tulsa formed a Title 60 "Public Trust" so that they could build  the Tulsa Performing Arts Center back in 1973.

Now, I freely admit that back in 1973 I was much more interested in little Ms. Mary Jane Rottencrotch than in City of Tulsa's Title 60 Public Trust's 30% cost overruns on the PAC.

Much.

It's all a matter of priorities, you know.

And oh, by the way, these SO HANDY Title 60 Public Trusts let the Oligarch Familias CIRCUMVENT competitive bidding so that Flintco could be awarded a NO BID contract for a $14 million PAC Construction plan to to build a $19 million PAC - OVERRUNS included.

It suddenly came to mind, in an virtual Epiphany, when Mayor Chatty Kathy's facile and false mouthpieces informed us that the Driller Stadium will be also governed by a Title 60 Public Trust.

Oh, and did I mention that just coincidentally Manhattan Construction Company a.k.a. Rooney Oligarch Familia will be awarded a NO-BID contract to construct the $30 million (uh, really I mean $60 million) new Driller stadium?

This current episode in our polis brought a certain, Je ne sais quois:

Deja Vu?

All over again.  

History Repeats Itself.

Is it the Rooneys or the Flints that co-own the Caribbean Island with the Lorton's???

I never seem to remember which Oligarcha Familia  shares that certain Caribbean Island with the Lorton's....

Sorry.  

I haven't been invited on the Lorton's 180' Yacht.  And, Expect I won't.

Or our High-Maintenance Mayor Chatty Kathy's Lear Jet either.

But, brother, we're paying for them.

In Spades.

P.S.  The ruling Oligarch Families finally figured out how to LITERALLY bury the 1921 Greenwood Race Riot.

Build a Baseball Stadium ON IT.

To Help the Healing.  

Of Course.

They are, afterall, allowing Negroes to actually play baseball in the new stadium.....

Remember what the famous Negro League pitcher Satchel Page advised:

Never look back; someone may be gaining on you.

God Bless You, Satchel!

Smile down on us from Heaven.

We NEED a smile.

For encouragement.  You understood Oppression.........

[:O]

[Hoss]

How many times are you going to edit your post?

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by Hoss

How many times are you going to edit your post?

When it is Perfect.......

[:I]

[TheArtist]

I think the PAC is very nice. So there! []

[Red Arrow]

quote:Originally posted by Friendly Bear

Suffering from Insomnia again, I've been Watching the Eminence Grise/ Prince of Darkness/ Rainmaker Long-Time City of Tulsa Attorney Charles Norman on TGOV explain how the City of Tulsa formed a Title 60 "Public Trust" so that they could build  the Tulsa Performing Arts Center back in 1973.

Now, I freely admit that back in 1973 I was much more interested in little Ms. Mary Jane Rottencrotch than in City of Tulsa's Title 60 Public Trust's 30% cost overruns on the PAC.

Much.

It's all a matter of priorities, you know.

And oh, by the way, these SO HANDY Title 60 Public Trusts let the Oligarch Familias CIRCUMVENT competitive bidding so that Flintco could be awarded a NO BID contract for a $14 million PAC Construction plan to to build a $19 million PAC - OVERRUNS included.

It suddenly came to mind, in an virtual Epiphany, when Mayor Chatty Kathy's facile and false mouthpieces informed us that the Driller Stadium will be also governed by a Title 60 Public Trust.

Oh, and did I mention that just coincidentally Manhattan Construction Company a.k.a. Rooney Oligarch Familia will be awarded a NO-BID contract to construct the $30 million (uh, really I mean $60 million) new Driller stadium?

This current episode in our polis brought a certain, Je ne sais quois:

Deja Vu?

All over again.  

History Repeats Itself.

Is it the Rooneys or the Flints that co-own the Caribbean Island with the Lorton's???

I never seem to remember which Oligarcha Familia  shares that certain Caribbean Island with the Lorton's....

Sorry.  

I haven't been invited on the Lorton's 180' Yacht.  And, Expect I won't.

Or our High-Maintenance Mayor Chatty Kathy's Lear Jet either.

But, brother, we're paying for them.

In Spades.

P.S.  The ruling Oligarch Families finally figured out how to LITERALLY bury the 1921 Greenwood Race Riot.

Build a Baseball Stadium ON IT.

To Help the Healing.  

Of Course.

They are, afterall, allowing Negroes to actually play baseball in the new stadium.....

Remember what the famous Negro League pitcher Satchel Page advised:

Never look back; someone may be gaining on you.

God Bless You, Satchel!

Smile down on us from Heaven.

We NEED a smile.

For encouragement.  You understood Oppression.........

[:O]

Anyone who thinks Charles Norman is anything less than a gentleman and outstanding citizen doesn't know him. I don't care if you agree with him or not.

[rwarn17588]

I've been to both the Brady and to the PAC.

I, for one, am very glad they built PAC. It's an incredibly good facility. And I've been in a lot of them across the Midwest and Mid-South.

The Brady is OK, but is hopelessly obsolete for "Phantom of the Opera" and other big, traveling productions that people want.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

I've been to both the Brady and to the PAC.

I, for one, am very glad they built PAC. It's an incredibly good facility. And I've been in a lot of them across the Midwest and Mid-South.

The Brady is OK, but is hopelessly obsolete for "Phantom of the Opera" and other big, traveling productions that people want.

The PAC is a very fine venue for Small to Medium sized events.

My whole point is really how our local ruling families ESCHEW competitive bidding when it really counts.

Someone conveniently arranged the state law so that:

a)  Engineering/Architectural contracts are NOT subject to either competitive bidding, or for that matter PRICE cannot even be the basis of the selection.

and,

b)  Oklahoma Title 60 Public Trusts are NOT subject to the state's competitive bidding laws.

And, Tulsa city and county governments just LOVE Title 60 Public Trusts.

Does anyone even know how many of these Public Trusts are running our lives, and picking our pockets because they sole-source their major projects to companies controlled by the ruling Oligarch Families, and their connected cronies?

TMUA?

TARE?

Tulsa County Jail Authority?

Tulsa County Fairgrounds Authority?

BOK Arena Authority?

Driller Stadium Authority?  NO-BID contract to the Rooney Family already announced ONE DAY after the City Council approved the $60 million Dirty Driller Deal.

[:O]

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by Red Arrow

quote:Originally posted by Friendly Bear

Suffering from Insomnia again, I've been Watching the Eminence Grise/ Prince of Darkness/ Rainmaker Long-Time City of Tulsa Attorney Charles Norman on TGOV explain how the City of Tulsa formed a Title 60 "Public Trust" so that they could build  the Tulsa Performing Arts Center back in 1973.

Now, I freely admit that back in 1973 I was much more interested in little Ms. Mary Jane Rottencrotch than in City of Tulsa's Title 60 Public Trust's 30% cost overruns on the PAC.

Much.

It's all a matter of priorities, you know.

And oh, by the way, these SO HANDY Title 60 Public Trusts let the Oligarch Familias CIRCUMVENT competitive bidding so that Flintco could be awarded a NO BID contract for a $14 million PAC Construction plan to to build a $19 million PAC - OVERRUNS included.

It suddenly came to mind, in an virtual Epiphany, when Mayor Chatty Kathy's facile and false mouthpieces informed us that the Driller Stadium will be also governed by a Title 60 Public Trust.

Oh, and did I mention that just coincidentally Manhattan Construction Company a.k.a. Rooney Oligarch Familia will be awarded a NO-BID contract to construct the $30 million (uh, really I mean $60 million) new Driller stadium?

This current episode in our polis brought a certain, Je ne sais quois:

Deja Vu?

All over again.  

History Repeats Itself.

Is it the Rooneys or the Flints that co-own the Caribbean Island with the Lorton's???

I never seem to remember which Oligarcha Familia  shares that certain Caribbean Island with the Lorton's....

Sorry.  

I haven't been invited on the Lorton's 180' Yacht.  And, Expect I won't.

Or our High-Maintenance Mayor Chatty Kathy's Lear Jet either.

But, brother, we're paying for them.

In Spades.

P.S.  The ruling Oligarch Families finally figured out how to LITERALLY bury the 1921 Greenwood Race Riot.

Build a Baseball Stadium ON IT.

To Help the Healing.  

Of Course.

They are, afterall, allowing Negroes to actually play baseball in the new stadium.....

Remember what the famous Negro League pitcher Satchel Page advised:

Never look back; someone may be gaining on you.

God Bless You, Satchel!

Smile down on us from Heaven.

We NEED a smile.

For encouragement.  You understood Oppression.........

[:O]

Anyone who thinks Charles Norman is anything less than a gentleman and outstanding citizen doesn't know him. I don't care if you agree with him or not.

Did he help engineer the largest Tax burden-shifting ever foisted on Tulsa citizens?

How?

Let's speculate, shall we?

Back in the 1960's, after a certain connected local Oligarch family had bought up most of rural south Tulsa, someone conveniently got the Special Assessment process paid by property owners eliminated.

These special assessments funded road-widening, and were paid by property owners adjacent and contiguous to the road being widened.

And, that Special Assessment was projected to cut into the juicy profit margins of that certain connected local family.

So, this road widening source disappeared, South Tulsa grew enormously, and in a mere decade and one-half, our ruined farm-to-market south Tulsa roads  were totally gridlocked.

According to plan, by 1980, the Tulsa voters were sufficiently softened up enough driving on bad narrow roads to approve the Itty Bitty Third Penny Sales Tax.

Earmarked for Road Widening, of course.

That itty bitty third penny sales tax has picked the pockets of Tulsans for over $1.3 billion since its inception.

But, remember, it's a TEMPORARY Tax.

And, it's paid by everyone.

Even a tiny bit paid personally by the local ruling family that may have engineered this Billion dollar tax avoidance scheme.  

They want to share out PAIN.

And, just who was this family's paid Paladin to accomplish the foregoing?

Just guess...

[}:)]

[cannon_fodder]

quote:
The PAC is a very fine venue for Small to Medium sized events.

Just like the professional theater venues in Dallas?  The Dallas PAC has a main theater that seats 2,200.  

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, home of the San Francisco symphony 2,600.

Denver Center for Performing Arts - 2,634

Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore's Symphony Hall - 2,400

Kansas City PAC - 1,700

Las Vegas PAC - 1,832

New Mexico PAC (Albuquerque) - 1,985

Whichita PAC - 2,025

New York Philharmonic which resides in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center –  2,738.

Juliard's Sharp Theater - 983

Orchestra Hall, Chicago's PAC - 2,500

Carnegie Hall - 2,800

For that matter lets go national!

Beijing PAC - 2,017 (built 2007)
Tokyo Opera House - 1,632
National Theatre of Korea (Seoul PAC) - 1,563
Vienna Opera House - 1,840
Paris National Theater  - 1,905
Paris Opera House - 2,200
Berlin Philharmonic - 2,440
Parco della Musica (Rome) - 2,756


Tulsa seats 2,365.  

I'd say it is adequate for most facilities of it's nature.  Either that or everyone else is wrong.  Certainly we don't measure of for grandeur (our entry way is a supreme disappointment and overall the facility is utilitarian) but for size and facility it is more than merely adequate.

[Gaspar]

Wow!  

FB, you are looking in the wrong place.

If it's integrity you seek, government projects will always disappoint.  You will find ego, politics, poor estimating, back-scratching, and mistruth through omission.  

You have to sit back and chuckle because you know that $10 million actually means $18 million.  It's just the game.  It's ancient, and unchanging.

I don't know why you badmouth Charles Norman.  He actually brings integrity to the game.

[Gold]

Charlie Norman was successful.

FB hates success.

It's like in Russia; someone suceeds and others assume mob connections.

FB has had no success through his hard efforts *snicker* and therefore thinks all other success is ill-gotten.

Friendly Bear should move to Russia to be closer to his kind.

They have no downtown stadiums in Belarus, come to think of it.

No local government trying to develop the city.

No evil airport trust or corrupt family owned paper.

Why can't FB go home to Belarus?

Poor Friendly Bear.

[:O]

[FOTD]

Norman is a terrific Tulsan. Wrote the code. Raised money. Always has good ideas. Knows how to mediate. Honest. Integrity.

He made only one BIG error. Ran from a lawsuit. Now we have domains, counselors. YECH. City ran better from the country club locker room.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

Charlie Norman was successful.

FB hates success.

It's like in Russia; someone suceeds and others assume mob connections.

FB has had no success through his hard efforts *snicker* and therefore thinks all other success is ill-gotten.

Friendly Bear should move to Russia to be closer to his kind.

They have no downtown stadiums in Belarus, come to think of it.

No local government trying to develop the city.

No evil airport trust or corrupt family owned paper.

Why can't FB go home to Belarus?

Poor Friendly Bear.

[:O]

I guess by your definition of success, anybody wasting their time posting to what is supposed to be a POLITICAL topic discussion forum on TulsaNow.org qualifies as a Failure.

I would like a fair deal from our city goobermint sometime.

I'm still waiting.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Norman is a terrific Tulsan. Wrote the code. Raised money. Always has good ideas. Knows how to mediate. Honest. Integrity.

He made only one BIG error. Ran from a lawsuit. Now we have domains, counselors. YECH. City ran better from the country club locker room.

Fine.  But DID he or did he NOT engineer the elimination of the city street funding mechanism called Special Assessments?

My understanding to Mr. Norman's accumulation of wealth is that he did write the city zoning and building permitting.

As a result, isn't the process so convoluted, confusing, and opaque to a person wanting to build ANYTHING, they need the services of a skilled Land Attorney?

And, Mr. Norman is the Go-To man for that process, isn't he?.

[]

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Norman is a terrific Tulsan. Wrote the code. Raised money. Always has good ideas. Knows how to mediate. Honest. Integrity.

He made only one BIG error. Ran from a lawsuit. Now we have domains, counselors. YECH. City ran better from the country club locker room.

My recollection is that Charles Norman left his job as the City Attorney back in the 1960's.

I believe the Charter Change, which brought about our current Mayor-Council form of city government occurred in about 1990, and was a settlement of the contemporaneous lawsuit filed on behalf of African Americans who believed that the Commission form of government had disenfranchised them.

As a result of the change, 1-2 African Americans have been city councilors EVERY year since then, representing Council Districts with significant African American populations.