PlaniTulsa Workshop

[carltonplace]

Who was there?

I saw, AA but he was busy in a conversation so I didn't interupt. I got to talk to pmcalk for a bit.

The excercise was interesting, but very broad strokes and certainly not enough time to get all of our points across. The dynamic at my table was interesting. Everyone had their "agenda" that interested them, but it was amazing how like minded we all were. Everyone was down to business and engrossed in the process.

As I walked around and looked at other tables plans, I saw incredible similarities in what the attendees pictured for their city:

Mass transit, bike trails, sustainablility, preservation, increased development in Downtown, North, West and East Tulsa and around the river and airport.
I wonder if anyone used the "trends" package. I didn't see any table that placed a strip mall sticker on the map.

[TURobY]

I was there. Our table was made up of younger people, so we chose the "Attracting and Retaining" youth category. We also had a guy who had only been in Tulsa for about 1-2 weeks, so that was exciting. It provided a fresh perspective on how planning could work.

We even got to present our map, which was exciting. I loved seeing what other teams had developed, and I walked around afterwards to examine some of the maps that weren't presented.

[Conan71]

I was at table 7 w/ Darrel Gilbert.  We picked "neighborhood empowerment" as our over-riding priority.  A hub and spoke light rail system with bus line feeders was our biggest transportation initiative.

However, once we opened our packet of stickers, we felt that there were way too many subdivision stickers.  We seemed more interested in village or urban type planning.

My only criticism of the whole event was John Fregonese went a bit fast on the opening presentation.  Ponder and I mentioned it to him and he promised he'd slow down today.

We had a "Tulsa sucks" oldster at our table, and another fellow at our table who is convinced we will all be driving flying cars in 15 years.  

One thing I did see randomly eavesdropping on others was a desire for economic development in north and west Tulsa.

I saw a lot of people I know and finally got to put a few faces with names.  All-in-all I'm glad I participated.  I liked the random nature with which we were seated.  Every demographic, geographic area, and socio-economic group seemed to be represented last night.

Others from here I saw were: Michael Bates, Wevus, Pfox, DS Jeffries, I think TURobY (was that him presenting one of the maps?) & PonderInc.  I wouldn't know PMCalk, Carlton, AA, or Chicken Little if I saw them.  Sorry we didn't get to meet.

Quite a few movers and shakers from around the city as well.  It was nice to chat with the Mayor, I like that she usually stays to the end on functions she attends and she participates, rather than making a ceremonial appearance and leaving.  She also has a pretty good sense of humor.

[sgrizzle]

I'm going to be there today as will LeArtist. Dunno who else.

[PonderInc]

I was there.  Saw Pmcaulk, Conan71, Dsjeffries, TUroby, MichaelBates, and dozens of the usual community participants.  

More importantly, I saw hundreds of people who don't normally appear at civic events.  I loved looking around to see tables with a variety of people all working together.  Young/old, black/white, male/female, gay/straight, East Tulsa/West Tulsa, etc, etc...

The energy was great and the enthusiasm high.  Fregonese was impressed with the tournout, and by how many people stuck around until late in the evening to hear the presentations by different tables talking about their maps.

There's going to be an "overflow" session in October. I talked to a couple of the transportation consultants, and they said that there's going to be a public workshop focused solely on transit in February. This is great b/c so many people at the workshop included various types of transit in their plans.  There's obviously a desire to create a working transit system in Tulsa.

Fregonese also mentioned that everyone who attended will have the opportunity to nominate neighborhoods for additional focus at later workshops.  These will be the "zoom in" workshops that target specific parts of town.

[TURobY]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71
...I think TURobY (was that him presenting one of the maps?)...

LOL. Yes, I actually presented with DSJeffries. I grew up in East Tulsa and I talked about further developing the ethnic villages in East Tulsa and taking advantage of the redevelopment of the Eastgate Metroplex.

[carltonplace]

I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.

We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.

[PonderInc]

I doubt that anyone present was interested in the "Trend" package...basically continuing the status quo, with housing and jobs moving into the suburbs.

Our table chose "Attracting and Retaining Youth" although it was a very similar package to the "Neighborhood Empowerment" one.  We ended up with a lot of unused residential subdivision stickers.  (It seemed redundant to put them on a map of Tulsa that's already defined by that sort of development.)

Our theme, as it turns out, was "more green, less sprawl."  There was a consensus to improve quality of life with strategic infill/density, better transit including rail, more street beautification, more walkability, etc.  Basically a desire to offer a variety of options for a variety of tastes, not just "one size fits all" as the current zoning code demands.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.

We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.

Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?  

[Townsend]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.

We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.

Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?  

I was table two also.  No Josh Walker.  We were joined by a gentleman who'd been a volunteer planner for years and said he has done work on the Pearl District.

[PonderInc]

I was at today's session at the BOK Center as a facilitator.  Another huge turnout.  This time I spotted Sgrizzle, TheArtist, AA, JoMamma (Great presentation, JM!)...and a lot of TN members and forum "lurkers."  There were so many tables, it was hard to see everybody.

[jne]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

I was at today's session at the BOK Center as a facilitator.  Another huge turnout.  This time I spotted Sgrizzle, TheArtist, AA, JoMamma (Great presentation, JM!)...and a lot of TN members and forum "lurkers."  There were so many tables, it was hard to see everybody.

I was there today. We had representation at our table from East Tulsa, North Tulsa, Midtown, South, Riverside.  We mostly focused on reclaiming blighted areas and identifying key places for commercial and industry. I saw a LOT of similarity in maps from table to table.  It will be interesting to see how this moves forward.

[Chicken Little]

Me there too, today...I'm hooked.  I was talking to an older gentleman who was pretty skeptical about trying to figure out 30 years of growth in three hours.

But think about it.  Between today and last night, there's over 3,000 man-hours of work in those maps.  If you've ever hired consultants (at $100/hr or more...sheesh), you know that what's transpired amounts to serious work.  Further, I think that the expert local knowledge about all parts of the city is something that you really can't buy at any price.

Now, who do I submit my bill to?[]

[patric]

Instead of asking for a street lighting policy that puts a higher priority on improving vision than how much electricity the utility gets to sell, I was trying out the WiFi at St. John Medical center.
It's not what I planned, but that's how it worked out.  Really aggressive blocking filters they have there, too, and they also must assume everyone reads their mail through MS outlook.

The "overflow" session is at night when I usually work, but who knows what could happen.
Im encouraged that im not the only one in Tulsa who is aware of how much money we waste on street lights that do such a poor job of lighting streets (and some of those people also work for the city...)

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I saw you present Mr Roby, nice job. We got to present ours too: "Interconnected Tulsa". The girl who presented for us (I was on stage left) was actually from Stilwater and wanted to attend to give input on city transportation since she comes to OSU Tulsa several times a week and relies on our bus system. It was interesting getting an "outside" view.

We were table two Conan, you and I probably brushed shoulders. We also chose neighborhood empowerment and I agree that the package had too many office parks and subdivisions. I didn't really want to build more office parks as much as fix up some of the industrial areas we already have.

Table 2, was that with Josh Walker?  

Josh Walker was at table 10--other end of the room.

I saw tremendous consistency as well.  Develop underserved neighborhoods like north, east & west, Historic Preservation, green emphasis.  Lots of focus on better public transportation.  We chose neighborhood empowerment--but we really wanted to encourage young people; we just thought the other package had better chips.  And we thought an entreprenuer based economy was likely to be inviting to young people.  I really expected many more battles, but I was amazed at how like-minded our table was.