Vision 2025...Part 2?

[nathanm]

I would like a Vision2 plan that ends the tax for 2025 as soon as everything is paid off and starts a new voter directed plan. I don't like the idea of a slush fund of a hundred million or so of leftover 2025 funds going to stupid projects like The Gilcrease Expressway and a shiny new parking lot on the site of Drillers Stadium and Fair Meadows.

That would be great, but wouldn't it have to be a countywide vote in that case?

[swake]

Good point

[DTowner]

I also think the total size of the plan needs to be reduced and focused on a few (6-8) highly desirable ideas so that we can shorten the time to less than 10 years (ideally closer to 5-7).  Locking ourselves into 15-17 year plans gives us little wiggle room as conditions and priorities change.  It was necessary with V2025 because of where we were as a city at that time, but we can be a lot more selective now.

I would also like the next plan to be Tulsa only so we don't need to fill it up with a grab bag of projects scattered all over to induce/bribe non-Tulsans to support it.

[Conan71]

I also think the total size of the plan needs to be reduced and focused on a few (6-8) highly desirable ideas so that we can shorten the time to less than 10 years (ideally closer to 5-7).  Locking ourselves into 15-17 year plans gives us little wiggle room as conditions and priorities change.  It was necessary with V2025 because of where we were as a city at that time, but we can be a lot more selective now.

I would also like the next plan to be Tulsa only so we don't need to fill it up with a grab bag of projects scattered all over to induce/bribe non-Tulsans to support it.

The shorter time-frame is a little more like MAPS, isn't it?

[nathanm]

When do we get a trolley? I wantdemand a pony.

[JCnOwasso]

Was this the Mayors attempt to leave his mark, on Tulsa, while in office (other than the whole police/fire union thing)?

[JCnOwasso]

When do we get a trolley? I wantdemand a pony.

Ponies for ALL!!!!  I want to walk around shouting "I got my Dewey Pony".  (Doesn't have the same ring as Obama phone)

[DowntownDan]

I want a shorter term plan focused solely on the City of Tulsa and that expressly states what the money will be used for (let the suburbs pass their own plans).  For example,

X amount for low water dams at this and this location
X amount for funding the Oklahoma Pop Culture Museum
X amount for improvements at the Tulsa Zoo
X amount for financial assistance at the Gathering Place park
X amount for renovating the Central Library
X amount for the Childrens Museum
X amount for financial assistance for OU, OSU, and TU projects (med schools, etc)
X amount to be set up as a grant fund to assist in urban housing projects
etc....


That is really what I care about.  I'm not inclined to provide American Airlines with more corporate welfare under threat of layoffs, especially considering layoffs are happening anyways.  But I can be convinced otherwise if the funding is very explicit and the argument very compelling.

[Townsend]

I want a shorter term plan focused solely on the City of Tulsa and that expressly states what the money will be used for (let the suburbs pass their own plans).  For example,

X amount for low water dams at this and this location
X amount for funding the Oklahoma Pop Culture Museum
X amount for improvements at the Tulsa Zoo
X amount for financial assistance at the Gathering Place park
X amount for renovating the Central Library
X amount for the Childrens Museum
X amount for financial assistance for OU, OSU, and TU projects (med schools, etc)
X amount to be set up as a grant fund to assist in urban housing projects
etc....


That is really what I care about.  I'm not inclined to provide American Airlines with more corporate welfare under threat of layoffs, especially considering layoffs are happening anyways.  But I can be convinced otherwise if the funding is very explicit and the argument very compelling.

Tulsa Now's proposal for "Vision 2029" for City of Tulsa only using City of Tulsa's share of V2025 funds.


http://tulsanow.org/index.php/2012/10/vision-2029/

This is only an example, but we think this is a great way to show how you can do much better than Vision2. Do you want a safer, cleaner, more sustainable city? Then vote NO on Vision2 and tell your City and County leaders you want a Vision for 2029, not a Vision for 2 years from now.

Proposition 1: Job Sustaining/Creation – Approximately $195 million

Local entrepreneurship fund – $36 million (Would help create locally owned companies that would add approximately 4,000 NEW jobs to the city)
Airport facility improvements – $95 million (The majority of the facility improvements requested would be covered, but no purchasing of equipment for work that may never be performed in Tulsa)
Infrastructure improvements for new job creators – $60 million (Water, sewer, roads, site cleanup. To be controlled by city council following a strict set of guidelines)
Implement sustainable return on investment process for Tulsa – $250,000 (Will evaluate both Vision2029 and future project spending for best potential return on investment)
Bond fees and interest – $4 million

Proposition 2: Quality of Life Projects – Approximately $231 million

Arkansas River - $71 million
Tulsa Zoo – $20 million
Tulsa Parks and Recreation - $14 million
Tulsa Children's Museum - $10 million
Tulsa City-County Library - $10 million
Tulsa Community College/Tulsa Fire Department - $7 million
Neighborhood/District Improvements - $9 million
OU and TU Medical School - $4.3 million
OSU-Tulsa - $4.3 million
Langston University - $4.3 million
OSU Medical Center - $2.1 million
Route 66 Village - $549,000
Brownfield Clean-ups - $471,000
Morton Comprehensive Health Services - $400,000
Oklahoma POP Museum – $10 million
National Route 66 Museum – $5 million
City Hall/PAC parking garage – $12 million
John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Center – $5 million
Plaza Santa Cecilia – $1 million (marketplace and town square for east Tulsa)
Red Fork Main Street Redevelopment – $500,000
New Transit Shelters and Automated Ticketing stations – $1 million
Two-way downtown one-way streets – $2 million
Public university student housing – $10 million
City of Tulsa Information technology modernization – $2 million
Downtown housing fund – $10 million
Bicycle and Pedestrian safety improvements – $5 million
National Art Deco Museum – $750,000
Bond payments and interest – $4.75 million

Proposition 3: Livability – $85 million (1 tenth of a cent)

Mass Transit Operations – $60 million (Paid as $5 million per year, this would make the bus system usable for students, commuters and tourists)
Public Safety – $20 million (Add at least 15 full time police and public safety officers to curb violent crime and make visitors feel safe in tourist areas)
Parks, mowing and greenspace maintenance – $5 million (Keep our City's public spaces from falling into ruin in the first place.)

[DowntownDan]

More proof to take the damn suburbs out of the picture.  Most of those people live there because they don't like downtown or development because they live in their own little world.  If its just Tulsa, it will pass.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=717&articleid=20121108_11_A1_ULNSbC64235

[Conan71]

I want a shorter term plan focused solely on the City of Tulsa and that expressly states what the money will be used for (let the suburbs pass their own plans).  For example,

X amount for low water dams at this and this location
X amount for funding the Oklahoma Pop Culture Museum
X amount for improvements at the Tulsa Zoo
X amount for financial assistance at the Gathering Place park
X amount for renovating the Central Library
X amount for the Childrens Museum
X amount for financial assistance for OU, OSU, and TU projects (med schools, etc)
X amount to be set up as a grant fund to assist in urban housing projects
etc....


That is really what I care about.  I'm not inclined to provide American Airlines with more corporate welfare under threat of layoffs, especially considering layoffs are happening anyways.  But I can be convinced otherwise if the funding is very explicit and the argument very compelling.

I agree, I think it's time to break the county chain on the next one, mainly due to the growing infrastructure needs that the suburbs have, they should be free to address their own needs as they see fit and tax or not tax accordingly.

[Townsend]

More proof to take the damn suburbs out of the picture.  Most of those people live there because they don't like downtown or development because they live in their own little world.  If its just Tulsa, it will pass.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=717&articleid=20121108_11_A1_ULNSbC64235

The mayor really needs to rethink how he answers things like this.  He comes off as a ninny.

With the defeat of Vision2 fresh on everyone's minds, Tulsa leaders say their focus needs to turn to next year's renewal of the city's Fix Our Streets program and save another Vision for another day.

"Hopefully this (Vision2) vote has made clear that there's a right way and a wrong way to approach these kinds of proposals," Council Chairman G.T. Bynum told the Tulsa World.

The Fix Our Streets continuation needs to be vetted thoroughly, with a lot of public input, he said. The lack of both were criticisms of Vision2.

"By the time this goes on the ballot, the ideal is that people will be sick of talking and hearing about it," Bynum said. "They will be ready to vote for it."

Fix Our Streets is made up of a variety of funding sources, including the third-penny sales tax, the city's share of the county's former 4-to-Fix sales tax, and general obligation bonds. It expires June 30, 2014.

City leaders are eyeing a possible election next fall for its extension.

But because the program includes the third penny, which was previously allocated toward other city capital needs, the next Fix Our Streets package is expected to be multidimensional, rather than focusing solely on transportation infrastructure.

Police cars, fire apparatus, park improvements, telecommunications equipment and many other city needs make up the $2.8 billion capital improvements plan from which the projects will be chosen.

"The No. 1 responsibility will be to continue the work on the streets," Bynum said. "Everything else will be in second place."

The first Fix Our Streets phase, approved by city voters in 2008, totaled $462 million to repair cracked and crumbling arterial and residential streets.



The revenue sources were triggered at different times as they became available.

The second phase should include at least that amount of money for streets, Bynum said.

Projections of the combined revenue sources indicate that a five-year package would generate roughly $800 million.

Bynum and Councilor Blake Ewing had mixed feelings about the proposed $748.8 million Tulsa County Vision2 sales tax package that was defeated at the polls Tuesday.

Both were against Vision2's Proposition 1, which would have funded airport industrial park improvements and equipment and a deal-closing fund to lure new and expand existing area businesses.

But they supported Proposition 2, which would have funded quality-of-life projects across the county.

They said they could see some aspects of Vision2 finding their way into a broader Fix Our Streets extension.

Among them, Bynum said, would be the Zink Dam repairs and Tulsa Zoo and Central Library upgrades.

"I'm not saying anything absolutely should be in the final package," he emphasized.

Bynum said he's also open to the idea of addressing the critical needs at the airport industrial complex, "not to bring forward a deal-closing fund and not to go buying equipment that we hope somebody will need to use (referring to the Vision2 proposal), but just to fix up the city-owned buildings."

"That certainly needs to be part of the discussion. We don't want to be deadbeat landlords."

Ewing agreed, saying: "There were a lot of worthy things included in Vision2, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them brought back in the future."

But the councilors said they and obviously the public do not want to hear about a possible renewal of Vision for a long time.

The current Vision 2025 package doesn't expire until 2017.

"I would hope there won't be attempts to bring this up again," Bynum said.

"We need to wait three or four years until we get closer to its expiration.

"The city of Tulsa needs to focus on our own internal priorities."

For his part, Mayor Dewey Bartlett said he is still trying to determine how best to cope with the Vision2 loss.

The 25,000 jobs that depend on the businesses at the airport industrial complex are in jeopardy, he said, and the city's facilities there need a lot of work to make them competitive.

"Those facts are still very true and are not going away," he said.

Bartlett, who was co-chairman of the Vision2 campaign, said he would meet with Tulsa Metro Chamber officials and other leaders to determine the best way to move forward.

What role the Fix Our Streets renewal may or may not play in that effort or whether it would include anything from Vision2 is unknown, he said.

"I really don't have an opinion on that just yet," Bartlett said. "I don't know."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=717&articleid=20121108_11_A1_ULNSbC64235

[JCnOwasso]

More proof to take the damn suburbs out of the picture.  Most of those people live there because they don't like downtown or development because they live in their own little world.  If its just Tulsa, it will pass.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=717&articleid=20121108_11_A1_ULNSbC64235

Not 100% true, Dan.  I am a burb person, but I appreciate downtown and what it has to offer.  I don't live there because I have friends and family that live in Owasso.  But I could not agree more on the aspect of making it a "city of Tulsa" initiative.  Leave the burbs out of it.  I know they want to pass it county wide because they don't want to cause people to purchase items outside of the city to save a few bucks on taxes.  Especially when you have new large shopping complexes in BA, Bixby, Jenks and Owasso.  And again, the burbs would like to have the ability to have their own tax initiatives rather than relying on the City forcing it upon them. 

[Townsend]

And again, the burbs would like to have the ability to have their own tax initiatives rather than relying on the City forcing it upon them. 

In this case it would've been the county forcing it upon them.  Tulsa county wanted their stout share as well.

[Conan71]

Where are we at on the first streets package right now?  Is there a web site to see the project progress?