Grow Up Tulsa (Blake Ewing)

[cannon_fodder]

http://blakeewing.wordpress.com/

Sorry to steal it wholesale Blake, but i saw this on someone else's Face Book status and thought it was one of the best "how to" books on improving Tulsa I've seen:

Grow up, Tulsa. Grow up Tulsa.

April 3rd, 2011 § 3 Comments

Recently, I had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting with Tulsa's communications officers to discuss the city's communications. These were Tulsans from the TPD, EMSA, Riverparks, PAC, the mayor's office, etc., all meeting to discuss why a recent survey of Tulsans showed that only half (roughly) of Tulsa is satisfied with the city's communication.

We started by discussing some of the many resources the city currently uses to share its message. Traditional media, social media, the mayor's action line, and TGOV were all mentioned and discussed. I think many of us started the meeting scratching our heads, wondering what could be done to better communicate with the citizens of Tulsa. These days, there seems to be a decent number of ways to receive and transmit information and I believe our city's staff is generally making good use of those methods.

Could it be that the issue is not the method, but rather, the message? I proposed that theory to the group. Perhaps we need to reconsider not just our methodology, but what we're saying. I made the statement that we'll (citizens) take good news however you want to give it to us. You can shout it from a rooftop; send it by carrier pigeon or pony express. If the message is good, put it in a bottle and send it to me. I'll take good news any way, any time.
That, of course, sparked a conversation about the message. What do people want to hear? From who do they want to hear it?

I've written in the past few weeks about our city's leadership. I've had my complaints, but hadn't yet crafted a solution...at least publicly. Here it is: Grow up, Tulsa. The "tongue in cheek" name refers not just to our increasingly obvious need to have city leaders who stop acting like children, but also to the very simple thing we should all be working on – making Tulsa a grown-up city.

In my businesses and with my clients at The Engine Room I like to start at the end and work backwards. I know this isn't revolutionary, probably because it makes so much sense. Most strategic planning sessions start with listing the goals and then figuring out how to get there. Often times these goals seem lofty, but when we start piecing together the structure beneath them, we realize they're not so out of reach. Thoreau said "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

So what's the "castle in the air" for the city of Tulsa? I think we can look at what some other cities are doing and start there. We can determine where we want to be by dissecting where other cities are. Isn't this how we do life anyway? Don't you do that with your career, your body, your house, your car, and your behavior? Is it not the case that our best resource for self-improvement is the mass of things around us with which to compare ourselves?
We can use comparisons to set goals, determine standing, and define value. This is also not revolutionary. It's just what we humans do.

So, to what cities should we compare ourselves? Who's doing it right? What makes sense? New York? Los Angeles? Dallas? Who do we want to be? The cities I've chosen are the ones that share some of our existing traits, are smaller, growing rapidly, and talked about often. For the sake of the discussion, let's pick Portland, Austin, Louisville, Albuquerque, and even Oklahoma City. These are cities that people can't shut up about. They're what I like to call "grown-up cities."

What do grown-up cities do?

They take advantage of their resources and promote their assets.
Grown up cities are very aware of who they are and what they've got. If there's a river running through the city, they have development along it. If Rt. 66 runs through the city, it's celebrated. If they have a great music history, they don't shut up about it. They know what makes them special and they "sell" those things all the time. Tulsa has great, yet underutilized resources. We have unique assets and we forget to talk about them. We may be "livable" and have affordable housing and the chamber of commerce may talk about our acres of public parks and our nice golf courses, but I think we're missing the bigger picture. I often think we're like hollywood starlet dressed in sweat-pants who refuses to wear make-up. It's like we don't want people to think we're cool. Look up Portland's plan for taking advantage of its resources and don't get too jealous reading about Louisville's Waterfront Park project. As for promoting assets, Austin had a great music scene and therefore started proclaiming themselves "The Music Capital of the World." What asset of ours are we promoting?

They attract and retain creative people.
Tulsa has a history of producing creative people, though not necessarily of attracting new ones or keeping the ones we have. Creatives have found it a frustrating place to be at times and often lament our inability to provide the welcoming environment that some of our neighboring cities have created. Even Oklahoma City, known forever as a sports-oriented cow town, has outpaced Tulsa in recent years in its efforts to attract creative people. Austin is one of the creative capitals of the United States and continues to grow its reputation as a cultural center. Musicians and filmmakers now have options beyond Los Angeles and Nashville and they're responding by flocking towards Austin. Tulsa has an incredible history of creativity. We've produced actors, filmmakers, and musicians. We're home to The Cain's Ballroom, The Brady Theater, and Leon Russell's Church Studio. It's undeniable that our comparison cities are good at this. Austin and Portland and Albuquerque especially have made great strides in the last twenty years and are now known as some of the most creative cities in America. They have great music venues, festivals, and studios. They pander to filmmakers, artists, and designers. They have job opportunities in a creative workforce. The long-term effects of building a culture of creativity are impossible to ignore. Companies needing creative employees locate themselves in these communities. The best result is that creatives in these communities do what creatives do, they create. Nothing is as good for a city as creative people.

They provide basic amenities.
At the end of the day, it's possible that it might not even matter what bells and whistles a city has. If it doesn't have clean and drivable roads, a sound public transit system, a nice trash service, public parks and pools and a solid police and fire department, the other things aren't sufficient to satisfy the public. Tulsa has struggled with all of these things. Our roads are nearly always a topic of frustrated conversation, our public transit system ranks near the bottom nationally in service, we have no trolleys, cable cars, or light rail and our bus service is under funded. Our trash service is currently operating on a 30 year old contract and the city has been fighting about how to install the new system. Our pools are closed. Our parks are un-mowed and our police and fire departments are understaffed. Some of our issues here are the result of wasteful spending, strong unions, unfavorable weather conditions for roads, and a bad economy, while some of these issues have everything to do with lack of vision, foresight, and leadership. It's really this simple though: If you visit another city and see a level of maintenance or a basic amenity that you don't see in Tulsa, that's not okay. We can do better.

Their local government provides sound infrastructure and supports development.
This is a fact: You will find loads of developers who will tell you that they developed in the suburbs because the city of Tulsa is a difficult place to develop. We're awkwardly zoned, our building code is stringent and prohibitive, our fire code is unreasonable, and while many at City Hall are wonderful and are doing the best they can with what they have, others seem to enjoy making development difficult. PlaniTulsa has called for changes. New zoning codes, new structure, and a more sound and liberal interpretation of the existing building code would help. Grown-up cities recognize the value of intelligent and creative new development and are known for their progressive design and unique attractions. Again, it's simple. If you visit a city and see a unique and attractive development that our city's code doesn't allow, that's a sign that our code needs to change. If you see a mixed-use development or a pedestrian friendly district, or a balcony over the right of way or an attractive sign on a roof or a restaurant operating in the open air, or streets closed to cars after a certain hour to allow for pedestrian use, or trolleys and cable cars, or river ferries, or buildings surrounded by other buildings rather than parking.... You are seeing a grown-up city and it simply has to be that Tulsans stop shrugging our shoulders at the inferiority of our zoning and our code. We're keeping Tulsa from growing up by overlaying too many rules. Our actions to avoid offending a few people should be too offensive to everyone else to allow. In Tulsa, someone will propose a change to our current system and a few angry idiots will show up to protest it, and we assume that they're representing a much larger group of people than they actually do. Grown-up cities are not afraid of upsetting idiots. As long as we sit by and accept our current system, we'll keep visiting other cities and coming home frustrated that we don't have what they have.

They have a vibrant urban core.
One thing every great city has in common is the presence of a strong and vibrant core. When the downtown area is thriving, it produces and endless ripple effect of positive revenue and positive morale that changes the face of a city. We only have to look as far as our neighbors down the turnpike to see the effects of a flourishing downtown. Oklahoma City's citizens are more proud than ever of their hometown and their excitement continues to grow. They've passed their third initiative to improve their downtown and are reaping the benefits. OKC went from looking up at Tulsa, to laughing at our inability to keep up. While there are exciting things happening in downtown Tulsa, and news of new restaurants and residential development continues to come, we're still not seeing the type of energy that most grown-up cities see. For many Tulsans, downtown development isn't seen as a priority. As long as our citizens are keeping their focus on the small geographic area immediately surrounding their home and neglecting or ignoring the rest, Tulsa will suffer. We won't stay the same, we'll get worse. The people that like Tulsa just the way it is may soon find that the city they love has gone away. We have to define our path of progress and that involves looking at the bigger picture. It's okay if each part of town has its own personality, layout, amenities, and infrastructure. Those things have to also work as a part of a bigger plan that considers the future. A dynamic core actually makes south Tulsa better. It's not a competition between parts of town. We have to stretch the pride we have for our unique neck of the woods beyond its boundaries. Grown-up cities have citizens who are proud of their city, not just their neighborhood. Tulsans have struggled to think bigger. This is epidemic here. Tulsans often root against the parts of town that we don't consider to be ours. How often have you heard a mid-towner rip south Tulsa or vice-versa? I know this exists a little bit everywhere. I've even been guilty of it myself. Grown-up cities have citizens who at least tend to all agree on something – their part of town is just a part of their town and a developed downtown is important because it makes the whole city better.

They celebrate small local business.
Every city needs a Wal-Mart and a Target and a TGI Fridays. I'm not against those places at all and I'm glad that Tulsa has them. They play their own role in legitimizing a city. They don't, however, do anything to distinguish one place from another. Locally owned small businesses do. If Wal-Mart is the blue oxford button down, the local boutiques are the tie and cufflinks. You accessorize and distinguish a city with locally owned businesses. What's better? Those small businesses sometimes become big businesses (which is awesome.)and having lots of small businesses is as good or better than having one large national corporation. Corporations move, get bought out, go bankrupt, downsize, etc. One bad event (or a series of nasty ones) can take down the whole company and there go the jobs. A large group of small businesses as a whole has much more stability.
Tulsa hasn't neglected these things altogether. We can look at any one of these characteristics and see some examples of positive strides being made in our hometown. The things that are great about Tulsa are not lost on me. We've done some things well, especially in recent years, and I think we should celebrate those successes and learn from them. A defined set of goals and values for our city would help those types of things to be more frequent. If we could get all of the major parties with a stake or a say-so (city council, mayor, TMAPC, INCOG, chambers of commerce, school boards, neighborhood associations, state reps and senators, US reps and senators, and entrepreneurs and developers) to push everything through the same set of filters, I think we'd see marked improvement as a city in a hurry. If at every level we had to ask the question "Is this what a grown-up city would do?" we might start seeing a different type of behavior across the board. I know it's a little cheesy, but it's the principle that's important. I'm trying to communicate that we really can stop wasting time with silly bickering and minute policy making and start getting to work growing up.

Grown-up cities are full of people who work together, who get the big picture, and who share a passion and a vision for their city. Let's be those people. Let's be that city.

http://blakeewing.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/grow-up-tulsa-grow-up-tulsa/

[edit]ridiculous typos[/edit]

[we vs us]

Glad you posted this.  If you hadn't I was gonna get it on here. 

Spot on.

[SXSW]

I agree with all of Blake's points. 

[Red Arrow]

I wish we could extend the feeling of community to the metropolitan area and not just the border on a map that defines the City of Tulsa.  I recognize that there are legitimate funding issues when crossing the border but when someone out of the area asks where I live, I tell them "near Tulsa" before I say Bixby.  This isn't any different than saying I grew up near Philadelphia, PA rather than specifying Springfield, Delaware County, PA (There are 2 Townships named Springfield near Phila.)  The recent pictures of I-35 ending at the Oklahoma/Kansas border just reinforce that image.

There are things a big city can support, with the help of its suburbs, that little towns cannot.  Most are quality of life items like the PAC, the BOK center, the Ball Park, a district like the Blue Dome.  I remember my dad (Ham radio nut) and an Uncle shopping for surplus electronic parts in Philadelphia before places like Radio Shack were around.  We have been through the city vs. suburb discussion many times.  I would like to see the argument about living on the wrong side of the street end.

[Renaissance]

Look, we get it.  We get the "we can do better" message.  But in this post I didn't see the "how."  Take us from A to B and then you can run for mayor.

[JoeMommaBlake]

Look, we get it.  We get the "we can do better" message.  But in this post I didn't see the "how."  Take us from A to B and then you can run for mayor.

Sorry, Floyd. That's what I thought I was doing in that post, especially here:

A defined set of goals and values for our city would help those types of things to be more frequent. If we could get all of the major parties with a stake or a say-so (city council, mayor, TMAPC, INCOG, chambers of commerce, school boards, neighborhood associations, state reps and senators, US reps and senators, and entrepreneurs and developers) to push everything through the same set of filters, I think we'd see marked improvement as a city in a hurry. If at every level we had to ask the question "Is this what a grown-up city would do?" we might start seeing a different type of behavior across the board. I know it's a little cheesy, but it's the principle that's important. I'm trying to communicate that we really can stop wasting time with silly bickering and minute policy making and start getting to work growing up.

I see how I might have lost some people there. I tend to ramble, so I'll summarize.
1. Define a set of goals. (The whole post implies that our goals should be based on achieving our potential in the categories listed)
2. Ask our leaders at every level to commit to pushing things through the same set of filters.
3. Stop bickering.

Naturally, this type of thing will have to come from someone more influential than I am. Right now, all I can really do is propose solutions and join the conversation. What I'm trying to say is, if you want me to actually be the one who takes us from A to B, you'll have to elect as the mayor.

In the meantime, asking your current mayor to do something like what I just wrote is about as good as we can hope for.

[Renaissance]

Sorry - I came across with more snark there than I intended.  I definitely agree that the level of discourse among city leaders is terrible. 

[cannon_fodder]

The big thing I took away was Tulsa needs to set a goal and work towards getting there.  Quality of life, income/jobs, devlopmen... show me a vision and inspire me to work towards it!  Tulsa needs vision and ambition. 

[SXSW]

Tulsa needs new leadership, first and foremost.  Then it needs another Vision 2025 that includes projects people can get excited about.  The River Tax had people excited and generated a lot of great discussion but when it failed it sort of took the wind out of the sails, so to speak.  I was living in Denver at the time and remember thinking I wasn't sure if I could return to a city that seemed to lack vision to move forward.  I lived in Oklahoma City for a couple years after that and it was amazing to see how efficiently everything worked there, and the pride people had in their city and its progress.  You used to see that in Tulsa and still do to an extent but not on the same scale as in the past and not like people do who live in Denver and Oklahoma City.

[dbacks fan]

I have to say, that when I moved from Tulsa in '98, Tulsa was stagnent, and any growth and development was moving south, and east, and downtown was someplace that after five in the evening, that you went to for an event, (Oilers, concert, PAC) and if you were going to an event downtown, you went to eat somewhere else before going to the event, and then went elsewhere afterwards, and that was the way that it had been since the late 70's early 80's. Yes, 18th and Boston had it's time, and to me it's sad the the Williams Center Forum had a short life span (I personally think it was ahead of it's time).

I'm glad to see that places like what Blake and others have started are growing and the two best things to happen are BOk and ONG Field, as well as the redevelopment of the areas around them for residential use. (Never thought those words would come out of my mouth)

Tulsa is in it's early stages of bringing life to something that was for the most part left to sit for 20+ years, and I don't mean just downtown that was just left to sit.

Yes, Tulsa needs new leadership at the City level to make changes to policies and how development is done. (I know I don't need to say that) From what I have read there are a lot of good local people that are investing themselves in downtown, Cherry Street, and Brookside, that it's moving from A to B. Growing up there I don't remember there being this kind of support and this kind of energy being put into making Tulsa better.

Just the thoughts of a native looking in on where I came from.

[carltonplace]

Tulsa needs new leadership, first and foremost.  Then it needs another Vision 2025 that includes projects people can get excited about.  The River Tax had people excited and generated a lot of great discussion but when it failed it sort of took the wind out of the sails, so to speak.  I was living in Denver at the time and remember thinking I wasn't sure if I could return to a city that seemed to lack vision to move forward.  I lived in Oklahoma City for a couple years after that and it was amazing to see how efficiently everything worked there, and the pride people had in their city and its progress.  You used to see that in Tulsa and still do to an extent but not on the same scale as in the past and not like people do who live in Denver and Oklahoma City.

If Tulsa does try for another V2025 type initiative we need to do it at a COT level and not a county-wide vote. I'm not certain that another sales tax increase would pass with the current prevailing outcry against taxes and government at the national level.

If there is any hope of such an initiative passing it would have to be creative in financing, have a tangible impact accross the city, be comprised of "common sense" projects and have plenty of visual support so people can see what they are voting for.

My wish list doesn't meet the criteria above:
Public transportation
Some sort of mixed use parking structure for City Hall/The PAC/Blue Dome
Limited River development (on bank only)
Additional funds to promote downtown housing
Seed money for public/private partnership to build Cathedral Square
Pull the top off of Elm Creek where feasible to promote development
Student Housing for OSU Tulsa
East End project to promote development (park/pond perhaps)

[Gonesouth1234]

My wish list doesn't meet the criteria above:
Public transportation
Some sort of mixed use parking structure for City Hall/The PAC/Blue Dome
Limited River development (on bank only)
Additional funds to promote downtown housing
Seed money for public/private partnership to build Cathedral Square
Pull the top off of Elm Creek where feasible to promote development
Student Housing for OSU Tulsa
East End project to promote development (park/pond perhaps)

What sort of development has been proposed on Elm Creek?

[carltonplace]

none that I know of...but Dr Crowley had some interesting ideas.
FYI, the Pearl district is in the Elm Creek Flood plain, as is Veterans Park

[SXSW]

If Tulsa does try for another V2025 type initiative we need to do it at a COT level and not a county-wide vote. I'm not certain that another sales tax increase would pass with the current prevailing outcry against taxes and government at the national level.

Oklahoma City pulled it off during the worst part of the recession (2009).  The demographics of Oklahoma City are comparable to Tulsa.  The difference?  People believe in their city there, and in Tulsa many do not.  The reason?  Ineffective leadership.  There needs to be a top-down change in leadership at City Hall which includes the mayor and city council.  Until that happens I don't see Tulsa getting any better, even with applauded efforts of local business leaders like Blake.  Tulsa is currently spinning its wheels and, while not in reverse like some of our peer cities, we're not in forward gear either..

[Gonesouth1234]

none that I know of...but Dr Crowley had some interesting ideas.
FYI, the Pearl district is in the Elm Creek Flood plain, as is Veterans Park

The Pearl is ripe for redevelopment; but it is going to be an uphill fight. 
It looks to me like the Pearl will be highly dependent on what happens in the East End.

Thanks for the clarification.