I sincerely hope..

[heironymouspasparagus]

cannon_fodder -
30 x 30 x 5 is closer to $4,500.  Same point you made, though - ridiculous to "trade" $150,000 for $4,500. 

This is exactly the kind of thing that eventually works it's way to national news and makes Oklahoma look like just the place to transfer a sophisticated, urban workforce to. 

This whole thing is just so far beyond ridiculous, I am virtually speechless!  And most of you know how bizarre THAT is!!  I don't even know where to begin....

[carltonplace]

Regardless of what Blake did or didn't say, the real abuse of power here is from the TPD and the ABLE officers.

I've experienced this myself when the TPD raided a bar I was tending, turned on all of the lights, turned off the music and chased out all of the patrons to look at the bar's liquor license and my personal liquor license and food handler's permit. Total cost of these documents was less than $1,000...all were current but it took six officers to do it. I was definitely intimidated.

Who are you going to believe here: the power hungry able commissioner or the Tulsa advocate that cares about this city enough to work a thankless "part time" (I bet it takes more than 40 hours a week to be a counsilor) side job to try to help us improve?

[Conan71]

Regardless of what Blake did or didn't say, the real abuse of power here is from the TPD and the ABLE officers.

I've experienced this myself when the TPD raided a bar I was tending, turned on all of the lights, turned off the music and chased out all of the patrons to look at the bar's liquor license and my personal liquor license and food handler's permit. Total cost of these documents was less than $1,000...all were current but it took six officers to do it. I was definitely intimidated.

Who are you going to believe here: the power hungry able commissioner or the Tulsa advocate that cares about this city enough to work a thankless "part time" (I bet it takes more than 40 hours a week to be a counsilor) side job to try to help us improve?

And how much revenue did they cost you that night when they did the raid and found everything legal and in place?  They should be restricted from doing routine license checks during peak business hours unless they've got evidence a club's license has expired or there's evidence they are serving under-age patrons.

[carltonplace]

And how much revenue did they cost you that night when they did the raid and found everything legal and in place? 

We were pretty much done after they left, everyone went elsewhere. No more city sales tax collected or remitted.

[rdj]

I love more proof for what I already had suspected about this guy....

Which is?

[patric]

They should be restricted from doing routine license checks during peak business hours unless they've got evidence a club's license has expired or there's evidence they are serving under-age patrons.

Agreed, but that would make sense if checking permits was the real reason for the raid.
Some I have witnessed involved police telling customers to have their drivers licenses out and ready.

[carltonplace]

Someone needs to tell the TPD and ABLE that this is 2013 and that they are not GMEN. 

[Conan71]

Someone needs to tell the TPD and ABLE that this is 2013 and that they are not GMEN jack-booted government thugs. 

[nathanm]

Someone needs to tell the TPD and ABLE that this is 2013 and that they are not GMEN. 

Someone needs to reign in TPD in general. Clearly that's not something Councilor Ewing can help do now without loud whinging by the department about him using his position to get back at them. Never mind scandal after scandal that has come out about them over the past couple of years.

[Gaspar]

If it quacks like a duck, and it walks like a duck. . .

The degree of force involved is disproportionate, and according to the documents provided by the department, the reasoning for that was stated as the need to control "intoxicated" patrons.  This, along with the time of day they chose indicates that their primary purpose in this sweep was not to spend a bunch of taxpayer money writing up a handfull of piddly citations, but rather through that action, to alter the environment and capitalize on secondary situations.

Cops aren't stupid.  When 10 cops invade a busy nightclub or restaurant, an otherwise peaceful environment can change drastically.  People naturally become nervous for many reasons.  Is their a criminal on the loose?  Did someone get shot in the parking lot?  Was their a robbery?  That level of force naturally develops volatility among a crowd of otherwise peaceful individuals.  Police know this, they are trained on how to use "presence" to alter situations.

Sure, there may be 100 law abiding citizens who are only there to have a beer after work, but within that group their will also be a handfull who have had 10 beers, or just smoked a joint, or have a warrant for their arrest for not paying their parking tickets, or owe child support.  While 10 officers is a HUGE waste of manpower to enforce the Space Invaders tax, it is not an outrageous number to manage multiple foot chases.  The evening atmosphere at any bar becomes an opportunity to catch big fish while you pretend to troll for the small fry.

In my opinion, Blake and the other downtown establishments were part of a raid, that may or may not have produced the result that was hoped for.  It seems they were able to engage in a foot pursuit at 5th and Harvard.  I hope it was worth it, because as it stands, this seems like colossal waste of resources!

[Teatownclown]

Someone needs to tell the TPD and ABLE that this is 2013 and that they are not GMEN. 

Uh, they ARE GMEN. fyi

I am amused by those who support a "friend," er counselor, over right.

And the conspiracy theories....

[Townsend]

Uh, they ARE GMEN. fyi

They're all FBI agents?

[Conan71]

They're all FBI agents?

Shhhh!  He's on a roll!

[Townsend]

Shhhh!  He's on a roll!

Jesus, you've got 23,270 freaking posts?

[Conan71]

Jesus, you've got 23,270 freaking posts?

23,271 to be exact