Towerview Apartments

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by RicoTell me; if someone were trying to buy your home and at some point you knew that if a price could not be agreed upon they would pull out a trump card and take it anyway would this place you at a slight disadvantage.?

Furthermore; if this moratorium had been called for by the Mayor, when the nine wise ones made it the law, you would not have had Big Bob Attorney shopping for someone to tell him legally how the County could use E.M. to acquire City land for the IVI Bridge.

That's true, I had not thought of that.  If this guy really wants to keep his building, he is not likely to sell if he knows the city cannot force him.  So, in that sense, it is a good thing.

[Rico]

Here is an excerpt from an Editorial written by Ken Neal...

quote:


Tulsans have a greater stake in what happens in Sand Springs than they know. The city of Tulsa has steadily acquired property in the block surrounded by Second and Third streets and Denver and Cheyenne avenues. One of the properties still in private hands is the condemned Towerview Apartments.

City officials, after an expose' by the Tulsa World, ordered the establishment closed.

With the construction of the new arena between First and Third streets and Denver and Frisco avenues, a major hotel will be built in the area. Hotel builders have already contacted Mayor Bill LaFortune. What better site than the one across Denver from the arena?

Should Tulsa be able to use eminent domain to obtain the old two-story apartment building from an out-of-town owner? If not, plan for taxpayers to pay several times the worth of the abandoned, condemned building.

Turn your attention to the BOk Tower. It was built by private developers who bid for a nine-block area in the on of the oldest section of Tulsa. That area had been judged blighted and was cleared under what was then called urban renewal. Does anyone think the increased taxes that the BOk building has generated did not benefit the public? The odds are good that there was at least one, maybe more, businesses in that nine-square-block area that were not blighted. If they had refused to sell, would it have been in the public interest to let those few block the BOk project?

We owe a debt of gratitude to " The World"...

Their Civic involvement in the "Towerview" has pointed out the need for a Hotel at that location..

Come to think of it... We still owe them for the Skelly Parking Lot...

[AVERAGE JOE]

Kenny is just being Kenny. He hasn't met an old building that he wouldn't like to bulldoze for some "higher" purpose -- even if that's surface parking. His mindset regarding downtown is stuck squarely in 1960s urban renewal. He is not a big thinker or visionary on any level, but he is as consistent as the sunrise.

The World constantly feeds the simplistic, zero sum game outcomes we get around here. They are not much in favor of win-win solutions when it comes to local development. They are far more likely to take the side of the 800-pound gorilla, usually under the guise that what's good for the gorilla is good for Tulsa. Of course, with that logic if you're not a gorilla in this town, then you're just a flea.

Ken's editorial this week was full of circular logic. He misses the main points of the whole issue -- in calling for eminent domain, what should be considered "public use" and what is "blight"? In the New London case, the neighborhood that will be bulldozed for shiny new development isn't blighted -- not by a long shot. It's a working class neighborhood that happens to be near the waterfront, potentially prime real estate. If we're able to define "blight" as "anywhere there aren't new, expensive condos and boutique shops", then very few property owners are safe.

That includes you, Mr. Neal. I wonder how your argument might change if the Mayor and the City Council were after your block for a new high-falootin' residential enclave development.

There is always a "higher use" for a piece of property. Always. But using that as one's foundation for arguing in favor of any development, as the World and Kenny tend to do, is morally and intellectually bankrupt. They are the lover who constantly scans the room for somebody "better" than the date they brought to the dance.

So back to the Towerview... taking that property from one private owner and giving it to another private interest isn't justified in my mind -- not as long as the current owner is sincere in his plans to rehab the building and make it a safe, quality, productive property.

A square block with a new hotel and a rehabbed Towerview would be better than a square block with a new hotel alone. That should be the outcome that everyone -- the city, the World and private citizens -- should be working toward.

[carltonplace]

I totally agree Joe.

[pmcalk]

Very well said, Joe.

[Relax]

what a joke. First they send an undercover Newspaper reporter in to get the skinny on this haven. Then guess what a few months later the City wants to take it. That bit in the paper was nothing less than a "setup" for the Mayor to do his thing. But I learned long ago: never pick a fight with somebody that buys ink by the truckload or runs the police department.

[carltonplace]

Unless you're the mob selling the truckloads of ink and handing out payola to the police department.

[Joseph A.]

I don't trust the developer.  He had a chance to make some fixes to keep the building open, and instead allowed it to be closed.  So my position is somewhere in the middle - he should be given a fixed amount of time (1 year from now, perhaps) to make productive use of the property.  If he doesn't, the city should have the power to exercise eminent domain.  A run down, empty building shouldn't stand in the way of progress, if there is no genuine work happening in a reasonable time frame to put the property to use.

[carltonplace]

According to the Tulsa World today, the mayor is ruomored to be in talks with Hammons and Hard Rock International to bring a hotel to Tulsa.

[AVERAGE JOE]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

According to the Tulsa World today, the mayor is ruomored to be in talks with Hammons and Hard Rock International to bring a hotel to Tulsa.

Also in the World today, Councilor Baker asked that the $1 million to purchase the Towerview be removed from the 3rd penny sales tax package up for vote on May 9 (hopefully).

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

According to the Tulsa World today, the mayor is ruomored to be in talks with Hammons and Hard Rock International to bring a hotel to Tulsa.

Rock and Roll (pun intended)

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by AVERAGE JOE

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

According to the Tulsa World today, the mayor is ruomored to be in talks with Hammons and Hard Rock International to bring a hotel to Tulsa.

Also in the World today, Councilor Baker asked that the $1 million to purchase the Towerview be removed from the 3rd penny sales tax package up for vote on May 9 (hopefully).

Baker taking a stand on something downtown... (marking calendar)

Price seems fair at least though.

[carltonplace]

pmcalk and I sent him (Mr Baker) a letter, he responded to mine saying that he agreed with me.

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

pmcalk and I sent him (Mr Baker) a letter, he responded to mine saying that he agreed with me.

He did not respond to mine--but I don't think he likes me--given Yorktown and all.  

He did make a good decisions here, and I support him.  I intend to send him an email telling him so.

[sgrizzle]

I haven't met a politician who didn't say he agreed with me. I've had my councilor and mayor both talk with me and agree with what I had to say  wholeheartedly and do nothing when the time came.