South Yale Toll Bridge

[MichaelC]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

Originally posted by recyclemichael

Perhaps we could charge a higher toll for those cars leaving Tulsa and free tickets to the zoo for those entering.

In New Orleans, there's a highway that is toll free leaving downtown (heading north I think, I always get mixed up with directions in New Orleans), but it's a toll bridge coming into downtown.

A one way toll is possible.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelC

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

Originally posted by recyclemichael

Perhaps we could charge a higher toll for those cars leaving Tulsa and free tickets to the zoo for those entering.

In New Orleans, there's a highway that is toll free leaving downtown (heading north I think, I always get mixed up with directions in New Orleans), but it's a toll bridge coming into downtown.

A one way toll is possible.

IVI would have to approve that and would keep the tolls. Maybe they would use added tolls to punish. []

[Wrinkle]

FWIW, no toll is possible as well. As is, no bridge, the best solution for now.

I'm just going to bring this up since it somewhat a moral obligation on my part. In addition, bridges, generically, often define a city, provide asthetic energy and becomes a lifeblood. As such, they often get a little higher priority than low level developer-grade construction, doing it on the cheap as best they can (ya know, to boost profits, ROI and cash flow). They're community anchors.

Even though our own State and local governments have done almost as poorly in this regard, perhaps, at the point it really is needed, a 'real' bridge should be considered. Like most other 'public benefit' projects, something that not only does the job, but provides a pleasing presence, like a good neighbor, making it something you wondered how you did without before.

I'm not looking for a Golden Gate, but good design isn't a twist of fate. Otherwise, IVI could just as well be building our arena now, that is, if function were the only criteria.

[Double A]

The 41st Street bridge has been on the books longer than this bridge. Hell, the South bridge wasn't even planned to be needed or built for about 15 years from now, that would at least give Tulsa some time to play catch up on the roughly $4 billion backlog of needed, unfunded, infrastructure improvements in the city.

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

How the hell did this topic end up in Politics and not Development?

ip.... I thought you were an all knowing.... Proud Son of A Republican Party...!

Either you were not living here when Bob Dick first brought this proposition to the people......or........politics is something you consume Nationally..

or as you have stated.... " I live in midtown so I could give a rip."

Whatever the reason may be.... I'm glad to hear that midtown will not be affected by any shift in infrastructure that the "Bridge by IVI" will bring to Tulsa.

Here is a drawing Chris Medlock did at the time this was first brought up... I am not much of a Medlock fan.... but for a while he had some contacts that put him "in the know" of things..    

[iplaw]

Yeah, I think local politics are of little importance in light of the bigger picture, so to speak.

Local politics is too...well...local for me.  Too many GOBs for me to think anything can be done apart from their blessing.

Westcott is a personal friend and I pick his brain from time to time, but that's about as deep as I go with local stuff.

[si_uk_lon_ok]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

quote:Originally posted by MichaelC

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

Originally posted by recyclemichael

Perhaps we could charge a higher toll for those cars leaving Tulsa and free tickets to the zoo for those entering.

In New Orleans, there's a highway that is toll free leaving downtown (heading north I think, I always get mixed up with directions in New Orleans), but it's a toll bridge coming into downtown.

A one way toll is possible.

IVI would have to approve that and would keep the tolls. Maybe they would use added tolls to punish. []

I think the toll should be free with a receipt for something bought within the City of Tulsa. If you have a receipt it is stamped at a toll booth and you travel through for free otherwise you pay a high toll.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by si_uk_lon_ok

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

quote:Originally posted by MichaelC

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

Originally posted by recyclemichael

Perhaps we could charge a higher toll for those cars leaving Tulsa and free tickets to the zoo for those entering.

In New Orleans, there's a highway that is toll free leaving downtown (heading north I think, I always get mixed up with directions in New Orleans), but it's a toll bridge coming into downtown.

A one way toll is possible.

IVI would have to approve that and would keep the tolls. Maybe they would use added tolls to punish. []

I think the toll should be free with a receipt for something bought within the City of Tulsa. If you have a receipt it is stamped at a toll booth and you travel through for free otherwise you pay a high toll.

By Gawd! Two new jobs just created!

I still maintain we should include construction of the Jenks low water dam by IVI as part of the deal.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Rico

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

How the hell did this topic end up in Politics and not Development?

ip.... I thought you were an all knowing.... Proud Son of A Republican Party...!

Either you were not living here when Bob Dick first brought this proposition to the people......or........politics is something you consume Nationally..

or as you have stated.... " I live in midtown so I could give a rip."

Whatever the reason may be.... I'm glad to hear that midtown will not be affected by any shift in infrastructure that the "Bridge by IVI" will bring to Tulsa.

Here is a drawing Chris Medlock did at the time this was first brought up... I am not much of a Medlock fan.... but for a while he had some contacts that put him "in the know" of things..    

Sheesh, It's been awhile since I saw that.  About the only thing Medlock left out of that was Bob Dick being tied to the Kansas City syndicate. [}:)][}:)]

[nonimbys]

Tulsa World 4/15

A financial analysis estimating that a proposed south Tulsa toll bridge would net $800 million over 75 years should no longer be relied upon, a corporate officer with an investment banking firm said last week.

Robert K. Dalton, vice chairman of the municipal division for George K. Baum & Co., said his firm was not paid for preparing the report.

"I don't know the origins of the report or the results, and I prefer that our firm's name not be used in conjunction with such old material," Dalton said.

Dalton said he believes the company's former vice president of transportation finance, Dan Dean, wrote the report in 2005.

Dalton said he retrieved a draft e-mail dated October 2005 from the firm that asks the South Tulsa Citizens Coalition, which opposes the bridge, to stop using the report.

He said he instructed Dean to send the e-mail but cannot confirm that it was ever sent.

Citizens Coalition spokesman Michael Covey said the group never received any such e-mail.

Dean, who was contacted at a Merrill Lynch office in Chicago on Tuesday, at first said he didn't remember for whom he wrote the report. He later said he thought his company was supposed to send something to the Citizens Coalition but doesn't know whether it ever did.

The financial analysis predicted that Tulsa-based Infrastructure Ventures Inc., which would build and operate the bridge, would net $658 million over the life of a 75-year agreement, while its governmental partner would receive a share of about $133 million. Infrastructure Ventures has said those numbers are inflated.

The coalition has relied on the report to further its argument that the toll bridge should be built by governmental entities so that the revenues would be invested back into public infrastructure and not go into the pockets of a private company.

Tulsa City Councilor Bill Christiansen also relied on the report in his proposal for Tulsa to partner with Jenks to build the bridge and omit Infrastructure Ventures from the equation.

Christiansen held a press conference with the Citizens Coalition to announce the proposal last month.

A reporter for The Bond Buyer, a daily newspaper that covers the municipal bond industry, picked up the story, saying the councilor was floating a plan that would derail a public-private partnership.

IVI partner Terry Young, a former Tulsa mayor, said IVI always considered the report to be inaccurate but never at tempted to make an issue of it in the media until the report reached a national publication at a time when they are at "near-final negotiations" for the financing of the bridge.

"That changes the complexion," he said. "We have terms generally satisfactory to the lender and us, and suddenly this story appears in The Bond Buyer. Before noon that day, we received a call from New York wanting to know what that was all about."

Jenks Mayor Vic Vreeland said he's never considered Christiansen's proposal legitimate.

"If you're wanting to partner with someone, wouldn't you talk to them before they read it in the newspaper?" Vreeland asked.

Christiansen said he hasn't approached Jenks because he didn't want it to appear as if he were trying to interfere with the district court case launched by the Citizens Coalition. A judge on Monday ruled in IVI's favor in the case.

The Citizens Coalition has not decided whether it will appeal.

Christiansen said he still wants to continue to attempt by whatever legal means is available to prevent IVI from building the bridge, so that Tulsa can participate in the net revenue. He said he can't speak for the rest of the city council.

Young said several factors have changed that could affect revenues. Traffic projections for bridge use are now down from 7,500 to 6,000 vehicles per day. Interest rates have also changed.

"There's no way in the world to project what, over 75 years, will be the net income or profit," Young said.

He said IVI has made a few projections, but the company does not consider them public information.

"Anything we reveal would be a violation of a confidentiality agreement," Young said.

Young said the project would be 100 percent privately financed with all the risk falling on the shoulders of IVI.

"It doesn't rely on any tax dollars," he said.

Covey said the numbers in the financial report were based on the information available at the time, and that the new traffic counts and interest rates wouldn't change the bottom line very much.

"The easy way to put an end to all this is (for IVI) to provide their numbers to the public, which they are not willing to do. If they want to dispute those figures, then put your finances out in the open," Covey said.

[Wrinkle]

quote: Robert K. Dalton, vice chairman of the municipal division for George K. Baum & Co., said his firm was not paid for preparing the report.  

Of course, he doesn't wish his firm to suffer consequences of unpaid professional opinions.

Can't really blame him.

[Conan71]

Maybe we should quit using consultants who use dart boards to predict our financial windfalls.

[Rico]

A small update on the project...
Courtesy of P.J.Lassek...

I say we build a fence around the Border of Tulsa City Limits.

"The Bridge Stops Here"

[}:)]

[Rico]

   I have lost track of what round this will be for the Prize Fight for the "Bridge from there to Somewhere"

In this round we have a new contender vs. the weathered current champ IVI.....

So let the fun and games begin....

$$...DING.....!$$

[MichaelC]

^
From Tulsa World

quote:Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor is suggesting that Tulsa -- rather than a private company -- build a proposed toll bridge in south Tulsa County to reap some of its revenues.

In an Aug. 23 letter to Bixby's and Jenks' mayors, Taylor states that if Tulsa built the bridge, its revenues would be sufficient to pay for its construction as well as cover Tulsa's infrastructure needs, pay off the debt of Jenks' Oklahoma Aquarium and reimburse the private developer's costs to this point.

By using public financing, the city could construct the bridge at a lower cost than the private sector could, she said.

But Jenks Mayor Vic Vreeland sent Taylor a letter on Monday, questioning whether her proposal is an attempt to interfere with the Arkansas River Bridge Authority's existing contract with Infrastructure Ventures Inc. to build the bridge.

Infrastructure Ventures has a 75-year contract with the authority, which represents Jenks and Bixby, to build and operate a toll bridge that would connect Yale Place in Jenks with Yale Avenue and 121st Street in
Gilcrease Museum
Tulsa.

"I am surprised that you did not send this proposal to representatives of IVI," Vreeland wrote.

In a telephone interview Monday, Taylor said she has no relationship with Infrastructure Ventures and is only looking for a solution that would help give Jenks and Bixby the bridge they want and pay for needed infrastructure on Tulsa's side of the bridge.

Bixby Mayor Ray Bowen did not return telephone calls to the Tulsa World.

A financial analysis predicted that Infrastructure Ventures would net $658 million over the 75-year agreement to build and operate the bridge and that the bridge authority would receive a share of about $133 million.

Howard Kelsey, vice president of IVI, said Monday that he is comfortable with the contract with the authority.

"Whether anyone sees the need to contact us, I don't know," he said. "I have quit trying to analyze other people's reasons and motives for what they do and don't do."

In her letter, Taylor noted that Tulsa-owned property is needed to connect Tulsa to Jenks. She also said that "it would be irresponsible to move forward with building the bridge as currently proposed" without Tulsa's receiving funds to pay for $66 million worth of street improvements to handle the increased traffic north of the bridge.

Vreeland's letter states that the current roadway system will be adequate to handle the bridge traffic for several years without improvements.

Delaying the construction of the bridge for 10 years to wait for public financing would make the project "more expensive, not less expensive as you implied," Vreeland wrote.

"To move forward with building the bridge as you have proposed is irresponsible, not the other way around," he wrote.

Taylor said it would not take 10 years to obtain financing, but it would have to wait for an update on a financial analysis.

She will not say whether she supports putting the toll bridge at 121st Street and Yale Avenue -- a location that has been contentious among area residents -- or at an alternative alignment at Delaware Avenue.

Tulsa City Councilor Bill Christiansen, who called on Taylor in May to take a public stand on where the bridge should be built and who should build it, praised Taylor for officially saying what she "fundamentally expects out of the bridge deal."

Christiansen opposes the bridge at 121st Street but supports Tulsa's building a bridge that connects Jenks to Tulsa at Delaware Avenue.

"I do think she is protecting the interest of the taxpayers," he said.

Christiansen said he thinks the mayor's letter is clear that "IVI needs to be out of the deal."

"The pie just isn't big enough" he said. "Tulsa is really the big dog on the block and needs to reap the benefit of the toll bridge when there is net revenue."

Taylor said she thinks her proposal is a good solution.

"If it isn't the right solution, I'd be happy to have continued dialogue," she said.

The South Tulsa Citizens Coalition has fought the bridge proposal since it became public in 2005.

The coalition lost a Tulsa County District Court battle challenging the deal's legality and is appealing the outcome to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.