I recently spent some time in East Tulsa, driving around, visiting small businesses, talking with proprietors, and cruising through a few neighborhoods. East Tulsa is the fastest growing part of our city and accounts for the major part of our recent population growth, modest as it has been. In spite of feeling like a racial…
A friend’s recent interest in publishing a piece on life in near north Tulsa in the 50’s had me contemplating memories from my time growing up at 228 E. King Street. So I set out to share some of my memories from those good ole days. I was born in Newton, Kansas while my father…
Champagne corks are NOT popping. At first glance the City Council’s decision to rename Brady Street to M. Brady Street seemed like a somewhat sensible compromise that might help heal some wounds. Upon further reflection however; the sad truth is clear that little progress was made in improving race relations in Tulsa. In fact, many…
Let the right honorable gentleman speak. Civil discourse is engagement in conversation with the intent to persuade or enhance understanding. Kenneth Gergen, American psychologist and professor at Swarthmore College and brother of David Gergen, the prominent political analyst describes it as “the language of dispassionate objectivity.” He goes on to suggest that it requires…
Standing room only. Even George Kaiser seemed overwhelmed at the turnout and excitement generated by the unveiling of The Gathering Place’s Phase I design on June 18th at TCC’s Center for Creativity. The Project Coordinator, Jeff Stava, was left momentarily speechless before acknowledging “Wow, there are a lot more people here than we thought.” The…
Some people will believe anything. Depending on the circumstances, debunking a conspiracy theory can be nearly as challenging as trying to confirm one, but in the case of the United Nation’s Agenda 21, not so much. First, a little background. According to Wikipedia, ‘Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntarily implemented action plan of the…
The idea of renaming the Brady Arts District has been floating around for years. It’s a reaction to the well documented association with the Ku Klux Klan of the district’s namesake, Tate Brady. So, responding to an increasing chorus of pleas from residents to take action, the City Council recently agreed to create a task…
We need an attitude adjustment. Tulsa needs a more optimistic community culture for multiple reasons. Don’t get me wrong, it is not as if we don’t have some positives because we do, many of them in fact. We have outstanding single family residential neighborhoods, a decent zoo and park system, flourishing cultural institutions like our…
I remember those days well. I love the City of Tulsa and I think most citizens agree it is a wonderful place to live. That said it is fair to say there are things we could do to make Tulsa an even better place to live, both for those already here and those who might…