Love Letters/Hate Mail

Dear UTW:

I can see both sides: if they make exceptions for one then they will have to for all, HOWEVER I would hate to see her homeless due to a fine ("Nickel and Dimed by Red Tape," March 8-14). That is what I see happening if she can't pay it and the city council just gave Tulsa another homeless person. Give her a break it seems no one else has. Show compassion -- maybe that compassion will go a long ways.

--Buffy Honn

Dear UTW:

Good mass transit is illegal in Tulsa ("Moving Along or Moving On," March 15-21). Transit friendly and pedestrian friendly are the same thing. With our, and our suburbs, minimum parking requirements, laws against being able to build mixed use developments, like living above shops, etc. etc. in by far most parts of the city... most people will not walk anywhere even if they want to.

All the money in the world will not make Tulsa a transit friendly city (aka a city where enough people use transit and transit that is efficient and cost effective) until we change our zoning. In downtown you can build transit-friendly/pedestrian-friendly developments, and even there we often do not; but downtown in isolation won't get you decent transit to and from other areas of the city.

I was in south Tulsa suburbia the other day off 71st and you could juuust make out the curvature of the earth between the Mattress King and the Best Buy. That is NOT the sign of a pedestrian or transit friendly development. Nobody is going to take a bus, train, trolley, whatever over there, and for that matter 90 percent or more of our city, and get off it to go shopping or to and from work. Also, so many of our new neighborhoods are designed to be car oriented only.

Neighborhoods that are gated, only have one or two entrances and exits, whose streets are not on a grid of any sort but have dead end cul-de-sacs, don't allow people to easily walk to the nearest bus stop on an arterial, or to any nearby shopping or work. We have intentionally zoned and designed our city and neighborhoods to be anti-mass transit and until that changes you will spend yourself to death trying to make transit work well. Even just changing our zoning laws to allow it to be legal would be a big start.

--William Franklin

Dear UTW:

One of my favorite songs is "Flyover States" by Jason Aldean. It tells the story of a conversation between two men on a cross-country flight when all they see out the window is farmland. Noting it all looks the same, the men cannot understand why anyone would want to live "down there in the middle of nowhere."

Is there any chance the song could play out in real life?

President Obama is scheduled to visit what is arguably the capitol of the heartland when he travels to Oklahoma later this week (March 21-22). The President heads to Cushing as part of a two-day trip focused on sharing his energy message, one he feels has not been heard by many Americans.

Hearing the President's message is not the problem.

When the Gulf oil disaster resulted in a blanket drilling moratorium -- hurting production and jobs -- rather than a common sense approach to increase safety while keeping the work going, the message began to come through. With the rejection of the Keystone XL permit that would have brought thousands of much-needed jobs and helped reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, the message came more into focus. And with the decision to ask Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production rather than work with American producers to utilize our own technology and ingenuity to harvest our own resources, the message was crystal clear.

The problem is not whether Americans have heard Obama's energy message; Americans hear him loud and clear. They are simply rejecting the message.

The President has been doing too much talking and not enough listening, so let's hope the Cushing trip changes that. Pound for pound, no other state is leading in the energy sector like Oklahoma, and Washington could learn a lot from Oklahoma values. Oklahomans understand the vast resources that lie underneath our great nation -- the same ones that can provide a foundation for years to come. Oklahomans understand the fundamental values that make this country great. And Oklahomans understand we must allow free-market principles to guide policy because when government chooses winners and losers, we all lose.

Mr. President, some of the world's best leaders, best producers, and best entrepreneurs call Oklahoma home, and this is your chance to seek their help to build an energy policy that makes sense for all Americans. America needs America's energy. America needs Oklahoma's leadership. As the song suggests, maybe spending a little time here will help our friends from Washington see things differently: "On the plains of Oklahoma, with a windshield sunset in your eyes, like a water-color painted sky, you'll think heaven's doors have opened, and you'll understand why God made those flyover states."

--Brian Bush