Let's Try Another Perspective

Dear Editor:

Let's forget for a minute what the facility planned for 10 N. Yale will be called, whether an apartment complex, homeless shelter, care center for the mentally ill, or affordable housing as the description changes continually with the question and argument presented. We know that it is a multi family dwelling said to house between 76 and +100 plus people on a plot not more than a couple acres in size. The residents in the surrounding neighborhoods do not believe that the proposed public housing project fits well with the existing style and design of the area. Many believe that regardless of who may ultimately live at 10 N. Yale, the facility's presence, as it is currently planned in their neighborhood, will contradict and push back efforts by the community to keep the area attractive, peaceful, and safe.

This is what most people want in a home and who can fault them for this. In trying to maintain these factors in their community, they have been referred to as prejudice, contrarians, and negativists, among other things. The residents in this area have seen their amusement park removed, and their Drillers baseball team removed. The residents of the same area are now opposing an enormous public housing projects in their neighborhood pushed by THA, whose appointees answer to the mayor. We would like to know what the Mayor's vision for 2025 looks like for this community surrounding 10 N. Yale and the fairgrounds. How does the mayor TRULY envision the surrounding neighborhoods in this community 17 years from now? Downtown property owners may be looking to lucrative returns on their real estate investments, however, the thousands of home owners in the community surrounding 10 N. Yale and the Tulsa fairgrounds may be wondering if they're subsidizing efforts to reward the downtown property owners in exchange for the value of their own single most important investments, their homes and surrounding community.

To say that the residents of the downtown YMCA will go homeless if the facility is not built at 10 N Yale is false. The facility was originally stopped from being built near 11th and Utica, and the people downtown are no more or less homeless than before. They will not simply be put out on the street. If the facility proposed for 10 N. Yale is stopped, then THA must simply do a better job of locating and planning it in a way that is harmonious with the interests of whatever community it resides in as well as the residents of the facility.

Tulsa Housing Authority, an organization sanctioned by the city of Tulsa, has refused to negotiate in any meaningful way with the residents in the community surrounding 10 N. Yale to address area residents concerns about the planned housing project for that site.

Our city councilors for district 3 and 4 have been derelict in duty to represent their district and have failed to step in and bring about any solution to the conflicts of interest in this matter. The city councilors for districts 3 and 4 are well aware that the majority of their constituents are opposed to the 10 N. Yale facility in it's present form. The city charter provides for inappropriate governing in the council; the next logical step is a recall of the councilors elected to represent districts 3 and 4. The city charter states that councilors can be recalled for willful failure or neglect to diligently and faithfully perform any duty enjoined upon such officer by law, habitual or willful neglect of duty, and gross partiality in office. If city officials should not be mindful of the will and true interests of the residents in their districts, then to who are they supposed to listen to?

Members of the council have repeatedly stated that they are powerless to do anything about the matter at 10 N. Yale which highlights their willful neglect of duty. Article 2 section 16 of the Tulsa city charter states, "The Council shall provide by ordinance for the grant, issuance, modification, amendment, or revocation of orders, licenses, permits, certificates, and approvals by the divisions, departments, and agencies of the city.". The councilors were presented with a petition containing over 500 signatures that were collected over 36 hours from area residents demanding something be done about the planned facility and the councilors didn't even appear to examine them. Residents of districts 3 and 4 pay sales tax, property tax, and every other kind of tax that the city council has their hands on.

However, representation of those same constituents appears to have some how become of less than secondary importance to Councilors Patricks and Gomez.

Now that the residents of district 3 and 4 feel that they are without adequate and true representation in city government, it is time for residents of these two districts to collect signatures of another kind. To deal with the matter of planned facility at 10 N. Yale, the organization Who Owns Tulsa, plans to seek relief through the courts and other government bodies. Maybe in the courts, the wealthy and powerful that run Tulsa's Authorities and Trusts and the regular members of one of its communities will be on equal footing. It is a sad day for Tulsa when her people have to sue for their elected representatives to hear them.

-Chris DeBon

3926 E. 3rd Street

Tulsa, OK 74112

(918) 836-9909

candoelect@sbcglobal.net