Let's Hear It

(Re: "PlaniTulsa vs. INCOG: Round Two," May 10-16, Vol 21, No. 46)

Dear UTW:

Thank you, Jennie Lloyd, for helping raise awareness on this very important issue. I hope it leads to an honest and transparent discussion about the merits of making a change. I have just a couple of points of clarification. I served as Chair of the TMAPC in 2012 and rotated off this year. Mr. Josh Walker is the current Chair of the TMAPC. Also, while Mr. Alberty has announced his retirement, he is still serving at the moment. Thanks again, and now let's hear from the Mayor, past and present City Council Members, our new Planning Director, INCOG staffers as well as former Mayors and perhaps some neighborhood advocates.

--Bill Leighty

Delaying and Denying

(Re: "PlaniTulsa vs. INCOG: Round Two," May 10-16, Vol 21, No. 46)

Dear UTW:

Bravo Bill Leighty! For I.N.C.O.G. to deny that they were actively involved in the planning and writing the extended regulating plan for the Pearl District Formed Based Code is horse hockey. The Pearl District planning team was there with I.N.C.O.G. doing the work. We met every week sometimes twice a week for over a year with I.N.C.O.G. staff. I.N.C.O.G. was very much aware and involved in this extended plan. As long as I.N.C.O.G. continues to deny involvement in the expanded Pearl District Form Based Code, they are actively delaying and denying the will of thousands of Tulsans who overwhelmingly supported PlaniTulsa. We need to wake up! Our cities future depends on what happens next. The COT is the last place in the U.S. that outsources it's zoning to a vendor. Many Tulsan's think it's high time to stop. The COT is quite willing, ready and able do it's own zoning. Not to mention the very large amount of money that could be saved by doing so. I.N.C.O.G. charges the city around one million dollars a year to do the job. Or should I say, NOT do the job. Until we as citizens speak out and stop this kind of blatant disregard for ethics, PlaniTulsa and city planning as a whole, then there is no need for us to waist our time on small area plans. It's a joke and a shame for all of Tulsa.

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--Dave Strader

Final Solution?

(Re: "A Harsh Lesson" and "Do Parents Know Best?" May 10-16, Vol 21, No. 46)

Dear UTW:

Beautiful. The circle of life is everywhere, in many different forms ... or maybe it's just karma, or some sort of twisted joke. I don't get it. Could ol' Dick Nixon have possibly left some sort of impression on the Country, besides that we need to be cautious and cold-shouldered to an over-powerful government? Perhaps the "barbie-doll president" could have had an effect slightly more similar to a close-range shotgun blast that permanently damages the hearing?

In the article, "Do Parents Know Best?," Brandon Dutcher describes a couple of examples in which the head of a Louisiana teacher's union, and a LeFlore County congressman agree that a child's education should not be in his/her parents' hands. Dutcher has a valid message when he hints at the conceivable underlying causes of disabled parents with disabled kids in Arkoma. And if this problem is actually getting to be a problem -- I don't mean to intentionally give the place a bad name, I've never been there so I wouldn't know -- then Arkoma residents should seriously consider the real dangers of in-breeding, and take my advice: if you catch a violator, shoot to kill. Nip the problem in the ass now, before everyone is incapable of making such a lofty decision. I am (slightly) joking of course -- let the in-breeders live out their lives; just don't let them make any new ones.

This may not be the real source of the problem, though -- possibly the for-mentioned gentlemen are simply feeling a little eager to get a move-on, in which case they should take my boss's easier-said-than-done advice: "you may think moving quick will help you get there faster, but the secret is, it won't." Just cool down and develop an education program that is easy for students and parents to have faith in.

By any means, why would a government choose to believe that one, or any, of its automatic-subscribers could bring themselves to value a program that openly takes away parents' rights to have a say in their child, or spawn's life?

(Side Note: Also, why is the current US government, of all gov's, still so bitter toward it's could-be comrade, Cuba? This makes no sense to me. Is it embarrassment of our similarities to a communistic state, or is this derived from the threat to our nation's massive energy drink market?)

I guess, at this point, one can't rule out the possibility that Nixon really did do a number, numbing some people's ethical senses for a long while until finally, a small minority of fiendish goons still nestle themselves in a cozy spot right in the homes of their constituents (who either don't know, don't care, or can't do anything about it). Ted Rall points out that President Obama is a perpetrator himself, stepping over the line and showing no manners in an effort to visit a college campus (Columbia GS).

Generally speaking, some politicians are worse than others as far as disintegrating members of society. But always keep in mind that, as Dutcher suggests, they all were voted for by somebody.

--Shane L. Byler