Back At Ya
(Re: "Love Letters, Hate Mail," August 16-22, Vol. 22, No. 7)
Dear UTW:
In Aug. 16-22 issue, Will Short challenged Dale Apollo Cook or anyone to list all of Randy Boom Boom Blake's opponents that were kickboxers, and calling his ISKA title victory over his opponent maybe undeserved saying his opponent was a former title holder and over the hill. I don't think the ISKA would have brought the president of there organization to Tulsa if that was true.
What about Myron Dennis who Randy fought on more than one occasion to settle that score? Or maybe Mr. Short doesn't think much of Myron Dennis as a kickboxer; or maybe Mr. Short doesn't think MMA athletes or wrestlers are quality opponents?
So I would like to challenge Mr. Short to post his kickboxing record. So as I am not going list all of Boom Boom's opponents, but I can assure you that that they were all quality opponents at the time of a young man's fight career.
--Scott Shultz, 4th degree black belt, friend & training partner to Boom Boom
Redoubling
(Re: "Seeing Double," August 23-29, Vol. 22, No. 8)
Dear UTW:
Definition of Insanity: Making the same mistakes over and over while expecting a different outcome each time.
Isn't that what the leadership of Tulsa is proposing now with this Vision2 package? Isn't this what they have been doing for the past 40 years? There is an alternative plan.
Our future is in planning and we have a plan. The Comprehensive Plan. We have the talent to implement this plan through The Tulsa Planning Department. We have overwhelming support for the Comprehensive Plan from the thousands of Tulsans who participated in and continue to support PlaniTulsa. Why aren't we doing everything possible to execute this plan?
  |
The City of Tulsa just began a program called Small Area Workshops. In these workshops, The COT hosts planning meetings inviting neighborhoods and business to work together in developing plans designed to help their areas succeed in the future. This is the first step in the planning process as outlined in the new comprehensive plan.
Once the stake holders have a plan, the end result is called a Small Area Plan. This is a city sponsored process and neighborhoods all over Tulsa are lining up to participate. Sadly, that is where the city support ends. We are spending tens of thousands in tax payer dollars and untold volunteer hours churning out small area plans to nowhere. In the end, there is no policy or funding mechanism in place to implement any of them.
Without funding mechanisms, Small Area Planning is nothing more than a pacifier for pipe dreams. When the planning is done and the COT goes home, neighborhoods are left to fend for themselves in locating funding for their plans and are solely responsible for implementing them.
Doesn't that seem insane to you? Or is it merely ineptitude. Isn't it time we stopped the insanity and began to support the plans we already have?
The Vision2 package presents us with a unique opportunity to do just that.
Fund PlaniTulsa!
--Dave Strader
Heads from the Sand
(Re: "Green Shoots in Aerospace," August 23-29, Vol. 22, No. 8)
Dear UTW:
This whole article is based on a false premise, that is: there will be continued aircraft heavy maintenance in the future. Those that want to know have pulled their head from the sand in the sandbox, have realized that aircraft heavy maintenance is, or shortly will be, a thing of the past.
Aviation Week & Space Technology has for the last 12 months been telling its readers this. Especially in the last three months. Again in the August 6 issue there is a short summary by Lee Ann Tegtmeier of this same subject: "GET SMARTER"
"... The market has reached the point where the airlines are focusing on avoiding maintenance and life cycle expenditures, argues Tim Hoyland, an Oliver Wyman partner. 'Airlines are getting very aggressive about evaluating total cost of ownership.' This helps explain why some aircraft are being torn down at as early as eight years and the retirement age is dropping' (AW&ST July 2, p. 21).
"Hoyland thinks there is a correlation between OEM parts price escalation and intellectual property control, with the increase number of aircraft torn down for their part. Couple this with the fact that newer aircraft are more fuel-efficient and many use aircraft are worth more in parts than as a whole. ... Hoyland thinks it is very difficult for passenger airlines to find economics equilibrium with 20-year old aircraft. ..."
There you have it. The first heavy check is due in about 5-8 years. The low cost airlines have been ditching these aircraft when this very expensive maintenance is due for newer, more fuel efficient aircraft. The legacy airlines (American Airlines) just have now figured this out. The days of the airline maintenance base are short indeed.
Vision 2 is a pig in a poke.
--Havah Gordon