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Member since: February 14, 2011
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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 Tulsan's 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 no where. 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!
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Bravo Bill! Just look at what Oklahoma City has done and continues to do with their MAPS projects. With their three quarters of a cent they have been building sustainable developments for years that are well thought out, popular and fiscally responsible. That is what PlaniTulsa is supposed to do! Oklahoma Cities MAPS projects are running circles around Tulsa. Their planning efforts make us look like amateurs. Poor visions achieve poor results.
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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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I think it very convenient for anyone to show up at the last minute to oppose any plan whether it be The Pearl District or any other plan unless they were active in it. Where were the detractors during the long years of planning? Unfortunately, not to be seen or heard, until now. How convenient.
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I am pleased with the thought of the City encouraging Hillcrest and St. John's to have a small area plan. I am also pleased that this article mentions working with the stakeholders who will effected by such plans.
I am however concerned, since we are talking about two powerful institutions, that the neighborhoods have equal representation and influence at the planning table. Can lowly neighborhood advocates successfully argue logic and reason with lawyers, investors, developers and hospital administrators about such seemingly trivial things as historic preservation and mixed use infill with bureaucrats who may not understand the vision of PlaniTulsa? Who will educate them? Who will they listen to? Will they care?
Who will be in charge of the seeing that politics do not influence the planning process with these two institutions or anyone else? Who will represent the neighborhoods? Will they have a place at the table?
Did the Brady Village and Pearl District small area plans set a precedent for all others to follow? If so, then politics should have no place at the table. PlaniTulsa is our new comprehensive plan and it is the law.
Since these kind of growing pains seem inevitable, I wonder if the City going to hire a planning director or just hire outside firms to do our planning for us? If so, what will a planning director do once we hire one?
We already have a very capable planning department. They are just grossly understaffed.
Wouldn't it be more prudent to invest in Tulsa's future by expanding our existing planning department and hire planners who live and work in Tulsa? Wouldn't they have more of a stake in the outcome?
Besides, how do we know that an outside party will work in the best interest of everyone concerned and not just their client?
Who will be the advocate for neighborhoods?
The developers, lawyers, investors and hospital administrators?
I think not.
Dave Strader
The Pearl District, President
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