Bouncing Bell's not popular
Only 19 percent of Tulsa County frequent voters sampled in a recent KOTV/Tulsa Whirled poll approve of the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority's decision to boot Bell's from their home for over half a century. 70% said they disapprove. A larger number but still a minority, 27%, supported the City's decision to annex the Fairgrounds. Since the latter was a City action, it would have been interesting to know the ayes and nays among City of Tulsa voters.
The pollsters asked whether the two changes would affect respondents' plans to attend the Tulsa State Fair. I wish they'd also asked whether the Bell's decision would affect voters' opinion of the proposed river sales tax. With Randi Miller up for re-election next year, the "deserves reelection / time to give someone else a chance" question would have been interesting to ask, too.
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I'm in the "give someone else a chance" camp.
I'm still steaming mad about Bell's. The county commissioners cannot be allowed to stay in office after raping our collective civic memories and destroying such a key part of Tulsa's quality of life.
I can't begin to say how angry I am. And I'm looking to take it out on Randi Miller, and her two colleagues at the ballot box.
I lived for several years in the neighborhood just north of Bell's -- moving only a couple of years ago. My children, ages 6-12, are devastated every time we go down 21st street.
Hell no, I'm not forgetting. I've had enough of Randi Miller's two-faced BS.
Michael, what's the chance the Bell's moves to Jenks? Especially in light of the move of the Drillers to the riverwalk area. Is there room for an amusement park as well?
I'm a former Tulsan that watches this stuff from a distance. I can't believe Bell's is gone but hope it finds a home soon. We look forward to visiting it again on our annual trip back.
FDR, a very shrewd politician, once said:
"There are few accidents in politics."
Like a puppet show, the eye of the audience in the local political theater is on the political PUPPET, who is made to sing and dance to the whims of its puppet-master.
Get beyond the disposable political personalties, and think deeply about the Puppet-Masters pulling the puppet strings behind the curtains.
In the case of Bell's, its destruction is probably due to Murphy Bros., pulling the strings of their puppet politician "Randy" Randi Miller.
As well as the influential forces that caused $10,000,000's of taxpayer dollars to be foolishly expended to build up One-Of horse barn facilities for the annual Arabian Horseshow, whose commitment is good for only three years......Then WHAT?
Empty buildings.
And the Tulsa Drillers may be next to leave?
It's going to be very interesting to see if any of the local news organizations are gathering up any of the information that has been thrown about in the blogs surrounding the unFair Board's decision to give to boot to Bell's. I would have to agree with Bob below; Randi Miller is just a stooge with a microphone. I have seen it written in the blogs that she has accepted a $5000 contribution from Mr. Murphy, but I wonder why they haven't told about the other two recently elected board members who accepted $5000 contributions themselves? Fred Perry and John Smaligo also have the touch of the Murphy cash as well. This is bigger than Bell's. This is a case of bought politicians doing the bidding of thier patron. I wonder if there's going to be any hard media scrutiny into this.
The juxtaposition of the Bell's issue and the Driller's move(?) are interesting. These are two family friendly enterprises. One (Bell's) was just simply screwed by who knows whom. The second, the Drillers, are being given a short list of options by Mayor Taylor, and all of them are downtown.
This supposed "business savvy" mayor does not realize that she is in a sales position the Drillers. You already know they have a non Tulsa option. You don't dictate location, you ask them where they'd like to end up and facilitate that move.
In the case of Bells, they were run off for unknown reasons (at least to me). The county Fair Board did not value a family friendly place to go over some other consideration. I can't see myself taking small children or grandchildren to see expensive horses strut their's and their rider's stuff. Putting the Drillers downtown is ultimately using them for a purpose other than supporting that organization's success. A private enterprise serves its customer's needs, not a civic purpose determined by a small group of elitists.
All in all, this mayor is taking city down a road that will not attract families unless their grandparents live in midtown. Not a recipe for growth and prosperity.