District 6: Kevin Boggs
Kevin Boggs, the Republican nominee for Tulsa City Council District 6, was on 1170 KFAQ this morning, accompanied by former District 6 Councilor Jim Mautino (the only real representation District 6 has ever had). Boggs gave a good interview -- unfortunately it doesn't seem to be up on the KFAQ podcast website.
Replacing the incumbent, Dennis Troyer, with Kevin Boggs would replace someone willing to acquiesce in any tax increase with someone who will oppose tax increases and work for accountability in government. Boggs spoke of taking up Mautino's effort to get an audit of the city's public works department, to investigate the way the department does business and how that may be hindering the most efficient use of our tax dollars to maintain our public infrastructure.
As I mentioned in my column this week, Troyer hasn't done much more than keep the seat warm. His most memorable comment was during the debate on moving City Hall to One Technology Center. He proclaimed that a building is like a woman: "high maintenance." He seems to see his job as waiting around and voting as he's told to vote.
This morning Boggs said that Troyer is taking credit for a new company coming to District 6. Boggs said that the company relocated from one part of the District to another, moving from an industrial area to a tract, rezoned with Troyer's help, adjacent to several homes. Boggs also pointed out that several improvements in District 6 that Troyer is taking credit for were in fact the doing of Jim Mautino. For example, it was Mautino who called public attention to the activities and modus operandi of Haywood Whichard, absentee owner of Eastland Mall. That scrutiny led to the city enforcement of building codes, putting pressure on Whichard to fix or sell the property. He sold Eastland to a new owner, who is redeveloping the mall as an office complex. But Troyer is taking credit for the positive changes that Mautino initiated.
You can read more about Kevin Boggs and his vision for District 6 in this Tulsa Beacon article about the District 6 race and in this endorsement editorial. Here is Boggs' response to the Tulsa Now questionnaire; here is Troyer's response. Boggs responded to the Preserve Midtown questionnaire; Troyer did not. Both responded to the League of Women Voters questionnaire.
Boggs would be a great improvement over Troyer, and I hope District 6 voters will support him at the polls tomorrow.
UPDATE (4/8/2008): Eastland-area neighborhood advocate Jennifer Weaver writes to correct my spelling of the former Eastland Mall owner's name: It's Whichard, not Witchard as I first had it. She also wants it known that she was not Jim Mautino's secretary, as Kevin Boggs erroneously called her in his campaign literature, an error that was propagated in the Beacon editorial. Jennifer did the research that uncovered who Haywood Whichard was and how he operated and brought that to Mautino's attention. It was not my intention to slight her or any other neighborhood advocate who worked on the issue. My intention was to contrast Troyer with his predecessor, and I do think Mautino deserves credit for pursuing the matter, even after he lost the 2006 election to Troyer. As you'll see in this guest entry at MeeCiteeWurkor by Jennifer Weaver, Troyer was not well informed on zoning and the implications of IL zoning for Eastland Mall.
UPDATE (4/9/2009): In the comments, Charlie Biggs corrects my correction. The Beacon did not misidentify Weaver as Mautino's secretary.
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The comment about Public Works is on the mark: the City could can at least fifty percent of these employees without affecting the Department's efficiency. Most of these slugs spend their time filling out pieces of paper authorizing another truck load of hot mix headed for a day of filling more pot holes. These people don't want streets to be fixed. They like the present situation. They like digging up water mains to repair leaks and then digging them up again, fixing the messed up job they did the first time....
We did not erroneously report that Jennifer Weaver was Jim Mautino's secretary. Her name was not mentioned in the article about Kevin Boggs, the editorial for Boggs or a letter to the editor about the race. You ought to check your the links before you make a retraction on something that did not occur.
To set the record straight:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=eastland+mall+jennifer+weaver+tulsa&fr=yfp-t-203&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS269US269&q=eastland+mall+jennifer+weaver+tulsa&btnG=Search
Several articles can be found on these search pages, including the one Mr. Bates included in his update.
There was also news stories done by Urban Tulsa, KOTV, Tulsa's other newspaper, and at least one radio station to my recollection. These are the one's off the top of my head. There was plenty of press present the day I presented the power point presentation to the city council at the Urban/Ec Dev Committee meeting.
There was no one else who did the research. This is why I was not pleased when I saw what Mr. Boggs had put in his campaign mailer. I was not the former councilor's secretary who did the research...
As I stated to Mr. Bates and Mr. Biggs, this information appeared on this blog, and in the Tulsa Beacon in a 'letter to the editor'. I did not accuse either of saying I was former Councilor Mautino's "secretary" personally.
Mr. Bates has since made note of this with his update, which is greatly appreciated.
Mr. Boggs was told not to refer to me as ..."secretary", and he chose not to take that advice.
This is not about my personal recognition, moreover, it is about stating the facts correctly, as I did when I researched Haywood Whichard and his shenanigans. It demeans my efforts and shows a great lack of respect to me.
I do not like being portrayed as a "paid staffer", of which I was not. I was a concerned citizen, who turned into a neighborhood advocate. This past situation with Mr. Whichard had many in District 6 very concerned with what could have happened to the former Eastland Mall.
After I did my part, and Mr. Mautino let me present my findings to the council at committee, he took the bull by the horns. He made sure the city inspectors checked the mall and pressured Whichard to sell, especially because he had the heat placed on him by Councilor Mautino.
I have tried via email to Mr. Biggs to communicate my thoughts, and it seems as though he has not read my emails thoroughly.
I never accused him of having "fabricated a news story". I only said he allowed this 'letter to the editor' to appear with no Editor's note attached. I never claimed to have been "named" in this letter or anything else in his paper.
He makes my point for me. There are plenty of folks around District 6 and in Tulsa who know I did the research. It's obvious by the links I have provided. This is what the letter to the editor stated, which is the same as Kevin Boggs' campaign mailer:
Dennis Troyer is taking credit for the Eastgate office complex. The fact is, the former District 6 councilor and his secretary were the ones who researched and found the info on the former owner, Witchard, known as the “king of dead malls.†Again, it was the former councilor who had the city Inspectors put pressure on Witchard to fix the mall or to sell it to someone else who would.
Now, I think it's pretty obvious who is being referred to in this article, because there were no other parties involved except for myself and the former councilor Jim Mautino.
Mr. Bates, again thank you for going to the trouble of making this right.
I rest my case.
Jennifer Weaver