Improve Our Tulsa: Tulsa's Underpants Gnomes promise to fix homelessness

A dialogue pertinent to the August 8, 2023, City of Tulsa special election:

"Homeless problem in Tulsa seems worse than ever and all over the city, not just downtown."

"Don't worry, GT has a plan."

"What's the plan?"

"$75 million."

"To do what?"

"We don't know yet."

"How do we know it will cost $75 million?"

"We have matching funds and other money totaling $104.2 million."

"That's an awfully precise amount for an undetermined plan."

"Top men will tell us how to spend it. Top. Men."

"When will we find out how it will be spent?"

"After you vote to give us the $75 million."

A friend with experience in this realm says that $75 million could probably fix homelessness (except that some will always choose that way of life) IF it was being used by groups that do things right -- that means working one-on-one and slowly with individuals to address their REAL needs. But it won't.

The city ordinance setting out the policy for spending the sales tax money says it will be spent in accordance with the recommendations of the Housing, Homelessness, and Mental Health Task Force, a group of the usual suspects and yacht guests.

Under the "Improve Our Tulsa 3" plan, my friend notes, the people who will be allocating and spending the $75 million are the same people who stuffed a couple hundred people into a hotel on Garnett for 6 months, indiscriminately. People who lived there reported that drugs, prostitution (including coerced prostitution), rape, and gang activity were rampant. A large number of those residents were eventually housed, but many are back out on the streets, some after two or three trips through the housed/homeless cycle. Every time the non-profits get someone housed, the non-profits get money, so they cycle people through. Landlords let people live out the lease, collect the subsidized checks, then they issue a non-renewal notice the day that lease expires. The people are back out on the streets and back on the wait list for housing after having to reapply. The landlord raises the rental price, and they all repeat the process again. That will burn through the $75 million. A few cheap units might be built, but they'll become havens of drugs and crime and prostitution and trafficking.

$75 million for failed homeless strategies (which they won't disclose before we vote) are on the ballot today, Tuesday, August 8, 2023, part of a special election in the City of Tulsa. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Four propositions, three general obligation bond issues and a new 0.95% sales tax, are on the ballot. The Republican Party of Tulsa County has officially come out in opposition to all four propositions, as has independent City Councilor Grant Miller, the only elected official with the courage and wisdom to refuse to send this poorly crafted package to the voters.

Just before 5 p.m. Monday, I received an email from the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, a public trust for the City of Tulsa, urging me to vote yes. I am fairly sure this is illegal, but because it was done at the last minute, any protest or penalty will come too late to undo the effect it was intended to have. The email claims, "As a part of that package, the TPAC would receive nearly $80 million," but the package only includes $55,790,000 for the PAC (Proposition No. 2), and it seems reasonable to fear that the same bait-and-switch that was pulled for Gilcrease will be pulled for the PAC: They'll get this money, then claim they actually have to demolish and rebuild, and then will come back and demand more money and more time; meanwhile Tulsa's orchestral musicians, opera singers, and ballet dancers will be without a place to perform for the next 5 to 10 years. No, thanks. You can read all seven of my reasons to vote NO here.

MORE: For those wondering about the memes on this page: Underpants Gnomes, Gru's Plan.