Tulsa: November 2010 Archives

You can find great Christmas gifts and wonderful eats and treats -- from the usual to the unusual -- by patronizing City of Tulsa businesses as you do your Christmas shopping. The money continues to circulate in the local community, keeping people working and generating the sales tax revenue that local government needs to do its job:

ShopTulsa, an initiative to educate the public on the benefits of buying locally, launched its campaign and website last week and offers a video explaining why buying locally makes a difference:

"The video is a wake-up call," said Blake Ewing, owner of The Engine Room PR, which is leading the effort. "We wanted to show people visually how we can all benefit from spending our money, when we can, within the city limits of Tulsa-- especially during the holiday season."

Since 2008, the city has lost nearly eleven million dollars in tax revenue toward the general fund. For Tulsans, this cut in funding directly impacts their city, from the number of policemen staff to lighting the city streets. ShopTulsa hopes to shine the light on just how little it takes for Tulsans to make a big difference in their city.

"Shopping Tulsa" simply means buying products within the city limits. The more money spent within the city, the more money will stay there. Although supporting local businesses keeps the most dollars in town, even shopping at franchises or national chains within the city limits helps.

ShopTulsa will also have its inaugural Black Friday Party at 8 p.m. on Nov. 26 at The Blue Dome Diner. The party will be open to the public and will feature live entertainment along with swag bag giveaways to the first 200 attendees and the chance to win $10,000 of raffle prizes provided by local merchants.

A free raffle ticket will be given to each attendee, and more tickets will go to those who show a Black Friday receipt for at least $50 from a local store at the door. The party's band lineup and raffle prizes will be announced at the press conference.

For more information on ShopTulsa and how to get involved, or for resources on how to shop locally, please visit www.shoptulsa.org or call Allison Broyles at 918.949.3860

Here's the video Blake Ewing mentioned:

Shop Tulsa from Shop Tulsa on Vimeo.

Finally, a women's pro sports league a heterosexual male can get excited about:

The 10-team league features seven-on-seven tackle football in which women are clad in helmets, shoulder pads, bras, panties and garters.

But the mayors of Oklahoma's two largest cities aren't excited about the Lingerie Football League coming to town:

"I don't think that's anything (Tulsa) is going to want to have," Mayor Dewey Bartlett said Tuesday afternoon. "Women running around in their underwear tackling one another. It's like mud wrestling."...

After the league announced its intentions to expand into Oklahoma City for the 2011 season, Mayor Mick Cornett expressed his disapproval last week, saying "there were too many problems to list" and that the team wouldn't be allowed to play in a public facility.

Like all pro sports -- all -- the LFL is in the entertainment business. If people find them entertaining, they'll buy tickets. If not, they won't. That's the way it ought to work. Government shouldn't be in the business of promoting spectator sports or impeding them. Like movie theaters and live music clubs and pubs and dance halls, pro sports teams should pay the full cost of having a place to present their particular form of entertainment.

Of course, since government got in the business of subsidizing entertainment by the majority-forced extortion of tax dollars to build arenas and ballparks for minor league hockey and arena football teams and "major" league women's basketball teams, I suppose it makes our elected officials feel entitled to dictate what kinds of entertainment can use these publicly financed facilities. And from time to time, these officials scold their constituents for failing to patronize these particular forms of professional entertainment, sentimentally known as "not backing the home team."

I'm amused by Cornett's refusal to allow LFL to play in a public facility. He apparently had no problem with WWE's Monday Night Raw this past March 1 at the Ford Center, hosted by Cheech and Chong, which is WAY CLASSIER than girls playing football in bikinis. And Mayor Bartlett Jr hasn't said boo about the fact that Cheech and Chong are performing their pot-themed, potty-mouthed humor at the Tulsa Convention Center, in the same hall where he was sworn in a year ago.

Don't get me wrong. I like some of Cheech and Chong's comedy (the classic "Sister Mary Elephant" sketch, for example) and movies (Things Are Tough All Over). But I fail to see how stoner comedy is somehow an order of magnitude more dignified than lingerie football.

If the LFL can pay the rent, let them play BOK Center or the old Assembly Center.

And Mr. Mayor, let's add a $10 a ticket fee to all events to reimburse the taxpayers for the cost of building a venue where entertainment businesses can make money.

(P. S. to the LFL: If you do locate here, don't even think about the possibility of a palindromic team name.)