Tulsa suburbs Category
The Route 66 Christmas Chute on Dewey Avenue in downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma, has just two more nights to run, but it continues to be a popular attraction two months after its opening on November 3, 2022. Ten overhanging steel structures decorated with a variety of themes stand in the street where the parking would normally be, and the shops on Dewey and side streets are open for business into the evenings. Admission is free. A Sapulpa Herald article about a preview in September provides a good description of the event. The Christmas Chute's Facebook page is frequently updated.
My wife and I visited back on November 12. We stopped in at Gigi's Gourmet Popcorn and bought some praline pecans to share, had dinner at the brand new Crossroads Cookery, walked through one of the downtown antique malls, and got a coffee at CTX Coffee. It was fun to look at the decorations and cheery to see so many people out and enjoying themselves.
Crossroads Cookery was dealing with a few startup hiccups, but we enjoyed our meal, especially the crispy brussels sprouts. It's four things in one big space, decorated after the fashion of an early 1900s soda fountain -- a sit-down restaurant, a coffeehouse that roasts its own beans, an ice cream parlor (with baked treats, too), and a bar (that has Cabin Boys Brewery's Bearded Theologian on tap).
As we were walking back to the car, I happened to look up and notice the name "BRIN" on the cornice of the three-story building on the SE corner of Dewey and Park. I recognized this as the name of Tulsa bookseller Lewis Meyer's maternal grandparents. A peek through some old Sapulpa newspapers showed that the land was purchased from the city in 1909 by men's clothier Max Meyer (immortalized in Lewis Meyer's 1959 bestseller, Preposterous Papa) and his father-in-law and brother-in-law, Philip Brin and Ed Brin, respectively, of Terrill, Texas. The property had previously been occupied by a fire station and the city jail. The Brin Building opened in July 1910, and its first major tenant was Katz Department Store, based in Louisville, Ky. The building also housed a chiropractor and an ophthalmologist. Reading contemporaneous accounts of Max Meyer and seeing his display ads in old Sapulpa papers led me to the conclusion that nothing in Preposterous Papa was exaggerated. Max was simply larger than life.
Last week, NBC's Today Show featured the Christmas Chute on the final installment of its "Merriest Main Street" series. Crowds showed up to be on live TV despite the single-digit temperatures, and CTX and Crossroads Cookery were open to provide food, drink, and warmth while the crowds were waiting for airtime.
Last night, December 30, I had to drop off my son at an event west of Tulsa and afterwards decided to pay a return visit to the Chute to see if it was still running. It was a warm evening, in the 50s, and there were a lot of people out on the street and visiting shops and restaurants. Crossroads Cookery was packed. Rose the Reindeer was in front of the courthouse; for $20 you can sit in a sleigh and get a picture with Rose.
I walked the length of Dewey, and then a block south and back on Park and Water Streets. On Water Street, I came across a hot dog cart under a pop-up canopy in front of Chuck-It Axe Throwing Co. The food cart was launched as a way to draw attention to the axe throwing venue, but I was told that it has taken on a life of its own. I paid $7 for an excellent four-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, served in quarters with a little sauce cup of tomato bisque for dipping, perfect for eating and walking.
Dewey Avenue was closed to traffic on October 1 as the month-long construction process began. I am not sure how long it will take to dismantle the structures and reopen Dewey to traffic. It's not clear from the website or Facebook page when the final night is occurring, but there's a mention in the entry on Rose the Reindeer, suggesting that New Year's Day 2023 is the end of it: "Rose the reindeer will be at the Route 66 Christmas Chute from 5:00 - 8:00pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Feed and get photos with Rose for $20! What a great way to close down the first year of the Route 66 Christmas Chute--just as it began! See you there!"
This could be seen as an interesting experiment in pedestrianization. Pedestrianizing Main Street in downtown Tulsa in the 1970s killed the handful of retail businesses still there, although the Main Mall and Bartlett Square at 5th and Main provided a gathering place for the community, such as the First Night New Year's Eve celebrations in the early 1980s and Mayfest.
Sapulpa's businesses have received a lot of attention these past two months, and retailers were nervously optimistic after a big opening night. Business during the day, however, seemed to be pretty quiet when I stopped at CTX Coffee in mid-November for a coffee and a teleconference en route to Oklahoma City. My Table, a restaurant on the east end of the chute across the street from the courthouse and Christmas tree, "a location that has become notorious for short-lived eateries," closed permanently this past week, with staffing difficulties fueling unpredictable hours of operation. New restaurants have enough challenges that the street closure didn't necessarily hinder My Table's success, but it appears that they didn't have the personnel support to take full advantage of the crowds drawn to the Chute.
Meanwhile in Broken Arrow, Rhema Bible Training College's spectacular annual Christmas light display is also in its final two nights, with New Year's Day 2023 as the last night. We stopped by Thursday evening on a whim, as we were heading home from bowling with family at Broken Arrow Lanes. It looks bigger and better than ever. Admission is free, but you can purchase hot chocolate, hot cider, cappuccino, popcorn, and other treats from concession stands around the campus, and horse-drawn carriage rides are available for $10 per person.
And The Oklahoma Swing Syndicate has their traditional New Year's Eve dance at Southminster Presbyterian Church Community Center. Dancing lessons at 8 pm, with the dance proper running from 8:30 to half-past midnight. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for students, with discounts for members.
MORE: We made one last visit, this time with two of our children, after church New Year's Day. We had brunch at Crossroads Cookery, and my daughter was interested in browsing the Purple Rabbit Emporium and Art. While waiting on her to browse I was standing near the front door, and a woman came in from the street, seeming a bit agitated, holding a pen and paper. "Could you help me, please?" (Still in coat and tie from church, I guess I looked official.) She was looking for Route 66, heading to Oklahoma City. (She just called it "Oklahoma" at first.) She was from County Clare, Ireland. I walked westward with her, explained that the blocked-off street was Route 66, closed for a two-month street festival. At Main and Dewey, I pointed to West Dewey Ave. as the direction she needed to go and listed the other towns she would pass on the way to OKC, just to confirm that was the way she intended to go. I motioned back to the east and said that that was the way to Tulsa. "Oh, we've been to Tulsa. We got lost there. It was a nightmare. We wound up on the motorway." When Sapulpa does this again next year, they need better Route 66 detour signs for through-travelers, and it sounds like Tulsa does as well.
From the Oklahoma Taxpayer Alliance, news on the vindication of the late Owasso City Councilor Patrick Ross in his fight to release a report investigating alleged wrongdoing by City Manager Rodney Ray, whose 20-year tenure ended in 2013 under an ethical cloud but with a hefty severance package from the City Council. Posted here with their permission:
THE OKLAHOMA STATE SUPREME COURT RULED...PATRICK ROSS WAS RIGHT
In August 2013 then city councilor Patrick Ross filled a lawsuit against the City of Owasso for refusing to release the "Fortney Report" which was an investigation into the alleged criminal actions of former city manager Rodney Ray. In 2017 District Court of Tulsa County ruled in the city's favor. Mr. Ross then appealed this decision to the Court of Civil Appeals.
On April 30, 2020, a three-judge panel from the Court of Civil Appeals unanimously ruled that the "Fortney Report" concerning the investigation of former city manager Rodney Ray shall be released and made public.
The judges who sat for this hearing were Judge Thomas Thornbrough (Presiding Judge), Special Judge John Reif and Judge Jane Wiseman. Special Judge Reif served on the Oklahoma State Supreme Court from 2007-2019 and was the Chief Justice for the Supreme Court from 2015-2016.
In their fourteen-page ruling the judges not only explained why the report was not an internal personnel matter protected from being made public by the Open Records Act (ORA) but they also spent time reviewing why Mr. Ray was paid a severance package in violation of his employment contract.
WE FLATLY DISAGREE
Rodney Ray
Owasso City Manager
1985-1998, 2001-2013
THE LEGITIMACY OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
In closing the judges stated "The balance of this case clearly favors disclosure. The ORA request is evidently not one motivated by mere curiosity into a personnel matter, or some general desire to broadly monitor the workings of government. It involves a high profile employee in an official position, not routine day-to-day personnel employment matters. It involves specific questions of why the City Manager, who was accused of misconduct, was granted a substantial severance package, paid for by the taxpayers of Owasso, instead of being fired. In short it is a 'core' Open Records matter going directly to the questions of the legitimacy of the Mayor and City Council's good governance and use of funds, and the citizens' inherent political power to inquire into these matters. City identifies no valid privacy, state, or public interest in withholding the Report. As such, we find that it should be disclosed pursuant to the ORA."
Following the Appeals Court ruling the city appealed the verdict to the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. On November 17, 2020 after reviewing the Court of Civil Appeals ruling the Oklahoma State Supreme Court choose to allow the Court of Civil Appeals ruling to stand.
Patrick Ross
Owasso City Councilor
2011-2014
Many folks over the years have voiced their opposition to Mr. Ross's actions with his lawsuit and he was dragged through the social media mud for doing so. His character and reputation were attacked and he was labeled with numerous slanderous names.
He and his wife spent thousands of their own dollars in attorney fees in order for this fight to continue. Mr. Ross believed in what he was doing and he knew he was on the right side of the law.
If you care anything at all about your government, at any level you should be very thankful for this ruling. It stands at the very foundation of any government agency being transparent about how they spend YOUR tax dollars. Without this type of ruling any government agency could have a free ride at spending taxpayer dollar without any citizen oversight.
We live in a nation where everyone has the right to their own opinion and to be able to state that opinion. And if you feel your rights have been violated, you have the ability to take your case to court to air your grievances and seek justice. Mr. Ross did just that and the courts agreed with him.
Our founding fathers fought with their lives and fortunes in order to bring about this great nation. They left us with a constitution that allows "We the People" to hold government accountable. At a young age Mr. Ross fought for this nation in the US Navy in Vietnam. He continued fighting for his community as a city councilor. And after he was no longer on the city council he continued to use his own money to fight for honest and transparent government.
Makes you wonder what kind of city, state or nation we would have if more people were like Patrick Ross and felt strong enough about honest and transparent government to make a stand and fight...no matter if no one else was fighting with them.
Patrick Ross was a true American warrior and patriot. We could use more people like him.
Court docket files:
- Tulsa County CV-2013-898: Ross v. City of Owasso, the initial suit brought by Councilor Ross to make the Fortney Report available to the public under the Open Records Act.
- SD-115210: Three-judge appellate panel determined that the case would not yet be ripe until the City Council, not just a city employee, rejected Ross's Open Records Act request. Here is the decision in that appeal.
- MA-117599: Appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court by one of the defendants
- SD-117321: Appeal by Patrick Ross following the Owasso City Council's action to deny Ross's Open Records Act request.
This is big, but justice delayed is justice denied. It's ridiculous that the process took over seven years to reach a conclusion, during which time the voters of the City of Owasso have been denied an opportunity to evaluate the way their elected representatives handled the accusations of wrongdoing on the part of the longtime City Manager.
(In 2013, Freedom of Information Oklahoma head Joey Senat described Ross's original lawsuit and the abuse of the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts by the pro-Ray majority on the Council alleged in the complaint.)
It took seven years through the courts to reach a fairly tentative decision on whether citizens should know about possible malfeasance by the City Manager and to decide whether the the City Council majority's decision to give him a fat severance package was justifiable or a travesty of justice. In the meantime there have been two full cycles of City Council elections. Owasso Taxpayer Alliance points out that two members of the Council that denied Ross's Open Records request still sit on the Owasso City Council: Doug Bonebrake and Chris Kelley. Ray's internal memo ordering the deletion of video of a police traffic stop of Chris Kelley for suspected DUI was one of the actions that led to his departure as City Manager.
The exemptions in the Open Records and Open Meetings Act for personnel matters are there to protect the clerk who processes your water bill and the worker who fills potholes, the same sort of people who are under Civil Service protections. They exercise little discretion in the conduct of their jobs, and they set no policies.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court voted 6-2 to deny certiorari, and although I'm glad for Carole Ross, the widow of Patrick Ross, that the case is over, I wish the Supreme Court had heard the case. The two dissenting justices, John Kane and Dustin Rowe, questioned the balancing test that was applied by the Court of Civil Appeals panel. Without a Supreme Court ruling on when municipalities must disclose personnel records involving executive city officers, there isn't a precedent on which citizens and municipal governments can rely in the future. The opinion of the Civil Appeals Court has not been published, although the ruling is available through the case docket.
There is a clear distinction to be made between public employees who have limited or no discretion and those who serve in an executive capacity, setting policy and direction for a public body. For officials in the latter category -- city managers, school superintendents, library directors, city attorneys, directors of city departments, and others with executive responsibilities -- their administration (or maladministration) of their duties are matters of clear public interest, and the Legislature should amend the Open Records Act and the Open Meetings Act to reflect this fact, by mandating that personnel records for these officials must be made public and discussions concerning their performance must be held in open session of the relevant council or board.
A clue to the level of executive discretion enjoyed by Rodney Ray: This 2008 snapshot of his page on the City of Owasso website included his State of the City address and the City Manager's vision for Owasso government. That's the sort of thing a Head of State puts out, not a menial functionary.
When I was in college, I worked on a research project for MIT's Urban Planning department. We were investigating the impact of a Massachusetts initiative (Proposition 2 1/2) to limit property tax on municipal government, traveling to different cities and towns to interview local officials about how they were coping. On one of our visits, we had a brief meeting with the uncrowned king of Worcester, Mass., Francis J. McGrath, who was nearing the end of his 34 years as City Manager of the second largest municipality in the Commonwealth. When we were allowed to enter, it was like walking into a throne room. McGrath's longevity seems linked to the public works projects he shepherded, the typical post-war redevelopment that scraped historic neighborhoods and replaced them with highways and new brutalist public facilities, and to his carefully cultivated relationship with the monopoly local newspaper. In the minds of some who served with him, McGrath's successors as city manager have been more openly autocratic and dismissive of the elected city councilors, who appear to have become complacent and passive during McGrath's tenure.
The most powerful man in New York City from the 1930s through the 1960s, Robert Moses, never held an elective office. He was City Parks Commissioner and Chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, among many other roles, all of them appointed. Surely personnel actions involving someone able to decide the routes of expressways and to clear neighborhoods for public housing are a legitimate matter of public interest and ought to be in the public record.
City managers typically serve at the pleasure of the city council. That can make the role vulnerable to scapegoating by elected officials. If something goes wrong, it's easy for councilors to lay the blame on the city manager and "send him out of the camp." But a canny city manager can find ways to protect his position. It's easy to imagine a corrupt arrangement could occur in which the city manager uses his authority over the city bureaucracy to protect his allies on the council from embarrassment or perhaps to benefit them or their businesses in some other way and at the same time to punish his council detractors. Meanwhile the city manager's council allies continue to keep him employed or, in the event of scandal, provide him with a golden parachute.
The courts have found the City of Owasso liable for court costs and reasonable attorney fees; a hearing to determine that amount has been scheduled for February 11, 2021, in Judge Bill LaFortune's courtroom. Owasso Taxpayer Union estimates the City's liability at $250,000. The City Council is now under a court mandate to release the Fortney Report on the investigation into Rodney Ray's actions.
Municipalities across Oklahoma are holding city council elections today. Today is also runoff day for school board seats that weren't settled in February. Below are some of the local races. It's encouraging to see that so many of the elections are contested. In Skiatook, every single seat is on the ballot, giving the voters the chance to clean house if they so choose.
As always, polls are open until 7 p.m.
I've heard of some upset in Jenks over whether incumbent councilors should be held accountable for their decision to put a tax on the ballot that was defeated. Defenders of the incumbents say they didn't raise taxes, they just gave the voters a chance to vote. (Sort of like Aaron in Exodus, "I just put the gold in the fire, and out came this calf!") Putting a tax on the ballot is not a neutral act. Elected officials have a responsibility to listen to their constituents before putting something on the ballot. Officials should only propose projects that will have the support of an overwhelming majority of voters. Too often councilors and commissioners listen only to those with a special, vested interest in the outcome (both inside and outside of government), and develop a proposal that pleases those special interests but will require massive campaign funding to persuade a narrow majority of voters.
Ward maps for Tulsa County municipalities
TULSA COUNTY:
Berryhill school board, Office 3: Sandra Pirtle, Doc Geiger
Glenpool, Ward 1: Timothy Lee Fox (i), David Freeland, Keith Jones
Jenks, Ward 2*: Lonnie Sims(i), Darlene Williams
Jenks, Ward 3: Kevin Rowland(i), Philip Morgans
Jenks, Ward 4: Brian O'Hara, Joshua M. Wedman
Jenks, Ward 6: Greg Bowman(i), Steve Murtha
Jenks, at-large: Paul E. Harris, Kelly Dunkerley(i)
Skiatook, Ward 1: Debbie Cook(I), Connie Clement, Herb Forbes
Skiatook, Ward 2: David Sutherland, Nate Myers, Damon Pace,
Skiatook, Ward 3*: Moe Shoeleh, Joyce Jech (i)
Skiatook, Ward 4*: Skylar Miller, Patrick W. Young
Skiatook, Ward 5: Susan Reed-Hardesty, Richard Barnes, Patty Pippin Ceska, Randy J. Sien (i)
Skiatook, Ward 6*: Steve Kendrick, Shawn Martin, Kevin D. Paslay
Skiatook, at-large*: Leon O'Neal, Eugene Jones, O. L. Bud Ricketts
Sperry, at-large (vote for 2): Marvin Baker, William F. Butler, Robert Morton, Kelly Wensman
An asterisk, *, marks elections to fill an unexpired term.
Incumbent Owasso Mayor Doug Bonebrake is being challenged for his City Council Ward 5 seat by J. B. Alexander, the outgoing Tulsa County Republican Party chairman and a leader of the Owasso Taxpayers Alliance, which has successfully elected two members to the five-member council. The non-partisan election will be held next Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Because only two candidates filed for the seat, the race will be decided on Tuesday.
In October 2011, the Owasso Taxpayers Alliance (OTA) led the record turnout that inflicted a landslide defeat of three Owasso bond issue propositions. Two of the propositions failed to get 20% of the vote; the proposition for roads fared little better with only 22.5%.
The latest edition of the Owasso Reporter has a color ad in which five county officials, a state senator, and a state representative have endorsed Bonebrake. Five of the officials are Republicans, two are Democrats, but none of them live in the City of Owasso. The ad also attacks Alexander.
Six of the seven endorsers live in the City of Tulsa and the other lives in Broken Arrow. Sheriff Stanley Glanz lives in east Tulsa, County Commissioner Karen Keith, State Rep. Eric Proctor, and State Sen. Brian Crain live in midtown Tulsa, County Treasurer Dennis Semler lives in far southeast Tulsa, County Commissioner Fred Perry lives in Broken Arrow, and County Commissioner John Smaligo lives in Tulsa's Brady Heights neighborhood, a short walk from downtown Tulsa.
Another thing most of them have in common with each other and with Bonebrake: They endorsed Vision2. Bonebrake endorsed corporate welfare proposition 1, but did not declare a position on pork barrel proposition 2. Smaligo, Keith, Perry, Semler, and Crain endorsed the entire package. Glanz was reported to have appeared in uniform in a pro-Vision2 ad with Karen Keith. (I am unable to find a record of Proctor taking a stand one way or another on the issue.)
An Evite online invitation seems to show that a fundraiser for Doug Bonebrake was held at the Summit Club in downtown Tulsa on Thursday, February 21, 2013, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The "Message from Host" stated "Please join us in showing support for Owasso Mayor Doug Bonebrake's re-election and to keep Owasso a strong regional partner for continued success and growth throughout Tulsa County" and was signed "Tulsa County Republicans." Because of the timing of the event and Oklahoma's antiquated ethics reporting laws, contributions from the fundraiser won't have to be reported until after the election. (Click to see a screenshot of the Doug Bonebrake for Mayor Summit Club fundraiser invitation.)
The two Vision2 propositions received just under 40% of the vote in the Owasso area precincts (750 through 760), which may explain why the ad was silent about that issue. J. B. Alexander, as an outspoken leader in the opposition to Vision2, is more in line with the views of his Owasso neighbors than his opponent is.
J. B. Alexander showed a great deal of courage in personally opposing Vision2 and allowing the Republican County Committee to vote to take a stand on Vision2, when he was undoubtedly under a great deal of pressure to at least remain silent for the sake of the Republican officials who voted to put the misbegotten corporate welfare and pork barrel plan on the ballot. I imagine those officials might feel some resentment toward Alexander for his role in their plan's defeat, and that might motivate support for his opponent.
I've only known J. B. for about four years, from when he was first elected as GOP county vice chairman in 2009. What I've seen is that he is a hard worker, a committed conservative, and he has bent over backwards to be fair to everyone, notwithstanding the vocal complaints of the Big Government minority in the party. His day job involves ensuring that taxpayers get their money's worth on government construction contracts; he inspects the work to ensure that it was completed to specifications, without skimping on material or workmanship. Sometimes that means a contractor gets upset when he's told to redo work in order to fix a deficiency. It's not surprising that someone devoted to the best interest of taxpayers would be on the receiving end of darts from the political class.
MORE: J. B. Alexander's Facebook page, where he discusses specific issues and answers voters' questions.
More commentary on Owasso City Hall politics at Owasso Matters and Rossviews.
I've started to put together a series of fliers explaining why Vision2 hurts Tulsa County's municipalities and how these cities would be better off enacting a city sales tax to replace the Vision 2025 county sales tax when it expires on the last day of 2016. Here are the first three, for Broken Arrow, Glenpool, and Owasso.
You'll notice that most of the reasons are the same from city to city. The key difference is in the money each city would get from Vision2 vs. how much they would get from a city tax of the same rate and duration. This tax would go into effect as soon as Vision 2025 expires, so that the overall sales tax rate wouldn't change.
The Vision2 amounts for each city are those that the proponents have publicized. The estimate of money that could be raised by a city sales tax of the same rate and duration is based on each city's sales tax receipts for the 12 months from October 2011 through September 2012. (One year's sales tax receipts / sales tax rate * 0.6% * 13 years.) I've rounded all numbers to the nearest million.
One of the big drawbacks of Vision2 for a growing suburb is that its percentage of the Vision2 Prop 2 tax receipts is frozen in time, based on its share of county population in 2010, no matter how much they grow in population and retail sales. By contrast, a city sales tax would grow as the city grows.
Click each image to download a corresponding ready-for-printing PDF. Opponents of Vision2 are welcome to copy and hand these out as long as you don't change it at all.
All images Copyright 2012 by Michael D. Bates. Limited license granted to opponents of Vision2 to copy and distribute without alteration prior to November 7, 2012.
Jenks and Owasso voters turned down property tax increases (general obligation bond issues) by overwhelming margins on Tuesday, while Broken Arrow school district voters approved a reallocation of an existing bond issue that involved no tax increase at all.
According to KRMG News, the Owasso tax increase would have amounted to about $170 annually on a $100,000 home, while the Jenks increase would have been about $25 per $100,000.
Complete but unofficial results from the Tulsa County Election Board:
ÂCity of Jenks
Fire equipment, police headquarters
Yes 288 32.99%
No 585 67.01%
 Â
City of OwassoProposition 1: Youth sports facilities
Yes 676 14.02%
No 4146 85.98%Proposition 2: Streets
Yes 1,088 22.53%
No 3,742 77.47%Proposition 3: Parks and aquatic center
Yes 779 16.21%
No 4,026 83.79%ISD-3 (Broken Arrow)
Yes 2,671 78.19%
No 745 21.81%
It appears that voters want their elected officials to focus on the basics and even then they want to see good stewardship of existing revenue streams rather than higher rates.
This is the make-do era. We are paying down debt, delaying major purchases, taking few risks, making the most of what we already have. In the current environment, transferring money from homeowners to heavy construction companies for the sake of some nice-to-haves doesn't make much sense.
Tulsa's establishment and elected officials will probably take the wrong lesson from the result and assume a marketing failure. Hire the right PR firm, the right political consultants, and any tax hike will pass. It worked in 2003. It almost worked in 2007.
But not now, not for a long time to come.
Oklahoma towns and cities with a statutory charter (which is to say, no charter at all; they are governed by the default provisions of Oklahoma Statutes Title 11) and some charter cities have elections today, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Some school board seats will have a runoff, if none of the candidates received 50% of the vote back on February 8.
Here in Tulsa County, Broken Arrow, Glenpool, Jenks, Sand Springs, and Skiatook each have city council or town trustee races on the ballot. It's encouraging to see that nearly every seat up for re-election has been contested.
Broken Arrow and Bixby electorates will each decide four municipal bond issues. Broken Arrow's bond issues cover streets, public safety, parks, and stormwater. Bixby votes on streets, public safety, and parks, and an amendment to a street project approved in a 2006 tax vote.
Tulsa Technology District (vo-tech) Zone 2 has a runoff between former Tulsa Police Chief Drew Diamond and Catoosa school superintended Rick Kibbe (both registered Democrats). The two candidates each received less than 100 votes in the snowbound February primary. Skiatook has a runoff between Linda Loftis (registered as a Republican) and Mike Mullins (registered as a Democrat) to fill an unexpired term for seat 3.
Oklahoma City has a high-profile council runoff, too, between a candidate backed by the shadowy Momentum committee and physician Ed Shadid. Shadid seems to be drawing support from a wide range of Oklahoma City bloggers; the list of endorsers includes Charles G. Hill of Dustbury, Oklahoma City historian Doug Loudenback, young urbanist Nick Roberts, and slightly older urbanist Blair Humphreys.
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