What can we expect for the City of Tulsa over the next year? Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett laid out what’s been done and what is to come before a Tulsa Metro Chamber audience gathered at the Tulsa Convention Center Thursday afternoon.
Major development on the Arkansas River is something not to expect soon. Mayor Bartlett says they have talked with some high level companies that are “interested in building on the river, but the timing to absorb new risk was not good because of the national discussions about a second recession.”
That doesn’t mean the mayor is giving up on river development. He says he is encouraging the River Parks Authority to attract more restaurants like the Blue Rose. The mayor also says they are still in the process of moving some city operations from the west bank to make room for more development.”
Mayor Bartlett did tout successes they had in the Oklahoma Legislature including passage of the Intermodal Transportation District. He says this will help the effort to put a system in place using the Airport, Port of Catoosa, rail service and highways to make Tulsa a hub for international commerce.
PlaniTulsa also was featured during the address. Mayor Bartlett told the audience that his administration is in the process of hiring a director of planning to put PlaniTulsa into action.
The mayor says they’ll continue to implement the recommendations from the KPMG Study to streamline city services and save money. He says the savings will allow the city to fully fund the operation of the five municipal swimming pools for the first time in eight years without donations from the community. He says the savings are also making it possible to double mowing cycles on city properties and to hold more police and fire academies.
The mayor ended the address with a message he has emblazoned on coffee cups for the employees in his office to “Keep Calm, Carry On.”