Thank you.

So we are ready to get going with our boarding meetings.

Welcome to the Tulsa Dory Dragon Opportunity Regular Board Meeting for Thursday, July the twenty third.

Let's call this meeting the order and call the rules.

Carl Bracey.

Tyler Duncan.

Here.

Jennifer Griffin.

Here.

Andy McMillan.

Okay.

Joan Parkard.

Here.

Well, Katie Plahaki.

Yes.

Here.

All right.

We have got quorum, and so we are in order.

And trustees, thank you for making me here on the sunny summer morning.

Uh, let's look at it.

Agenda item two, review the consent agenda request to remove any of those items from that consent agenda.

Is there any such request?

Hearing done.

Item three, consider discussing approved.

And then revise or reject vote to approve consent agenda items A through E.

So move that motion.

And there is a second.

Would you call the role, please on item three?

Craig Abraham.

Yes.

Carl Bracy.

Yes.

Tyler Duncan.

Yes.

Jennifer Griffin.

Yes.

Andy McMillan.

Yes.

Joan Parkhurst?

Yes.

Katie Plahaki.

Yes.

Agenda is approved.

Item four is the consideration of any items removed, and there were none.

And so we have some presentations this morning.

Let's start with item five, Rose Rock Bridge, T I L and Malachi Blanketship.

Good morning, Melbourne.

Morning.

Thanks for joining us.

Happy to be here.

If anybody wants a paper copy, I have a few paper copies of the slides.

I'll only take a few minutes of your time.

This is a uh an update of what Rosebock Bridge is.

Rosa Bridge has a unique partnership with Partner Tulsa in that we are focused on built on building the infrastructure of being kind of nationally recognized around energy tech.

And so what we do at Roserock Bridge, which is a program underneath Tulsa Innovation Labs, which is a program underneath George Kaiser Fainley Foundation.

And Roserock Bridge has a unique position in that we uh have a lot of partners uh here locally.

We work backwards from the problem.

So if you go to the the next slide, we're we're called a deployment um uh uh a deployment studio or pilot deployment studio, and what that means is you've probably heard the terms around accelerators and um you know venture capital and and and whatnot when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Uh we actually work with our local corporations, uh one oak, Williams, uh, and HP in the energy space um here locally.

Uh Demon Energy also is is uh is a partner of ours even after their their merger with uh Katara.

Uh what we do with them is we go and talk to their SMEs and understand where are their problem statements, where are their key constraints, and then we work backwards from there to find solutions that keep them on the cutting edge of innovation.

Uh oftentimes well, always when you talk to any board member um at one of those uh corporations or any of their uh C suite, they want innovation.

All right, everybody knows that they need innovation.

Uh most large corporations are not built for innovation.

And because of Rosemark Bridge, we're we're nimble, we're uh very flexible, we're uh we're able to go out and source these companies based off of the problem statements that we have uh identified.

So if you go to the uh the next slide, these are the problem statements that we identified this most recent cohort.

Uh we have done this now.

This is we're going into our fifth year here here locally, and I'll show you some stats here in a little bit that that explain some of the impact here locally.

Um these may not interest you, um, they really interest our partners, right?

These are um kind of like key constraints, and and to each of these themes, if you look at you know, um, you know uh uh reservoir and production enhancement or um robotics or fluid system, they all kind of map back to a very more um what we call like an investment thesis uh with our partners understanding what their key constraints are and who the champion is for that type of problem in in that corporation.

And not only that, we also need to make sure that um it's a problem worth solving, right?

There's a lot of uh you know problems that our our corporations have, they may not have a big enough impact if they were to be solved, and so we do a lot of work um locally to understand what's that pathway once it what if it were to be solved, how big of an impact can it have?

And I can share some of those numbers in a second as well, too.

Malica, I hate to interrupt you, but when you say a problem statement, uh I'm assuming underneath these big broad categories are very specific asks from this is the specific thing I'm having, so we lump these together into broad categories.

But when you're when you're taking that problems statement to sort of the entrepreneurial ecosystem out there, you're looking for, yeah, this is natural resources, but here's a very specific problem within natural resources that you can solve rather than just do you do anything in natural resources or correct, yes.

And that goes to our funnel on the on the next slide, actually, because we when we go out, we find those those companies and we source about uh if you scroll up, uh we source about a hundred companies across the uh I'm sorry, down the we source over 80 companies you know for this most recent cohort, but only 49 to 49 of them, and and we have very specific guardrails and and where we're going to find these companies, and then we then we take a next step and we filter those down to which ones are actually aligned with the problem statements underneath the sector, like you mentioned, right?

Because there's a lot of folks that will say, hey, yeah, I'm I'm a robotics company, but but our robotics company may not be the robotics company that that one oak is actually looking for, right?

Because it doesn't solve that specific problem.

And we um we have some of that specificity in our application process, but we don't really dive into it until you know the uh the diligence um process.

So after that, we we uh we filter down to about 15 companies per cohort, um, and then we run those companies uh alongside of a of a specific program, which I'll is on the next slide, where we where we talk with them, and it's really about them being able to speak the same language that the the corporate partners have.

Uh right.

There's and for our corporate partners, the reason why they like it is they they have no problem getting exposure to a ton of um startups.

They have vendors after vendors pitching them, right?

But when they when a company comes through as our bridge, what it is is it's it's an aligned vendor, and it's somebody that we've um I I like to use the term.

I don't know if any of that any of you guys like to fish.

I like to use the term fillet.

We fillet the company to make it you know ready for the corporate partner to actually be presentable and understand and kind of speak the same language, understand what their procurement is, understand the um the budget opportunities and everything else.

Uh so that that's the uh if you scroll up again or scroll down.

This is a quick snapshot of the of what the program is, and this is just to show you that like hey, we're we're doing something over here.

We have a six-week program here in Tulsa.

We bring these companies in all around.

We have companies, some companies that that come up from Tulsa, some companies that come in outside of Tulsa to be a part of this, all to meet the end of serving our local corporations and keeping them on the cutting edge of innovation.

And the next slide is some of the impact that we have.

So you know, over the last really since 2023, uh we have sourced 24 very like specific problem statements that have been uh gone into one of those uh buckets like what like you saw recently, uh that has led to over 20 pilot pathways with our local corporations, uh, which is uh huge.

And and how I grade my team and the metric that we uh put in front of the team is purely around how many pilots do we get into our corporations and how many of those turn into contracts.

All right, so we're we're not looking at a bunch of um, you know, they're valid metrics sometimes, but often but sometimes they're vanity metrics that a lot of uh entrepreneurship programs look at.

All right, um we we just care about the kind of the the end result and we're able to do that because of of TIL, Tulsa Innovation Labs and Rosark Bridge good partnerships with our local corporations and we understanding what there are.

So we start, like I said, with the end customer in mind and work backwards, and because of that, our mission is to create those those those pathways that then turn into those contracts.

Um and then also too, you know, for for uh I know for partner Tulsa's sake and like you know, creating new employees here, new businesses here is important, as well as keeping our corporations on the cut edge of innovation.

Um 15 new employees hires and tosses in 2023.

Is that the norm you guys looking for?

Is it below, above?

Good question.

Your target might have been.

Yeah.

So our our main targets are around um you know pilots and uh and contracts.

Those those are the things.

This the the employees hire is um something that we're tracking just because it is a um what I see is a bonus to this type of mission.

So we don't have like a key like, hey, this isn't this how many.

I would I always wanted to see it more.

Um I was always like to see you know uh we we average around four to five per year.

Um this doesn't include this this most recent cohort.

Um you know, so I think that's a that's a healthy number.

Anything below four, I think is a non-healthy number because we're um of the of the type of companies that we're bringing through.

Um but yes, they're you know, so four I think would be the base, anything above that, and we're tracking a little a little above that, yeah.

And one of the earliest slides, they had like 22 operational AI.

Uh is that the area that's growing, seem like exponentially.

Sure.

Is that part of the broader target?

Yes, so if you go if you go back to that and and I um here's a uh here's that slide if you want to look at it.

This is the one you mentioned.

These are our buckets of companies that are in that 49 that were aligned with the corporate problem.

So this is um, you know, our a big emphasis obviously with our local corporations is around operational AI.

Uh what is what was uh striking is that talking to the partners, most of them said they were they were able to do this on their own, right?

Um that our partners, but as you dig deeper, they realize that hey, there's a lot of innovation out there that is that that we can't do, or that we don't have the bandwidth or the um the expertise on our team to do, and because of that, that's where it's skewed more on the operational AI side.

And and of the pilots that we have coming online in 2026, over half of them are around operational um AI.

So yes, it is it is definitely a key key a key factor there.

Um I know I'm close to time, and so if you want to go to the scroll up one more, maybe one more after this one.

Yeah, this is a little dense, and that's where if you wanted this uh as a takeaway, welcome to do it.

My friend only was able to give me six this morning.

Um but these are some of the uh the highlights overall, you know, we've we have um inputted about 1.5 million into um into these kind of startups over the last uh several years, they have gone on to get over 76 million in follow-on capital.

So that's a very significant amount of extra capital that's coming based off of our our capital, in addition to them getting contracts with our local corporations and keeping them on the cutting edge, like you know, for example, uh some of the uh the pilots coming online, you know, one of them with our local partner, uh not gonna show here, but the you know, you know, with the the amount of if the pilot is successful, it's going to uh save our local corporation 43 million a year, right?

Another one is you know, 30 million a year, another one is is uh 20 million a year in efficiency.

So like there's there's a lot of different um uh benefits outside of just the fact that they're attracting follow-on capital.

And the reason why follow on capital is so likely to come to these types of startups that are coming through here is because we've worked backwards from the problem um and they have it in customer minds.

So if you're an investor, you're able to invest in a company that kind of has a sure pathway forward, um, and all that is it happened intentionally through Tulsa so that they see Tulsa as the um the energy tech hub where this type of stuff happens.

Investors come here as a results of it, um, SMEs come, set up my experts in in these spaces come here as results of it, um, and then obviously founders and startups.

Uh and then that's the uh that's it.

Uh I uh the last last slide is uh picture of the um the most recent showcase that we did.

Um you might see our the lovely Michelle as well who sits on our our board.

Um she is uh she was one of our judges and and helps as we look at the uh the companies and if you have any questions now, I'm happy to answer them.

I know I answered a few on the road, but I'm also happy to give way for uh the next one.

Can you tell us just a bit about sort of and it may be early in in the process?

What is what is the what's the exit look like from engagement with Rose Rock?

So as you've as you've made these connections and stood stood up, it may be theoretical at this point, but what is that what is that uh look like a successful sort of uh exit from from engagement with roadrock?

Yeah, you know, that's something we think about a lot because um in a lot of entrepreneurial type world, you get off the ground and then you it's the honeymoon phase goes over and you don't have any the support you need to the next stage, right?

Um so we what we do is we actually work with these companies a year post going through this program with some follow-on services for the ones that that have significant operations in Tulsa.

That's a requirement to get that kind of extra bump that they that they want.

So not only do it benefit the corporations, but if we're if we're benefiting those companies, they have to make a commitment here, and then we we wrap around services to help them to that end.

Obviously, investment is is uh is a key driver to that, and and you've seen you know, like I mentioned, there's 76 million has come into our our company, so um, us bringing that into those those uh groups helps a lot, uh which then helps them be you know more uh sturdy here.

But the main thing that helps them is the fact that they have um direct relations now with a corporate partner who is their ideal in customer.

I mean it's like it's like as a startup, it's like um securing you know, like the the big well, right?

Like you know, our our energy partners are are are the are the big dogs here in this space, and so um it's it's a significant um boost for them already, and what we try to do is actually help build them around so they can sustain that and then they understand how to take advantage of the fact that they have that opportunity.

That's a good question.

Uh you're tracking the uh jobs that um are generated through some of these um solutions.

Are you tracking the jobs that are lost through them as well?

So it's a good question.

Yes, so um not directly, but it is something that I am you know, it's one of those things that you you're I'm very very cautious of because you know what as you look at our um our local corporations, you know, if we implement let's say a robotics company into one of our corporations that may save efficiencies, well, does that actually you know lose jobs?

And I would rather our local corporations be on the cutting edge of innovations than be the ones that are are leading, you know, how this next wave happens versus you know being the ones that are you know trying to catch up and potentially being the ones that are acquired as a result of it, and our ecosystem not being the ones that's producing the results.

Uh so because of our model, we we work to understand the problems that are that are coming in the in the innovation trends in the future and translate that all the way down through the TIL, you know, um system to our local universities, to our our tech schools, so they're building the talent or our researchers are building the next wave of innovation so that way this area is is kind of that that um that cluster that energy tech hub as you move forward because it's it that replacement is happening um in but as you see with our labor corporations, they're not they may lose they may lose jobs in one area, but they're they're gaining overall, and that's that's the important uh piece on our but it is yeah, it's it's a tough it is a uh is it is a big it is a big piece of thinking about a lot.

AI and restructuring according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics is that's the number one reason for job loss in the economy.

And so I ask because it's cool to keep up with the jobs that this innovation helps to generate, but obviously um having sort of exit ramps for the corporations is is a great deal, but I wonder if there's a uh a way to have an exit rent with people who lose their jobs due to these solutions.

Yeah, saving 43 million for one co corporation or 20 million for another corporation.

I just wonder how much of that is salary that could be diverted into our local economy for other small businesses, et cetera.

Um so yeah, I'd love to probably talk more about that later.

I would I'd be happy to.

I think that is a um that is probably more than a uh more than a two-minute question, but um you know, I'll I'll give you my my card and we'll get this one time more after that.

That that matters a lot to me.

I'm I'm a uh I'm a longtime Tolson and in this and in this position because we're actually a nonprofit.

We're we're not a you know uh profit seeking entity on this.

We actually do care about the how does this impact Tulsa as a region and you know trying to keep Tulsa on the on the cutting edge of innovation while you know our our North Star is is good jobs as well, too.

Right.

Okay, cool.

Other questions for Malica?

Malica, thanks to taking the time this morning.

We appreciate it.

Absolutely thank you guys for having us, and we appreciate uh working with you all.

All right, item six on our agenda.

Uh Cherokee and Muscogee Nation presentation, Shay, Stanville and Josh.

I know that's Shay or Shay.

Josh is unable to be here today.

Josh, but well, we just have Shay, and that'll be just great.

Shay and long time colleague, nice to see you here.

Good morning.

So I did not bring a presentation this morning.

I'm just going to talk and I wanted to have kind of an informal conversation with you and information sharing session.

If you remember nothing else from anything I say today, what I want you to remember is that the Cherokee Nation has 86 million dollars that we are working fast and feverishly to deploy throughout the United States to Cherokee Nation citizens in Northeastern Oklahoma to federally recognize citizens of any tribe and in certain pockets to US citizens.

Dial it back.

We've got 86 million dollars, we need to get out, we need to get it out fast.

If you are getting ready to finance a commercial project or you know someone who is, please reach out to us.

You can just Google Cherokee Nation SSBCI, you'll find us and we'll get connected.

So now we'll get into the details.

Um again, my name is Shay Stanville.

I've been at the Cherokee Nation for way longer than I care to admit.

Um I've always been in the space of creating economic opportunities and creating financial stability for low to moderate income families and households and families who aren't always able to access mainstream financial institutions.

So fast forward to state small business credit initiative.

I'm gonna talk to you today about the Cherokee Nations State Small Business Credit Initiative.

As they mentioned, there was going to be someone else here from the Creek Nation.

Just want to point out that we are specifically talking about the Cherokee Nations SSBCI program today.

There are um every federally recognized tribe and every state was eligible for state small business credit initiative funding that was issued by the U.S.

Department of Treasury in 2021.

So when I talk to you about our program today, and then you go listen to someone else tomorrow or next week and you say, whoa, that is not what that lady said.

Just know there are specific parameters, there are specific guidelines that have to be met, and each jurisdiction who received funding has some flexibility in how they administer and how they disperse these funds.

So the State Small Business Credit Initiative was part of the ARPA funding in 2021.

Again, all states were eligible for received fund for funding, and all federally recognized tribes were eligible for funding.

The Cherokee Nation submitted an application, and in October 2024, we were awarded $86 million that we chose to use for a direct lending program.

What that means is we have $86 million to pair with private financial capital for small businesses and commercial projects.

We're funding loans anywhere from $1,000 up to $5 million.

We do require that a borrower bring private financial capital of at least 50% of the project cost to the table.

So if you have a deal that's $2 million, you need to come to the table with a million dollars in private capital.

We then match that with funding from the state small business credit initiative.

The advantage to you, why would you want to do that?

Why do you want to work with two separate lenders?

The advantage to the borrower is that our interest rate is highly competitive.

So depending on where you're at, in geographically, your interest rate would be anywhere between four and seven percent, whereas banks are mostly going to offer anywhere between seven and eight percent right now.

There's a 1% origination fee that the borrower pays, but that can be financed into the loan.

One of the other huge benefits of this program, the Cherokee Nations SSBCI program, is that we do not have a minimum equity contribution from the borrower.

So if you've got a million dollar project and the bank wants you to bring 10 or 20% to the table, if you're doing strict bank financing, you need a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars cash.

We do not require that.

Not telling you we never want to see an equity contribution, but there is no set minimum, there is no standard that we require.

So if you were to partner with us and the bank does $500,000 of your project, and they still require that 10 to 15% down, you've cut the amount of cash out of pocket down right off the bat by simply partnering with us.

The benefit to the bank, obviously, to the private capital provider, is that there is no fee associated with their participation in our program.

So the bank pays nothing to allow a borrower to participate in Cherokee Nations SSBCI program.

The other big benefit to the private capital provider is that the Cherokee Nation will subordinate its the primary position on the primary collateral to the bank.

And so what that means, and I don't know what the audience is, so I'm not going to assume anything, but what that means is that if we're financing a commercial property, the bank gets the first mortgage on that property, and the Cherokee Nation comes in with the second mortgage on that property.

So huge benefit to the bank, which also then benefits the borrower further because their loan may rate better, which may mean they may get a little bit better rate from the bank whenever they do their share of the loan.

We're financing deals anywhere from a thousand dollars up to five million dollars for the Cherokee Nations portion of the loan.

There is a cap of 20 million dollars on the project cost.

That's a treasury imposed limit, so we can't finance projects that exceed 20 million dollars.

But this is a generational changing amount of cash for the Cherokee Nation and for Cherokee Nation citizens, and specifically for Northeastern Oklahoma.

We're able, we've we've dispersed around 20 million dollars in Northeastern Oklahoma since uh January 2025.

So while we do lend to Cherokee Nation citizens nationwide throughout the United States, we've only issued three loans outside the borders of Oklahoma.

So most of this money is being utilized in the state of Oklahoma, specifically in Northeastern Oklahoma.

In addition to the $86 million that we have in direct funding loans that can be dispersed to individuals, we also have another $3 million in technical assistance that we are utilizing to provide financial services, accounting services, and legal services to individuals who are eligible for this SSBCI funding.

So you can either be applying for a loan, you might be getting ready to apply apply for a loan, or you may already have a loan, and it can be any federally supported program that makes you eligible for that technical assistance.

Speaking of federally supported programs, there are a handful of things that you cannot do with SSBCI, and I'm just gonna touch on those real quickly.

And those are number one, you can't pair our loan with any other federally supported loan.

So if you want to use the Cherokee Nation's SSBCI program, the bank that you're getting your private capital fund cannot pair that with an SBA guarantee or a BIA guarantee.

Has to be private capital at risk.

The other thing is you cannot utilize the funds for passive real estate income.

You can't do anything that is prohibited by state or federal law.

No speculative activities and no activities where you generate at least 51% of your net income from lending activities.

Take a breath here.

Does anyone have any questions so far?

Yes.

Can the borrowers have a new market credit support?

And are the underwriting criteria if it's underraters criteria or you guys have that?

That's a great question.

I'm glad you asked that because what I should have also led with is that the Cherokee Nation has been in the lending space for over 30 years on a much smaller scale.

So prior to SSBCI, we were lending a maximum of $500,000 in Northeastern Oklahoma only.

So we are comfortable with underwriting, we're comfortable with managing a portfolio.

And so the answer to your question is the bank underwrites their share of the loan, the Cherokee Nation underwrites our share of the loan.

A borrower ends up with two separate loans, the bank or loan with the bank and alone with the Cherokee Nation.

So they ultimately end up with a blended rate.

The bank services and collects their loan.

We service and collect our loan.

We do require collateral for our loans, so sometimes our loans will rate a little bit better than what a bank loan will rate because we do have higher collateral valuations for commercial real estate and for personal residences.

So typically credit score.

It is manual underwriting manual decision making on our share of the loan.

Yes.

Shay, you may get to this, but we're talking about pairing the SSBCI with private lending.

So I would assume that some of our of our larger banks and some of our community banks are familiar with the program, but uh curious to hear you speak about that a little bit.

If I just walk into my uh my local bank or credit union and say, hey, I want to do this, are they gonna have any idea what I'm talking about?

Depends on which local bank you walk into.

So the answer to that is a little convoluted.

So the Cherokee Nation is willing to work with any lender who is willing to work with the Cherokee Nation.

What we have found is that national chains are not real interested in utilizing our program simply because there are three lender certifications, basically agreements the lender must sign.

Two of them are required by treasury, one of them is required by Cherokee Nation.

None of them say anything crazy or wild.

It's just a matter of a national chain typically doesn't want to invest the time or the money in sending things for legal review for what they would probably consider a very small target market.

So we've had a lot of luck with local banks and regional banks, community banks.

They've all been very willing to partner with the Cherokee Nation.

And so what we tell borrowers is that if you want to use one of the banks we've already visited with, here's a list of those banks.

And there are around 45 banks that we've had personal conversations with who we've already done loans with, or who have already said we get it, we're gonna do it.

If we have a borrower that walks in, we're gonna send them your way if they're a fit.

Um, but if you were to walk into your bank tomorrow and say, I want to use the SSBCI, the Cherokee Nation's SSBCI program, and your particular lender may say, Whoa, I have no idea what you're talking about.

All you need to do is just let them know either they can reach out to us, or if you wanted to reach out to us and just let us know, can you call this lender?

We're happy to do so.

That is what we spend a lot of time doing is reaching out to lenders, letting them know this is what the program is, this is how it works.

We've not had any local or regional banks refuse to participate in the program.

We have had national chains just say thank you, but no, thank you.

Do you have uh the website or is these accessible to everyone here in terms of someone who wanna go out on the website or whatever and find out more information about the program?

Carl, we'd be glad to provide that information to the board.

I mean, we've we uh we visited uh about the program four or five, maybe six months ago.

Um, and so we'd be glad to provide that to the board.

The information uh to the to the website to the information.

Yeah, you can find the information on just on Cherokee.org.

Yeah.

So in December 2024, the Cherokee Nation Chief Hoskins executive order opened up the SSBCI program to U.S.

citizens in specific census tracts.

And those census tracts are there's about 180 of them, and they're there's pockets of communities that have poverty rates of at least 19%, or entire counties that have been designated as USDA persistent poverty counties.

We have two of those in the Cherokee Nation Reservation, Ada County and Cherokee County.

Those census tracts are also in, they're not just in the Cherokee Nation Reservation, they extend to areas that are contiguous to the Cherokee Nation.

So that means other counties in Oklahoma that aren't part of the Cherokee Nation and also pockets in Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.

And in those pockets, individuals are eligible for a 1% discount on the interest rate on the loan.

So in those areas, the interest rate is between four and six percent.

Those are the areas where the program is available to U.S.

citizens.

In those areas specifically, please don't quiz me down on what I'm getting ready to talk to you about, talk to you about because this is not my area of expertise, but I want to share that because it is a benefit.

In those census tracts, um businesses are eligible to participate in the Cherokee Nation's on-the-job training program.

And what that means for the business is that you have access to employees who you can bring on, and Cherokee Nation will help support that employee's payroll for a training period for a specific amount of time so that you're onboarding this individual partially on the Cherokee Nations dime.

You're making sure they're a fit, you're making sure they are capable, and then obviously the expectation is that once that training period ends, the business picks up that individual as a full-time or regular full-time employee, and you that business fully supports the um salary and benefits of that individual.

But that is another benefit of those Cherokee Nation Opportunity Zones.

I don't know how many people in here this would really apply to, but one other huge benefit in those Cherokee Nation Opportunity Zones is specifically for microenterprises.

So if we have a microenterprise, so a business that has fewer than five employees and needs less than $25,000, the Cherokee Nation will fully fund that project so that individual does not have to go get a private capital provider.

Um and we will fund those rates at 2% below our base rate.

Our base rate is 4% right now, so that means that individual could get a loan for 2%.

Now $25,000 isn't a lot of money, but sometimes that's all it takes to get someone off the ground.

And sometimes it's all it needs for uh that's all that a small business needs to kind of bridge them over a gap.

So that's that's that's great.

Yeah, it's good part of the program.

Do we have anything within your program that criteria were flat well reply for them to have a forgivable loan after a certain period of time?

Yeah, no, we expect full payment.

We expect full payment.

We want to be made whole.

Um we do require collateral for all of our loans, they need to be fully collateralized.

Again, we can be a little more generous with collateral valuations than what bank hands, but we do and we do intend for the borrower to pay back the funds.

This is a revolving loan program.

As I mentioned, we've been in the lending business for about 30 years now.

We've only been able to stay in that lending business because we do require full payback.

Yeah.

Yes.

Sorry, that's okay.

Do you finance new businesses?

We do existing and we require a business plan.

Yes, to all of those questions.

We do fund startups.

We do require a business plan.

However, um, we don't we don't require anything more than what a bank requires as far as the business plan is concerned, and sometimes depending on how much money we're talking and you know what kind of industry we're talking about.

The business plan doesn't have to be you know super in-depth if it's not you know a lot of money, and we can help you work through.

We have staff that can help individuals develop um and enhance existing business plans.

Yeah, or you can work with that.

Um we can help you getting ready with other people for go.

Yes.

Yeah, collaboration.

Um, I do have some questions.

So uh the opportunity zone that is um contiguous with the tribe hits a huge chunk of Tulsa, like most if not all of Tulsa, which most of Tulsa is a creek uh reservation, Cherokee Nations reservation hits along 244 and goes north.

Um the United uh the United Way posted their equality indicators again uh for this this previous year and and their equality indicators they've tracked eight years worth of um uh uh discrepancies between various demographics and services health outcomes.

Uh one of them was that um uh North Tulsa has um when you look at their uh predatory lending institutions versus uh traditional lending institutions.

So uh easy loan versus RBS bank or whatever.

Um what you find is that in South Tulsa you see one payday loan place for every 20,000 banks, but in North Tulsa, you see one payday loan place for every like I don't remember the statistic, it's like one thousand.

Um because North Tulsa is Cherokee Reservation, and because we do have eighty-six million dollars worth of funding, um, and especially for the micro enterprise.

Is there any um is there any push to lend specifically in this uh in this area, or um is there anything that the the tribe is doing actively to try to mitigate the disinvestment that's existed for decades?

So the establishment of the Cherry Connection Opportunity Zone was specifically for that purpose.

It was specifically targeting areas that have seen disinvestment or have been um overlooked, quite frankly, um, over the last several years as far as economic investment is concerned.

One of the other um key components of the Cherokee Nation Opportunity Zone designation is that it directs us to provide entrepreneurial technical assistance in specific communities.

So, what that means for North Tulsa is that we are working on some partnerships.

We're working on bringing in some contractors who will provide on-site technical assistance, and so we're talking more like workshops, classroom style settings.

Um we already offer one-on-one technical assistance virtually and and in person, um, but be we will be um letting we'll be trying to let people know we're here more, um giving more people opportunities to just kind of come and learn.

So I might not be ready for like a one-on-one TA because I'm not real sure what I want to do yet, but I might be more interested in a workshop where I can kind of brainstorm things, I can kind of hear and see what other people are doing.

So that is one of the other pieces of the opportunity zones that are really focusing on those areas of disinvestment.

Would you be interested in having a conversation with uh one of the city counselors uh as well to host a workshop?

We can talk about that.

Yeah, if there are any if anyone has any ideas for opportunities for us to partner with other individuals or communities, and yes, we are certainly looking for ways to get out in those communities.

Especially the micro enterprise funding, that's huge.

Yeah.

Cool.

Other questions for Shay about the program?

Thank you.

Okay, they're welcome.

We've I think we've sort of scratched at a bunch of additional questions, so I would be willing to bet that people will have some follow-ups for you.

Yes, I would love to answer them, and so again, I just want to say I don't want you to remember, I don't want you to feel like you have to remember everything I said today.

I just want you to remember we're here, we're available to answer questions.

We don't expect anyone in this room or the lenders to be experts in the programs.

That's what we intend to be.

What we just want you to know is that we're here as a resource, ready to get money out the door, right to help as many entrepreneurs as possible.

All right.

Thank you, thank you.

Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Trustees item seven on our agenda is our parking operator quarterly presentation.

And I don't know if George and Tom have maybe had rock, paper, scissors to figure out who goes first, but on the agenda at least.

George is up first.

Okay.

We'll do that then.

How's everybody today?

All right.

Well, I'm here to talk about the uh your investment parking garages in Tulsa.

And uh the um this is happens to be the end of the fiscal year, so it's uh uh year end.

We'll be next presenting.

I think uh the audit, which will be a couple of months, including I think they're working on it now, including it.

Um overall, the uh the revenue performed exceptionally well for the year as far projections.

You'll notice the monthly parking.

We'll come back to that.

The monthly parking finished slightly under.

Had a little catch up here in the month, a lot of movements in office space in the downtown area.

I think there'll be some more in the next few months.

Uh visitor parking was strong.

Special event was uh a little ahead of our projections for the month, but here to date slightly off.

Uh overall revenue uh finished uh strong.

You'll notice the uh receivables was uh was improved for the month, and those are those are uh that's a pretty low receivable, even though it is for the month because receivables for validations both with the hotel as well as with uh the convention center.

Um we move up just a little bit there.

Expenses performed very well.

Um those just the one item that we have that was slightly under, we had some repair and maintenance items that were scheduled.

I think they'll be completed in the next fiscal year.

Um they were on schedule payroll finished quite strong.

The only other item that we had that we were slightly above our our year end was the safety patrol, um which is a little bit over.

We still struggle with activities in the garages, so we're uh uh that's an ongoing effort.

If you want to flip up to the few more slides, we get to the uh Craig's favorite slide, which is the uh revenue.

You can keep going until we get to uh I think it looks like this.

Yes, there we go.

Perfect.

And this is a historical slide that has showed the statistics for all the garages going back to pre-pandemic, which seems to be the watermark that everybody looks at.

Um we also have this available on monthly parking and visitor and event parking.

We just don't show it in this report.

Um, but if you can go up just slightly a little bit, you'll see that the year end finished above last year, and it's trending very nicely.

Um almost to that point of 2019.

Uh there's a lot more factors that go into that other than just COVID, but that was the biggest trend that we saw.

As far as the monthly parking is concerned, I think it's further towards the end of the uh reports.

Um there, right there.

That's another trend report shows the monthly, which is the bulk of your your revenue activity, and um uh it's finished quite strong for the for June.

I want to point out again Main Park Plaza 1,39 monthly parkers in a garage that's only 1,167 spaces.

So we it's very well oversold strategically.

Um I just pray they don't show up at all at one time.

Um you can stay home that that day.

Uh but there's there's several factors that go into it.

Uh you may know or not know that there's a new garage being built uh further to the south, which is uh one oak, and they are a large customer at Maine Park Plaza.

So what I would anticipate in 18 months or so there'll be some movement out of the garage and some more vacancy, uh, which is something we'll need to plan for in 18 months or so.

Um quick um the one-o parkers of the 22 or the 1222.

How how many are those?

Are you thinking one oak?

I know you said it was they're good the the 1339.

Oh, yeah, 1339, yeah.

Sorry.

Um 3500.

Okay.

Um you said how many spaces is that garage?

1167.

Um you know, and we get that call or complaint quite often where we we don't have available uh for a large group of 50 parkers.

We and uh their perception is well, I'm looking out my window right now, and there's only seven on the roof.

But yeah, please understand that you're getting the revenue benefit for all 1300.

Um just not comfortable selling the next group until that garage opens up and there's a little bit more relief.

So we still have to have available for visitors, so there's an allocation and a system involved that keeps the appropriate amount of visitor spaces within the garage.

Um I think it's uh you'll see the other one, which was the Civic Center where we had uh 700 parkers a couple of years ago, you may recall.

Um month over month, just 10 less for the whole system, um, but 260 better than this time last year.

So anybody have any questions?

Yeah, George, I do.

Um I always like it when we save on expenses, but I'm always worried when we're saving on repairs and maintenance.

Yes, and we're a quarter million dollars below budget.

You're looking at that one year.

We looked back.

This was a very aggressive uh repair and maintenance budget for the year.

Um we haven't we haven't uh not done something that we that we planned.

We have a couple of other projects we're working on elevators, so et cetera, but they have been capitalized, not run through operating expenses.

So we have done all of the maintenance that we budgeted to do, it just cost us less.

No, it didn't cost less.

They've been either paid for differently as it's paid for different through the operation paid for directly.

A couple of them we've been reimbursed directly from uh Taylor.

Thank you.

And Craig for your information, uh Nia is finishing up our structural analysis of the main park plaza, and when that is available at some point if the trustees are interested in seeing that when we have opportunity in the agenda, then uh staff could discuss what the findings of that uh and those are longer, bigger, much bigger than regular routine maintenance, these are more significant uh capital improvement needs that extend the life of the garage, and so we'll have a better understanding of that um soon.

Yes, I think you may recall that those structural repairs are not run through operations.

Right.

These are these are long-term capital improvement that extend the life of the garage that are in the in above what would be routine for the life we'd have to depreciate those.

Yes, they're not part of our operating budget.

No, right.

Okay.

Further questions for George?

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Slip around, but I didn't hit down part of it.

There's Tulsa's parking industry.

It's very suspicious.

Welcome.

Good morning.

Yeah, good morning.

Um I'm Joe Lang with Oakview Group.

I'm our vice president of parking mobility for the company, and uh with me is Matt Andrews, who's our GM, and Tommy Shelby, who you probably all recognize.

Um we're 23 days into our tenure, so we don't have a lot to report yet.

Other than our transition went very smoothly.

Thank you to American parking for being a good partner in that transition.

Um we've gotten the systems, the vendors, the utilities all transferred over onto us.

Multi-parking or the the multi-parkers have been input into our system are being billed.

Um, and we already have three events from BOK Center and three event days under our vest under our belt so far.

Have a big Benson Boone concert coming up on Tuesday, and the how is this weekend?

So um so far, everything has gone smoothly, and thank you again for the opportunity.

Excellent.

Hey, it's it's we're not even a full month in so any questions for our uh not a lot to report yet.

Yeah, yeah.

We will look forward to uh when you have a longer running.

A little longer, yeah.

Thank you for thank you for making the effort to be here this morning.

And of course, any uh you look like you were about to say something.

Okay.

Any questions?

Any questions from the trustees so far?

No.

And Tommy and I worked together uh too long ago that we're both old enough to be in parking for a long time, and um I've actually presented to this board a long time ago.

So it's good, nice to be back.

Glad to have you.

Thank you for being here this morning.

Right.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Item eight on our agenda is monthly financial reports from Lynn.

Um this is kind of a um milestone.

You know, we've wrapped up our our fiscal year for 26, and as you can see in the blue in this last um grouping, we finished much higher than uh than we anticipated.

Um the details are on the next page, and I have to apologize because I just realized this morning that I forgot to update this column.

That's the target was for last month instead of this.

So uh if you'll look at the first column and then the year-to-day actual does it'll give you the comparison.

So if you'll look at the first column and then the year to date actual, those will give you the comparison, but um as you can see the parking operations finished higher than their forecast.

Um lease revenue was higher than we had budgeted, and that's primarily due to the um increase with the wheel and break center.

Um the TIP program administration was higher.

Um, I do want to point out that this 348,000 was um the revenue for several years.

So even though we're we anticipate about 323,000 this year, it's not going to be quite the 348.

And like I said, that was the 348 was for I think three years combined.

Um interest income was higher this year, and then incentive application and other fees were also higher than we had anticipated.

And I can go into details on all of those if you're interested, but um I also put them on the um the flux explanation for the financial statements.

So those are the reasons that our revenues were higher at almost seven million dollars, and then um if you turn the pages to the expenses, you can see that our expenses came in lower than anticipated.

We um came in at 4.7 uh in actual expenses versus 5.7, which was budgeted.

So that gave us instead of a operating deficit for the year, that gave us a 2.2 million dollar surplus.

But um I do want to say that this is all cash, and those are not the numbers that you're gonna see on the financial statements.

Uh, and we can go into that in just a minute because I'm gonna uh present the draft financial statements.

But I this seems like a good time to ask if you're getting the information from me that you would like.

If there's anything that you'd like to see that you're not seeing, I am happy to make any adjustments.

I think the first crack of that has to go to our our esteemed judge.

Well, we asked her to make to make this presentation, you know, easy for you to you know all the paperwork is in the system that we could drag out and give you anything.

I mean, Lynn's doing a fabulous job.

You are so really appreciated the the check marks.

Yeah, so we can immediately see where we look trying to figure that out.

Yes, okay.

Thank you for the the notes on the I that's I'm honestly.

I think that's usually all of our questions.

Is like when we see the well, now if we see the red axe, what's that about?

So immediately we go down and it describes it, so it just makes it clear, and then I think also for just us where we're referring back to it.

Okay, it's not like we forget what you had told us.

So thank you.

Right, and then and in additionally, you know, a lot of those things don't change from month to month, but you know, um they're still outliers every month.

I the one thing that I should have um put a red X next to uh was a second item on this list the interest expense.

Um, and that went up due to um the requirements to capitalize the the wheel and break lease.

So even though we're it's coming in, it's also going out, and we have to break it out into principal and interest.

Yada yada yada.

That's an accounting.

Yeah, we'll try to anticipate what you might ask and provide the information so it'd be easier to read and yeah, so forth.

Yeah, separate from the conversation about report formatting, which I think is excellent.

Earlier conversation about the different line items that are where the regenerating that excess over budget looks like in several of those categories, just increased activity higher than where we anticipated at the start of the year.

So things like program administration fees and uh the incentive application fees and such that are higher because we're seeing more volume of that alone.

Right.

Um so for instance in the incentive application fees, um I think uh we those will fluctuate first of all because some of that's due to the um administration fees that we get from the city for administration of the affordable housing trust fund, some of that's due to the administrative fees that we get from Tulsa Community Foundation, and as those balances of funds wind down and we don't have the monies to loan out anymore, then we'll see a decrease in those administrative fees.

So we were also able to go back and collect some fees from previous years and um fees from uh uh prior grant that we were due the reimbursement, but we never collected on it.

Um what else was I gonna say that changed?

Of course, there's the the grants of 171,000.

That's in, that's out.

So even though it shows as a revenue and it shows as an expense also, but it's it's it's a it's a wash.

So I think what I'm just sticks in my head is that we we are showing what it looks like as we continue to ramp up and do more and try to provide more services at Broadington, but also I think the the responsible position is to make sure we understand where those are where those are cyclical or as you pointed out, some of those things are multiple previous years that have been gathered into.

So we don't as as trustees, we don't make decisions based off of uh hey, look, we've got two extra two million extra bucks to spend, and we're always gonna have two million extra.

Yeah, some of these some of these revenue items are not going to be continual.

I think giving context to what Lynn has done.

I mean, I think there's there are three three variables here.

There's that she has done an excellent job of scrutinizing our expenses.

So she she has added direct value to bringing our on the expense side to bringing that down.

So what you're seeing in the two million is a combination of three things.

It's lower expenditures, and I think that's directly attributed to Lynn's work on the ex on the expense side as well as the revenue side, but and then the increased leases on the on the continuing operating side.

So you're seeing year-over-year increase in operating revenues while you're seeing decreased expenditures, and then Lynn has gone back as well as picked up some one times, like she's talked about going backwards and picking up things in that are one-time revenue.

So you're seeing seeing a combination of that two and that two million of those three factors.

Increased revenues year over year, lower expenditures, and then the combination of one times that one-time revenues that have gone back and and contributed to that.

So as you said, you will see not necessarily being able to always anticipate those one-time revenues, which are reflected there, but you are seeing an upward trajectory in net year over year uh recurring revenue.

So while at the same time, Lynn has done a great job in bringing the expenses down and trying to keep you know to save money where we can.

So great.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Okay, if there's no more questions, we can go over the the draft financial statements for 630.

And I do want to point out that these are very draft.

Um, we for instance we don't have the sales tax revenue figures yet, and those we anticipate those are being questioned about two million dollars.

So we don't have the adjustments for the net pension liability uh which we'll get from the city in a month or two.

We're still looking at accruals, we would look at accruals for at least another month, and there will be some capital asset entries.

Uh so all that to say is if you could go to this financial statement.

So first page, yes.

Um can't even see that.

But anyway, um thing I think that you're gonna notice is at the bottom, you're gonna notice that our net position is lower than it was last year by 1.1 million dollars.

And I want to point out that that is not unusual.

I mean, even though I told you that you know we did better than anticipated, um, we still don't have those sales tax figures, and we remitted um almost 700,000 back to the city for um the oil capital loan building, I mean building loan that had shown as an asset.

So don't be alarmed that our net assets are are decreasing.

And then on the next page, um, a couple of things I wanted to point out was that um the you can see about halfway down the page in the um non-operating revenues and expenses, the program support for the city from the city was 2.3 million dollars versus three million dollars last year.

The program support for the city from the city was $2.3 million versus $3 million last year.

So that not only includes the $850 administrative fee that we get from them, that also includes the funding for any of the affordable housing loans that we're making through the city.

A little bit further down there that could was comprised of remittance of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and DDRF interest as well as the oil capital building loan payoff back to the city.

So any questions?

Like I said, this is going to change substantially within the next couple of months.

Have you heard uh when we'll start the audit?

Uh no.

I well, they reached out to me the other day for some information, but not yet.

Yeah.

I'm after this, after the TDA meeting, um, where hopefully we signed the letter of engagement.

Um, within then I'm I have uh an email ready to go with a lot of questions and other questions for Lynn around the either the monthly budget or the draft financials as presented.

You said sales tax was part of the reason why we were uh what was it 1.1?

Yeah, I think last year it was 1.9.

Um what was the reason for that?

We don't get the certificate, we don't report it until we get the certified numbers from the city, and those don't come until September.

Gotcha.

So uh on the previous page from here.

You can see a little bit up higher, please.

Um there's uh uh a blank, you know, a zero for sales tax.

Do we have an expected I'm expecting about the same?

Okay, cool.

Yeah, maybe a little bit more as our TIP.

Um districts get ranked up and have more activity in them.

But 1.92.

However, I will say um that uh the arts district TIFF has reached its limit, so we will no longer be able to collect add the lorum or sales tax revenue from that.

All right, other questions for Lynn.

This is probably more of a question to anyone who has an answer.

So trying to kind of figure this out.

If I need to see specifics of uh TIFF uh performance, yeah.

Uh would that be through you or through incentives?

I've gotten both.

And actually, it's it's in this packet, it's just it's too small to see.

Um if you go to the end.

Page four and five of this presentation.

So you just have one more up one more.

I'm sorry, I guess it would be down right there.

So if you're interested, here's like the statement in the position for all of our active tips.

And then the next page shows the income statement.

So we've got the balance sheet on one page, the income statement on the other.

And if you want any details beyond that, I'm happy to provide them.

In addition to that, um, we will we are required to file in September at annual TIFF report and publish it in the Tulsa World.

Lynn, thank you.

Thank you, Lynn.

Greatly appreciate all your work on this.

Uh item nine, monthly staff report.

Gary morning, trustees.

Uh just got a quick overview through these slides.

Um I'm I'm all about brevity, so you know, uh on the on the team.

Uh, there'sn't been no change.

We have 18 uh full-time positions now.

Uh we have a number of interns.

Um a couple of them working with Jacob and Michelle on the uh on our drone uh programs.

Um also just to note uh Betty Lamb has rejoined us.

She was our previous uh marketing uh intern, and she is back.

Um we had uh over the last uh month we've fielded two inquiries about tax executive financing, uh actually uh working with uh the Tulsa International Airport staff on uh how we might partner with them on tax exit financing on their um on some of their property on potential uh tenants for their property.

Uh we're continuing to work with uh WT Partnership on looking at our next steps on the Williams proposal.

Um I I mentioned uh Nia's finishing uh uh structural analysis on Maine Park Plaza, and we'll be working with WT Partnership on uh strategies for main park plaza looking forward into the future.

Um, and then uh we are uh Nia uh and I are going to meet with Renita and talk about those next steps uh next week uh regarding Williams and uh uh WT's advice on our uh some of our other S.

Uh we're currently finishing up uh the draft of the annual report, uh, and actually Betty is uh working with our um graphic designer on that, and we are have collected internally the KBIs and some of the majority of the content, and that's been forwarded to uh to Betty who's liaison uh with our graphic designer.

Uh but he's also working on our web pipe web page and uh visiting with staff about uh updating that content there.

So uh that's kind of it uh for the uh admin at the moment.

Mike Cup.

Morning trustees, uh quick update for incentives.

We've been really busy this month and last month, and it looks like it's not gonna stop anytime soon.

Uh just a quick update beyond what's what's shown on the screen for you last night.

You know, Karen, John, and I were at City Council for five items that we had in the hopper.

We will be back again next week for two of those crossing the finish line.

Um of those five, I do want to point out um, as was mentioned earlier, that we are in the process of closing two of the TIFF districts.

Uh one is what I wish Councilor Bingle were here.

The TIFF district that he referred to as the zombie that just kept being even though there was no activity, nothing to report ever.

It was the uh Admiral Place TIFF, the um former sales tax only TIFF out in East Tulsa that was said that was stood up in order to attract an outlet mall project that never materialized.

So happy to say after almost 12 years, that TIFF is being put to rest, and uh it should clear city council next uh next week.

The other one is the one you just heard a little bit about with the arts district and the reason that we were stopping the collections out there.

You know, Arts District was part of the downtown area economic development project plan that was approved in, I believe 18 uh 17 or 18.

And uh here we are not quite 10 years, and it met its budget cap.

So per statute, we have to close it.

And as of the receipt of uh Avalorum taxes in January, I believe, uh, it crested that five million dollar mark, and so it is being ended.

All access funds are being returned to the taxing jurisdictions that it applies to.

Um the other ones that we had at City Council last night were the two new project plans for our South Tulsa projects.

Uh one of those is I erroneously listed both of them on this report as South Memorial.

There is the South Memorial Project Plan, which is uh roughly 61st and memorial and will include two different TIFF districts, and then the other one is broadly speaking.

I want to say uh 71st and Mingo, sorry, 71st.

Uh Karen's shaking her head at me back there.

71st and 169, and further on down at uh I believe 91st and Mingo.

Thank you.

Uh all of these projects are pretty um housing heavy, with one of the individual TIFF districts being pretty retail focused.

So it's they've been things that we have had in the works for quite a while.

Um aside from that and what's up on your screen, just want to look forward to the next ones that are coming.

I've said in the past we never wanted to do more than one at a time going through all the process, and we have four going through at the same time right now.

So it just when it rains, it pours, and we're chasing that as long as we can.

So from downtown to Midtown to North Tulsa, West Tulsa, East Tulsa, and potentially even more in South Tulsa.

So there's a lot going on, and I gotta say thank you to Karen and John.

Karen, especially for providing the additional incentive fees that we uh had land report out on just a second ago.

That is all due to Karen being able to collect on those.

So if there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

Thank you.

Thank you, T.

Appreciate that idea.

Good morning, trustees.

Some of the things we've been working on are um, let's see, sorry, I'm reading right.

Uh we did wrap up.

Uh you had the presentation from OVG related to uh their transition.

I think this is uh update it is, I don't know if this is the most recent one.

Yeah, this is last month, I believe.

But I'll go off my memory.

Um you can blame me.

Um it was saved to my to my personal laptop desktop, so it could be could be wrong.

But we did have uh uh intern from TU started uh last week.

Uh she'll be helping us with uh some strategic information around the urban renewal plans as well as uh asset management policy, kind of building out a framework uh to get that policy started.

Uh community-wise, uh what did I have there?

We had um I do know for development.

We did have the completion of the Harvard apartments, which was an affordable housing trust fund project with Habitat for Humanity that delivered seven units.

Uh, and we did tour uh the Northgate Infill project, uh, which is a scattered site, nine duplex project.

Uh they're not completed yet, but they believe by the end of August they'll be completed.

That's also affordable housing trust fund.

And we did two tours uh on the TDA side for single-family homes that have been completed that are going on the market.

Uh for just home.

We uh we're at the point where you guys uh did approve the loan agreement and the developer agreement last month.

So the loan agreement did go to city legal city city of Tulsa's legal council uh to have a resolution drafted to go before the city council for approval.

Uh that has passed city legal, and I believe we'll be on the city council agenda next week uh for approval.

I did get to speak with Council Bellis and Councillor Dudden related to the project because uh the homes will be located uh in their districts.

Um but yeah, that's any questions so far.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mia.

Uh trustees, just a quick update on community development.

Um we're continuing to advance the work on the uh with our uh innovative finance and asset concession grant.

Uh and today uh if we have a core of a TDA, uh we will uh hopefully approve an amendment to our um scope of work for the technical analysis uh regarding the engineering and stormwater analysis of Burker Patrick Heights uh Greenwood Master Clan area, particularly the core area, um which is on the west side of the OSU campus, slightly south of uh uh Emerson uh for orientation.

Um we'll be moving that forward and we're using existing resources inside the grant and just reallocating staff time to to the um to the to this uh sort of analysis category.

There's no actual uh increase in the budget, we're just reallocating across that program.

Um the next uh event will be a uh a uh program on August 29th, led by the Urban Land Institute, uh which is which is really a interactive um engagement event uh placing people in roles uh at in in uh uh in sort of into development roles around sort of role playing on what it would take uh to do development and to take people through the process so that so that stakeholders understand what it's like to do development on a project.

So that's August 29th.

Um is uh making rapid progress on our cohort two in the community impact initiative.

Uh there are two community events, uh engagement events already uh uh scheduled for uh the neon quarter, I believe, and uh the Columbus neighborhood uh as their first committee engagement, and these are both in the first week of August.

plan on what it would take uh to do development and to take people through the process so that so that stakeholders understand what it's like to do development on a project so that's August 29th uh Inez is is uh making rapid progress on our cohort two and the community impact initiative uh there are two community events uh engagement events already uh scheduled for uh the Neon Quarter I believe and uh the Columbus neighborhood uh as their first community engagement and these are both in the first week of August Columbus Neighborhood Association has also finished their project plan and afforded it so Inez and I for with you and we've approved that so they're making rapid progress there um I just uh just there's a group training session that uh led by um one of our um uh a uh uh trainer with neighborworks that uh um Gretchen Inez and I have both had classes with at the neighborworks institute and she she did that uh last week uh uh in uh along with Arnez uh to the cohort and so uh that program's moving forward thank you awesome all right first okay um so just wanted to go over a few things we conduct we kicked off another micro grant program and did some training uh with Avanzando juntos also kicked off another micro grant program that is uh technical support services with the global district and Maria's been doing a fantastic job uh setting up new trainings and then also working with um Kitchen 66 on what will be uh a future training cohort and I have to give her total credit because she has also been taking done this amazing thing that we'll reveal a little later about taking existing training materials like CoSTAR or co-starters and others and really combining them into a product that is uniquely suited to what Tulsa entrepreneurs are where they're at and what the resources that they're going to need in English and in Spanish and it's we may have to like sell it I don't know I'm very excited about that.

Anyway so moving on to site attraction site readiness and business attraction if you want to go the next slide really quick closely just wanted to give a summary of what we've done in the first half of 2026 we've had about 51 projects that have entered uh that we provided proposal for or that we have uh vetted out as they go down that sales funnel we've had about five projects that have done site visits here um actually two in the last two weeks we've been quite busy over the last month and then provided four projects with soft incentive incentive offers so that's a where we begin to work with Mike and Karen and John on this is what we think that the city could do if you guys land here that really feeds into typically our best and final offers after we go through that whole process we often have companies come back and say okay you're down to the final two or three what you got um and so we have we've worked on those we have one project that is we've given a bus and final two we've actually had announcements on five projects um over the last six months and so you've seen a few of those come through in the news as well um including one yesterday for Park Arrow at the airport which is not on this list but this is really just the first six months of the year.

So we can go back.

I'm gonna note also some great success with our workforce development program and Jacob is in the back there.

We had set a goal as you remember last year our big Harry Audacious goal was a hundred students in a hundred days for the summer of 2025.

This year we gave it a 20% boost and said 1200 students over 100 days of summer so far we have already knocked it out of the park.

We've had over 1200 students that we have been able to work with with for our summer drone outreach and I'm hopeful maybe we hit 1500 by the end of the summer so Jacob says higher than that okay um but we have had two interns for the summer that are on through the Becker T Washington Drone Club who have been fantastic additions to our team.

And so I think we'll probably keep them on through the through the year to help out a little bit as we're they're able to do so far.

We do have a journal in event coming up this weekend it's um at Skyway 36 featuring Windsheep and so if you guys want to come out for that we'll have it'll be warm but we'll have bagels and tea and five about drones.

All good things for also Demario's been working on our study with common good and uh advancing that with the grocery store they want to extend that program a little the RFP process a little longer and get some additional feedback and additional opportunities from our grocers to participate that in that so if you know of other grocers who might be interested in that Northwest Tulsa grocery store opportunity we are still uh soliciting additional participants uh to be part of that program and then with our retail attraction for our EWD committee this month we met with PSO and we talked a lot about power supply in August we will have retail strategies they will be in town uh meeting in person for that EWD committee so plan on something in person um while they're also looking at some of these retail projects that Mike's talked about and others that will be coming up over the next few months so it's a great opportunity for us and then just an update on some of the outreach we've been doing.

They will be in town, uh, meeting in person for that EWD committee, so playing on something in person.

Um, while they're also looking at some of these retail projects that Mike's had talked about and others that will be coming up over the next few months.

Um, so it's a great opportunity for us, and then just an update on some of the outreach that we've been doing.

So thank you.

We asked for additional meeting.

So give it a dynamic talking about power supply and yeah, so it might be helpful.

We have to watch it as a committee meeting, but we could have a presentation for jobs at the board if we get fast forward as well.

Yes, good point.

And I think a lot of the a lot of the impetus for having that second conversation specifically so that we can have time to ask more questions and delve into some of the specifics.

So maybe you can even smaller first and see if we see what works out.

All right.

And so um, trustees, are there any requests at the moment for future agenda items relevant to trust business?

As usual, we'll come up with some.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we visit one of Tulsa's most charming and distinctive neighborhoods, Swan Lake.

Nestled just east of downtown, the Swan Lake Historic District offers a peaceful oasis of early twentieth century homes and elegant apartment buildings.

Centered around a tranquil pond that gives the neighborhood its name.

At the heart of the Swan Lake neighborhood lies its namesake lake, a peaceful pond today.

But once the centerpiece of a bustling amusement park in the early 1900s, it quickly became a popular weekend destination for Tulsa families during the oil boom.

This man-made body of water was part of a private recreation area complete with boat rides, a dance pavilion, and even a small zoo.

Though the amusements are long gone, the lake remains a serene reminder of a bygone era.

As Tulsa expanded, the demand for multi-unit housing grew.

In 1918, Samuel Augustus Orcut responded to that need by constructing the first apartment building in what would become the Swan Lake Historic District.

This marked the beginning of Orcut's development enterprise, which would shape the neighborhood for decades.

Thanks to his efforts, Swan Lake now boasts more apartment buildings from Tulsa's boom era, spanning the 1920s through the late 1930s than any other neighborhood in the city.

The Orcut apartments remain a cornerstone of Tulsa's shift toward urban living.

As Tulsa's oil industry boomed and oil fortune soared, areas like Swan Lake became havens for industry leaders, managers, and visionaries.

Standing proudly at the edge of the lake is 1583 Swan Drive, the first home built along Swan Lake, completed in 1919.

This stately Italian Renaissance residence was designed by Noble B.

Fleming, an architect from Kansas City, whose work also includes Tulsa's beloved garden center at Woodward Park.

The home was commissioned by J.

M.

Hayner, president of the Monarch Royalty Company, a firm heavily involved in oil leasing and mineral rights during Tulsa's boom years.

As one of the first to settle on the lake, Hayner helped set the tone for a neighborhood that blended natural beauty with architectural grace.

From craftsman bungalows to classical revival and tutor revival, Swan Lake is a showcase of architectural grace, each street a reflection of Tulsa's early 1900s aspirations.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa, one historic property at a time!

Hey Tulsa, welcome back to the top recycling play of the day.

Team Johnson is facing off against one tough competitor, glass.

That's right, only glass bottles and jars are recyclable.

Don't even think about sinking a drinking glass or mirror.

Always good to empty your glass bottles and jars before recycling.

These two get it, emptying both bottles from far out.

And they remove the lids.

Score big by recycling your glass bottles and jars.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we journey east of downtown to explore two of Tulsa's most charming early 20th century neighborhoods, Yorktown and Gillette.

Developed during Tulsa's rapid post-oil boom growth.

These districts were shaped by a rising middle class, oil workers, business owners, and civic leaders, who brought with them pride, ambition, and a love for craftsmanship.

Let's take a look at a few of the standout homes.

Our first stop is the illustrious Gillette Mansion.

Constructed in 1921, this three-story Gothic Tudor masterpiece was the residence of J.

M.

Gillette, an important merchant, real estate entrepreneur, an oil man, and the namesake of the surrounding Gillette Historic District.

Gillette cited his home outside the city limits.

The mansion grounds included a natural stone goldfish pond, handcrafted concrete tables and benches, and a clay tennis court.

Crafted with brick, stucco, and heavy timber.

The mansion boasts rock accents, multi-paned leaded glass windows set within cutstone gothic arches, and a slate roof.

Its grandeur stands as a testament to Tulsa's oil boom era and the architectural ambition it inspired.

Next, we visit 1731 South Yorktown Avenue.

A charming tutor-style duplex built in 1940.

This 1200 square foot residence reflects the architectural trends of the time.

With its brick facade and characteristic design elements, duplexes like this were often home to middle-class professionals, bank clerks, and laborers, drawn to the neighborhood's quiet streets and proximity to downtown.

It exemplifies the city's mid-century residential expansion.

And the move towards more modest yet stylish multi-family middle-class dwellings.

Our final feature is the Craftsman Bungalow.

Constructed in 1923.

This 1,700 square foot residence embodies the craftsman ethos with its emphasis on handcrafted woodwork and a welcoming front porch.

It offers a glimpse into the architectural preferences of Tulsa's residents, favoring functionality blended with aesthetic appeal.

The classic craftsman bungalow.

The home features broad eaves, exposed rafters, and a welcoming front porch that speaks to the American arts and crafts movement.

Houses like this typically sheltered young families and skilled tradespeople, offering an affordable yet stylish entry into homeownership.

Two classic neighborhoods from Tulsa's Golden Age.

Still alive today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

Of those, a very high number results in injury or death.

This is a serious problem that impacts all of us.

And we can do our part in taking precautions and minimizing risk by using crosswalks and sharing the road with pedestrians.

The first thing is pedestrians can only cross the street in a designated crosswalk.

When you're in this crosswalk, pedestrians have the right of way.

One thing to keep in mind if you're lucky enough to find this, find yourself a button.

Push your button, these signs will illuminate, allowing you to then cross the street.

Secondly, pedestrians must walk along this sidewalk and not in the street.

If you're walking adjacent to the street and no sidewalk has been provided for you, you need to walk as close to the curve as possible while facing oncoming traffic.

Finally, blind pedestrians always have the right of way over all other pedestrians and vehicles.

Blind pedestrians must indicate this right of way by holding out horizontally a white cane in the direction they wish to travel.

The Tulsa Police Department takes this issue very seriously.

We are here to protect all citizens of Tulsa.

Any violation, particularly by motorists putting other Tulsans' lives at risk, you're gonna get a ticket.

Help us keep you from getting a ticket and help keep Tulson safe.

We all have a responsibility to share the road.

Together, we can be kind and make streets a safer place for everyone.

The bazaar is a micro-neighborhood grocery.

So Micro Grocery Store has a very small footprint and it's specified for smaller communities.

It's membership based.

Those in the Dawson community will have a free membership.

For community members who are outside of Dawson, they can purchase a membership for a very nominal fee.

It is a cashless grocery, so that means that there will be no cash that transfers on site.

You can use your bank card, you can use your snap card, or you can upload cash onto your bizarre card, much like you would at the laundromat.

We're hoping to connect with our Oklahoma producers, so our farmers here in Oklahoma to be able to provide a market for them.

Started in 2012 trip to Indonesia and living with the farmers overseas.

And so I want to kind of connect those two bubbles together to create something that would be more in the farmers' favor and the community itself.

It's to provide healthy food at a non-profit cost in an area that is considered to be a food desert.

On top of that, we have a mission to make sure our children do not go without food.

So the bazaar is prepared to feed one free meal per child for all 450 students that go to school in the Dawson neighborhood, K through 12.

It's just going to be a much needed connection point for the community.

This is phase one currently in this project.

And phase one is the grocery store and the food trucks.

We are trying to decrease our carbon footprint.

So our store we ran completely on solar energy.

Our packaging will be biodegradable packaging.

Our bags will be cloth bags that will be reusable.

They have applied and received ARPA funding.

I chose to use 500,000 of the district three funds to help with infrastructure.

I think it will be life-changing.

Having good healthy access to food at a reasonable price in this community will be a game changer.

So it really provides a sense of ownership of belonging that this is the Dawson neighborhood market.

Team Johnson is working to defend their title against aluminum and steel cans.

Bob, most people think of the kitchen for this opponent.

But aluminum and steel cans like empty shaving cream cans also play extremely well in bathrooms all over Tulsa.

That is nothing but bin, Bob.

Wow, right into the bin.

King Johnson has buttoned up another win.

Score big by recycling your aluminum and steel cans.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

The project is Flet Rock Creek, and that is a partnership with the Tulsa Housing Authorities 36 North.

And so it will be as some would like to call it the Turkey Mountain of North Tulsa.

This project will provide biking and walking trails, connection with nature.

Very excited about the possibility of having a fishing pond.

Having access to all of these amenities in this area is going to be huge for the entire area of North Tulsa.

The need is great.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we head downtown to explore the boom, an era when Tulsa soared upward on steel and ambition.

Fueled by oil money and optimism, the city's skyline became a canvas for architects, artisans, and entrepreneurs who believed there was no limit to what Tulsa could be.

From grand hotels to gleaming towers, the Art Deco designs of the 1920s and 30s reflect a city at the height of its confidence.

Let's take a closer look at four iconic landmarks from Tulsa's golden age.

First, the Philcade and the Phil Tower, two masterpieces born of oil and vision, commissioned by oil magnate Wade Phillips.

These buildings were designed to complement one another inside and out.

The Phil Tower, completed in 1928, blends gothic revival with Art Deco, rising 24 stories with ornate terracotta detailing and a signature green tile roof.

Just across the street, the Philcade opened in 1931, flaunting pure Art Deco glamour from its gilded lobby to its geometric flourishes.

Together, they form a striking architectural dialogue, capturing both the romance and the reality of the oil boom.

Next, the Minx Adams Hotel, once the social centerpiece of downtown Tulsa, built in 1927, the hotel was a symbol of prosperity and polish with Italian Renaissance styling, intricate terracotta, and a two-story grand ballroom.

During the oil boom, it welcomed dignitaries, deal makers, and dreamers from all over the world.

It blends historic elegance with modern energy.

An enduring tribute to Tulsa's roaring 20s.

Rising above fourth in Boston is one of downtown Tulsa's most striking silhouettes, the Cosden Building, now known as the Mid Continent Tower.

The original 16-story structure was a symbol of oil boom ambition.

Commissioned by oilman Joshua Cosden, a man often called the Prince of Petroleum.

Originally completed in 1918, its most eye-catching chapter came decades later, when in 1984, an extraordinary engineering feat nearly doubled its height.

Rather than demolish the original structure, architects and engineers built a 20-story tower directly above it, cantilevered over the historic building with a hidden steel frame.

The result is a seamless blend of past and present, a modern high rise perched atop a century-old skyscraper, mirroring its style so perfectly, it's often mistaken as a single, unified design.

Today, the Mid Continent Tower stands as a testament, not just to Tulsa's architectural legacy, but to its visionary spirit, where preservation and progress rise side by side.

These iconic buildings remind us of a time when Tulsa was growing fast, thinking big, and laying the foundation for the city we know today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

So we identified some funding resources.

75,000 from Vision Allocated Funds for District 8, which I get to represent.

And then I, with a map out of the District 7 community development funds for 150,000 total.

And then 100,000 from the city's general fund, which will be used to repair the inlets to bring those inlets up to grade and to smooth out the ride for all of us on Memorial.

Thank you for everyone's patience as we identified this new funding source to now elevate the drainage for our stormwater drains and to smooth out the road.

I think you'll find a smoother ride as you head north or south on South Memorial Drive in South Tulsa.

After a very short time frame for construction, we'll have smooth lanes, just as I think the vast majority of our constituents want.

This summer, I think we'll finally get to a place where it's smooth sailing, no more dips in the road, and no potholes.

I'd like to say thank you.

We cannot have the equipment that we have without the support of Tulsa's tax uh payers.

All of the trucks that the Tulsa Fire Department uh buy, we keep them consistent with one manufacturer.

So that allows us to ensure that our fleet mechanics know exactly what they're working on.

Daily checks and maintenance and keeping these vehicles in tip top shape really provides effective response, but it also ensures that everyone, it's public, firefighters, and the community as a whole are safe when we're operating in the areas.

Some of the important things to look for are how body panels are fit, how the paint is, is it durable?

You want to make sure it's gonna last because this is the city's investment.

Uh for 10 plus years.

We want to get as much out of this truck as we can.

Right behind our people, this is the most expensive thing that we purchase.

From the time we design and purchase uh an engine is 36 months.

We want consistency to buy a certain number each year to replace um a certain number of engines, certain number of ladders and specialty units every year.

These trucks are kind of a final evolution in probably three versions that we've built over the last four or five years.

We like a little bit shorter length.

Um, it's a little bit easier to move within apartment complexes and and some of our two-lane South Tulsa roads.

This is a point of pride for the fire department, and the firefighters that are assigned to this vehicle will take care of it, inspect it and ensure it's working.

They're passionate about that work.

Investment up front equals quality and safety over time.

Ensures that uh we have readiness and readiness is the most important part for us is having the ability to receive the alarm quickly and get out the door, having confidence in that equipment, making sure it's ready to go and that it performs effectively is key to saving lives and property.

Starting in 2024 and continuing over the next four years, the city of Tulsa will start installing new automated water meters at more than 145,000 residential locations across the city.

The program is known as True Reads.

While the City of Tulsa has had a reliable process for reading and changing out water meters for many years, automated meter reading technology has improved to the point that it now makes financial and operational sense to make the switch.

These new meters will minimize property access needs, control meter reading costs, cause fewer employee injuries, eliminate estimated bills, and deploy more environmentally friendly technology.

While there isn't much you need to do, we do want you to be aware that work will happen in your yard sooner or later.

Before contractors even touch that meter in your yard, you will have advanced notification and day of notification.

First, the city will maintain a regularly updated online map showing neighborhoods where meters are currently being installed.

That map can be found online at cityoftulsa.org forward slash true reads.

Second, one to two weeks before your meters installed, a door hanger with more information will be left on your door.

And finally, the day of your meter installation, you will be personally contacted by the contractor with a knock on your door.

While your meters being changed, you will be briefly without water for a maximum of 30 minutes.

And once crews are finished, all we ask is that you run your water for a few minutes to build pressure back up in your lines.

And that's because any time water is turned off, there is a chance your system will lose some pressure and you could see cloudy water until it's restored.

Lastly, while contractors work to swap your meter out, they'll also perform what's known as a lead service line inspection.

Lead, which is a toxic metal that was used in plumbing materials in the past, can cause adverse health effects.

Well, we don't think there are many, if any lead service lines remaining in our system, we do want to find, document, and remove any lead that may be left in our system.

As part of the automated meter reading installation process, crews will do a quick check of the service line material and results of that lead inspection will be made available on the online map.

For more information and to see a detailed list of frequently asked questions about the process, along with the map that we mentioned earlier.

Visit city of Tulsa.org forward slash true reads.

We have a ton of strays in the city limits of Tulsa, and a lot of people just see them as strays that you know they might just be on the streets forever.

They still deserve every chance that a dog has that is owned or cared for.

The most important part to me for this job is to, you know, build a relationship with the community.

If your dog doesn't have a doghouse or it needs a tie out to where it can't get loose, I want them to feel comfortable enough to come to us to where we can give them those resources.

We're not here to just write you tickets or you know, take your dog.

We're here to give you the resources that the community needs to be able to let you keep your dog.

Because a lot of times the dog can be a big part of your family and for your kids and everything.

We're not here to just take those animals.

We're here to give you those resources, give you dog food, cat food, anything that you need to let you keep your dog in the best way that you can.

Come on, Tweedy.

I think a lot of people don't realize if there's a stray baby goat, if there's a pig, we have to go get those animals.

And sometimes it can get a little hairy, you know.

If you're trying to wrangle a pig and you're chasing it, sometimes it gets a little crazy, but it definitely makes it fun.

Good girl.

We're here, you know, 24 7 to help the community.

Those are the relationships that I want to build with the community to know that we're here for them.

We're here to care for them and their animals.

Being an animal welfare is not just for the animals, it's for the people just as much as the animals.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore the church.

A story written not in brick alone, but in belief, community, and truthfully bold design.

In Tulsa's cathedral district, rising spires and stained glass tell the story of a city shaped by faith and architecture.

These houses of worship reflect both spiritual devotion and the ambition of a growing city.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic sacred spaces.

First, the Boston Avenue Methodist Church, a national landmark of Art Deco architecture.

Completed in 1929, this church broke from tradition with its vertical lines, abstract ornamentation, and innovative design by architect Bruce Goff and artist Ado Robinson.

From its soaring central tower to its streamlined detailing.

The building blends modernism with reverence.

It's not just one of Tulsa's greatest architectural achievements, it's one of the most important art deco churches in the country.

Next, the Holy Family Cathedral, the spiritual heart of Tulsa's Catholic community, built in 1914 in the neoclassical style.

The cathedral's masonry walls and steel framed spires are faced with stone and brick.

The 251 feet tall main spire is faced with four large clocks.

And its design evokes the great European cathedrals as one of the oldest churches in Tulsa.

Holy Family is more than a place of worship.

It's a foundation stone in the city's story.

And finally, at the corner of 11th and Boulder stands First Methodist Church, the third home for a congregation, whose story stretches back to Tulsa's earliest days.

Founded in 1886, the church built a modest white chapel.

And as the city expanded, so did the congregation.

First into a red brick church at Ninth and Boulder, then in 1921, into this grand structure that still welcomes worshippers today.

Built in the perpendicular Tudor Gothic style.

The church's design draws the eye heavenward with pointed arches and vaulted ceilings.

An architectural expression of reverence.

Its cruciform layout, a cross shape anchors the building in Christian tradition.

A symbol that this church, like its people, is grounded in faith.

These churches remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built with industry and ambition, but with faith, artistry, and community at its core.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

One hundred years ago, the Spavanaugh Water Project transformed the future of Tulsa.

In 1924, Tulsa embarked on one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country with a goal of getting clean, reliable water to the city.

In the early 1900s, Tulsons used water from springs, wells, and the Arkansas River, which was full of gypsum, salt, and silt.

People used to say that after you took a bath, you dried off, and then you're dusted off.

In 1908, during a hunting trip, a group of influential Tulsans came upon Spavanock Creek, a crystal clear spring-fed stream.

In the summer of 1921, the City Water Commission hired 28-year-old civil engineer W.

R.

Hallway to conduct surveys to determine if Spavanock Creek water could be brought to Tulsa by gravity flow.

In his report on October 24th, Hallway confirmed this was possible.

And a month later, the citizens of Tulsa passed a $6,800,000 bond issue by an overwhelming margin to fund the Spavanaugh Water Supply Project.

Hallway was hired to design and build what was one of the largest water projects in the nation.

Construction took two years to complete.

At a cost of seven and a half million dollars, Spavanaugh Dam is two-thirds of a mile long, five stories high, and impounds eight and a half billion gallons of water in Spavanaugh Lake.

When first built, the reservoir became the largest lake in the state of Oklahoma.

Water from Spavanaugh flows by gravity to the city of Tulsa, 54 miles away.

This original flow line was the longest raw water mine in the United States at the time of construction.

Over its length, the pipeline drops by an elevation of only 90 feet.

Crosses under two rivers, over eight creeks, and tunnels through a 200-foot-tall ridge.

On November 17, 1924, Tulsons lifted glasses of clean and clear water to toast the completion of the Spavanaugh water system.

After construction was complete, Hallway allowed the Tulsa mayor to put his final $15,000 paycheck in a bottle to float through the flow line where he caught it as it came out at Mohawk.

Today, the city of Tulsa provides an average of 105 million gallons of refreshing award-winning water to over 650,000 customers in and around the Tulsa metropolitan area every day.

In 1924, the Tulsa World wrote, oil may have built Tulsa in the past, but Spavanaugh water will be the product by which the future will be built.

Because this is a sparsely populated area, there was no development that was occurring out here.

It was important that we try and figure out how to activate this corridor for future development.

And I think by doing this, we've created a place where small developers or even larger developers can look at this and it be an attractive place to spur growth and development.

I think it's important that when we invest in ourselves, investors will invest in us.

When we first brought this issue to the attention of our district, everyone was a little bit overwhelmed by the fact that we had citizens that didn't have the basic necessity.

Most of us, when we turn on our water, we expect that Clean Clear water is going to come out of our faucet.

Everybody got behind this initiative.

So thank you for going down this journey with us and making sure that we invest in our district and its future potential.

Art One, or alternate response team one is a co-response model, and it is a team that is staffed with two individuals, a firefighter paramedic who is trained in crisis intervention, and a COPS clinician from Family and Children's Services.

And so the Copes Clinician is a licensed professional counselor, and the TFD paramedic is someone who has had extra training in mental health and de-escalation techniques.

And this unit responds to mental or behavioral health crisis calls throughout the city of Tulsa.

Art One is able to respond to any age individual in crisis.

And we do see a big need in the 18 to 45 range.

We also know that about 20% of Art 1's responses are to unhoused individuals.

There's a lot of work being done, not just locally but nationally with addressing mental health.

We were out ahead of the game in regards to a lot of the other cities in America in trying to address our needs within our community.

How can we better serve it?

What we found was early on, we were seeing some of these people called 911 who just needed this assistance.

And so these programs were invented very early on to meet that need.

And it's proven to be so valuable when we look at the resource that Art One provides to the community with the ability to have a paramedic and provide a medical evaluation of someone who's in crisis to rule out any physical health needs along with that clinician to address the psychological needs of that individual who's in crisis.

Another big thing that Art 1 does is they've responded to what we call high utilizers or people who are calling 911 a lot and looking for help.

So Art 1 can also respond to those individuals and start social services.

So we're very big on addressing social determinants, which is education, employment, health care, social and community context.

We want to address those items to improve somebody's life situation.

The benefit of having family children's services along with us is that we have that clinician there.

They can schedule an appointment for that individual to go in and get checked.

When we're not able to accomplish that, we take that individual to what we call sometimes an alternate destination.

So they may go to a crisis care center or an urgent recovery center or somewhere where it's gonna best benefit that individual in that moment who's in crisis.

911 and public safety have done an incredible job of responding to an emergency incident, intervening and taking care of that situation.

But moving forward, we've got to find ways to continue that relationship with those individuals to make sure those needs are met.

And that's really where the follow-up piece comes in.

If a unit responds to an individual on Monday, a case manager is gonna follow up with them on Tuesday or Wednesday that week and make sure their needs are being met.

This is so important when you're talking about providing a continuum of care, meaning a care that just doesn't stop on that response, but it follows what that individual stays with them.

We can connect people very quickly to those resources, and we have that institutional knowledge to know what's the best resource for that person.

We can really begin to move the ball forward in helping our most vulnerable populations in Tulsa to be in better situations.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore cultural destinations.

The spaces where Tulsa came together to be entertained, inspired, and connected, whether through music, film, or storytelling.

These iconic venues have helped define Tulsa's cultural identity.

They reflect not only the city's love of the arts, but also its enduring commitment to preservation, creativity, and community.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most beloved cultural landmarks.

First, Canes Ballroom, where Western Swing was born and legends still take the stage.

Built in 1924, as a garage, Keynes was converted into a dance hall academy and soon became home to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

With its spring-loaded Napal dance floor, Neon Glow, an intimate stage.

Known as the Carnegie Hall of Western Swing, it remains a living piece of Tulsa's musical legacy.

Today, it continues to operate as one of the region's premier music venues, drawing national touring acts and loyal local crowds.

Next, Circle Cinema.

Tulsa's oldest operating movie theater and a hub for independent film.

Opened in 1928 as a silent movie theater, the circle has survived fires, closures, and shifting trends, but its mission remains the same to bring meaningful, thought-provoking cinema to the community.

Restored with care.

The theater blends historic charm with modern programming.

It's more than a place to see a film.

It's where Tulsa comes to think, discuss, and dream.

It regularly hosts screenings, film festivals, and community events, keeping its screens and conversations alive.

And finally, the Museum of Tulsa History, nestled in the heart of Woodward Park.

Located in a 1919 Italian Renaissance Revival Mansion, that was originally the home of oilmen and philanthropist Sam Travis.

The museum preserves Tulsa's collective memory through exhibits, archives, and artifacts.

One of the first grand residences in what became known as Tulsa's Millionaire Row.

The venue is surrounded by the blooming landscapes of Woodward Park.

This property is as much about reflection as celebration.

A place where the stories of Tulsa's neighborhoods, industries, and people are honored and shared.

The museum hosts rotating exhibits, lectures, and public programs that invite the community to engage directly with Tulsa's past.

These venues remind us that history isn't only built in stone or steel.

It's also written in cheers, laughter, and applause and the stories we pass on.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

Alternate Response Team 2 is a very innovative program.

So Art 2 is staffed with two sworn firefighter paramedics who are community paramedicine trained, which means they have extra training in mental health, they have extra training in taking care of wound management.

We have basically stuck a hypothetical fire station right in the center of downtown Tulsa and said any medical call that comes in within the IDL or downtown Tulsa, Art 2 will respond to.

They will also respond and provide outreach services and wellness checks for unhouse population within the IDL.

So when they're not on a run, when they're not providing medical coverage, they're out there making sure people are as healthy as they possibly can be.

They provide blood pressure checks, they check pulse rates.

Whether you're a house or homeless, it doesn't really matter.

Do you have the medications that you need to manage your health conditions?

They provide water on hot days, they make sure you're warm on cold days.

And R2 coordinates very well with our community partners, making sure that we're coordinating our efforts with everyone else.

The impact they've had has been significant.

And I believe the reason is they take the extra time to spend with individuals.

As soon as they're done with that call, they're gonna go over there and have conversations with people and say, hey, are you working with somebody right now?

Do you have a plan?

If not, we can help you coordinate that effort.

We can get you help you get housing.

We can help you get food.

What we love about the Tulsa Fire Department and what this program has been able to do is we work with everybody within the community.

So we're utilizing every resource that we have within the city of Tulsa to get the best outcomes for these individuals.

It does have that follow-up mechanism very much like Art 1 and CRT, where the buck doesn't stop at the call.

Someone's staying with them, someone who has been unhoused for five years, had some history with alcohol, and they stayed with this individual, built rapport and started with just outreach, just having conversations and sticking with him.

Walked him through the steps, filled out housing applications with him, made sure the gaps were filled in service delivery.

After five years, this person's house now.

They've actually got a dog living within their apartment.

I mean, the best that we've ever seen them and living their best lives.

And that's really our hope through these programs is we can help facilitate that.

Whenever I pull up a heat map, we continue to see some of our greatest responses in the downtown area.

And when we begin to dive into what that looks like and why so, we do see unhoused population in the downtown area, and we see a great response to there.

We've been able to determine a lot of information that we didn't know before.

Busy times of the day, demographics that we're responding to, and really focus our approach into helping those individuals and really meeting those needs where they're at.

We want to provide what we call a community health needs assessment with R2 and really determine hey, when this unit's gonna go, they're gonna ask more questions than maybe you would traditionally see on a fire tracker and angle's response.

They're gonna get into depth of what's going on with that individual.

You know, that call came in as a chest pain, but what was it really?

I do talk to a lot of different departments across the U.S.

And so we're seeing cities want to adopt this.

There is models that are similar, but they've not had the impact.

And I think that the difference you see is R2 is able to respond to real-time 911 calls in place of other apparatus, but they also provide those other social services that are really critical to getting the outcomes you need.

All these units, whether it's CRT, ART 1 or ART 2, they're able to let law enforcement, ambulances, fire trucks go back in service to be ready to respond to fires, critical emergencies, and let these units spend the extra time with people in mental health crisis or unhoused populations and not rush that.

You don't want to rush those situations.

You want to spend the extra time.

I believe very strongly that R2 is a model for the future.

Right now it's just in downtown Tulsa.

I see this as something that you could really implement citywide.

You don't see this anywhere else in America.

So I'm excited because I love when we are able to push the bar forward and really set an example on a national stage, and that's exactly what we're doing with R2.

Hi, I'm Sherry Carrier, director of Tulsa Animal Services.

I want to take a moment to share a little bit about the incredible work happening behind these doors.

Every single day, our team is here, taking in lost, abandoned, and injured animals, giving them the care that they need, and working hard to find safe and loving homes.

It's easy to think that this is just a city service.

But behind the scene are real people.

People who love animals and pour their hearts into this work.

Even on our toughest days.

We're proud to say it's making a difference.

Our save rate has jumped from 67% in 2018 to nearly 80% today.

Thanks to adoptions, foster homes, and the incredible support of our community.

One of the biggest lifesavers, spam neuter.

Preventing unwanted litters means fewer animals entering our shelters and more resources for every pet who needs us.

Thank you for standing with us.

Together, we're creating a safer, more compassionate Tulsa for animals.

Recycling red is easy, but do you know what happens when you don't think before you throw and contaminate your blue recycling cart?

The city of Tulsa produces 450 tons of contaminated waste per month.

That's almost 5500 tons per year that will now be going straight to the landfill.

To put into perspective how much waste that is, it's equivalent to 250 golden driller statues.

Think before you throw and keep recycling clean and waste free.

For more information about the correct way to recycle, please visit Tulsa Recycles.com.

The Tulsa Professional Connector Program will help you build a professional network and get in touch with highly networked individuals and professionals in your field of expertise.

To learn more, visit our webpage and contact us.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore river views, the grand homes that overlook the Arkansas River and reflect Tulsa's lasting connection to its natural landscape.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic riverside estates.

First, Harweldon Mansion, Tulsa's storybook manor, overlooking the Arkansas River, built in 1923 by Oilman Earl Harwell.

This English Tudor style estate blends gothic arches and hand-carved detailing.

The exterior facade consists of brick, stone window surrounds, balustrade and stone coins at the corners leading up to the slate roof.

Inside, the home featured custom furnishings, a music room, and one of the city's earliest residential elevators.

Today, Harweldon operates as a cultural and event center, welcoming guests from around the world for weddings, concerts, and arts programming all with a river view.

Next, the Lee Clinton House, an understated gem tucked into the curves of Riverside Drive.

Constructed in 1919, this elegant colonial revival home belonged to civic leader and businessman Lee Clinton, founder of Union National Bank, and co-founder of the Tulsa Stockyards, along with oil man William G.

Skelly.

With its classical detailing and perfectly manicured grounds, the home reflects quiet confidence and refined taste.

Privately owned and beautifully preserved.

And finally, the Dresser Mansion, where Italian Renaissance flair meets Tulsa's oil era opulence.

Built in 1919 for oil executive Carl Dresser.

This mansion draws on Mediterranean design with arched logias, ornate ironwork, and a red tile roof.

Designed for entertaining, the home once hosted lavish parties with views stretching across the river valley, now restored and used as a venue.

Dresser Mansion continues to host celebrations, echoing its original purpose as a home made for gathering.

The Arkansas River shaped Tulsa's growth and offered a scenic corridor for some of the city's most remarkable residences.

These iconic properties remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built, it was carefully placed with beauty, nature, and legacy in mind.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

The trail system at Bale Park opened in the fall of 2022 after a hundred and ninety thousand dollar donation.

You know that for decades, the West Side has geographically been cut off from many amenities and services.

But this new trail system is a part of a grassroots effort to improve the quality of life for Tulsons right here on the West Side, especially near Bells Park.

This trail also serves the wider Tulsa community by providing beginner level trails for those who are new to mountain biking, as well as a downhill bike only section for intermediate riders.

And Turkey Mountain is right next door.

Our Bales Park trails are amazing.

People come, park your car, get out, enjoy the trails.

There's not much traffic.

So I want you to come out and enjoy the park here at Bables.

It's building confident cyclists and great Tulsans through community engagement.

We do a third grade bike PE program where we're there for four days doing a condensed bike club curriculum where we're teaching them safety practices and skill building.

The after school program generally operates for fourth and fifth graders and in middle school.

Fundraising and the kind people that give us dollars to operate allows us to offer all these programs free to the district and free to the kids.

We'll have offices, a classroom for training, workshops, team building, and then we'll also be able to host our volunteers here.

We really see a secondary use as a community spot.

Other community partners can come out here, do some training, team buildings.

We love Bell's Park, and the best is yet to come.

Every year around the 4th of July, our shelter fills up with pets who ran off during fireworks.

Most of them live just a few houses away from where they're found.

That's why Tulsa Animal Services partnered with Tulsa Fire to bring microchip scanners to every fire station in our city.

If you find a lost pet, you can now stop by any Tulsa Fire Station and ask a firefighter to scan for a microchip.

No shelter visit required.

The scanner will show a chip number that can help you contact the owner directly through an online lookup system.

Most pets aren't truly lost.

They just need a little help getting home.

This partnership helps us keep animals in their neighborhoods where they belong.

Our fire stations are already part of the community.

This is one more way we're stepping up to keep Tulsa families two-legged and four-legged safe and together.

Because the best place for a pet is home.

TFB CARES stands for community assistance referrals and educational services.

Really seeks to connect 911 high utilizers and vulnerable populations to those critical community resources to help improve the lives of individuals within our community.

And the University of Tulsa did a study on CARES back in 2017, and from January to March, we had about a 70% reduction in 911 usage by connecting vulnerable populations in our community to social determinants of health.

And our scope and scale has grown.

We are now working with local community partners, whether it's hospitals, behavioral health partners, or other vital community resources to really connect individuals to those services.

We get referrals in from all different kinds of partners, whether it's hospitals, the fire department, sometimes the police department or the aimless service in town.

And I think what makes TFD Care's really strong and really a great program is we're connected and integrated with all the community support structures in place.

We have two very good case managers that really navigate these community resources.

We'll address those social determinants of health.

We'll create goals off of that.

And we utilize a system called gelatin to communicate and connect with all those community partners, and it helps us to kind of capture our workflow and the work that's being completed.

But our case managers, they stay with those clients until those needs are met.

They're working with them, they're navigating things like hand bars, wheelchair ramps, food insecurity, medication adherence.

They also help with individuals who are not currently housed.

We also send a firefighter paramedic or a community paramedic to the home and they'll try to make that home safer and they'll work with those residents or those community members to make sure that their home is a safer place to live, that they're reducing falls, reducing injuries, and ultimately having better health outcomes.

We thought was very important moving forward in the growth of this program, being an extension of the hospitals and helping firefighters reduce those 911 calls.

One thing we're really proud of with TFD CARES is their impact that they're making and the results because that's what matters to us.

How are we improving that individual's life?

And so TFT CARES has been able to reduce 911 utilization by 80%.

We've been tracking this data through Gelata since 2023.

We're getting help to those individuals in need.

About 52% of the time, we're able to take care of those needs within two weeks.

We're trying to use this information in different parts of Tulsa to be more proactive in helping our citizens and our community members.

The benefit is incredible, and as we continue to try to address root cause issues, why is that individual calling 911?

Programs like TFD cares answer that call and they get to those root cause issues and help improve that person's life.

The overdose response team was created to address a prevalent community need in Tulsa, and that's overdoses.

We've seen opiates causing a lot of havoc within our community, not just in Tulsa or Oklahoma, but really nationally.

Public safety, whether it's fire and police are responding to right around eight to ten overdose calls a day.

We created a specialized team that has a community paramedic along with a peer recovery support specialist or someone with lived experience to respond to real-time overdose calls and provide follow-up to individuals who have overdose within our community.

So the lived experienced individual, that's someone who has used some sort of substance in the past and recovered.

I was very excited to be a part of it.

And I still am, I love it.

It's probably my favorite day out of the week because it's a chance for me to give back to the community that I came from.

I've been in recovery for five years from drugs and I haven't drank in like 10 years.

I came from a pretty tough background, lots of trauma growing up.

Gotten trouble a lot as a kid, been homeless, I've been part of domestic violence and everything from alcohol to prescription opiates to methamphetamine.

So when I first got clean, I decided I wanted to be a part of the movement for recovery.

And I got into working at a drug and alcohol treatment center for several years, and I really loved it.

And what that gives us is the ability for someone to really connect on a personal level and say, hey, I've been in a similar situation before, but I've recovered.

So the overdose response team is meant to complement the current infrastructure we have in place that will go identify individuals who have overdosed, build rapport, connect to services, and stay with them until they've gotten the help they need.

Are you on a housing list?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

How long have you been on it?

With the interactions that we've made, we're slowly building relationships with people through outreach.

I think there's a trust there that some programs don't get.

Thank you.

This is a model that has worked in other cities.

We went and looked in specifically San Antonio.

Oklahoma City implemented this program in August 2023 to address these needs.

And what these previous communities have found is they're able to get people help earlier in the substance addiction than they were previously.

We do emphasize the harm reduction supplies and the hands-on CPR and some of that education because we're very passionate about giving someone another chance to get it right.

And so the harm reduction boxes to complement our overdose response team.

We put those boxes in areas of our community where we see the most overdoses.

And so we have these at a couple fire stations, easy access to Narcan Leave Behind kits, as well as fentanyl test strips, and education pamphlets.

We want to prevent someone from losing their life.

And our hope is that we're playing a role in that by giving out Narcan and test strips and things that people might need so they uh have a chance to stay alive.

You don't gain recovery by force.

You've got to want it for it to be successful.

So we're just there to help guide that situation and keep people safe for as long as we can.

I think another part of it is people seeing us out and about all the time in these areas.

They know that if they wave us down, we'll stop.

We'll give them whatever it is that they need, even if it's just somebody to listen to them.

And so I think that can build a bridge with certain members in our community to sit there and say, hey, you know, we're just here to lend a helping hand.

It helps to humanize the situation, I think.

You got this?

All right.

And that's something we're very passionate about is continuing to move that ball forward with these individuals and making sure they know this is the things available to help you, and we can help walk alongside you during that process.

But we'll also do follow-ups with them with their family, see if we can connect them to resources or get them to treatment or get them harm reduction supplies, whatever it is that they need is what we're there to do.

And whenever anybody's asked us for help, we've been there and we'll help them.

I would say we're continuing to address this issue within our community and really make sure we're providing resources, whether that's response, somewhere to go.

We want to make sure that we have the best system in America here in Tulsa.

The NCI pilot program is all about empowering neighborhoods.

We're giving communities tools, resources, and the confidence they need to take charge and create real meaningful change.

Neighborhood associations, local leaders, and neighbors come together with city departments to identify their top needs and then build a plan to tackle them.

We started by looking at the NCI reports and identifying the neighborhoods with the highest priority needs.

It established a cross-departmental task force, got together with them and looked at the resources we could provide the neighborhoods.

These departments that we worked with were police department, animal services, code enforcement, and public works.

Suburban Hills was a perfect fit for this program.

Their participation shows just how much this community values growth and togetherness.

The city has helped a lot.

It's full of resources and guidance, and they're still there for me if I need them.

The Sequoia neighborhood shines through this program.

They set ambitious goals, work together, and they achieved every single one of them.

Now they have the skills and momentum to keep pushing their community forward.

Just seeing some neighbors and residents really engage in the process.

They were the ones that championed going out into the neighborhood, passing out information, doing door hangers, knocking on doors, and that allowed us to have a little bit more sense of what was really going on in the broader community.

The Charles Peach neighborhood has been an inspiring part of this pilot.

They're building the kind of community they want to live in.

The neutering and spay program, that was a huge success.

The neighborhood cleanup was a huge success.

I'm so grateful that we still have them as we move forwards.

Once you build the partnerships with the city, they're going to continue with us.

The city departments involved worked hard.

The neighborhoods worked hard.

We couldn't have done it without their support and their involvement.

Together, we're creating neighborhoods where every voice matters, and every bluff has a strong story worth telling.

Street lights play a huge role in keeping our roads and our neighborhoods safe.

Most of our residential and arterial street lights in Tulsa are owned and maintained by PSO.

The city pays PSO a monthly fee for this service.

Freeway and highway lights are different.

They're owned and maintained by the city of Tulsa.

Those are installed by Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and after they're done with the construction, they turn them over to the local municipalities.

Those are our responsibility within our city limits.

There's about 6,000 highway lights.

With 6,000 light poles in the air, every time there's a lightning swarm or anything that comes through, you have 6,000 lightning rods that if lightning hits, it will take out one or multiple poles.

We have cars that run into them during winter weather, during uh rain events, in addition to people trying to steal the wiring.

Repair timelines depend upon severity and location of the damage and crews respond based upon safety priorities.

We focus on large stretch of lights, not one individual light being out, but with 6,000 lights, we try to go and get the most lights restored that we can.

We're in the process of replacing all the lighting in the entire city.

And as part of that, we're also not only going to convert the LED, but we're also adding a control system.

So that will give us feedback.

If the lighting is out, it will send an alarm back to us and we'll be able to dispatch someone.

And the old technology that we had, the only way to find out if lights are out is to go drive and physically look at the lights, and that requires a lot of drive time, a lot of extra effort on top of maintaining them.

So with this LED change out, a lot of that's gonna improve our response time and ability to know what's out at any time.

PSO is also adding sensors to residential and arterial street lights.

You can also request new street lights for your neighborhood by contacting 311.

If funding is available, and at least three of the four nearby property owners agree, PSO will design and install the new street light.

If your neighborhood uses custom polls, you will need to cover the upgrade cost and future maintenance.

Street lights matter for safety and our community.

If you see an outage, please take time to report it.

Thank you.

Today, as Tulsa Transit continues to evolve, we're excited to share a significant chapter in our journey.

Enter the era of Aero, where the bus rapid transit takes center stage.

The Peoria Aero BRT transformative force has doubled ridership connecting Tolson's to progress and prosperity.

Look ahead to the planned Route 66 BRT line, set to redefine our city's transit network, reducing travel time and enhancing the way Tolsans navigate their city.

Celebrate with us as we mark a significant milestone, two million riders in 2023.

The community echoes with the voices of riders, employees, and partners, each contributing to the vibrant life that is Tulsa Transit.

Anticipation builds as we proudly unveil our new names.

Say hello to Metrolink Tulsa, your main bus service, along with MicroLink and Link Assist.

As MetroLink Tulsa evolves and finds new ways to serve residents, witness the joy of riders boarding Metrolink Tulsa, realizing our mission to safely link people, places, and communities in Oklahoma.

What is zoning?

Zoning requirements stain how people can use land in certain areas.

In order to use the land in a different way, the owner needs to get permission from the city.

TMAPC handles zoning changes, subdivisions, and comprehensive plan amendments.

After filling out the proper application, Tulsa Planning Office staff will check to make sure everything is in order.

They then assign the application a case number and pass it to the planning commission with a recommendation on what to do.

Any rezoning application requires notice to the public in the form of posted signs, a newspaper section, and mail notice to the property owners within 300 feet of the lot.

The application fee covers these costs, and the planning office sends the notifications out.

The notices must be mailed, posted, and published at least 20 days before its appearance before the planning commission.

TMAPC then holds a public hearing.

Applicants may be called to the podium to speak.

And the interested parties are allowed to give public comments for or against the request.

The application appears on council agendas three times.

The first appearance is at the council's committee meetings.

The planning commission staff gives and explains a recommendation based on the application's consistency with policy and intent of the comprehensive plan.

Counselors and planning office staff are the only ones permitted to participate in discussion, but the public is permitted to view and attend the meeting.

The next appearance is at the City Council's 5 p.m.

council meeting.

Another public hearing is held to give an opportunity for citizen input before the council vote.

The applicant is again allowed to make a presentation.

The city council then votes to either approve the application, approve it with modifications, or deny it.

In most cases, the application needs a simple majority to pass.

If the application passes, it then appears at the following city council meeting as an ordinance reflecting council vote to implement the decision.

Hey Tulsa, welcome back to the top recycling play of the day.

Team Johnson is facing off against a tough competitor, plastic.

Don't trust those numbers on the bottom.

You have to stick to what you know.

Only bottles and jugs found in the kitchen, bath, or laundry.

They're quick to pick up and empty those bottles before sinking that shot.

Always empty your bottles before recycling.

Score big by recycling your plastic bottles and jugs.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

The Canis Latrans, also known as the coyote, coyote, or prairie wolf, has been spotted in all areas of Tulsa.

Coyotes migrated to the Tulsa area beginning in the early 20th century, when forest fragmentation and the extermination of larger predators like red and gray wolves led to their spread eastward.

Many strategies have been tried to rid urban areas of coyotes, but the effort is often costly and ineffective.

Coyotes are notoriously hard to catch and don't survive relocation.

Any area cleared of coyotes will quickly be repopulated.

Coyotes do provide an essential role in the ecosystem by helping to control the rodent population.

They are predators of geese, squirrels, mice, moles, gophers, possums, and other small animals.

While rodents make up a majority of their diet, coyotes also feed on fish, insects, blueberries, apples, prickly pears, persimmons, peanuts, and carrots.

Although their diet includes a variety of foods, coyotes have been known to kill small pets.

The best way to protect pets is to avoid attracting coyotes near your home by following these four best practices.

Best practice number one, supervise pets.

While coyotes don't usually attack humans, your pets can be a target.

Coyotes may see large dogs as rivals and small dogs and cats as prey.

Always walk your dog on a leash.

Keep cats indoors.

Letting cats roam free is also a violation of City of Tulsa ordinances.

And the best way to protect your pets is to not leave them outside unattended, especially at dusk through dawn when coyotes are more active.

In some cases, coyotes can climb fences.

Best practice number two.

Remove food attractive.

Remove bowls of pet food.

Keep trash cans securely closed.

Pick up any fruit or nuts from your yard.

Best practice number three.

Remove possible shelters.

Eliminate places for a coyote to make a den, like access under a deck or large bushes.

Cut down any tall grass or brush that could provide shelter for coyotes.

Best practice number four.

Respond appropriately during encounters.

If you do encounter a coyote, stand your ground.

Don't turn your back or run away.

The coyote can reach speeds of 40 miles an hour.

Top speed of a human is 28 miles an hour.

Stay away from injured, cornered, or nursing coyotes.

Slowly back away.

Most importantly, use hazing techniques to discourage coyotes you come across.

Act large, yell, clap your hands, use a noisemaker, throw sticks at the coyote's feet, hit hands, etc.

Hazing helps keep wild animals wild as coyotes can become a nuisance or aggressive when they lose their fear of people.

If you see a coyote that seems aggressive, or if you have more questions, call a Tulsa County Game Warden with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

They can connect you with a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator.

Do not contact the Tulsa Animal Shelter as it does not handle wildlife issues.

By following best practices, you can help limit negative interactions between people, pets, and the urban wildlife we live alongside.

Do you know what happens to all of the waste we leave behind in our yards, driveways, and streets?

Runoff water carries all of the trash, chemicals, and other pollutants straight into our storm drains, which lead to miles and miles of pipes and drains right below our feet that drain directly into our rivers and streams.

Along the way, all of the trash, chemicals, and pollutants add up until even something small, like one cigarette butt, one oil spill, or one pile of leaves accumulates inside our drains and pipes and becomes a big problem, causing blockages in the system and pollution in our rivers and streams.

The waters we fish and play in.

The water that sustains our wildlife.

By protecting what goes into our drains, we can save our streams.

You and I can do our part together.

Situated south of downtown is one of Tulsa's most prestigious historic neighborhoods, Maple Ridge, adjacent to the iconic Woodward Park, grand 20th century homes, front tree-lined boulevards, timeless architectural styles and details tell the story of a city built on oil.

Let's take a closer look at three of Tulsa's most iconic homes.

One of Tulsa's most notable homes, this Georgian revival-style mansion, built in 1923, was home to William G.

Skelly, a prominent figure in Tulsa's oil and radio industries.

Skelly purchased this neoclassical house not long after it was constructed in 1924.

The three-story mansion is approximately 10,000 square feet, seated on a spacious wooded corner lot.

Exterior walls are composed of red brick masonry, and the home features a striking green tile roof.

The main feature of the ground floor is the long 40-foot dining room.

A large second floor veranda with iron rail and iron staircase offered access to the yard to entertain Skelly's elite guests.

The home remained in the Skelly family until 1968 and remains one of Tulsa's premier historical homes.

Nestled within the neighborhood stands a captivating model of early 20th century architecture.

Constructed in 1915, this two-story mission revival home was designed by esteemed architect Noble B.

Fleming, whose work significantly shaped Tulsa's architectural landscape during the oil boom era.

The home showcases hallmark features of the mission revival style.

The all-brick exterior, red tile roofing, and arched entryways are its defining characteristics.

Inside, the residence boasts original quarter sawn, oak mill work, intricate ceiling structures, and drawn glass windows that frame views of downtown Tulsa.

This residence not only embodies the elegance of its era, but also serves as a testament to the visionaries who propelled Tulsa into its golden age.

Another early land developer targeting oil producers and business elite was real estate developer Grant Stebbins.

A lucrative land offer attracted former Congressman Bird McGuire.

Mr.

and Mrs.

McGuire built their home in 1916 with native red sandstone, a notable Tulsa builder, John Blair designed the house using a Frank Lloyd Wright theory.

Mrs.

McGuire handpicked each stone.

The stately McGuire home was one of the first built in the new subdivision, and Tulsa's golden age of oil production and real estate development was off to the races.

The homes of Tulsa's barons remind us of a time when ambition and architecture rose together as living monuments to the city's bold beginnings.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shapes Tulsa, one historic property at a time.

Hey Tulsa, we have a crushing recycle play of the day for you.

Team Johnson versus Paper and Cardboard.

They're starting off slow today, probably trying to figure out what to do with those styrofoam plates since they're not recyclable.

There's the big play we were waiting for.

Boom!

Completely empty cardboard boxes dunked in the cart.

Score big by recycling your cardboard and paper.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

With every raindrop.

And every stream.

Water impacts the world around us every day.

We may not know it or even see it.

But all the little things we do can build up in a big, big way.

Together, we can make a difference.

A difference in our streams.

A difference in our water.

In our city.

Every yard, every street, every neighborhood is an opportunity to help protect our water, our wildlife, and our community.

You and I can do our part together, welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we visit one of Tulsa's most charming and distinctive neighborhoods, Swan Lake.

Nestled just east of downtown, the Swan Lake Historic District offers a peaceful oasis of early 20th century homes and elegant apartment buildings.

Centered around a tranquil pond that gives the neighborhood its name.

This area was once a streetcar suburb, a place where Tulsa's growing middle and upper middle class found escape from the hustle of the city.

Let's take a closer look at some of the district's most iconic properties.

These homes represent a time when thoughtful planning and picturesque design gave shape to a neighborhood unlike any other in the city.

At the heart of the Swan Lake neighborhood lies its namesake lake, a peaceful pond today, but once the centerpiece of a bustling amusement park in the early 1900s.

It quickly became a popular weekend destination for Tulsa families during the oil boom.

This man-made body of water was part of a private recreation area, complete with boat rides, a dance pavilion, and even a small zoo.

Though the amusements are long gone, the lake remains a serene reminder of a bygone era.

As Tulsa expanded, the demand for multi-unit housing grew.

In 1918, Samuel Augustus Orcutt responded to that need by constructing the first apartment building in what would become the Swan Lake Historic District.

This marked the beginning of Orcutt's development enterprise, which would shape the neighborhood for decades.

Thanks to his efforts, Swan Lake now boasts more apartment buildings from Tulsa's boom era, spanning the 1920s through the late 1930s than any other neighborhood in the city.

The Orcut apartments remain a cornerstone of Tulsa's shift toward urban living.

As Tulsa's oil industry boomed and oil fortune soared, areas like Swan Lake became havens for industry leaders, managers, and visionaries.

Standing proudly at the edge of the lake is 1583 Swan Drive, the first home built along Swan Lake, completed in 1919.

This stately Italian Renaissance residence was designed by Noble B.

Fleming, an architect from Kansas City whose work also includes Tulsa's beloved garden center at Woodward Park.

The home was commissioned by J.

M.

Hayner, president of the Monarch Royalty Company, a firm heavily involved in oil leasing and mineral rights during Tulsa's boom years.

As one of the first to settle on the lake, Hayner helped set the tone for a neighborhood that blended natural beauty with architectural grace.

From craftsman bungalows to classical revival and Tudor Revival, Swan Lake is a showcase of architectural grace, each street a reflection of Tulsa's early 1900s aspirations.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa, one historic property at a time!

Hey Tulsa, welcome back to the top recycling play of the day.

Team Johnson is facing off against one tough competitor.

Glass.

That's right, only glass bottles and jars are recyclable.

Don't even think about sinking a drinking glass or mirror.

Always good to empty your glass bottles and jars before recycling.

These two get it, emptying both bottles from far out.

And they remove the lids.

Score big by recycling your glass bottles and jars.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we journey east of downtown to explore two of Tulsa's most charming early 20th century neighborhoods, Yorktown and Gillette.

Developed during Tulsa's rapid post-oil boom growth, these districts were shaped by a rising middle class, oil workers, business owners, and civic leaders, who brought with them pride, ambition, and a love for craftsmanship.

Let's take a look at a few of the standout homes.

Our first stop is the illustrious Gillette Mansion.

Constructed in 1921, this three-story Gothic Tudor masterpiece was the residence of J.

M.

Gillette, an important merchant, real estate entrepreneur, an oil man, and the namesake of the surrounding Gillette Historic District.

Gillette cited his home outside the city limits.

The mansion grounds included a natural stone goldfish pond, handcrafted concrete tables and benches, and a clay tennis court.

Crafted with brick, stucco, and heavy timber.

The mansion boasts rock accents, multi-paned leaded glass windows set within cutstone gothic arches, and a slate roof.

Its grandeur stands as a testament to Tulsa's oil boom era and the architectural ambition it inspired.

Next, we visit 1731 South Yorktown Avenue, a charming Tudor-style duplex built in 1940.

This 1200 square foot residence reflects the architectural trends of the time.

With its brick facade and characteristic design elements, duplexes like this were often home to middle-class professionals, bank clerks, and laborers, drawn to the neighborhood's quiet streets and proximity to downtown.

It exemplifies the city's mid-century residential expansion, and the move towards more modest yet stylish, multifamily middle-class dwellings.

Our final feature is the Craftsman Bungalow, constructed in 1923.

This 1,700 square foot residence embodies the craftsman ethos with its emphasis on handcrafted woodwork and a welcoming front porch.

It offers a glimpse into the architectural preferences of Tulsa's residents, favoring functionality blended with aesthetic appeal.

The classic Craftsman Bungalow.

Houses like this typically sheltered young families and skilled tradespeople, offering an affordable yet stylish entry into homeownership.

Two classic neighborhoods from Tulsa's golden age.

Still alive today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa, one historic property at a time.

One historic property at a time.

The Tulsa Police Department is very concerned about the safety of our pedestrians.

On average, we have 200 collisions between an automobile and a pedestrian every single year.

Of those, a very high number results in injury or death.

This is a serious problem that impacts all of us.

And we can do our car in taking precautions and minimizing risk by using crosswalks and sharing the road with pedestrians.

The first thing is pedestrians can only cross the street in a designated crosswalk.

When you're in this crosswalk, pedestrians have the right of way.

One thing to keep in mind if you're lucky enough to find this, find yourself a button.

Push your button, these sides will illuminate, allowing you to then cross the street.

Secondly, pedestrians must walk along this sidewalk and not in the street.

If you're walking adjacent to the street and no sidewalk has been provided for you, you need to walk as close to the curb as possible while facing oncoming traffic.

Finally, blind pedestrians always have the right of way over all other pedestrians and vehicles.

Blind pedestrians must indicate this right of way by holding out horizontally a white cane in the direction they wish to travel.

The Tulsa Police Department takes this issue very seriously.

We are here to protect all citizens of Tulsa.

Any violation, particularly by motorists putting other Tulsons' lives at risk, you're gonna get a ticket.

Help us keep you from getting a ticket and help keep Tulson safe.

We all have a responsibility to share the road.

Together, we can be kind and make streets a safer place for everyone.

So my God grocery store has a very small footprint and it's specified for smaller communities.

It's membership based.

Those in the Dawson community will have a free membership.

For community members who are outside of Dawson, they can purchase a membership for a very nominal fee.

It is a cashless grocery, so that means that there will be no cash that transfers on site.

You can use your bank card, you can use your snap card, or you can upload cash onto your bizarre card, much like you would at the laundromat.

We're hoping to connect with our Oklahoma producers, so our farmers here in Oklahoma to be able to provide a market for them.

Started in 2012 trip to Indonesia and living with the farmers overseas.

And so I wanted to kind of connect those two bubbles together to create something that would be more in the farmers' favor and the community itself.

It's to provide healthy food at a non-profit cost in an area that is considered to be a food desert.

On top of that, we have a mission to make sure our children do not go without food.

So the bazaar is prepared to feed one free meal per child for all 450 students that go to school in the Dawson neighborhood, K through 12.

It's just going to be a much needed connection point for the community.

This is phase one currently in this project.

And phase one is the grocery store and the food trucks.

We are trying to decrease our carbon footprint.

So our store we ran completely on solar energy.

Our packaging will be biodegradable packaging.

Our bags will be cloth bags that will be reusable.

They have applied and received ARPA funding.

I chose to use 500,000 of the district three funds to help with infrastructure.

The main goal of this initiative is to restore humanity and to give life to these communities.

I think it will be life changing.

Having good, healthy access to food at a reasonable price in this community will be a game changer.

So it really provides a sense of ownership of belonging, that this is the Dawson neighborhood market.

Hey Tulsa, welcome back to the top recycling play of the day.

Team Johnson is working to defend their title against aluminum and steel cans.

Bob, most people think of the kitchen for this opponent.

But aluminum and steel cans like empty shaving cream cans also play extremely well in bathrooms all over Tulsa.

That is nothing but bin, Bob.

Wow, right into the bin.

King Johnson has buttoned up another win.

Score big by recycling your aluminum and steel cans.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

The project is Flet Rock Creek, and that is a partnership with the Tulsa Housing Authorities Sturdy Six North.

And so it will be as some would like to call it the Turkey Mountain of North Tulsa.

This project will provide biking and walking trails, connection with nature, very excited about the possibility of having a fishing pond, having access to all of these amenities, and this area is going to be new for the entire area of North Calculate.

The need is great.

It always has been when it comes to being able to safely exercise, walking by, and learn about nature.

I'm excited not only for the community as a whole, but particularly for the students.

There are several schools in the immediate area, and this could be an outdoor learning experience.

The future is very bright for this project when you consider the housing that is returning to the area.

Not only the apartments that are owned by the Tulsa Housing Authority, but also several hundred homes will be built in that immediate area as well.

And so having this amenity in the houses all in the same immediate area is very broad for this community.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we head downtown to explore the boom, an era when Tulsa soared upward on steel and ambition.

Fueled by oil money and optimism, the city's skyline became a canvas for architects, artisans, and entrepreneurs who believed there was no limit to what Tulsa could be.

From grand hotels to gleaming towers, the Art Deco designs of the 1920s and 30s reflect a city at the height of its confidence.

Let's take a closer look at four iconic landmarks from Tulsa's golden age.

First, the Philcade and the Phil Tower, two masterpieces born of oil and vision, commissioned by oil magnate Wade Phillips.

These buildings were designed to complement one another inside and out.

The Phil Tower, completed in 1928, blends gothic revival with Art Deco, rising 24 stories with ornate terracotta detailing and a signature green tile roof.

Just across the street, the Philcade opened in 1931.

Flaunting pure Art Deco glamour from its gilded lobby to its geometric flourishes.

Together, they form a striking architectural dialogue, capturing both the romance and the reality of the oil boom.

Next, the Minx Adams Hotel, once the social centerpiece of downtown Tulsa, built in 1927, the hotel was a symbol of prosperity and polish with Italian Renaissance styling, intricate terracotta, and a two-story grand ballroom.

During the oil boom, it welcomed dignitaries, deal makers, and dreamers from all over the world.

It blends historic elegance with modern energy.

An enduring tribute to Tulsa's roaring 20s.

Rising above fourth in Boston is one of downtown Tulsa's most striking silhouettes, the Cosden Building, now known as the Mid Continent Tower.

The original 16-story structure was a symbol of oil boom ambition.

Commissioned by oilman Joshua Cosden, a man often called the Prince of Petroleum.

Originally completed in 1918, its most eye-catching chapter came decades later, when in 1984, an extraordinary engineering feat nearly doubled its height.

Rather than demolish the original structure, architects and engineers built a 20-story tower directly above it, cantilevered over the historic building with a hidden steel frame.

The result is a seamless blend of past and present, a modern high-rise perched atop a century-old skyscraper, mirroring its style so perfectly, it's often mistaken as a single, unified design.

Today, the Mid Continent Tower stands as a testament.

Not just to Tulsa's architectural legacy, but to its visionary spirit, where preservation and progress rise side by side.

These iconic buildings remind us of a time when Tulsa was growing fast, thinking big, and laying the foundation for the city we know today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

So we identified some funding resources.

$75,000 from Vision allocated funds for District 8, which I get to represent.

And then I, with the math out of the District 7 community development funds for 150,000 total.

And then 100,000 from the city's general fund, which will be used to repair the inlets to bring those inlets up to grade and to smooth out the ride for all of us on Memorial.

Thank you for everyone's patience as we identified this new funding source to now elevate the drainage for our stormwater drains and to smooth out the road.

I think you'll find a smoother ride as you head north or south on South Memorial Drive in South Tulsa.

After a very short time frame for construction, we'll have smooth lanes, just as I think the vast majority of our constituents want.

All of the trucks that the Tulsa Fire Department buy.

We keep them consistent with one manufacturer.

Some of the important things to look for are how body panels are fit, how the paint is, is it durable?

You want to make sure it's gonna last because this is the city's investment for 10 plus years.

We want to get as much out of this truck as we can.

Right behind our people, this is the most expensive thing that we purchase.

From the time we design and purchase uh an engine is 36 months.

We want consistency to buy a certain number each year to replace um a certain number of engines, certain number of ladders and specialty units every year.

These trucks are kind of a final evolution in probably three versions that we've built over the last four or five years.

We like a little bit shorter length.

Um it's a little bit easier to move within apartment complexes and and some of our two-lane South Tulsa roads.

This is a point of pride for the fire department, and the firefighters that are assigned to this vehicle will take care of it, inspect it and ensure it's working.

They're passionate about that work.

Investment up front equals quality and safety over time.

Ensures that uh we have readiness and readiness is the most important part for us is having the ability to receive the alarm quickly, get out the door, having confidence in that equipment, making sure it's ready to go, and that it performs effectively is key to saving lives and property.

Starting in 2024 and continuing over the next four years, the City of Tulsa will start installing new automated water meters at more than 145,000 residential locations across the city.

The program is known as True Reads.

While the city of Tulsa has had reliable process for reading and changing out water meters for many years, automated meter reading technology has improved to the point that it now makes financial and operational sense to make the switch.

These new meters will minimize property access needs, control meter reading costs, cause fewer employee injuries, eliminate estimated bills, and deploy more environmentally friendly technology.

While there isn't much you need to do, we do want you to be aware that work will happen in your yard sooner or later.

Before contractors even touch that meter in your yard, you will have advanced notification and day of notification.

First, the city will maintain a regularly updated online map showing neighborhoods where meters are currently being installed.

That map can be found online at city of Tulsa.org forward slash true reads.

Second, one to two weeks before your meters installed, a door hanger with more information will be left on your door.

And finally, the day of your meter installation, you will be personally contacted by the contractor with a knock on your door.

While your meters being changed, you will be briefly without water for a maximum of 30 minutes.

And once crews are finished, all we ask is that you run your water for a few minutes to build pressure back up in your lines.

And that's because any time water is turned off, there is a chance your system will lose some pressure and you could see cloudy water until it's restored.

Lastly, while contractors work to swap your meter out, they'll also perform what's known as a lead service line inspection.

Lead, which is a toxic metal that was used in plumbing materials in the past, can cause adverse health effects.

While we don't think there are many, if any, lead service lines remaining in our system, we do want to find, document, and remove any lead that may be left in our system.

As part of the automated meter reading installation process, crews will do a quick check of the service line material and results of that lead inspection will be made available on the online map.

For more information and to see a detailed list of frequently asked questions about the process, along with the map that we mentioned earlier.

Visit cityoftulsa.org forward slash true reads.

Can you show me 97 on my A12 on a second?

Place, please.

I was raised on a farm growing up.

I was raised to respect animals and care for them.

My heart is really just to care for these animals when when they don't have anyone else to care for them.

We have a ton of strays in the city limits of Tulsa, and a lot of people just see them as strays that you know they might just be on the streets forever.

They still deserve every chance that a dog has that is owned or cared for.

That's really my heart is to care for those animals that don't have an owner, to bring them here, give them a soft bed to lay on, give them food and water to where they can go out and get a loving home to continue their life into.

Good girl.

The most important part to me for this job is to, you know, build a relationship with the community.

If your dog doesn't have a dog house or it needs a tie out to where it can't get loose, I want them to feel comfortable enough to come to us to where we can give them those resources.

We're not here to just write you tickets or you know, take your dog.

We're here to give you the resources that the community needs to be able to let you keep your dog.

Because a lot of times the dog can be a big part of your family and for your kids and everything.

We're not here to just take those animals.

We're here to give you those resources, give you dog food, cat food, anything that you need to let you keep your dog in the best way that you can.

Come on, Tweedy.

I think a lot of people don't realize if there's a stray baby goat, if there's a pig, we have to go get those animals.

And sometimes it can get a little hairy, you know.

If you're trying to wrangle a pig and you're chasing it, sometimes it gets a little crazy, but it definitely makes it fun.

Good girl.

We're here, you know, 24-7 to help the community.

Those are the relationships that I want to build with community is to know that we're here for them.

We're here to care for them and their animals.

Being an animal welfare is not just for the animals, it's for the people just as much as the animals.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore the church.

A story written not in brick alone, but in belief, community, and truthfully bold design.

In Tulsa's cathedral district, rising spires and stained glass tell the story of a city shaped by faith and architecture.

These houses of worship reflect both spiritual devotion and the ambition of a growing city.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic sacred spaces.

First, the Boston Avenue Methodist Church, a national landmark of Art Deco architecture.

Completed in 1929, this church broke from tradition with its vertical lines, abstract ornamentation, an innovative design by architect Bruce Goff and artist Ado Robinson.

From its soaring central tower to its streamlined detailing, the building blends modernism with reverence.

It's not just one of Tulsa's greatest architectural achievements, it's one of the most important art deco churches in the country.

Next, the Holy Family Cathedral, the spiritual heart of Tulsa's Catholic community, built in 1914 in the neoclassical style.

The cathedral's masonry walls and steel-framed spires are faced with stone and brick.

The 251 feet tall main spire is faced with four large clocks, and its design evokes the great European cathedrals as one of the oldest churches in Tulsa.

Holy Family is more than a place of worship.

It's a foundation stone in the city's story.

And finally, at the corner of 11th and Boulder stands First Methodist Church, the third home for a congregation, whose story stretches back to Tulsa's earliest days.

Founded in 1886, the church built a modest white chapel.

And as the city expanded, so did the congregation.

First into a red brick church at 9th and Boulder, then in 1921 into this grand structure that still welcomes worshippers today.

Built in the perpendicular Tudor Gothic style.

The church's design draws the eye heavenward with pointed arches and vaulted ceilings, an architectural expression of reverence.

Its cruciform layout, a cross shape anchors the building in Christian tradition, a symbol that this church, like its people, is grounded in faith.

These churches remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built with industry and ambition, but with faith, artistry, and community at its core.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

People used to say that after you took a bath, you dried off, and then you dusted off.

In 1908, during a hunting trip, a group of influential Tulsons came upon Spavanaugh Creek, a crystal clear, spring-fed stream.

In the summer of 1921, the City Water Commission hired 28-year-old civil engineer W.R.

Hallway to conduct surveys to determine if Spavanaugh Creek water could be brought to Tulsa by gravity flow.

In his report on October 24th, Hallway confirmed this was possible.

And a month later, the citizens of Tulsa passed a $6,800,000 bond issue by an overwhelming margin to fund the Spavanaugh Water Supply Project.

Hallway was hired to design and build what was one of the largest water projects in the nation.

Construction took two years to complete at a cost of seven and a half million dollars.

Spavanaugh Dam is two-thirds of a mile long, five stories high, and impounds eight and a half billion gallons of water in Spavanaugh Lake.

When first built, the reservoir became the largest lake in the state of Oklahoma.

Water from Spavanal Lake flows by gravity to the city of Tulsa, 54 miles away.

This original flow line was the longest raw water line in the United States at the time of construction.

Over its length, the pipeline drops by an elevation of only 90 feet.

Crosses under two rivers, over eight creeks, and tunnels through a 200-foot-tall ridge.

On November 17, 1924, Tulsons lifted glasses of clean and clear water to toast the completion of the Spavanaugh water system.

After construction was complete, Hallway allowed the Tulsa Mayor to put his final $15,000 paycheck in a bottle to float through the flow line, where he caught it as it came out at Mohawk.

Today, the city of Tulsa provides an average of 105 million gallons of refreshing award-winning water to over 650,000 customers in and around the Tulsa metropolitan area every day.

In 1924, the Tulsa World wrote, oil may have built Tulsa in the past, but Spavanaug water will be the product by which the future will be built.

Because this is a sparsely populated area, there was no development that was occurring out here.

It was important that we try and figure out how to activate this corridor for future development.

And I think by doing this, we've created a place where small developers or even larger developers can look at this and it be an attractive place to spur growth and development.

I think it's important that when we invest in ourselves, the investors will invest in us.

When we first brought this issue to the attention of our district, everyone was a little bit overwhelmed by the fact that we had citizens that didn't have the basic necessity.

Most of us, when we turn on our water, we expect that clean clear water is going to come out of our faucet.

Everybody got behind this initiative.

So thank you for going down this journey with us and making sure that we invest in our district and its future potential.

We knew that we needed to address mental and behavioral health in a larger scale.

Art One is able to respond to any age individual in crisis.

And we do see a big need in the 18 to 45 range.

We also know that about 20% of Art One's responses are to unhoused individuals.

There's a lot of work being done, not just locally but nationally with addressing mental health.

We were out ahead of the game in regards to a lot of the other cities in America in trying to address our needs within our community.

How can we better serve it?

What we found was early on, we were seeing some of these people called 911 who just needed this assistance.

And so these programs were invented very early on to meet that need.

And it's proven to be so valuable when we look at the resource that Art One provides to the community with the ability to have a paramedic and provide a medical evaluation of someone who's in crisis to rule out any physical health needs, along with that clinician to address the psychological needs of that individual who's in crisis.

Another big thing that Art One does is they've responded to what we call high utilizers or people who are calling 911 a lot looking for help.

So Art One can also respond to those individuals and start social services.

So we're very big on addressing social determinants, which is education, employment, health care, social and community context.

We want to address those items to improve somebody's life situation.

The benefit of having family children's services along with us is that we have that clinician there.

They can schedule an appointment for that individual to go in and get checked.

When we're not able to accomplish that, we take that individual to what we call sometimes an alternate destination.

So they may go to a crisis care center or an urgent recovery center or somewhere where it's going to best benefit that individual in that moment who's in crisis.

911 and public safety have done an incredible job of responding to an emergency incident, intervening and taking care of that situation.

But moving forward, we've got to find ways to continue that relationship with those individuals to make sure those needs are fed.

And that's really where the follow-up piece comes in.

If a unit responds to an individual on Monday, a case manager is going to follow up with them on Tuesday or Wednesday that week and make sure their needs are being met.

This is so important when you're talking about providing a continuum of care, meaning a care that just doesn't stop on that response, but it follows what that individual stays with them.

We can connect people very quickly to those resources, and we have that institutional knowledge to know what's the best resource for that person.

We can really begin to move the ball forward in helping our most vulnerable populations in Tulsa to be in better situations.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore cultural destinations.

The spaces where Tulsa came together to be entertained, inspired, and connected, whether through music, film, or storytelling.

Whether through music, film, or storytelling.

These iconic venues have helped define Tulsa's cultural identity.

They reflect not only the city's love of the arts, but also its enduring commitment to preservation, creativity, and community.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most beloved cultural landmarks.

First, Canes Ballroom, where Western Swing was born and legends still take the stage.

Built in 1924, as a garage, Keynes was converted into a dance hall academy and soon became home to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

With its spring loaded Napal dance floor, Neon Glow, an intimate stage.

Known as the Carnegie Hall of Western Swing, it remains a living piece of Tulsa's musical legacy.

Today, it continues to operate as one of the region's premier music venues, drawing national touring acts and loyal local crowds.

Next, Circle Cinema.

Tulsa's oldest operating movie theater and a hub for independent film.

Opened in 1928 as a silent movie theater, the circle has survived fires, closures, and shifting trends.

But its mission remains the same to bring meaningful, thought-provoking cinema to the community.

Restored with care, the theater blends historic charm with modern programming.

It's more than a place to see a film.

It's where Tulsa comes to think, discuss, and dream.

It regularly hosts screenings, film festivals, and community events, keeping its screens and conversations alive.

And finally, the Museum of Tulsa History, nestled in the heart of Woodward Park.

Located in a 1919 Italian Renaissance Revival Mansion.

That was originally the home of oilmen and philanthropist Sam Travis.

The museum preserves Tulsa's collective memory through exhibits, archives, and artifacts.

One of the first grand residences in what became known as Tulsa's Millionaire Row.

The venue is surrounded by the blooming landscapes of Woodward Park.

This property is as much about reflection as celebration.

A place where the stories of Tulsa's neighborhoods, industries, and people are honored and shared.

The museum hosts rotating exhibits, lectures, and public programs that invite the community to engage directly with Tulsa's past.

These venues remind us that history isn't only built in stone or steel.

It's also written in cheers, laughter, and applause and the stories we pass on.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

So Art 2 is staffed with two sworn firefighter paramedics who are community paramedicine trained, which means they have extra training in mental health, they have extra training in taking care of wound management.

We have basically stuck the hypothetical fire station right in the center of downtown Tulsa and said any medical call that comes in within the IDL or downtown Tulsa, Art 2 will respond to.

They will also respond and provide outreach services and wellness checks for unhouse population within the IDL.

So when they're not on a run, when they're not providing medical coverage, they're out there making sure people are as healthy as they possibly can be.

They provide blood pressure checks, they take pulse rates.

Whether you're a house or homeless, doesn't really matter.

Do you have the medications that you need to manage your health conditions?

They provide water on hot days, they make sure you're warm on cold days.

And Art2 coordinates very well with our community partners, making sure that we're coordinating our efforts with everyone else.

The impact they've had has been significant.

And I believe the reason is they take the extra time to spend with individuals.

As soon as they're done with that call, they're gonna go over there and have conversations with people and say, hey, are you working with somebody right now?

Do you have a plan?

If not, we can help you coordinate that effort.

We can get you help you get housing, we can help you get food.

What we love about the Tulsa Fire Department and what this program's been able to do is we work with everybody within the community.

So we're utilizing every resource that we have within the city of Tulsa to get the best outcomes for these individuals.

It does have that follow-up mechanism very much like Art 1 and CRT, where the buck doesn't stop at the call.

Someone's staying with them, someone who has been unhoused for five years, had some history with alcohol, and they stayed with this individual, built rapport and started with just outreach, just having conversations and sticking with him.

Walked him through the steps, filled out housing applications with him, made sure the gaps were filled in service delivery.

After five years, this person's house now, they've actually got a dog living in their apartment.

I mean, the best that we've ever seen them and living their best life.

And that's really our hope through these programs is we can help facilitate that.

Whenever I pull up a heat map, we continue to see some of our greatest responses in the downtown area.

And when we begin to dive into what that looks like and why so, we do see a house population in the downtown area, and we see a great response to there.

We've been able to determine a lot of information that we didn't know before.

I do talk to a lot of different departments across the US, and so we're seeing cities want to adopt this.

There is models that are similar, but they've not had the impact.

I believe very strongly that R2 is a model for the future.

Right now it's just in downtown Tulsa.

I see this as something that you could really implement citywide.

You don't see this anywhere else in America.

So I'm excited because I love when we are able to push the bar forward and really set an example on a national stage.

And that's exactly what we're doing with R2.

Hi, I'm Sherry Carrier, Director of Tulsa Animal Services.

I want to take a moment to share a little bit about the incredible work happening behind these doors.

Every single day, our team is here, taking in lost, abandoned, and injured animals, giving them the care that they need, and working hard to find safe and loving homes.

But behind the scene are real people.

Even on our toughest days, we're proud to say it's making a difference.

Thanks to adoptions, foster homes, and the incredible support of our community.

One of the biggest lifesavers, spam neuter.

Preventing unwanted litters means fewer animals entering our shelters and more resources for every pet who needs us.

Thank you for standing with us.

Together, we're creating a safer, more compassionate Tulsa for animals.

The city of Tulsa produces 450 tons of contaminated waste per month.

That's almost 5500 tons per year that will now be going straight to the landfill.

To put into perspective how much waste that is, it's equivalent to 250 golden driller statutes.

Think before you throw and keep recycling clean and waste free.

For more information about the correct way to recycle, please visit Tulsa Recycles.com.

To learn more, visit our webpage and contact us.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore river views, the grand homes that overlook the Arkansas River and reflect Tulsa's lasting connection to its natural landscape.

For more than a century, the river has shaped the city's layout, its neighborhoods, and its sense of beauty.

These historic properties near its banks are more than homes.

They're places where art, industry, and civic life converged.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic riverside estates.

First, Harweldon Mansion, Tulsa's Storybook Manor, overlooking the Arkansas River, built in 1923 by Oilman Earl Harwell.

This English tutor-style estate blends gothic arches and hand-carved detailing.

The exterior facade consists of brick, stone window surrounds, balustrade and stone coins at the corners leading up to the slate roof.

Inside, the home featured custom furnishings, a music room, and one of the city's earliest residential elevators.

Today, Harweldon operates as a cultural and event center, welcoming guests from around the world for weddings, concerts, and arts programming all with a river view.

Next, the Lee Clinton House, an understated gem tucked into the curves of Riverside Drive.

Constructed in 1919, this elegant colonial revival home belonged to civic leader and businessman Lee Clinton, founder of Union National Bank, and co-founder of the Tulsa Stockyards, along with Oil Man William G.

Skelly.

With its classical detailing and perfectly manicured grounds, the home reflects quiet confidence and refined taste.

Privately owned and beautifully preserved.

It's one of the few original homes in the area that still retains its historic charm along Tulsa's most scenic stretch.

And finally, the Dresser Mansion, where Italian Renaissance Flair meets Tulsa's oil era opulence.

Built in 1919 for oil executive Carl Dresser.

This mansion draws on Mediterranean design with arched logias, ornate ironwork, and a red tile roof.

Designed for entertaining, the home once hosted lavish parties with views stretching across the river valley, now restored and used as a venue.

Dresser Mansion continues to host celebrations, echoing its original purpose as a home made for gathering.

The Arkansas River shaped Tulsa's growth and offered a scenic corridor for some of the city's most remarkable residences.

These iconic properties remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built.

It was carefully placed, with beauty, nature, and legacy in mind.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

This trail also serves the wider Tulsa community by providing beginner-level trails for those who are new to mountain biking, as well as a downhill bike-only section for intermediate riders.

And Turkey Mountain is right next door, where riders are ready to take on their sports.

Our Bales Park Trails are amazing.

People come, park your car, get out, enjoy the trails.

There's not much traffic.

And then we'll also be able to host our volunteers here.

We really see a secondary use as a community spot.

Other community partners can come out here, do some training, team buildings.

We know that being outside is really really healthy for us mentally and physically.

So spaces like this that do this kind of programming should be available to everyone in our city, and we want to make sure that every Tulson has the opportunity to get outside and enjoy.

We love Bell's Park and the best is yet to come.

Every year around the 4th of July, our shelter fills up with pets who ran off during fireworks.

Most of them live just a few houses away from where they're found.

That's why Tulsa Animal Services partnered with Tulsa Fire to bring microchip scanners to every fire station in our city.

If you find a lost pet, you can now stop by any Tulsa Fire Station and ask a firefighter to scan for a microchip.

No shelter visit required.

The scanner will show a chip number that can help you contact the owner directly through an online lookup system.

Most pets aren't truly lost.

They just need a little help getting home.

This partnership helps us keep animals in their neighborhoods where they belong.

Our fire stations are already part of the community.

This is one more way we're stepping up to keep Tulsa families two-legged and four-legged safe and together.

Because the best place for a pet is home.

Really seeks to connect 911 high utilizers and vulnerable populations to those critical community resources to help improve the lives of individuals within our community.

And the University of Tulsa did a study on CARES back in 2017, and from January to March, we had about a 70% reduction in 9-1-1 usage by connecting vulnerable populations in our community to social determinants of health.

And our scope and scale has grown.

We are now working with local community partners, whether it's hospitals, behavioral health partners, or other vital community resources to really connect individuals to those services.

We get referrals in from all different kinds of partners, whether it's hospitals, the fire department, sometimes the police department, or the aimless service in town.

And I think what makes TFD Care's really strong and really a great program is we're connected and integrated with all the community support structures in place.

We have two very good case managers that really navigate these community resources.

Ascension St.

John and the Czech Foundation is who supports our case managers and helps to integrate those within the Tulsa Fire Department.

We go all over Tulsa.

We are connecting with individuals.

When that referral comes in, we'll send a case manager to someone's house and identify hey, what's going on today?

We'll address those social determinants of health.

We'll create goals off of that.

And we utilize a system called gelatin to communicate and connect with all those community partners, and it helps us to kind of capture our workflow and the work that's being completed.

But our case managers, they stay with those clients until those needs are met.

They're working with them, they're navigating things like hand bars, wheelchair ramps, food insecurity, medication adherence.

They also help with individuals who are not currently housed.

We also send a firefighter paramedic or a community paramedic to the home, and they'll try to make that home safer and they'll work with those residents or those community members to make sure that their home is a safer place to live, that the reducing falls, reducing injuries, and ultimately having better health outcomes.

We thought was very important moving forward in the growth of this program, being an extension of the hospitals and helping firefighters reduce those 911 calls.

One thing we're really proud of with TFD CARES is their impact that they're making and the results because that's what matters to us.

How are we improving that individual's life?

And so TFD CARES has been able to reduce 911 utilization by 80%.

We've been tracking this data through Gelata since 2023.

We're getting help to those individuals that need about 52% of the time we're able to take care of those needs within two weeks.

We're trying to use this information in different parts of Tulsa to be more proactive and helping our citizens and our community members.

Social services has got to be a part of public safety.

The benefit is incredible, and as we continue to try to address root cause issues, why is that individual calling 911?

Programs like TFD cares answer that call and they get to those root cause issues and help improve that person's life.

We've seen opiates causing a lot of havoc within our community, not just in Tulsa or Oklahoma, but really nationally.

Public safety, whether it's fire and police are responding to right around eight to ten overdose calls a day.

We created a specialized team that has a community paramedic along with a peer recovery support specialist or someone with lived experience to respond to real-time overdose calls and provide follow-up to individuals who have overdose within our community.

So the lived experienced individual, that's someone who has used some sort of substance in the past and recovered.

I've always had a passion for addiction recovery, things like that because I'm in recovery myself from drugs and alcohol.

So when the opportunity came up, I snagged it up.

I was very excited to be a part of it.

And I still am, I love it.

It's probably my favorite day out of the week because it's a chance for me to give back to the community that I came from.

I've been in recovery for five years from drugs and I haven't drank in like 10 years.

I came from a pretty tough background, lots of trauma growing up, gotten trouble a lot as a kid, been homeless, I've been part of domestic violence and everything from alcohol to prescription opiates to methamphetamine.

So when I first got clean, I decided I wanted to be a part of the movement for recovery.

And I got into working at a drug and alcohol treatment center for several years, and I really loved it.

And what that gives us is the ability to for someone to really connect on a personal level and say, hey, I've been in a similar situation before, but I've recovered.

So the overdose response team is meant to complement the current infrastructure we have in place that will go identify individuals who have overdosed, build rapport, connect to services, and stay with them until they've gotten the help they need.

Are you on a housing list?

Yeah.

Yeah?

Good.

How long have you been on it?

With the interactions that we've made, we're slowly building relationships with people through outreach.

I think there's a trust there that some programs don't get.

Thank you.

This is a model that has worked in other cities.

We went and looked in specifically San Antonio.

Oklahoma City implemented this program in August 2023 to address these needs.

And what these previous communities have found is they're able to get people help earlier in the substance addiction than they were previously.

We do emphasize the harm reduction supplies and the hands-on CPR and some of that education because we're very passionate about giving someone another chance to get it right.

And so the harm reduction boxes complement our overdose response team.

We put those boxes in areas of our community where we see the most overdoses.

And so we have these at a couple fire stations, easy access to Narcan, leave behind kids, as well as fentanyl test strips, and education pamphlets.

We want to prevent someone from losing their life.

So we're just there to help guide that situation and keep people safe for as long as we can.

And so I think that can build a bridge with certain members in our community to sit there and say, hey, you know, we're just here to lend a helping hand.

It helps to humanize the situation, I think.

You got this?

All right.

And that's something we're very passionate about, is continuing to move that ball forward with these individuals and making sure they know this is the things available to help you.

And we can help walk alongside you during that process.

But we'll also do follow-ups with them with their family, see if we can connect them to resources or get them to treatment or get them harm reduction supplies, whatever it is that they need is what we're there to do.

And whenever anybody's asked us for help, we've been there and we'll help them.

I would say we're continuing to address this issue within our community and really make sure we're providing resources, whether that's response, somewhere to go.

We want to make sure that we have the best system in America here in Tulsa.

The NCI Pilot Program is all about empowering neighborhoods.

We're giving communities tools, resources, and the confidence they need to take charge and create real meaningful change.

Neighborhood associations, local leaders, and neighbors come together with city departments to identify their top needs and then build a plan to tackle them.

We started by looking at the NCI reports and identifying the neighborhoods with the highest priority needs.

It established a cross-departmental task force, got together with them and looked at the resources we could provide the neighborhoods.

These departments that we worked with were police department, animal services, code enforcement, and public works.

Suburban Hills was a perfect fit for this program.

Their participation shows just how much this community values growth and togetherness.

The city has helped a lot.

Together, we're creating neighborhoods where every voice matters.

And every block has a strong story worth telling.

Most of our residential and arterial street lights in Tulsa are owned and maintained by PSO.

The city pays PSO a monthly fee for this service.

Freeway and highway lights are different.

They're owned and maintained by the city of Tulsa.

Those are installed by Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and after they're done with the construction, they turn them over to the local municipalities.

Those are our responsibility within our city limits.

There's about 6,000 highway lights.

With 6,000 light poles in the air, every time there's a lightning swarm or anything that comes through, you have 6,000 lightning rods that if lightning hits, it will take out one or multiple poles.

We have cars that run into them during winter weather, during uh rain events, in addition to people trying to steal the wiring.

Repair timelines depend upon severity and location of the damage, and crews respond based upon safety priorities.

We focus on large stretch of lights, not one individual light being out.

But with 6,000 lights, we try to go and get the most lights restored that we can.

We're in the process of replacing all the lighting in the entire city.

And as part of that, we're also not only going to convert the LED, but we're also adding a control system.

So that will give us feedback.

If the lighting is out, it will send an alarm back to us, and we'll be able to dispatch someone.

And the old technology that we have, the only way to find out if lights are out is to go drive and physically look at the lights.

And that requires a lot of drive time, a lot of extra effort on top of maintaining them.

So with this LED change out, a lot of that's going to improve our response time and ability to know what's out at any time.

PSO is also adding sensors to residential and arterial street lights.

You can also request new street lights for your neighborhood by contacting 311.

If funding is available, and at least three of the four nearby property owners agree, PSO will design and install the new streetlight.

If your neighborhood uses custom poles, you will need to cover the upgrade cost and future maintenance.

Street lights matter for safety and our community.

If you see an outage, please take time to report it.

Thank you.

Today, as Tulsa Transit continues to evolve, we're excited to share a significant chapter in our journey.

Enter the era of Aero, where the bus rapid transit takes center stage.

The Peoria Aero BRT transformative force has doubled ridership connecting Tolsans to progress and prosperity.

Look ahead to the planned Route 66 BRT line, set to redefine our city's transit network, reducing travel time, and enhancing the way Tulsans navigate their city.

Celebrate with us as we mark a significant milestone.

Two million riders in 2023.

The community echoes with the voices of riders, employees, and partners, each contributing to the vibrant life that is Tulsa Transit.

Anticipation builds as we proudly unveil our new names.

Say hello to Metrolink Tulsa, your main bus service, along with Micro League and Link Assist.

As MetroLink Tulsa evolves and finds new ways to serve residents, witness the joy of riders boarding Metrolink Tulsa, realizing our mission to safely link people, places, and communities in Oklahoma.

What is zoning?

Zoning requirements state how people can use land in certain areas.

In order to use the land in a different way, the owner needs to get permission from the city.

The application will go to the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, the City Board of Adjustments, or the County Board of Adjustments, depending on the type and location of the request.

TMAPC handles zoning changes, subdivisions, and comprehensive plan amendments.

After filling out the proper application, Tulsa Planning Office staff will check to make sure everything is in order.

They then assign the application a case number and pass it to the planning commission with a recommendation on what to do.

Any rezoning application requires notice to the public in the form of posted signs, a newspaper section, and mailed notice to the property owners within 300 feet of the lot.

The application fee covers these costs, and the planning office sends the notifications out.

The notices must be mailed, posted, and published at least 20 days before its appearance before the planning commission.

TMAPC then holds a public hearing.

Applicants may be called to the podium to speak, and interested parties are allowed to give public comments for or against the request.

The commissioners then deliberate.

The application appears on council agendas three times.

The first appearance is at the council's committee meetings.

The planning commission staff gives and explains a recommendation based on the application's consistency with policy and intent of the comprehensive plan.

This appearance is only a discussion, not a vote.

Counselors and planning office staff are the only ones permitted to participate in discussion, but the public is permitted to view and attend the meeting.

Another public hearing is held to give an opportunity for citizen input before the council vote.

The applicant is again allowed to make a presentation.

Team Johnson is facing off against a tough competitor, plastic.

Don't trust those numbers on the bottom.

You have to stick to what you know.

Only bottles and jugs found in the kitchen, bath, or laundry.

They're quick to pick up and empty those bottles before sinking that shot.

Always empty your bottles before recycling.

Score big by recycling your plastic bottles and jugs.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

The Canis Latrans, also known as the Coyote, Coyote, or Prairie Wolf, has been spotted in all areas of Tulsa.

Coyotes migrated to the Tulsa area beginning in the early 20th century, when forest fragmentation and the extermination of larger predators like red and gray wolves led to their spread eastward.

Many strategies have been tried to rid urban areas of coyotes, but the effort is often costly and ineffective.

Coyotes are notoriously hard to catch and don't survive relocation.

Any area cleared of coyotes will quickly be repopulated.

Coyotes do provide an essential role in the ecosystem by helping to control the rodent population.

They are predators of geese, squirrels, mice, moles, gophers, possums, and other small animals.

While rodents make up a majority of their diet, coyotes also feed on fish, insects, blueberries, apples, prickly pears, persimmons, peanuts, and carrots.

Although their diet includes a variety of foods, coyotes have been known to kill small pets.

The best way to protect pets is to avoid attracting coyotes near your home by following these four best practices.

Best practice number one, supervise pets.

While coyotes don't usually attack humans, your pets can be a target.

Coyotes may see large dogs as rivals and small dogs and cats as prey.

Always walk your dog on a leash.

Keep cats indoors.

Letting cats roam free is also a violation of City of Tulsa ordinances.

And the best way to protect your pets is to not leave them outside unattended, especially at dusk through dawn when coyotes are more active.

In some cases, coyotes can climb fences.

Best practice number two.

Remove food attractive.

Remove bowls of pet food.

Keep trash cans securely closed.

Pick up any fruit or nuts from your yard.

Best practice number three.

Remove possible shelters.

Eliminate places for a coyote to make a den, like access under a deck or large bushes.

Cut down any tall grass or brush that could provide shelter for coyotes.

Best practice number four.

Respond appropriately during encounters.

If you do encounter a coyote, stand your ground.

Don't turn your back or run away.

The coyote can reach speeds of 40 miles an hour.

Top speed of a human is 28 miles an hour.

Stay away from injured, cornered, or nursing coyotes.

Slowly back away.

Most importantly, use hazing techniques to discourage coyotes you come across.

Act large, yell, clap your hands, use a noisemaker, throw sticks at the coyote's feet, hit hands, etc.

Hazing helps keep wild animals wild as coyotes can become a nuisance or aggressive when they lose their fear of people.

If you see a coyote that seems aggressive, or if you have more questions, call a Tulsa County Game Warden with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

They can connect you with a licensed, nuisance wildlife control operator.

Do not contact the Tulsa Animal Shelter as it does not handle wildlife issues.

By following best practices, you can help limit negative interactions between people, pets, and the urban wildlife we live alongside.

Do you know what happens to all of the waste we leave behind in our yards, driveways, and streets?

Runoff water carries all of the trash, chemicals, and other pollutants straight into our storm drains, which lead to miles and miles of pipes and drains right below our feet that drain directly into our rivers and streams.

Along the way, all of the trash, chemicals, and pollutants add up until even something small, like one cigarette butt, one oil spill, or one pile of leaves accumulates inside our drains and pipes and becomes a big problem, causing blockages in the system and pollution in our rivers and streams.

The waters we fish and play in.

The water that sustains our wildlife.

By protecting what goes into our drains, we can save our streams.

You and I can do our part together.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore the opulent homes of Tulsa's early oil titans.

These men shaped the future, the Barons.

Situated south of downtown is one of Tulsa's most prestigious historic neighborhoods, Maple Ridge, adjacent to the iconic Woodward Park, Grand 20th Century Homes, Frontry Line Boulevards.

Timeless architectural styles and details tell the story of a city built on oil.

Let's take a closer look at three of Tulsa's most iconic homes.

One of Tulsa's most notable homes, this Georgian revival style mansion, built in 1923, was home to William G.

Skelly, a prominent figure in Tulsa's oil and radio industries.

Skelly purchased this neoclassical house not long after it was constructed in 1924.

The three-story mansion is approximately 10,000 square feet, seated on a spacious wooded corner lot.

Exterior walls are composed of red brick masonry, and the home features a striking green tile roof.

The main feature of the ground floor is the long 40-foot dining room.

A large second floor veranda with iron rail and iron staircase offered access to the yard to entertain Skelly's elite guests.

The home remained in the Skelly family until 1968 and remains one of Tulsa's premier historical homes.

Nestled within the neighborhood stands a captivating model of early 20th century architecture.

Constructed in 1915, this two-story mission revival home was designed by esteemed architect Noble B.

Fleming, whose work significantly shaped Tulsa's architectural landscape during the oil boom era.

The home showcases hallmark features of the mission revival style.

The all brick exterior, red tile roofing, and arched entryways are its defining characteristics.

Inside, the residence boasts original quarter sawn oak mill work, intricate ceiling structures, and drawn glass windows that frame views of downtown Tulsa.

This residence not only embodies the elegance of its era, but also serves as a testament to the visionaries who propelled Tulsa into its golden age.

Another early land developer targeting oil producers and business elite was real estate developer Grant Stebbins.

A lucrative land offer attracted former Congressman Bird McGuire.

Mr.

and Mrs.

McGuire built their home in 1916 with native red sandstone.

A notable Tulsa builder, John Blair designed the house using a Frank Lloyd Wright theory.

Mrs.

McGuire handpicked each stone.

The stately McGuire home was one of the first built in the new subdivision, and Tulsa's golden age of oil production and real estate development was off to the races.

The homes of Tulsa's barons remind us of a time when ambition and architecture rose together as living monuments to the city's bold beginnings.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shaped Tulsa, one historic property at a time.

They're starting off slow today, probably trying to figure out what to do with those styrofoam plates since they're not recyclable.

Completely empty cardboard boxes dumped in the cart.

Score big by recycling your cardboard and paper.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

Water impacts the world around us every day.

But all the little things we do can build up in a big, big way.

Together, we can make a difference.

A difference in our water.

In our city.

Every yard, every street, every neighborhood is an opportunity to help protect our water, our wildlife, and our community.

You and I can do our part together.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we visit one of Tulsa's most charming and distinctive neighborhoods, Swan Lake.

Nestled just east of downtown, the Swan Lake Historic District offers a peaceful oasis of early 20th century homes and elegant apartment buildings.

Centered around a tranquil pond that gives the neighborhood its name.

This area was once a streetcar suburb, a place where Tulsa's growing middle and upper middle class found escape from the hustle of the city.

Let's take a closer look at some of the district's most iconic properties.

These homes represent a time when thoughtful planning and picturesque design gave shape to a neighborhood unlike any other in the city.

At the heart of the Swan Lake neighborhood lies its namesake lake, a peaceful pond today, but once the centerpiece of a bustling amusement park in the early 1900s.

It quickly became a popular weekend destination for Tulsa families during the oil boom.

This man-made body of water was part of a private recreation area complete with boat rides, a dance pavilion, and even a small zoo.

Though the amusements are long gone, the lake remains a serene reminder of a bygone era.

As Tulsa expanded, the demand for multi-unit housing grew.

In 1918, Samuel Augustus Orcutt responded to that need by constructing the first apartment building in what would become the Swan Lake Historic District.

This marked the beginning of Orcut's development enterprise, which would shape the neighborhood for decades.

Thanks to his efforts, Swan Lake now boasts more apartment buildings from Tulsa's boom era, spanning the 1920s through the late 1930s than any other neighborhood in the city.

The Orcut apartments remain a cornerstone of Tulsa's shift toward urban living.

As Tulsa's oil industry boomed and oil fortune soared, areas like Swan Lake became havens for industry leaders, managers, and visionaries.

Standing proudly at the edge of the lake is 1583 Swan Drive, the first home built along Swan Lake, completed in 1919.

This stately Italian Renaissance residence was designed by Noble B.

Fleming, an architect from Kansas City, whose work also includes Tulsa's beloved garden center at Woodward Park.

The home was commissioned by J.

M.

Hayner, president of the Monarch Royalty Company, a firm heavily involved in oil leasing and mineral rights during Tulsa's boom years.

As one of the first to settle on the lake, Hayner helped set the tone for a neighborhood that blended natural beauty with architectural grace.

From craftsman bungalows to classical revival and Tudor Revival, Swan Lake is a showcase of architectural grace, each street a reflection of Tulsa's early 1900s aspirations.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

Team Johnson is facing off against one tough competitor, glass.

That's right, only glass bottles and jars are recyclable.

Don't even think about sinking a drinking glass or mirror.

Always good to empty your glass bottles and jars before recycling.

These two get it, emptying both bottles from far out.

And they remove the lids.

Score big by recycling your glass bottles and jars.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we journey east of downtown to explore two of Tulsa's most charming early 20th century neighborhoods, Yorktown and Gillette.

Developed during Tulsa's rapid post-oil boom growth, these districts were shaped by a rising middle class, oil workers, business owners, and civic leaders, who brought with them pride, ambition, and a love for craftsmanship.

Let's take a look at a few of the standout homes.

Our first stop is the illustrious Gillette Mansion.

Constructed in 1921, this three-story gothic Tudor masterpiece was the residence of J.

M.

Gillette, an important merchant, real estate entrepreneur, an oil man, and the namesake of the surrounding Gillette Historic District.

Gillette cited his home outside the city limits.

The mansion grounds included a natural stone goldfish pond, handcrafted concrete tables and benches, and a clay tennis court.

Crafted with brick, stucco, and heavy timber.

The mansion boasts rock accents, multi-paned leaded glass windows set within cutstone gothic arches, and a slate roof.

Its grandeur stands as a testament to Tulsa's oil boom era and the architectural ambition it inspired.

Next, we visit 1731 South Yorktown Avenue, a charming Tudor-style duplex built in 1940.

This 1,200 square foot residence reflects the architectural trends of the time.

With its brick facade and characteristic design elements, duplexes like this were often home to middle class professionals, bank clerks, and laborers, drawn to the neighborhood's quiet streets and proximity to downtown.

It exemplifies the city's mid-century residential expansion.

And the move towards more modest yet stylish, multi-family middle class dwellings.

Our final feature is the Craftsman Bungalow, constructed in 1923.

This 1700 square foot residence embodies the craftsman ethos with its emphasis on handcrafted woodwork and a welcoming front porch.

It offers a glimpse into the architectural preferences of Tulsa's residents, favoring functionality blended with aesthetic appeal.

The classic craftsman bungalow.

Houses like this typically sheltered young families and skilled tradespeople, offering an affordable yet stylish entry into homeownership.

Two classic neighborhoods from Tulsa's Golden Age.

Still alive today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

On average, we have 200 collisions between an automobile and a pedestrian every single year.

Of those, a very high number results in injury or death.

This is a serious problem that impacts all of us.

And we can do our part in taking precautions and minimizing risks by using crosswalks and sharing the road with pedestrians.

When you're in this crosswalk, pedestrians have the right of way.

One thing to keep in mind if you're lucky enough to find this, find yourself a button.

Push your button, these sides will illuminate, allowing you to then cross the street.

Secondly, pedestrians must walk along this sidewalk and not in the street.

Finally, blind pedestrians always have the right of way over all other pedestrians and vehicles.

Blind pedestrians must indicate this right of way by holding out horizontally a white cane in the direction they wish to travel.

The Tulsa Police Department takes this issue very seriously.

We're here to protect all citizens of Tulsa.

Any violation, particularly by motorists putting other Tulsans' lives at risk, you're gonna get a ticket.

Help us keep you from getting a ticket and help keep Tulson safe.

Together, we can be kind and make streets a site for place for everyone.

The bazaar is a micro-neighborhood grocery.

So my good grocery store has a very small footprint and it's specified for smaller communities.

It's membership based.

Those in the Dawson community will have a free membership.

For community members who are outside of Dawson, they can purchase a membership for a very nominal fee.

It is a cashless grocery, so that means that there will be no cash that transfers on site.

You can use your bank card, you can use your snap card, or you can upload cash onto your bizarre card, much like you would at the laundromat.

We're hoping to connect with our Oklahoma producers, so our farmers here in Oklahoma to be able to provide a market for them.

Started in 2012 trip to Indonesia and living with the farmers overseas.

And so I want to kind of connect those two bubbles together to create something that would be more in the farmers' favor and the community itself.

It's to provide healthy food at a non-profit cost in an area that is considered to be a food desert.

On top of that, we have a mission to make sure our children do not go without food.

So the bazaar is prepared to feed one free meal per child for all 450 students that go to school in the Dawson neighborhood, K through 12.

It's just going to be a much needed connection point for the community.

This is phase one currently in this project, and phase one is the grocery store and the food trucks.

We are trying to decrease our carbon footprint.

So our store we ran completely on solar energy.

Our packaging will be biodegradable packaging.

Our bags will be cloth bags that will be reusable.

They have applied and received ARPA funding.

So it really provides a sense of ownership of belonging, that this is the Dawson neighborhood market.

Most people think of the kitchen for this opponent.

But aluminum and steel cans like empty shaving cream cans also play extremely well in bathrooms all over Tulsa.

That is nothing but bin, Bob.

Wow, right into the bin.

Team Johnson has buttoned up another win.

Score big by recycling your aluminum and steel cans.

Learn more at Tulsa Recycles.com.

The project is Flet Rock Creek, and that is a partnership with the Tulsa Housing Authorities 36 North.

And so it will be as some would like to call it the Turkey Mountain of North Tulson.

This project will provide biking and walking trails, connection with nature.

Very excited about the possibility of having a fishing pond.

Having access to all of these amenities in this area is going to be huge for the entire area of North California.

Excited not only for the community as a whole, but particularly for the students.

We have held community meetings, my town hall meetings concerning this project, and it's received overwhelming support.

The future is very bright for this project when you consider the housing that is returning to the area.

Not only the apartments that are owned by the Tulsa Housing Authority, but also several hundred homes will be built in that immediate area as well.

And so having this immunity in the houses all in the same immediate area is very bright for the school.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we head downtown to explore the boom, an era when Tulsa soared upward on steel and ambition.

Fueled by oil money and optimism, the city's skyline became a canvas for architects, artisans, and entrepreneurs who believed there was no limit to what Tulsa could be.

From grand hotels to gleaming towers, the Art Deco designs of the 1920s and 30s reflect a city at the height of its confidence.

Let's take a closer look at four iconic landmarks from Tulsa's golden age.

First, the Philcade and the Phil Tower, two masterpieces born of oil and vision, commissioned by oil magnate Wade Phillips.

These buildings were designed to complement one another inside and out.

The Phil Tower, completed in 1928, blends gothic revival with art deco, rising 24 stories with ornate terracotta detailing and a signature green tile roof.

Just across the street, the Philcade opened in 1931, flaunting pure Art Deco glamour from its gilded lobby to its geometric flourishes.

Together, they form a striking architectural dialogue, capturing both the romance and the reality of the oil boom.

Next, the Minx Adams Hotel, once the social centerpiece of downtown Tulsa, built in 1927, the hotel was a symbol of prosperity and polish, with Italian Renaissance styling, intricate terracotta, and a two-story grand ballroom.

During the oil boom, it welcomed dignitaries, deal makers, and dreamers from all over the world.

It blends historic elegance with modern energy.

An enduring tribute to Tulsa's roaring 20s.

Rising above fourth in Boston is one of downtown Tulsa's most striking silhouettes, the Cosden Building, now known as the Mid Continent Tower.

The original 16-story structure was a symbol of oil boom ambition.

Commissioned by oilman Joshua Cosden, a man often called the Prince of Petroleum.

Originally completed in 1918, its most eye-catching chapter came decades later, when in 1984, an extraordinary engineering feat nearly doubled its height.

Rather than demolish the original structure, architects and engineers built a 20-story tower directly above it, cantilevered over the historic building with a hidden steel frame.

The result is a seamless blend of past and present.

A modern high rise perched atop a century-old skyscraper, mirroring its style so perfectly, it's often mistaken as a single, unified design.

Today, the Mid Continent Tower stands as a testament, not just to Tulsa's architectural legacy, but to its visionary spirit, where preservation and progress rise side by side.

These iconic buildings remind us of a time when Tulsa was growing fast, thinking big, and laying the foundation for the city we know today.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

And then I, with a mat out of the District 7 community development funds, for 150,000 total.

And then 100,000 from the city's general fund, which will be used to repair the inlets to bring those inlets up to grade and to smooth out the ride for all of us on Memorial.

Thank you for everyone's patience as we identified this new funding source to now elevate the drainage for our stormwater drains and to smooth out the road.

I think you'll find a smoother ride as you head north or south on South Memorial Drive in South Tulsa.

After a very short time frame for construction, we'll have smooth lanes, just as I think the vast majority of our constituents want.

This summer I think we will finally get to a place where it's smooth sailing, no more dips in the road, and no clotholes.

I'd like to say thank you.

We cannot have the equipment that we have without the support of Tulsa's taxpayers.

All of the trucks that the Tulsa Fire Department uh buy.

We keep them consistent with one manufacturer.

That allows us to ensure that our fleet mechanics know exactly what they're working on.

Daily checks and maintenance and keeping these vehicles in tip top shape really provides effective response, but it also ensures that everyone, it's public, firefighters, and the community as a whole are safe when we're operating in the areas.

Some of the important things to look for are how body panels are fit, how the paint is, is it durable?

You want to make sure it's gonna last because this is the city's investment uh for 10 plus years.

We want to get as much out of this truck as we can.

Right behind our people, this is the most expensive thing that we purchase.

From the time we've designed purchase uh an engine is 36 months.

We want consistency to buy a certain number each year to replace um a certain number of engines, certain number of ladders and specialty units every year.

These trucks are kind of a final evolution in probably three versions that we've built over the last four or five years.

We like a little bit shorter length.

Um, it's a little bit easier to move within apartment complexes and and some of our two-lane South Tulsa roads.

This is a point of pride for the fire department, and the firefighters that are assigned to this vehicle will take care of it, inspect it and ensure it's working.

They're passionate about that work.

Investment up front equals quality and safety over time.

Ensures that uh we have readiness and readiness is the most important part for us is having the ability to receive the alarm quickly, get out the door, having confidence in that equipment, making sure it's ready to go, and that it performs effectively is key to saving lives and property.

Starting in 2024 and continuing over the next four years, the city of Tulsa will start installing new automated water meters at more than 145,000 residential locations across the city.

The program is known as True Reads.

While the City of Tulsa has had reliable process for reading and changing out water meters for many years, automated meter reading technology has improved to the point that it now makes financial and operational sense to make the switch.

These new meters will minimize property access needs, control meter reading costs, cause fewer employee injuries, eliminate estimated bills, and deploy more environmentally friendly technology.

While there isn't much you need to do, we do want you to be aware that work will happen in your yard sooner or later.

Before contractors even touch that meter in your yard, you will have advanced notification and day of notification.

First, the city will maintain a regularly updated online map showing neighborhoods where meters are currently being installed.

That map can be found online at cityoftulsa.org forward slash true reads.

Second, one to two weeks before your meters installed, a door hanger with more information will be left on your door.

And finally, the day of your meter installation, you will be personally contacted by the contractor with a knock on your door.

While your meters being changed, you will be briefly without water for a maximum of 30 minutes.

And once crews are finished, all we ask is that you run your water for a few minutes to build pressure back up in your lines.

And that's because anytime water is turned off, there is a chance your system will lose some pressure and you could see cloudy water until it's restored.

Lastly, while contractors work to swap your meter out, they'll also perform what's known as a lead service line inspection.

Lead, which is a toxic metal that was used in plumbing materials in the past, can cause adverse health effects.

Well, we don't think there are many, if any lead service lines remaining in our system, we do want to find document and remove any lead that may be left in our system.

As part of the automated meter reading installation process, crews will do a quick check of the service line material and results of that lead inspection will be made available on the online map.

For more information and to see a detailed list of frequently asked questions about the process, along with the map that we mentioned earlier.

Visit cityoftulsa.org forward slash true reads.

Can you show me 97 on my A12 on a second?

Place, please.

I was raised on a farm growing up.

I was raised to respect animals and care for them.

My heart is really just to care for these animals when when they don't have anyone else to care for them.

We have a ton of strays in the city limits of Tulsa, and a lot of people just see them as strays that you know they might just be on the streets forever.

They still deserve every chance that a dog has that is owned or cared for.

That's really my heart is to care for those animals that don't have an owner, to bring them here, give them a soft bed to lay on, give them food and water to where they can go out and get a loving home to continue their life into.

Good girl.

The most important part to me for this job is to, you know, build a relationship with the community.

If your dog doesn't have a dog house or it needs a tie out to where it can't get loose, I want them to feel comfortable enough to come to us to where we can give them those resources.

We're not here to just write you tickets or you know, take your dog.

We're here to give you the resources that the community needs to be able to let you keep your dog.

Because a lot of times the dog can be a big part of your family and for your kids and everything.

We're not here to just take those animals.

We're here to give you those resources, give you dog food, cat food, anything that you need to let you keep your dog in the best way that you can.

Come on, Tweetie.

I think a lot of people don't realize if there's a stray baby goat, if there's a pig, we have to go get those animals.

And sometimes it can get a little hairy, you know, if you're trying to wrangle a pig and you're chasing it.

Sometimes it gets a little crazy, but it definitely makes it fun.

Good girl.

We're here, you know, 24-7 to help the community.

Those are the relationships that I want to build with community is to know that we're here for them.

We're here to care for them and their animals.

Being an animal welfare is not just for the animals, it's for the people just as much as the animals.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore the church.

A story written not in brick alone, but in belief, community, and truthfully bold design.

In Tulsa's cathedral district, rising spires and stained glass tell the story of a city shaped by faith and architecture.

These houses of worship reflect both spiritual devotion and the ambition of a growing city.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic sacred spaces.

First, the Boston Avenue Methodist Church, a national landmark of Art Deco architecture.

Completed in 1929, this church broke from tradition with its vertical lines, abstract ornamentation, and innovative design by architect Bruce Goff and artist Ado Robinson.

From its soaring central tower to its streamlined detailing, the building blends modernism with reverence.

It's not just one of Tulsa's greatest architectural achievements, it's one of the most important art deco churches in the country.

Next, the Holy Family Cathedral, the spiritual heart of Tulsa's Catholic community, built in 1914 in the neoclassical style.

The cathedral's masonry walls and steel-framed spires are faced with stone and brick.

The 251 feet tall main spire is faced with four large clocks.

And its design evokes the great European cathedrals.

As one of the oldest churches in Tulsa, Holy Family is more than a place of worship.

It's a foundation stone in the city's story.

And finally, at the corner of 11th and Boulder stands First Methodist Church, the third home for a congregation, whose story stretches back to Tulsa's earliest days.

Founded in 1886, the church built a modest white chapel.

And as the city expanded, so did the congregation.

First into a red brick church at Ninth and Boulder, then in 1921, into this grand structure that still welcomes worshippers today.

Built in the perpendicular Tudor Gothic style.

The church's design draws the eye heavenward with pointed arches and vaulted ceilings.

An architectural expression of reverence.

Its cruciform layout, a cross shape anchors the building in Christian tradition.

A symbol that this church, like its people, is grounded in faith.

These churches remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built with industry and ambition, but with faith, artistry, and community at its core.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

In 1924, Tulsa embarked on one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country with a goal of getting clean, reliable water to the city.

In the early 1900s, Tulsons used water from springs, wells, and the Arkansas River, which was full of gypsum, salt, and silt.

People used to say that after you took a bath, you dried off, and then you dusted off.

In 1908, during a hunting trip, a group of influential Tulsons came upon Spavanaugh Creek, a crystal clear spring-fed stream.

In the summer of 1921, the City Water Commission hired 28-year-old civil engineer W.R.

Hallway to conduct surveys to determine if Spavanaugh Creek water could be brought to Tulsa by gravity flow.

In his report on October 24th, Hallway confirmed this was possible.

And a month later, the citizens of Tulsa passed a $6,800,000 bond issue by an overwhelming margin to fund the Spavanaugh Water Supply Project.

Hallway was hired to design and build what was one of the largest water projects in the nation.

Construction took two years to complete at a cost of $7.5 million.

Spavanaugh Dam is two-thirds of a mile long, five stories high, and impounds eight and a half billion gallons of water in Spavanaugh Lake.

When first built, the reservoir became the largest lake in the state of Oklahoma.

Water from Spavanaugh Lake flows by gravity to the city of Tulsa, 54 miles away.

This original flow line was the longest raw water mine in the United States at the time of construction.

Over its length, the pipeline drops by an elevation of only 90 feet.

Crosses under two rivers, over eight creeks, and tunnels through a 200-foot tall ridge.

On November 17, 1924, Tulsons lifted glasses of clean and clear water to toast the completion of the Spavanaugh water system.

After construction was complete, Hallway allowed the Tulsa mayor to put his final $15,000 paycheck in a bottle to float through the flow line, where he caught it as it came out at Mohawk.

Today, the city of Tulsa provides an average of 105 million gallons of refreshing award-winning water to over 650,000 customers in and around the Tulsa metropolitan area every day.

In 1924, the Tulsa World wrote, oil may have built Tulsa in the past, but Spavanaugh water will be the product by which the future will be built.

It was important that we try and figure out how to activate this corridor for future development.

Everybody got behind this initiative.

So thank you for going down this journey with us and making sure that we invest in our district and its future potential.

Art One, our Alternate Response Team One is a co-response model, and it is a team that is staffed with two individuals, a firefighter paramedic who is trained in crisis intervention, and a COPS clinician from Family and Children's Services.

And so the Copes Clinician is a licensed professional counselor, and the TFD paramedic is someone who has had extra training in mental health and de-escalation techniques.

And this unit responds to mental or behavioral health crisis calls throughout the city of Tulsa.

Art One is able to respond to any age individual in crisis.

And we do see a big need in the 18 to 45 range.

We also know that about 20% of Art One's responses are to unhoused individuals.

There's a lot of work being done, not just locally but nationally with addressing mental health.

We were out ahead of the game in regards to a lot of the other cities in America in trying to address our needs within our community.

How can we better serve it?

What we found was early on, we were seeing some of these people called 911 who just needed this assistance.

And so these programs were invented very early on to meet that need.

And it's proven to be so valuable when we look at the resource that Art One provides to the community with the ability to have a paramedics and provide a medical evaluation of someone who's in crisis to rule out any physical health needs, along with that clinician to address the psychological needs of that individual who's in crisis.

Another big thing that Art One does is they've responded to what we call high utilizers or people who are calling 911 a lot looking for help.

So Art One can also respond to those individuals and start social services.

So we're very big on addressing social determinants, which is education, employment, health care, social and community context.

We want to address those items to improve somebody's life situation.

The benefit of having Family Children's Services along with us is that we have that clinician there.

They can schedule an appointment for that individual to go in and get checked.

Well, we're not able to accomplish that.

We take that individual to what we call sometimes an alternate destination.

So they may go to a crisis care center or an urgent recovery center or somewhere where it's going to best benefit that individual in that moment who's in crisis.

And 911 in public safety have done an incredible job of responding to an emergency incident, intervening and taking care of that situation.

But moving forward, we've got to find ways to continue that relationship with those individuals to make sure those needs are fed.

And that's really where the follow-up piece comes in.

If a unit responds to an individual on Monday, a case manager is going to follow up with them on Tuesday or Wednesday that week and make sure their needs are being met.

This is so important when you're talking about providing a continuum of care, meaning a care that does not stop on that response, but it follows what that individual stays with them.

We can connect people very quickly to those resources, and we have that institutional knowledge to know what's the best resource for that person.

We can really begin to move the ball forward in helping our most vulnerable populations in Tulsa to be in better situations.

Welcome to Tulsa, the oil capital of the world.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore cultural destinations.

The spaces where Tulsa came together to be entertained, inspired, and connected, whether through music, film, or storytelling.

These iconic venues have helped define Tulsa's cultural identity.

They reflect not only the city's love of the arts, but also its enduring commitment to preservation, creativity, and community.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most beloved cultural landmarks.

First, Canes Ballroom, where Western Swing was born and legends still take the stage.

Built in 1924, as a garage, Canes was converted into a dance hall academy and soon became home to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

With its spring-loaded Naple dance floor, Neon Glow, an intimate stage.

Keynes has hosted everyone from country pioneers to punk icons.

Known as the Carnegie Hall of Western Swing, it remains a living piece of Tulsa's musical legacy.

Today, it continues to operate as one of the region's premier music venues, drawing national touring acts and loyal local crowds.

Next, Circle Cinema.

Tulsa's oldest operating movie theater and a hub for independent film.

Opened in 1928 as a silent movie theater.

The circle has survived fires, closures, and shifting trends, but its mission remains the same to bring meaningful, thought-provoking cinema to the community.

Restored with care, the theater blends historic charm with modern programming.

It's more than a place to see a film.

It's where Tulsa comes to think, discuss, and dream.

It regularly hosts screenings, film festivals, and community events, keeping its screens and conversations alive.

And finally, the Museum of Tulsa History, nestled in the heart of Woodward Park, located in a 1919 Italian Renaissance Revival Mansion.

That was originally the home of oilmen and philanthropist Sam Travis.

The museum preserves Tulsa's collective memory through exhibits, archives, and artifacts.

One of the first grand residences in what became known as Tulsa's Millionaire Row.

The venue is surrounded by the blooming landscapes of Woodward Park.

This property is as much about reflection as celebration.

A place where the stories of Tulsa's neighborhoods, industries, and people are honored and shared.

The museum hosts rotating exhibits, lectures, and public programs that invite the community to engage directly with Tulsa's past.

These venues remind us that history isn't only built in stone or steel.

It's also written in cheers, laughter, and applause and the stories we pass on.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

They will also respond and provide outreach services and wellness checks for unhoused population within the IDL.

So when they're not on a run, when they're not providing medical coverage, they're out there making sure people are as healthy as they possibly can be.

They provide blood pressure checks, they take pulse rates.

Whether you're a house or homeless, it doesn't really matter.

Do you have the medications that you need to manage your health conditions?

They provide water on hot days, they make sure you're warm on cold days.

And Art 2 coordinates very well with our community partners, making sure that we're coordinating our efforts with everyone else.

The impact they've had has been significant.

And I believe the reason is they take the extra time to spend with individuals.

As soon as they're done with that call, they're gonna go over there and have conversations with people and say, hey, are you working with somebody right now?

Do you have a plan?

If not, we can help you coordinate that effort.

We can get you help you get housing.

We can help you get food.

What we love about the Tulsa Fire Department and what this program's been able to do is we work with everybody within the community.

So we're utilizing every resource that we have within the city of Tulsa to get the best outcomes for these individuals.

It does have that follow-up mechanism, very much like Art 1 and CRT, where the buck doesn't stop at the call.

Someone's staying with them, someone who has been unhoused for five years, had some history with alcohol, and they stayed with this individual, built rapport and started with just outreach, just having conversations and sticking with him.

Walked him through the steps, filled out housing applications with him, made sure the gaps were filled in service delivery.

After five years, this person's house now.

They've actually got a dog living within their apartment.

I mean, the best that we've ever seen them and living their best life, and that's really our hope through these programs is we can help facilitate that.

Whenever I pull up a heat map, we continue to see some of our greatest responses in the downtown area.

And when we begin to dive into what that looks like and why so, we do see a house population in the downtown area, and we see a great response to there.

We've been able to determine a lot of information that we didn't know before.

Busy times of the day, demographics that we're responding to, and really focus our approach into helping those individuals and really meeting those needs where they're at.

We want to provide what we call a community health needs assessment with Art 2 and really determine hey, when this unit's going to go, they're gonna ask more questions than maybe you would traditionally see on a fire tracker and angelist response.

They're gonna get into depth of what's going on with that individual.

You know, that call came in as a chest pain, but what was it really?

I do talk to a lot of different departments across the U.S., and so we're seeing cities want to adopt this.

There is models that are similar, but they've not had the impact.

And I think that the difference you see is R2 is able to respond to real-time 911 calls in place of other apparatus, but they also provide those other social services that are really critical to getting the outcomes you need.

All these units, whether it's CRT, Art 1, or Art 2, they're able to let law enforcement, ambulances, fire trucks go back in service to be ready to respond to fires, critical emergencies, and let these units spend the extra time with people in mental health crisis or unhoused populations and not rush that.

You don't want to rush those situations.

You want to spend the extra time.

I believe very strongly that Art 2 is a model for the future.

Right now, it's just in downtown Tulsa.

I see this as something that you could really implement citywide.

You don't see this anywhere else in America.

So I'm excited because I love when we are able to push the bar forward and really set an example on a national stage, and that's exactly what we're doing with Art 2.

Hi, I'm Sherry Carrier, director of Tulsa Animal Services.

I want to take a moment to share a little bit about the incredible work happening behind these doors.

Every single day, our team is here, taking in lost, abandoned, and injured animals, giving them the care that they need and working hard to find safe and loving homes.

It's easy to think that this is just a city service, but behind the scene are real people.

People who love animals and pour their hearts into this work.

Even on our toughest days.

We're proud to say it's making a difference.

Our save rate has jumped from 67% in 2018 to nearly 80% today.

Thanks to adoptions, foster homes, and the incredible support of our community.

One of the biggest lifesavers, spay and neuter.

Preventing unwanted litters means fewer animals entering our shelters and more resources for every pet who needs us.

Thank you for standing with us.

Together, we're creating a safer, more compassionate Tulsa for animals.

Recycling red is easy, but do you know what happens when you don't think before you throw and contaminate your blue recycling cart?

The city of Tulsa produces 450 tons of contaminated waste per month.

That's almost 5500 tons per year that will now be going straight to the land zone.

To put into perspective how much waste that is, it's equivalent to 250 golden driller statues.

Think before you throw and keep recycling clean and waste-free.

For more information about the correct way to recycle, please visit Tulsa Recycles.com.

The Tulsa Professional Connector Program will help you build a professional network and get in touch with highly networked individuals and professionals in your field of expertise.

To learn more, visit our webpage and contact us.

In this episode of our historic preservation series, we explore river views, the grand homes that overlook the Arkansas River and reflect Tulsa's lasting connection to its natural landscape.

For more than a century, the river has shaped the city's layout, its neighborhoods, and its sense of beauty.

These historic properties near its banks are more than homes.

They're places where art, industry, and civic life converged.

Let's take a look at three of Tulsa's most iconic riverside estates.

First, Harweldon Mansion, Tulsa's storybook manor, overlooking the Arkansas River, built in 1923 by Oilman Earl Harwell.

This English tutor-style estate blends gothic arches and hand-carved detailing.

The exterior facade consists of brick, stone window surrounds, balustrade, and stone coins at the corners leading up to the slate roof.

Inside, the home featured custom furnishings, a music room, and one of the city's earliest residential elevators.

Today, Harweldon operates as a cultural and event center, welcoming guests from around the world for weddings, concerts, and arts programming all with the river view.

Next, the Lee Clinton House, an understated gem tucked into the curves of Riverside Drive.

Constructed in 1919, this elegant colonial revival home belonged to civic leader and businessman Lee Clinton, founder of Union National Bank, and co-founder of the Tulsa Stockyards, along with oil man William G.

Skelly.

With its classical detailing and perfectly manicured grounds, the home reflects quiet confidence and refined taste.

Privately owned and beautifully preserved.

And finally, the dresser mansion, where Italian Renaissance Flair meets Tulsa's oil era opulence.

Built in 1919 for oil executive Carl Dresser.

This mansion draws on Mediterranean design with arched logias, ornate ironwork, and a red tile roof.

Designed for entertaining, the home once hosted lavish parties with views stretching across the river valley, now restored and used as a venue.

Dresser Mansion continues to host celebrations, echoing its original purpose as a home made for gathering.

The Arkansas River shaped Tulsa's growth and offered a scenic corridor for some of the city's most remarkable residences.

These iconic properties remind us that Tulsa's past wasn't just built.

It was carefully placed with beauty, nature, and legacy in mind.

Watch more and learn with us as we uncover the places that shape Tulsa.

One historic property at a time.

You know that for decades, the West Side has geographically been cut off from many amenities and services.

But this new trail system is a part of a grassroots effort to improve the quality of life for Tulsons right here on the West Side, especially near Bell's Park.

This trail also serves the wider Tulsa community by providing beginner-level trails for those who are new to mountain biking, as well as a downhill bike-only section for intermediate riders.

And Turkey Mountain is right next door.

Our Bales Park Trails are amazing.

People come, park your car, get out, enjoy the trails.

There's not much traffic.

We do a third grade bike PE program where we're there for four days doing a condensed bike club curriculum where we're teaching them safety practices and skill building.

The after school program generally operates for fourth and fifth graders and in middle school.

Fundraising and the kind people that give us dollars to operate allows us to offer all these programs free to the district and free to the kids.

We'll have offices, a classroom for training, workshops, team building, and then we'll also be able to host our volunteers here.

We really see a secondary use as a community spot.

Other community partners can come out here, do some training, team buildings.

And we want to make sure that every Tulson has the opportunity to get outside and enjoy.

We love Bell's Park, and the best is yet to come.

That's why Tulsa Animal Services partnered with Tulsa Fire to bring microchip scanners to every fire station in our city.

If you find a lost pet, you can now stop by any Tulsa Fire Station and ask a firefighter to scan for a microchip.

No shelter visit required.

The scanner will show a chip number that can help you contact the owner directly through an online lookup system.

Most pets aren't truly lost.

They just need a little help getting home.

This partnership helps us keep animals in their neighborhoods where they belong.

Our fire stations are already part of the community.

This is one more way we're stepping up to keep Tulsa families two-legged and four-legged safe and together.

Because the best place for a pet is home.

TFD CARES stands for Community Assistance Referrals and Educational Services.

Really seeks to connect 911 high utilizers and vulnerable populations to those critical community resources to help improve the lives of individuals within our community.

And the University of Tulsa did a study on CARES back in 2017.

And from January to March, we had about a 70% reduction in 9-1-1 usage by connecting vulnerable populations in our community to social determinants of health.

And our scope and scale has grown.

We are now working with local community partners, whether it's hospitals, behavioral health partners, or other vital community resources to really connect individuals to those services.

We get referrals in from all different kinds of partners, whether it's hospitals, the fire department, sometimes the police department or the ambulance service in town.

And I think what makes TFD CARES really strong and really a great program is we're connected and integrated with all the community support structures in place.

We have two very good case managers that really navigate these community resources.

We'll address those social determinants of health.

We'll create goals off of that.

And we utilize a system called gelatin to communicate and connect with all those community partners, and it helps us to kind of capture our workflow and the work that's being completed.

But our case managers, they stay with those clients until those needs are met.

They're working with them, they're navigating things like hand bars, wheelchair ramps, food insecurity, medication adherence.

They also help with individuals who are not currently housed.

We also send a firefighter paramedic or a community paramedic to the home and they'll try to make that home safer and they'll work with those residents or those community members to make sure that their home is a safer place to live, that they're reducing falls, reducing injuries, and ultimately having better health outcomes.

We thought was very important moving forward in the growth of this program, being an extension of the hospitals and helping firefighters reduce those 911 calls.

One thing we're really proud of with TFD CARES is their impact that they're making and the results because that's what matters to us.

How are we improving that individual's life?

And so TFD CARES has been able to reduce 911 utilization by 80%.

We've been tracking this data through Gelata since 2023.

We're getting help to those individuals in need.

About 52% of the time, we're able to take care of those needs within two weeks.

We're trying to use this information in different parts of Tulsa to be more proactive in helping our citizens and our community members.

Social services has got to be a part of public safety.

The benefit is incredible, and as we continue to try to address root cause issues, why is that individual calling 911?

Programs like TFD CARES answer that call and they get to those root cause issues and help improve that person's life.

The overdose response team was created to address a prevalent community need in Tulsa, and that's overdoses.

We've seen opiates causing a lot of havoc within our community, not just in Tulsa or Oklahoma, but really nationally.

Public safety, whether it's fire and police are responding to right around eight to ten overdose calls a day.

We created a specialized team that has a community paramedic along with a peer recovery support specialist or someone with lived experience to respond to real-time overdose calls and provide follow-up to individuals who have overdose within our community.

So the lived experienced individual, that's someone who has used some sort of substance in the past and recovered.

I've always had a passion for addiction recovery, things like that because I'm in recovery myself from drugs and alcohol.

So when the opportunity came up, I snagged it up.

I was very excited to be a part of it.

And I still am.

I love it.

It's probably my favorite day out of the week because it's a chance for me to give back to the community that I came from.

I've been in recovery for five years from drugs and I haven't drinking like 10 years.

I came from a pretty tough background, lots of trauma growing up.

Gotten trouble a lot as a kid.

Been homeless, I've been part of domestic violence and everything from alcohol to prescription opiates to methamphetamine.

So when I first got clean with I decided I wanted to be a part of the movement for recovery.

And I got into working at a drug and alcohol treatment center for several years, and I really loved it.

And what that gives us is the ability to for someone to really connect on a personal level and say, hey, I've been in a similar situation before, but I've recovered.

So the overdose response team is meant to complement the current infrastructure we have in place that will go identify individuals who have overdosed, build rapport, connect to services, and stay with them until they've gotten the help they need.

Are you on a housing list?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

How long have you been on it?

With the interactions that we've made.

We're slowly building relationships with people through outreach.

I think there's a trust there that some programs don't get.

Thank you.

This is a model that has worked in other cities.

We went and looked in specifically San Antonio.

Oklahoma City implemented this program in August 2023 to address these needs.

And what these previous communities have found is they're able to get people help earlier in the substance addiction than they were previously.

We do emphasize the harm reduction supplies and the hands on CPR and some of that education because we're very passionate about giving someone another chance to get it right.

And so the harm reduction boxes to complement our overdose response team.

We've put those boxes in areas of our community where we see the most overdoses.

And so we have these at a couple fire stations, easy access to Narcan Leave Behind Kits as well as fentanyl test strips and education pamphlets.

We want to prevent someone from losing their life.

You don't gain recovery by force.

You've got to want it for it to be successful.

So we're just there to help guide that situation and keep people safe for as long as we can.

And so I think that can build a bridge with certain members in our community to sit there and say, hey, you know, we're just here to lend a helping hand.

It helps to humanize the situation, I think.

You got this?

All right.

That's something we're very passionate about is continuing to move that ball forward with these individuals and making sure they know this is the things available to help you.

And we can help walk alongside you during that process.

But we'll also do follow-ups with them, with their family, see if we can connect them to resources or get them to treatment or get them harm reduction supplies, whatever it is that they need is what we're there to do.

And whenever anybody's asked us for help, we've been there and we'll help them.

I would say we're continuing to address this issue within our community and really make sure we're providing resources, whether that's response, somewhere to go.

We want to make sure that we have the best system in America here in Tulsa.

The NCI Pilot Program is all about empowering neighborhoods.

We're giving communities tools, resources, and the confidence they need to take charge and create real meaningful change.

Neighborhood associations, local leaders, and neighbors come together with city departments to identify their top needs and then build a plan to tackle them.

We started by looking at the NCI reports and identifying the neighborhoods with the highest priority needs.

It established a cross-departmental task force, got together with them and looked at the resources we could provide the neighborhoods.

These departments that we worked with were police department, animal services, code enforcement, and public works.

Suburban Hills was a perfect fit for this program.

Their participation shows just how much this community values growth and togetherness.

The city has helped a lot.

That was a huge success.

The neighborhood cleanup was a huge success.

I'm so grateful that we still have them as we move forward.

Once you build the partnerships with the city, they're going to continue with us.

The city departments involved worked hard.

The neighborhoods worked hard.

We couldn't have done it without their support and their involvement.

Together, we're creating neighborhoods where every voice matters and every block has a strong story worth telling.

Most of our residential and arterial street lights in Tulsa are owned and maintained by PSO.

The city pays PSO a monthly fee for this service.

Freeway and highway lights are different.

They're owned and maintained by the city of Tulsa.

Those are installed by Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and after they're done with the construction, they turn them over to the local municipalities.

Those are our responsibility within our city limits.

There's about 6,000 highway lights.

But what happens when they're damaged by storms, vandalism, or accidents?

With 6,000 light poles in the air, every time there's a lightning swarm or anything that comes through, you have 6,000 lightning rods that if lightning hits, it will take out one or multiple poles.

We have cars that run into them during winter weather, during uh rain events, in addition to people trying to steal the wiring.

Repair timelines depend upon severity and location of the damage, and crews respond based upon safety priorities.

We focus on large stretch of lights, not one individual light being out.

But with 6,000 lights, we try to go and get the most lights restored that we can.

We're in the process of replacing all the lighting in the entire city.

And as part of that, we're also not only going to convert the LED, but we're also adding a control system.

So that will give us feedback.

If the lighting is out, it will send an alarm back to us and we'll be able to dispatch someone.

And with the old technology that we have, the only way to find out if lights are out is to go drive and physically look at the lights, and that requires a lot of drive time, a lot of extra effort on top of maintaining them.

So with this LED change out, a lot of that's gonna improve our response time and ability to know what's out at any time.

PSO is also adding sensors to residential and arterial street lights.

You can also request new street lights for your neighborhood by contacting 311.

If funding is available, and at least three of the four nearby property owners agree, PSO will design and install the new streetlight.

If your neighborhood uses custom polls, you will need to cover the upgrade cost and future maintenance.

Street lights matter for safety and our community.

If you see an outage, please take time to report it.

Thank you.

Today, as Tulsa Transit continues to evolve, we're excited to share a significant chapter in our journey.

Enter the era of Aero, where the bus rapid transit takes center stage.

The Peoria Aero BRT transformative force has doubled ridership connecting Tulsans to progress and prosperity.

Look ahead to the planned Route 66 BRT line, set to redefine our city's transit network, reducing travel time and enhancing the way Tulsans navigate their city.

Celebrate with us as we mark a significant milestone.