Tulsa's No-Nicks Get Early Start

The Tulsa version of Oklahoma City's MAPS project is finally ready to go to the ballot in September. It took forever to get the package ready, partly because the Mayor LaFortune was so dis-engaged and partly because it was a grassroots effort. But the anti-tax Ludites got an early start in putting out their "Vote No" signs. I doubt they even know what's in the package Tulsans will be voting on.

The anti-tax and anti-investment crowd in Tulsa has defeated the last two bond issues brought to the citizens and have, as a group, caused the downward spiral of Tulsa over the past decade. Tulsa used to be the proud and progressive city that Oklahoma City envied. But Oklahoma City has invested heavily in itself over the same decade and has blown Tulsa away. If Tulsa doesn't overcome these selfish anti-communitarians in September the city might as well give up hope of ever pulling itself up by its bootstraps.

A Tulsa friend of mine told me last week she's determined to leave for Dallas if the bond issues are voted down this time. As more and more young professionals leave Tulsa for more progressive cities the negative nabobs comprise an ever greater percentage of what remains of Tulsa.