Tulsa Topics

This week has been chock full o' meetings. I was at the Urban and Economic Development Committee meeting on Tuesday; last night I attended the Eastside Town Hall Meeting held by City Councilors Chris Medlock and Jim Mautino; today started off with a meeting of the newly formed group, Tulsans Defending Democracy.

I'll have more via posts, video and sound bytes on all of the aforementioned meetings, but for now I'm only going to comment on today's meeting of the newly formed TDD (Tulsans Defending Democracy). The common theme of all the meetings that I attended this week can be loosely classified as "Tulsans Defending Democracy." Whether it's Councilor Jack Henderson trying to hold Councilors accountable in the Great Plains Airlines investigation or a Town Hall meeting held by Mautino and Medlock, each meeting basically boiled down to Tulsans trying to defend democracy.

Down to the brass tacks of the meeting today....

Tulsans Defending Democracy describes themselves as "A bipartisan coalition protecting the principle of representative democracy in Tulsa's city government." This description didn't fall short at today's meeting. It was a highly diverse cross section of Tulsa's population. With approximately 50+ people in attendance, the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the four geographical areas of Tulsa were well represented. The common goal of this coalition is to counter and ultimately defeat the current campaign underway to change Tulsa's Charter and City Council makeup.

The current campaign to change Tulsa's Charter is being spearheaded by an organization called "Tulsans for Better Government" which claims they are a "group made up of citizens from across Tulsa who want to restore balanced representation for the neighborhoods and the city as a whole." Further inspection of this group reveals a lack of diversity especially in the "tax bracket" and geographical categories. Unlike another organization, Coalition for Responsible Government, that wanted to change the face of Tulsa's local government, Tulsans for Better Government has posted the makeup of their membership, but I believe the ultimate goal is basically the same. I also believe there's some "Cockroach Caucus" phenomenon or supporters that will not come into the light. Ultimately Tulsans for Better Government wants to reduce the number of councilors to six and introduce three at-large councilors into the equation. Steven Novick summed this initiative up like this, "Instead of government for the people, by the people, for the benefit of all citizens, this would be government for the people, by the rich, for the benefit of the well connected."

If you haven't noticed, Tulsa is a city in constant motion. Since the last city election swayed power away from the "status quo" and "good ol' boy" network, they are running scared and flexing their collective political muscle. This muscle flexing has materialized via editorials and biased local reporting in the Whirled, in a failed recall attempt, and now in the formation of Tulsans for Better Government. Mona Miller, president of Homeowners For Fair Zoning, hit the proverbial "nail on the head" in her statement to those in attendance this morning. Mona said she thought, "the initiative by Tulsans for Better Government is nothing more than Recall - Plan B," a thought which was echoed by applause from the crowd in attendance.

Unfortunately, I believe that there will be a Plan C, Plan D, and more in the works. The title of this post makes reference to Newton's Third Law which states - For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thank your lucky stars there are Councilors and normal everyday citizens making sure the laws of physics also apply to Tulsa's political atmosphere.

Note: This story will unfold in the months to come and be constantly evolving and changing. For other viewpoints and opinions, make sure you check out the Tulsa Bloggers aggregate page by clicking on the following link: www.tulsabloggers.org