Tulsa Topics

Irony – Irony may arise from a discordance between acts and results.

I read an article at the Tulsa Whirled website the other day titled: “Mayor’s Staff Update: Personnel expert is newest addition”.  The story features a table of salaries of the Mayor’s “at-will” employees and me being the Excel type of guy that I am; I copied and pasted all the numbers in a spreadsheet and crunched the numbers.  The cost of the Mayor’s staff in salary alone totaled out at more than $1.2 million bucks.  I’m sure that doesn’t include the cost of benefits either.

What I find ironic is that with a staff smaller than the Mayor’s, and a yearly budget of around $1.5 million greenbacks, the River Parks Authority continues the daily grind of maintaining one of Tulsa’s most popular areas.  Another irony that chaps my derierre, are the umpteen different stories and articles mentioning the so-called “Movers, Shakers, and Players” regarding river development.  In recent history, I don’t remember mention of the River Parks Authority.  Compared to the high dollar Mayor’s staff…… Tulsa your getting a bargain with every tax dollar that goes to the RPA!

Some may argue this is the reason we need more tax dollars, but I for one believe the city and county could be better stewards of our existing tax dollars.  If they were… maybe our swimming pools would be filled in the summer, our street lights would be working on freeways, our roads wouldn’t be crumbling, our crime statistics looking wouldn’t look like j-sloped curves, and the RPA fiscal budget wouldn’t be a meager $1.5 million.

Probably the biggest irony of all will be our attempt to hold our so-called public servants accountable when the huge whooper of lies promises they’ve made to the gullible public falls flatter than projected.  On a state level, recent history that exemplifies this:  Indian Casinos, Lottery, etc. etc. which are less in reality than projected when it comes to filling the state piggy bank.  I can still remember the war cry used then as well as now…. “Do it for the kids, do it for their future.” (Some things never change)

Something is inherently wrong in Metropolis when I receive no less than a dozen vote yes mailings and having to listen to the perpetual onslaught of TV and Radio ads promising everything under the sun.  The “full court press” tactics of the vote yes camp remind me of a hard sales pitch you experience when shopping for an automobile or furniture.  If it’s such a great deal, why are they having to sell it so hard?  I’d almost venture to guess that the advertising campaign cost alone is more that RPA’s fiscal budget!

Just remember fellow Tulsan’s…. just like Kathy Taylor and her band of “at will” employees, elected officials serve “at will” to us.  They are public servants that we, the voting public, can hire or fire with the ease of casting your vote.  Whether you are for or against a river tax, an elected official, or allowing the tribes to have full blown gambling, you can’t run with the big dogs if you don’t get off the porch.  Make sure you exercise your right to vote.

In case you wondering how I’m going to vote:

AGAINST THE PROPOSITION - NO