STCC Press Release: Council Opposes IVI Bridge Deal

The South Tulsa Citizens Coalition (“STCC”) is pleased to announce that every member of Tulsa's newly elected city council has signed a representation letter to the voters of the City of Tulsa opposing the IVI bridge deal. In their letters, all nine of the councilors state that they will not support the opening of the bridge until all of the infrastructure improvements necessary to handle the additional traffic from the bridge are completed. In addition, eight of the city councilors state that:

* They will not allow industrial traffic, including 18 wheelers, to access or use Yale Avenue from 121st Street to the Creek Turnpike; and

* They will not allow the bridge to connect to 121st Street and Yale Avenue or any minor deviation or variance from that location. However, they will be able to support a bridge connecting to 121st and Riverside.

On February 3, 2006, Mayor Kathy Taylor signed a similar representation letter to the ones signed by the councilors. The exact language of Mayor Taylor's letter and the city councilors' letters may be viewed at www.movethatbridge.com.

STCC spokesman Michael Covey said “The message is clear. The IVI bridge is a bad deal for the City of Tulsa. The city is not going to sit back and be taken advantage of by a group of private investors and their suburban politician. I think it is unfortunate that Jenks Mayor Vic Vreeland refuses to work with the City of Tulsa on ideas that will benefit both Tulsa and the surrounding communities.”

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South Tulsa Citizens Coalition

Not Withdrawn

Despite the assurances of Counselor Troyer, and an article from the Tulsa World, I believe that the re-zoning application for Eastland Mall is still on the plate. Yesterday, I went to Eastland Mall and the sign was still up.

I have contacted INCOG regarding this issue, and was told that they had NOT received a request to withdraw this application.

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East Tulsa
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Dennis Troyer

Not Xceptional

Yesterday, while my motorcycle was being violated, I was watching X-Men III with some co-workers. To quote Randy Jackson, “It was just all right for me Dawg.” It was ok, but it wasn’t great. The fact that it could have been great, is what makes the movie so disappointing. This review best sums up how I feel about the movie.

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Dear Scumbag

To the low-life piece of human garbage who vandalized my motorcycle at The Cinemark Tulsa in hopes of finding valuables in the seat compartment, I’m glad you went to all the trouble only to find nothing. While I don’t wish death for you, I do wish for the severe dehydration that only days of explosive diarrhea can bring you. You suck!

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The Cinemark Tulsa
Scumbag
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CS vs. IL

Someone wants to change the zoning of Eastland Mall from CS (Commercial Shopping District) to IL (Industrial Light). So what are the differences between these two zoning codes? Based on the code, I made the following table.

No. Name	IL	CS
1. Area-Wide Uses	X	X
2. Area-Wide Special Exception Uses	E	E
3. Agriculture	X
4. Public Protection & Utility Facilities	X	X
5. Community Services & Similar Uses	E	X
6. Single-Family Dwelling		E
7. Duplex Dwelling		E
8. Multifamily Dwelling and Similar Uses		E**
10. Off-Street Parking Areas	X	X
11. Offices & Studios	X	X
12. Eating Places, other than Drive-Ins	E	X
13. Convenience Goods & Services	E	X
14. Shopping Goods & Services	E	X
15. Other Trades & Services	X	E
16. Mini-Storage	X	E
17. Automotive & Allied Activities	X	E
18. Drive-In Restaurants	E	E
19. Hotel, Motel, & Recreational Facilities	E	X
19.(a) Selected Entertainment Establishments	E	X
20. Commercial Recreation, Intensive	E	E
21. Business Signs, Outdoor Advertising	X	X
22. Research & Development	X
23. Warehousing & Wholesaling	X
25. Light Manufacturing & Industry	X
26. Moderate Manufacturing & Industry	E

*X= Use by Right
E= Special Exception
**= Residential treatment center, transitional living center, and emergency

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East Tulsa
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American Idol Hits

This has brought a lot of people to my blog today...

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Eastland Mall Zoning Change

An anonymous comment from yesterday’s post about Eastland Mall tipped me off to some other interesting pictures I could take.

There is a TMAPC sign at southeast side of the mall indicating someone is trying to change the zoning of Eastland to IL (light industrial) !!!!

If this concerns you as much as it concerns me then I would suggest trying to attend the hearing on June 7th at the Francis F. Campbell City Council Room at 1:30 PM.(These hearings should be in the evening!)

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Eastland Mall Photos

I took a few pictures of Eastland Mall today...

Here are three interesting ones.




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East Tulsa
Eastland Mall

Sales Tax Growth Not Good Enough

I read an article by Tulsa World's Brian Barber titled "Sales Tax: Collections Up: Revenue increases in city, suburbs." Barber writes that Tulsa’s sales tax numbers are up 5.6 percent which is good. However there are two quotes from this article that concern me. This first is from Pat Connelly, Tulsa’s Budget Director.

The city's extra revenue already is allocated toward higher energy bills, police overtime and helping the struggling ambulance service…It was a good month, but we need every dollar that's coming in the door

I recently saw a graph that showed the projected sales tax revenue juxtaposed with the projected cost of running the City. The line for projected expenditures, overtime, far exceeded the projected revenue. While a 5.6 percent increase sounds good it is worrisome that we are still just scraping by. Connelly went on to say that Tulsa must maintain an increase of at least 4 percent just to keep up.

This brings me to the second quote, concerning Jenks’ double digit sales tax growth at 41.6 percent.

Jenks consistently has posted double-digit increases since the RiverWalk crossing restaurant and retail development opened in June.

Jenks and other surrounding communities are doing an outstanding job. If we are to compete with them, we have got to do a better job of not only protecting but increasing our sales tax base; Tulsa's 5.6 percent won’t cut it. The Tulsa Hills shopping center will go a long way toward helping, but I fear that this alone won’t cut it.

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Jenks
sales tax
Brian Barber
Tulsa World

Is It Really Worth It?

I changed the oil in my motorcycle today. You may or may not have heard the dire warnings against the use of regular motor oil in a motorcycle. “Regular motor oil wont protect the wet clutch,” or “Motorcycles run at higher temperatures and at tighter tolerances, you need a higher performance oil specifically designed for motorcycles.“ These are things you will be told while shopping for oil.

This article almost convinced me that this is a bunch of crap. However, when it came down to it, I did not want to risk the heath of my cycle for a couple of bucks. Instead, I bought 4 quarts of this for seven bucks a quart.


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motorcycle oil
Mobil 1

A Class Act

I’ve always suspected that Madonna was classy. This confirms my suspicions.


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tacky

Deadly Mistress

I’ve pulled Valeris out of mothballs.

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motorcycle
kawasaki vulcan

No Hobbits in the Real World

Ahh nuts! The news that they had found a new species of human called Homo floresiensis had me kneeling at the altar of Darwin. Now that that story has been debunked, I guess I'll go back to believing in God.


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Medlock Running for State House

Good luck to Chris Medlock, who has announced his candidacy in the race for Oklahoma State House District 69.


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Oklahoma

Vietnam/Iraq Wall Update

It has been a while since my last comparison of the Iraq casualties with Vietnam casualties.




There are 58,169 names on the Vietnam War Memorial. According to the DOD there have been 2452 deaths in Iraq. So my Iraq wall is now 0.04 the size of the Vietnam Wall.

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Vietnam
death toll

Rainbow

A rain shower this evening afforded me an opportunity to take the following picture with my newly repaired camera.

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rainbow
Nikon Coolpix S4

TulsaBloggers: The Movie

I’m proud to announce that principle photography for the new TulsaBloggers movie is complete. Please enjoy this teaser trailer…


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A Healthy Response to The Da Vinci Code

I read this article by George P. Wood about a healthy and productive response to The Da Vinci Code.

In Acts 17:16-34, Paul talks about Jesus with people in Athens. Like many Da Vinci Code readers, the Athenians are “spiritual” but not Christian. Paul’s example suggests seven relevant evangelistic principles.

I encourage you to take the time to read it.

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Spring Has Sprung

Not the season, but the spring on my garage door. I briefly thought about replacing it myself. I found a great resource for the do-it-yourselfer written by Richard J. Kinch. I decided, however, that I did not want to mess with it so I called TOD (Tulsa Overhead Door). Armed with some information from the aforementioned site, I was ready to do battle.

A fair price for a professional repair, including the service call, parts, labor, and warranty, in most US locales is $100 to $150. This was the case in the early 2000s. Times change.
What Do the Professionals Overcharge for This?
I have received many tales by email of various swindles for upwards of $800 involving garage door repairs, or $1000s in needless door replacements. Beware of various tricks.

Fortunately, TOD was fair and honest; I would recommend them to anyone who needs help with their garage door. My final bill was 157.49; well with in the expected range described by Kinch (when one considers inflation since 2000). Thank TOD for the excellent, fast, and fair service, and thanks to Mr. Kinch for his outstanding resource concerning garage door torsion springs

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Tulsa Overhead Door
garage door

Barbie Cake

My wife made this!








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Third Penny

I've attempted to aggregate posts concerning the Third Penny Sales Tax extension here.

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Third penny sales tax

Everyone Hates the Big Bang

I’ve always found it interesting that many Christians hate the big bang theory. I find it ironic because there are also many atheist scientists who hate the theory too. It suggests that there was a beginning, and a beginning suggests a Beginner. Before the big bang theory, scientists pre-supposed that the universe was infinitely old.

Of course this is handy because in an infinitely old universe there is an infinite amount of time for life to occur. It doesn’t matter what the odds are when you have as long as it takes to get right. Enter a new theory that solves the big bang problem.

People have inferred that time began then, but there really wasn't any reason for that inference," said Neil Turok, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge, "What we are proposing is very radical. It's saying there was time before the big bang."

In other words, we are proposing that there was no beginning and no beginner… and this is really handy because now we don’t have to worry about whether it is wrong to molest little boys, cheat on our taxes, or download bootleg copies of Mission Impossible III*. Without God around to pester us anymore we can do whatever we want.

*I’m not suggesting that Prof Turok does any of these things; I am however suggesting that we all thank him for opening the door for the rest of us to do them.

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Self Service

You may or may not know that it is illegal for the general public to pump gas in New Jersey. One would think that folks here would jump at the chance to pump their own gas. The price would be cheaper with self serve and they wouldn’t have to occasionally tip their attendant. However, New Jerseyans are apparently very hostile to the idea of pumping their own gas.

The chastened governor said his office had received 1,400 calls and e-mails opposing a change - compared with 200 expressing distaste for his proposed one-penny hike in the state's 6 percent sales-tax rate.

Yikes...New Jersey can keep their strict gun regulations, high taxes, crummy traffic, and goofy laws. I can’t wait to get home.


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Full Service
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Thanks Union Bosses

I’m still here in NJ and I’m running behind on new posts right now. In the meantime watch this funny commercial about Union Bosses that is airing up here.


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Adventures in New Jersey

Bored by his accommodations, Steven decided to venture out for coffee. He had been to Parsippany once before and happened to know where to find a little pastry shop with free WIFI. However, much to his dismay, the shop had closed early. “Well what am I going to do now?” he thought, “I’m not going back to my room.” So Steven ventured a little further in to The Land of No Left-Hand Turns.

Steven thought he had found the perfect spot, “A Panera Bread Company! It’s open!" Regrettably his victory was short lived. “What time do ya’ll close?” he asked. As the clerk replied “9:00,” Steven looked at the time, it was 8:56. Not willing to give up, he asked the patron behind him if there was a place that stayed open late for coffee and pastry. “There is a Starbucks down the street,” the patron replied. Steven explained that for various reasons, Starbucks was out of the question. “Well there is Mara’s down in Denville," he said. Unfortunately, Steven had great difficulty understanding the directions his new friend tried to provide as they included two of these so-called "New Jersey Lefts". “You know what? If this place closes at 9:00 I’m going to go to Mara’s anyway. You want to follow me?”

He agreed, and that is how Steven ended up in Denville New Jersey at Mara’s Country Desserts, where he ate a cherry turnover, drank a cup of Kona, and wrote this post for his blog.

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Parsippany
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Jughandle