Stop The Chop

On Friday I was eating dinner on Cherry St, and I noticed a sign that said Stop the Chop. It said something about saving trees at Woodward Park and listed this website. I hadn't heard about this so I checked it out.

According to Stopthechop.net the parks department wants to cut corners on tree maintenance by cutting down trees at Woodward. The parks dept says that the trees they want to cut down are diseased and need to come down, but an independent arborist has looked at the trees and concluded that they don't need to be cut down.

the Certified Arborist concludes that all the 'aging, damaged and diseased' trees marked for destruction are only 20 to 40 years old, pose no immediate threat, and need only 1-2 hours of routine maintenance to return them to health.

If it is true that all it takes is a couple hours of maintenance per tree to save them, then that is what needs to happen. It seems to me that cutting a few limbs off these trees would be cheaper than cutting them down, so I can't imagine that this is money issue. You can sign a petition to save the Woodward Park trees by clicking here. In the meantime I plan to look into this issue further, I'll let you know what I find out.

[update] Hat tip to Jeff Shaw. Apparently it is cheaper to cut the trees down now than to continue to maintain them over time. Sounds like a pretty lame excuse to me but that is the rational.

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Woodward Park

Link Previews

I'm copying Meeciteewurkor by adding link previews. Just hover over any external link to give it a whirl.


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Doll Face

This short film has some stunning effects. However, aside from being really cool, this animated film has some interesting commentary that speaks to me more than it would have were it not for the two little girls at home who love to watch Barbie and Disney princess movies.

Videos by Andrew Huang | More VMIX videos
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self image
animation
parenting

Mayor Taylor Responds

Steven,

Thanks for your note. I am asking the experts for recommendations on the best way to finance the bridge and for the best recommendation as to its placement. I assure you that any decision I make will be made in reliance on data and financial analysis, and not on emotion or influence. Thank you for your comments, and for making life better in Tulsa!


Sincerely,

Kathy Taylor
Mayor

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South Tulsa
Toll Bridge
Arkansas River
Kathy Taylor

Email Mayor Taylor

The South Tulsa Citizens Coalition (STCC) has asked everyone who supports their cause to email Mayor Kathy Taylor (at Mayor@cityoftulsa.org). We need to send her a loud and clear message that the citizens of Tulsa oppose the Toll Bridge under the current configuration. To that end, the STCC has provided a email template to get you started.

Mayor Taylor, I understand that you signed a representation and warranty letter to the citizens of the City of Tulsa opposing the Bridge as it is currently proposed. However, your recent silence on this issue is deafening. I ask that you and the City of Tulsa stand behind me and the thousands of other citizens all over Tulsa in our fight against the Bridge.

Interestingly enough Mayor Taylor told Michael Covey in a recent meeting, "I wished I'd never signed that letter." I think she needs a reminder who exactly it is that she represents, so I strongly urge you to send her an email to help her out.

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South Tulsa
Toll Bridge
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South Tulsa Citizens Coalition
Kathy Taylor

Medlock on 1170

I woke up early to catch Chris Medlock on 1170 KFAQ yesterday morning. It was his first day as an official co-host on the show. As a politician, Medlock often complained that his sense of humor wasn’t appreciated; now he hopefully has an accepted outlet for it. I think he will make a fine addition to the morning show, and I look forward to listening to his take on local politics.



It occurred to me that my Medlock bumper sticker now has a certain amount of validity again. I guess it should be reworded to say "A radio host for all of Tulsa" instead of "A Mayor for all of Tulsa." If and when they come out with a KFAQ/Medlock bumper sticker I’ll switch, but until then I’ll keep the one I have.


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Chris Medlock

Tonight's Toll Bridge Meeting

There was a good turnout tonight in South Tulsa for STCC’s Toll Bridge Meeting. As always the meeting was informative. Michael Covey got the meeting started off by giving an overview of the issues. For review I’ll list the main points.


• This bridge was not brought before the voters. The 75 year deal that Jenks has entered into with IVI (Infrastructure Ventures, Inc.) is tantamount to a cash give away. The voters of Tulsa should be allowed to approve this deal.
• The revenue projection over the life of the bridge is between 500-800 million dollars. Do we want to allow a private company to have this money or do we want to try do partner with Jenks and create a new revenue stream for Tulsa?
• There has been no competitive bidding. Should we allow IVI to build this bridge without seeing if some other public or private group can give us a better deal?
• This deal does not take into account the infrastructure needed to support the bridge. There are billions of dollars of unfunded infrastructure needs in Tulsa. This bridge, should it be built, would require millions of dollars of infrastructure improvements to the streets in the area.
• Eminent Domain would be used to implement the project. Jenks would need to condemn land owned by Tulsa to build this bridge.

Councilor Bill Christiansen was on hand to present his bridge proposal which would have the bridge feed traffic north along Riverside. Despite the reports by the Tulsa World to the contrary, this plan would not require any houses to be torn down on the Tulsa side. In addition Christiansen wants IVI taken out of the picture. Instead of a private bridge, Tulsa and Jenks, after approval from voters, would partner to build the bridge and would use the toll revenue to pay for infrastructure needs.

For more information on the issue and to learn how to help, go to STCC’s web site. To see all my pictures from tonight’s meeting click here.

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South Tulsa
Toll Bridge
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South Tulsa Citizens Coalition
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Infrastructure Ventures, Inc.

TGOV Council Meeting

Since the birth of Jr, I’ve not been able to attend as many council meetings as I’d like. I’ve often thought that if I could only watch the meetings on TGOV I’d be able to enjoy council meetings. That’s what I thought until last Thursday.

I had my first opportunity to watch the Tulsa City Council on TGOV, and it was a bust. With all due respect to Councilor Turner, who I believe to be a good man and an excellent councilor, but I could not understand the chairman over TGOV audio. My struggle to understand Councilor Turner was not helped by the 2-year-old and the 4-year-old who enjoy running around the living room laughing and playing, nor was it helped by Jr who cried through most of the first half.

I really couldn’t watch or focus on the meeting, so I turned it off. Ohh well, I guess I’ll have to make the time to go Downtown to get my Council meetings on.

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Tulsa City Council
TGOV

STCC Town Hall

SOUTH TULSA CITIZEN COALITION TOWN HALL MEETING
STCC will host a Town Hall meeting on
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 @ 7:00 PM
Christ Church ~ 10901 S. Yale Ave

SPEAKERS
Michael Covey ~ STCC Spokesperson
Bill Christiansen ~ District 8 City Councilor
Mayor Taylor has been invited to attend.

The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss the current status of the South Tulsa Toll Bridge and the pending lawsuit. We will also decide whether or not to go forward and appeal to the Supreme Court.

Please attend this extremely important meeting. We welcome your thoughts and opinions and we appreciate your continued support.

I don't think I've missed a STCC town hall meeting yet, and I don't intend to miss this one. There have been some recent court decisions that could have some interesting consequences, and I'm looking forward to hear the Michael Covey's take on them. If you are following the South Tulsa Toll Bridge issue, then I encourage you to attend the meeting this Tuesday.

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South Tulsa
Toll Bridge
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South Tulsa Citizens Coalition
Town Hall Meeting

Banning Legos

I always knew there was something wrong with Legos, ahh the unfailing wisdom today's educators.

...the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation
...
Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:

"A house is good because it is a community house."

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building.""

Wow, these children will grow up to be tomorrow's public officials. Scary huh?

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Rethinking Schools

Adult Stem Cells Strike Again

Good news! A British group has succeeded in growing heart valves from stem cells. I've read several articles about this, and the type of stem cells used is conspicuously absent from almost every story. I finally found my answer here.

By using chemical and physical nudges, the scientists first coaxed stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow into heart valve cells.

I found this quote several paragraphs down and even then it did not specifically reference the type of stem cells that were used, it was only inferred. Perhaps because the breakthrough was made using adult stem cells and not embryonic stem cells. By blurring the lines between the two it is easier to garner support for embryonic stem cell research. But don't be fooled; all the major advances in stem cell research that have resulted in practical treatments, have been made using adult stem cells, not by using the morally repugnant embryonic stem cell approach.

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EMSA Shortfall Known, TFD Proposal Flawed, Still Opting Out

A source in the City provided me with a few pieces of information that I thought I’d pass along. Firstly, as I suspected, EMSA’s shortfall was known prior to the renewal of the contract. However, it was factored into the administration's decision to renew. Secondly it was believed by several city officials that the TFD proposal was flawed and would have actually cost the city more not less.

Never the less, I’m still against this “fee”. It is unclear to me why EMSA shouldn’t just raise their rates to make up the difference. My insurance policy includes coverage for ambulance service. It doesn’t cover it at 100% but I’m happy with it. In fact I chose a plan with lower premiums at the expense of higher out of pocket costs. However, were I not happy with my coverage or where I uninsured or under-insured, I could sign up for TotalCare for a very reasonable price.

TotalCare members never have to pay for EMSA emergency care or for covered non-emergency service. Members are charged a significantly reduced rate (40% savings off the standard rate) for uncovered non-emergency service.

I could have purchased better insurance but I didn't, I could have signed up for TotalCare but I didn't. I haven’t gone to all the trouble to keep more of my money to hand it over to the City to cover EMSA’s shortfall. Thank you for the choice but no thanks, I’m still opting out.

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EMSA

Zamfir: Master of the Pan Flute

I dedicate this to my friend Kent.



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pan flute
April Fools