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Council Makes New Tulsa Flag the Official City Flag

Tulsa Flag

Tulsa has a new city flag.

With Vanessa Hall-Harper and Connie Dodson absent, the city council voted 7–0 to officially adopt the blue-and-beige design with a gold line and shield, red circle, and six-pointed star.

The flag was revealed last May after a private campaign for a new one kicked off in November 2016. Councilor Ben Kimbro led the charge to make the flag official after that process stalled last year over concerns the social media and text–driven campaign left out some Tulsans.

"People have told me that this is folly. It is not. This is economic fuel," Kimbro said. "People have told me that this is a waste of time. It is not. This is a rallying point for civic pride."

Tulsa Flag campaign leader Jacob Johnson said it’s quickly become a widespread symbol of Tulsans’ love for their city.

"Already, this symbol of our great city has made its way across the globe. It’s entered war zones, summited mountains and it’s sailed the Mediterranean. It has been tattooed, screen printed, hand painted, etched and embroidered," Johnson said.

The design is not copyright protected, allowing its likeness to be used on merchandise like a flag-themed Drillers jersey Johnson wore to the council meeting.

While the flag has proved popular, not everyone was behind making it official. Council gadfly Aaron Griffith said he’s unimpressed by merchandise sales flag supporters cited and by the redesign process.

"Is that low of a threshold where we want to be at? Four thousand votes. I mean, we’re not talking about this flag winning even the total number of votes by a large margin," Griffith said. "It was a pretty razor-thin margin. Fifty-one percent is not a mandate."

Around 8,000 people voted by text message on three flag options narrowed down from nearly 400 submissions. Dodson has also criticized the process and called for the flag to be put on the ballot at the next regular city election.

The old flag — the city seal on a white field — may still be used for ceremonial purposes.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.