A code enforcement case in downtown is threatening a long-standing gathering that feeds unsheltered Tulsans. One landlord who owns houses next to a spot where volunteers host a weekly dinner says fixing up the properties is too risky. KWGS’ Elizabeth Caldwell took a tour with city officials. Listen above for an audio report.
TRANSCRIPT:
ELIZABETH CALDWELL: It’s a Thursday night in downtown Tulsa, and underneath an overpass about 100 people are setting up folding tables. For ten years, volunteers like Roy Ide have been coming to the Crosbie Heights neighborhood once a week. He says this event, called Night Light Tulsa, is about more than just feeding the hungry.
ROY IDE: We believe change takes place through community, and to do that you have to have relationships. So it’s not just handing out hamburgers or a pair of shoes or whatever.
EC: Here, people can get hamburgers and shoes, and even identification cards, but more importantly they say they get to connect. Roy McCalister and his wife used to be homeless but they’re not anymore. The couple just dropped by to say hello to old friends.
ROY MCCALISTER: They helped us get a place. People came and gave furniture to us and everything. They pretty good, that’s why we gonna come back and visit. You know, they been good to us.
EC: But now this long-standing event is facing a crisis. Downtown Tulsa is gentrifying and some would like to see Night Light moved. Tonight, Tulsa’s City Council is holding a special meeting to look at some nearby properties. Kevin Cox, code enforcement field supervisor, points out to councilors two houses he says the city has designated as dilapidated.
KEVIN COX: Large amounts of rot and decay throughout the eaves, the siding, the overhangs, the roof is in poor condition, the foundation is also in poor condition.
EC: But this isn’t just any code enforcement case. The owner, Stephen Buford, is appealing the city’s findings. Buford owns 58 rental houses in the area, but he says he can’t fix his houses next to Night Light because he’d have problems renting them.
STEPHEN BUFORD: I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get good people in these houses when they see what’s going on across the street on Thursday night with 300 people coming by their house.
EC: Councilor Laura Bellis says there’s an especially high number of unhoused folks in this neighborhood anyway. The area is very close to a shelter, a food pantry, and the county jail.
LAURA BELLIS: Knowing that, what is the reasonable thing to do to collaborate and support?
EC: Matthew Ravenwise has lived in Crosbie Heights for about five years. He’s a member of the neighborhood association and he manages the community garden. He says he’d like to see the conflict handled with more compassion.
MATTHEW RAVENWISE: I understand where he’s coming from. Buford, he grew up in this neighborhood, he has an attachment to the neighborhood. But he loves it in a way that fits with his sensibility as a landlord.
EC: What will happen remains to be seen. The city council will either approve or deny Buford’s appeal. But, as the city changes, the future of Night Light will still be in question. Founder Sarah Grounds says any diminishment would be a blow not only to clients, but to those who want to learn about and help with one of the biggest problems facing the city.
SARAH GROUNDS: You have a lot of volunteers that are coming from an experience of where maybe they’ve never even really talked to someone experiencing homelessness, or maybe they had someone in their family that they weren’t able to help but they can step in here to help.
EC: The city council will make a decision on Buford’s appeal at it’s next meeting Wednesday. For KWGS News, I’m Elizabeth Caldwell.
