Tulsa city and county leaders started campaigning Friday for the upcoming Vision funding measures
They gathered in the lobby of the BOK Center, the centerpiece of a prior Vision package, to promote the $884.1 million city package. It includes separate measures to fund public safety, streets and transportation, and economic development.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett continues to champion the $272 million public safety component.
"Because if we don't have a safe city, all the other economic development ideas will fall flat in its face," Bartlett said. "We must have a city that is not only safe, but the citizens must feel safe."
City Councilor Blake Ewing spoke in support of the transportation portion of the funding package, which would pay for an east-west rapid bus line to connect east Tulsa residents with downtown. He said voters have a chance to build for the future.
"I'm hopeful that we're the kind of community that thinks not just what's in it for us today, but what's in it for the people in our community that don't get to show up at things like this in their suits and ties because they're working their second job right now," Ewing said. "And we get to think about people who don't get to vote yet because they're not old enough."
Tulsa County has around $80 million at stake besides the $30 million included in the city's package for Expo Square. County Commissioner Karen Keith said county-specific funding will pay for park improvements and road projects.
"And we'll begin to repair the levee system to ensure the safety of our citizens and industries along the Arkansas River," Keith said. "I hope people understand that those levees protect some $2 billion worth of infrastructure, some things like refineries."
Work on the funding packages, now referred to collectively as Vision Tulsa, began four years ago. The vote is April 5.
