City Council Councilor Blake Ewing (middle) during a city council meeting earlier this month, with city councilors Karen Gilbert (left), David Patrick, Jeannie Cue, and Jack Henderson. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World File
Tulsa’s next capital improvements package will be called Improve Our Tulsa.
City councilors voted unanimously Tuesday morning to adopt the tagline and place it in the titles of the two ballot propositions that make up the $918.7 million proposal headed to voters Nov. 12.
"That way, (voters) know what they're voting on and they don't have to muddle through all the legal jargon that's on the ballot title," council Chairman David Patrick said.
The name, recommended by Waller & Co. Public Relations, was the clear choice of about 100 people in focus groups and preliminary polling by the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Waller PR President Barrett Waller said.
Potential voters surveyed as part of the process liked the word “improve” because it is a call to action, and they liked the word “our” because it shows that “we’re in this together,” he said.
"It's not a name that's just generic but something that people can support and really rally around," Waller said. "We're trying to improve Tulsa here."
Other names that polled well were Invest in Tulsa and Fix Our Streets and City, Waller said.
Invest in Tulsa, however, could elicit negative feelings because of its connotation with spending money, and Fix Our Streets and City imply that the city itself is broken - not just its streets, Waller said.
“This package is about basic needs and it really has been over the last nine months that you’ve been doing this,” he said. “This isn’t coming up with a sexy name. This is about nuts and bolts.
“After hearing all the responses from people, Improve our Tulsa was all of that. It talks about basic needs but really wanting to move Tulsa forward, and it won by a pretty convincing margin.”
The Chamber has approached Waller PR about leading the marking campaign for the package, but no deal has been struck yet, Waller said.
The company helped develop the name as part of other work it does for the chamber, he said.
Improve Our Tulsa includes a $355 million all-streets general obligation bond proposition along with a separate ballot item to extend 1.1 percent in sales taxes until the remaining $563.7 million is funded.
The tax is projected to remain in effect for six to 6 1/2 years, but it cannot go longer than seven years.
The proposal includes $654.2 million for transportation projects such as street repairs and widening and new public buses, also would fund projects such as police and fire equipment, city facility renovations and park equipment.
It has $470 million strictly for street repairs between its two ballot propositions, which would make it the largest single investment in streets in Tulsa's history.
Local Politics
City voters on Nov. 12 will consider separate ballot propositions to extend 1.1 percent in sales taxes up to seven years for $563.7 million in roadwork and other capital improvements projects and to issue $355 million in general obligation bonds mainly for nonarterial roadwork.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor have eight weeks to make their cases before voters go to the polls Nov. 12.
