Council to consider exception to Bartlett amendment
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer on Jul 30, 2013, at 2:22 AM Updated on 7/30/13 at 4:51 AM
Bartlett
Twenty years ago, then-City Councilor Dewey Bartlett led a push to ensure that any proposed improvements or widening of Riverside Drive would be done with public input and without paving over River Parks.
He succeeded. Councilors in January 1994 approved what has come to be known as the Bartlett amendment. It requires a separate vote of the people to fund improvements to Riverside Drive and Houston Avenue as contemplated in the 1993 Conceptual Plan for those streets.
Twenty years later, Mayor Dewey Bartlett and the City Council are proposing that $19 million of the city's next capital improvements package be spent to widen and improve Riverside Drive from 24th Street to 33rd Place.
City Manager Jim Twombly said Monday that to address any perceived or actual conflict with the Bartlett amendment, the city will ask councilors this week to consider adding a fifth exception to the amendment.
"It would say improvements being installed by and paid for that conform with the conceptual plan for The Gathering Place for Tulsa, that is also an exception," Twombly said.
"We just didn't want there to be any question that some of the routing and widening would somehow reflect what was part of the (1993) Conceptual Plan."
Phase I of the park will be constructed from 24th to 31st streets on the east side of Riverside Drive and from 24th Street to 33rd Place along the west side.
Bartlett said Monday that his amendment was a response to a proposal to make Riverside Drive six lanes - leaving River Parks run over with concrete.
He said he did not believe seeking an exception to the Bartlett amendment represents a change in his position on the issue.
"The Gathering Place is certainly not replacing River Parks," Bartlett said. "In fact, in my view, it's enhancing it."
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Council to discuss Bartlett amendment
