City Council Chairman David Patrick: "That way, they know what they're voting on and they don't have to muddle through all the legal jargon."
Tulsa's next capital improvements package will be called Improve Our Tulsa.
City councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt the tagline and include it in the titles of the two Nov. 12 ballot propositions that make up the $918.7 million proposal, saying they want voters to recognize it by its advertised name.
"That way, they 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 on behalf of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, which will oversee the proposal's marketing campaign - was the clear first choice of potential voters who participated in polls and focus groups conducted by the two organizations, Waller PR President Barrett Waller said.
They liked the word "improve" because it's a call to action and "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."
The chamber has asked Waller to lead the marketing campaign for the package, but no deal has been struck yet, the two sides say.
The company helped brainstorm and test names as a courtesy because city councilors wanted to pick one in time to notify the state election board that it would be in the ballot titles, Waller said.
The name will be used in marketing materials, advertisements and in public discussions as a way to provide context for voters, officials said.
But Waller downplayed the name.
Voters, he said, will ultimately decide based on the contents of the package.
"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.
"So 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."
Other names that polled well were Invest in Tulsa, and Fix Our Streets and City, he said.
Invest in Tulsa, however, could elicit negative feelings because of its connotation of spending money, and Fix Our Streets and City imply that the city itself is broken - not just its streets, he said.
Officials shied away from Fix Our Streets 2, after its predecessor, because the proposal addresses capital needs such as facility repairs and public safety equipment in addition to streets.
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 for streets and other projects until the remaining $563.7 million is funded.
Before 2008, city sales tax and bond packages were considered in separate elections, which made naming funding packages simple.
Sales tax initiatives were simply named after the city's 1-cent capital improvements tax, the third penny. That changed when the city combined the two funding sources in 2008 and opted to market them together as Fix Our Streets.
County funding packages have had names such as the successful Vision 2025 and the failed Vision2 last year. Those initiatives involved countywide taxes and were unrelated to the city's third-penny and bond programs.
Improve Our Tulsa
Sales tax proposition
Tax: 1.1 percent (extends third-penny and part of the 0.167-cent tax)
Funding: $563.7 million
Timing: from July 1, 2014, to until the amount is raised (estimated six to 6 1/2 years), but no later than seven years
Projects: $299.2 million for arterial street repair, widening, public transit and bike/pedestrian infrastructure; $264.5 million for other capital projects
Bond proposition
Funding: $355 million
Timing: five years
Projects: $275 million for nonarterial street repairs; $80 million for arterials
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Tagline: Improve Our Tulsa
