Here's my proposal concerning the streets issue in Tulsa. The leaders over at City Hall are about to ask voters to approve a $2 billion or so, 12-year deal involving sales taxes and bond issues to rebuild the streets – and a few other incidentals.
Without making any judgment on that plan although fully expecting to fall flat at the polls because some opponent is going to turn it into a tax hike issue, I have an alternate plan waiting in the wings.
Any time there is street work being done the Tulsa World will get letters complaining about all the orange barrels on the streets. The guess around here, and it's based on experience, is that as soon as the street proposal campaign gets under way, we will get a letter to the editor stating: "I'm not going to vote for any tax increase to fix the streets until the streets are fixed."
And, if some sort of street issue does pass, get ready for the complaints about "all the orange barrels" messing up traffic and business flow.
No kidding.
It's not that people don't want nice streets or bridges or schools or parks or rivers. It's just that they don't want to pay for them.
So, if whatever this proposal turns out to be fails, here is my plan.
The city should, within a year, present a new proposal to the people. This one will be about, say, $20 million, through either bonds or sales taxes (I have no preference there). Then the city will simply turn all the streets into gravel roads.
I grew up learning to drive on them. They're not that bad. They are just a smooth as 41st Street from Peoria Avenue to Yale Avenue. If we needed to widen some streets just build up a good base of sand and spread more gravel.
The maintenance would be far less expensive than concrete or even asphalt. We have plenty of gravel around these parts. We might even bump the program up to another level (but it would put a higher cost of the bond issue or sales tax) and buy white chat. You know, that really nice gravel.
My plan also could cut down on winter maintenance. If it comes a snow or ice storm, well, we already have the sand and gravel on the roads. Just add salt if needed.
We also might have to invest in a few more road graders. We do want to keep our gravel roads as smooth as possible.
The gravel roads also might cut down on drivers and encourage mass transit, which would be good for the environment. That is, if anyone wants to pay for mass transit.
That's my alternate plan. Of course, it's going to cost some money. So, I'm not counting on it passing either.
