David Patrick (incumbent)



Q&A

  1. A recent presentation by a city councilor showed Tulsa's overall police and fire budget has grown more than three times above the rate of inflation over the last 40 years without adding manpower in at least the last decade. It has been described as "unsustainable growth" with the city's current level of revenue. How would you propose to address this situation?
  2. While we are all concerned about keeping City Services costs as low as possible, Public Safety—Police, Fire, and Ambulance Services—are the top priority for every district and every neighborhood throughout the City. Sure, costs have risen, but haven’t life necessity expenses such as the cost of food, the costs for electricity and natural gas also risen exponentially?

    Public Safety costs have risen markedly principally because of the acquisition of state-of-the-art technology our city finds necessary to combat an increasingly savvy criminal element in society. And as you know, technology and specialized, state of the art equipment doesn’t come cheap.

    Certainly a hard look at the City budget is in order, including the monies spent on programs that don’t have to do with keeping our people safe. I would favor the redirection of some of those monies to keep our police, fire and ambulance services state-of-the-art. And beefing up our image so more of our out-of-city and out-of-state industries are compelled to seriously look at Tulsa as a new location site for their business should also be a consideration.
  3. Over the last several years, controversy between the City Council and mayor's administration has triggered discussions about changing from the current strong mayor- council form of government to a city manager-council form of government and about having Tulsa's elected offices be non-partisan. Would you support either of these ideas? Why or why not?
  4. There is nothing wrong with our form of government as it stands now; the challenge is for voters to do their homework and elect councilors whose primary concern is the betterment of City Governments for all of the people in every district. Voters have that responsibility; the problem arises when voter apathy allows people with selfish or self-seeking agendas to be elected, no matter what party they come from.

    Here’s the equation: Well-informed voters elect men of principle; Ignorant, apathetic voters allow openings for those who lack integrity to slip in the back door and cause chaos on the council. Smart, well-informed Councilors know how to work with the Mayor. Although disagreements may arise from time to time, they can be effectively resolved as prudent minds and cool heads prevail.

    I am in support of non-partisan elections. City Government should be apolitical, about what’s best for the city, and not building political machines that can gain and maintain power in office in a self-seeking manner.
  5. Improving mass transit (i.e. additional bus service, rail lines, etc.) has been a major topic of discussion through the city's ongoing PlaniTulsa comprehensive planning process. Do you believe Tulsa's public transportation system needs improvement? Please explain.
  6. Who isn’t for better public transportation to provide better and easier access to all parts of the City? Yes, this area needs improvement, but not just with more busses; we need light rail with park & ride stations to serve all areas of Tulsa, starting with areas where people who have to depend on it to get back and forth to work can benefit from it. This could be the one major attribute of our infrastructure that causes new business and new jobs to flow to the City and surrounding communities.
  7. What would be your top three priorities if you are elected?
  8. The top three priorities for District 3 are 1. Public Safety, e.g. great Police, Fire and Ambulance coverage; 2. Keeping existing business & industry in the area, by providing them with assistance in the way of incentives and positive public awareness efforts, and the recruitment and acquisition of new business and industry that increases the City’s tax base, and brings new, long term jobs to the greater Tulsa area.