Bubbaworld

The cat has slipped out of the bag much to the dismay of supporters of two ballot initiatives that would generate $450 million in taxes to fix Tulsa’s crumbling streets and bridges.

And “the cat” is the existence of $135.2 million dollars in unspent tax revenues collected over the past 20 to 30 years through various sales tax initiatives.

Tax revenues on which the City of Tulsa has apparently been “sitting” while the city’s infrastructure crumbles.

Tulsa City Councilor Bill Martinson observed, “We have funds that date back 17 years that haven’t been expended, and we have streets that are falling apart before our very eyes.”

Tulsa City Councilor John Eagleton upon learning of these old and unspent tax revenues said what may well be going through the minds of a lot of Tulsa residents preparing to vote on two ballot initiatives that will increase their taxes.

Eagleton said, “We’re getting ready to ask (voters) for about $500 million to fix the roads, and we’re sitting on $136 million for capital projects?” and that is a question that not only deserves an answer but gives rise to additional questions.

Questions such as:

In what bank(s) are these surplus funds deposited?

Are the taxpayers of Tulsa earning a reasonable interest on these surplus tax revenues, some of which have apparently been “laying around” since the 1970’s?

Who has ultimate control of this $135 million “slush fund”?

And most importantly, why when this much surplus tax revenue was available have Tulsans been asked time and again to approve new and additional tax increases for a variety of purposes?

At the City Council meeting where counselors learned of the “slush fund”, Budget Director Pat Connelly admitted that the city has some funds on its books dating to the early 1980s and even to the 1970s.

The existence of a $135 million dollar “slush fund” does nothing to build a sense of confidence in Tulsa taxpayers asked to reach into the wallets and purses to fund infrastructure repairs which could have, at least in part, been completed years ago with tax revenues paid many years ago.

Someone has A LOT of explaining to do between now and election day…

Former Oklahoma Senator Gene Stipe has once again managed to avoid a criminal trial - surprise, surprise.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ronald White for the second time ruled Stipe mentally incompetent to stand trial on a four-count federal indictment that accuses him of continued political corruption and bribery.

Judge White said, “It would be an understatement to describe this case as unusual”.

White also stated that he had seen no evidence from the government of improvement in Stipe’s mental condition.

Gene Stipe spent four months in the federal prison medical facility in Missouri where his mental condition was evaluated by mental health professionals, two of whom testified offering differing views of Stipe’s mental condition.

Judge White refused to consider as evidence 246 recorded phone calls that Stipe made in prison over his recent four month evaluation. This in spite of U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling insisting that the calls do not give an indication of dementia but instead show Stipe to be mentally competent to handle his business, family and personal affairs.

Judge White indicated that he would not allow the calls to be played in court without listening to them first and stated that he was not going to take time to do that. White pointed out that he became aware of the recordings only on Monday morning and that the government could have sought a continuance but did not.

With Judge White’s refusal to listen to the government’s evidence and the government’s decision not to seek a continuance that would give him time to do so, is it any surprise that the judge has not seen (or heard) evidence from the government about improvement in Gene Stipe’s mental condition?

With this, a second defeat in trying to get Stipe declared competent to stand trial it appears that Sheldon Sperling is on the verge of simply giving up.

With Sperling’s decision not to seek a continuance to give the judge time to review the 246 recordings one might wonder if “giving up” is not what Sperling wishes to do.

Meantime Gene Stipe sits at home under house arrest in McAlester.

At least until January.

That is when his five-year probation on a 2004 conviction for campaign violations and perjury expires.

At that time Gene Stipe is totally free of federal control…

Before Tulsans can fight City Hall they have to find it and for some finding City Hall has recently become a major problem.

It used to be that City Hall was very easy to find.

It was located in what is called the Civic Center, a place where one also finds the Tulsa County Court House, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, elected officials of Tulsa County, the majority of Tulsa County offices, the Tulsa Police Department, the Tulsa Municipal Court, the Tulsa City-County Library central branch and the Tulsa Convention Center.

Adjacent to the Civic Center complex are the Oklahoma State Office Building, Oklahoma DHS, the Federal Courthouse and the downtown post office. Tulsa’s former City Hall fit right in with this one-stop area for the vast majority of federal, state, county and city government offices and functions.

But not anymore.

Recently Tulsa City Hall ceased to exist and the functions of city hall were moved to a building on the east side of downtown, a building called One Technology Center.

One Technology Center is a 15-story glass box resembling the “Borg Cube” and it is called that by some of its detractors. It’s also called “Taylor Tower” by other detractors. This in honor of Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor who managed to stampede Tulsa City Counselors into voting to purchase the building for $76 million dollars last year, even while the City of Tulsa can not afford to fix its streets or fund its police and fire departments properly.

At some point in time during the rush to purchase One Technology Center (hereafter called “OTC”) the elected officials of Tulsa realized that (1) even if all city departments/offices moved into OTC there would still be lots of empty space left in the building that would have to be rented out to anyone willing to pay a premium price for office space and (2) that the City of Tulsa should not be in the office rental business in competition with private companies trying to rent out office space in downtown Tulsa. It was at this point that a decision was made that would result in city hall becoming “lost”.

Tulsa’s elected officials decided to enter into a master lease agreement with Bank of Oklahoma (BOK) which would take over leasing operations at OTC. Since two private tenants, Level 3 Communications and Deloitte & Touche, were already in the building, BOK guaranteed for 10 years the rent revenue from these two tenants. This apparently to assure Tulsa taxpayers that if nothing else, some income from the lease of private space was a sure thing for 10 years.

But, and it is a big BUT, as part of the master lease agreement the name of the building is to remain “One Technology Center” and the City of Tulsa is prohibited from erecting a sign on the building.

But. But… BUT!!!

Yeah, the taxpayers of Tulsa own the building but can not change its name to something logical like “City Hall” and can not erect a sign on the building that says, well, that says anything other than “One Technology Center”, the only signage permitted under the master least agreement.

Apparently someone is getting “heat” over the missing “City Hall” fiasco, and the city’s Legal Department has concluded that there is no provision in the master lease agreement that prohibits a temporary sign that says “City Hall” being placed over the public entrance to the building.

Tulsa City Counselors have been told that a “large banner” will be strung across the top of the public entrance to OTC to help identify the building and that additional banners and signs are to be hung from light poles in the area, this to direct the public to the building. The sight of several plastic banners flapping in the breeze and proclaiming “CITY HALL” really ought to polish Tulsa’s image, don’t you think?

Toss in a couple of worn out couches on the sidewalk near the entrance to the OTC, a rusting Camero on jack stands in the street and a pit bull tied to each end of the Camaro and Tulsa’s new “City Hall” will on the map…

Only in Oklahoma folks, only in Oklahoma…

Midwest City, OK police officer Larry Schones had to catch the school bus Friday morning.

Not that Officer Schones was going back to school.

He did however catch the school bus carrying about 30 students to Star Spencer High School in Oklahoma City and driven by this man, Anthony Dewitt Atchison, 25.

When Officer Schones caught the school bus driven by Atchison he arrested the bus driver on complaints of reckless driving, speeding and driving with a suspended license.

Allegedly the school bus was going 49 mph in a 25 mph zone, which sounds likely as Atchison reportedly also had an outstanding warrant for failure to pay a previous speeding ticket.

According to a school system spokesperson, the district checks the status of driver’s licenses several times a year, and Atchison’s was “current”.

How a check by the school system indicated Atchison’s license was “current” when a check by the arresting police officer indicated it had been “suspended” raises enough red flags to decorate a school bus.

Also, the school system might want from time to time check to determine if there are any outstanding arrest warrants for its employees. In the least, the employment status of any employee with an outstanding warrant should be reviewed.

And they might even check with the various jails in the area to see if any of their bus drivers are locked up, like Mr. Atchison who following his arrest was being held in the Midwest City jail in lieu of $1,576 bail…

The Grady County Gambling Raid case came to a logical conclusion Friday when former Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen, his wife Helen McMullen and two former deputies Delmer Barthelme and Robert Cacy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty for allowing illegal gambling at the Chickasha Elks Lodge.

The plea deal between the four former law officers and District Attorney Brett Burns calls for a six-month deferred sentence and requires each of them to surrender their law enforcement certifications for a period of at least five years, pay a $200 fine and court costs.

In addition, Kieran McMullen was required to resign as Sheriff of Grady County, which he did the day before entering the guilty plea.

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