Oklahoma City Council meeting features more boulevard talk
Reporter Michael Kimball live tweeted from the Oklahoma City Council meeting Tuesday morning. Read about discussions and agenda items below.
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Published: December 4, 2012
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Reporter Michael Kimball live tweeted from the Oklahoma City Council meeting Tuesday morning. Read about discussions and agenda items below.
@OKC_Beat
8:36 a.m.
Hi everyone. Time for some #OKC Council meeting live tweets. Meeting just under way.
8:41 a.m.
While we're doing the early part of the meeting, some #OKCblvd meeting coverage to tide you over. okne.ws/TJuP6n
8:43 a.m.
You can check out a link to today's agenda and live video here: okc.gov/AgendaPub/meet… ... Or watch on Cox channel 20.
8:48 a.m.
It's actually a pretty light agenda today. That probably means there will be some boulevard discussion at the end.
8:50 a.m.
Right now some council members are asking Police Chief Bill Citty about some license plate scanning equipment. I'll find a link for backgrnd
8:51 a.m.
Here's the license plate scanner link: newsok.com/oklahoma-city-…
8:52 a.m.
Essentially the scanner is a camera that takes a picture of a license plate tag. Council members are asking about how that info then stored.
8:52 a.m.
Citty telling them that it's only a picture of the tag that's the data actually captured and stored. It's then compared to data elsewhere.
8:53 a.m.
Citty: "We shouldn't keep that information forever."
9:08 a.m.
We are doing some zoning things right now. Still a little slow.
9:15 a.m.
There's a presentation at the end of the meeting on the city's internal recycling program. That might be interesting. But slim pickins today
9:22 a.m.
While we're on the zoning stuff, here's a @leighannem1 link from this summer for more on license plate scanners: newsok.com/shawnee-police…
9:33 a.m.
One thing that just passed is the official notice of the city's election next year.
9:34 a.m.
Wards 1 (Gary Marrs), 3 (Larry McAtee), 4 (Pete White) and 7 (Skip Kelly) are up in 2013.
9:34 a.m.
I do not know of any official word from any of those four that they are or are not running for re-election.
9:35 a.m.
Hey, I just got a shoutout from @edshadid. Thanks, Ed.
9:35 a.m.
.@edshadid says that print journalism and live tweeting are both important for civic discourse. Thanks again, councilman!
9:36 a.m.
Shadid is bringing up the boulevard meeting. Starts by saying city staff and Stantec did a good job, but that there were missed opps.
9:37 a.m.
Shadid thinks things could have been explained better in the meeting, specifically some of the intersections and at-grade issues.
9:38 a.m.
Shadid: We're making a decision that will have consequences for decades, and a significant factor is the computer models we're using.
9:38 a.m.
Shadid: We're making decisions based only on peak traffic volumes, but that's only two hours per day.
9:40 a.m.
Shadid: Explain the model, what numbers we're putting into it. Then run sequential studies.
9:40 a.m.
Shadid says, for example, we're making assumptions on 30,000 vehicles per day. What if we assume 28,000 per day, does that make an impact?
9:41 a.m.
Shadid: I think we all know there's some subjectivity. How far off are some of the other options from working?
9:43 a.m.
Shadid, like many people at the meeting last night, support a full integration of the boulevard into the existing grid.
9:44 a.m.
Shadid: At least look at it (grid integration). Try and see how it would play out.
9:46 a.m.
California Avenue's path is the one grid advocates are saying the boulevard should pass through.
9:47 a.m.
Gary Marrs: We built fewer entrances onto I-40 because of plans for the boulevard. Always the plan for blvd to connect to I-40 on both ends.
9:47 a.m.
Marrs: We still have a lot of downtown employees we need to get in and out of downtown every day.
9:48 a.m.
Marrs: The fact we've already discussed narrowing and lowering the boulevard shows we're listening to concerns.
9:48 a.m.
Marrs: To disregard the boulevard as a key factor in how the new I-40 operates is a mistake. It concerns me people think we don't need it.
9:49 a.m.
Marrs: People are not looking at the overall big picture. The boulevard is one part of how we get people to and through downtown.
9:49 a.m.
Marrs: And if you say people are tweaking results to get something, you want to just get someone to tweak them the other way?
9:50 a.m.
Marrs: Would it be nice aesthetically if every road was two lanes with parking and bike paths? That's what some people want.
9:50 a.m.
Marrs: But that doesn't accommodate getting commuters in and out of downtown.
9:53 a.m.
Larry McAtee: Using computer models is the best guess that we have.
9:53 a.m.
McAtee: There was no tweaking of the data put into this computer model. This is a plan trying to balance a lot of factors.
9:54 a.m.
Pete White: If we look at what the blvd looked like before this started and what it looks like now, it's a victory.
9:54 a.m.
White: If we stop right now, more people will be pleased than if we had not had this dialogue.
9:55 a.m.
White: The dialogue isn't finished. We need to continue to look at options.
9:57 a.m.
White: I don't want this to degenerate into pointing fingers. We've gone through this process and made positive changes.
9:57 a.m.
White: We're not going to make everybody happy. But we've done a good job making more people happy on this boulevard, and I'm proud of that.
9:58 a.m.
Fascinating debate right now, IMO. The boulevard encapsulates almost every planning debate in this city.
9:59 a.m.
Hey, and a shoutout from @MegForWard6. Thanks, Councilwoman!
10:00 a.m.
Meg Salyer: I think there's an expectation that we're going to get something grand with the boulevard.
10:06 a.m.
Skip Kelly is decrying some of the conditions facing people in his ward, specifically crime and education.
10:06 a.m.
Kelly: This isn't always going to be a northeast Oklahoma City issue or a black community issue. We need a collaborative effort.
10:07 a.m.
For some background on NE OKC's education issues, check out this shocking @carriejacobs story: okne.ws/UeNw2Z
10:07 a.m.
Pat Ryan: (Back to the boulevard.) This will result in a compromise, which will result in what people need, if not what all people want.
10:07 a.m.
RT @cafeboeuf: @OKC_Beat And yet the City's planners aren't involved in making the recommendations...
10:12 a.m.
That does it for the council comments. Now some city manager reports.
10:13 a.m.
Right now,there's a presentation on homelessness. The numbers are kinda small on the power point, but look for more coverage later this week
10:14 a.m.
The city's 2010 cost of homelessness study being highlighted now. I wrote a story about that a couple of years ago. I'll see if I can find.
10:15 a.m.
Here is the (fascinating) story. One homeless #OKC man arrested 450+ times -- as of two years ago. newsok.com/oklahoma-city-…
10:16 a.m.
The man's name is Floyd Crawford. He cost the city about $160,000 in one calendar year. There has to be a better, cheaper way, right?
10:16 a.m.
There's a program called Housing First, tries to move chronically homeless people right off the street.
10:17 a.m.
Homeless Alliance's Dan Straughan: This is predicated upon us knowing it's unreasonable to expect some to be able to control their problems.
10:18 a.m.
Straughan: As a business case, Housing First is the way to go. You can practically make money on it.
10:19 a.m.
Housing First, btw, basically just provides low-cost housing to the homeless, but without restrictions that some private shelters have.
10:19 a.m.
Basically, you have to be sober at lots of shelters. Housing First doesn't require that. It looks at the bottom line.
10:20 a.m.
A guy like Crawford can go from costing taxpayers $100,000+ per year to $10,000 per year. Multiply that across many homeless people...
10:20 a.m.
Just a thought, folks. Again, read this story: newsok.com/oklahoma-city-…
10:37 a.m.
Next up, and just about last up, is the presentation on recycling in city buildings.
10:37 a.m.
Jennifer Gooden, the city's Sustainability Director, is giving the presentation. City is placing an increasing emphasis on sustainability.
10:39 a.m.
The city accepts just about every kind of daily waste that can be recycled.
10:40 a.m.
Like most places, the city has bins next to trash cans. Desk-side bins will be switched to recycling bins too.
10:40 a.m.
Employees will have to get up to take trash to trash cans that are away from their desk.
10:41 a.m.
A lot of you might recognize this as a "Nudge" technique, basically.
10:41 a.m.
"Nudge" is a good read for anyone who is interested in such things: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_%28…
10:42 a.m.
The city will also train employees on the recycling program, and will try to keep it simple to increase chance of success.
10:47 a.m.
We are about to be at the end, citizens to be heard. One man signed up to speak.
10:48 a.m.
The man says he has two issues, one is panhandling. He says there are too many panhandlers here as compared to other places.
10:48 a.m.
The second issue is about development in Bricktown at the metal fabrication plant.
10:53 a.m.
We're wrapping up here at City Hall. Thanks for joining again this week. See you next Tuesday.
If you prefer your thoughts to appear in The Oklahoman's Opinion section, we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor.
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