Vision2 List Goes Through Another Draft As Councilors Break Down Needs

The Vision2 plans are not yet final and won't be for another couple of weeks, but there's a draft list out.

The Arkansas River is sure to get the biggest portion of the money, but how much is uncertain and depends some on how much outside money might come from Jenks and the Creek Nation.

The Tulsa City Council is planning how to spend $158 million dollars in case the local part of the Vision2 tax passes.

The council's list is similar but not the same as the mayor's.

Otherwise the list is getting shorter.

See a comparison between the city council's list and the mayor's

See the city council's list, arranged by amount

"I think at first take there's a lot of consensus for the items in Vision2," Mayor Dewey Bartlett's Chief of Staff Jarred Brecha said. "I think the river will be a big, staple project for the Vision2 list, and I think that's good news for the mayor's list and good news for the city."

After a five-hour marathon public meeting Wednesday night, the last to get ideas, the council narrowed down the list to 14 things. It will hold more hearings next week to take comments on the projects and costs.

"The two major things that we heard in those meetings was put money in the river and support our zoos," councilor Skip Steele said.

• The City Council's draft list is topped by $71 million for Arkansas River development, $20 million for the Tulsa Zoo and $14 million for parks and recreation.
• A new children's museum would get $10 million, and so would the library.
• The list includes $7 million for a TCC Tulsa Fire Department training center, $5 million each for the Gilcrease Expressway, for the OU / TU Medical School, for OSU-Tulsa and Langston University.
• Neighborhoods would get $4.5 million, the Route 66 Village, just over $500,000, just under that for Brownfield cleanup and $400 thousand for the Morton health service.

Councilor Jack Henderson argued the Gilcrease should get more and the river should get less.

Councilor Jeannie Cue wanted more money for the neighborhoods.

Phil Lakin suggested the Brownfield cleanup would be one of the best returns on public money.

Councilor Blake Ewing suggested a shorter list and full funding of fewer projects.

"I don't like the idea of spreading it out thin across the city in order to win over votes or something," Ewing said.

While the council wants to zero out some of the mayor's projects - and vice versa - both sides will have to eventually agree for it to go forward.

For the most part they have similar projects, just with very different amounts.