City Of Tulsa Looking To Sell Old, Unused Parks

The city of Tulsa is trying to sell off some of its parks. It's an attempt to save, and also make money.

Many of the parks are empty fields, but that doesn't mean they aren't being used; but selling the land could make the city some money, and could pave the way for new development.

Mitchell Park, near Bishop Kelley, is one of the parks that could go on the auction block if the city decides to declare it surplus. The park is old, but not abandoned, Consuelo Garcia and her husky use it often.

“It's quiet. It's pretty," Garcia said. "I don't know where we will walk."

She said she would be sad to see the park go.

In addition to Mitchell, there are ten other parks the city of Tulsa could also sell or lease, if city council declares them surplus.

"Most don't have any amenities on them and haven't been utilized for ten, twelve years," said Michelle Allen with the city of Tulsa.

Most of the parks are also small, tired and in north Tulsa.

The list includes:

• Adams Park, 1627 N. Atlanta Place
• Benton Park, 1167 N. 66th East Ave.
• Chittom Park, also known as Clinton Park, 3121 E. Queen Place
• Hall Park, 3340 N. Delaware Ave.
• Hawthorne Park, 955 E. 33rd St. North
• Lantz Park, 821 N. Yale Ave.
• Loving Park, 9162 E. Latimer Place
• Mitchell Park, 5949 E. 36th Place
• Reed West Park, 4200 S. Zenith Ave.
• Shannon Park I, 3870 S. 106th East Ave.
• Willow Creek Park, 4200 E. 71st St.

Hawthorne Park is the former home of a community swimming pool. It's now dried up, but the city still pays to maintain the park, and all the other unused parks.

"We have had vandals, we've had, you know, graffiti that we're cleaning up; we're also having to pay utilities and sometimes it's an eye sore for the community,” Allen said.

Last month, the city made $230,000 when two old fire stations were auctioned off.

Tulsa is trying to rid itself of any vacant facilities, figuring it's better to make money off them than finance an idle asset.

The city is in the very early stages of considering declaring the parks surplus.

Technically, anyone can buy a park, but they will be vetted by the city.

A city spokesperson said someone is already interested in leasing Hawthorne Park in north Tulsa.