Tulsa Mayoral Debate: Opinion On Mayor Bynum's Administration

The Tulsa mayoral debate between candidates Karen Keith and Monroe Nichols is currently underway. Monroe Nichols, a Democratic representative for Oklahoma House District 72, is vying for the mayor's seat.

Karen Keith, also a Democrat, is the Tulsa County Commissioner for District 2. Her jurisdiction includes Sand Springs, Tulsa, Jenks, and Glenpool.

What parts of Mayor Bynum’s administration do you see as successful, and what, if any, policies would you discontinue?

Nichols: One of the things I've always appreciated about Mayor Bynum is how he has served in some really challenging times. He's done it while being a dad, which I think is really important and not easy. But the other thing is something that a lot of folks don't think about, I think, and it was his commitment to bringing data into the conversation about, how do we improve the city. I'm talking about the Tulsa quality indicators. He was a Tulsa quality indicator, and he was very instrumental in getting up and going. And I really appreciate that, because I think it's critical for us as we pass the baton from one administration to the other, that we have some understanding of where we need to work as a community to get better and to improve. And so I'll always be appreciative of Mayor Bynum for that, and all he's done for this community. An area where I think we would be different is actually in how he has handled, to this point, the relationship with tribes, I think that might be a slight diversion between he and I. My goal is to make sure we're working with them every day, to get ourselves out of the courtroom and around the table of partnerships so we can move Tulsa forward, and that would be the one, one big difference between the two of us.

Keith: So I think Mayor Bynum has just done an extraordinary job through some very difficult times. I mean, we stood side by side through the flooding in 2019. we stood side by side through COVID-19, working on these issues together, but just watching the innovation that he has done for our community. He has built up the crime point, what is called the real-time crime center and it is. It's an innovative thing for our police department, as really could, long term, help us maybe need fewer officers on the streets, and so one thing I would like to do is make our permitting and inspections department more robust. Developers from across this community have been working with them for the past year, and they are telling me over and over again that is too difficult to get their projects out of the ground. It's too costly, it takes too long. So that's something I will be hyper-focused on, because it's a domino effect, and it's part of the problem that we have with homelessness. So I will be hyper-focused on that, and I think we can get that solved.