Citizen Tay gittin' da job did dun!

Since getting back from Portland's first Sunday Parkways, Citizen Tay advocated for Tulsa Saturday Parkways, in City Council, Transportation Advisory Board, and Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Well, it finally happened.  It's only a one day shot.  But, thanks and kudos to TYPros for doing Citizen Tay's dirty!

Hey, let's fix Tulsa's butt ugly intersections!

Big Bad John's Road Trip to Stop Senselessly Stupid Suicides

On the early afternoon of 17 March 2014, my brother, John, hung himself in my garage, with a nylon tie-down strap.  Mom found him too late.

Since his late teens, he suffered from mental illness.  He should have received affordable, professional mental health care, NOT criminalized.  He didn't have to die a totally preventable death.

For a time, Mom and Dad committed him to private care.  The bill came to $45,000 for three months. In the last year of his life, he kept himself in solitary confinement, as if he was still in prison.

Please no sympathies.  And, I don't do closures.

John's life and death is all too common in Oklahoma.  The private prisons are Oklahoma's de facto torture chambers for the mentally ill.  The State has no real way to care for them.

Today, tomorrow, the next day, next day after that, and so on, another senselessly stupid suicide will continue, unless YOU call, email, or personally speak with your State Representative or Senator.

You NEED to tell them no matter how much money they get from the private prison lobby, you still have the power of the vote.

Every contact counts against the all too powerful, all too vast private prison industry, which enriches the select few, at the expense of millions, on the backs of continuing supply of inmates, who are regularly tortured by solitary confinement, in violation of international law.

If you are in pain, and have suicidal thoughts, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE talk to someone, ANYONE.  Talk to me.

There will ALWAYS be a better tomorrow, GUARANTEED.  Please spare your family and friends of needless pain.  You deserve affordable, competent professional help, NOT jail time or death sentence.

To continue John's legacy, Big Bad John's Road Trip to Stop Senselessly Stupid Suicides will roll Tulsa streets in a solar/human hybrid vehicle.  Believe in Oklahoma values of caring, comfort, and compassion for those who can least able to care for themselves.

Citizen Tay Declares War on Off-Street Parking Requirements

Buried deep within Tulsa Revised Ordinances, Chapter 42, Section 1300, Tulsa's off-street parking requirements set arbitrary standards for parking.  They are completely inconsistent with today's land use patterns in Tulsa.

First of all, Tulsa can no longer grow out.  The City is completely surrounded by fast growing suburban cities.  The only way the City can increase its sales tax base is in-fill development.

According to Shawn Schaffer, OU Tulsa School of Architecture, Tulsa's parking spaces occupy almost 80 square miles.  It's driven largely by the off-street parking requirements all developers wastes precious resources.

One, it's not cheap to acquire land area devoted to "free" parking on retail and commercial property.  Even homeowners are taxed unnecessarily by the arbitrary off-street parking requirements.

Two, parking lots are non-revenue generating square footage, with expensive maintenance costs and associated debt service costs.  Thus, retail prices must be high enough to pay for the "free" parking.

Three, parking lots don't generate sales tax either.  Parking lots stretch the City's abilities to provide utilities.  Water and sewer lines are longer.  Police, fire, and ambulance drive longer distances.

Instead of arbitrary standards for parking spaces for different land uses, simply allow the market and developers to make parking decisions, WITHOUT government infringement.

Source: Tulsa Wins Golden Crater Award

Citizen Tay Calls for De-annexation of North Tulsa

In May, 2010, the City of Coweta deannexed some neighborhoods, because they were draining the City's ability to provide services.

The idea to de-annex North Tulsa is nothing new.  Homer Johnson, a longtime North Tulsa activist, pitched it during his lifetime.  I never knew Mr. Johnson or his efforts, until I pitched the idea myself to former Councilor Roscoe Turner and current Councilor Jack Henderson.  Great ideas never die.  They reincarnate.

The news media never tires of portraying North Tulsa as the bastion of crime, gang activity, and poverty.  Yes, there's much truth to that.  Most of South Tulsa buys into that.  News media never tires of dismissing North Tulsa views and the one lone black City Councilor as some sort of cartoonish figure.

The blunt truth is black and white.  If that is offensive to some, I don't care.

If the mostly white South Tulsa views the mostly black North Tulsa harshly, simply de-annex all land area north of Admiral, Tulsa's 38th Parallel.  The black people I've talked to are mostly unsupportive, mainly because they fear black people can't govern.  They even point to black Boley as example of failed black governance.  How sad.

White people in South Tulsa mostly complain and grouse about black people in North Tulsa as mostly welfare single moms living off Section 8.  But, they don't do anything about it.

To be sure, there's a lot of creative Section 8 financing, food stamp horse trading, and a million and one ways of making a buck most of District 9 will never know.  In a lot of ways, North Tulsa is the closest equivalent to a large third world city I know well, Rangoon, Burma, the place of my birth.

But, I truly believe the mostly black North Tulsa can govern themselves successfully.  Certainly, there's no shortage of highly intelligent black people, like Ray Pearcy, Bobby Eaton, Reuben Gant, Lester Shaw, Regina Goodwin, Rose Washington, Kristi Williams, Chris Brown, Shonda Crews, and many others. 

White South Tulsa should quit with the complaining and whining.  If elected, I intend to carry out Homer Johnson's vision, and introduce for committee discussion the City Council Resolution De-Annexing North Tulsa.

The High Cost of Free Parking

Citizen Tay Calls for Transparent Regulatory Guidelines on the Use of License Plate Scanner

On 13 March 2014, Steven Roemerman sounded the alarm on the use of license plate scanners, during the regular City Council meeting.  He raised major privacy concerns and called for specific transparent regulatory guidelines.

Jack Henderson, D1, cast the lone vote addressing his concerns.

Citizen Tay Calls for Tulsa bFest: Bicycle Music Festival

Citizen Tay Calls for Tulsa Saturday Parkways

Inspired by Portland's Sunday Parkways, Tulsa Saturday Parkways prioritizes non-motorized travel, every Saturday morning, 0945, from April to October, starting at Coffee House on Cherry Street.  Utilizing "soft" street closures to reduce traffic speed, motorists share the road with bicyclists and pedestrians.

The route would roll east on 15th Street, south to Utica Square, west to Woodward Park, south on Peoria to Brookside, west on 31st Street, north on Cincinnati, east on 18th Street, north on Peoria, back to Farmers' Market.


Source: Portland Sunday Parkways

Citizen Tay Calls for Chamberlin Park Urban Food Forest

City of Tulsa's Chamberlin Park is located in a food desert, designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Every 4th of July, police are called out to break up fireworks wars between rival gang members setting fire to the building.

Instead of wasting millions and billions to grow and maintain the lawn, grow food.

Source: Seattle, WA Beacon Hill Food Forest

Citizen Tay Declares War on Tulsa Bike Lanes

Since the voter approval of the so-called Improve Our Tulsa $1 BILLION capital improvement program (CIP), INCOG, through the sham called Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, is all set to bestow Tulsa with dangerous bike lanes.  

They hired yet another predictable out-of-town consultant to draft the Bicycle Master Plan, Toole Designs, of Maryland, "experienced in planning and design of on-street bicycle facilities (i.e. bike lanes, bike boulevards, cycle tracks)."  The total contract amount is nearly $400,000.

Through back-channel dealings typical of Tulsa City Council, $4.2 million is the allocation for potential bike lanes.  Upon Council approval of the Plan, the City of Tulsa is all set to definitively encourage clueless, inexperienced new bicyclists into the far, right hand side of the road, in motorists' blind spots, the roadkill zones.  

An Illinois case, Boub v. Wayne, instructs on the extent of municipality responsibility for adverse tort claims.  More than a few experienced Tulsa cyclists have warned the City Council, INCOG, and the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee.  

Portland, OR has an extensive history of bike lanes roadkills.   There are more than a number of sites warning of bike lane fallacies.  Through a number of emails to City Council, and BPAC, all warnings have been completely ignored.  This should be duly noted by every personal injury attorney representing future victims bicycling in bike lanes.

Neither Oklahoma State Statutes, Title 47, nor Tulsa Revised Ordinances, Title 37, legally define "bike lanes," "bikeways," or "bike routes."  Oklahoma Driver Manual makes no mention of bike lanes, or any roadway treatments specifically for bicyclists.

Without legal definitions, City of Tulsa Chief Prosecutor Bob Garner testified during the August 1, 2013 Urban Economic Development meeting bike lanes will create more legal issues for both motorists and cyclists.  

At the May 9, 2013 meeting of the City Council Public Works Committee, INCOG Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee made dangerous recommendations to the City Council.  They called for funding to be set aside for future "bikeways," to be described by the upcoming 2013 Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan.

In many well-documented cases of major bicyclists injuries or deaths, bike lanes were the common denominator.  Bike lanes are NO solutions for bicyclists' safety.  

The intents of both legislative bodies are completely CONTRARY to BPAC recommendations. Both 37 TRO 100 and 37 TRO 1000 define bicycles as vehicles.  37 TRO 100 goes further to define traffic as the collective of all vehicles operating on public roadways.  Therefore, bicycles are traffic.

Defined by FHWA MUTCD Part 9, the widely accepted technical definition of bike lanes is CONTRARY to legislative intent:  "A portion of a roadway that has been designated by signs and pavement markings for preferential or exclusive use by bicyclists."

Interpreted through the lens of the State and City legislative intent, "bikeways," as defined by MUTCD Part 9, has NO meaning:  "A generic term for any road, street, path, or way that in some manner is specifically designated for bicycle travel, regardless of whether such facilities are designated for the exclusive use of bicycles or are to be shared with other transportation modes."

With foreseeable and well-documented combined circumstances, bike lanes are potential death traps, which channel new, inexperienced cyclists into motorists' blind spots.  

Source: ATTENTION: Jeff Martin

Citizen Tay Declares War on Tulsa's Vague and Confusing Traffic Ordinances, Chapter 37, Section 600

Edward Lawson was a law-abiding black man of unusual deportment (he wore his hair in long dreadlocks). Lawson was frequently subjected to police questioning and harassment in San Diego County, California, where he lived when as a pedestrian he walked in so-called "white neighborhoods." He was detained or arrested approximately 15 times by the San Diego Police within 18 months, was prosecuted twice, and was convicted once (the second charge was dismissed).

Lawson challenged California Penal Code §647(e), which required persons who loiter or wander on the streets to identify themselves and account for their presence when requested by a peace officer to do so. A California appellate court, in People v. Solomon (1973), 33 Cal. App.3d 429, had construed the law to require “credible and reliable” identification that carries a “reasonable assurance” of its authenticity.

Using the construction of the California appellate court in Solomon, the Supreme Court held that the law was unconstitutionally vague because it gave excessive discretion to the police (in the absence of probable cause to arrest) whether to stop and interrogate a suspect or leave him alone. The Court hinted that the California statute compromised the constitutional right to freedom of movement.

Sources: Kolender v. Lawson  Ruling Out the Rule of Law

Citizen Tay Declares War on Tulsa Traffic Lights

There are approximately 531 traffic lights within Tulsa City Limits.  Collectively, they limit the AVERAGE speed limit of all vehicles moving from any given Point A to Point B, to approximately 25 mph.

Of course, EVERYBODY hates getting stuck behind a long line at red lights.  They're way OVER-rated for safety.  51st/Memorial and 71st/Memorial landed on State Farm's Most Dangerous Intersections.

Traffic lights encourage that small, but dangerous, group of impatient motorists, to criminally speed, recklessly risking lives, trying to catch green.

Traffic lights create congestion.  While half the motorists get the green to go, the other half are stuck in a long line, at the red.

Instead of watching out for other motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists, motorists are trying to beat the red.

There is a better way.  11th/Elgin intersection, right at the Downtown Home Depot, uses traffic circle.  Neither the Admiral Circle or the 36th/Hudson Circle has ever landed on America's Most Dangerous Intersections.

The 2007 Snow Storm knocked out the 41st/Yale traffic lights for days.  What happened?  Everybody simply slow down, looked out for each other, and went about their way.  I dare the traffic engineers to show me the crash numbers.

If elected, I will propose the resolution to eliminate ALL traffic lights and replace them with traffic circles.  Vote November 4 to declare war on stupid Tulsa traffic lights!

Source: Traffic Control: An Exercise in Self Defeat

Citizen Tay will fight the war on guns with this woman

Citizen Tay will fight the war on government infringement with this judge

Government has as much right to decide what I put in my body as what I put in my mind.  It's NONE of their business.  War on drugs is one of most insidious form of government infringement.

If elected, I will use the City Council as a pulpit to stop it.  Drug abuse is a public health issue, NOT a criminal issue.  Meth addict are not getting proper, affordable, professional treatment because meth is criminalized.

If they are not getting treatment to get off meth, they continue to go down a predictable destructive path.  Unless the cycle is broken, they will continue to abuse their kids, break into your homes, and steal copper.