Mayor G.T. Bynum Delivers State Of The City

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum delivered the State of the City at the Cox Business Center Thursday.

Bynum highlighted the city's successes and talked about the future of Tulsa. 

The mayor had a lot to highlight - the Amazon announcement, the opening of Gathering Place were a couple items but he said in the next year Tulsa would work on a major new infrastructure package, and work to make Tulsa even more business-friendly.

Bynum talked about streamlining red tape at City Hall, and how Tulsa is more competitive internationally and more cooperative locally.

"In Tulsa - people still matter more than partisanship," said Mayor Bynum.

Governor-Elect Kevin Stitt was among those listening and while the Mayor praised the new Tulsa connections at the Capitol he said the City would no longer wait for the legislature to properly fund education.

"We will develop a plan that lets Tulsa stop sitting as hostage to fortune, hoping the state will act in our best interest.  We must find a way to put ourselves in a position to act," said Bynum

To do that Bynum said he'll ask for advice.

"I want us to not hope the state legislature will put something on the ballot, not for me to be having discussions with the superintendents behind closed doors, I want a community discussion of what our options are and put a plan together that the citizens of Tulsa can act on," said Bynum.

It will come as the Mayor also puts forward what he expects to be a half-billion dollar infrastructure package for the city. He says it will focus on the basics.

It will be about fixing streets, taking better care of our physical facilities and making sure our first responders have operable vehicles so our first responders can protect the citizens of Tulsa," said Mayor Bynum.

Lieutenant Governor-elect Matt Pinnell and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt were even seen at the event.

Thank you Lt Gov-elect @mattpinnell and OKC Mayor @davidfholt for sharing our excitement in #Tulsa for the #StateOfThe918! pic.twitter.com/9m4tpryHVD

— G.T. Bynum (@gtbynum) November 8, 2018