Some downtown Tulsa businesses are fed up with crime

Some downtown Tulsa businesses say drug dealing in the shadow of city hall and the sheriffâ€™s office is out of control and they're running out of ways to fight it. <br><br>News on 6 crime reporter

Tuesday, March 9th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Some downtown Tulsa businesses say drug dealing in the shadow of city hall and the sheriffâ€™s office is out of control and they're running out of ways to fight it.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright examines what's happening and why.

Standby Personnel recently put up a no loitering sign, but it's done little good to keep people from standing around, making drug deals right out in the open or from harassing Mark Morris' employees. "We had an applicant who pulled in and two guys jumped in his car with him and asked him if he wanted drugs. He said he just wanted to fill out an application. So, they said okay, and jumped out. He thought he was getting robbed."

The drug dealing leads to other crimes, all the parking meters have been stolen for the cash and cars are broken into routinely.

The folks at the Denver Grill say the drug dealing hurts its business too. Lynn Blass, Denver Grill waitress: "Chase em out, it's all we can do. By the time we call the cops, they're gone."

The same is true at a nearby welding shop; the owner has been threatened because he daily asks people to get off his property. Glenn Mayor: "I've seen them standing over there dragging on marijuana cigarettes and they have open containers all the time. They drink beer, sometimes they put it in paper, but, you can tell its beer."

The police do what they can, but with the vice squads being disbanded and other cutbacks, the problem keeps growing. Perhaps the one bright spot is none of these businesses will be here in a few months because the city's taking them in order to build the new arena. But the truth is, it won't stop the drug dealing, they'll just move some place else and become someone else's problem.

According to the Tulsa Police Department's crime mapping, a number of crimes have been committed in downtown area.
If you want to check your Tulsa neighborhood, click on the Tulsa Police Department website.