Tulsa City Council waiting for another chance at downtown development

The Tulsa City Council is taking another look at the Tulsa downtown development plan which failed last week at the polls. It could come back on another ballot, but some city councilors want to wait.

Wednesday, November 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The Tulsa City Council is taking another look at the Tulsa downtown development plan which failed last week at the polls. It could come back on another ballot, but some city councilors want to wait. The "It's Tulsa's Time" project failed in a close vote which gives the council hope that another project could actually get the approval of voters.

The council's economic development committee met Tuesday morning to discuss why voters rejected a plan that had the backing of the entire council. Councilors are unsure if it the vote was against the project itself, the sales tax increase, or perhaps, because of the way it was explained in the media and on the ballot.
"When they looked at the ballot, it looked like a lot of legal mumbo jumbo,â€ said : <47:34> "When they looked at the ballot, it looked like a lot of legal mumbo,â€ said Todd Huston, Tulsa City Councilor. â€œAnd it also didn't tell them what the money was going to be spent for."

The city attorney who helped craft the wording on the ballot said it's not something voters haven't seen before. The city legal department used the wording from the third penny sales tax question as a template, and that tax measure passed. The latest one failed with 52% of the public voting against it.