Questions raised by several Tulsa city councilors over downtown arena plans

Questions about Tulsa's downtown arena from the city council at a Tuesday morning meeting. <br/><br/>Councilors <b><a class="headlinelink" href="http://www.kotv.com/main/home/searchKOTV.asp?mainSearch=Chris

Tuesday, August 16th 2005, 10:11 am

By: News On 6

Questions about Tulsa's downtown arena from the city council at a Tuesday morning meeting.

Councilors Chris Medlock and Jack Henderson questioned the claims of progress made by people managing the construction.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says city councilor Medlock wanted proof the city really had closed on all the land for the arena site. Arena opponents have claimed the city says it has, but really hasn't.

Councilor Henderson was concerned about rumors that no blueprints existed. On that question - the downtown arena's project manager brought along 400 pages of blueprints already completed for the arena. He said that's just for the beginning of it, but those blueprints are more than enough to get started.

And on the question of the land â€“ city councilors were told it's all bought and paid for. That's what was on the agenda, but city councilor Medlock in particular had a lot more questions, and he didn't want answers from the mayor's staff - he wanted answers from the mayor himself. "Somebody who is answerable to the voters needs to be answerable to the voters and we're not getting answers from the person who is answerable to the voters."

It was August 2nd when the arena's architect announced he was done with the design work, which means that blueprints and other construction documents can be created. Those come in steps, and some won't be done until next year.

Tuesday, the project manager told the council the project is on time, and on budget. The groundbreaking is set for the end of the month; the arena opening set for April 2008.