City of Tulsa installing bilingual signs

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The signs around public buildings in a four-block area of downtown Tulsa are now posted in both English and Spanish.<br/><br/>Tulsa city and county government officials say they're

Monday, July 25th 2005, 2:11 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The signs around public buildings in a four-block area of downtown Tulsa are now posted in both English and Spanish.

Tulsa city and county government officials say they're working to meet the needs of a growing Hispanic community as they put up at least 13 signs. Another 14 or 15 signs will be erected in coming weeks.

The blue-and-white signs include the names of buildings, directions and arrows to help visitors.

City Hall is also "Municipalidad" and the escalators in the courthouse are also "escaleras."

Karen Keith with the Tulsa mayor's office says the number of Hispanics grew more than 180 percent during the 1990s and the US Census Bureau estimates about 7 percent of the county's population was Hispanic in 2003.

Frances Rhine of the Hispanic affairs commission says a next step would more bilingual city and county workers to better communicate with Hispanics as they move into the area and work to learn English.