Mayor Bynum Gives Updates On Zink Lake Attraction, Tulsa's Global District And More

There is a lot going on in Tulsa from construction on the Zink Lake attraction along the Arkansas River, to efforts to address homelessness in the city.

Related Story: Tulsa Makes Plans To Open Zink Lake Recreational Area

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum joins us at 9 in the morning to talk more about what's happening in the city.

The city is partnering with the George Kaiser Family Foundation for something in the Tulsa Global District.

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What can you tell us about that announcement?

"So it's really exciting. This is something we've been working on for a while. And I'm so excited today that we're finally getting it underway. We're going to launch the first business incubator in the entire state of Oklahoma, aimed at immigrant entrepreneurs. In our studies that we've done, we've shown there's just a tremendously high level of entrepreneurship amongst our immigrant community. But the reality is, so many of our incubator resources that we have here in Tulsa have been located in other parts of the city.

And so when we had the American Rescue Plan Act funds come online, the city council and I recognized this was a great opportunity for the city to help empower entrepreneurs in our immigrant community in the area where they are most densely populated in East Tulsa. And I'm so thankful we had partners like the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Tulsa County, join us in the funding that's going to be necessary to get this up and running. And it's going to be just, I think, a tremendous vehicle to create new businesses here in our city," Bynum explained.

The City of Tulsa recently chose City Lights Foundation to run a low-barrier shelter to help those turned away from other shelters. This is part of your initiative to fight homelessness.

How will this new shelter help exactly?

"If you think about the folks that you see on the streets in Tulsa, so many of them are there, because they can't go to a shelter. Either they are intoxicated, they have a history of unruly behavior. And there's this kind of urban legend that anybody you see on the streets is just there because they don't want to go to a shelter. The reality is, we're one of the largest cities in America that does not have what's called a low-barrier shelter. It's basically a referral shelter for the other shelter. So if somebody shows up at one of our existing shelters, and they're intoxicated, they're not going to let them into that shelter. But they can call the low-barrier shelter. And the low barrier shelter will come pick them up, give them a place to stay overnight.

It is a lot more cost intensive, which is I think maybe one of the reasons we haven't had one in Tulsa. But when the city council and I over the last year, were meeting with local experts on what the city could do to help address the homelessness crisis that we see in our city. Basically, everybody we talked to pointed to the need for a low-barrier shelter here in Tulsa. And so I'm so thankful.

City Lights has a track record of delivering excellent service here in Tulsa. They are a proven service provider in our community. And so this is a great example where the city can bring financial resources and City Lights brings their expertise and you pair those up. And it's gonna get us with a shelter in place and open. That is going to get a whole lot of folks off of the street and get them connected with the help that they need," Bynum said.

The city is planning to open the Zink Lake recreational attraction along the Arkansas River to the public on Labor Day weekend. Zink Lake is a $48 million project that was approved by voters in Tulsa.

Can you update us on that project?

"If you can't see me glowing, I'm just so excited about this. I mean, we've been talking about this thing in Tulsa since 1964. And I've been working on it for at this point, 16 years. And we're going to open it this summer. I'm really grateful. Some community leaders and our experts here at the City of Tulsa, when it comes to water quality, have developed a water quality testing protocol that will be able to inform folks so they can make decisions about whether they want to use the lake on any given day or not based on testing. We believe this will be the only lake in the whole state that has that kind of regimen in place.

The construction is all going right on schedule. We actually expect the dam to be completed here in the next month or so. But then we want about six months or so to do a lot of rigorous safety testing on it before we've got folks out utilizing the lake. I've had the chance in the last couple of months to go out onto the new bridge, which is still, it's not quite finished but it's getting close.

And gosh, I just can't wait for Tulsans to see this. The views are amazing. The experience is going to be incredible. And to see the downtown skyline, this new lake that we're building, the Gathering Place and the Children's Museum on the East Bank, and new landscaping on the West Bank. It's going to give Tulsans so much pride in what this generation of Tulsans has been able to build for future generations here in our city," Bynum said.