This fall, the Tulsa Parks Department asked citizens what they want in their city parks via nine virtual community meetings, a public survey, emails, voicemails and virtual focus groups with community stakeholders.
Anna America, chief of culture and recreation for the City of Tulsa, recently summarized some of the findings. She says all public feedback will be analyzed and used to assess the community’s current use of Tulsa Parks, as well as to determine and prioritize future repairs, upgrades and improvements of parks and cultural assets for the next five to 10 years.
What were some common themes about Tulsa Parks?
It looked a little bit different in different parts of town, but the message that came up over and over was people telling us they want what we call loop trails in the park so they can walk over to their neighborhood park and walk on a trail there, or their kids can ride a bike or whatever. We heard that, especially in south Tulsa, it’s just hard to get to parks because there aren’t sidewalks. There are narrow roads with a lot of traffic. It’s like, “Oh, there’s a great park, it’s a mile away, but I have to get in a car to drive to it.”
In other parts of town there are the same issues, but it might look a little bit different. There are more sidewalks and more parks in north Tulsa, but you might be more inclined to have railroad tracks in the way. The loose dog issue came up repeatedly — people saying, “Hey, we love the Osage Trail. We’re afraid to use the Osage Trail because there are loose dogs on it.” So, getting out and being able to safely get to the parks, whatever was limiting that. Poor lighting came up way more than I would have expected. The issue of homelessness in parks and that impact on people feeling safe there, we know is an ongoing issue, and that came up.
I hear it every time I speak somewhere — they said in every focus group, maintenance. We’ve got to take care of what we’ve got. People say that has to be a priority for the City. “We want things mowed. We don’t want dilapidated tennis courts. We don’t want leaking buildings. We want you guys to fix the stuff we have.” The facilitator said more often they hear people talking about all the new things they want. And while that came up in Tulsa, he said it was way lower. People were way more focused on doing more to take care of the existing facilities.
And then … and I like this a lot about Tulsa. This is something I heard as a city councilor, as well — that people all across the city recognize they want us to prioritize parts of the city that are less well served in general. I mean, south Tulsa has fewer parks, and we want to address those issues. But I think even people in south Tulsa or people in other parts of town say, “Hey, make sure you’re taking care of places in town that have fewer resources.” So, meaning north Tulsa, east Tulsa, west Tulsa. They recognize that we may have more parks there, but they probably have less access to non-public resources. There are fewer people who have private swimming pools, there are fewer people who are members of private gyms. I think it speaks well of Tulsans, that
Tulsans say, “Hey, that’s a priority for us. Make sure kids in parts of town who don’t have access to great private resources really have solid public resources.”
Watch videos of the virtual community meetings or view presentations for each district at cityoftulsa.org/letstalktulsaparks.
