Rex Berry For Tulsa Sheriff:
We Need A Sharp Pro- Not A Rogue Hustler
The two contenders for the post of Tulsa Sheriff, as we wrote in a feature story some days ago, are a study in contrasts.
Rex Berry, the Democratic nominee is a 26-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department with deep experience in police administration, criminal investigations, management and planning and the critical interplay between effective policing and agile use of social support networks, improved juvenile justice and traditional patrol and field operations. Interestingly, Berry also brings a rare comparative policing experience to the campaign – he has had to learn a little about different cultures- something of great value, arguably, to American cops. Specifically, Berry has served as a civilian police consultant in Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan and did a stand as a law enforcement pro in Kosovo- the former rebel province of what was then Yugoslavia.
Berry’s opponent, Vic Regalado, the Republican candi- date, is a 22-year veteran of TPD and a police professional more tightly connected to darker and more contentious policing tactics in Tulsa and in elsewhere – his experience looks to be heavily shaped by special operations, aggressive gang management and patrol tactics of the sort spawned by the War on Drugs. And Regalado has a bunch of baggage including lurid accusations of campaign-finance violations and the very disturbing promotions/pay for play scheme that has recently been outed by our peers at the Frontier and the Tulsa World: this stuff is fishy and disqualifying- Regalado seems almost to be a visitor from a swagger packed, pro-crony era of policing: it’s the last thing we need in the post Eric Harris period.
Berry is a nuanced, fascinating fellow who has a deep understanding of the interplay between law-enforcement, Tulsa’s social service and mental health communities and the rising need to ramp down incarceration outlays and gun violence, improve police accountability and push abuse out of our Jail.
Moreover, Berry has the management skills that are now even more important given the uber mess created by Sheriff Glanz’s departure and the huge passel of justice, accountability, staffing and financial improprieties that have been uncovered in the wake of the killing of Eric Harris.
It’s an easy call – Berry for Sheriff on April 5th.
For The Economics & Transit Pieces
In Vision 2025
Saying No On The Public Services Piece And The “County” Fund.
What are the grand challenges for our town and the region?
• Doing the reconciliation needed to quash the racial, social and physical developmental dysfunctions spawned by the race riot of ’21- and fully embracing our growing Hispanic community- folks that can further energize our economy and deeply en- rich our culture and politics;
• Crafting powerful, sustainable strategies for animating Tulsa’s economy – repositioning the great entrepreneurial culture that made us vital and consequential during the oil boom;
• Executing and living up to our still fresh comprehensive plan-a touchstone for a much greener, agile, equitable, and better connected Tulsa – and an under appreciated sparker for Tulsa North;
• Pushing the “open culture” that futurist Richard Florida and others, call key to nurturing high yield start-up companies and the iconoclastic folks who build them; something essential to keeping bright Tulsa kids here, seizing the high frontier and empowering minority and woman owned enterprise.
This is our framework for thinking about the new Vision package.
As a consequence:
1) We are intensely opposed to the huge, priority distorting Vision public service package at this time – it doesn’t really have a link to the now visible, actually long standing concerns about policing practices, cop oversight and humane crime mitigation in our time and in Tulsa North in particular. Simply adding bushels of cops and providing them with some of the conventional equipment they need for traditional policing doesn’t really speak to improving police/community engagement or doing the other things needed to reconnect policing with youth, Tulsa North and alienated people who may need police help but are afraid to secure same. And while we know there are Tulsa policing pros who are actually – maybe, intensely interested in exploring stouter forms of community engagement and superior neighborhood/cop “connectivity” we don’t see the link between these encouraging aspirations and the unadorned “more boots/more regular gear” proposition. The actual measure seems mute on these matters- the item that will appear as the April 5th “public safety” ballot item has no fiscal link to these issues – and budgets, a wise observer once opined, speak louder than word campaigns.
2) We are totally for the $100 million plus transit/streets pack – we need to spend much more to support taxpayers with no cars or poor access to cars – they need to work, shop and play – with or without a personal vehicle and here we have Councilors’ Ewing and Bynum, and a host of resilient, really stout advocates like Bill Leighty, Jamie Jimeson and James Wagner to thank;
3) We are for, with some very stout reservations, the $500 million plus economic development package (one of four items voters will see on April 5th). The Econ bit contains what may portend the reanimation of the Gilcrease neighborhood sparked by the huge Gilcrease Museum expansion- it could be the kind of big institutional/Tulsa North gambit that could help to jump start retail, reboot housing and spark collateral development in the region. We are emphatically for the job centric North Peoria Industrial park – ramrodded by City Councilor Jack Henderson, the Kaiser foundation and the Metro Chamber, for the Langston University/Nursing pro expansion project.
And we are unapologetically for the fabulous Zoo extension – a project that will greatly augment a facility that’s already one of the best in the Country and has huge economic, preservation and natural benefits. We need a first rate Zoo in a time when animals are disappearing from our planet in shocking numbers- a time when children born today may have no direct exposure to the wild creatures that humans have lived with for hundreds of thousands of years: the Tulsa Zoo is an inventive counterpunch to this epic challenge – and it’s one of the biggest tourism assets in the entire region. Why can’t we craft an inventive strategy to harvest the epic Zoo visitor dynamics for Tulsa North retail/other development spin offs? The Eagle will soon be striking up a mini conference on this prospect- stay tuned.
And we are ok with a handful of other smaller projects in the economics portfolio…
But we remain opposed to a passel of environmentally insensitive, economically incoherent or not particularly well thought out projects – including the proposed Arkansas River/Dam initiative and a bunch of other poorly defined or questionable items. But here’s the bottom line – the economic package is like a grand, but oddly sourced salad – one that may have some tough seeds or even some nails in it – but if you want to eat the salad – you have to eat everything in the bowl.
4) At the moment we wouldn’t give Tulsa County an additional nickel – they’ve shown nothing but rampant irresponsibility in connection with the Sheriff’s Office this past 18 months and poorly conceived plans for the Juvenile/Family Justice Center- they need to get their act together.
Recapitulating – you’re going to see four Vision ballots on April 5 – we encourage you to vote yes on the transit/streets package, yes on the huge economic development item, no on the proposed public safety package and no to the proposed Tulsa County improvement fund.
Ray Pearcey's Blog- selected Oklahoma Eagle, Smart Growth Tulsa, Urban Tulsa & Tulsa Voice essays, Op-Ed and analytic works 