What is Wrong with Tulsa, Oklahoma? Monroe Nichols' Solutions | Tulsa Mayor Election 2024

Monroe Nichols' why are you doing this man why are you why are you running for mayor I'll make a deal with you people at home look them in the eye I'll make it I'll make a deal if you get a Tulsa tattoo I'll get a Tulsa tattoo oh that's easy yeah something failed them at some point so why would they trust that the things that failed them in the past is going to do any good now so actually let's start the podcast out like this who are you voting for in the presidential election Trump or Harris CL out the room I'm coming through they want to see what I'm about and that's that's the name you know over [ __ ] yeah put that on they trying to block on my [Music] blessing hey guys welcome back to the people of Oklahoma podcast where I talk to very interesting people here in Oklahoma and I have someone that's going to be very important coming up and actually right now for Tulsa specifically and I have mayor candidate for the mayor mayor mayor position there we go coming up elections coming up here at the end of August and actually Monroe correct me if I'm wrong but I have Monroe Nichols on the podcast glad to be here when is the election August 27th okay I was right I said end of August yeah I I didn't correct you yeah I was like you got it yeah and that's the thing if I say anything out of line you correct me seriously uh I will I absolutely will and and and if you disagree with me or if I disagree with you then that's okay because I want to talk I want to know I want to know more about what you have going on in this campaign what you have going on so um so actually let's start the podcast out like this who are you voting for in the presidential election Trump or Harris just kidding I I answer I have one of those things about me where I'll answer any question you know what's really funny though about that so I've been in the legislature now for eight years right and in those eight years you know um I'm a Democrat and obviously the majority of the folks I work with on a daily basis are Republican right and we have like a number of issues that like you know we fight like cats and dogs on yeah and there's probably like six of them um but every session like we literally take hundreds of votes on all these things that usually pass the house 88 to2 or something like that so there's a lot of agreement on things you just don't people don't think about it because they don't end up being the things that hit the front page of the newspaper and I learned early in my career that when it comes to doing things that are positive for the state you have to separate some of these issues where you really disagree on because you might work with somebody who you just cannot stand at some point on something that's really critically important uh and so you have to be able to go from one vote or One Moment In Time where you're like man I can I can't believe that you believe what you believe to like slapping high fives because we got something done right and so like I've learned that when people tell me they're voting for somebody different for president you know I might say like why would you do something like that but it does does not mean there's literally not 90% of the other things that we can work on together and I've learned that being in the legislature so I don't have a problem to answer it but I think sometimes people are like you know uh are I I'm not going to answer it now yeah I don't want you to answer because I'm going to use that clip as part of my short oh yeah and that's going to be the Cliff Hanger and so people are going to be like oh who is he voting for and then they're going to tune in the podcast and actually hear what you actually are running on and not not who you're voting for president one thing there's so much more other aspects and and that's the reason and actually I want to say I'm really impressed with your team because I reached out to him they said yeah they looked at my stuff and they didn't ask for any of the questions that I'm going to be asking for asking you and I I really appreciate that because I know with some other podcast that I've uh guests that I have on they always want the questions beforehand and I think they probably think I'm not going to read them anyway no yeah good we were late cuz I don't anything I no I mean you know I I I have no problem answer because I think sometimes it's you know it's important to hear what people really think and not the fivepoint bulleted thing I put together before I walked in so I'm excited so here's my first question and this probably my biggest why are you doing this man why are you why are you running for mayor like I can't understand politics because like I think it's more of and maybe because I make online content I maybe understand a little bit of it I mean I can talk about anything yeah and there's always going to be a percentage of the people that hate me yeah or not hate me but hate the content I put out so disagree and so Why Run for Mayor? like why are you putting yourself through this why are you running from Air yeah I mean I think the future is just that important right like I think about you know my time in the legislature and some of the things we do are 100% colored by partisanship one way or the other I think about DC and which is you know always gridlocked and hard to get things done if you're going to serve somewhere local government is probably where you have the greatest opportunity to make a positive impact and as I think about the issues that that brought me into to this race I was most passionate about particularly having a 16-year-old kid and think about his future in this community think about homelessness uh I think about the Our obligation to improve student outcomes and education here locally uh what it means to really invest our Workforce as a pathway of expanding our economy and making sure this community is safe if you think about all those things those hit the lives of every tulson on The Daily and if you want to impact those uh in the most aggressive way City Hall is where you do it and that's why I decid to run from here and so you were you this is not your first go around in the political Arena you are currently or current currently the House of Representatives 722 72 yeah yeah what district is that it's 72 so I have historically represented um a little bit of a waso North Tulsa the kinda witti area so my wonderful university University of Tulsa is always been in my legislative district and now after redistricting I actually cut across and go across downtown out to west Tulsa so if you think about how diverse a place like that is um tolson's from every race uh there from almost every social economic class represented within that and it also represents everything from a tip of a suburb uh to parts of the community that's certainly like I said around like mixed income but but have some challenges to like the University of Tulsa which is like a top 100 institution in the country cutting across um you know uh 11th Street where you have all the great movement on from Route 66 into the downtown we have a lot of great things going on out in the west Tulsa where we still have some things we have to work on um it has always helped me as a legislator have a very balanced approach in which the way I thought about things it's just so diverse right um it's interesting so I also chair the Oklahoma legislative Black Caucus right now and the black caucus is as large as it's ever been uh so there's more black members serving in the Oklahoma Legislature than ever before that's in part because me and a couple other uh Representatives actually were the first uh persons of color to serve in those districts so that means that not only you know is that is that cool from a history standpoint but more importantly you know it are it shows how diverse those places are right and so you can't just you know be you know about one thing or just about a couple of issues you got to represent folks who have a lot of different interests and I think it's a coolest thing about 72 so like how long have you been when did that election take place are is this your first term no no no I'm in term four so I I got elected for the first time in 2016 and so yeah and so my term officially ends in November um and my my successor's already been elected actually but but yeah I'm in office till November oh okay cool um so my next question for you would be um you're running on a couple of different things for mayor and actually let me back up because I want to understand basically this mayor so does Mayor run from do they have a two-term limit or there's no term limits for me there's no ter so we have term limits at the capital so you got 12 years that you can serve uh in the house and the Senate collectively so you can't do 12 here and 12 there it's 12 all together uh all the Statewide offices have a two-term limit so you can do eight years as Governor um 8 years lieutenant governor that kind of deal uh but the the city um positions there are no term limits there so somebody could be mayor for 50 years or um city councelor is that yeah no term limits there either yeah not not not offices yeah oh that's so interesting so you're running on a couple of different Homelessness in Tulsa um priorities uh in your campaign and one of them was homelessness another one was uh schools and students and then another one was housing and then the last one was um relationships with the uh Native American yeah just yeah so let's start with uh homelessness like what is your plan on that yeah you know it's such a big issue that's I'm the only candidate who actually has a plan that's public online at Monro for.com and what we've put together is a strategy that that gets us to what's called functional zero homelessness by 20130 one of the reasons why 2030 is kind of a a date marker uh it wasn't arbitrarily picked it's like one challenge that we have is actually uh affordable housing stock so you know the ability to build things is not something you can snap your finger and do but I spent some time in the beginning of the campaign uh really working with you know visiting with people around the community who are kind of working to support folks who are who are part of that unhoused population I asked them like what what are the needs of the people who are like working to solve this problem there's a lot of people who are doing great work uh and what I got over and over again was the need for the city to have a more influential role and kind of owning the issue right not just allow not saying oh you know we're kind of concerned about it or we'll kind of do something here we'll bite around the edges saying no like no you know a mayor has to come in appoint somebody who has a has broad Authority who can work across City Department ments who can bring these other nonprofit providers together and we align our goals on how we move forward so part of that Homeless dis plan is appointing somebody to lead that city-wide effort uh in addition to that uh the city being an investor in Outreach workers and a lot of people say well why why is out why are Outreach workers important if we think about the issue of homelessness if we if as I've gone around I've talked to a lot of people about it and as you might imagine a lot of people would identify a different problem for uh the reason why we have the numbers that we do some people say we don't have enough housing some people say it's a mental health issue some people say it's a substance abuse issue some people say it's a domestic violence issue and the fact is they're all right they're all right you know we can't approach this challenge as if it's like one challenge it's like 400 different challenges and so you you invest in an Outreach worker capacity you understand you know what Monroe needs versus what somebody else needs so we can design interventions for Monroe and whether we are uh serving him at the day Center or at ironate or at Salvation Army we all have the same data system which we're understanding that to make sure he gets served no matter you know what his issue is and so that alignment of that of that data and that case management is a big part of the plan then the other part is clearing up some of our permitting processes which I think hits everybody in the Housing and Development field actually uh so you can get really predictable predictably good outcomes because we have to make sure that if we need affordable housing at some point um if you make people wait a long time or if it gets too expensive to work with the city an affordable housing Project's not affordable anymore right so what do you say what do you say for the people that say like the homeless don't really want help I mean they back it up they didn't back it up so um I spent some time looking at some other cities we wouldn't be the first city to you know um get to functionals Z were homeless what that means is it doesn't mean that there's nobody on the street it means that in your community based on the data homelessness is rare so very few people are doing it it's brief so people don't saying it over a long period of time and it's non recurring uring meaning that people who you have served don't fall back into it so like so it's a so and there's a number associated with that and what the data tells us from other communities Houston Texas being in a great case study right um that the folks who are offered Services uh take them up at a number about a little over 80% oh wow now you may say 20% or 15% whatever that is left over is a big number that's true but sometimes I fear that when we say oh people don't want to be served it's more of a work avoidance deal than it is uh based on fact and evidence so if I can tell you you know um I can solve 80 85% of a problem I would legitimately be the most successful person to ever serve in government in the history of America yeah yeah that's right that's passing and I can tell you um I used to be really proud of bees when I was in school me too but but I mean I think that's the thing right we just have to get to work and you have to own the issue and you have to say we're going to end it that's the reason why that our plan says we're going to end homelessness As We Know not that we're going to address it or tackle it and I'm not going to go to a press conference and beat on a table and say man Monroe really cares about homelessness hold me accountable for the numbers um because I'm running to say we're going to end it by 2030 yeah and there's a couple things like when I CU I I love Tulsa yeah I mean if you go look at my social media thing like my my goal for my social toed tattoo no oh okay that's you have a tosa tattoo I I'm not the one over here professing my love I mean you know I'm just saying I mean hey I am wearing do you have these I I don't I mean I'm wearing tuls on my chest um but I mean I'm I'm just saying man I if you want to take this podcast to a new level all right I'll make get a tattoo I'll make a deal with you I'll make a deal with you I'll make I'll make a deal with you if people at home look him in the eye okay I'm look I'm looking in the eye I'm looking I'll make it I'll make a deal right now on the podcast if you get a Tulsa tattoo I'll get a Tulsa tattoo oh that's an easy deal easy money oh what yeah oh yeah done deal yeah do you have tattoos yeah do you really one right here I got one on my shoulder this will be my first tattoo see you got to be careful man we're going to edit that part of the podcast out I'll edit that part yeah see you came in here you came in here saying oh yeah I didn't give you the questions Advance you didn't know I was going to ask you oh gosh got heated up this all right you know what now I'm going to give you all the hard questions here we go now I'm just kid uh but no I I I'll get one if you get one I'll get one all right we'll do it we'll do it um so but but going back to uh the topic at hand yeah is what I really liked about because I once again I love Tulsa I don't have Tulsa tattoo but I love Tulsa and the issues I have with tuls set you basically touched on in majority of your points on your priorities so after I kind of one of my friends endorsed you went on looked at your site and I'm like man dude he he hits a lot of those things and the other thing you to you pointed on which I really appreciated is that you you put some sort of technology in there for data purposes like being able to to measure your success in it of like saying that up front of we're going to measure these things in certain aspects with technology um because you know you you'll never know how well you're doing in it or the successes you're getting from it if you don't measure it that's right I mean that's part of the smart smart goals right yeah I me measurable attainable you know my time in the legislature you know I've been really uh it's been really interesting because we have a lot of conversations if we're spending too much or too little on things rarely do we have any indication of something's working because I would argue if you're spending a little bit on something that doesn't work that's 100% waste right right if you're spending a lot of money on something that works I mean then we can evaluate that as a good investment right like you know based on the outcomes we're getting and I think we need to move City Hall into a place where we are actually like a like a a Force for good from a problem solving standpoint and we're highly accountable because it's not just about how we solve these problems internally to the city it's how we're solving as tulson ending homelessness is not just a City of Tulsa mayor's office deal there's a whole lot of people going to have a lot of contributions to it we got to understand if like the the full sum of those contributions are they actually helping us make sure that folks who are unhoused are housed stable and are able to move forward in their lives and if so all of us doing great work need to know that need to be patted on the back need to be able to celebr cele it and know where we should spend our resources encourage other people to do it and so this new era of accountability I talk about is not just because it is like a politically good thing to say it is how we should govern moving forward and how we should understand as we're all coming together you know data can be an excellent translator it's the way that you cut through partisanship and you cut through all the other stuff it's like is something working or not right and if it's not working how do we make it work better cuz I like you I love this community mhm I believe that t has more potential than any other community in the country and that's not just cuz I live here but I I do believe that I fundamentally believe that I think that potential is always going to be unrealized unless we dispose of some of these challenges that we have uh and disposing these challenges mean we have to have a lot of discipline in how we're measuring our success over time yeah I mean I went to a um Ty Pros to a young Professional Organization I used to be one uh did you I'm 40 now I think I think at 402 age out oh do you oh I think so oh well dang I'm sorry maybe we going make up a new one we'll make up a new one yeah I mean you know uh could be typos or what Tulsa old professionals I I mean I don't know you need to be old I mean like I mean is there not like a middle something in there I me no I heard after 40y old so I'm just kidding you're not old well that's okay well I will tell you I have my opponents are older yeah how how old I mean you are you the youngest no so case I think Casey Bradford's younger than me but I think Brent's in his 60s Karen's in her 70s I'm in I'm in my 40s yeah you're I think 40 is a great age I think it's a great age I hope it is I think 40 is a new 30 I think that's what they say that's what they say that's what they say so uh so I went to this typros event and back when we had the uh the Cancer Treatment Centers of America here you remember that over off 7 or 169 off 169 yeah yeah the CEO got my first uh Co shot over there it was Creek Nation at that point no my second Co shot I got there okay yeah yeah so they um oh yeah cuz they bought up that building so the CEO came and talked to Tulsa and this is when I'm probably like 22 and um he said uh he said I remember this from his speech he said Tulsa is a sleeping giant you guys just don't realize and this was before all the stuff happened in I mean this is like 2011 2012 so a lot of that stuff in downtown hasn't happened yet we hadn't hit a million people in the greater Tulsa area yet um haven't had a bunch of these manufacturing job Amazon had came in yet and he was like Tulsa is a sleeping giant you guys have so much to offer and you guys just don't realize it yet but here in the next 10 15 years it's going to be a different landscape he was he was so right that's right so right that's right you know I talk a lot about winning the next decade is like a focus of mine so like I think about and it's not that I want tuls to be any other city right but there's some cities who like we all know them they like won a decade so if you look at their Skyline from like 2020 or 2012 to 2022 it's like completely different um you know so it's like the Austin and the Nashville's and the Denver of the world now I don't want to be Austin National or Denver but in the way that Tulsa would do that in her own unique way like we can be that next community that just wins a decade makes a run at a decade uh and I think that's within our grasp uh and and I'm and I'm very much focused on that yeah and that's what I tell I tell people look because I have a YouTube channel called stepen talks Oklahoma plug um I mean aren't they already watching it right now for what Steven talks Oklahoma y yeah so this is part of the my YouTube channel that talks about my podcast I got yeah so I have a YouTube channel and then uh offset of my YouTube channel is the uh the people of Oklahoma podcast I gotta so um but I do like Vlogs and sit down talk about Tulsa because I'm a real estate agent and so I get I actually move a lot of people from outside of Oklahoma here to Tulsa because of that YouTube channel and I talk about everything Tulsa has to offer the positives the negatives the good bad yeah yeah I did watch a little bit you did I did did you subscribe I don't think I subscrib though I will though okay I appreciate after you get your tattoo I think I I need that I need that love of Tulsa Testa before I can subscribe I once I'm a man of my word and then secondly I will do anything for a subscriber so oh really all right vote for in a row yeah all right well I don't live in Tulsa so what am I even doing on okay hold on wait a second wait a we love Tulsa so much uhhuh that we don't have a tattoo uhhuh and we don't live in Tulsa well I I I live in aaso because I would live in Tulsa actually around the area that you live in because I love love that Midtown area but my wife graduated from aaso oh hey the key to a happy life is a happy wife I won't even we're not even going to joke around with that we had an argument for about 60 seconds and then I found myself the next month living in a was no no you did the right thing you did the right thing and was is great I love was I love was too was is great it's my favorite suburb so but I move a lot of people from outside the state here to um here to tolsa off my YouTube channel I talk about all these good things and um and one of the questions I always get from them is the homeless situation cuz they're they're coming they're coming from San Francisco they're coming from Austin they're coming from Denver and obviously homeless is a big thing over there and also what I tell them about Tulsa we talk about the homeless issue but we also talk about how they found Tulsa and things like that and I tell them like when you when you pick Tulsa you're you're playing a game of chess not Checkers CU if you're playing checkers you're going to look at that next big area to move that's Den Nashville Atlanta um uh some of the uh Las Vegas know Utah Arizona right you're not really looking at what the next next move is that's right and I believe in my opinion when you pick Tulsa you're playing a game of chess I believe that to be true you're looking at different and you can use that as a campaign you know well now you've already told everybody so like he stole that I was like what what are you talking about then they'll play it back like oh I be the first one to play I'll be the first one to put it on there but then I get back to the homeless issue yeah and so they'll come down for a visit and they'll look around they'll be like oh Stephen don't ever say you have a homeless problem because when it's not the same because it's not the same but I like how you're attacking it now because why why do we not attack it now when it is such a small sample which I don't know if you want to say three 3,000 4,00 5,000 yeah I mean so so yeah I mean the the estimates are up upward could be as high as 5,000 yeah um I think the point in time count was about half of that and so they say it's probably like double what that point in time count somewhere in there yeah so I mean why would we not attack it when it's attackable versus when like if you look at San Francisco where they have I think they said like 100,000 yeah it's CRA the numbers are crazy I mean something's crazy you know I you know the the thing that I'm most concerned about is that it's growing every year uh about 8% growth in the homeless population every year uh and since 2020 family homelessness has gone up 34% I think I think about that a lot there are 900 kids at Tulsa Public Schools alone and in whether we where people think it or not there are numbers in Jinx in Bigby and Broken Arrow and aaso but in Tulsa Public Schools Al loone there are 900 kids who are homeless man there are 12200 kids who are TPS kids who are in families facing eviction so that's one school district in our community um those numbers grow larger once you add the other districts up and so you know it's an issue that is a quality of life issue as well I think it touches everything from people wanting to move here but also the people are here and young people those kids are chronically absent because they're you know they're they're dealing with some challenges I've actually never had to deal with in my life and so we're not helping ourselves on the student outcomes front even if we don't make sure they have stable places to be and so I think this is a problem to attack not just because of the Aesthetics of it but because of the true impact that it has a Tulsa families uh and so when it's growing every year rather the num the numbers are larger they're small and I would say an 8% growth every year is actually pretty pretty pretty sizable it does warant itself is like a challenge that we have to aggressively deal with and in a very compassionate but very aggressive way and also I mean it I think helping homeless is great for the homeless but also if we look on a more on the economic scale oh absolutely if we have if we're trying to get these big companies like we just missed out on Tesla right um they picked Austin a couple years ago uh and you know these other companies like they're going to come to Tulsa and we you know are competing with these other areas we we need to look really really yes the welcome that to the community yeah abely D downtown Tulsa and downtown Tulsa is beautiful with the architecture with all the things if they you know if we're already playing behind the aball because we're Tulsa and we're not Austin or Denver all these other places like we got to be I me top of it it's a great point it's like you know if we are competing even if we have all the same problems well what sets us apart then if we got all the same problems right uh and I think I think that's I think that's so important right it's like you know we got to make sure when people get here they understand and that yeah we deal with all the problems that a lot of places do but we're we we're handling those things and so what that says to a CEO I would imagine is well now if this community says they can produce a Workforce of me long term I know they will because they get about their business taking care of the challenges they face because every Community does I think that's what I want us to be known for is that you know we we're we're moving the city in a different direction I think that's why the the accountability and data is so important uh but it's also why it's so important that we engage everybody who who Who's around the community wants to be a part of a solution right have you heard of a organization nonprofit called be heard yeah yeah yeah I had him on the podcast yeah I think I'm going to go see him next week actually yeah go see him uh Evan do yep EV Evan do good he slid he slid my DMs man did he yeah yeah hey I slid in your DMs too yeah that's true I'm telling that's how I guess that's how to get me to show up right right yeah cuz when I was reading about all your stuff I was like I got to H hook him up with Evan especially I think you guys could do some great and work also have you heard of grand mental health my buddy's the uh Chief clinical officer he was also on my podcast oh yeah I think that would be another great partnership absolutely you know it's so so I've you know now been um in the legislature for eight years as I mentioned and what has been you know it's kind of like a it's not it's actually not funny but you you can always predict what somebody's going to say whether we're talking about the issue of gun violence or homelessness or whatever people oh it's a mental health issue which is often times like we can't solve that we're going to throw that away because we don't know it's what do we do about mental health issu so I'm very appreciative of grand and how they're expanding and a number of others and I think you know it's another area where the city has to be a real player making sure that we become a community that people who suffer and who deal with mental health issues you know we have the capacity to to make sure they're taken care of because I mean look it's true of my family um it's true within my friend group it hits people no matter what their income is or anything like that and so being a community I mean again this is I think it's part of what makes you an attractive place it's not just about you know oh here's this negative issue around mental health it's like no we we all deal with it right making sure we have places to go is fundamentally a really good thing um really good thing yeah and I I liked what you said there is like gr mental health is such a hard thing to tackle to be hon I mean it is it's a hard thing but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't attempt to tack just like with homelessness I bet you that's going to be a huge Tas to take over like but for someone that doesn't want to get help 80% of people want help that's right so why should we not go after yeah I mean you know tackle the issue yeah and what we should always realize too is those people who are on the streets uh in most cases and I think this is true about anything else right there are people who who also have this like distrust of the system who've never been homeless right like so like we we can identify with that but often times there people that something failed them at some point so why would they trust that the things that failed them in the past is going to do them any good now and so you take your chances on your own when they start seeing that yes this community is a community where we can change people's outcomes I bet that that 20% left over whatever that number is I bet those folks start to think okay no I can I can trust that these people care this community is a community that's going to you know help me with my situation or whatever the case may be but you know I I get people uh really anybody but particularly people who've been out on the street who have a certain distrust that somebody's going to you know help them right um and and so like I think that's the deal like you got to be known as a community get who can get hard hard things done and everybody's going to take notice yeah and that's and that's one of the things like for me I'm a recovering alcoholic I I celebrated four years on May 27th congratulations thank you thank you and the pretty much the one of the big differences of the reason like some of these people people are that are homeless deal with the addiction issues is if I didn't have a support system behind me yeah I mean there's not much difference between me and that person that's on the street that has some sort that's battling some sort of addiction problem yeah absolutely and so if I didn't get the help from my parents my church my wife um I could have been there too how old are you and I am 32 yeah so I you know I you didn't ask me this and I don't often share the story but since you share that with me I think it's uh maybe Pro my dad was a a Houston police officer when I was growing up my parents divorced and so I moved from the Houston area to wakeo my mom where Mom's family lived my dad stayed in Houston and um my dad was a police officer but uh functionally alcoholic I mean and at 35 years old died uh and and I just I just share that because I know the impact of those things I know how much courage it takes to confront it uh I know how tough it is to you know move forward you know the day I know it gets easier over time but um I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you having the courage to do it um because they're you know I don't I don't I don't pretend to know like you know but but you think about all the fullness in your life and all the people who love you so much uh and and the things you've done for them just by confronting that challenge I I just share with you somebody who's been on the other side of it how special that is thank you thank you and I think that's kind of what changed my perspective of uh first off homelessness is because when I went to rehab um went to rehab in purcel Oklahoma Rob's Ranch shout out Rob's Ranch um but a couple of guys it was a men's Christian Base rehab a 90day facility great facility and I met a couple of guys in there that were homeless and they have a scholarship program through um through um some of the different tribes uh most almost all the guys that were homeless were part of they were tribal citizen yeah tribal citizen so they're able to go there and then also Rob R offer scholarship and after you know after you kind of dry out and you're sober for a couple they're no different than me yeah no that's right I me I was like dude the only difference between me and you is I had a support system yeah where you didn't and you know and that's just was like holy moly I got to change my perspective and that also changed my perspective on on people that used like heroin and my drug of choice was alcohol but we're the same person you know I met somebody a couple weeks ago um and she's been on the streets for I think three or four years now been on the housing weight list for like three years by the way so so you know trying to navigate the system and she told me you know she's like I'll be honest like you know I am uh a user and she's like but I started using when I got homeless so I could stay awake because I was afraid of being sexually assaulted on the streets and now hooked so I mean it's like you know not only is this stuff that impacts everybody the pathway that led somebody toward it like you know we have to check our perceptions on you know those things as well right um because you're right I mean you know there's a lot I know a lot of people from high school and college who have dealt with it and you're right it's like but for the grace of God you know I could easily be on the streets as well uh and that and I think you have to humanize things and humanize people and that's big part of it man you're absolutely right I like I like your approach though of not every situation for homelessness is going to be the same attack it differently yeah so I'm on board with that now what about this crime I mean Public Safety and Crime Rate that that and that's the second question that I get from people that are moving outside of the state is actually homelessness is probably number two or three on their list but the number one thing is the crime because here in Tulsa we're who whoever made the deal with the first 48 a horrible deal like I think we're not you know it's so it's actually really this is what this is kind of interesting um when I travel around yeah people know us from the first 48 that's what they know like it's like a thing and honestly like I need to get breaken off by the City of Tulsa because I my YouTube channel is the one that changes some people mind of thinking that I whatever they paid the first 48 they need to pay me double yeah I mean I don't I I I was going to say I hope we did not pay the first 48 to do that to us they're doing those a dis it's like man it's like taking out a you know I don't even know how many commercials saying hey you don't want to be in this place right yeah so that's like the number one questions they're like oh yeah I see you on the first 48 all the time uh like why like is Tulsa super dangerous and I'm like honestly I've lived in Tulsa since 2012 2011 and I didn't even know that Tulsa was dangerous until one of my buddies told me in like 2016 or 17 that we're on the first 48 all the time I was like I had no idea yeah I had had no idea but it it is a problem I guess and people like so do you have any points on it yeah I mean I think there's a couple things you think about Public Safety I mean most of the time we think about Public Safety we're thinking law enforcement which is law enforcement incredible my like said my dad's a police officer my uncle still is a police officer actually uh so law enforcement definitely has an important role in protecting communities um but outside of that there's a lot of other things we have to do to mitigate crime in in in Tulsa and when I got my my first job out of college was in the mayor's office actually I worked for Kathy Taylor and she was mayor and my role by the way she endorsed you yeah that's right that's right and uh I guess she thought I did a pretty good job back then and my role at the time was to really address uh juvenile crime in particular so one of the first things that we did was we created 18 after school programs in areas of town where we had you know high instan sense of juvenile crime two reasons why a um juvenile crime went up between 3 and six U makes sense kids are out of school parents might not quite be at home yet uh so we had to do that and then the other reason is is because we also saw this overlay where we saw High instance juvenal crime we also saw like big gaps from Achievement standpoint right so trying to think about how can the city play a role in those two things the second thing that we did as part of that plan is we started working with um gang Outreach workers that worked with kids who were gang affiliated uh which you know uh and that's all across town and who had also already been in the court system so these weren't probational these are just Outreach workers helping them navigate the system because the goal was that we could get them to a place to where any mistake they made to this point could be a mistake they didn't make in the future was the goal mhm then the last thing we did was created a couple rentry programs for folks who had offended in Tulsa County and were coming back because we wanted to make sure recidivism was something that we worked on so but you know 68 months before they released from Doc custody they were transferred to T Oklahoma we had a men's and female Skill Center they learned job skills and they were connected to a job and they got back to Tulsa and that was a goal and I mention that because I think you know I think about crime and three on three forefronts I guess one is the prevention of it what are we doing to make sure we can take preventative Community Based efforts do it that's where those after school programs came but you can you know uh Bridge it out to other areas as well uh what are we doing from an intervention standpoint so making sure that folks who are who are kind of getting caught up in the system that we're doing everything we can to redirect them and then on the other side like we just know we got folks who are going to be coming out we got to make sure they don't fall back into a lifesty crime and the last part's enforcement and I think that's why you have to approach Public Safety you can't just say you're going to throw police at it um because police are typically a response to something that's already happened the question is how do you make some how do you make an excellent City uh an excellent City that's safe and all those kind of things and and and to me it really is about that prevention intervening and making sure that folks they come back home have a shot yeah and then so with the after school programs and this will kind of lead us into our next topic is that we talked so like I said I talked to all these people looking to move to here to States or to Tulsa number one it was the crime number three or four was probably homelessness number two was Tulsa Public Schools yeah um absolutely and there's couple things I want to touch on with the public schools but like why does why does Tulsa Public Schools get such a bad R you know I think some of it is because they uh the TPS is an easy target uh for a lot of folks for a lot of people who take a very surface level view of what does it mean to be successful in education they're like oh well your your outcomes are not where they should be and what happens when you do that it's almost like looking at the tip of an iceberg uh and you know that the tip of the iceberg is just what's above water right but it goes way deeper down uh below the surface that you can't see and so if we were to evaluate wa the reasons why Tulsa public schools has challenges sometimes the student population well I mentioned I already mentioned 900 of those kids are homeless yeah I mentioned 1,200 of them are in families facing eviction that the data tells us that after the first month they're 50% chronically absent after first year they're 70% chronically absent uh how you going to learn how to read if you're not school so there's that part uh we have all these other challenges as it relates to transportation and all this kind of stuff it is a social socioeconomic crunch that makes it very difficult for kids to be able to to you know uh achieve and so that's not just the job of Tulsa Public Schools those numbers are not indictment on the school system those numbers are indictment on us as a community and why are we doing more to fix those things to remove as many those barriers it's possible to give young people a shot I mean I think that's and I do feel that as a role as a mayor so like you know I've already it's online you know um I've taken it as a personal challenge I'm not going to have Tulsa Public Schools or any District that has kids in the City of Tulsa Union has Tulsa kids oasa has Tulsa kids Jinx has Tulsa Kids Broken Arrow has Tulsa kids I'm not going to ask those school districts uh to deal with the weight of my affordable housing problem if I'm not going to hold myself accountable for their literacy rates and their graduation rates uh and so one of the things we've talked about is the creation of office of children youth and families so at the city we're constantly thinking about how we're spending resources that's supporting young people and families across this community where that be after school programs whether that be crossing guards whatever it may be and then thinking about what are the large scale Investments that need to be part of the next Vision package that's really going to uplift kids in school and remove some of those barriers and how's that reflected in everything else that we do we do at the city a lot of people talk about the importance of the Next Generation uh because it is like a nice thing to say I think your priorties follow your dollars and in many cases and we really need to have a real conversation about how we're spending money get back better outcomes for young people uh and the the the the other two Education and Tulsa Public Schools things I would just mention cuz they they track what you were saying I for a couple years ran the business retention and expansion program at the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce and when we would look at the reasons why companies moved to a community um like incentives are like number four or something like that right education quality of life for like one and two and so the number one reason people move to or from your community to your point is schools uh and so if we think about like our long-term economic viability we have to get that right actually it's not like uh because it feels good or you know I feel good when I help little we're our big bet is that these young people turn out to be successful and are able to be successful here in Tulsa and and so we have to invest in Next Generation so it's funny you bring that up because that's that's they people that when they contact me to move here they they've already done the research they they're contacting looking at the newspaper yeah yeah and they they get transferred here to Tulsa right yeah they said hey we want to look at AO Broken Arrow there you go they're like we're working in Tulsa but we won't live in those suburbs I was like oh yeah and I'm no digging I'm like why you want to live in those suburbs number one thing schools yeah yeah one one I mean you think about all the people that are missing out on living in Tulsa or the people of Tulsa just because yeah just because they're like yeah you know I think the other thing is you know we also having that education plan uh we got to start looking at student growth cuz we're kids don't all start at the same spot and so you know if we were to look at how the district is getting kids who started you know the kid who's in fourth grade reading on a second grade level how you level them up to catch them up in in judging success based off of that and investing in that success and part of that uh education plan is actually to invest in teachers that are doing really good at getting growth out of students cuz that is the real work of an educator to to take you to a new I was athlete for a long time and all the great coaches you know if you're on a college football team that means that everybody on that team was the best player out of their High School uh and that's how they ended up in college but the coach's job to get even more out of you right and I think that's the same thing for a teacher and what do we know the coaches who get the most out of players they get paid more right uh I think we have to think about the same thing for teachers if you're getting that kind of growth out of students and you're doing it in a really challenging environment because of all the societal issues that come that come to come to school with kids I think you should be incentivized to to stay right there because it's a tough job yeah my mom uh I actually on my mom's side was all Educators mom was a teacher uh taught in Texas taught in Ponka City taught in sky and then retired um we're going to touch on that for just a second here in just a second but um but then you know my aunts were all teachers my grandparents were teachers their parents were teachers and so now all my cousins we have nothing to do with Ed like we're not doing that I used to hate I had a cousin that made nothing but straight A's all through school uhuh and my aunt her her mother would always like alert all the parents that you know report cards are out because Chrissy made straight A all the time and I'm like why are you doing but I don't so now my mom is alerted man when I used to live in Texas like I said all my aunts were teachers and my grand my grandmother towards the end of her career in education was librarian yeah I couldn't get away with anything at the elementary school anything hey I got something out of bet well I didn't best that because you can't they they know everybody All the gossip and everything but my mom's a probation officer when I was growing up oh she now works at TCC as the Director of Workforce programs but she growing up she was a probation officer dab was a police officer my grandfather was a pastor one was a pastor and Air Force veteran the other one worked at Chevron chemical PL for 36 years but it's like Pastor police officer probation officer you couldn't do anything I mean it was yeah yeah well I was going to say if the if you know if if law enforcement isn't watching you know the Lord is I guess so that's good can't get away with anything can't get away with anything I think tackling this Tulsa public school is going to be almost I want to say like there's going to be a lot of different avenues that you're have to attack and I think one that doesn't get touched on and I think probably running for political office you don't want to talk about this but I'm going to bring it up of course you would yeah of course I will of course I will cuz I yeah but the parents and the people that have their students at that school need to be involved with the solution because for example my mom was a teacher she retired early because she was like these kids aren't the same I mean because there were they weren't getting any help at home so if we want Tulsa public schools to achieve there's obviously some other things that we need to do of incentivizing teachers if that's it or giving more resources to schools but I think another part of that's going to be is having that students um you know parents or Guardians being part of the solution too I think that is part of it I think it's part of it we also we also got to hear from those parents and Guardians though on what's challenging about home life for getting their kid where they need to be you know Gavin I have a 16-year-old and he struggled in algebra mhm and you know he's seeing a tutor now and everything but um I went to go get an algebra one for dummy's book because I was trying to help him but I don't know algebra so like this idea that a parent in and of themselves know what to do or know how to support their student or have the ability to support their student um we got to make sure we're not only empowering those parents to know what they need to do but Gavin goes to a tutor that has to be paid not everybody has the capacity to pay a tutor you know so like I think there's all these other issues out there so we also got to extract these information from these families to understand like what's challenging what are the barriers that we need to help move to to help you help your child be successful uh and be in a position to do just that like I you know I think that some of it is certainly you know parents need to be more involved but what what could that what does that involvement me to look like for you just to help your your kids to see your parents they were all Educators right um but but that's not that's not the reality for a lot of folks we got a lot of um young people who are being raised by grandparents and those types of things and so it's really about how are we centering the kids and understanding what do we need to do around that kid to help that kid be successful uh and using schools as a great way to to engage and educate uh but the rest of us City Hall but also all these other institutions around we got to figure out how we're wrapping arms around that kid and getting them what they need and making sure it's not too hard of a system to navigate and work together to do it yeah because I I'm and the reason why I said that is because I'm speaking from experience as a yeah absolutely uh my daughter was struggling in I think it was fourth grade it was third and fourth and I went to my mom and uh educator and I said man she's not like Ryland what are these teachers teaching her like she she making all these bad grades or whatever my mom looked at me and said what was her homework assignment tonight oh she got you and I said what yeah what what what what was she learning in school and I was like you're like I shouldn't have called you yeah I was like I should have called you but yeah so I I think I was viewing not on purpose maybe on purpose as school as a as a free daycare yeah yeah yeah and I wasn't I wasn't being involved in in the process of like hey let's sit down let's go over your homework together and right you know all this other stuff I mean she's going to hit a point in high school where I'm statistics Algebra I no man I I realized I didn't know it the first time that well so I was like I'm learn at 40 if I was more involved in my students you know and then now I am yeah she made Straight A's in sixth grade you shout out mom but um and also shout out to her mom and stepmom because they they do a lot more than I do I'm I'm more of like let me see your homework oh that's so awesome yeah just in case just to get asked about it again yeah right yeah just get asked about it again but I think it's important to be in part of that because if you are part of it then you know what challenges they have that you're able to go to the schools and help and say hey my kid needs help with algebra or you know get in contact with school of Tutors or whatever um versus when the school does call you and say hey how can we help your student uh right are they even going to school I think it's important just to be yeah it's it's it's all about Community right like it's really about making sure and it's and you know it's it's it's easier to say than do I will admit that right cuz you got you got Educators got got a lot going on parents have a lot going on we often times it is easy for our kids to be somewhat invisible to us um you know and not not like we don't hang out with them or anything like that but like you know I I think about everything I do across a day and I look at Gavin schedule now at 16 years old like he's almost as busy as I am yeah um and you know I I have to always you know revert back and be like man what's going on like doing all right like let's let's check in what are you doing this weekend hang out the answer is always no at 16 by the way absolutely he's like oh I'm going to Jack's like what who's Jack no I mean did you did you did you just did you just decide that did you ask anybody no that's okay yeah yeah he could always say that I would never I would never know yeah right yeah uh and and basically to tie all that in is I think that we shouldn't look at as a that's a Tulsa Public School fail that's right that's exactly right it's a our fail it's a community fail is from the community from the schools and it's going to be hard to say but as the parent yeah I think I think it's no no one likes to say hey I failed no one no one likes to say hey what homework did they have tonight yeah like when I when I when I had that conversation with my mom and so I think we need to not just point the blame at tulson Public Schools but that's right you know it's it's it is it is an allaround failure and I think it's I think we always have to be comfortable with that too right like recogniz we failed at something is actually the first step in you know improving it you know just pretending like it's not a thing perpetuates that failure for a long period of time uh and so you're absolutely right about that and it's okay to say yeah we we've not done this right for a long time right but we're committed now to doing doing things a lot better than we used to yeah and so one of your last points uh that you made on your priorities list for your campaign was um a relationship with the Native American leaders yeah um what's that yeah so and why is that important well Tulsa is the largest city in the country that's all Indian Reservation oh um okay and and I think that that's important for a lot of reasons uh it's certainly important from a public safety reason post mcgurt like there's a whole different way about how folks are prosecuted now and actually before we get into the native americ thing there's one more topic on public schools I wanted to yeah is uh our um superintendent Public School oh yes yeah let's talk about that okay uh I don't know I there's and that's the thing when you look on online there's so many different things out there that I know what is true yeah and I'm too lazy to go look it up so since I have you here and you're work in the government you can just tell me so what's up with this Bible thing so do they so what is that yeah so it is already legal and permissible to have a Bible in a classroom in a library you know that kind of stuff what the guidance was from the state super intendent is that it was mandated that it be used as part of instruction uh in school and I think that raises a number of concerns and I'll say this you know my grandfather is a pastor um I was raised United Methodist uh you know I you know I'm I'm I'm got no problem with um people talking about their religion openly in just about any setting um the problem is uh not everybody's Christian MH uh the other problem is not every teacher is well versed in Theology and being able to help put it in the appropriate context the Bible can say whatever it is that you want it to say at whatever time is convenient for you to say it uh and I think it's it it would be a disservice to young people uh if if they were you know taught uh that kind of stuff in the wrong context you know uh and so like I there a lot of concerns I actually voice the concerns in a in a press release and the superintendent didn't have really nice things to say about me so but yeah yeah you know I mean it's it's part of part of what comes with the job but I mean I do think that you know you really have to be careful on that kind of stuff I don't I don't believe um you know my religion can be or should be reduced down to my politics uh they they they operate on two different Playing Fields uh and I get concerned when anybody tries to use it as an instrument of of trying to you know push people one way or the other because it's just not the right do I say that I go to churches on Sunday and I talk about my candidacy and all that kind of stuff but I don't believe that if you're a believer that means you have to vote for Monroe um I don't believe that I think I do that kind of stuff as I know people in churches you know they they have like uh it's a great place to go where people are thinking about Community right and who who are involved and so I do think you got to be really careful because you know um the Bible is a powerful book um religion is a powerful thing uh and I want to make sure that that teachers who went to school to teach Math and Science and that kind of stuff stick to math and science uh we leave the other stuff to to other folks right and that was one of my biggest issues is first off about the separation of church and state I don't think it's even though I'm a Christian right right right right but the other big thing for me was exactly what you said was we have these teachers that are are are you know professionals are you know have learned how to teach math and reading right now they got to teach the Bible I mean some of these people aren't even believers do you want someone that's not a Believer teaching your kid about what the Bible says I mean that I'm not I'm not okay with that yeah no it's I think I think it's a pretty bad idea no I I uh could is that now a law that's so there's so so there's uh it's hung up a little bit there's a number of school districts that said that they would not mandate that that that happens um and I think that when challenged um you know the separation of church and state issue will be one that would not require districts to do that do you think he could like do you not think think he' be that much drawback well I think what the reality is about uh the superintendent is that he's in a bit of a hot water uh across the board like you know there's been an exodus of employees that have left the state department uh there's a number of investigations about grants and all that kind of stuff uh I think sometimes people find something that's very convenient to try to distract a bit and I think this is one of those issues okay yeah yeah true politics politics 101 yeah yeah uh you have to have him maybe he has a different I'm sure he has a different perspective he wants to come on and talk about yeah that's that's that's my that's my read on that deal though yeah he wants to come on and talk about it I don't care who yeah anybody as long as you're from Oklahoma and regarding Oklahoma I don't care yeah Democrat Republican uh what superintendent of state of State instruction yeah public yeah yeah you know you you should you should come and if he comes on your show this this is what I would be really interested in hearing from okay yeah coming I want you if he comes on the show and I'm giving him a head start so Ryan if you're watching I want you to quiz him on the Bible okay if he thinks should be taught in schools I want you ask some questions about the Bible okay I'm good I'll do it I'll do it that's a good that's good yeah yeah all right I'm going to do it if he can make a 50 he can make a 50 that's not even a b no if he can make a 50 and this is not saying he's not a Believer anything but like it's a big book man a lot of stuff in there make a 50 we'll see didn't he just get elected into that position he was elected he won re-election in 2022 oh he won a re-election yeah okay so he's already in that spot is that right no no he won for the first time in 2022 that's okay okay he won for the first time okay yeah he' be Jen Jenna Nelson been yeah I'll be interested to see how that plays out but yeah I just want to touch on that I was interested to see what you thought about it and yeah um yeah so going back to this mcer Collaboration with Native American Tribes ruling yeah MC yeah Mur um what does that mean what is that because that just passed what 2019 yeah it was a Supreme Court decision uh which said that tribal citizens who commit crimes on tribal land um they the state of Oklahoma no longer jurisdiction on the prosecution of those folks those are a lot of those were state cases they broke state law um what that Supreme Court decision said was the state the state's um Criminal Justice System actually didn't have jurisdiction uh so so me all those cases had to go through tribal court federal court uh and so what it means functionally now is a tribal citizen who commits a crime and Tulsa um would then have to go through the tribal courts as opposed to as opposed to state court and you know look it doesn't mean that people won't get arrested for doing things this is more so what happens on the back back end from a pro prosecutorial standpoint uh which is which is important for sure and so it means that we have to have like kind of a new era in how we are working with tribes and and Tulsa uh to make sure that you know we can you know speed and ease of making sure we're we're taking care of these cases because it's everything from you know like you uh committed a serious crime to you got pulled over for a traffic citation type of a thing right so so there's all these legal and Technical challenges which which are just Challen they're not even that hard I mean they're things that we can we can absolutely deal with but we can't deal with them in court so many that you know I know the governor has kind of sued the tribes they've been in court and it's been very contentious uh I know the city is in court right now I think with the Creek Nation in my attitude and the reason why I think covering is so important is because you know we got all those things out in front of us which which are things that some people can say oh that makes Tulsa more dangerous I don't believe that it does but we also have all these real opportunities as well I mean if we are part of the reservation uh what does that mean for opportunity to do some joint Economic Development planning with tribes what about those tribal citizens that are part of that homelessness population what about tribes commitment to education this community or to our Workforce or to all those things right like so there's all these positive things that we could be doing and so when I talk about uh covering with tribes I'm not just thinking about the public safety challenges I'm thinking about all this amazing opportunity you know I've said often times you know how cool would it be to have you know one of the tribes have their corporate headquarters in in Tulsa what's going to happen that corporate headquarters guess where is never going anywhere else uh it's going to be here and they all have very diverse um kind of business interests a lot of people see gaming you see casinos and you're like oh that's but uh they do all kind of things they're not just uh in the gaming business they have very diverse businesses and so you think about the opportunity for growing Tulsa's economy by bringing in some corporate headquarters that that are never going to leave and I think so I think we have a it's really a a statement about the opportunity capturing the uniqueness about this community to help Drive growth I think is is what I think about when I'm thinking about you know how we co-o with tribes that's interesting because I just now thought about this and correct me if I'm wrong but with this mcgurt ruling basically the tribes wanted to separate from the state with some of their judicial stuff right so it wasn't it wasn't that so the the Genesis of it was um a man who was in prison who was challenging uh the outcome of his case saying that the state didn't have jurisdiction over him so it wasn't the tribes didn't proactively asked for the Supreme Court to settle this okay that that's what happened and so that decision in in this par his name is mcgurt in his favor actually then you know had a whole wide reaching uh implications about every tribal Citizen and how they're prosecuted when they commit crimes on on the reservation um so so the so it wasn't the tribe saying we want to proactively you know it was just it was really the the outcome of a Supreme Court decision more so than anything else and because what we know about tribes in Oklahoma we have as a state uh tribes have a significant economic impact on the state uh and everything from what they do for car tax give money back to the state to uh what they do on um on like the the tobacco stuff uh how they're just growing economies from the standpoint of their their employees and that impact on the state I think the number somewhere in the $3 billion number or something like that an economic impact and so like you know I the tribes I I don't think they were like oh yeah we want to we want to we don't want to be part of the state of Oklahoma anymore that was not what happened at all it was just it was just the implications from a a challenge to a uh to a conviction that then had these other wide ranging implications okay that's good to know that's good to know yeah and you said Oklahoma and TOS Us in the current lawsuit with some of the yeah yeah so so so the state has been it's been a pretty rocky road over the last I don't know four five years between the Govern tribes and it started with the governor's uh desire to renot renegotiate the tribal compacts yeah which gives them exclusive rights to gaming and he approached that conversation with not um a high degree of um respect yeah and kind of turned up the heat and it's like you know I if I was advising him which I was not at the time I'm not now either you know just to be clear I would have told him man you know just for the record you know um Governors have term limits tribes do not so you know so you know I don't know how this going to work out um but I think you know I think often times where it's really hard to come to some sort of agreement when you got two people in a corner you try to work it out in court and we have lost I say we the state of Oklahoma has lost every Court case that's gone in front of any judge on this issue like tribal sovereignty has been affirmed over and over and over again and what I don't want us to do in Tulsa is to follow that same track uh it's like really how how can we actually make Tulsa the gateway to Indian Country the biggest state in the country that's all Indian Reservation why aren't we the place for you know native entrepreneurship why aren't we the place that you know people come to experience native culture we got the 39 or I guess yeah the 39 federally recognized tribes in the state of Oklahoma why aren't people coming to Tulsa first to to embrace that culture as like I said a city that has Creek oage and Cherokee reservation land that makes up our city uh it's a I think it's a really neat thing it's a unique and neat thing about us yeah that we don't talk enough about it's something that is May or I want to I want to lift up and make sure that that people know us for a lot of different yeah it's really cool Tulsa is Favorite Things About Tulsa one of the reason I think Tulsa is the coolest place in the in in the country we were once like the old capital world so like we powered the entire Globe um we yeah we were the center of black wealth U with Black Wall Street um you know there's a lot of conversation about immigration all this kind of stuff but we are a city that is a growing population of first generation Americans and I think that's really cool uh and the contribution those people are making to really build Tulsa to to what it's becoming uh and we're all Indian Reservation like it is the most unique it is like literally a Crossroads of America yeah like so if you think about like meeting these challes on a piece of paper like if we can't do it here that means that all that can't get it done but what I think that all tells us is like the best innovators dream Seekers like Builders of things uh they're all here yeah uh they're all here and whether people came here were born here came here later it's like part of your DNA as a tulson to be different uh to push the envelope and I think we've lost that some and like how we may govern but I think it still very much remains uh deep down in people who live here so I think that's I mean I I think it's just I think it's one the coolest place in the world yeah I think so too and I think it's also cool what the community um you know we touch on a lot of things about the community but it's also I mean there's a lot of like I don't know I feel like a lot of people inside of Tulsa like really support other tulson right in in arts in culture in you know local business with entrepreneurial spirited right I mean I think it's just really cool yeah uh that yeah I mean I'm telling you man I am like I said said I'm very bullish on our ability to you know like I say win the next decade yeah like I I think that we're I think we're there I mean it's you know we're also right in the center of the country you know I mean it's the best I mean geographically we got it going on YouTube channel no no I talk I did watch some of it I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't see that part though I didn't steal that part okay all right that's because that's one of my points is I where we geographically I mean I I are we like a we 100 miles South 100 miles north of like the we're like literally like the geographic center is it it's like we're 100 miles off or something like that I thought me the way I judge it is I looked at flights of like east west north and south and we're all about what was it two and a half three hours yeah from either south to North it shows you how big Texas is Texas is huge gosh so big I think the drive to Houston is like the drive to Chicago if I'm not mistaken yeah it's crazy man so you got some endorsements Kathy Taylor endorse you yeah so so far um you know I I've said this you know um Kathy Taylor former former mayor former Governor Brad Henry former Governor David Walters um the people who have done this job or jobs like it served in executive office in government uh they all think that I'm the best person to do it and I don't think that's because you know I'm it's not just about like just a like you are insanely gifted it's like you've come into this race been very focused about how we tackle these challenges and doing it an accountable way and anybody who served in executive office knows that that's the way that you got to make change right that's the way that you move a community forward and and frankly they've all known at least one of my opponents a lot longer than they've known me uh and so and so it really is about like what's what's it going to take to move Tulsa forward uh and I think uh what we've done to this point what I've done to this point in my career before I ever got elected while I've been elected office at the capital and certainly it's been reflected in this campaign um we've been really clear about what that Vision looks like how we do it together uh and then what's on the back end of it for us as tulson all right so here's my last question for you yeah let's hit it this going be a rapid one uh give me your top three favorite things about Tulsa Oklahoma could be place place to eat things to do so my number one thing is uh well actually my number one thing is probably so my son's an athlete uhhuh and I look forward to every time he plays Sports he's a football baseball player now growing up he played everything though so um before it was Saturdays when he had games then it was all the time he has game but now it's Friday nights uh he's a he's a going to be a junior Bishop Kelly okay but Friday nights uh is my favorite thing to do uh there there's there's no nothing more exciting than that uh actually my second thing is also somewhat sports related which you know tells you a lot about me I guess uh and uh what what Tu has done now for the tailgating experience pregame I don't know if you've been over there this last season it's insane now I went there gosh it's probably been five or six years I had you got to go back crazy so now now uh Brad Carson is the stage out there we have pregame concerts there's stuff for for kids and everything it's it's it's it's it's a whole different thing now whole different thing now so anytime I get a Friday night Gavin plays I get a t home game on Saturday it is legitimately the best weekend that one could have right uh so so those are top two I think the third thing and I've been told that I should not talk about this a lot no I love it so I um on occasion smoke cigars oh and every once in a while we have like these days in Tulsa where like the best day to sit outside and so there's nothing like sitting outside with a couple friends kicking back talking about things laughing having a cigar too smoking a smok a stogy you a big eater do you eat a lot I mean of course what's your favorite all right oh this is tough man I knew this you know got ask me about ask me let's go back to the president thing the president who I'm voting for that's the easier one for me that's easier one all right hit me hit me with the question all right what is your top three favorite restaurants in Tulsa I like too many of them this is a really hard one top three I don't think I have a top three this is like impossible for me to answer dude you're going to run for mayor I know but because I like them all I mean like you know doing the political no no no no so so I'll tell you I will tell you my very favorite restaurant that I ever uh ever in Tulsa it's actually not open anymore uh it's it was oh of course it's not open anymore well it's not because it wasn't good at politics it's not because it was bad by the way no was the one that I like went to the most like from when I was uh probably 19 in college to like when it closed in 2020 because of Co there's a place um that you probably never heard of they didn't even have a card machine it's called New Hong Kong it was a heard it was a Chinese restaurant at uh 11th in like Birmingham that light that little strip mall over there I found it when I was like a sophomore in college and it was my favorite restaurant for a very very like literally Chinese food yeah like ate there like three days a week um it was the only reason why I kept checks after a certain amount of time because they accepted checks in cash which I doesn't really sounding a good business model but that's what they did it's probably why they didn't surviv Co um but but that was a fake favorite uh let's see here um I am also a very basic eater okay for the most part like I I like spaghetti I like macaroni and cheese I mean I'll eat other stuff too but so let's see um my good friend Daryl Knox has a restaurant called sweet leases which I really like and now they just kind of do it to C deal it's good it's really good um let's see when I don't think that'd be a place where I would say the best food I really like steaks yeah and so like here's the deal on this one I am not going to give you one restaurant I'm going to give you a couple because it's like a and I could I do reviews on the steaks too if I could if you want me to here but um I like the stakes of Po Grill Polo Grill's I like the steaks at mahogany Mahogany's good like the steaks at Flemings yep you hit my big three um and you know I've had the steak at bull in the alley and it's pretty good it's just like it's like the massive one yeah i' I've heard mixed reviews I heard B alley very early on with solid plays I heard over the last probably I don't know year or so it's kind of went downhill a little bit I I've I've not heard that I think I think it's I think it's an amazing place to eat there's your you know um but but yeah so I mean those are those are my three to go places for steak um Sushi I like all the I like in the Raw it's good yeah in been to the new spot is good you haven't been downtown so you got to go on Friday night where there's a baseball game CU there's like fireworks it's like boom right in front of you oh it's so it's pretty cool is right there cuz they shoot so that's pretty cool okay yeah that's pretty cool all right cool I feel like I'm I'm sure i' left something out which is going to anger me that's the problem with Tulsa is Tulsa believe is has a lot of great food okay okay I've said this so I travel around from my job outside the legislature a whole bunch and what I've said there's only a couple things that you don't get in Tulsa that you can get other places other than that we compete very well so you go to New York they're going to beat us at Mass on like Italian food and all that kind of stuff but you're not going to find a better steak than you can find here right like you're you're not going to find something maybe something comfortable but not better you're going to be like oh my God we don't we don't want to do anything like that and then there's like some maybe like you know like DC has really good like Nigerian food I'm I have never had it but like some of the E more ethnic things that are out there we we don't necessarily have that but as far as like the basics I think tol is one of the best place to eat anymore oh we we have a growa I had a I had a guy that moved here from California he TOA was on his on his spot because the amount of food choices cuz he's a little bit of a foodie oh have you been to oakheart barbecue I have not third in not been the oart that is on my list that is on my list I heard it's the best barbecue that and the something called Alley Cats Bar oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I think it was a food truck I think recently but heard no there's a lot I could I could you should I could do a PO podcast on place I like to eat yeah do I want you to come on to my uh short form videos we'll go do a food review I'm down okay I'll do it I love to all right let's do it all right so before we leave we'll get our tattoos intoo oh God I'm not forgetting about that by the way all right all right if you do it I'll do it I oh it's gonna happen okay all right let's do it are we getting the same one that' be kind of weird it would be weird I mean I mean okay I mean it's fine yeah I mean it's be it' be awesome to explain like yeah this guy just met came on the podcast we got the same T I mean we get in different spots I mean where would we get it at well you said we get in different spots so what doesn't matter yeah but I mean we got to get in a different spot we can get the same tattoo but in different spots yeah I mean cuz if we both have the same tattoo and the same spot yeah the streets will start talking about that stre talking yeah streets start talking about that streets will start talking yeah so where can they find you if they want to know or actually do you want to touch on anything that we hadn't touched on yet no I mean like I think the thing I would touch on is that um you know 2024 is a big year when it as it relates to politics we got a presidential race which is going to take up a out of the air uh we got State Legislative races same kind of thing uh Congressional races but uh I think the mayor's RAC is the most important decision people will make and fewer people will go to the polls on August 27th to vote than the folks will go in November and so when you think about how important an individual vote is it's critically important on August 27th and and just know that the person who you elect is Mayor is going to be the person who is going to be sitting there thinking about all the things to impact your life on a daily basis mhm you know police trash pickup streets um how kids are educated how we're you know going to uh address the issue with homelessness uh that's going to happen at City Hall um you know uh vice president Harris former president Trump they will do their thing in DC but like those issues that people care about the most uh it's going to be the next mayor it's going to be making so many of the decision about how we're going to spend resources and you know the kind of activities we're going to be engaged into to address them so it's a critically important race and I would say you know we talked about today you know I mentioned about whenn in the next decade and the potential we have that that we won't realize unless we address these challenges um that makes this one of the more important mayor's races in a very very long time it's a decision to win the next decade or not uh you know that that's what's on the ballot and I sure hope that folks you know um you know are are going to follow all of us make a very well-informed decision we have a forum on Thursday coming up and another Forum the Thursday after that debate yeah uh Thursday uh evening and then another one next Thursday evening I don't know when this is going to air so one on the 1 one on the 8th I think soon as possible yeah 1 and the eth and um but you know Monro for.com you can find me there Monro for Tulsa on Facebook and Instagram Monro for Tulsa on on Twitter or X whatever we call it now um but Monro for mayor you can find everything that I'm about what I'm working on and also connect with the campaign cuz uh I think governing is tough winning is tough um this is make history if we if we win this election but I think more important than the history we'll make by the identity of the person that we could elect is going to be the statement that we're going to do things a little bit differently in tulson we're serious now about moving this community forward in a new and exciting way so vote August 27th all right well Monro thank you so much for coming on absolutely and I appreciate it so make sure you go out and uh look up different candidates look up uh what they stand for what policies what what are their uh you know most important things that they have on their priority list and they can vote uh on August 27th 27th that's right so all right all right man thank you so much for thank you absolutely