2024 Tulsa Mayoral Candidate Monroe Nichols Joins Greg Robinson III for Virtual Rally

[Music] with up your [Music] your hand up up [Music] good evening Tulsa and good evening to everyone listening tonight on the black W Street times feed my name is Greg Robinson the 2020 runnerup in the Tulsa Mayoral race and I've stepped away uh from the political game to build my educational uh Pursuits and Acumen and spent some much needed time with my family but uh I've come back tonight in particular because a mentor of mine has taken up the Reigns really I would say that I kind of borrowed the Reigns from him a few a few years ago uh and he's ready he's ready to meet the moment that Tulsa needs he's ready to step into the mayoral office I'm of course talking about the person that I'm joined by state representative Monroe Nicholls and tonight as he comes off a typ Pros debate that the young Prof professionals at the Tulsa Regional Chamber held a debate tonight or Forum at the Central Library as he comes off of that he was willing to join me for a few minutes catch me up on the importance of this election and also as I always love to do as you all know I'm passionate about educate tulson on why this moment is in particularly so important before I start pounding him with questions I want to be really clear I'm I'm on here because I have one candidate that I'm supporting in this race and it's always been that way for me truth be told I did not plan to run in 2020 I plan to to support and and frankly probably manage uh this this man's campaign I could not get him to do that at that time uh but certainly all things all good things come in time and this is his time and the reason Reon that I am so confident in my support from Monroe has uh very little to do with his experience and policies and approaches which I'm going to get to here in just a second but much more to do with the man uh that that Monroe Nichols is I want to talk to you all about a few personal things for me I I mentioned that he was a mentor of mine uh when I was just coming out of college my first professional job was actually as a organizer on Kathy Taylor's mayoral campaign our political director on that campaign was Monroe Nichols and if you can imagine a young man who wanted to impact the world through politics being able to look up and see uh someone uh who I could identify with someone who carried themselves professionally had the trust of of senior senior officials and leaders within this city and some who comported themselves with the utmost integrity and with the utmost ability it was easy for me to latch on and Monroe took me up under his wing when I eventually did decide to run for mayor in 2020 that was uh a a gut-wrenching thing I was very nervous uh and I had many conversations with Monroe not about fundraising dollars or or policy but more about how do do I make it from day to day I I had no experience being a being a candidate but he did and um he shared those moments with me in the midst of running his own campaigns in the midst of of having his own priorities but most importantly when I lost my mother a few years back uh that was a moment that that rocked me to my core as as it would I think anyone uh absolutely has changed my life and the number of times that Monroe checked in on me to see how I was doing to see what he could do uh I will never forget as I made the decision to move really from politics and and and move in in a different direction again thinking more about trying to start a family myself uh and I'll talk about how great a father he is as I've tried to advance myself academic Al when I wanted to kind of get more involved in Mar's campaign he told me frankly no I want you to focus on yourself I want you to focus on your Pursuits um and I'll be okay and so that that combination of things I wanted you all to hear uh because so much of of politics particularly right now in today's age it's there's a lot of gamesmanship there's a lot of we've honestly we've we've we've uh made it okay uh to to be disingenuous we made it okay to not have integrity uh and this just simply is not what Monroe reflects if you choose to vote for him and I hope you do you're not just going to get an astute politician you're not just going to get a skilled policy maker and a great manager you're also going to get a great man of great integrity so with that uh Monroe I want to give you uh my full-throated endorsement thank you uh for what you continue to do uh for me and my personal life and what you do uh for the City of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma and your professional life how are you doing man I'm doing I'm doing good first of all I just want to say you know Greg you uh oftentimes are a very uh humble person and as you talk about your life and who were mentors and all that kind of stuff and I remember we met when you were still in high school and uh you're some somebody and I know and I appreciate what you said but you were somewhat of a mentor to me even though you were a lot younger than I was when you were in high school uh and there are very few people anywhere uh that give other folks the confidence to do things that they didn't know they could do uh people who are help folks be comfortable in their own skin and people who are courageous enough to do things even if it seems like you know uh the other side of is not going to be successful and what you have done uh in your life not just running for mayor but that was certainly a big part of it what you have done is you you've inspired a number of folks who still talk about what that was like uh who still talk about those things and I'm glad that you know you're doing things now because I know the greatest beneficiary of all the stuff that you're doing now it's still all of us back here in Tulsa and the fact that you still come back you still do big things you do things that people may not be paying attention to there are things that fundamentally change people's lives for the better and I I gotta tell you I just appreciate the kind of man you are the kind of leader you are uh and and every time I see you and talk to you it is about courage when we were we were talking before we got on the stream about when I came down to Cincinnati and were in that first year of school and and and you were talking about it was difficult but like ain't one bit of quit in you uh and because of that you just inspired so many of us and I hope you just know that and I hope you internalize that uh because that is true and I would you hear me saying it there's there's a bunch of people around the city who would say the very same thing I also want to thank the Black Wall Street times when when we were starting I don't know if everybody saw uh the motto that access is the new civil right and I just bring that up because tonight four people talked about the kind of Mayor they'll be in the future and there was no way to record what folks were saying we have over 4,000 people in this community everybody can't make it to a forum we got to make sure that this election is something that people know about they know where people stand they know the kind of leader folks will be uh because right now we got some big challenges we talked about them tonight we talked about homelessness tonight we talked about education tonight we talked about affordable housing and Public Safety we talked about all those things um but if you weren't there at the Central Library you didn't hear any of it you didn't hear any of it and I think the days of people saying one thing in one room and another thing in a different room those got to be gone and so we're running a campaign right now that's all about how we move this community forward and how we talk about it in a way that's completely transparent uh Greg you were talking about the work that we've done over the years everything that we've done we've said hey show us the data let's move outcomes if we get it wrong let's work to get it right there's no secrets it's just it's just ways in which we're going to impact the community that's what this campaign's been about from the start I appreciate your support in the campaign because it means something for somebody to do what you've done in your career to run for mayor to do what you're doing right now and then to come back and say you know what it's still real it's still real it's still important and and and there's nothing you know tonight I know we'll have a former president so give his speech we have another president right now decid what he's gonna do there's so much going on in the country right now but I believe and I think you would share this with me the greatest Innovation the best direction of the future of this country is going to start at the local level and that means this race is the most important race in 2024 and I'm really excited about running for mayor and we're going go win this thing and in winning this thing it's really going to be about not just what happens on Election Day happens every day thereafter and that's why I'm running I'm glad that you said that because you answered really one of my first questions I was going to ask which is what differentiates you so now I'm gonna get into things that I really care about as you know I do not play about kids yeah that is my wife is a lifelong educator an assistant principal we actually met Monroe at school I was substitute teaching in between campaign jobs uh my entire career really has been dedicated to making sure that there are opportunities for children uh within this city within the state within this country to reach the dreams that they want to reach I know that that is something that you have dedicated yourself too but I also know that every time the issue of education and of kids really comes up it seems and this is not just one candidate or another it seems like every time the conversation comes up with mayoral candidates the answer is sort of passive or and and and and not really Direct in terms of the influence and the responsibility and impact that can be had from the mayor's office on the state of education and the state of our kids can you please talk to us about how you look at this how do you plan on addressing the state of education how do you plan on censoring children children and their future as the next mayor of toss yeah man you know somebody asked me when I started the campaign I was talking about improving education people are like well that's not really the mayor's job I was like you're wrong about that and and I didn't want to just go and talk about you know give say some over here and a bunch of political rhetoric and platitudes we have a plan for improving student outcomes on the website because I believe in this thing man it was my first job in the mayor's office the first thing I ever did was create 18 after school programs in response to public safety issues I worked at oh Tulsa after after that founded impact Tulsa was on the Tulsa Tech board and as I think about what I do right now work for organization called strive together outside of the legislature which is all about how do we put the next generation of children in this country on a pathway to economic mobility and so in April released a plan about reimagining and redefining the mayor's role in education it starts with structural change with the creation of an office of children youth and families right so we're thinking at the city all the time about the resources that we spend how's it going to changing outcomes for children and vulnerable families and all those types of things right and make sure there's a structure and then we have a children's budget so we know how much we're spending we Billion Dollar City budget this year how much we spending to improve outcomes right and how are we doing that in collaboration with schools the second thing is we've rolled out what I'm calling right now the teaching Tulsa fund this is something we can absolutely do this is taking resources public and private and investing them investing them in some of the schools we have the greatest challenge so if we have teachers who are in those schools that are punching above their weight like so many teachers do that we would provide a stien to keep them in those schools where we need them the most teacher turnover is real it is a is a part of that because as a state we don't we don't invest like we should the fact is it's a tough it's a tough environment we're asking teachers deal with all of the challenges that we have across this community there are 900 kids at Tulsa Public Schools today who are homeless there are 1200 kids at Tulsa Public Schools today and I'm only talking about one school district by the way that are in families facing eviction those kids are 52% chronically absent after the first month 70% chronically absent after the first year if you tell me that education is not the job of the mayor but you tell me that affordable housing is well I'm telling you education is in fact the the job of the mayor I'm not going to ask uh Dr Johnson and the school board and all those teachers to to deal my affordable housing and my homelessness crisis but I'm not going to hold myself accountable for graduation rates and literacy rates we have to do it together there has to be a structure at the city and we have to invest the next time we have an opportunity on a vision package whatever the case be the first question we need to ask ourselves how are we spend to get better outcomes for kids because we can't do anything else without it it is a part of a value for me and I believe it before long before every ran for mayor and that's the reason why uh improving student outcomes play such a prominent role and we've been clear about how I would do it if I was elected mayor and and monra know what you're talking about you have put actions to that as one of the the jobs that I've had the honor to to do is be um a regional director for a policy Fellowship where we're able to bring in summer fellows really talented people and focus on particular issues in order to do that we partner with State Legislative officials uh the partner that I have most often uh was yourself and as a part of that you chose the issues that you wanted uh our our young policy professionals to focus on every time for three years in a row education was one of those issues that you wanted those young people to focus on getting more funding into the education system looking at Best Practices around the country uh so I know that that's a focus of yours I also know that at the state capital you were familiar with the political gamesmanship y that was going on at the state and I understand that the mayor of Tulsa is the mayor of Tulsa but I also understand the impact uh that uh people like Ryan Walters and and and that sort of rhetoric are having uh on kids across the city on kids across the state and I know the the pull Pit and the influence that the mayor of Tulsa can have are you willing to utilize your position not just just to to sort of do your job as as mayor but to stand up for the children and families of this city um and be a positive influence on this state can you can you speak to that 100% one part of that education plan is standing up for strong local control of school boards and engaging the community on how our schools are working and get folks who just want to be a politician out of there and in fact when Ryan Walters threaten to take over Tulsa Public Schools just last year um there's not anybody else in this race that was vocal about it aside from me I don't think that you can be silent on the things that matter not only is Tulsa Public Schools educate 30,000 kids Tulsa Public Schools educates more kids of color than any other District in the state and and I think you have to be honest about those things and talk about why these things are happening uh and if you are gonna be a you know a state superintendent who's not about the business of improving Urban education and education across the state I'm gonna be a mayor that's going to say something about it but I'm also not going to stop there right not going to leave education just be the job of a state superintendent I'm going to take my own accountability as mayor that's the problem that we have sometimes people don't want to say anything because they know they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing either and that is not necessarily A criticism of anybody but we pretended for so long like things are just going to get better if we hope they get better if we just you know uh kind of kind of you know think they might get better it takes intentional action and it does start with speaking up but it also starts with doing the things that are are going to move families forward and so like absolutely I'm always going to be somebody who's going to speak out on the things that matter and I've always done it and it's not always been popular you know there's some people who might say yeah it's easy to you know go after Ryan Walters and Tulsa and all this kind of stuff uh if it were easy more people would have done it that's what I'm say about that but also uh that's not the only issue I think you always have to be a mayor that is consistently standing up for things people confuse standing up for values with being different difficult or being Ang that's not what it is if somebody's going to use their platform to demean teachers to call them terrorists if they're going to use their platform to demean Educators and say they're trying to bring all these detrimental things into the classroom and frankly demean students and families well I'm use my platform to do the other thing and I think you have to do that right like I think you have to that we're at an inflection point in this country where people are saying things out loud that they used to think then they whispered now they're standing behind a microphone and those of us who believe differently now we're finding ourselves whispering and thinking no no no we pick up that microphone too and it doesn't mean that we have this battle of minds but it's the fact that we have to show with a show a force that those of us who are here and about the business of student outcomes or here about the business of putting people on the pathway to economic Mobility that are figuring how we're coming together to to change outcomes and holding ourselves accountable we need to behind the microphone and say that uh because we cannot let people who caused so much dissension and Chaos win the day we got to wake up every day and say we're gonna win on behalf of kids and families I want to get a little bit deeper into policy here you know I'm a policy nerd um this intersection between evictions affordable housing the the homeless uh issue why does this matter to the the everyday tulson right I want you to really break this down in terms of why these issues should matter to Everyday Tolson and why it's important uh to have the focus on it that you have that you have uh committed to uh in this campaign and when you become mayor yeah you know as we were thinking about the issue of homelessness and and we have a plan online that says we're going to end homelessness As We Know it by 2030 I think it's one of those things where you can't say we're going to address it or we're going to think about it or whatever you have to put a Line in the Sand and say we're going to end it and the reason why you have to do that a because there's a data metric associated with it's functional zero which means homelessness is rare brief and non-recurring and that's what you want to get to right it doesn't mean that there's not anybody who's on the street but it means we have a system that allows for us to change outcomes and and and that and that and that's what that means and so that's the reason why like for me you know I want people to hold me accountable did I get the job done I don't want to be able to say oh yeah Monroe cares about homelessness he remember he had that press conference back in 25 and you know he really cared about he cried and he beat on the thing and all no no did did we get there as a community right the reason why it's important to your to your question right so I think it touches every aspect of life in our community um I've already mentioned the education stat so we already know we got homeless children and that's in one school district right if I go to Union Public Schools I'm going to see numbers over there that aren't to dissimilar as it relates to the size of the the school district right so we know we got that we think about Public Safety um our Public Safety challenge we have now this does not mean that homeless people are inherently criminals it means that when you have people out on the street from a driving perspective anything else right like things get a little more dangerous it means that some people who might be dealing with the mental health issue you know they may become somebody who kind of gets out of control because we didn't serve them appropriately right so it it impacts us from a public safety standpoint if we think about what it does to us from an economic standpoint you know if we're going to be a community if this is the only thing you care about is economics right yeah you tell me if we bring a CEO who wants to bring a large scale business to Tulsa and they come downtown and they see the condition people are living with is this going to be the city they're going to pick I'm gonna say probably not and I've had people say oh well Monroe homelessness is all across the country they got it in San Francisco and they got it in LA and they got it in New York and I say yeah that's true but San Francisco also has a Golden Gate Bridge in the ocean New York also has all those so we have to differentiate ourselves and it starts with solving these challenges to to reach that potential so people who think that there's a shortcut to progress in making this an excellent City there isn't it's the hard work of dealing with challenges we got to make sure this is not a place where kids sleep on the street we got to make sure that we we end the days of thousands of people sleeping on sidewalks and alleys and under bridges uh we got it in the days in which you know as we think about building a vibrant City what we are defined as is what people see which isn't great and then we have to change the lives of those people who are in that situation I hear all the time Greg just real quick I hear all the time well some people just want to be homeless and there are some folks I'm sure where they feel that it's somewhat of a lifestyle whatever the case may be but the data does not back that up the data does not back up the people just want to be homeless the data backs up is that there's a system that people can receive services at least 85% % of them take take you up on it saying that some people want to be homeless you know what that is that is work avoidance that is saying this is something we can't solve so we're g to say they want to be homeless so we don't have to worry about we wash our hands of it and the great thing about this issue and this is the reason why I think we can get there right I actually think we I absolutely think we got the plan and the vision to get there but I also know there's some wonderful practitioners in this community work on this every single day it is time they had a leader in the mayor's office yes say we're going to hold ourselves accountable for it I'm not leaving I got a 16 year old yeah I'm not leaving this issue for him and his generation to solve we're GNA solve it right now we're gonna take care of this right now and I think and I think that's the kind of attitude you have to have you have to have a plan to do it we have that plan because we can bring all these these some of these parts you know Jeffrey Canada I was uh with at a deal with him one time and Jeffrey Canada tells this story so Jeffrey Canada started the Harlem Children Zone of people familiar with him very smart man awesome dude he went uh he got appointed I think to like a u on the board of cancer research facility in New York City and so he gets there the first question he asked them is um he said you know we spent trillions of dollars on cancer why do we still have cancer you know and they said Mr Canada U you're what you don't understand what you're failing to realize is cancer is not one disease cancer is 400 different diseases and we have to think about the same thing from a standpoint of homelessness we have to make sure that we are fitting in those programs and connecting with people who need them and knowing the folks who are on the streets and making sure we can get them to a better situation and stop pretending there's a universal situ Universal solution to everybody uh and we have to really take a very person centered approach to ending homelessness and that's exactly what that plan does I'm glad you mentioned the practitioners that have been at work uh on this I was able uh to to have a little bit of time serving on the housing solution great people man like they they're working every day and they know these folks they got to have a champion and a structure at City Hall to make it happen that just wonder I I mean I'm sorry to interrupt you but no please go ahead people do have to know how hard folks in this community are working and working alongside of folks who are experiencing homelessness in this community folks are working their behinds off uh we got to build a system so that we can change outcomes because they are putting in the work and we just got to finish the job no that's that's absolutely right and you said it uh much better than I was going to say so kudos to close to them I've got two more things I want you to address I do want to get into economics and and this is personal to me you know I I know that I was seen as sort of the an advocate and I am I'm a I'm an advocate for making Tulsa better I'm an advocate for not making excuses about why we can't be the city that we say we want to be and I'm not going to apologize for that but so many of our issues are tied to economic inequity and when I think about that I don't just think about those on the on the the least fortunate rung I think about uh the affluent as well and how to make it make it work for everybody can you talk to us about your economic approach uh how are you going to continue uh to to put Tulsa in a position where it is looked at as an economic driver here in the state of Oklahoma yeah I mean you know so uh my time the capital let's see I probably voted at least three times somewhere around in there on billion dooll packages to bring companies to Northeast Oklahoma and we've often times missed out on those opportunities uh there's a couple couple reasons why I think obviously the the the political environment at times doesn't do us a whole lot of favors right um but also we have this Workforce challenge uh and and the fact that we got so many folks who have you know been locked out of you know the appropriate training or fell through the cracks there wasn't ways there weren't great ways to re-engage them and you don't have to take my word for it the equality indicators tell us that even when it when we look at economics Economic Opportunity I think we score like a 41 or 43 out of a 100 or something like that and so from my from my standpoint we have to get back to the basics and make sure that we're closing the gap between uh opportunities to advance and people who need those opportunities uh I've represented house 672 in the legislature for the last eight years and I remember when I was running the unemployment rate in parts of my district was double and triple that uh and than it was in other parts of the community and it had been like that for a very very long time and if you overlay that we have these gaps and opportunity that we have to address the the the flashy shiny stuff works really good trying to lure companies here and all that kind of stuff but the bottom line is um our Workforce is not where it needs to be and so there's there's this part of this work we have to do in Tulsa that seems somewhat boring right it seems somewhat boring to talk about these things but we have a structural problem here and I guarantee you if we lean into this education plan and and improving student outcomes I guarantee you if we curb homelessness I guarantee if we get on top of this affordable housing Challenge and frankly make sure that businesses all across this community are able to you know benefit from the great things happen in this community and people from all across this community are able to benefit from things in this community we're GNA be a lot better off um we have to stop thinking that because something happens good in East Tulsa or South Tulsa or west Tulsa or North Tulsa that means if somebody in somewhere else in Part Town Gotta Lose nobody has to lose yeah we have to look at those numbers and what's going to set us apart what I truly think is going to set us apart if we can show companies uh that we have a great Workforce if you're going to take a risk as a business owner and you know you got people who can help you lean into it we'll always be a partner of the city to make that kind of stuff happen I'm really interested in figuring out ways in which we can use the public resources that we have to ensure that we're investing local when I ran for the legislature after I got elected I had a I had a bill uh my first year and I worked with some folks in in organized labor on it and this Bill said any Capital project over $50,000 that the state was going to put out for bid if somebody could prove that they were going to hire local their bid could be 5% higher than the next lowest bid and they could still get the job the reason is is because I want to curb out ofate folks getting these big multi-million dollar billion dollar jobs that we had from Capital Improvement standpoint and keep that money at home I get elected mayor we'll be thinking just like that from a local hire standpoint to make sure that the resources that the taxpayers in Tulsa spend are going to go in the pockets of people who live here and I guarantee you we do that kind of stuff and short of the workforce um we are certainly gonna move this community forward my last Point here again is one that that I heard a lot um inexperience certainly was something that came up a lot with me and I I think fairly uh now you are a veteran a veteran uh state representative you have worked in the mayor's office uh but still uh I've I listen to the tea leaves and I've heard the Echoes now uh we may have a conversation one day uh about about why why that is but I want to give you an opportunity to just tell the people um how you go about managing an office how you would go about managing as the lead head executive of this city uh and please put to bed uh any uh Notions uh that that you may be too inexperienced uh to manage the City of Tulsa uh from the from the seat of the mayor yeah you know let me just start by saying this and that and that happens a lot and I also say one of the big blind spots a lot of people have is that saying people don't have experience so we don't talk to them but that's the reason why we don't make progress we don't think that lived experience matters and what people have done is matters and that's why citizens have lost a lot of faith in government institutions because they're not listened to and people don't act on those things and so I want to say when people say you don't have experience or whatever the case may be uh that's just them finding a different way to disqualify you that is not based on anything any actual fact I think you had phenomenal experience when you ran for mayor uh and so I just want I I want to Center that I know you were saying that's what people were saying but I just want to lift that up because there's a lot of people watching that just because you didn't have big old job somewhere does not mean you don't know how to lead does not know you don't know the community does not know you don't know how to move things forward and so let me say this uh there's been a lot of conversation right about the the candidates in this office who's been around the longest and all that kind of stuff I've not served in office as long as as as at least one candidate and the other candidates have never served in office but I started my career in the mayor's office when I started the career in the mayor's office the B Center wasn't there when I started the career in the mayor's office downtown was a ghost town when I started that job in the mayor's office the city wasn't involved in after school programs and all that kind of stuff we were with the leadership of Kathy Taylor at that time when the city was on the Move uh I left there I served as Chief of Staff to the president at the University of Oklahoma on the Tulsa campus uh so so there you go you got city government sitting next to the mayor now you got higher education sitting next to the president uh and I and and I did that work I left that job worked at Career Tech I managed all the economic development money for Northeast Oklahoma for the State Department of Career Tech which is directly investing in Workforce uh related issues here in Northeast Oklahoma came back was at the chamber ran the business retention expansion program for the Tulsa Regional Chamber so every day working with private business on what they needed to stay in business here in Oklahoma even in some challenging environments after all that started nonprofit uh co-founded a nonprofit called impact Tulsa and every day was working with leaders from the school district from businesses and all that kind of stuff on how we brought all that together all that together for the bedman of people here I've been a legisl legislator for eight years there is not anybody that has the most diverse experience particularly when it comes to how you make institutions move in this race than I do um I am ready to be mayor I am prepared to be mayor it is the reason why I'm the only person in this campaign that's been very transparent about how they would Le because you don't have to guess some people say oh you'll find out when I get elected and I got all these people I'm going to hire I'm going to do this I'm going to do that it's all a secret there's no secrets here because I am ready to lead that's why we started early that's why we've established ourselves as the most capable to be mayor some people may say you know this person more or whatever but sitting in one office for a long time is not experienced uh it it let me get correct myself it is experience it's experience in one institution and so you can see if you got a question about what the mayor's going to look like you had it somebody showing you for 16 years what their Administration is going to look like do you love it maybe you do that's your persuasion um but what I'm saying is is that when it comes to what it takes to move a city forward it takes knowledge that goes beyond one institution you got to understand how they all work because the the the challenge of winning the next decade in Tulsa is a challenge that certainly sits at the seat of the mayor but it does not end there it's about how we all coming together to do it and I've proven over the years that I know how big institutions move that I understand how to make them change and we're going to do it at City Hall and all of us together are going to make sure that this is the city that we put on the map and I'd be remiss if I didn't say it we're on the black wall Street times I think it's important to say we win this race Tulsa becomes the talk of the country most people know us uh rather we whether we like it or not most people know us because of the race Massacre who don't live here yeah um we win this deal Tulsa begins to put on the map and we make history but not only do we make history in One race but we prove to ourselves and everybody else that business as usual is over and we are going to end homelessness and we are going to improve student outcomes and we are going to show up our Workforce and we are going to make this the safest big city in the country because now we're doing things differently than we did before and the old things that used to hold us back no longer do and I guarantee if we do that we're on the Move man we may we gonna get you back too baby listen I I appreciate you and I want to Echo some things as as we as we close out here I know you've had a long night but this is important to me um I ran because I wanted to make sure that I was always able to make good when I told people hey when you see something that needs to be done you step out there and you do it um ultimately that is why I ran because I could not allow for the opportunity to pass by when there was something that could be done to improve the city um somebody had to step out there and do it the thing that I've always push Tulsa to do and the thing that I'm pushing you all listening and those that will listen to this recorded to do is to have the courage to be the city that we say we want to be that means Tulsa nice isn't enough all the time Tulsa can be better sometimes Tulsa needs to look itself in the eye tul sins need to look themselves in the eye and say what do we need to do to go from mediocre and where we are right now to where we know we're supposed to be where we know we want to be for our kids and it's okay to have an intensity about that it's okay to be to to to pack a punch in terms of thinking about what we can do for our children what we can do for those that have less than what we can do to overcome our past and what we can do to make good on the potential that we have we don't have to do it in a l Fair way we don't have to do it in a p passive way we can unite and be explicit about our values because we more than anybody else in this country understand the damage that's caused when we don't but the potential that is there if we ever do this election is still about that it's still about that and so I want to challenge us to make good on the opportunity don't worry about what you think is comfortable don't worry about what you think is passable worry about what you what you want to be true in the future and if you do that you're going to see that this man mono Nichol is going to stand for those same values he's not going to let you down he's going to push right alongside you and we will get there to that place if you believe that youve got to put your feet where your belief is and that means it's time to volunteer that means it's time to get out there and talk to other people about what you believe about this race and about this candidate I know that the campaign is planning volunteer canvases starting this weekend this Saturday I know that there is a Monroe for mayor volunteer page that you can go to immediately and sign up I know that you can go to the website and sign up to make sure you stay engaged and stay involved the reason we were able to have the success that we had in 2020 during covid is because people were willing to step out there and say hey we believe in something different and they worked and they worked and they worked and they talked to voters every single day you do not win elections by sitting behind a keyboard or by sitting in your thoughts you win elections by getting out there and telling other why you are voting and making sure that they have a plan to vote and so I passionately passionately passionately push you all to get engaged with this campaign you've got a a candidate here who has dedicated his life to it he's going to dedicate himself to it not just now but into the future get behind them get behind them it's the best decision that we can make for the future of Tulsa I genuinely genuinely believe that uh monroee I want to thank you uh for reinspection and in the future I appreciate that I appreciate it so much you know if I can just end on one thing uh really kind of two thoughts you know um I was uh on Twitter the other day and people know my Twitter is part legislative stuff now some Maro campaign but a lot of it is me complain about the Dallas Cowboys letting me down every year during the playoffs and so my feed is filled with sports and politics but I saw something yesterday it was Mike Tomlin the the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers now I don't like the Steelers but I like Mike Tomlin Mike Tomlin when was in a in a room full of athletes and he said raise your hand if you were fast put them down raise your hand if if you are strong put them down all this kind of stuff and he said that's what you that's what you are are um are capable of you know and capability is a big part of it but what it comes down is what are you willing to do that's what that's what makes the difference and so I think about where we are right now in this city and this country and I always think about this analogy of being people who are trying to push a boulder up a hill and there's some people who are pushing back against us but there's some people who are sitting on the sidelines and I think about those people sitting on the Sidelines I think this is critically important because if folks don't s in the sidelines we get who we want when when folks are running for office and so my message to everybody is don't just think about what we are capable of think every day about what we're willing to do uh and understand that we have to Center the people who we care about in this community we all do it together I don't care what part of town you live in you want your kids to have an excellent education I really fundamentally believe that most people in this town want to rid this community of homelessness and do it in a very responsible way I believe that people know we need to fix our Workforce and make sure it's the safest big city in the country we may have different viewpoints on how we get there but I know that's where everybody is and we do have to unite we do have to get there and it's never going to be about what we're capable of because this is Tulsa we've proved we're capable of just about everything but for this generation of tulson the question is what are we willing to do August 27th between now and then we're going to test what we're willing to do and if we if we if we pass the test we win if we win we start the hard work of improving this community in ways in which we just thought was possible because when we come together we're phenomenally capable and we just got to make sure we're also phenomenally willing to do it so thank you Greg for all you do thank you again to the Black Wall Street times to the folks who have watching we'll do more of these but but I'm really just appreciative because now I see this community coming together and I'm just a I'm just a person taking a baton and we're gonna take that baton together because I truly believe this is not about one person this is about a community a in in the biggest sense big c community coming together and saying our enemy is not a person our enemy is not another campaign our enemies are these outcomes that we got to improve and we're going to do it together so thank you all so much for joining thank you Greg once again really appreciate it [Music] [Music] your oh [Music]