Tulsa Mayoral Forum 01 August 2024

my name is Jason Collington and I'm the editor of the Tulsa World and also president of the Tulsa Press Club the Tulsa world's news room has served this community for 118 years offering local journalism by local journalists reporting on stories you won't see anywhere else the Tulsa Press Club is only 117 years old mission is to build an Engaged community Through The Pursuit and support of ethical journalism a number of our a me a number of our board members are here tonight uh the Tulsa voter Coalition is a partnership among several agencies with a mission to increase voter registration and turnout they have a lot of work to do Oklahoma ranks last in the nation on voter turnout the last time we had an election on City Council in our city 177% of tulson voted 177% of tulson voted we hope this forum changes that tonight on each election day that we have and we have several this year I want to thank that the University of Tulsa Melissa ABDO and president Brad Carson for providing tonight's venue before I introduce the journalists from the Tulsa World on stage working tonight I do want to take a moment and recognize all of the journalists in the audience from the Tulsa World and the other news organizations that are here tonight can we please give them a round of applause Tulsa we are lucky we have journalists from the Tulsa World and the other news organizations that are here tonight dedicated to informing you each day so you know what is happening in our city and in our neighborhoods please remember to support them so they can keep serving you on stage tonight we have two tuls World journalists who will ask the questions combined they have more than 50 years of experience reporting and writing for the Tulsa Community after being a reporter focused on education Youth and family issues Jenny Graham was promoted to the editorials editor where she was where she writes columns and edits the opinion pages op-eds and everyone's letters to the editor Kevin Canfield has covered City Hall for the past two Mayors for the Tulsa World In His 25y year journalism career covering tonight's event is our esteemed Tulsa World staff writer Randy krael and news reporting intern Louisa Clawson staff photographer Daniel Schuler and our our photo intern Victor Lopez are documenting tonight's event the candidates for mayor on stage will be challenged to distinguish themselves from their opponents the reporters on stage will ask questions and they can ask follow-ups as the moderator I get the fun job to make sure that you actually answer the question not that that ever [Applause] happens candidates when you have 30 seconds left to answer your question our timekeeper news intern Bella Casey on the front row will give you a yellow sign and when you have 5 seconds she will give you a red sign now I've been to a couple of these forums and some people like to go a little long we will cut you off not looking at either one of you so we want to be respectful of everyone's time tonight we have a lot of important questions to get to because everyone here has an important election coming up on August 27th audience please make sure your phones are silenced and please remember that we are guests on this campus and please act accordingly on Q thank you on q i appreci that was staged that was planned you're welcome all right here we go also I want to make sure they'll let everyone know your mics should be in place if you want to move them where you want to but then don't touch them after that so we don't have a bunch of feedback and all that kind of stuff let's give each candidate a chance to introduce in one minute we will go in alphabetical order with a different candidate starting each time we'll start with Casey Bradford my name is Casey Bradford uh I moved to Tulsa in 2010 um I joined the army shortly after as a Chinese Manor and crypto linguist worked for the National Security Administration went off to work with special forces uh left the military after six years of active duty and went over to the reserve component I moved back to Tulsa to start a business that was that was my lifelong dream I wanted to be an entrepreneur and uh as as I got into the business world I started realizing that the system wasn't working in my favor if anything it was working against me and we hit roadblock after road block and uh so we we kept pursuing it and now I have uh personally I've got a a beautiful wife she's somewhere in the back three wonderful children and I'm looking at the educational system of the city and we're 49th and that's a travesty so we're standing before you today and we're hoping to make a lot of these changes and a lot of these things but the the point of this is is I am you I'm a small business owner I'm a dad I drive down Poria every single day I know exactly what it's like oh there's my red flag I'm sorry guys we'll keep going in a minute Mr Jolly I'm John jelly and I'm running from mayor Tulsa um it's never been my dream to be mayor of Tulsa but I feel it's a colleag um these are scary and trouble times we're in and uh you know it's like us versus them and uh you feel a lot of hate you feel a lot of anger and it's time for some compassion some kindness and uh you know during my life I voted for both Republicans and Democrats because I'm voting for the human not the party and I think the two-party system is basically broken now because it doesn't even try to work together anymore I know this mayor the running for mayor is a nonpartisan which it should be because we are here to represent all of Tulsa not just a certain party or certain ideology it's about all of us because if we're going to succeed in Tulsa we've all got to come together because it's about our town continue to grow and prosper because if you don't grow and prosper your town Withers and dies you know I I had no idea when I came here time is up M commissioner Keith sorry I'm Karen Keith uh and I love Tulsa um and there's never been a more exciting time to be in our city and I bring a proven track record of Public Service experience and getting the job done I worked with mayor Le Fortune to pass Vision 2025 we got the B Arena we got downtown housing and our downtown is no longer dead I'm really proud of that and I want to continue the progress that started there I worked with our federal delegation and our chamber to raise 200 million to rebuild our levies a project that will save lives and property for years to come I use my whole Secret Sauce is bipartisan cooperation that's how you get things done it's not working in a silo or thinking that you have the only answer you need to reach out get individuals who are experts in the field and bring them in to help work on problems and that will include homeless homelessness our permitting department needs some improvements and I plan to tackle that day one it has to be fixed so that we can get affordable housing out of the ground thank represent representative Nichols thank you and thank you all for hosting tonight and thank everybody for being here I am state representative Monroe Nichols and welcome to house district 72 uh you currently sit in house district 72 so happy to have everybody in the district hey I've been uh serving everybody here whether you live here or not in this District or not in the Oklahoma house for the last eight years uh and I've been very proud of that record of service but that's not where my service started in Tolson my service started in the mayor's office actually in 2006 when Kathy Taylor was mayor my service continued at OU Tulsa's Chief of Staff to the president working on community health issues went on a Career Tech in the chamber and co-found impact Tulsa so before I ever got elected my life was serving this community and I'm excited about the issues we're going to talk about tonight and I look forward to serving uh as your mayor and continuing that record of delivering for people in this community uh and I'm very excited to do that this evening thank you Mr Van Norman hi Hi Brent Van Norman uh my undergrad was in accounting and computer science and I worked for a national CPA firm for a total of about nine years doing system Consulting work I say I had my first midlife crisis and I went to Seminary and ended up planting a church and was a pastor bivocational for much of that time for nearly 10 years and then I had my second midlife crisis and went to law school and uh have practiced law now for about 24 years and addition to that I've run three different companies uh Title Insurance Company a uh impact investing fund and a software company and so I've had quite a bit of of business experience the City of Tulsa has over a billion dollar budget there's 3500 employees I think the the the ability I've had in the past and the opportunities I've had in the past will lend well to serving the people of Tulsa and to help Tulsa go into the uh to the Future on a very strong basis all right in this round each candidate each candidate will answer the same question and we will they will have one minute to respond Jenny Graham will start what will you do in your first 90 days as mayor and we will start with John Jolly wow 90 days um I would try to get to know all the people are going to be working with that I'm going to be working with because you're only as good as the people that work with you and you know I know the city of Tulsa's got some fine people I'd also be open uh to meet with uh the nonprofits that uh work with the City of Tulsa that try to do good uh one of my big things is the misplaced and so I would look to what we could do about those misplaced individuals because um the nonprofits are on top of it I think the mayor that we currently has has been chipping on it's a big issue but I would look at uh the big issues for me and what we could do and get to know everybody works with me Karen Keith so day one uh I'm going to work to rebuild our permitting and inspections department and you say why is that a number one priority because you cannot build affordable housing and get it out of the ground when you have these lengthy processes at our city hall I want to make it easier for developers to do the work we have many who will not do building within the city limits so it's a domino effect and it definitely impacts our homeless I will be working with philanthropy in our community as well as our firefighters our law enforcement uh because they are boots on the ground with our mental health professionals so uh those are just some of the top things that I will be working on and I'll be leaning on some very talented folks to help me bring all of this work to fruition ber Nichols you know I started the campaign talking about four uh Topline issues ending homelessness As We Know by 2030 improving student outcomes expanding our economy by strengthening our Workforce and making this the safest big city in the country uh and so on day one in the first 90 days it'll be about making sure I appoint the person who's going to lead the Citywide effort to end homelessness as we know it by 2030 uh that first 90 days will establish the office of children youth and families and our work in relationship with schools and Youth serving organizations to make sure we're putting kidss on the pathway to success in this community create the expedited team so we end the backlog on development projects in a 14-day process that can that can accelerate those projects and then begin to evaluate city services and make sure that the culture issues that we need to address at the city and our partnership and our relationship with our partners uh that we're starting to lean into and change City Hall into an outcomes Focus accountable organization that delivers on behalf of the people in this community Mr Van Norman well one of my top priorities for Tulsa is to help the city become much more business friendly and so the first uh goal in that is to actually have to we have to change some mindsets and so there's an assessment process I would go through in the first 90 days in which you look at every Department every agency and you determine just how are how customer service focused are they and and you're the customer and so our my goal is to assess and to know who are the people that have the ability to treat you like a customer and so that we can eliminate a lot of the red tape we can we can roll out red carpet to you instead of red tape and uh in doing that uh we will certainly the permitting process that uh that Karen talked about will be under a microscope and we will we will become much more business friendly and much more efficient with business so that you don't have to feel you're doing the city a favor when you calling us we're doing you a favor by serving you Mr Bradford Terry we took a uh 3060 90day approach in everything anytime we changed commands the first 30 days you enter into that seat that new seat platoon Sergeant Commander whatever it might be and you you listen you start asking the questions of why the systems that are in place are in place because you might come in with the greatest ideas in the world but somebody might have tried that eight years ago and you just didn't know about it so we're talking about permitting I've had those conversations already uh and a lot of the things that I assumed would fix these systems uh they said absolutely will not and then they referenced 8 10 12 14 16 years ago um the next 60 days we actually work alongside all the employees that are currently there to start taking the necessary steps to make those changes and the following 30 days we Implement across the board um all of those changes from the top down this next question we'll start with commissioner Keith how much do you plan to engage with City councilors in setting goals and priorities for the city it's absolutely essential that you have relationships with your colleagues and I will tell you we have some wonderful folks who have chosen to serve uh in this position as City councilors so I will be meeting with them and and hope to have individual relationships with all of them uh because we can't get anything done at City Hall if we are not working together and I so I will spend a lot of time with our city councilors like our group right now I know I know all of them and I enjoy working with all of them and I look forward to meeting the ones who come online here soon so Nichols for that there there's actually one thing I forgot to mention about the 90-day question and that is uh what happened was uh Brent is to the left of me and they just confused the the confused me uh because you know I read that article earlier and I know he's to the left of me I'm just kidding Brent um but but but the other thing is making sure that uh I get the first uh director of tribal policy and Partnerships appoint that first 90 days so the question on the city councilors I think we're all on the same team I think that's critically important at City Hall uh it does not mean that we always agree I come from an environment uh at the capital we don't always agree on things but every once in a while we come together to get things done that we never thought we'd be able to get done and so it's a great it's going to be a great working relationship doesn't mean that every vote is nine to zero there's some five fours and things like that but we're going to be on the same team in Tulsa uh and I'm going to invest my time and my effort to bring every counselor and get their ideas on the future of the city and make sure that we approach every challenge United even if it means we have some disagreements along the way Ben yeah so one of my favorite books is The Seven Habits of Highly affected people and one of the habits is seek first to understand then to be understood and so my Approach would be I want to listen I want to hear I I want to understand where each city council uh person is coming from what their agendas are what the issues are in their districts and and completely get a thorough understanding of that in a collaborative process another one of those habits is seek the win-win uh often times in politics we tend to get so polarized that we think it has to be win lose that someone's going to be a winner and someone's going to be a loser that's laziness what we have to do is we have to keep working harder work through the issues have productive dialogue it doesn't have to be angry rhetoric it can be rational conversation but if you talk about something long enough and you work hard enough at it you truly can come to a win-win and I know we can do that Casey Bradford I believe in smaller government and I would like to see a lot of our issues being handled at the lowest level possible uh the more government officials you get involved in these things the more time it takes up the more money is being wasted the more energy is spent I'd like to empower our city counselers to go out into their districts rather than just meeting in the glass tower you know on occasion I want them to be in their districts every single day and right now it's a part-time job basically they don't have a lot of staffers they don't have a lot of assistance so the entirety of Tulsa meets in this giant glass building to solve all of our problems when you're centralizing this it creates further problems backlogs and issues so what I would like to do is work with City councilors to get them into their districts and we just meet on occasion you know give me an update let me know what you need I'm here to work for you and for the people because the best voice of the people is going to come from their City counselors John Joy I'm all for meeting and getting to work with the city counselors uh they're the people that actually know what's going on in their in their specific areas uh I'm fortunate that in my district right now we're represented by fine one uh she's a friend of mine I know she is out there trying to find out what's best for Tulsa what's best for a district you know as a mayor you got to look over everything so you got to trust those people that are actually representing those people for all the different districts and to make sure that their voice is being heard so I'm all for meeting with every one of them hearing what they got to say and knowing what's important for each one of those districts for this next question we'll start with Mona Nichols the city Charter allows for 16 mayoral staff name at least three positions you plan to have in your Administration that's a great question so I just mentioned one a second ago which is the director of tribal policy and Partnerships obviously you'll have a chief of staff and I plan to appoint a chief administrative officer to make sure as I mentioned earlier uh we change the city hall to a a highly accountable organization that's getting outcomes for people and that's part culture but it's also part strong leadership uh the job of Mayor is a big one uh it's a big one and I worked in the mayor's office where we made a significant amount of progress and those 16 people in the mayor's office are a small part of it but those 3500 other employees are a critical part of it as well so making sure that we have the people in the office make sure the building works well we're also working with our partners I think those are three key positions that would that I get started with Bren Van Norman yeah so I think one of the things you need to do is the fundamentals well and so you know everyone here complains about roads and potholes and and what's going on there so I think you have to have someone that is essentially going to oversee that area and and give great feedback back in that area uh you've got to do police fire uh the fundamentals well in all of those areas uh so obviously you're going to have people that are rep that are L zones uh in with those departments as well and then I really want to have someone that is hyper focused on homelessness and that will be a Laya Zone to the community on that that can work with all the various agencies uh we have so many agencies right now uh that are trying to address it and we need to really bring those folks together and harmonize those so that we can come to to meaningful Solutions Casey Bradford so compartmentalization is my favorite thing in the entire world this is what the military is built upon this is what small businesses Thrive at um I would like in that note to take a director over small businesses 90% of all businesses in the state of Oklahoma are small businesses we employ 60% of the population across the state of Oklahoma but we have no representation we have no liais on we have no assistance we just show up to the city and hope that somebody's going to be standing there so I would like to put somebody in charge to actually assist the small businesses to navigate the the the network of of lack of transparency that exists on on the website in regards to transparency we need somebody that's in charge of digestible transparency so that way we're not getting these giant 400 page documents that it's going to take an expert to be able to read um and then a maintenance director somebody that can actually oversee all the maintenance programs that are happening within the city so we're not looking at 12 months down the road we're looking at five and 10 years down the road John Jolly well I'm kind of coming from the outside coming in so that's a little different for me from some of these great people that have already been working in government but I've one thing I would do is have a guy or or gal underneath me that uh has been working with city planning for years and I I know a few of those that I have in mind and they would be my right-hand man on like making recommendations on what's best to make our city grow and what make what's best to make it easier for our city to grow you know Karen's talking about making it easier for housing and everything because TS was tough on that uh I'd have somebody that would work with that uh as far as like working with the safety the Police Department fire department I think that's you got to be on top of that you got to have a great working relationship with the Chiefs and then third I think you got to have somebody like they're talking liaison that works with the nonprofits that will help the homeless because we've got some great nonprofits out there and I don't know if they're all working together but it's going to take all of us to attack that because it's a huge huge thing it's been going the 80s Karen Keith yes so first of all I have an individual that will be working with me uh over permitting and also you know looking at bidding processes for the city so that we can you know have the best processes in place we have to compete better with organizations even like ODOT so we've got to have somebody and I have that individual who is willing and able come work with me um on the homeless issue I plan to lead that but I will also have an individual working with me uh to work with the community there are incredible U individuals already working in that space and then education I will have a topnotch individual who will be helping make sure that we are doing everything that we can for our public schools these next questions were submitted to the Tulsa World each candidate has one minute to answer we will start with Brent vanorman this is a question submitted by the University of Tulsa explain your vision about higher education in Tulsa excuse me explain your vision about how higher education in Tulsa should develop and how you'd involve higher education in your Administration great question and that uh is so critical to the development of business in our area because businesses coming out in right now uh are having challenges uh with finding employees and finding qualified employees and so we have to feed that pipeline uh one of the programs that's already in place that I think is phenomenal and that I want to uh have a megaphone for is a program called Tulsa achieves and that is if you graduate from a if you graduate high school in the county you can go on to Tulsa Community College and get your Associates Degree for free you can also go to Tulsa Tech and and obtain that as well and I think if we start that's our starting point and then those are entry points after you get your associates degree to go on to further education if you so choose or if you have a valuable trade then you're able to begin uh in the workforce and so that's my focus right now is really promoting the educational opportunities that are here and that exist and that are great programs Mr Bradford So after talking with several businesses that were prospectively looking at moving into Tulsa uh one of their Chief complaints is we don't have the the workforce uh and when I asked we have University Tulsa OU OSU they're like we can recruit these guys out of state a lot easier than it would be for us to come in and build the infrastructure in your city and we need to change that perspective um with the increase in education we will get better business opportunities here in the city but that doesn't just go with with the colleges that starts at the Baseline you know people want to raise their families in a place where that education is going to be beneficial people want to go to that City where they can walk down the street and feel safe people want to go to that city where the road infrastructure you know I had a lady yesterday and I I told her I was going to say that she said I need a sports bra and a mouth guard to drive down Poria and I was like ma'am I couldn't summed it up any better myself so when we're looking at these these these colleges we need to incentivize them and a lot of times when you get big businesses moving into cities they provide assistance they provide uh resources that can be dedicated to these colleges to continue to grow and these programs Mr Jolly well I'm a graduate of the University of Tulsa uh my advertising company works with the University of Tulsa and old Roberts University both we've also of course got OSU Tulsa and OU represented in Tulsa we've got a lot of bright Minds I mean there's no dummies that are going to school and graduate so my goal would be any of those people that want to work with the city get their feet wet and get started in life and let's let's use those people to make our city a better place Miss Keith so I'm really proud of tssa Chief and TCC that at the ground level is helping a lot of uh young people who need to get an education and get them in the door but what we're they're also doing these Partnerships between uh TCC OSU Tulsa OU Tulsa Langston where they're allowing um and TC and of course Tu but they're allowing these degrees that they get from one and classes that they take to morph right in to the other institution that is a huge help but of course my long-term goal I would love to see us have a full-time uh State University in our community representative Nichols thank you for the question so you know I mentioned in the opening that I was Chief of Staff of President U Tulsa my my mother who's here actually works at TCC currently after she retired from Baylor University and what I've learned about higher education particularly at OU and and and Tu and and all of our universities they play a much broader role than just educating students at OU we were helping cut the life expectancy gap between north hul and the rest of the community and we see universities play a role in life of communities all across the board I think what we have to do is is make sure we can grow um our highered institutions here uh by doing some joint investment in infrastructure and those types of things I'm here because the University of Tulsa and there's a lot of folks who could be too and we're competing with cities that produce more post-se secondary degrees than we do uh and so making this the center of innovation and Excellence is critically important for the city's economic future and I think we have to partner with with our hired institutions as we're spending money in the city to build up our infrastructure they have to be key Partners in doing that so we can grow those numbers in Tulsa so this next question will start with Mr Bradford so this comes from the City of Tulsa youth Council which is a program of Tulsa change makers of leadership Tulsa so these teenage leaders want to know what Outreach will you make to youth to incorporate their values into the city so I have a uh a 13-year-old little boy uh who is uh got his own lingo his own vernacular he lives in his own world and it's uh drastically different than than what I grew up with you know running around outside and getting sweaty and waiting for somebody to honk a horn just you knew to come home um but I'm I'm very in tune with what he's what he's after the Fab Labs that exists inside of the city going there and and gaining education and and trying things out you know being involved in all the different programs that are existing around the city and I I get to watch this perspective so what I would like to do is expand upon these things you know we have the fablab but I would like to see more of these resources spread out across the city so it doesn't take your mom and dad who are you know probably working that have to drive you there and you can get the membership and ride your bicycle again and I would like to offer this across across the board Mr Jolly I'm a father of 11-year-old daughter um became a father pretty late so it changes your perspective um you know we we lose a lot of our youth that graduate and move on they don't come back to Tulsa I hear it all the time they go off to different colleges they don't come back so but if we can incorporate the Youth of Tulsa now and know what they want what they need why they want to stay here I think that is beyond brilliant because if they feel that way and they feel needed they feel wanted and they're getting served they're going to stay in Tulsa and we need the best Youth and Tulsa to stay here for us to grow and improve commissioner Keith so I think it's imperative that we engage with our young people in this role and encourage them to make City Hall part of their education uh hearing from our young people it's critical to know what it is they want and then how can we execute what they want because everything that we do today is about them and building what they want for the future and I can't know that unless I'm communicating with these young people so I would love to have groups that I can work with and I'm sure that there are individuals and groups through leadership Tulsa that I could uh call in to help with that so it is critical we listen to our youth mon nichel yeah so when so you know as I mentioned earlier you know in on on on my website and as part of the plan to redefine the mayor's role in education is the creation of a office of children youth and families and this is so we never lose focus on young people and what they need and getting their input on the decisions we're making at the city young people's voices have to be reflected in the decisions that we make and I think we have to find inroads to do that which is the reason why that off is so critically important and I think we know that's not always the case here now we're not always listening to young people we see that in a variety of ways right now and so I think it's critically important that we build structures at the city not that you got to have the mayor cell phone number to get in touch with the mayor but there's ways that youth can inform the city on every decision that we make uh and so I'm excited about that and that's been part of our plan in education since we released it because I think it's so critically important they're going to inherit this community we got to make sure this is a community that is worthy of the young people who live in it Mr Van Norman well I kids today probably wouldn't believe that I was young once but uh believe it or not I was and one of the best experiences I had in high school was being part of Junior Achievement and uh what you do in Junior Achievement is you actually start a business and the the kids in the form of company and they elect officers and they decide what product or service they're going to provide and it gives them an opportunity to be very creative and to assume responsibility and to learn what it's like you actually get shares of stock in the company and so I think having tools like that where we can allow uh our young folks to fit into those and give them an opportunity to be creative and express themselves and do something that actually is going to give them understanding of what life might be like later and give them a path to do that and they can use an experience like Junior aief achievement uh for me I got to a summer job because of Junior Achievement I was loading Freight on a truck but uh it was still a great opportunity and I know we can do that all right the next round we will feature questions tailored specifically to each candidate who have one minute to respond we will start with John Jolly based on your resume you have not held any public offices or worked in any public agency with little experience in the public SE sector what makes you qualified to run a $1 million min IAL government K one billion forgive me yeah yeah that's a that's a fair question and it's a great question and so like why am I running um I've been I was a petroleum engineer for 15 years after graduating from University Tulsa I started an advertising company after that that I've ran since 1995 been the soul owner and ran it all these years um I felt what happened during the pandemic I felt the desperation when all of a sudden you're rolling and in one day and the next day you're in the BL and there's total darkness around you look we're all about One financial hardship away from being homeless ourselves whether it be a medical issue whether it be a health issue you we could be right there with them and so the reason I'm running is because during my time on doing this advertising business I've been walking the streets and I have met a lot of people and I've felt the beat of Tulsa and I want to represent those people and make sure the city continues to grow and gets better and takes care of the people that are trying this next question is for Karen Keith what would you say to those who would argue that your campaign is more about maintaining the status quo than offering a new vision for the city's future well I would argue that um I have the experience to work with everybody and I've proven it over the years over and over again so that we can continue to move this city forward and I think our previous mayor has made some great strides I want to continue those but there are some things that I would like to also see happen in this community and uh those are things I'd like to work on we need a new convention hotel we need a new County Courthouse um and we need to build these things for uh the F our future and those are some things I'd like to work on so I don't think it's more of the same I think I will bring a a little different uh ideas to the community the next question is for Monroe Nichols as a legislator for eight years you got a handful of bills into law what should voters look at in your voting record to evaluate your Effectiveness as a public leader it's a great question I think you should look at the whole record uh you know I have led every day with values at the capital whether that be issues on budget or education or affordable housing or how we treat people no matter who they love or how they identify or where they're from when they got here here and and so I'm yeah I mean and and I'm proud and I'm proud of that record so I hope I hope people look at all of it uh look at all of it uh the great thing about being in the house is everything we do is recorded uh you can watch it online everything every bill that I've ever authored is something that you can go research and I stand by every last every last vote I stand by every last bill and I'm excited about the time in the legislature and I'm excited bring that same level of accountability that same level of standing behind what you do no matter if it's a bright and sunny day or it's raining a little bit to be consistent because that's what people deserve they deserve to know where their leaders stand and I hope everybody I hope people look at the whole record all right next the next question is for Brent Van Norman you have only lived in Tulsa since 2021 what makes you qualified to run a city in which you've resided for such a short time sure well we've had engagement with Tulsa since 2008 our son went to U in 2008 and so we've been here uh quite a bit over the years but what I would say is uh the Tulsa mayor role is a little unique if you look at Oklahoma City there's the mayor and there is the city manager the mayor Cuts ribbons and shows up at things and is a bit more of a figurehead I don't want to dismiss that too much but the CEO of the city is the city manager in contrast Tulsa does not have a strong city manager the mayor is the CEO of the city so if to if Oklahoma City went out and they were looking for a new city manager uh they wouldn't look for someone that had been there for 40 years they'd do a nationwide search and they'd find the most qualified candidate to come in and run the city and I think in this situation with the mayor's office you look at say who's run a business before who's capable of running a city that's a billion dollar budget in 3500 employees and I think if you looked at that search you would come up with someone like myself all right the next question is for Casey Bradford this is from Mr Bradford during the pandemic you entered into a contract with the Oklahoma Health Department to provide 2 million n95 masks only 10,000 arrived leading to a law suit against you by the state that has since been settled what assurances can you provide voters that similar problems won't arise as you manage City funds there's a whole backstory to this that people don't realize Chinese minor linguist NSA I had contacts around the globe when nobody could get PP into this country I was the only one that could partnered with the Cherokee Nation to build largest at95 and three p surgical mask manufacturing plant in America that is still standing today got through customs got through the nightmare I was bidding on masks not against businesses against countries this one contract Mongolia not only did they buy The Masks they both bought the whole damn plane off the tarmac this is what was happening 13 hours ahead I was fighting tooth and nail to bring anything into the city to keep our businesses open to keep our schools going and I got in one bad contract with one guy who promised me he was a 15-year Department of Defense National Department of Defense Contractor and he took the money and he ran to Cambodia and I've been fighting every single day of my own personal funds to pursue this man and I'm here to tell you that every small business that exists inside of the city if this happens to you I will fight for you just like I'm fighting against him one more time time does this work all right uh this is now the lightning round so we're going to have a little bit of fun now uh everyone gets to play no question no answer longer than 15 seconds we're going to start with John Jolly this is easy what book are you reading what book am I reading I'm reading uh two books right now I am reading a book by uh my one of my favorite authors that is uh an LaMont go I'm reading luc's book it's after the burning after the fire uh and it's great insight into um what happened in 1921 and there's a thread of the Goodwin family it's an amazing book and you really should pick it up Min I'm legitimately in my 15 seconds I think I'm only reading briefing books these days actually uh I'm reading when China attacks and it's a book about just what's going on with China and the fact that uh they plan out for 50 years we're lucky if we plan out for two years and the strategy they have to actually uh take uh over the world Mr Bradford got it with me uh that Painis allegation abuses in youth custody in Tulsa County Oklahoma it's an ongoing investigation where uh our Juvenile Justice System uh is under attack by the guards that have been put into those positions you read about the Tulsa World yes you can pretty sure so go ahead we'll start with commissioner Keith when you have a day off where do you hang out in Tulsa well I like to hang out in the backyard I have to say I love my neighborhood we can walk the neighborhood with the dog and then we live in Brookside and so we really enjoy uh all of the restaurants and things to do right there close to us I wish it was more walkable and we have more sidewalks but it's a grand place to be Mr Nichols no days off no I'm just kidding uh no no I'm just kidding uh so I have have a 16-year-old who I is a as a high school football player quarterback he's a pitcher in baseball uh so if I have days off I'm somewhere throwing a football I'm somewhere throwing a baseball uh typically worn out a lot earlier than he is uh time oh 15 seconds quick answer oh having a fun Mr vanorman yeah so we have three grandkids in Midtown uh so love to spend time with them and the 10 chickens they have in their backyard and if I'm not doing that I'm probably out on the golf course Mr Bradford I'm usually hanging out with my three children they're 1310 and 11 months the 11 months is uh keeping me uh very young I'll just say that way I haven't exercised as much in a very long time Mr Jolly well uh I would say my daughter and uh because she is uh super funny and entertaining and if she's with Mom I'm hanging out on my porch of uh anybody stops by to hang out and uh anybody can stop by and say hi so there you go okay this one I start with I think we're at Monroe Nichols um Tulsa has had 40 Mayors among those who do you most admire Kathy Taylor baby old boss okay Mr Van Norman I'm going with mayor inhoff okay James Maxwell 1958 I would say Mr bham I think he's been the most PR Rive mayor since I've been here in 40 years and if he was running if he was running for mayor again I wouldn't be sitting on the stage I think he's done a fine job I have to say mayor GT bham I think he's done a good job for us and I think he's been really transparent and gotten us through some pretty rough times uh during his tenure okay next question we start with Mr Van Norman do you plan to keep the newly hired police chief Dennis Larson uh I would not make a change initially I would do an evaluation I'll do that with anyone and everyone uh and we'll we'll have a conversation and uh determine if he's aligning with the goals of for the city of of Tulsa so I would keep him initially and do an assessment Mr Bradford I would do an assessment okay Mr Jolly the answer is yes um he has been here a long time he's been in he's been in working for 40 years I don't think there's going to be anybody that knows Tulsa better than Chief lson he's paid his duws he's earned his job time yeah yeah just a reminder this is still the short answer commissioner Keith so yes I would keep uh Dennis Larson um I do know him well and um I will be working I think we'll work well together and I'm not sure how long Dennis wants to stay but I think as long as he does he's he uh works well with everybody time representative Nichols coming with my timer this time uh yeah I I think initially absolutely would would would keep them on evaluate what the goals of the department make sure we're hitting those outcomes uh but certainly keep them on what stability in the department okay this is a a pretty light question so we're starting with you Mr Bradford of all the characters in the Tulsa base Outsiders book and movie who's your favorite character all right so this is this is going to be horrible I've been to the museum I've seen it you have to pass huh I yeah okay I'm going yeah that's okay all right Mr Jolly I'm gonna go soda pup soda pop soda pop all right miss the musical is great you've got to go see it um as far as giving you one specific character it's gone but I love the musical but uh and Danny ' Conor if he was m my um my Outsider he's the best Insider we have here in Tulsa Mr Nichols so I cannot remember Rob Low's character soda pop soda pop there oh did he yeah that and it's because I became I know Rob low from West Wing so he's my favorite character and everything but Sodapop there you go I concur with okay I'm going to need a little help here too it's the kid the guy that played the Karate Kid Ralph Mao Ralph Macho okay there you go okay uh next question we'll start with Mr jolly if elected do you plan to run for another term after that yes if elected and the people like me and I think I've done a great job absolutely okay commissioner Keith yeah so I will look at it but and certainly if everybody wants me to continue to serve I would look at it there's a lot I want to get done in the next four years so we'll see what happens representative Nichols that would certainly be my intention uh we put out a plan to end homelessness We Know by 2030 I'm going to see it through Mr Van Norman yeah yes I'd definitely be open to serving another four years after the initial absolutely okay that was a yes yeah okay Mr BR same thing a lot of these things that we're facing today aren't going to be solved in four years uh we're going to put things in process and in plans in place uh so that way we can make the necessary steps and I'd like to see them to completion okay I think we're think commissioner Keith is up for this one so um this will be the last one for this round uh to used to be known as the oil capital of the world what capital do you want Tulsa to be become next we are already we are becoming the tech Hub of the world we've got drones flying everywhere um I think there's going to be so many opportunities for our young people through all the technology that's coming out of this University through OSU Tulsa um so to look forward to Tech Hub representative Nichols Yeah I and yeah and we we're already we're already there on the tech Hub what I'm really excited about is making this is the largest city in the country that's all Indian Reservation this is going to be the center of native culture in the gateway to Indian Country Mr Van Norman well they say Disney World is the happiest place on Earth and I would like Tulsa to become the business friendliest place on Earth Mr Bradford I'm with Von Norman on this I think we need to uh make this the entrepreneurial own business capital of the country Mr John I was a part of that petroleum industry that is no longer here and that's why I've been doing advertising [Laughter] um so uh I'm going to go with the I'm I'm I'm very fired up about the technical Hub I also think we might could be a giant Distribution Center based because we're in the center of the country and we've got Land by the airport and we should use that to to grow that and time connect everybody all right in this next round everyone now has one minute to respond we're starting with Monroe Nichols what specific policies or programs would you implement or expand to end or at least curb the city's homelessness good thanks for the question uh I think I'm the only person on the stage who's put out a whole plan in homelessness as we know it by 2030 it starts with the appointment of somebody in the mayor's office to lead the Citywide effort it continues with our investment and Outreach workers to double down there the investment in the data system so we can make sure that we're serving people well uh addressing our affordable housing crisis that we have by uh creating 2,000 more units every year uh and getting our name off the list out of the top 20 in evictions uh and those are things that are going to be the priorities they've been the priorities since the start of the campaign that's how we're going to end homelessness as we know it by 2030 uh and we're ready to go Mr Van Norman Mr Van Norman well there is not a one-sized fits-all to uh resolve homelessness but I will say this homelessness is not primarily a housing issue it's primarily a drug addiction issue and a mental health issue and we have to address those for a for a small percentage of the population it is a housing issue if you lost a job if you had a medical issue it could be that those are the easy fixes the more difficult ones are dealing with the drug addiction and the mental illness I would suggest that a a organization like John 316 mission is doing a fabulous job of addressing the whole person they address the physical they address the psychological and mental they address the spiritual they have 150 Acre Farm that they actually put people to work and they are transparent and they will let you know how many people they've taken that were homeless into productive members of society thank you Mr Bradford so uh mayor Bam put Mark Smith as the CEO as Tulsa Housing Solutions uh he formerly was in um Houston and he made a significant strides down in Houston by uh bringing all the systems together uh and right now we have a very divided structure in which a lot of resources that are here don't have access to this system and we need to incorporate all of these systems in unison in order to start making these steps forward and the only way to do that is by appointing individuals like Mark Smith going out into the community to bring these individuals in here so that way we can collectively grab every single unit and make a move forward Mr Jolie this is very important to me it's not a quick fit this has been going on since the 80s when the federal government put the people on the streets it's gotten worse over time I saw my dad as a kid when I we were poor he gave the shirt off his back to a guy we found the weeds next door my daughter early on we're driving seeing homeless people on the street she goes Dad if we could do anything if I could get anything for Christmas I would like to give all the homeless people an umbrella a sleeping bag and a ENT I go I don't think we can afford that right now but we've got to address the homeless people because here's the deal they're misplace and if you don't have you've got to work with them they got to believe in themselves because if people do not have any belief in themselves they're never going to get better they got to believe commissioner Keith there are a lot of entities working in the community right now and they do have a cohesive uh working group so I want to work directly with them with an individual in my office who will knows how to work with affordable housing and get all of the grants that we can get to help get more housing I love what these tiny home Villages are doing they work Brad Johnson is doing one out west and this creates a community people that live behind the levy that I know and people that I've met in the point in time count they have community so we have to help create Community for them you can't just stick them in a hotel because they're not going to stay these tiny home Villages they'll be 60 units and they can stay there for the rest of their lives so when people say I don't want to live next to somebody who's homeless they're no longer homeless they're in a home so I'd like to see more of that because they will actually work okay so this next one I admit it's a two-part question but I know you are all capable of answering it in a minute so um anyway and we're starting with with Mr Van Norman I I anyway okay so so the the first part is the question has State superintendent Ryan Walters treated Tulsa Public Schools fairly and then the second part is named two things you can do as mayor to support Tulsa Public Schools okay great question um and I'm going to answer it and people aren't going to like the answer but I think he had to come in when he did and uh believe it or not I was just at a conference uh in which he and Dr ebony Johnson were on the same stage they are working together wonderfully we just saw the increase uh scores uh today uh that was in in in the Tulsa World reported 5% increase in scores and so I think they're working effectively together I'm very impressed uh with Dr ebony Johnson I think she is turning things around her heart is in the right place I want to do everything I can I would love to if someone said you could have a role on the school board I'd love to have a role even if it's advisory only and to be able to come up alongside and be an encourager and be a cheerleader and just ask what we as a city can do to continue to encourage her in the good work she's doing Mr Bradford so out of all the cities in Oklahoma tuls is the most unique uh but yet we're still strapped against the uh State Legislative Branch and what they're going to pass down for our educational purposes um I think that Tulsa needs to take a more proactive role in our education and we need to start finding a way to distance ourselves from the state in its entirety we are changing too fast we're diversifying too fast we have too many groups in the city and that we cannot wait for legislation 2 3 5 seven years down the road to actually happen and that's why we're sitting seeing our literacy rates fail you know if I get elected as mayor of Tulsa we will start taking the necessary steps to make Tulsa the best city not only in the state but it'll become the standard for the rest of the country and the only way to do that is by taking control of the education because those leaders those kids are going to be the leaders of tomorrow and right now the literacy rates I'm terrified of what's going to happen I I just want to follow up the first part is do you think that Ryan Walters has treated Tulsa Public Schools fairly I think that Tulsa needs to take a more proactive role in uh our our school systems and that R Walters all right no I don't I don't think he has okay I don't I think Tulsa has been actively working we have free breakfast free lunch Tulsa has been actively working and I wanted to follow up with Mr Van Norman because I wanted to a direct answer did uh State superintendent Ryan Walters treat Tulsa Public Schools fairly uh yes I believe believe he did and I think he needed to do it at the time and I think we've seen good results as a result of that that's fine that's fine we got to keep on track so uh Mr Jolly okay would you after all that would you repeat the question one time first part has superintendent Ryan Walters treated Tulsa Public Schools fairly and named two things you can do as mayor to support Tulsa Public Schools I'm going to say absolutely not um I think it's been some Gusto tactics I think this whole one testing thing this pressurized testing yes Tulsa's improved that's great I'm proud of them but my daughter goes to Tulsa public schools and I feel the pressure that these teachers are under that the administr administrators of tuls are under and I feel the pressure the kids are under look all kids are different and we're not addressing all these differences for kids it's not this one size is all size so we've got to address the differences for kids we've got to teach the kids and not just rely on testing and we've just got to support Dr eony Johnson and as mayor I'm going to do everything I can to support Tulsa public schools because it's my number one thing about this running for mayor and I want to clarify ebony Johnson's not running for mayor so I think you kind of got your what's that Edy Johnson's not running for no but I'm going to support her as May yeah okay as may we both got John in her name so I'm all four you some uh Mion Keith uh not a big fan of Ryan Walters I refer to him as Voldemort but I will tell you I've been so impressed with Dr ebony Johnson and the way she has handled him I think she calls them every day to check in and she has moved the needle on academics so what can we do as a city to help her one thing would be to work with philanthropy and the city has funds to do this as well and help our teachers get into housing you can use it for both retention and recruitment so that if they stay for 5 years then guess what they don't have to pay it back you take care of that down payment so as a city I think we need to do everything that we can and I've been told by some administrators that if you will just show up when our teachers come in tell them how great they are be their best cheerleader I want to be that for them and do any and everything I can to make sure that our education is the best it can be here in Tulsa representative Nichols yeah uh the answer is no and it's been no for a long time because when Ryan Walters attacked our school district I'm the only person on the stage who said anything about it when Ryan Walters when Ryan Walters wanted to force teachers to teach about the Bible in the school regardless if they were qualified to do it I'm the only person say said anything about it uh and I've done that every single time something like that has happened he's attacked our school district I'm also the only person on the stage who's articulated a way in which we can support schools I've talked about about the office of children with and families I've talked about the teaching Tulsa fund which invests in teachers who are getting growth out of students and in in classrooms where it's tough to do it to make sure they stay in the classroom and they can afford to do so and lastly the reason why I care so much about homelessness 900 TPS kids are homeless today 1,200 are in families facing eviction as mayor I'm going to hold myself accountable for the literacy rates that are low because those kids don't have a place to stay and I'm going to make sure that as mayor we're going to make sure they're ready to go to school and they're happy fed and well ready you go okay we'll start with we'll start with Mr Bradford the police department is about 140 officers short what are your plans to bring the force up to full staff so tpd is drastically short and we're seeing this across the city when we're uh making these phone calls to deal with the homelessness population or the rising crime rates the last command climate survey that came out was at an all-time low and I had a sneaking suspicion that the next command climate survey that comes out is also going to be at an all-time low if you don't have confidence in your leaders and you don't appreciate what they're doing I mean chief Larson went in there and and his first day on the job he made a horrible decision and it backfired GT or gt bam stood up and and it actually fixed it so he started his term literally having to get his decision overruled and I'm watching these police officers I deal with them every single week and now they're disheartened about the current situation with the new police chief and we can't retain police officers if they're not happy with the way that their boss is treating them thank you Mr Jolly I'm going to say I would meet with cap Chief Larson and to get his ideas on what he thinks is the best way to get new officers approach that and if we have to go outside of the city which I think we probably would that there's some other great officers across the country that may be disillusioned where where they are we recruit them to come to Tulsa because we've got a great Tulsa live in the police officers have a pretty good salary to live in Tulsa and I think we could get some fine officers to like be a part of Tulsa because once you visit Tulsa it's a beautiful city and there's some great people and I think we can get some police officers that will picture that and come here for that commissioner Keith so I think there are a number of cities that um are not as appreciative of their police officers as we are and I think that some of those communities would be ripe for Recruitment and I think if you uh look at our rates of being able to solve crimes we have one of the best departments in the city and we have the realtime information center that we have some great technology that is assisting our Police Department I think that's going to be a nice recruitment tool getting them into uh the new uh housing that for the Department that is also going to be a recruitment tool and I'm very proud to have uh the Fraternal Order of police's endorsement uh and I uh I intend to work closely with them because they are boots on the ground and they will help me stay informed with issues and I know they have concerns already and they will let me know they will keep me informed representative Nichols Yeah so I actually just this last legislative session uh co-authored Senate Bill uh 102 which increased the retirement benefits for police officers because number one is making sure we retain folks who are there so they stay a little bit longer because they're trained and they know what they're doing uh and then make sure the Department's a place where you want to work I think that's make I think that's always the the the thing we can't forget is make sure that the work environment as good as possible also make sure police officers aren't responding to calls they shouldn't be responding to and so the AL the alternative Response Team making sure that we fully invest there so we take that out of the hands of police officers who would also agree that's not really something they should be doing and I think lastly is putting Public Safety back into the hands of people in the community uh how are we doing the prevention what we doing after school programs how are we intervening with people uh who who have who have been caught up in the court system and how are we helping people reenter into this community when they come back from serving a term and I think that's the way that you improve Public Safety so if we retain uh and recruit uh but we also have to make sure officers are doing police work and finally make sure that we have our community responses to Public Safety Mr Van Norman well this isn't a new phenomenon we've been short police officers for quite a while and I've already been working with a group that is going out to recruit from places that are defunding the police and say move to Tulsa we will defend the police uh the second thing I think we need to look at is the policey right now are just they can't fill them up they can't get enough and one of the things we have to look at U you know insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results we've got to change something and one of the things we need to look at is the four-year degree requirement it's great if you can fill up the police force with four-year degree candidates but if you can't then I think we need to look at things like military services counting toward that look at experience in another Police Department right now if you want to transfer here and you've got 20 years of experience but you don't have a four-year degree you've got to get the four-year degree plus go through the full Police Academy no one's going to come in based on that and so I think we we need to alter that and last if it still isn't full we look for associates degrees that we then give them the opportunity to come and get their bachelor's degrees thank you so we are right at time and I want to thank you all for participating this is going to be the last question from us um so again thank you all for running this how democracy Works um Tulsa has lost out on some new businesses going to other cities what is Tulsa not offering that would help attract transformative companies we're going to start with Mr Jolly wow well I think we have to change the mindset of Oklahoma and Tulsa being a city in Oklahoma there's so many people I know that you know they don't they don't even think about locating Oklahoma because of our political system right now there's a lot of anger in Oklahoma we've not to be we've got to become a more kind and compassionate Place we've also got to have those the kids and the you're only as strong as your public school system and if our school system is strong we're going to get people to come here and we're going to get that's the key they've got to know that their kids are going to get educated and when they come here they will get an education become a part of Tulsa commissioner Keith so we need to tell our story Tulsa is a fantastic place to live we have incredible Parks we have amazing neighborhoods and really when people do come here they want to stay we've the core of engineers is the best example these guys they only come here for three years and then they leave but the last four have come back and stayed they they've had to go on other assignments they've kept their home and they come back here so Tulsa has a great story to tell we must make sure that people know that we do have good education in our community yes there are things we can do better but our we have good education in Tulsa and we're not telling our story the best way that we can so I as a mayor I want to work hand inand with the recruitment for these businesses to come to our community because we have an amazing place and we should all celebrate it and when we celebrate it other people feel that representative Nichols Yeah I think it's a great question I I talk about expanding our economy by strengthening our Workforce and I think that's a big part of we talked about schools up here I think that's critically important I also think about when we're telling our story when people see us across the country it's going to be really important that they see the story that we're telling them uh we were once the old capital world uh we were the center of black wealth at one time uh we are 100% uh Indian Reservation we are home to a lot of first generation Americans and we have to Marshall all of that and tell our story and ways in which we just don't tell it uh and I think that's going to be critically important because we are fighting against the perception in Oklahoma and I guarantee you we can do something big this year in this mayor's race we can make history in this mayor's race and that does put us on the map it does get us going forward and it does say that we are a community that's ready to do things a little bit differently than we have before because we've been up here this whole time and one thing we know is that the old way of doing things the old way of moving the community forward just doesn't work for the future and tuls has to be focused on the future Mr Van Norman Mr Van Norman well I would hope everyone in this room agrees that tuls is a PL great place to live and you're glad you're here we need to do a better job of marketing that and putting that together and doing Road shows and going out to first of all get the attention of these companies that we'd like to attract the second thing we need to do then is it's back to the seven habits of highly affected people seek first to understand then to be understood understand what those companies are looking for and then be willing to negotiate over that be willing to compromise some over that but the other thing I think that will that business will appreciate is if I'm mayor of Tulsa they know there's a business person that's leading Tulsa and they'll want to come here because they know I know how to treat a business Mr Bradford so I have a unique a unique perspective on this a lot of times when these businesses come to Tulsa to Tour Tulsa and check things out they usually find themselves in one of my establishments towards the end of the night whether it's a Dueling Piano Bar or a Latin dance club or something like that and I take the time to actually talk with them and more often times than not I'm like oh so you guys could actually move here and they're like no you're were just an incentive for the other city so we can get a tax right off and I ask them why is that they're like well you're 49th in education your roads are absolutely terrible you're top 10 in the highest crime ratees your homelessness is ridiculous more often times than they're like we'll be driving around the IDL and we'll see somebody defecating on the street and they're like that's not where I'm my my employees won't move here so we need to take an inov Innovative and proactive approach on how to fix these things I said James Maxwell 1958 youngest mayor ever existed in Tulsa he got us through the Civil Rights Movement this guy was absolutely incredible established the Civic Center the uh inter dispersal Loop and he did it by Innovation he did it by uh taking proactive approaches on absolutely everything and that's what we need now okay Mr jolly [Applause] well did I not start on do we start oh okay we are we'll just do it again you know all right sorry about that we are to closing remarks we are to closing remarks uh we will hear a one minute closing statement from each candidate and we will start with Karen Keith all right there has never been a better time to live here in Tulsa and I am the only candidate sitting up here who has had experience with both the city and the county and I have brought uh millions of dollars to this community you all know that I've done work on the levies I have worked to create um I mean a a new uh Family Justice Center for us and I love this city and I feel like we built a fantastic facility um and I'm very proud of it and I also work to make sure that our downtown has what it needs to move forward and I I want to see what happens next we need a new convention Hotel I can work on that and there's just we have a lot I hate when people denigrate uh and say you know we our city isn't what it should be but we have a great City and yes we have problems but we can fix those if we work together and if you bring the right people to the table to work with you thank you yeah well well I want to start by saying thank you everybody everyone for listening this has been a great opportunity to visit um experience is important I have eight years of legislative experience I have a whole career serving this community before that um I serve right now even outside the legislature an organization called strive together I'm the only person on this stage that's offered up a clear pathway for dealing with the issues that we have and about those issues those issues didn't start yesterday uh there's something to be said about experiences just being in a place for a very very long time experiences about outcomes and if you think and you Center this need to end homelessness improve student outcomes strengthen our economy and makes make this the safest big city in the country you ask yourself for those who' have been serving in local office for a very very long time have they proven the ability to do that it is time to move this community forward and I am ready to serve as your mayor to do just that [Applause] well I want to thank all of you for being here as well even those that booed me on the Ryan walers answer it's okay and uh that's my approach to working with people is let's give people the opportunity to express themselves let's hear from everyone and then let's move forward and seek the win-win and uh I've had the opportunity to work in a business with my sister-in-law and my son and if you don't believe family Dynamics come into play in a situation like that uh you have to be ready to and willing to listen you have to be willing to work with people but you also have to be willing to challenge people and so after you've listened and after you've heard then you have to have a clear path forward and so I want to challenge the City of Tulsa I want to challenge those that work for the city uh to strive High to reach for the stars it sounds lofty and whatnot but if you don't set big goals you never accomplish anything so let's set some big goals let's get together let's work toward those goals let's make it happen and Tulsa's bright days are ahead mford so we talk about a lot of the the the issues that are surrounding this this this absolutely phenomenal City I I moved here I love this place I'm raising my family here I chose here but what we're now talking about is the core fundamental issues that are existing inside of the city and we've let these things sit and fester for so long and these aren't pretty things that we get to talk about up on stage because everybody will be snoozing but you know with three within three minutes but what I'm bringing is is a unique form of leadership to this city there's not a single candidate on the stage that knows how to run the city but what we do need to do is find a way to delegate responsibility and I'm going to say this one more time delegate responsibility so we don't end up with the crisis that just happened to the juvenile justice system so that we don't get into this homelessness situation we need to find ways to not put this burden on one individual but actually pick tulson to stand together and say this is how we're going to address and fix these issues and it doesn't just come from one mayor it comes from the entire city all right that concludes tonight's candidate Forum oh it does not conclude tonight's candidate Forum yeah first I got to go twice no I don't go at all man sorry all right you ready yo all right time L you ready okay okay you know my first presidential vote was in 1980 I was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy my vote was for Jimmy Carter I might have been one of the few guys at the Naval Academy that vote for Jimmy Carter in fact it was fun of the few guys in America that might have voted for Jimmy Carter because he lost in a landslide to a man named Ronald Reagan but to this day that vote for Jimmy Carter is my most PR prized vote and my most honored vote because Jimmy Carter stood for Honor he for integrity he sto for compassion kindness and decency if I'm elected mayor that's what I want to do I want to be Jimmy Carter and I'm going to tell you one last thing here before my time's up we're all five running for mayor you might not vote for me you might vote for me great I just want yall to go out and vote because that's [Applause] what because people have made sacrifices for that very privilege as American and it is our job to make those sacrifices heard vote time all right we want to thank everyone this is the uh this is the end this is actually the end of the candidate for we want to thank the University of Tulsa the two Tulsa World journalists on stage for their work the Tulsa Press Club and the Tulsa voter Coalition good night and please subscribe and follow local journalism by local journalists good night