CHAMBERLAIN AREA NEIGHBORS

NORTH TULSA neighbors were surprised last week to find out a Tiny Home village has been planned for property near their homes in the Chamberlain area, in fact, for many, facing their front yards on 46th Street North off of Peoria Avenue. 

Attending a neighborhood association meeting on Saturday to discover more about the 23-acre project aimed at housing Tulsa's homeless population, neighbors listened to Oklahoma State Representative Regina Goodwin reiterate approval of the mission of the group, City Lights, but, opposition to the location for its proposed City Lights Village.

Oklahoma State Senator Kevin Matthews questioned the lack of transparency in projects, in general, that continue to leave North Tulsans out of opportunities to develop land and create jobs in NORTH TULSA.

Tulsa Dream Center Executive Director, Tim Newton, also spoke about his hope for greater transparency.  

Oklahoma State Representative Monroe Nichols was also present.

Antioch Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, MC Potter, received timultuous applause before he spoke briefly.

Multiple speakers expressed concern over the placement of the project in an area of the city where vital resources
...hospitals, quality nutrition, and jobs...have remained scarce to unavailable to all residents for generations. 

Joy McCondichie, a descendant of 1921 Race Massacre Survivors, presented research highlighting descrepancies in application documents related to the project. Renderings of the proposed village on the group's website are at a bird's eye view, also making it difficult to distinguish the housing types planned.

One thread of conversation became the fact that, as one speaker alluded to, the community already carries the heavy load of a vast amount of the city's nonprofits limiting jobs and our tax base, while, as another speaker commented, ironically, our own tax dollars are used to support the nonprofits.

One of two action items from the meeting is attendance at Wednesday's Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission meeting to hear City Lights' side of the story. According to the Chamberlain Area Neighbors President, Jane Malone, the WEST TULSA-based organization declined an invitation to attend Saturday's meeting over their concern for safety.  

The second item...to speak with Catholic Charities who, media has stated, gifted the 23-acres of land to City Lights.

Listen to the video above or at the top of the page to hear most of the weekend's meeting.