Join in Growing Community....

We will have our regular monthly planning lunch for partners and residents working together in the Turley/McLain area. Lunch meeting at the community center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave. Agenda and info below. All are welcome. 

We had a good meeting last month; thanks for State Rep. Seneca Scott calling in from the state house in oklahoma city, and to two representatives from Indian Nations Council of Government to update us particularly on transportation needs and issues and plans affecting our area; we talked about the rapid bus plans and whether or not they would make any difference for riders in our area of north Tulsa north of 46th St. by McLain, and about the Trail and its security needs and how to promote both it and the communities along it. Also at the community meeting last week we had a good report from the Tulsa County Sheriff's office on crime stats in our area (see below) and we are planning to get more from them so we can do a comparative and more thorough analysis. We also had a good update report on the Turley abatement properties project from the Tulsa Health Dept. and we will be talking about all these things and more at the lunch meeting at noon tomorrow, all invited. come find out how you can connect with leaders and residents working to improve the 74126 and 74130. 

Agenda:
1. Update on Turley Fire District election plans: at the last planning meeting we got an update from the Fire Dept. about their activities, about how they have grown in their number of volunteers, how the dry burn ban has kept them busy, and they will be starting the petition drive soon to get the needed fire district board set up to help grow resources and keep improving services. 

2. Update on the Turley Project with the environmental health division of the Tulsa Health Dept. Scott Meador of the THD told us that of the 1400 properties and more than 400 buildings in the unincorporated Turley area, that courtesy letters about property neglect were sent to some 225 owners, and of that amount some 25 percent responded and began working with the health department. Some of the worst sites we had identified have been cleaned up or are in process since then, though some remain. We talked about our priorities for the properties to get the urgent attention of the health department, and some of the properties will need to have the county inspector notified. A few of the properties might benefit from neighbor's pitching in to help clean up and haul things away as the owners are physically or economically unable to do so currently. The second round of letters, past the courtesy letters status, are being sent out now. What we really need is more county funds to remove more of the burned out or abandoned structures as we had with federal stimulus funds that made such an impact in our area in cleaning up properties. 

3. Crime reports: The Sheriff 's office is still getting us the needed five year look at crime reports for our area, but we got the data for the 2013 years and so far in 2014. In 2013, 259 total reports. No homicides were reported, four rapes, four robberies, 24 felony assaults (mostly domestic violence though they no longer carry those as a separate category), 36 other assaults, 81 burglaries, 77 larcenies, and 33 auto thefts. They said particular high areas were burglaries and car thefts. There was much discussion about the possible influence of the metal crushers in the area on the thefts. We mentioned some reports of particular crimes that were to be looked into that might not have made that report. We hope to update with more crime report details and comparisons year to year to see if it is climbing or declining or remaining stable. 

4. Economic Development: We discussed the new Family Dollar store and restaurant in the area. We will discuss other economic plans and projects such as the Welcome to Turley sign. 

5. Continuing Discussion of Cherokee School possibilties for repurposing, and reports from other local schools; all representatives invited.

6. Announcements and Partner News and New Neighborhood Needs

Upcoming meetings and events

Community Days at the community center, 10 am to noon Wednesdays and Saturdays
Saturday, Mar. 8 community breakfast, Odd Fellows Lodge, 6227 N. Quincy Ave. 
Saturday, Mar. 8 noon lunch and garden planning at the community gardenpark and orchard, 6005 N. Johnstown Ave.
Sat. Mar. 8 free living longer, living stronger program lunch at The Welcome Table.  
Wed. March 12 noon seniors lunch at Turley United Methodist Church, 6050 N. Johnstown Ave. and Wed. March 19 noon seniors lunch at The Welcome Table Center. 
Community Legislative Forum, Saturday Mar. 15 at 10 am at Rudisill Library, near Pine and Greenwood. 
Fri. Mar. 21-Sun. Mar. 23 Oklahoma City residents will be here working on projects in our community through the community center. 
Monday, Mar. 24 Tulsa Food Security Council meeting, 11:30 am Indian Health Care Resources Center, 6th and S. Peoria Ave. 
Turley Community Association public meeting, Tuesday, Mar. 25 7 pm at O'Brien Park Recreation Center, 6147 N. Birmingham Ave. 
Every Saturday from Mar. 15 community gathers for breakfast at the gardenpark and orchard. 

Thanks and if you can't make it pass this on to someone who might be able to come be with us from your group or neighborhood. 

Come enjoy, connect, eat, and plan.