Tag Archives: Tulsa County

Are Data Centers Betraying Citizens

By David Arnett

Private Fiber Lines Revealed in Public Right-of-ways

Are high speed commercial Fiber Optic Lines being installed illegally in Oklahoma to connect multiple data centers? Are public utility rights-of-way being used for private commercial installations without the knowledge or permitting approval of local and state officials? Are Oklahomans being bamboozled by the monied elite for billions of dollars over decades with no compensation provided to local property owners? Could this be happening within clusters of data centers nationwide?

Phyllis Fallen heard a construction crew approaching her property on 660 Road one mile south of the Mayes County-Wagoner County line in Oklahoma. When she stepped outside and asked what they were doing, the crew said they were laying a fiber optic line. No compensation was offered, and no documentation was initially produced.

Fiber Optic Lines in Wagoner County. Photo by Phyllis Fallen
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Tulsa County Bridge Money Awarded

By David Arnett

Tulsa County has been awarded a combined $2,140,671 in funding through Oklahoma’s new Preserving and Advancing County Transportation (PACT) Fund, created by House Bill 2758 during the 2025 Legislative Session. The Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma (ACCO) announced the awards last week as part of the first statewide distribution under the new program.

Commissioner Stan Sallee and officials inspect an old Mingo Creek bridge
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Transparency Triumph Across Lanes

By David Arnett

It worked for Tulsa County twenty years ago.

The new normal in government is transparent and accountable which is increasingly popular, but maybe it always has been. For the record, Tulsa County set this standard in the early 2000s. President Bill Clinton, even earlier, promoted government efficiency in a National Partnership for Reinventing Government but now Democrats claim the effort unconstitutional – screaming like toddlers deprived of their blankie.

Vision 2025 funded BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.
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Metro rivers: one hot one not

By David Arnett, Publisher

OKCOklahomaRiver1Steve Lackmeyer writing for the Oklahoman reports that in just a few short years, a series of improvements along the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City have transformed the one time flood control channel into one of Oklahoma City’s top attractions.  Tulsa’s natural Arkansas River continues to be abused and ignored.  This story is much more about Oklahoma City’s success.

Lackmeyer writes:

It’s more a happy accident of design rather than intentional civic promotion that has thousands of cross-country travelers wondering about the “amusement park” they see rising up along the Oklahoma River.

The sight of dozens of kids crawling all over the 80-foot-high SandRidge Sky Trail alone is proving to be a draw for some of the 111,500 motorists who travel the new highway daily. Mike Knopp, director of the Oklahoma Boathouse Foundation, can only imagine what the response might be once the master plan for the area is fully realized over the next few years.

“People see the Sky Trail, and they come here thinking it is an amusement park,” Knopp said. “And in some ways, you can say it is. We like to call it an adventure park.”
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