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Welcome to 'Living in Tulsa Oklahoma,' the podcast that dives deep into the heartbeat of Tulsa Oklahoma! Whether you're a long-time Tulsan, a new resident, or just Tulsa-curious, join us as we explore the hidden gems, cultural hotspots, and community dialogues that make this city unique. In each episode, we'll feature interviews with locals and transplants who share their stories, experiences, and perspectives on life in the former Oil Capital of the World. From historical insights to modern-day musings, 'Living in Tulsa Oklahoma' is your guide to living and thriving in Tulsa Oklahoma. Tune in, engage, and celebrate this vibrant community with us.
welcome back to the living in Tulsa podcast I am so excited for you guys to talk to our guest today Monroe Nichols
0:08
he is a mayoral candidate for the City of Tulsa and we are going to learn a lot
0:14
about you today uh you know what uh I'm excited about it good very excited happy to be here thanks for asking yeah and
0:21
when we're happy to be here like we are in the church Studio yeah and you made
0:27
um a very good comment that I had never heard what did you call that I said it's rare air being here we are in rare air
0:34
and that's amazing for those of you who don't know um this is an iconic um
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recording studio there's been Elton John and I think Willie Nelson and um Stevie
The Church Studio
0:50
Wonder yeah I mean all the people who from a point in time that you wanted to hear have been through here and they've
0:56
sat right over there and that's the coolest thing in the world I think yeah music so yeah we're somewhere that's
1:02
amazing feel great you play an instrument I cannot can you play an instrument I mean I don't know I mean you know maybe I get in here I get F the
1:09
spirit of everybody else and all of a sudden I'm like go you never know yeah you're not going to bang out some Chopsticks I played the bass drum when I
1:14
was in uh middle school middle school okay some nobody knew about me yeah yeah so you probably could Kathy over here
1:20
can play chopsticks there we go I mean we could put some together we we got to start we're not start with nothing right
1:26
now yeah but we better not do that to the studio yeah we can't do that we'd disgrace the great names that we've
1:31
talked about if you put me up something we would okay so let's let's talk about
1:36
you yeah and let's talk about a little bit about you know your journey to where
Monroe Nichols Journey in Tulsa OK
1:42
you're at now yeah so how how did Tulsa um how did Tulsa come on your radar you
1:49
know um it was actually came to college to go to TU uh and when I was younger I
1:55
grew up in Central Texas actually you know not something you talk a lot about when you're running for office okahoma but grew up in Central Texas and you
2:03
know my grandfather was a pastor one was a pastor one was a plant worker my mom was a probation officer growing up my
2:08
dad was a police officer uh so kind of fun to grow up with pastors and police officers and probation officers right um
2:16
but but but the underlying thing there was like it was like a family that kind of was dedicated to public service in one way or another and in some ways I
2:23
kind of thought it was like what you did as a job when you grew up because that's what my mom did my dad did my grandfather did because he was also an
2:28
Air Force veteran MH and you know when I was trying to make a decision about where to go to college Tulsa popped up
2:35
on the list uh and I had a football coach who came to visit me in high school and I was like you know I had
2:40
never been to Tulsa before and so I did a little bit of research on Tulsa and I learned things about Tulsa that a lot of tolson's probably didn't know about
2:46
tulson it it was just intriguing to me uh and so was here played football here
2:51
and then my first job out of college was in the mayor's office actually which mayor is Kathy Taylor Kathy Taylor and
2:59
got the bug to to serve here uh at that time and have done it ever since I was
3:04
Chief of Staff to the president OU after that I've worked at the Chamber of Commerce I've served on the Tulsa Tech
3:09
board founded an organization called impact Tulsa like I'm the Tulsa guy and uh and and you know represented tulson
3:16
the legislature over the last eight years and so this is just uh this is my community this is my town and I and I
3:23
love it okay there is so much to unpack right there and I love that so let's start out with impact Tulsa um because
3:29
that came first yeah okay so tell me tell me a little bit about that yeah so impact Tulsa co- found impact Tulsa
3:36
right before I ran for office of 2014 uh so it was after the city and after those other things and and I use that as
3:42
context because impact Tulsa was really looking back at the experience at the city working in juvenal Justice the
3:48
experience at OU working on community health related issues the experience at the chamber and at Career Tech really
3:54
think about these Workforce related issues impact Tulsa was like how are we bringing all these sectors together to
3:59
ensure that every kid has a high quality education in Tulsa cuz we understand it's not just the job of schools right
4:05
and that was the inspiration uh for impact Tulsa they're still doing great work I left the organization when I got elected in
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2016 but they're doing phenomenal work right now and it's all about how are we really thinking about real data and
4:17
understanding what's impacting young people and their families and what are we doing about it right Having the courage to to to act um and so I'm
4:24
really proud of impact Tulsa what they're doing today I'm really proud that's part of my history and I'm excited for frankly you know on the
4:30
other side hopefully of this mayor's race to continue to leverage that organization and the Partnerships within it uh to really you know unleash our our
4:37
the sum of all of our contributions to make sure that every kid has an opportunity in this community right that's that's such an amazing um such an
4:45
amazing priority such an amazing um Mission now is impact Tulsa something that the average person can get involved
4:51
in is it a volunteer organization it's not necessarily a volunteer organization but what I would say is though impact
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Tulsa actually represents like a partnership of like 14 school districts that are in Tulsa County the business
5:02
Community a lot of other volunteer organizations and so if you were to reach out to them and say hey I care about any particular issue particularly
5:09
things facing young people in their families they'll connect you with somewhere where you can get involved or
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they'll say Hey you know um here is a way you can directly get involved right like they do a great job of uh you know
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everything from really engaged on the issue of uh mental health for middle schoolers uh right now they've pulled
5:28
the data that shows eviction rates for children and families that are kind of facing eviction and and we know those
5:34
folks are and they're starting to intervene so they could point you in the right direction of things to get involved in that are based on data so
5:40
you know if I'm going to spend my time doing this it's going to make an impact on a young person's life I think that's really the the really the whole thing
5:46
about it right is that we are all finding ways in which we can you know contribute in a real way that's going to make a real difference and it's a great
5:53
organization reach out to if that's what you want to do yeah and that's amazing um it is a great organization um I know
5:59
previously you know being in education I'm familiar with it and you know I know it is so that's exciting that you um
6:05
that you co-founded that yeah yeah so then moving on so you ran for State
6:12
office that's right that's right so to talk to talk to us about that a little bit Yeah so I've been in the legislature
6:18
for eight years now uh we're actually sitting in house district 72 so we're in my legislative district as we sit right
6:24
here at the church Studio uh and it's been really cool you know I decided to run for the leg in 2016 cuz at the time
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uh my son Gavin was I think a third grader mhm and he's at Elliott elementary school and this is the time
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when we were running out of money every year and we weren't able to make the investments in education we were having a lot of conversation about four day
6:44
school weeks and and and you know um that those things can be a killer for a community right uh and so I was really
6:51
concerned about our ability at the state to make investments in my kids's future
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and the futures of kids you know like him uh and so there was a level of frustration and some of that frustration
7:02
was with who represented me at the time and it actually wasn't partisan it was somebody who was of my own political
7:07
party so it had nothing to do with Democrat versus Republican it was about are we going to get something done or
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not uh and and after the impact toal experience everything else I knew how critical it was to send people to the
7:19
capital at the time who had some idea of the things that we needed to do and be willing to do it and we were able to
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took a teacher walk out and some of those things but we were able ble to raise revenue for the first time in the state in like 30 years uh and and start
7:34
to make those Investments and so yeah I ran largely as a parent who was frustrated and knew we had to do better
7:41
and and uh you know fortunately we got a long way to go as a state yeah uh but we have made some progress I'm I'm pretty
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proud of that yeah um that that's so interesting um you know that you started
7:53
as a parent so you really had no desire for public office but it just L there no I did because I didn't um I didn't
8:00
really want to do it at that time necessarily right it wasn't the great it wasn't a great time there was somebody
8:06
serving who wasn't termed out who I knew personally uh and we were the same political party like you didn't want to
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challenge that person you know if you got a kid who's in third grade probably not always the best time to be running
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for office there's a lot of stuff going on so there's you know the family sacrifice of it all um I think I always
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was drawn to public service in one way or another so I don't think 2016 would have been the time to do it um but I did
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it at that particular time MH because I was a parent and and and truth be told I had run for office before in 2008 I was
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a hard-headed young 204 year old I think wow yeah and and
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lost and my lesson from losing in 20 in 2008 was that you know you got to go and
Lesson learned on losing in 2008
8:49
you got to serve people you got to understand what's really going on and that's where I started my career from
8:54
the mayor's office to OU to Career Tech to the chamber to impact also to running
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again and so when I ran the second time you were running based on your conviction of what we need to do
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particularly for young people in the state not because oh yeah I'm running because people should vote for me because I'm a good person like a lot of
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people run for good people but what are you going to do uh for folks and and what's should what's that core set of beliefs that's going to drive you I
9:18
didn't really get that until 2016 and so it was much different when I ran that time so then being being an office and
9:26
being a public servant um I would imagine that there are you know
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frustrations and you know your hands are tied in so many things um I would think but I mean obviously I don't know but um
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how you know what has that Journey been like yeah you know I think the the at a
9:46
top level the most frustrating thing about being at the capital um is that
What journey as a public servant
9:51
the people who serve there are far better than what we produce every year
9:57
and that's the most frustrating because you know we can do better and I'll tell you when I first got elected in 2016 it was a it was like a highly volatile
10:03
environment I'm a Democrat and when I got elect those first two years I'm going tell you like you know you're
10:09
learning and we're arguing back and forth and nobody's really get know each other I thought every Republican there
10:14
was a liar and all this kind of stuff right like because this this environment because then I was doing that and I was racing home to whatever G but I wasn't
10:21
building relationships right it was until like year two and three where I got to actually know some of my
10:26
colleagues on the other side of the aisle and I realized oh kids play baseball so we can connect on that and
10:33
while we have these things we disagree on like I realized then there's only a hundred other people in the state that knows what it's like to go through what
10:39
I go through every day leaving your family to do stuff getting criticized all that kind of stuff and so like the
10:44
partisan divide for me kind of went away on a personal level and so then you learned how to work with people and then
10:49
you realize then even even though we all are coming at this differently um people
10:55
really do care about this state and even though you know we got some is that are just going to divide us at times but you
11:01
can't let that get in the way of the things that we agree on and and doing doing a great job there and so what I came to learn is is that man I got more
11:08
in common with people here no matter what their political stripe is than I do with the with a with a lot of folks and
11:14
but but that overarching frustrations even with all the the goodness that exists in people and there are some people who got a little less good than
11:20
others uh but even with all that goodness that is within all of us and how convicted are in what we do we still
11:25
just miss the mark a little bit and you can't just pinpoint on somebody's partisan affiliation it's just every
11:32
once in a while there's these these weird pressures that that come in and you start to worry about things that I
11:37
bet when you get done in your service you realize that thing didn't matter but it also kept us from doing something amazing and I think that's the
11:43
overarching most frustrating thing is that you know um we got really good people serving generally speaking we
11:49
often times let things that ultimately don't matter hold us back from doing things that that are truly special and
11:55
and that's kind of the overall frustrating thing but I think that's true in politics at every level I so you know I think leadership is tough uh and
12:03
I think political leadership is a uniquely tough deal uh because it's a full context sport a lot of times uh and
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so political courage is something that I think is going to have to define the next generation of political leaders and
12:16
I think that's going to have to come from both Democrats and Republicans you just need courageous leaders on both sides of the aisle that are willing to
12:21
do what is necessary to put us on a pathway to Greatness yeah and so um I I
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agree with you and I like hearing that um so pushing that to or using that
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background for what you're doing now running as the you know the mayor of
12:42
Tulsa um where do you see what does that look like for you yeah yeah you know I
What does it look like as running as Mayor of Tulsa OK
12:48
think on the other end so so the reason why I decided to run for mayor was they I think this is the greatest impact that
12:55
you can have on your community serving in a local office in a lot of ways excuse me and then I also think from a
13:02
broader context around the country um you know Washington's always in gridlock
13:07
State legislatures can often times be bogged down by partisan politics uh at the local level you can really come up
13:13
with like the really great ideas that are going to move the country forward so we do have an opportunity in Tulsa to in
13:19
a positive way impact the lives of folks in Memphis or you know folks in New York or folks in you know Burns flat Oklahoma
13:27
right if we can figure out how to come together make our institutions work here a lot of people can learn from that uh
13:32
cuz I think this is where it starts right and I think it starts with people who love a community who are willing to
13:38
do what's necessary and and then come together and see and see the great work we've done together right and and so I
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that's the reason why I ran decided to run for mayor I think that Tulsa is a city that has uh almost unmatched
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potential I really do believe that U but it's going to take us U removing some of
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these challenges that have kind of been stubborn Force for a long time homelessness is one of those right we
Talking about homeless in Tulsa OK
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we've got to you know we can't just be resigned to oh we're going to address it or we're going to take we got to say
14:07
we're going to end homelessness and we have a plan to do that by 2030 and that's critical that a community has
14:12
clear goals and a clear outcome so we know how close we're getting into we know what we have to do more of or less of to get ourselves there and so I think
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you have to commit yourself to these big bull goals and Tulsa can do it um you know I I think that uh you know it's
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incredibly important that we improve student outcomes you know I know you have uh you know do a lot of um uh work
14:32
in real estate and so you know the number one reason people move to or out of your community is schools and we got to get better outcomes for young people
14:38
so folks are like okay this is even a more attractive Place uh when we think about our Workforce I've been at the capital as we said for eight years I
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think at least three or four times I've voted on a billion dollar package to try to lure
14:50
a company here and we have not necessarily got it where it be Panasonic or Tesla whatever the case may be that tells me we have a Workforce issue that
14:56
we have to really get our get on top of and I think think safety and Public Safety is always a high priority so
15:02
making this the safest big city in the country and and people think that oh you're just a talking point no uh the
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safest big city in the country is actually a distinction that you can track with data right and so like these things we have to commit ourselves to so
15:13
we're really trying to put our best face forward and so we can secure and you know really lean into that untapped potential uh that we get some of these
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challenges off the board uh and we don't leave them for you know my kid and his generation they'll have some new things to worry about probably some AI related
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stuff as my guess um but for now let's go ahead and move these challenges off the off the map because what's going to
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happen is Tulsa is going to take off I think we can really win the next decade in Tulsa uh but we can't do it by just
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hoping these things go away we have to be intentional about it yeah and I will I will touch base and circle back to
15:45
more of that in a second and those things that you just said um when we're talking about you know Tulsa and how you
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said um you know uh it's really just getting ready to take off I mean from when you came here you know from now
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um you know what are the things that you're you know that you're seeing that you love like what are the great things that are happening I came in here at a
16:05
really interesting time so when I got to Tulsa there was no B Center there was no
16:10
ballpark downtown um there was none of that stuff right um uh the University of
16:15
Tulsa I went to school it looked completely different than it does today I don't think people were talking about
16:21
Tulsa I mean you know the Gathering Place there's a whole bunch of things that were not here back in those days and and
16:26
honestly even some of the things in our past that are some in some ways certainly painful parts of our past but
16:33
things that weren't talked about that I think do speak to our unique to some think about the race Maser in particular and you know and how we're responding um
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those were things that uh that didn't exist at the time now as you see us like
16:46
we have those things now we are a place that people are coming to We are Becoming this thriving place that that
16:51
folks don't maybe think about at first but when they get here they're like man I like this place right like that's that's what Tulsa is and so you know I
16:58
think when I got here I'm not sure Tulsa was a place where people like oh you know what this is really awesome you know cuz they weren't coming here to go
17:03
to a concert they didn't see a downtown ballpark they didn't have all you know the great places to to shop and do
17:09
things now now they do and so this has become you know becoming a place that has the amenities of a destination city
17:15
we just got to make sure we get it at the top of people's list now yeah and I think that's the work of the future so Tulsa is uh it's changed quite a bit man
17:22
uh you know there's not a day that I'm here or that I have people who come in town where I'm like oh yeah
17:29
we don't have that for you to do the only thing that I want us to get at some point yes I need a NFL an NBA or major
17:37
league baseball team all right I I'll even take Major League Soccer any any one of those I think coming becoming a big league city is the is the one thing
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left undone I think we can get there at some point I'm hoping yeah that would be really cool I'm hoping yeah I love the
17:49
Drillers and all that I love the Drillers too I love the Drillers I really do um and I would love for the
17:56
Drillers to be a mjor league baseball team maybe that's what I'll say we we still call them the Drillers if we must um but I I do it's kind of funny you say
18:03
that I remember Drillers games at the fair grounds back in the day actually
18:09
and uh going to Drillers games over the years has been something I've shared with my uh now 16-year-old and he's now
18:15
a high school baseball player so you know having having the Drillers here has actually been a big part of our Lives as
18:21
a father and son we actually this is kind of cool so uh 8 years ago we were
18:27
at home doing nothing and you know there's never a time we had a Satur one doing nothing and I asked him if he want
18:32
to go to a baseball game the Rangers were not in Arlington that weekend uh
18:37
the the Royals weren't in Kansas City so the Cardinals were the the closest team playing at home so I asked Gavin who was
18:44
eight years old I was like hey do you want to go to a Cardinal game he's like how far is it of course alv was like as if he had to drive like why do you care
18:51
you can go to sleep doesn't matter right and I told him he's like sure which I was like all right so we pack up the car randomly on a Saturday drive to St Louis
18:58
we see the Cardinals play I think the Marlins and um and every year since then
19:06
we've gone to a new baseball park that he's never been to we just went to Tropicana Field in Tampa and it's our
19:12
ninth ballpark in eight years together so okay really cool yeah so you're ready to have one in Tulsa so you know yeah an
19:20
easy trip yeah there you go well maybe that'll happen you know I think it's a good idea so as far as Tulsa goes you
19:27
know we're in your district and I'm going to put you on the spot and so you might be able to give me I'll let you
19:33
give me more than one answer some of your you know some of your favorite spots around here oh man you know so uh
19:41
I don't know if I should disclose this but everybody who knows me knows it's true so I am
19:49
like I'm not like a fishing aut but I'm a cigar smoker okay and I remember years
19:56
ago there weren't a whole lot of cigar smokers now there's a lot of them now so I'm like man there's a lot of amateurs
20:02
around smoking cigars these days not not not all those L were old school so uh
20:07
you know I used to go to classic cigars and hang out a lot I can't go there as much as anymore so it's kind of that's
20:13
kind of upsetting um but but it's always been a place to kind of hang out and sit outside and smoke cigar and then kind of
20:19
you know if it's if it was first Friday there's a lot of activity down there down town and all like so I've always
20:24
really enjoyed being down there because you you know you kind of get to see people going about the city while enjoying a cigar you know um uh you know
20:33
I have a really good time me and my my mom and uh some of my friends every once in a while used to go to 473 on a Sunday
20:40
when it's not hot outside and outside and kind of hang out you know everybody's working throughout the week and so finding ways to kind of connect
20:47
there um let's see obviously anytime There's an opportunity to go to something at the uh at b or the ballpark
20:55
but for me the best place in town to be mhm M and this comes from being an old football player to MH is tailgating on a
21:03
Saturday on the campus of the University of Tulsa yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that
21:08
would be number one okay that's a good time yeah col college football is fun oh yeah and they're doing a great job I
21:15
tell you what uh president Carson I got to give him a shout out on this deal okay the pregame experience now is wild
21:22
I mean he's he's had concerts out there and all kind of stuff I mean it's been amazing and so when I say M being there
21:29
on a Saturday is my favorite place to be it is not like a pandering answer or anything like that it's like it is so
21:34
much fun now and it's kind of funny too because and you know I this is probably
21:40
not what you want to talk about on the podcast it's probably some I talking about on the podcast but I'll never forget this
21:45
season he had a rapper come MH and I remember looking at the faces of some of
21:52
the older alums as this rapper was performing on stage and I was like now I bet they didn't see this coming for tell
21:58
it to you but it's a it's a really exciting time uh and and and I really I really love it it's you know it's again
22:04
it's something I can share with with Gavin but also I could see all my old teammates and you know you see the folks
22:10
coming from out of town and so it's a great way to welcome people to Tulsa on a Saturday so I I love tailgating on
22:15
Saturdays and I have a tailgating spot right where they put a big TV up so I can watch the games before the TU game
22:21
outside before I go into the game so I love it do you reserve it or you just get early no yeah you got you reserve
22:27
them okay I don't I don't know this you can't get there early too I mean you know you you know you get there early enough nobody's going to move you
22:32
probably I mean you can you can test the system that's my spot yeah you can test the system you know I'll come record you
22:38
then just in case you know some drama goes down and we'll make sure we upload your Facebook page it'll be a it'll be a special episode a that would be a
22:44
special episode my first Tu um tailgate was just at this ouu game this year yeah
22:52
wasn't that awesome it was amazing I yeah it was so fun I was like I love tailgating so I completely you
22:59
discovered a new Love and did I did so yeah I didn't know it was like that on all the other games though yeah so I
23:05
like I said Brad's done a great job of the pregame experience of Tu yeah it's it's it's pretty intense it was not like
23:10
that when I was playing football well I mean how' I know I was never there before the game but I don't remember people talking about it like they talk
23:17
about it now so it's really it's it's it's just a cool deal I really enjoy it as far as you know the great kind of
23:24
resources that Tulsa has what do you you know what do you see you know what are some of the resources that you see that
23:30
um you know that makes Tulsa great that can continue to make Tulsa better um you
23:36
know what kind of things do we have there we have so many things right like you know I I um so we have we're often
23:44
looked at across the country for what we do in early childhood education uh now we can do better from an outcome
23:50
standpoint but from a system standpoint and uh folks who are invested in it
23:55
Tulsa is one of the best places in the country for it um you know I think what we're starting to see in investments in
24:01
I've known in the past on at OU and Community Health and those types of things things that are like these these issue areas that unless you got really
24:09
strong philanthropic leaders who are dug in on an issue um they it's not surface
24:15
level stuff it's root cause stuff and we got a A lot of people spending money on those things and I think that's really
24:21
uh really critically important the question is though how is the public sector how's the city how's the state
24:27
also doing those things right philanthropy can't solve our mental health challenges we have in this community at some point elected
24:32
officials and leaders are going to have to be um be a part of that game as well and you know one of the areas in our in
24:39
the education plan I put out that I'm excited about that I would need some public private uh Partnerships on is
24:45
what we've called the teaching Tulsa fund which would incentivize teachers who are teaching in some of our most challenged schools but are doing a great
24:52
job there how do we invest a little bit more to keep them in those places cuz we know teacher turnover is is a really
24:57
challenging thing in a lot of those in a lot of those schools and so I'm excited about where we have money going to now
25:03
but I'm also more even more excited about the areas where we can partner uh to address some of those underlying
25:08
issues that that that impact Us in ways in which we see like when we read the newspaper and something's not going
25:14
right um now we recognize you know kind of where do you need to make some targeted Investments to make those
25:19
things a lot less notable when you look at them at the end of the year yeah that would be fantastic um okay as far as now we're
25:27
going to talk more about like the experience of living in Tulsa being here
25:33
and um as far as you know we talked about some places that you like to hang
25:38
out here um but if people were coming to Tulsa um what are the three things or
25:45
people that are just used to Tulsa don't even know like the three things that you would say you have to try oh man so if
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you got kids I actually have some friends that are coming through here now they got young kids so obviously you got
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to check out the Gathering that's like a thing I have some friends who are kind of history buff so like you got to go to
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Greenwood rising and folks who are Arts folks we got Philbrook and Gil crazy I mean like there's all these really
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interesting about Tulsa that like you can't do them all but they also don't jump off the page all the time so it's
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like what are you into and then I'm going to connect you those things um I think again like I've had some friends who have come here who live uh like in
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North Texas and instead of going to Dallas for concerts they come to Tulsa CU they feel like it's a little bit easier and that kind of stuff and so so
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I mean I think yeah I'd ask somebody what are you into cuz we got something for you yeah uh and so I do have some
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friends who are actually coming they went up to Branson they're coming back through and they're going to stop here and go to the Gathering Place and a few
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places like that so yeah you have I mean you have to go to the Gathering Place it's magical you do you do I I just
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remember when it opened and I was like man I cannot believe this is a Tulsa I I know my kids were too old to take him to
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the park but I was like man I wish I could have taken them to the park when it's it's funny Gavin was just you know
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old enough I mean he was kind of on the cusp of doing playground equipment but then he got to the age where he and his friends going to the basketball courts
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the problem is I'm not invited to that anymore so like he goes all the time now but you don't get the yeah no and then
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that's got to be the guy you know I have I will say though even if you're like kind of a young professional even an older professional I've actually went
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worked over there uh in the lodge you know just sit there so I mean like that's you know
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there coffee shop down down there so there's there really is something for everybody there uh but it's funny now
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like you know me and Gavin started going together but now he is aged out of going with his dad and so dad goes to the
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lodge and Gavin goes play basketball well they have pickle ball courts there now are you going to play pickle I'm not
27:37
deep in the pickle ball game yet now I think I could be I'm not there yet though yeah I'm and then I'm like so
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here's the thing too so there's a place that's on 11th Street and you know I was going to go play um but everybody looked
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like they had played for a lot longer than I have which is I've never played and I was a little embarrassed I was
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like you know I'm not sure I'm ready really those folks look serious you you got to go try it yeah they look serious
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though so maybe I need to I used to play the Nintendo Wii thing you know so like
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probably yeah yeah so I mean probably I'll probably be okay but it's like like who this guy he's terrible no care say
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that I've never played but I'm planning to very soon oh yeah when are you going to play I don't know but I I would just
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go and play and I think I would be fantastic all right let's do it okay let's do it we're going to do it okay
28:25
we'll get it we'll get it on film oh oh man uh we'll talk about that part we'll
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talk about that part said I know so it's funny I just made this whole deal last night at this for about how it's
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important that you know when elected officials are doing stuff you know people should feel comfortable recording us doing it because we are public but
28:43
that's different though that's different CU it's a very yeah I was thinking my head I was like you can't be a hypocrite
28:48
I was want to make it clear in front of all these cameras this is a different deal than what I was talking about before H well we'll see maybe I'll try
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some pickle ball yes yeah let me know when you're going and then you know I but I'm coming just so you know I'm
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coming decked out man headband everything like I'm going to look the part okay and now if I'm if I'm not good
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that's one thing but when people see me they're going be like oh my God yeah so they won't they there'll be no doubt
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like you dress for the outfit oh yeah oh yeah you're going to be like oh my goodness Z mon real like it's my Alter
29:20
Ego now okay pickle ball man all right pickle ball man okay Switching gears a
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little bit and again I'm putting you on the spot yeah um give me a tulson okay who you admire
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you know who has impacted you who you admire man there's so many and the first person that comes to mind is actually uh
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my former boss Kathy Taylor and the reason why she comes to mind for me um is because when I met her
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in 2006 uh I was a senior in college she had no reason at all to take an interest
29:57
in me and help me uh but she did and she's done it for so many people like me over the years not
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just like oh give you advice but like really kind of take you under their wing and you know just be really gracious in
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a way that you ain't got no reason to be that way and then I've watched her uh be somebody who could have you know decided
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to you know vacation the rest of her life or something like that but continues to show up you know uh she was
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Secretary of Commerce before I met her then she was mayor left mayor Governor
30:29
Henry asked her to come back to the state so she went back to the state and did that uh you know came back and you
30:35
know she was who I co-founded impact Tulsa with okay and then you know Brad Carson comes calling at Tu and I
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remember and I I hope I can say this she might get mad at me she went in as an interim and I was like Kathy there's no
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way you're going to be an interim like a you're going to be really good at it but B people are going to want you to stay
30:53
and she did and I just think somebody who every time that she's been asked who has been willing to serve um you know I
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to me it is the embodiment of what tuls is about in a lot of ways now you can agree or disagree with people what they
31:08
think or whatever the case may be but those folks who continue to show up to serve and when they don't have to um
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those are special people and I've seen and I've just seen it with her closeup so she's definitely somebody who I look
31:20
up to yeah and that's a good answer yeah okay yeah now to wrap up and you know in
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in this what what do you want to leave what do you want to leave the viewers with you know I think what is important
31:34
for us as a community moving forward is that we all understand that ultimately it's not simply the job of a mayor or a
31:41
state representative or anything it really is the job of all of us what you the work you do every day um you're one
31:47
of the great ambassadors of this community when folks are looking at where they where they may live in this community
31:52
right and so we all have like this real unique and special role and like bu
31:57
building the life of Tulsa and I hope we all like you know have some fi the agency in that and know that whatever
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the future holds for us it's going to be a great future not simply because things are just going to work out but because
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we individually are going to do what's necessary uh and when you put all that together what you have is an amazing
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community and and that's really um why uh you know I decided to run is to to
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inspire that in this community and just be somebody who as one of the 400 and some odd thousand people here who serves
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in a particular role uh but does it on the strength on the shoulders of everybody else who lives
32:31
here and uh I think that's so critically important right that that we all do it
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together and I think if we do it together what do we know about Tulsa right and I think this what makes makes us super special right it's like we at
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one point um we were the old capital of the world so we powered the entire Globe right greatest innovators in in the
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world uh we were the center of black wealth so even at a time where it's very difficult for people of color it was
32:57
tulson to who found a way to build this cradle of wealth in in this community um
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we are all Indian Reservation so we are I believe you know we should consider ourselves kind of a um you know the the
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gateway to Indian country and we are home to a lot of first generation Americans we are an international City
33:14
here uh and we've proven from the time where we first started to today uh that
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some of the greatest things in the country that could that are possible they're possible here uh we just got to
33:25
go and take it and I think we can because we always have that is a great wrap up I I love that and the vote is
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coming soon August 27th August 27th so people need to get out and vote you know I I would love it I would love it thanks
33:38
for joining us you're awesome thank you so much thank you pickle ball next pickle ball all right on video there you
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oh