LOCAL
Kimberly Marsh, The Oklahoma Eagle
The study area for the Kirkpatrick Height-Greenwood master plan. Photo courtesy of Partner Tulsa.
Tulsa Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper and State Rep. Ron Stewart, D-Tulsa, will hold a town hall Monday to address what they say has been a lack of accountability and transparency from Greenwood Legacy Corp. — a private nonprofit organization tasked with overseeing the Kirkpatrick Heights–Greenwood Master Plan.
Facilitated by the city and its economic development arm Partner Tulsa, the plan aims to revitalize 56 acres of publicly-owned land in the Greenwood District located between Pine and Archer streets and U.S. Highway 75 and the L.L. Tisdale Parkway.
Homes there were removed during construction of the I-244 highway in the 1950s and the urban renewal programs of the 1960s.
Now, both Stewart and Hall-Harper are questioning the transparency and process used to create Greenwood Legacy. Stewart said his main goal is to give his constituents a place to have their voices heard.
“I don’t want to make the decision for the community,” Stewart said. “I just want to make sure that the community is properly and adequately represented and has a voice throughout this process.”
The master plan began four years ago but implementation has faced several delays along with changes in Partner Tulsa executive leadership. The organization is under interim leadership after its last executive director, Garry Clark, resigned in May after 10 months on the job.
Brandon Jackson, a member of the Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood leadership committee, said going through another community process to move control would be akin to starting over.
But that’s a risk Stewart is willing to take, especially since he’s hearing from the community that they have been kept in the dark.
“That doesn’t mean that the effort wasn’t made,” Stewart said. “What it does mean is that it was unsuccessful. We need to, kind of, start this process over.”
Partner Tulsa said it has held more than 40 community meetings and events, connecting with 1,000 residents during 16 months of community-led planning between 2021 and 2022.
Lana Turner-Addison, a Greenwood Legacy founding board member, emphasized the project is fully documented on the Partner Tulsa website, including the board’s governance activities.
“I continually meet with people and groups to share factual information,” Turner-Addison said. “So I feel like we have done a really good job of putting that information out there. But I do feel like as we’re boarding our executive director and things like that, that even some of those feedback loops can be improved. We did our best to ensure everybody can be heard and have the information.”
Still, 29 organizations — including pastors of Black churches, community leaders and nonprofits — have signed on to support Hall-Harper’s request to put the project under the mayor’s Greenwood Trust.
The goal for the Greenwood Trust is to raise $105 million by June 1, 2026, that will be used to fund housing, educational opportunities and other benefits to Tulsa families, particularly descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In response to Hall-Harper’s request, the mayor’s office says that’s a process that would need to be evaluated further.
Turner-Addison said she and other board members are planning to attend Monday’s meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at Vernon A.M.E. Church.
