Tulsa County District 1 Includes Northern Areas
By TERRY A. SIMONSON
DANIEL C. CAMERON for GTR Newspapers
Tulsa County Commission District 1 is the largest district by area in Tulsa County. In addition to the northern portion of the City of Tulsa, which includes over 135,000 citizens, the District takes in parts of Broken Arrow and all of the towns of Collinsville, Owasso, Skiatook and Sperry. There are also over 13,000 citizens living in the unincorporated areas for whom Tulsa County is their first responder government for many services, projects and public safety. In total, over 187,000 citizens live in District 1.
“Due to the span of the District, road and bridge work is a very important priority, says District 1 County Commissioner John Smaligo. “In addition to the numerous road projects within the city limits of the towns that we partner with, there are several large bridge projects and miles of roads throughout the unincorporated areas where Tulsa County is responsible for the road work,” he says.
District 1 also has some of Tulsa County’s most important health care and education facilities. In addition to the new Morton Comprehensive Heath Center, the City-County Health Department has plans to build a new North Regional Health and Wellness Center.
Two of Tulsa County’s universities, Langston and OSU-Tulsa, are also in the District and have seen new facilities as a result of Tulsa County’s Vision 2025 and Four To Fix funded projects.
One of the best county parks that is within the city limits of Tulsa is O’Brien Park. The new youth four-field baseball complex funded with Four To Fix funds opened for play this month. The new parking lot for this complex and the existing four-field complex is being completed by the county highway crews this month and will increase parking significantly for all youth baseball activities. A complete new state-of-the-art Musco Sports Lighting system has been installed on the existing youth four-field complex. Also, at O’Brien, the swimming pool is set to open June 1, and the Summer Day Camp will also open June 1. Thanks to the outstanding Parks and Recreation Department of Tulsa County, all county swimming pools will be open this summer.
“There are many more very important projects in the District that are coming up,” says Commissioner Smaligo. O’Brien will see remodeling at the pool bathhouse and improvements to the recreation center and park shelters. Mack Taylor Park will have a new restroom facility and Mohawk Park North Tulsa Sports Complex Master Plan is in its final review and hopefully can begin soon.
“All around the District you will find proof that Tulsa County has lived up to the progress that was promised to the citizens with Vision 2025 and Four To Fix. What has made these programs so successful towards improving the quality of life and spurring economic development in the District has been the strong alliance between Tulsa County and the leaders of all the towns in the District,” Commissioner Smaligo adds.
Terry A. Simonson serves as Director of Development and Governmental Affairs and Public Information Officer for Tulsa County.
Updated 04-20-2009
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