Commissioners criticize state 'Operation SAFE' and city boulder installation; item on Denver Avenue boulders remains open

Members of the Tulsa Human Rights Commission spent substantial time discussing state-led homelessness clearance operations and the recent placement of boulders near the Denver Avenue bus stop designed to limit encampments.

Commissioners described the state’s Operation SAFE (Swift Action for Families Everywhere) as a program that posted notices and offered people bus rides to the city’s Be Heard site or risk arrest; they said undocumented people may have been transferred to ICE. The commission reported public messaging and actions they described as abrupt and without apparent coordination with the mayor’s office or local outreach providers.

A commissioner summarized Compassionate Tulsa’s criticism, reading a draft statement that said the recent actions “are cruel in effect and the antithesis of compassionate action,” and argued that bulldozing and discarding people’s belongings increases suffering without addressing root causes such as lack of affordable housing, sanitation, and behavioral-health services. The draft cited Tulsa’s earlier pledge under the International Charter for Compassion and said the governor’s program is inconsistent with that pledge.

Several commissioners said the state operation had not increased shelter capacity and in some cases displaced people to other locations. One commissioner said outreach groups reported nearly twice as many people entering shelters over the last three weekends, but another commissioner noted news reports that only one additional person was placed into a shelter during the state operation. Commissioners pressed for data tying the boulder placement and similar actions to measurable safety outcomes.

The commission also discussed a city ordinance passed by the city council that begins fining people for camping near arterials (within 18 inches of a street of 25 mph or faster), with a fine cited of $150. A commissioner noted the mayor had not yet signed the ordinance and that the commission should hold the city to its pledge of compassionate policy-making.

Chair said the mayor’s chief of staff, Dana Walton, replied by email that the mayor authorized the boulders after safety concerns and that the city had offered more than 1,200 rides to the Be Heard site; Walton’s email said staff would continue to work with outreach providers but could not send a representative to the commission at that meeting.

Commissioners agreed to keep the matter open and to renew invitations to city staff with direct decision-making authority (adviser Hall or Mayor Nichols) for a future meeting. The chair offered to reach out again to request in-person briefings and supporting data on safety outcomes and service capacity.

Ending

The commission asked staff to re-invite city officials and to gather additional data about how many people were moved, shelter capacity and follow-up services before taking further formal action.