Councilor warns Black community leaders that Partner Tulsa's Greenwood CDC lacks community legitimacy, asks GTAC to investigate

Councilor Vanessa Hall‑Harper, who represents Tulsa’s District 1, told the Greenwood/Tulsa African American Commission on Aug. 12 that she is raising a formal alarm about how Partner Tulsa and the Tulsa Development Authority have moved to create a Greenwood Legacy Community Development Corporation (CDC) and to transfer approximately 56 acres of land that once comprised the UCAT/Dollar Thrifty campus.

Hall‑Harper said the community that helped develop the Kirkpatrick Heights master plan was not given a meaningful role in selecting the initial CDC board and that five board members were seated without a community election or the advisory group’s reconvening. “They did it behind closed doors,” she told commissioners, adding that she opposes transferring the land to that CDC. Instead, Hall‑Harper asked TDA to place the parcels into a mayoral trust she said the mayor is preparing — a vehicle…