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Residents criticize ARPA spending in North Tulsa; councilors point to recent investments
Summary
Public commenters at the council meeting criticized the use of federal ARPA funds in North Tulsa, alleging neglect and displacement; council members responded that ARPA-funded infrastructure has been used to enable housing and homeownership and described community engagement and surveys informing projects.
During the public-comment period, resident Alexander Bernice accused the city of neglecting North Tulsa and said federal recovery funds have not been used properly in the neighborhood. “The city has made it its point to do whatever necessary to get rid of black people in North Tulsa,” Bernice said, urging the council to reconsider how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and pandemic-relief funds are being spent.
Council members pushed back on the characterization and described investments they say have occurred in North Tulsa in recent years. One council member (speaker 8) said the council has prioritized housing and infrastructure using ARPA dollars and cited outreach: “We have had a lot of community engagement... we had a survey that Councilor Hall Harper insisted that this body use to inform our choices,” the council member said. Staff and councilors also described ARPA investments that will support infrastructure for new homes (arguments noted by staff/representatives that a project would expand from roughly 200 to 500 homes in one example).
Residents pressed for documentation of community surveys and for greater direct outreach. A resident asked whether surveys and petitions exist and whether residents were consulted; a council member responded that survey results and town‑hall meetings had informed project prioritization and offered to provide copies of the surveys to interested residents.
The exchange illustrated deep neighborhood concerns about equity and the transparency of ARPA spending even as the council maintained that federal ARPA guidance allows infrastructure investments that enable housing outcomes and generational homeownership.
