Tulsa Airport Getting New Bag Carousels

Trustees received, but took no action on, a proposed $3.2 million offer for sale of Airport All Covered Parking, 2215 N. Sheridan Road. The parking operation, which has 531 covered parking spaces about a mile south of the passenger terminal, is being offered by Egan Properties LLC.

Clay said he had received the parking offer in response to publicity about a parking consultant's $13.6 million proposal to expand the terminal's parking garage by 736 spaces.

Covered parking accounts for about 40 percent of the 3,509 public parking spaces at the airport.

In a related matter, trustees approved a $1.28 million 12-month operating budget for the airport parking operations.

In 2005, airport parking revenue totaled $5.47 million, a 13.9 percent increase, while activity -- apparently stalled by recent parking rate increases -- totaled 808,803 vehicles, a 0.8 percent increase.

The board and Cliff Magee, a Tulsa lawyer and lessee of six hangars at Jones Riverside, debated for more than 30 minutes leasing policies and alleged discrimination in leases at Jones.

Magee requested extensions of his leases, but the board agreed to extensions on only two leases on which Magee said he would make capital improvements.

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Bill LaFortune -- mindful of the city's cable TV camera -- made a long statement about allegedly inaccurate statements made by his mayoral opponents.

Contrary to the statements made by mayoral candidates, LaFortune said, he or his proxy, Allen LaCroix, the city's chief operating officer, have been present at all meetings involving city and state economic development officials and executives at American Airlines.

American officials have assured him, the mayor said, that Tulsa is not in danger of losing 3,500 aerospace jobs.

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