The most important thing the local government can do in job creation and economic development is to provide for a safe and attractive community, maintain infrastructure, educate the workforce, and get out of the way of entrepreneurs by cutting out the bureaucracy that can stifle job development.  We’ve made great strides these past four years creating a city where both employers and employees want to live and we’ve received national attention for our progress. We were ranked first in the nation for wage growth on Inc. magazine’s annual Surge Cities list, and over the last 3 years, we were ranked 8th in the nation for fastest growth in per capita income. Just some of the major economic development milestones we’ve witnessed these past four years include:

• Amazon completed its massive $130 million fulfillment center in North Tulsa and plans on filling 1,500 jobs.
• Greenheck Group is building a $100 million Tulsa manufacturing campus with plans to fill more than 600 new jobs.
• American Airlines has announced over 550 new jobs in Tulsa in 2019 alone.
• WPX is building its headquarters facility in the historic Greenwood District – a $110 million capital investment that will connect both Greenwood and the Tulsa Arts District.
• Vast Bank completed the construction of its new $40 million headquarters in the Greenwood District.
• Spirit AeroSystems announced an investment of over $80 million in their Tulsa facility, and an additional 250 jobs.
• We broke ground on the USA BMX’s Olympic Training and Trials facility in the Greenwood District, which will bring over 100,000 people to Tulsa in its first 5 years alone. 
• We’ve partnered with the Tulsa Community Work Advance to initiate two programs - Due North, which is focused on equipping North Tulsa residents with additional skills they may need to compete for jobs at these employers, and NextUp, which is focused on equipping young Tulsans with the skills they need to compete for 21st Century jobs.
• The new 20,000-square-foot Air National Guard Mission Training Center opened its doors. The Center houses four state-of-the-art flight simulators to train next generation fighter pilots.
• As part of Vision Tulsa, Tulsa Community College’s Southeast Campus opened the new Student Success and Career Center in 2019 for residents who want to stay in Tulsa and develop the necessary career skills and guidance in order to acquire future opportunities.  
• Nearly $30 million in improvements were made to the Tulsa Fairgrounds to attract and retain conventions and events. 
• We partnered with Tulsa, Union, and Jenks Public Schools to provide more than $1.4 million annually to improve each district’s teacher recruitment and retention. 

In my first term, Tulsa has become globally competitive when it comes to economic growth.  We will continue to build on this success - building the foundations for even greater economic prosperity for generations to come.