In the race for the Tulsa City Council District 1 seat, radio station CEO Angela Chambers is challenging incumbent Councilwoman Vanessa Hall-Harper, who says she wants to continue addressing north Tulsa’s most pressing needs.
The two women are running for the district that encompasses part of downtown Tulsa and most of north Tulsa, expanding from the city’s western boundary east to include Lake Yahola. Election Day is Tuesday, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“I’m running again because I want to continue the work that’s been done and ultimately to improve the quality of life for my district,” said Hall-Harper, 52. “(I) would like to continue to focus on food security and establishing more healthy options to shop in my district. I want to continue the work in helping people get their records expunged throughout Tulsa County so that they have a better opportunity to get better jobs and better places to live.”
According to her bio on the Tulsa City Council website, Hall-Harper has held the seat since 2016. A 1989 Thomas Edison High School graduate, Hall-Harper has extensive public service experience, including working for the Tulsa Health Department for more than 20 years.
Hall-Harper holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Jackson State University, a certificate in paralegal studies from the University of Tulsa and a master’s degree in management from Southern Nazarene University.
Chambers, 53, said she is running to bring more transparency to the office, and she said she feels Hall-Harper has not been an effective representative on the council.
“I believe we need someone who is going to be a voice for the district,” Chambers said. “Some of the things that are concerns for the community have been concerns for a while in our community, and they have not been resolved. The issues still remain — and they’re real issues for us — and so I hope to address those.”
Chambers is the founder and CEO of The Greenwood Beat — WFPG, a radio station launched in June 2023 and located in the historic Greenwood District.
Candidates focus on north Tulsa issues
While Hall-Harper said she has achieved important victories while on the City Council, she acknowledged the work left to do to improve a district that includes north Tulsa, the historically Black area of the city that has seen far less investment than other parts of town for decades.
“[An accomplishment] that I’m most proud of is the work we’ve done in food security — stopping the proliferation of discount dollar stores in my community, where they proliferate, in Black, brown and poor communities — that’s their model. When they proliferate these communities, they create food deserts,” Hall-Harper said. “I used the zoning code in order to address that, and so I’m proud of that.”
Hall-Harper also said she is proud of her advocacy that helped launch the Oasis Fresh Market grocery store in the community. Located on North Peoria Avenue just north of Pine Street, the store pairs its for-profit company with an associated nonprofit to provide wrap-around social services and to help buy groceries for customers. In 2023, it was set to receive $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the Oklahoma Legislature for expansion initiatives around the state, but that proposal was scrapped after the nonprofit wing of the effort was revealed to lack a proper governance structure. In October, the store had to return other ARPA funds distributed to it by Tulsa County owing to “material breaches” in the provision of contracted services. Other ethical questions about the store’s proprietor also surfaced.
Nevertheless, Oasis remains one of the only full-service grocery options in an area that had commonly been known as a “food desert.”
Hall-Harper said she was unaware of concerns about the store’s structure and management, although in September 2023 she spoke about the situation to The Black Wall Street Times, which recently endorsed her reelection campaign.
“I’m not well versed in that, and I’m not involved in the day-to-day finances. What I know is that the store is operating successfully,” Hall-Harper said in an interview for this story. “I’m very pleased.”
Chambers said Oasis is often too expensive for those in her district.
“It’s a choice for some. It is very expensive, so most of the people that I’ve spoken with, they’re not able to shop there,” Chambers said. “It’s an option for them. It’s not the solution.”
Besides addressing food insecurity, Chambers said she wants to bring more investment into the area and put a plan together for how north Tulsa fits with the rest of the city.
“We’ve never been presented [with] a snapshot of what the city looks like in Tulsa and where District 1 fits in that plan for the city,” Chambers said. “I believe that we’re all good Tulsans, and if you want what’s good for you and your district, you should want what’s good for me and mine, and I think we can make a lot of progress together and collectively.”
Chambers said another big issue for her part of the city is rising water rates.
“Our district cannot afford those rate increases. We have agencies now who help people who can’t afford to pay the water bills before the last rate increase,” Chambers said. “I will do my due diligence to find some funding to help — whether it’s a rebate or just helping an organization who will directly help with utility assistance for constituents in my district.”
On Chambers’ Facebook page, she posted a video Friday of an hour-long discussion she had with others in the community on a radio show separate from her own station.
“It’s time to pass the torch and let the next generation or someone else come in if you’re not being effective,” Chambers said during the discussion. “You can look in this community and see there’s so much that’s not being done.”
For her part, Hall-Harper said “leadership and experience” makes her the better choice for voters. She also said she has been working to bring more money into the district, and she pointed to a recent entrepreneurship initiative she is helping move forward.
“We want to honor the legacy of Greenwood by creating spaces specifically focused on black entrepreneurship,” Hall-Harper said.
