KRMG In Depth: Political newcomer running for mayor says he has detailed plans to improve the city

TULSA — Of the four candidates vying to be Tulsa’s next chief executive, three currently hold political office.

The fourth, however, has never even filed to run, but Casey Bradford tells KRMG he has a plan to win the race, and several plans to implement once in office in order to tackle some of Tulsa’s major challenges.

[Hear the KRMG In Depth Report on Casey Bradford’s mayoral candidacy HERE]

One example is homelessness, and Bradford pointed to the city’s process for dealing with that hot button issue by noting that voters were asked for millions of dollars to address homelessness, yet nothing seems to have changed.

“We saw the Improve Our Tulsa package come out with millions of dollars, and yet we’re still sitting in the same situation we were when that package came out,” Bradford
said Wednesday. “We have asked the city - last February, we went before the city and said ‘you know we want to see the plan.’ They said they’re not there yet. And as a business owner when I ask a bank or an entity for money and I don’t have a plan, I don’t get the money.”

Noticing that he speaks in the third person, our reporter asked Bradford if he represents a coalition.

“I’ve got a whole team behind me,” he responded, and said he thinks it’s important to have a team of advisors in order to most effectively consider how best to tackle tough problems.

As a small business owner, issues affecting entrepreneurs also seemed to have informed Bradford’s decision to run for mayor.

He feels like the city’s permitting process, for example, needs to be modernized and simplified.

It isn’t easy, he said to get answers from city hall.

“There’s some questions that I don’t have time to go sit up there for two hours if there is a long queue,” Bradford told KRMG. “And those answers should be readily available on the Internet. We live in the 21st Century, but our Internet looks like we don’t. A lot of technology that should be in place inside of the city doesn’t exist inside of the city, and a lot of it is still very old school.”

Bradford served in the U.S. Army for 10 years, was trained as a linguist in Mandarin, and also worked with the NSA.

He moved to Tulsa about 14 years ago after, he says, falling in love with the city during his very first visit.

Bradford is married and has three children.

He co-owns businesses downtown, including Shady Keys Dueling Piano Bar and Graffiti.