Remarks by James Cooper
100 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 4
- Play at 1:32:35
“Actually, no, it would be very easy for me. I need to see this in existence. If you can go back to, I'm sorry, just interrupt. I'm so sorry. Can we go back to the previous slide? And can we go in just a little bit? Thank you. I'm trying to understand from this, where the parking is, where the landscaping is.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:33:11
“I understand now. I was worried it was going to be more of like a parallel thing, but I understand that. That makes me feel better. Okay. Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:33:20
“All right, I would move for approval. And thanks for your patience, counsel, and thanks for walking me through that. Do we need to, yes, I guess we do need to amend that. What language do I need to, lawyer, Kenny, what language do I need to use? Thank you for that clarification. What language would I need to use to do the amendment to allow for the ADA spot at the front of this proposal?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:33:58
“Thank you, sir. So I'd like to make an amendment first. We need to vote on an amendment to amend the master design statement to allow for the one parking space, the one ADA parking space at the front of the building. She's going to read it at the podium.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:34:41
“Does Sarah reading that serve, or do I need to say that as well?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:35:04
“And then we need to, I'd like to make an, excuse me, a motion to approve the amended item G. We have a motion and a second.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:45:26
“First, just reflecting on the airport vote, actually, I'm going to be thinking about that heading into the next round of voting because thinking about Councillor Hammond's no vote there, made me kind of pause and go, well, why? And I'll talk to her about that later. But as I started processing it, I started thinking, well, yeah, we're about to have an election for one transit, and that would include light rail to the airport. And so wouldn't the goal be to see a reduction in automobiles and the need for parking out at the airport? So it's given me something just internally and just thinking…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 28:50
“Good morning. Good morning. I would like a separate vote on item BW, please. Okay. Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 30:53
“Thank you, Your Honor. I'm gonna keep citing research from a Politico article, for those of you at home following, just do an internet search for Politico magazine. and the title of the article is Two Professors Found What Creates a Mass Shooter. Will Politicians Pay Attention? They do research with the two professors. One is Gillian Anderson. She is an associate professor of criminology at Hemline University. And James Densley, who is a professor of criminal justice at Metro State University. And they explored every mass shooting that has happened in this country. And there are a couple…”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 37:13
“If I lose my voice by the time this meeting's over, that's fine, because I wanna linger on this. I'll note, counselor, and city manager, that while our schools are coming to us asking for law enforcement in these situations, our schools have also not just come to this body, but to the state legislature and to our federal government asking for funding for mental health counselors, and those asks go unheard. And we know from this same research that i'm quoting again 500 000 psychologists are the answer if we were to employ them in schools around the country at a modest salary of 75 i'm sorry 70…”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 40:58
“Can I ask, on item AC, the gold dome, is this the only place on this agenda where we're going to have this item?”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 41:25
“And will there ever be a moment where we, it comes to us as an approval of what that is?”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 41:49
“And again, sorry, I've been sick over the weekend, but... where in the news right now they're talking about the gold dome right is there an additional conversation coming to us for an additional allocation of funding for them that this is it this is it okay then i just would like to take may i say a couple words i've had people reach out to me and i just want to say this in public i've had people reach out to me who are concerned about there's kind of two concerns at once one is there's people concerned about the um venue operator for when we came and did this photo originally, they are very…”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 44:18
“I appreciate you saying that Kenny because that. Those protections I think are important and I don't know that some of the people who voiced their concerns to me in the public are aware of those protections, so hearing those on the public record are important. And I thank you and Joanna for crafting those protections as well when we first have this item come to council, which leads me to the second concern that I hear. I don't share this concern. There are people, but I want to voice it, there are people, I don't know if they've reached out to you all, but there are people who have absolutely…”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 58:07
“I referenced earlier that some folk had reached out to me regarding grant opportunities, regarding counselors, funding counselors in Oklahoma City Public Schools, or just I'm gonna say Oklahoma City Public Schools, I mean schools within Oklahoma City limits. Specifically, the people who sat down with Councilor Hammond and me were, you might recall they did a presentation to this council, the Healthy Minds Folk, funded by the Inasmuch Foundation. I like to cite my sources. So I know I think we had sent an email to maybe your office about six months ago. There were some specific grant…”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 26:45
“Board 2. Thanks, Mayor. Is this on? OK. I'm going to start with Zyra, who is a senior at Putnam City West High School, where she is actively involved in Yearbook, Patriot Partners, and the wrestling program. And it is here where she served as head wrestling manager, helped oversee media, the equipment, athlete eligibility, and tournament operations. Zyra has earned multiple honors including Manager of the Year, Athletic Letter Awards, and recognition from the National Honor Society. Outside of school, she works at Little Caesars, balancing customer service responsibilities in English as well…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 29:05
“That's fine. I've only had an espresso this morning, so whatever happens next is going to be wild. Congratulations on the students you have stewarded into this very role. You should be very proud. And speaking of pride, it's my honor to have the next year alongside you. And I suspect you're going to make me look really good because this is impressive work here. And I can't wait to learn more from both of you. So congratulations.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:04:47
“Mayor. I am to understand if I'm hearing you correctly. Item B will have a presentation, but I would like to just go ahead and pull that out for a separate vote, if you would not mind. And then, item B-L, I would also like to pull out for a separate vote. Did you say B-L? Yes. Okay. Thank you.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:03:57
“First, thank you Chief and ACM Fairbrush for hearing a lot of the concerns. I'll have more to say on that later, but I do want to acknowledge in public that there have been amendments as a response to what you've been hearing from some of us on council and from the residents. Amy, would you mind, I do want to share my screen for a couple minutes. It's very important people at home see this too. Okay, great. Hopefully the volume is fine.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:06:33
“Otherwise, you're just going to see on my screen the villain from Lord of the Rings, Sauron. That's true. And Palantir, which is also another Lord of the Rings dark crystal that can see everything, which is also a company owned by a billionaire right now. It's weird to name your company after a villainous thing from Lord of the Rings, but I digress. And I'm not making any of that up. That is true. Okay, so again, I just want to reiterate to Chief and to ACM Fairbrush that I do appreciate your work. I think we've heard that from several counselors up here. I want to be clear. I have voted…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:18:23
“I appreciate that. I think, again, What should alarm us is that fact. That should be an alarming moment. We do not have to accept the world as it is. You're right, and you would know it because you worked in it. But we have the opportunity to intervene, just because that's true in that moment with... And I'm so sorry, Chief. If you need to sit down, you're welcome to. But... We don't have to keep compounding the problem of surveillance. And I don't like what you're describing. I think that's terrible. I guess I really mean hellscape. I think we're in the darkest possible timeline this country…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:34:45
“Thanks, Mayor. So again, I pulled this item out for a separate vote because as I've done since July 23, 24, 25, I intend to once more vote no because This technology, as we've heard from people here today, I did not invite these people, by the way. This was not me going out and organizing a bunch of folk. People feel a way because they feel a way about what we're doing. They're deeply concerned about this approach. It's a hammer to a gnat. This company, Flock, has an $8 billion evaluation. And I do not believe that they have this body's interest at heart, our law enforcement's interest at…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:54:43
“Yeah, thank you. Can I ask, well first, I'll just echo Councilwoman's comment regarding your work. I think that everyone who's been collaborating on this effort is doing some really good work. Taylor Park, can we go to that slide? Yes, maybe.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:55:19
“Thank you. So this is where Jefferson Middle School is, which is where I used to teach middle school, so I'm always thinking about it. The sidewalk connectivity, there's sidewalks on 70th, heading east and west, but I'm wondering, there are no sidewalk connectivity unless something's changed since I've been there between 70th and the park. There are sidewalks within, like as you can see here on the map, the kind of almost outlined type imagery, but I'm wondering what's possible to connect Yeah, because I'm thinking about literally the families who live in Prairie Queen, et cetera, because…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:56:35
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Aug 18, 2026