TULSA, Okla. — Emily DelGrosso decided to fight for her neighborhood.
She made the decision after neighbors posted homemade speed signs, fed up with the people whizzing down the streets.
“I looked into what the traffic calming process would be, formally, with the City of Tulsa, and I just kind of kicked off the process from there,” DelGrosso said.
Data backed the concerns. The city’s own report, the Neighborhood Conditions Index, scored transportation issues extremely low.
Accidents involving pedestrians and bicycles both scored less than one point. Five points is a perfect score.
Carl Williams lives in the neighborhood near Pine and Harvard.
“It bothers me, cause that park’s right down there a lot of kids that are around there,” Williams said, “People come through here, 70, 80 mile an hour you know?”
WATCH: Tulsa neighbor addresses speed, in more ways than one
In order to get the ball rolling on speed bumps, neighbors must sign an official petition, provided by the city. Unfortunately, for DelGrosso’s efforts, the petition is in English.
“Many of our neighbors don’t share a language with me, and I love living in a diverse neighborhood, but the city didn’t seem to take into account that I might not share a language with my neighbors,” DelGrosso said.
So she asked city staff to translate the petition into Spanish.
“I asked in August of 2024 for that to be translated; it’s a one-page document,” DelGrosso said.
One month later, she says, city staff gave her a document translated by a computer program. It took almost a year for the official human translator to do their work.
She did not get the official translated document until July 23, 2025 – almost a full year after her initial request.
“My best guess, which is purely conjecture, is that I was provided that because I signed up to speak to the city council today,” DelGrosso said.
An email chain between a city employee and DelGrosso points to “unique staffing” issues as the reason for the delay.
“I’m not here to set the city to my standard, I’m just here to set them to the standard they’ve set forth,” DelGrosso said.
The city’s own standard says it should provide assistance in an “accurate, timely and effective” manner.
A 20-page document explaining the petition is still undergoing translation.
DelGrosso’s crusade started with speed and became about speed.
“I decided, you know, if it’s a matter of paperwork, I’m happy to take it up. It’s the Girl Scout thing to do,” DelGrosso said.
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