Teresa Flusché

Two roles along the same corridor

Teresa Flusché leads Tulsa Route 66 Main Street, a nonprofit focused on the southwest corridor, and is listed in seat 2 of the Tulsa Route 66 Commission. The City roster uses the spelling Theresa Flusche; its business guide identifies Teresa Flusche with the nonprofit. These records describe the same institutional connection. The roster dates the commission term from July 24, 2024, through July 1, 2025. The ordinance allows members to continue until successors are appointed and qualified. The current listing therefore supports holdover service, without establishing a new appointment.

The documented professional record

The nonprofit’s current 2025–26 team page identifies Flusché as executive director and David Oliver as president. The organization describes its work as historic preservation, business development and cultural revitalization on Tulsa’s southwest Route 66 corridor. It participates in Oklahoma Main Street, the state coordinating program associated with Main Street America. Its four areas of work cover economic vitality, design, organization and promotion. This institutional framework explains her documented role as a project organizer and spokesperson. The nonprofit is distinct from the City commission and from the state body that makes revitalization grants.

Career & public service

1. July2024

   City commission roster start

   City roster records appointment start July24.

   City of Tulsa board roster ↗
2. August2025

   State grant update

   Reported the dinosaur proposal and funding needs alongside the nonprofit board chair.

   State Route 66 Commission minutes ↗
3. October2025

   Zoning approval

   Nonprofit obtained the height variance; Oliver presented its application.

   Board of Adjustment approved minutes ↗
4. February2026

   Nonprofit financial disclosure

   Fiscal2025 return submitted February17.

   Route 66 Main Street fiscal 2025 Form 990-EZ ↗
5. May2026

   Centennial tourism advocacy

   Interview described efforts to draw visitors to west Tulsa.

   Tulsa Flyer: west and east corridor tourism ↗
6. 2026

   Free music partnership

   Levitt names her among local production partners.

   Levitt BLOC Tulsa partnership ↗

People, institutions and the relationships between them

Following the connections

Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.

Documented relationships

4 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.

A separate zoning decision

The proposal also required relief from Howard Park’s residential zoning height limit. Approved October 28, 2025 Board of Adjustment minutes identify Route 66 Main Street as the applicant and Oliver as its presenter. The board unanimously approved the variance, citing the unusual zoning context and proximity to the highway. Flusché’s municipal commission did not exercise that authority. This approval allowed the project to proceed within the stated zoning relief; it was not proof that fabrication, installation or every other project requirement had been completed.

Advice and program oversight, with collective authority

The City commission recommends strategies for Route 66 development, tourism and promotion. It also oversees designated initiatives such as roadside attractions, neon signs, façade improvements and special-event grants. Those powers belong to the commission collectively. Flusché’s membership does not let her enact City ordinances or independently approve zoning exceptions. Commission service is unpaid under the ordinance. Her nonprofit employment is a separate relationship: its board and executive leadership organize projects and partnerships, while public bodies retain their own approval powers.

The dinosaur proposal and the state grant

On August 21, 2025, Flusché and Oliver presented an update to the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission about a proposed 66-foot dinosaur attraction in Howard Park. The minutes record a $225,000 award to Route 66 Main Street and say the project lacked sufficient funding at that point, although the grantee had a plan to meet its target. That is a dated grant award and project-status report. It is not evidence of $225,000 paid to Flusché, a final project cost, or complete disbursement to the organization. Her participation was as the nonprofit’s director reporting to the state commission; it does not establish membership on that state body.

Plans and completion must be distinguished

The project’s public timeline changed across accounts. In May 2026, Tulsa Flyer reporting described the dinosaur as planned for later that year. A May 28 City overview listed the installation among new park improvements, while a June 15 report from the fabricator’s region still anticipated installation in about a month. Those descriptions do not establish a single verified completion date. They show why a promotional list and a construction forecast should be read alongside actual approvals. The profile treats the grant and variance as documented milestones, without converting the announcements into a final acceptance or spending audit.

Making west Tulsa a destination

In the Tulsa Flyer interview, Flusché described the attraction as a way to bring visitors across the river. The report placed her work in a wider debate about a centennial car parade whose route omitted east and west Tulsa. It also described plans for a free west-side concert and local efforts to draw visitors beyond the central corridor. Separately, the Levitt foundation’s Tulsa program page names her as a production partner in a free concert series presented by Historic Greenwood District Main Street. The collaboration links neighborhood organizations through cultural programming. It does not make her an officer of the foundation or give her control of its grantmaking.

The nonprofit’s finances, rather than personal income

For July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, Route 66 Main Street’s Form 990-EZ reports $85,849 in revenue, $105,109 in expenses and a $19,260 deficit. Year-end net assets were $42,478. The return was submitted February 17, 2026; the amounts appear on page 1, lines 9, 17, 18 and 21, in dollars. These are organization-wide figures, not Flusché’s earnings. The return’s treatment of fundraising includes direct event costs, so gross fundraising receipts should not be substituted for its total-revenue line. The deficit describes that fiscal year and does not alone establish insolvency, misconduct or the outcome of the later dinosaur project.

Check the record

Sources & corrections

Research checked 2026-10-24. Roles and financial figures retain their source dates. Sections appear only when supported material is available; an omitted section is not a finding that no such relationship exists.

1. City of Tulsa board roster ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   Route 66 seat 2, Theresa Flusche, July 24, 2024–July 1, 2025; holdover provision.

2. City Route 66 business guide ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   Commissioners list: Teresa Flusche (Route 66 Main Street); identity bridge.

3. Tulsa Route 66 Commission ordinance ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   Chapter14 sections1401–1402: unpaid membership, holdover, collective responsibilities.

4. Route 66 Main Street team ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   2025–26 board: Teresa Flusché executive director, David Oliver president.

5. Route 66 Main Street purpose ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   Nonprofit self-description and Oklahoma Main Street affiliation; not evidence of state commission officeholding.

6. State Route 66 Commission minutes ↗

   primary · Source date 2025-08-21 · Checked 2026-10-24

   Page3 item7a: Oliver and Flusche report on $225000 award and funding gap. Original visually inspected.

7. Board of Adjustment approved minutes ↗

   primary · Source date 2025-10-28 · Checked 2026-10-24

   Page6 BOA-23947: Route66 Main Street applicant; Oliver presenter; 66-foot proposal and unanimous variance approval.

8. Tulsa Flyer: west and east corridor tourism ↗

   independent-reporting · Source date 2026-05-20 · Checked 2026-10-24

   Angelica Perez; west Tulsa section, Flusche interview and explicitly captioned May7 portrait.

9. Levitt BLOC Tulsa partnership ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-24

   Funder lists Historic Greenwood presenter and Teresa Flusche/Route66MainStreet production partnership.

10. Route 66 Main Street fiscal 2025 Form 990-EZ ↗

    primary · Source date 2026-02-17 · Checked 2026-10-24

    IRS XML visual reconstruction, period July1,2024–June30,2025; submitted February17,2026; page1 lines9/17/18/21 USD85849/105109/-19260/42478. Visually checked in browser. No individual compensation inferred.

11. Nonprofit filing index ↗

    primary · Checked 2026-10-24

    Latest listed June2025 filing; amendment coverage not guaranteed. June2024 older compensation snapshot not presented as current.

12. City centennial investment overview ↗

    primary · Source date 2026-05-28 · Checked 2026-10-24

    May28,2026 parks section lists dinosaur installation as new; no acceptance date or final disbursement audit.

13. WDBJ: Route 66 fabricator ↗

    independent-reporting · Source date 2026-06-15 · Checked 2026-10-24

    June15 fabrication report still anticipates installation in a month; does not establish completed acceptance.