As all of you know, the city recently completed widening of Meridian Ave. around the hotel/airport corridor near I-40. They also put in sidewalks on both sides of the street, put in period lighting, nice bus stops, landscaping, and they are still working on some of the beautification. I was driving by today and happened to notice the following on both corners of Meridian just off the on/off ramps. I also noticed some about a block away.

http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Meridian_Corridor_landscaping.JPG

So, we're giving the panhandlers a place to sit now. This is what our tax dollars are paying for. Really, who else would sit out there at the corner of I-40 and Meridian? You really think a family of 4 is going to say, "hey, let's go sit on a park bench next to the highway today."

jsenter, while panhandlers definitely frequent this intersection, let's keep in mind two things.

1.) how ugly the Meridian corridor was before all this (and still is compared to other cities). At least it's a big improvement over what it was, even though we still need to add much more, including better bus transit.

2.) hotel travelers often walk to restaurants up and down Meridian from their hotels. This will provide a safer, nicer way to walk (with complete sidewalks, nicer lighting and landscaping, and who knows, perhaps their may be a few elderly travelers who get tired while walking to a restaurant, perhaps they'll use the benches. If nothing else, it will at least give a little better first impression of our city than before. Just trying to keep it positive.

jsenter, while panhandlers definitely frequent this intersection, let's keep in mind two things.

1.) how ugly the Meridian corridor was before all this (and still is compared to other cities). At least it's a big improvement over what it was, even though we still need to add much more, including better bus transit.

2.) hotel travelers often walk to restaurants up and down Meridian from their hotels. This will provide a safer, nicer way to walk (with complete sidewalks, nicer lighting and landscaping, and who knows, perhaps their may be a few elderly travelers who get tired while walking to a restaurant, perhaps they'll use the benches. If nothing else, it will at least give a little better first impression of our city than before. Just trying to keep it positive.


I agree that any improvements to the Meridian cooridor are good. But, I think these benches should've been left out of the equation. You really think an elderly lady is going to share the park bench with a panhandler? I think not.
I want to keep things positive too, but the park benches at this intersection are stupid. Maybe the city should've placed them down the way a little bit.

I hate to say this, but I have to agree with jsenter.

Is anything planned for the southern half of Meridian? That area needs a complete makeover, especially considering it's the first thing people see when coming into OKC.

I thought the same thing as jsenter, without the cynicism.

Benches would be fine anywhere else along Meridian, but on those corners it seems very out of place.

I think it was more of a concept of tying it all together. I work on Meridian, and I have yet to see a panhandler sit on the benches...anywhere on Meridian.

I agree that they need to continue their work all the way down to the airport. They have been doing some work south of Airport Rd, but it's not great. Basically they've changed out stree lights and now they are rebuilding a bridge. They need to repave all the way back up to 15th...or at least 29th....change out the lights, etc. The hotels are starting to move down closer to 15th so there almost isn't an end to the hotel area.

BUT, it does look very nice. They are still working on finishing touches at some of the cross walks, but it's nice. They took their darn sweet time on the whole project...and it was a pain in the rear, but it was worth it.

From that photo, the benches seem to be at the beginning of an on-ramp, so there wouldn't be any stopped traffic and thus it wouldn't be a good spot for panhandling.

If they are also at the off-ramp, that's a different story.

As I mentioned in the original post, I also noticed benches and all the other improvements a block or so away as well, in front of a few hotels. As someone pointed out above, the particular intersection that I took the photo, was probably a mere continuation of the look (to tie both sides of Meridian/I-40 together) more than it will probably be practically used. I welcome any improvement to the Meridian corridor.

AFCM, there was a pretty big planting/landscaping project just completed near the airport:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/11221-beautification-will-rogers-airport-entryway.html

Certainly more can and should be done, but once some of the plantings have matured a bit we should all start to see some real improvement.

Yeah, there are other benches, so it's not like thats the only random place they put them. I just don't think I've seen benches on that type of corner anywhere--in any city.

No matter. That one set of benches is a small fraction of the cost.

Where's David Glover to whine about this wasteful spending? :rolleyes: Maybe we should charge the panhandlers a usage fee for the benches and pay for more important things instead. ;)

Maybe we should charge the panhandlers a usage fee for the benches and pay for more important things instead. ;)

Hell yeah....TAX THE POOR!

What would definitely complete the corridor at I-40 now would be a complete overhaul and reconstruction of the overpass. Those bridges are a gawd awful reminder of 1960s-70s construction. If they constructed a new bridge it should be solid all the way across with a barrier down the middle.

Regarding the white benches. I wouldn't want to sit on the ones that are on the oncoming side of traffic where if (not that the chances are great) there was an accident a car would fly off the interstate and hit the pedestrian or two sitting on the bench.