I think the heavy "natural vegetation" and the urban forrest scheme is leaning towards something that is as low maintenance as possible. Thus the eleminated early ammenities.

Maybe the carousel is there. Now noting the "amusement area" and a round structure depicted. I hope so. Most great cities with great parks have carousels. Even San Francisco has one at Mascone Center.

Plus they can generate money to pay for park O&M.

I say put Humphrey's ferris wheel there like Santa Monica.

He might have other ideas about that. LOL

The questions is - is anyone using these parks in any significant numbers? OKC is planning a park big enough to support 100,000 residents in the immediate area. The parks should be sized to support the number of anticipated daily visitors. Anyhow, that ship has already sailed I am afraid that 360 days a year we are going to be stuck maintaining a park that is grossly over-sized - like buying a 20 bedroom house for a family of 4. Without sufficient usage and 'eyes on the park' I suspect a good deal of maintenance will go towards getting urban campers out and picking up used condoms.

he might have other ideas about that. Lol

lol

You say the south side of downtown is just a shanty town and then turn around and say southsiders have a chip on their shoulder when you get called out. Then in your myopic defense you incorporate the phrase "the day that Capital (it's Capitol, which is another historically significant difference) Hill starts becoming something better, then maybe I will understand..."

I'm starting #totalrovermove or #TRM

If you think we want to see wooden shacks and cinderblock buildings preserved you don't get it. There is WAY more than that in this area that is being clear cut by people who have no basis of understanding and thus, the exact same perspective that your doling out on this forum. That's extremely dangerous.

I didn't say it IS a shanty town but WAS. I believe that is historically correct. From the depression to WW 2 it WAS. There was also a work camp there. That is what I have read. If wrong, dispute it and i will gladly correct it. You keep trying to put judgements into the statement, so YES it does appear a chip on at least your shoulder. I haven't a PERSPECTIVE on it, just an observation.

Sorry I offended you on Capital vs Capitol. That must be a north side typo. :lol2:

The questions is - is anyone using these parks in any significant numbers? OKC is planning a park big enough to support 100,000 residents in the immediate area. The parks should be sized to support the number of anticipated daily visitors. Anyhow, that ship has already sailed I am afraid that 360 days a year we are going to be stuck maintaining a park that is grossly over-sized - like buying a 20 bedroom house for a family of 4. Without sufficient usage and 'eyes on the park' I suspect a good deal of maintenance will go towards getting urban campers out and picking up used condoms.

Improvements like this park are one of the reasons why my family is even considering moving downtown from our current Lake Hefner neighborhood. Even if we don't move, we'd use the park like we do Myriad, the river amentities, and other downtown attractions.

The questions is - is anyone using these parks in any significant numbers? OKC is planning a park big enough to support 100,000 residents in the immediate area. The parks should be sized to support the number of anticipated daily visitors. Anyhow, that ship has already sailed I am afraid that 360 days a year we are going to be stuck maintaining a park that is grossly over-sized - like buying a 20 bedroom house for a family of 4. Without sufficient usage and 'eyes on the park' I suspect a good deal of maintenance will go towards getting urban campers out and picking up used condoms.

Within a mile of my house, we have Will Rogers Park and a small park with a sprayground and basketball court.

Will Rogers is always being used; the pavilions are seemingly always rented, the pool is a popular destination, there are always folks throwing frisbees around, and the tennis courts are frequently in use. The gardens could be better marketed in my opinion as well as the many events at the garden center.

The other park is always full of people. It is a delight. There are always kids on the sprayground, and there are good basketball games to watch on the court constantly.

As for downtown, the Myriad Gardens is frequently full of people and has become a major destination in OKC.

This is classic "chicken and egg" or "if you build it they will come". One of the city's goals is redevelopment of the Core to Shore area. It will eventually happen in one fashion or another, but this park will be a catalyst for residential redevelopment of that area. I seriously doubt it will look exactly like the C2S renderings but this park will be one of the primary draws for people looking to move from suburbs to a downtown neighborhood. Of course there are other issues that need to be resolved (mainly schools) for that inflow to really take off, but I would gladly move to that area and into a smaller home/yard if there was a nice place like this to get outdoors. Combine this with Wheeler Park across I40 and you have the makings for a neighborhood similar to Edgemere but with more mixed use along the Boulevard and the other major throuroughfares.

The good news in this park disaster is that it will be easy to undo these mistakes. Why is it such a forign concept to connect park sidewalks to the sidewalks of the adjacent streets. Everyone person who visits this park is going to have to get in it on foot. I am thinking the designers of this park have never designed a T6/T5 park.

Let me see if i understand what your saying, people go to parks to run, play, exercise, but your complaining because you may have to walk a short distance to get there.

The questions is - is anyone using these parks in any significant numbers? OKC is planning a park big enough to support 100,000 residents in the immediate area. The parks should be sized to support the number of anticipated daily visitors. Anyhow, that ship has already sailed I am afraid that 360 days a year we are going to be stuck maintaining a park that is grossly over-sized - like buying a 20 bedroom house for a family of 4. Without sufficient usage and 'eyes on the park' I suspect a good deal of maintenance will go towards getting urban campers out and picking up used condoms.

I think this is a very short-sighted point of view. This park will be servicing a growing city, in particular one whose downtown is booming right now. It's not only for the Oklahoma City of a couple years hence when it's completed, but also for the OKC of 5 years from now, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years... It is absolutely not oversized in my opinion.

Let me see if i understand what your saying, people go to parks to run, play, exercise, but your complaining because you may have to walk a short distance to get there.

he'd actually have to catch a flight from Jacksonville to use it

Is the plan to keep the Festival of the Arts on the current stretch of Hudson if and when the Stage Center is demolished and hopefully a new tower is built?

There is such a thing as too much urban parkland.

BTW - Will Rogers Park is a well known local used condom trash can.

If anyone cares to read it, here is the entire presentation:

http://www.okc.gov/AgendaPub/cache/2/sr1vmuuaps11id45ugmuwdrg/197119507212013023053129.PDF

Is the plan to keep the Festival of the Arts on the current stretch of Hudson if and when the Stage Center is demolished and hopefully a new tower is built?

I'm sure it is.

They could easily incorporate more of the Myriad Gardens and even Devon's park if they needed the room.

There is such a thing as too much urban parkland.

BTW - Will Rogers Park is a well known local used condom trash can.

Not sure when you've been there last, but that is not the case today. I realize it was a prime pickup spot for a while, but it is well patrolled and I have not witnessed anything like that, and we go there (primarily to the pool) all the time.

Well, the debate is kind of pointless because the park is going to be built. My objection has been duly noted and entered into the public record. :)

Well, the debate is kind of pointless because the park is going to be built. My objection has been duly noted and entered into the public record. :)

Duly noted, Kerry. And just like I'll be waiting to visit with you when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2019, I'll also be waiting to visit with you about this a few years down the line. LOL

I went through all 300 pages of the report. Pretty interesting.

I went through all 300 pages of the report. Pretty interesting.

Congrats, UP. You either have a lot more spare time or a lot more patience than I do. LOL

Kinda have to, to see if their trying to influence or inform our streetcar process above and/or beyond the verbal statements to us of late.

But yeah, I would have rather been doing something else actually. Lol

So I'm guessing the Harvey spine that was apparently quite important in the core to shore study is dead?

Good observation...

I'm sure it is.

They could easily incorporate more of the Myriad Gardens and even Devon's park if they needed the room.

Possibly, but it would be more difficult than you realize. The whole reason they moved it to it's current location was in large part due to the amount of damage the festival was doing to the grounds in front of the theatre. Due to the Spring "Festival" rains, I can remember going more than once to the Fesitval having to walk on improvised 4x8 plywood sidewalks, a real "mud fest". The great lawn in front of the stage shell is already beginning to "wear thin" from constant use. The tents that the festival uses are made to be accessed - or used - from all 4 sides. So, fronting them on sidewalks would not work. What they could do is shut down the road between Devon and the Myriad Gardens, that would be much more suitable.

If anyone cares to read it, here is the entire presentation:

http://www.okc.gov/AgendaPub/cache/2/sr1vmuuaps11id45ugmuwdrg/197119507212013023053129.PDF

This one works. http://db.tt/gE1YtTEX

I'm sure this has been asked before, but what's the reasoning behind the really weird shape of the lower half of the park? Why does the two-block wide upper park not simply continue to the river? That would look and function much better.

The substation will undoubtedly be covered up.

As a whole (based on this thread only) there seems to be significant dissatisfaction with the design, connectivity & lack of preservation in the new park. Is there enough dissatisfaction to organize a grassroots citizen group to formally suggest changes?

As a whole (based on this thread only) there seems to be significant dissatisfaction with the design, connectivity & lack of preservation in the new park. Is there enough dissatisfaction to organize a grassroots citizen group to formally suggest changes?

I am planning on going. There are a few of us that are going to try to make the meeting. I brought up the Film Exchange building in January, and the head landscape architect basically dismissed me. She made it sound like we are lucky they saved Union Station and that it was in the way as well.

They didn't make any changes after that meeting. NONE! They have done their own thing and have not taken any public input as far as the design.

I am planning on going. There are a few of us that are going to try to make the meeting. I brought up the Film Exchange building in January, and the head landscape architect basically dismissed me. She made it sound like we are lucky they saved Union Station and that it was in the way as well.

They didn't make any changes after that meeting. NONE! They have done their own thing and have not taken any public input as far as the design.

We should be so lucky that FBB made a significant impact in its cause!

Was a golf course ever discussed with this project? Would be really cool to have a downtown course.

Was a golf course ever discussed with this project? Would be really cool to have a downtown course.

kinda off topic and not downtown, but Stewart's 9 hole course is a nice little hidden gem. easy walk for 9 holes any day

kinda off topic and not downtown, but Stewart's 9 hole course is a nice little hidden gem. easy walk for 9 holes any day

Where is that?

Where is that?

Behind Douglass HS off MLK & NE 10th

I moved all the posts about the Film Exchange Building (old) to a new thread specifically for that structure:

Film Exchange Building (old) - OKCTalk (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Film+Exchange+Building+old)


Note, this is for the OLD Film Exchange Building; the new (relatively speaking) Film Exchange Building is on Film Row at 700 W. Sheridan

Was a golf course ever discussed with this project? Would be really cool to have a downtown course. That's a great idea. New Orleans's Audubon Park has a par-62 course. New Orleans Golf | Audubon Nature Institute (http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/golf)

I'm sorry, but I think the park area is just too small to justify having a golf course there.

Doesn't have to be in this park. Could be connected or anywhere else downtown.

I wonder if a downtown golf course would be profitable enough to justify land assembly somewhere like maybe south of Classen-Ten-Penn or maybe east Reno. I could see it being a good linkage between Bricktown, OUHSC, and JFK.

Obviously everyone's going to say yeah the downtown business folk would patronize it, and surely they would for an extended lunch etc, but urban land assembly for something that large would be prohibitively expensive.

Still, that's the kind of out of the box ideas we should be talking about on here!

Golf course? No thanks. Waste of land and resources. I think all the pesticides and fertilizers needed that close to the river isn't a good idea anyway. South of Classen-Ten-Penn? There are neighborhoods there.
Besides, there are more golf courses than McDonald's in the US already, and the James E. Stewart golf course is already less than two miles from downtown.

Golf course? No thanks. Waste of land and resources. I think all the pesticides and fertilizers needed that close to the river isn't a good idea anyway. South of Classen-Ten-Penn? There are neighborhoods there.
Besides, there are more golf courses than McDonald's in the US already, and the James E. Stewart golf course is already less than two miles from downtown.

That settles it, I am all in for a downtown golf course. Glad you are too.

I always appreciate Platemaker's perspective

Doesn't have to be in this park. Could be connected or anywhere else downtown.

I believe there is one about a mile East of bricktown.

"Waste of land" sounds especially funny when referring to stuff in the OKC metro.

Wasn't the Native American Cultural Center planning on an eventual hotel and golf course as part of its full development as a destination?

It was a part of the original pitch, but if memory serves it was cut out very early on. I could be wrong about that, but THINK it is no longer a part of the plan.

Is Stewart really that much of an unknown?

View of downtown from Douglass Park. Douglass Park is just east of Stewart Golf course. This is the largest image I could find... sorry.
4257
If you incorporate Douglass Park you could make a 18-hole course, but I-35 divides the two areas. Unlike 32nd Street at Will Rogers Park, there isn't a road under the interstate to make that possible now.

Does anyone have an idea about what portion of the population would be served by inclusion of a golf course in Central Park? My initial reaction is to assume it would be a waste of space that could be put to much better use, but I don't actually know how the numbers work out so that reaction may be totally incorrect.

Maybe a disc golf course...

golf course? No thanks. Waste of land and resources. I think all the pesticides and fertilizers needed that close to the river isn't a good idea anyway. South of classen-ten-penn? There are neighborhoods there.
besides, there are more golf courses than mcdonald's in the us already, and the james e. Stewart golf course is already less than two miles from downtown.wat

wat

All I was trying to say is there are already plenty of golf courses with the McDonald's factoid. More than 17,000 courses in the US... less than 14,000 McDonald's.

All I was trying to say is there are already plenty of golf courses with the McDonald's factoid. More than 17,000 courses in the US... less than 14,000 McDonald's.Oh, I would've never guessed there would be that many golf courses. Wow!

Wasn't the Native American Cultural Center planning on an eventual hotel and golf course as part of its full development as a destination?

They need to get a Center of some kind open first... Priorities, you know.

Yeah, that train is off the track right now.

Wasn't the Native American Cultural Center planning on an eventual hotel and golf course as part of its full development as a destination?


It was a part of the original pitch, but if memory serves it was cut out very early on. I could be wrong about that, but THINK it is no longer a part of the plan.

IIRC, you are both correct...

They are tearing down more buildings for the park.

They are tearing down more buildings for the park.

Can you clear your statement up? Are they finally tearing down the Salvation Army buildings or which buildings might you be referring to and are they in the process of that as we speak or are you saying they will be tearing down more buildings for the park?

Curt, let me know if there is anything I can help with in the pursuit of saving the Film Exchange.