Major DT facelift in works for OKC...

[warreng88]

BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Published: September 18, 2009

The summer of 2007 was brutal for downtown Tulsa when the rebuilding of several major streets created a drought for merchants. It prompted the city’s mayor to send an e-mail to about 25,000 workers pleading with them to frequent their neighborhood restaurants.

An even bigger $141.5 million makeover is in the works for downtown Oklahoma City — one that designers say will span 36 blocks and be one of the largest downtown street programs in the country.

"It’s massive,” Planning Director Russell Claus said. "Tulsa did some streetscaping like this, but not to this degree. It’s essentially a complete transformation of the public realm.”

See Steve's full article at:

NewsOK

[metro]

Wow, that's 2 articles from Steve on this in the last 2-3 weeks. Didn't see him at the Skirvin last night at the MTP meeting, hopefully he'll do an article on it soon as well.

[Steve]

Metro, my wife was sick last night so I had to stay home with the kids. Otherwise, I would have been at the meeting.

[metro]

No worries Steve, we were surprised not to see you, but figured it was probably family if you weren't there (understandibly so).

[progressiveboy]

I noticed in the Tulsa World article about facelift is in there and the Tulsa bashers are out in force. Lots of unflattering remarks such as OKC is home to low class hicks, OKC needs a tummy tuck, OKC can go to H**L. Several posters even state they lived in OKC for decades and would never move back there because it is a ugly, dirty city. You people think I bash OKC, by this is quite seething. Do you think it is based on jealousy or could it be true?? Does not look good for OKC from outsider's point of view. Again, I am a native of OKC so I am not an outsider even though I no longer reside there.Either way, I am happy that OKC is making major strides in improving the city. OKC seems to be more forward thinking for the future.

[OKCMallen]

I noticed in the Tulsa World article about facelift is in there and the Tulsa bashers are out in force. Lots of unflattering remarks such as OKC is home to low class hicks, OKC needs a tummy tuck, OKC can go to H**L. Several posters even state they lived in OKC for decades and would never move back there because it is a ugly, dirty city. You people think I bash OKC, by this is quite seething. Do you think it is based on jealousy or could it be true?? Does not look good for OKC from outsider's point of view. Again, I am a native of OKC so I am not an outsider even though I no longer reside there.Either way, I am happy that OKC is making major strides in improving the city. OKC seems to be more forward thinking for the future.

Do you ahev the link for the TW article?

[kevinpate]

coming from posters at TW, it's pretty much just par for the course. If it was coming hot and heavy from an area w/o known sibling issues, that would be different.

[circuitboard]

Wow the tulsaworld comments are really sad, it is like a child crying out for attention.

[Steve]

My suggestion: anyone from OKC who logs on should simply acknowledge our city can always do better and compliment them on the reopening of the Mayo Hotel. Kill 'em with kindness.

[Steve]

Tulsa World: Major downtown facelift in works for Oklahoma City

[Steve]

The planners presentations on these projects are now at OKC Central - Information about Oklahoma City, Bricktown and beyond

[circuitboard]

The planners presentations on these projects are now at OKC Central - Information about Oklahoma City, Bricktown and beyond

Appears to be pretty impressive.

[soonerguru]

It is jealousy, pure and simple. That, and people who comment on articles in the Tulsa World seem to be very angry and unbalanced.

[soonerguru]

I should add, they must have many cousins in OKC, because the comments after articles in the Oklahoman are frightening and depressing.

[bluedogok]

I have pretty much learned to ignore comments on articles on any news website as they tend to bring out the worst in anonymous comments. I read the articles and skip the comments. The individual blogs like Steve's tend to have a more focused audience and doesn't seem to attract the general riff-raff that the main articles generate.

[soonerguru]

I have pretty much learned to ignore comments on articles on any news website as they tend to bring out the worst in anonymous comments. I read the articles and skip the comments. The individual blogs like Steve's tend to have a more focused audience and doesn't seem to attract the general riff-raff that the main articles generate.

You're right, but does "general riff-raff" mean ordinary, working Joe citizens? Or are they just a loud and angry fringe?

It is weird to read pages and pages of often racist, angry rants after rather innocuous news items. And I'm guessing more than a few of the angry ranters have immediate access to firearms. Kinda creepy.

[Steve]

bluedogok, I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's why I'm not always happy when a particular blog topic gets teased on NewsOK. I'm very, very blessed to have a great group of readers at OKC Central (many of them are the same ones who make this the city's premier online community forum).

[bluedogok]

There is a core group on almost every newspaper site that seems to provide nothing reasonable in commentary and are there merely to incite and flame, they are worthless flame warriors. I think the "Ordinary Joe's" tend to not post ccomments as much judging by the style of most comments.

[BDP]

Here's a direct link to the plans:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.news...TG-LOW-OPT.pdf

[dcsooner]

This OKC-Tulsa thing has got to be the most stupid juvenile rivalry of any two cities. Most grown up places do not engage in this my city is better than your city stupidity. Sad

[bluedogok]

This OKC-Tulsa thing has got to be the most stupid juvenile rivalry of any two cities. Most grown up places do not engage in this my city is better than your city stupidity. Sad

Wanna bet, read any city forum and it is the same crap over and over by some people in every city. We have our San Antonio-Austin, Fort Worth-Dallas, Houston-Dallas ones down here, then you have St. Paul-Minneapolis, Milwaukee-Chicago, St. Louis-Chicago, Boston-New York, Baltimore-DC, Oakland-San Francisco, Portland-Seattle, etc. Cities much older than Oklahoma City or Tulsa have partaken in these ridiculous spats forever. It seems to be more common than most would think, "grown-up" has nothing to do with the people living there.

[soonerguru]

This OKC-Tulsa thing has got to be the most stupid juvenile rivalry of any two cities. Most grown up places do not engage in this my city is better than your city stupidity. Sad

Agree. But it's fairly one-sided. It's the Tulsans who seem to be the bitter siblings.

[OUGrad05]

Agree. But it's fairly one-sided. It's the Tulsans who seem to be the bitter siblings.

I really think thats because most Tulsan's want the Tulsa of the 70s and 80s back when it was the nicer more dominant city in the state...many of the major companies left and the state, and the city did nothing to keep them.

It would make you cringe if you see some of the old paperwork I've been through from the 60s/70s/80s at just how many energy companies we lost to Texas, it is stunning. This happened in OKC as well but not to the same extent.

[BDP]

Most grown up places do not engage in this my city is better than your city stupidity. Sad

Actually, most cities have some city with which they are some sort of rival. However, in most cases there are significant differences between the cities in terms of culture, infrastructure, services, economic portfolio, history etc. There are differences between Oklahoma City and Tulsa for sure and Oklahoma City has been changing a lot in the last couple of decades, however, relative to most other "city rivalries" the two are extremely similar. I have actually never been to or lived in two cities that are more alike, especially in terms of lifestyle, culture, and economics. The state of the rivalry today seems to be fueled mostly by lingering perceptions of a time when maybe there were more differences and by ego or foolish pride backed by little substance.

I do think there are some things on Oklahoma City's plate that could create some real differences in the near future in terms of lifestyle options and services, but even then I don't see either city changing to the degree where the differences are as apparent and as measurable as those between some of the cities bluedogok listed. And as long as the economic makeup between the two cities are so similar, I really don't see one city doing anything in the next 10 years or so that the other city can't eventually match or top.

In the grand scheme of things, the reality is that what Oklahoma City has or may have in its near future, i.e. downtown improvements, Devon Tower, MAPS 3 projects, etc. are still pretty much "catch up" projects in order to try and provide options in the state that are not currently available, but can be readily found elsewhere. It really has nothing to do with Tulsa at all and none of it is targeted that way. What would really be great is if both cities continue to improve in such a way that there are some quality and competitive living and economic options for both and that they can actually be cross sold and boost Oklahoma's image overall.

[OUGrad05]

This OKC-Tulsa thing has got to be the most stupid juvenile rivalry of any two cities. Most grown up places do not engage in this my city is better than your city stupidity. Sad

I agree, having said that, I now live in Tulsa and I miss OKC a lot, we're actually heading down there today for my brothers birthday. But downtown OKC is nicer and has more to do and the roads as a general rule are better in OKC. Both places have their positives and negatives, and I also don't understand the hating on the other city everytime something positive happens...