Landmark finally coming.....on Oklahoma River

[Patrick]

Well, in case you didn't check out downtownguy's blog today, here is a segment from it:

"For those of you who think your dreams of a giant oil derrick here in Oklahoma City never got anywhere, you’re wrong. I know this first hand. And a major landmark is coming to the shores of the Oklahoma River. It’s not the derrick some of you hoped for, but it’s what important people in this city agreed to after considering earlier proposals – including a giant oil derrick. The project is funded, and it’s coming soon. "

This is pretty exciting. I remember back when several of us were on the MAPS Forum and Talkback and we discussed the oil derrick idea. I had a friend come up with some architectural drawings and I sent letters along with the drawings to the council members, mayor, city manager, and well over 50 corporations in our city. Unfortunately, it seemed at that time like no one was interested, because I got rejection letter after rejection letter. Willa Johnson called me, and although she liked the concept, she said that the Crystal Bridge was Oklahoma City's landmark, and we needed to focus on other things.

Well, I know this won't be an oil derrick but hopefully it will be just as good if not better. downtowguy made this statement: "(Unlike a previous tease last week, if you post a comment below and say “please,” I’ll probably give you just enough information to find out what the landmark will be)." I guess I'll post a comment on his blog website and see if he can enlighten us!

By the way, if you haven't checked it out, you can find downtownguy's blog at http://www.downtownguy.blogspot.com. He always has great information on there about both OKC and Tulsa.

http://www.downtownguy.blogspot.com

[Luke]

Sounds interesting.

I'm trying to access Downtownguy's blog and when it loads up it still has yesterday's entry. Odd...

I'm very curious.

And who IS Downtownguy? It's like he's Deep Throat or something. How does he get this information? Or is that the big secret?

Kinda fun.

[Patrick]

Hmmm, that is odd.....his blog seems to be loading up okay for me. Strange!

Anyways, conmcerning downtownguy, well, it's kind of a secret who he is. I have some ideas, but I'm probably completely out in left field with them. downtownguy is probably someone I'd never even expect.
It's pretty obvious he knows his stuff though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was directly connected with city hall somehow, or was part of the media, either the paper or the new channels. But again, I could be wrong.

He obviously has been with us for awhile, because he said he was part of the old Talkback forum on the city hall website (the one that Joe Schmoe moderated......he was the webmaster for the city at that time), and then the Oklahoman MAPS Forum, and later Oklahomasown. He claims that he read a lot and really didn't participate much though.

Anyways, I guess it remains a mystery. But that's cool! It is kinda fun.

It's great to have his insight on this forum! And I love reading his blog.