Mayor Cornett on new convention center

[metro]

I hope Blair doesn't mind me posting this. He brought it to my attention and posted it on his blog, so he definitely should get the credit, but I thought most would appreciate it since it's a hot topic:

imagiNATIVEamerica.com MAPS 3 Looking Forward: Mayor Cornett on the New Convention Center

[bdhumphreys]

Not only do I not mind, but I actually very much appreciate it. Thank you!

[betts]

Interesting. I'm happy he's talking about the fact that we need to think about Bricktown in conjunction with a convention center, and that he's implying the site is not set. I also am coming around to the idea of the importance of the convention center.

[PLANSIT]

Convention Centers are a necessary evil. And unfortunately, whoever has the biggest and best tend to get the most business. The current center is in no way big or the best. Hopefully, city staff can make the new convention center's footprint blend better with its surroundings. I'm really worried about the huge void of activity this will create being a physical/psychological barrier on the proposed park's east side. Maybe they can incorporate some ground floor retail to make it a little more inclusive to the area.

[Pete]

Good points, PLANSIT.

Just look at the Cox Center now... Huge concrete walls on all sides and even where there are windows and entrances, the whole block is dead most the time unless there is an event happening.

[bdhumphreys]

I'm really worried about the huge void of activity this will create being a physical/psychological barrier on the proposed park's east side. Maybe they can incorporate some ground floor retail to make it a little more inclusive to the area.

OR, as the Mayor says, maybe there is another site that should be considered that won't negatively impact the park. I am glad to see the Mayor commit to a process that allows some thought and deliberation on what will be the best site. Because, Pete is right:

Just look at the Cox Center now... Huge concrete walls on all sides and even where there are windows and entrances, the whole block is dead most the time unless there is an event happening.

And one convention center on a park, is already one to many.

[Pete]

And one convention center on a park, is already one to many.

No kidding! Look how horrible the west side (really all sides) of the Cox Center looks as it faces the Myriad Gardens. At some point this needs to be addressed... That massive monolith of concrete needs to be broken up:

[Doug Loudenback]

I've ripped the audio from the mayor's and other speakers' remarks at this meeting and they are part of my Doug Dawgz Blog: All The News About MAPS 3 . I didn't have embeddable video files, however. Additionally, I'm including summaries of each speaker's remarks.

Below is my summary of the mayor's comments on the convention center, Oklahoma River & White Water, and state fair topics, they being those covered in his address:

After noting recent accolades about the city and doing some good PR about good things going on here, Mayor Cornett gave a background about MAPS and MAPS For Kids and I'll not get more particular about that in these notes. About MAPS 3, he gave the general background of the city establishing a MAPS 3 website nearly three years ago in which a call for ideas which posed two questions: "One, would you like to see a list of initiatives for a MAPS 3 proposal that you can consider; and, two, if you would like to see it, what would you like to see on it?" he said. To question (1), he said 85% answered affirmatively, and, as to (2), 2,747 ideas were submitted. Of the top 14 vote getters, 12 are in MAPS or have already addressed in another initiative. He said, "This, to the purest level, is a citizen-led initiative," adding, "of course, we would have a citizen oversight board as we always have in the past."

About the proposed convention center he said it has become an "incredibly large amount of our economy — two billion dollars is coming into Oklahoma County today, a year, as a result of our tourism budget. We have built a city that people want to visit. We haven't necessarily kept up with having a venue to visit, once they've been here," he said. "We've never really built a convention center, and I think that's one of the reasons we have a tough time communicating this largest project of MAPS is because when people think of a convention center in Oklahoma City they think of the Cox Convention Center where they go to watch sporting events. What we did was we built a sports arena, we put some big rooms around it, and called it our convention center. We've really under-served the convention center industry as a whole. When you start to think about the best way to improve your economy, economic development at its purest form, you're talking about a dollar that was earned somewhere else and then deposited in your community. That's the way it grows. And that's tourism in its most basic form. The opportunity that we have with the convention center will allow us to triple the business that we currently get from the convention business. Our current facility is smaller than Tulsa, smaller than Wichita, smaller than Omaha."

He said that, although "We have a really site good picked out in the Core to Shore planning prospect — put it on the boulevard, next to the park. We're going to continue to revisit the site because this is a pretty big decision. I want to make sure that we have a strong consensus in the community that that's the best site. But the things to keep in mind are, where are the hotels, and where is Bricktown. Do not get too far away from either of those two entities."

About the Oklahoma River, he said, "The fact that we used to mow it ... and now we row it ... is an extraordinary accomplishment." "We will build, if MAPS passes, the best rowing course in the world. This will be best rowing, canoe, and kayak venue, anywhere. And I don't have to tell you that if you have the best facility in the world the events are going to come."

Mayor Cornett described the White Water facility as "an interactive, man-made, canoe/kayak facility that's not only for Olympic caliber athletes, it's also for you, me, and family." He said that the only real model in the United States is a facility in Charlotte, and a few video clips of that facility were shown. "But, this is the type of amenity that we've gotta continue to offer to our young people. If we're going to continue to attack our kids and our grand kids to live in Oklahoma City, we've gotta come up with some really cool stuff."

The mayor then turned to facilities at the Oklahoma State Fair, and he described how successful the bond program which improved horse show facilities had been, to the extent that the horse show season has been extended to allow for more events. But, about other public facilities, he said, "Whenever I'm at the fairgrounds, I get nostalgic. You , know, I ... I ... I remember back when I was a kid. And there's a reason for that. It's because it looks just like it did when I was a kid. I mean, these buildings were built in 1950s and 1960s. And if you go out to the state fair or you go out there for a gun show or an arts and craft show or an antique show, you've seen these buildings. It's probably the most inclusive aspect of all of the MAPS projects in this initiative," he said. "So what we need to do in MAPS is improve the public facilities at the fairgrounds, what we use during the State Fair of Oklahoma, where we go when we go to an antiques show or an arts and craft show or a gun show," and he said, "MAPS will take care of that."

The mayor did a very credible job in his presentation, both as to content and presentation, in my opinion.

[Hawk405359]

No kidding! Look how horrible the west side (really all sides) of the Cox Center looks as it faces the Myriad Gardens. At some point this needs to be addressed... That massive monolith of concrete needs to be broken up:

Not only does that picture make the Cox Center look bad, it doesn't do any favors for the Myriad Gardens either.

[Pete]

This really is appalling, especially since it's the pathway from the CBD to the Ford Center (and a main route in and out of downtown):

[Kerry]

This is what happens when you remove on-street parking. Take away the on-street parking and there is no way to have street level retail.

[OKCisOK4me]

I think that since the north facade of the Cox Convention Center looks badass, what they need to do is a) build a new convention center and b) when they're tearing the old one down to make that lot available, make sure they incorporate that facade into, say, whatever they may build in that city block. I hate to see tax payer money go down the drain.

[Pete]

How about at least some public art on that western exposure?

But certainly, we need to learn from the Cox Center experience before building a new convention center. The way that place is constructed it's often like a black hole right in the middle of downtown.

[PLANSIT]

OR, as the Mayor says, maybe there is another site that should be considered that won't negatively impact the park. I am glad to see the Mayor commit to a process that allows some thought and deliberation on what will be the best site. Because, Pete is right:

I agree, but there are very few places near Bricktown that would suffice. And, regardless of site, they must do a good job of making its periphery more welcoming and seamless within the neighborhood. I've seen too many convention centers go up in the last decade that completely ignore their surroundings.

[bdhumphreys]

I agree, but there are very few places near Bricktown that would suffice. And, regardless of site, they must do a good job of making its periphery more welcoming and seamless within the neighborhood. I've seen too many convention centers go up in the last decade that completely ignore their surroundings.

Good point! Completely agree.

[mrbob]

We just need to remodel the old convention which we did not to long ago. Heck we need good 6 point beer here not a new convention center. Bring the 6 point people will come. lol

[PLANSIT]

We just need to remodel the old convention which we did not to long ago. Heck we need good 6 point beer here not a new convention center. Bring the 6 point people will come. lol

Remodeling is moot. We just need more physical space. More space = larger potential conventions. It's that simple.

[bdhumphreys]

Tier 2 City vs. 6 point City?

Tough call...jk

[Larry OKC]

No kidding! Look how horrible the west side (really all sides) of the Cox Center looks as it faces the Myriad Gardens.

WOW When was this photo taken? Doesn't look like the lush Myriad Gardens we see in the post cards and tourism commercials. If the Myriad Gardens really looks like that, it doesn't bode well for the City being able to maintain a 70 acre park does it?

Not against the park at all but the City needs to be able to maintain, and looking at some of what we already have, it doesn't look good. Case in point: we have spent millions on the Landrun Monument on the Canal and either the irrigation system is broken or someone decided to turn it off. The landscaping around the impressive statues is dead or dying (this was back in the late spring when everything should have been lush and green). About a 3rd of what was planted in gone. The irrigation pipes are exposed in several places due to the dying plants and erosion.

[mugofbeer]

Guys, thats a winter picture of the Myriad Gardens. Can't tell on the Myriad Convention Center pic but I believe most of the Google Pics were also winter pics. They were in my neighborhood and my parents.

[Kerry]

If a new convention center is built they shoud tear down all of the exhibt halls of the Cox Center and only keep some of the new meeting rooms and the arena. The space where the exhibit halls currently are could be turned into a parking garage, a hotel site or even a residential tower overlooking Myriad Gardens.

[PLANSIT]

WOW When was this photo taken? Doesn't look like the lush Myriad Gardens we see in the post cards and tourism commercials. If the Myriad Gardens really looks like that, it doesn't bode well for the City being able to maintain a 70 acre park does it?

Not against the park at all but the City needs to be able to maintain, and looking at some of what we already have, it doesn't look good. Case in point: we have spent millions on the Landrun Monument on the Canal and either the irrigation system is broken or someone decided to turn it off. The landscaping around the impressive statues is dead or dying (this was back in the late spring when everything should have been lush and green). About a 3rd of what was planted in gone. The irrigation pipes are exposed in several places due to the dying plants and erosion.

Aerials and obliques are generally taken leaf-off; for various reasons, mostly to do with developing planimetrics. So, as others have stated, you are staring at photos taken late January or early February.

[Blazerfan11]

Brian Walters said they really want the new convention center so in 2015 they can tear down the Cox Center and build a super duper tax payer subsidized mega Basketball complex.

[lasomeday]

I am all for economic growth, but saying something is 50 is not a good reason. Also, he is set on the site on Core to Shore. They have not strayed at all from it on anything. It is a bad layout for the city.

There is a lot of land between where the new Boulevard will be and the Mill, they can build up and make it a new kind of convention center, and when a private hotel wants to move in, they can get with the city and buy the mill, and maybe then they can add on to the size of the convention center.

[hoya]

Larry OKC and Blazerfan11 are prompting me to search and see if this site has an ignore list. You guys are nothing but negative, all the time. You show up with an agenda and then complain incessantly. You're like mini Tom Elmores.