Boathouse Row

[jccouger]

Maybe this was filmed just after it got filled up and before storms that make it brown?

I really, really doubt it. I'm sure it's just edited because that water has been nasty brown every time I've ever seen it.

I don't blame them for editing it but seems kind of silly.

[Pete]

Here is the master plan developed by AHMM:

[Pete]

Took these Saturday:

[catcherinthewry]

Plant some damn trees!

[Canoe]

Plant some damn trees!

This... We should plant 2 million trees along the river.

[PaddyShack]

If only we could put some nice mid-rise hotel/apartments/condos on the south side where the rail yard is... Maybe in 50+ years...

[gamermp101]

If only we could put some nice mid-rise hotel/apartments/condos on the south side where the rail yard is... Maybe in 50+ years...

I agree 100% and keep thinking that we need to develop Condos/buildings like what Little Rock, Arkansas has!

[HangryHippo]

I'll third it - TREES!

[Pete]

Rand Elliott didn't want them as part of his overall vision; since AHMM is now helping them masterplan the district, not sure if this would now be allowed.

I don't see any on the AHMM masterplan.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Plant some damn trees!

I seem to recall some trees being planted on the north of the North trail side, to try and obscure some unsightly gravel trucks and industrial looking spots behind the chain link.
The trees all died.

[kevin lee]

I emailed them awhile back. They're willing to plant lots of trees but they were needing a sponsorship because of funding issues. No sponsor has stepped up yet.

[amocore]

More hotels ? We will be able to host the 2032 Olympics at this speed !
Talking more seriously, does anybody know if OKC tries to host some itinerant international sports events ? Like a rowing world championship, the volleyball league of nations or anything else coming to mind ?

[shawnw]

Here is the master plan developed by AHMM:

I'm a little surprised by the location of Bar K. I thought it was going to be up against the river somewhere (not sure where I thought). With this location I'm not sure there's much more value to being in the Boathouse district vs being by scissortail or something.

[SEMIweather]

I'm a little surprised by the location of Bar K. I thought it was going to be up against the river somewhere (not sure where I thought). With this location I'm not sure there's much more value to being in the Boathouse district vs being by scissortail or something.

At least $750k in value, per post #38 in the Bar K thread lol. But yeah that's not a great location. Going to look pretty barren until the rest of that plan is developed, if it ever is. Really not much different than their location in Kansas City, though.

[BridgeBurner]

I'm a little surprised by the location of Bar K. I thought it was going to be up against the river somewhere (not sure where I thought). With this location I'm not sure there's much more value to being in the Boathouse district vs being by scissortail or something.

This echoes my thoughts, I was picturing it up along the actual river

[JAW]

I'm a little surprised by the location of Bar K. I thought it was going to be up against the river somewhere (not sure where I thought). With this location I'm not sure there's much more value to being in the Boathouse district vs being by scissortail or something.

Does Bar K provide doggie day care? If it does, it makes sense, because then people can drop their dogs off there and then do the Riversports Rapids/Adventures.

[3nglnd]

I was walking around the boathouses yesterday for really the first time and saw an empty dog park that was part of "Barks & Brews." After looking around a little bit online, it seems this concept came and went rather quickly a year or so ago. I'm really struggling to see how Bar K is any different

[onthestrip]

I was walking around the boathouses yesterday for really the first time and saw an empty dog park that was part of "Barks & Brews." After looking around a little bit online, it seems this concept came and went rather quickly a year or so ago. I'm really struggling to see how Bar K is any different

Helps when you're given $750,000 to get started.

[Pete]

The Boathouse Foundation has already burned through the $3.5 million the city has given them out of the general operating fund and now will be asking for another $1.3 million from the city in the coming budget year, on top of just obtaining a $750,000 federal loan and getting $7.9 million in extra MAPS funds.

https://oklahoman.com/article/566071...stimulus-funds

[AP]

Shut it down.

[HangryHippo]

Where in the hell is it all going?

[Jersey Boss]

What a money pit. There needs to be an investigation of where the money is going. Is there a mechanism by which an audit is demanded before further disbursement of funds? Fairgrounds should also be audited as well. The current economic situation should make this even more critical.

[Pete]

The simple truth is that Aubrey McClendon had this big idea once the dams were put in because he went to Duke and the east has a big and affluent rowing base.

He spent Chesapeake money to build that first boathouse then had the foundation created where Aubrey got Mike Knopp (who was a rowing coach at OCU at the time) to run the whole thing and get on the payroll along with Mike's wife.

Aubrey would have Chesapeake pay employees of the foundation and have their crews do all the landscaping and other work there. Keep in mind, this is CHK money, not out of Aubrey's pocket.

It was always a huge money loser but Aubrey just told Knopp to keep adding boathouses and attractions and CHK would cover the difference. The basic 'fake it until you make it' approach. Then he got thrown out of CHK for exactly this type of irresponsibility and the foundation was left with a huge hole.

It's important to note the huge deficits started to register long before Aubrey died; it was when he could no longer funnel the Chesapeake money when the big problems were exposed.

So, Knopp begins this endless cycle of asking the city to keep doubling down. Every new attraction is going to generate income and more than pay for itself (there are dozens of slick Powerpoint presentations over the years), then that doesn't happen and so another pitch is made for more money and the cycle repeats.

It's a huge mess and we've used tons of extra MAPS funds and money straight out of the budget to keep subsidizing. No other project would be enabled this way, especially when the meetings and budgets are not public record.

The only time we learn anything is when there is yet another budget crisis, and we get another pretty presentation swearing that with just more investment, things will turn around.

[Jersey Boss]

With most city departments taking at least a 11% cut, it would be malfeasonance to just keep pumping more money into this operation. Is there political will in the Holt administration/ city council to just say "nope".

[RedDollar]

Or how bout blaming the voters, who keep blindly voting for more MAPS taxes in spite of this kind of boondoggle spending, which includes street car and about everything inside of MAPS4 .

They get what the deserve, if they not smart enough to say no to people , who are spending other people's money on other people.