Diversion Hub

[checkthat]

That's fine. No one ever said it was zero sum. Using the building for a couple years to help poor folks navigate the criminal legal system and get their lives back together while the organization builds a new facility would not hurt property values, either. Of course there are higher and better uses for the building, namely a school.

[shawnw]

Gatewood is so close to OCU it seems like a no brainer for it to be student-affordable housing or related.

[Dob Hooligan]

An elementary school in a neighborhood that is not on a section line or flow through street is a clear benefit for close by property owners. Conversely, a social services facility of the size that would utilize a school building would be a bad fit. Section line roads provide better access to transportation, simplistic as that sounds. Gatewood (school and neighborhood) deserve to wait for the best fit.

Way back in the 1990s and I lived in the midtown area, we were told that the federal government had decided that concentration of social services in the urban core was harming cities, and they were requiring some kind of distance between these agencies. And that was supposedly how we wound up with services that required a person to travel as far as 15 miles from the Unit Block downtown with multiple stops in the same day. It appears the pendulum is swinging the other way and centralization of services is desired today.

[Rover]

Where has anyone ever said this?

There are hundreds of projects in the core that have received some degree of protest and we've discussed here in great detail.


Please stop with the endless lectures.

Come on Pete, you know how often nimby is stated and Edmond, NH and HH is immediately invoked. Here is a case of it and it’s crickets. If this happened in one of the aforementioned neighborhoods we would see outcry. I just don’t like double standards either way.

[Laramie]

Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) has always been a concern when projects are proposed to be set up in old schools that no longer serve the purpose of a school. We should have seen this coming; established neighborhoods where fewer school age children exist, the patrons don't support bond or millage levies anymore. They want the school districts to maintain upkeep on these structures.

Yet, we don't want abandoned schools to be demolished; nor do we want them to become rundown & dilapidated. Neighborhoods change throughout times, a younger generation buys the older homes, fixes them up and a need for a school resurfaces. Yes, it's a cycle we've seen in our lifetimes.

There is an area were a Diversion Hub would have more success.

We've seen a development called NorthCare (2617 General Pershing Blvd) just east of State Fair Park serves inpatient & outpatient care, there's land being redeveloped in that area (2600 General Pershing Blvd: https://www.google.com/maps/place/26....5589697?hl=en

This would be a good site to tailor a facility from the ground up to fit the needs of a Diversion Hub.

There are a number of facilities in that area; city maintains continuous clean-up of trash & debris on those parcels. If you're in the area drive thru and see all the exciting things going on in the area.

[Dob Hooligan]

Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) has always been a concern when projects are proposed to be set up in old schools that no longer serve the purpose of a school. We should have seen this coming; established neighborhoods where fewer school age children exist, the patrons don't support bond or millage levies anymore. They want the school districts to maintain upkeep on these structures.

Yet, we don't want abandoned schools to be demolished; nor do we want them to become rundown & dilapidated. Neighborhoods change throughout times, a younger generation buys the older homes, fixes them up and a need for a school resurfaces. Yes, it's a cycle we've seen in our lifetimes.

There is an area were a Diversion Hub would have more success.

We've seen a development called NorthCare (2617 General Pershing Blvd) just east of State Fair Park serves inpatient & outpatient care, there's land being redeveloped in that area (2600 General Pershing Blvd: https://www.google.com/maps/place/26....5589697?hl=en

This would be a good site to tailor a facility from the ground up to fit the needs of a Diversion Hub.

There are a number of facilities in that area; city maintains continuous clean-up of trash & debris on those parcels. If you're in the area drive thru and see all the exciting things going on in the area.

Well, here's my NIMBY-The location of that photo is about 500ft from where I am typing this. In the 1/2 mile stretch from that NorthCare campus going east we have; inpatient psychiatric hospital, outpatient mental health services, Variety Care, ReMerge female diversion program, Positive Tomorrows school for homeless children, a new homeless shelter on the SE corner of Villa & General Pershing (that I recall reading is not church affiliated or sober living commitment), an existing low income housing complex, and the forthcoming ASTEC School campus.

I am not thrilled at the rise in homeless people and aimless pedestrian traffic. But, it isn't a real problem. More a nuisance.

I am concerned about the geographic concentration of elementary school age children with the adults facing so many sources of challenges.

[Laramie]

Well, here's my NIMBY-The location of that photo is about 500ft from where I am typing this. In the 1/2 mile stretch from that NorthCare campus going east we have; inpatient psychiatric hospital, outpatient mental health services, Variety Care, ReMerge female diversion program, Positive Tomorrows school for homeless children, a new homeless shelter on the SE corner of Villa & General Pershing (that I recall reading is not church affiliated or sober living commitment), an existing low income housing complex, and the forthcoming ASTEC School campus.

I am not thrilled at the rise in homeless people and aimless pedestrian traffic. But, it isn't a real problem. More a nuisance.

I am concerned about the geographic concentration of elementary school age children with the adults facing so many sources of challenges.

The area from N.W. 10th street & Meridian to Broadway has a high concentration of police presence.

The Astec school campus isn't within 300 feet is where most boundary ordinances that protect schools. NorthCare campus has been at this site for a number of years--long before the proposed development of Astec--so who's encroaching upon who.

We heard these same concerns with the Salvation Army Center at 10th & Pennsylvania; the homeless would be a caravan of zombies let loose on the community.

Would you prefer to spread out the centers or have them concentrated in one area, since some proponents of NIMBY now wants to claim the whole city. If you want to face a real problem, ignore the services these centers provide for our city's homeless or those down on their luck.

Where are there any elementary school concerns in the General Pershing area within 300 feet of a school?

[Dob Hooligan]

Not sure what 10th & Broadway to Meridian having a police presence relates to this?

Positive Tomorrows is an elementary school currently being finished that is located on the eastern portion of the NorthCare property. The ASTEC plan has been in the works as long as the NorthCare campus has, IIRC.

I believe the thinking about concentrating “social services” in a certain area has evolved through the years. I was told in the 1990s that the federal government wanted services spread out around metro areas. Both to protect certain areas from over concentration, and to make the access burden equal from all areas.

I think the intent in OKC has been to move them out of our vibrant and improving downtown and place as much as possible in this Pennsylvania to May Avenue corridor. It is primarily an aging commercial and industrial area without much hope of gentrification in the future.

Don’t mean I got to like it. And it is in my backyard. Since 1982.

[Laramie]

Not sure what 10th & Broadway to Meridian having a police presence relates to this?

Positive Tomorrows is an elementary school currently being finished that is located on the eastern portion of the NorthCare property. The ASTEC plan has been in the works as long as the NorthCare campus has, IIRC.

I believe the thinking about concentrating “social services” in a certain area has evolved through the years. I was told in the 1990s that the federal government wanted services spread out around metro areas. Both to protect certain areas from over concentration, and to make the access burden equal from all areas.

I think the intent in OKC has been to move them out of our vibrant and improving downtown and place as much as possible in this Pennsylvania to May Avenue corridor. It is primarily an aging commercial and industrial area without much hope of gentrification in the future.

Don’t mean I got to like it. And it is in my backyard. Since 1982.

Just saying there's more of a police presence in that area in case an emergency requires police dispatch.

Would also be in the best interest of the city not to over concentrate too many of any one thing in an area.

Don't know the solutions or answers because like you, I can see the interest in making these service related projects succeed--without over concentration in a particular area.

[checkthat]

The Diversion Hub could probably help people in this type of situation:

Good Samaritans contribute to clear Oklahoma woman's debt from 2010 arrest for $31 marijuana sale

The grass at Gatewood Elementary hasn't been mowed in weeks. Today, it is as tall as the bench seats by the playground. Maybe Pete can take some pictures or the OK Gazette can do a story on the failure of OKCPS to maintain the the grounds of the schools that closed.

[Pete]

To be located on the southeast corner of Linwood and Ellison:

[Pete]

[goldenHurricane22]

Hoping this building does well in its intended purpose. Would there also be any housing that would go up around this for people that are simultaneously receiving assistance here? Or is that not really part of the scope of this building?

It is interesting to ponder about what Linwood Blvd could look like in a decade or so--there already is the whole Edgecraft/Dead People's complex anchoring the western end. Projects like this are going to add more infill to the eastern end. I will say that looking at the picture, it seems like they should remove the Linwood Diagonal. Not seeing the need a four lane one-way street here. Better to restore the grid, in my opinion.

[OkieBerto]

The land is being cleared, and the sign is up. Construction will start soon.

[ManAboutTown]

The land is being cleared, and the sign is up. Construction will start soon.

It's interesting that this is still being built at this location, given that the jail may be moving eastward.

[BridgeBurner]

The land is being cleared, and the sign is up. Construction will start soon.

Thanks for taking a picture of the sign, have been driving past this and kept meaning to stop/search OKC talk for what was going on here. They have started dirtwork already.

[OkieBerto]

Thanks for taking a picture of the sign, have been driving past this and kept meaning to stop/search OKC talk for what was going on here. They have started dirtwork already.

They have made a ton of progress already since that photo. Dirt work is well on its way.

[BridgeBurner]

Anyone know what is going in just south of here on the other side of Linwood? Looks like 4 stories of steel frame.

[OkieBerto]

Anyone know what is going in just south of here on the other side of Linwood? Looks like 4 stories of steel frame.

BMS Homes "Brady Smith Homes" posted on their Instagram: "Team effort. Progress is happening on this unique build in downtown okc. Happy to be working along side Task Design and hands on owner!"

So it is a Private Residence.