Is City of OKC Overrunning Its Headlights?

[OKCTalker]

I've read a growing number of threads and posts about municipal projects that seem never to finish, or finish in a mediocre fashion. City officials are all about announcements, ribbon-cuttings and topping-out ceremonies, press releases and pictures in the paper, but they seem to disappear when its time to see the project through to completion.

Good or bad: Which projects are finishing strong, and which ones are going on indefinitely? What departments are being good stewards of the public interest, and which ones are staffed by people leaning on shovels and taking endless coffee breaks?

[mcgrawsdad]

Talker...I don't see that. For the most part, I think OKC does a very good job of completing their municipal projects. I think Oklahoma County has a little more of a detrimental record when it comes to completion of projects. ODOT is a complete joke and failure, I remember setting in meetings with Gary Ridley in 2005 when he stated without a doubt the crosstown would be finished in the spring of 2009...yeah right. With that being said, having lived in a city (Tulsa) where municipal projects never got completed to scope, budget, or timeline...if completed at all; OKC is a nice change.

[animeGhost]

the native american cultural center... i dont think that'll ever be finished... i haven't seen a single construction truck out there in months.

[mcgrawsdad]

Agree...that thing has been a complete cluster... I believe the biggest issue has been funding. The tribes don't want to fund it, the state doesn't want to fund it, it's not in tom cole's district, and ernest and mary don't wanna go grab a bunch of pork after campaigning against earmarks...

[DaveSkater]

It's funded, at least partially. The buildng package should be out this month for bid, with just a shell finish out. The remainder of the building interior finish is due to come out toward the end of the year. There are funding issues as well as other issues.

My firm did the underground electrical portion of the first bid packages.

[Jesseda]

what ever happned to the ferris whell that was bought in ali andbrought out to okc, i thought thre was going to be a big plan for it? what happened

[LakeEffect]

The AICC and the Ferris Wheel aren't City of OKC projects... so, I'm curious, OKCTalker specifically, what other projects do you see that seem to have finished poorly?