State Capitol Building

[LakeEffect]

There are no degrees of uniqueness. Something is either one of a kind or it is not. This OCD moment brought to you by my high school sophomore English teacher, Mr. Umansky.

And Jeff Speck. He hates modifiers attached to unique.

[Rover]

Then why don't you spend a day at the Capitol going into every legislator's office asking them those questions. I bet they enjoy few people pestering them with questions or criticizing their governing skills.

That is exactly what should happen. We should all go to the capital routinely and ask our representatives why they are doing what they are doing (or not doing what they should be doing). If they consider that pestering, then that should tell us something about how they view their roll in governance. BTW, I have been active asking for transparency and accountability. We should share with them what OUR point of view is. They are there to do OUR bidding, not to be the wizard of oz. We sit back, don't engage them, let them do whatever irrational or ignorant thing they want to do, and then don't understand why our legislature is a joke. GO PESTER THEM. GO ASK THEM QUESTIONS. When they have stupid answers or viewpoints, tell them so. Give them accurate and true facts and hope they listen and apply good judgement for the benefit of ALL the people. We have let a minority of vocal, judgmental, over opinionated tea partiers control this state for too long.

[5alive]

^^^^!!!!

[Jersey Boss]

Then why don't you spend a day at the Capitol going into every legislator's office asking them those questions. I bet they enjoy few people pestering them with questions or criticizing their governing skills.

You would have to misrepresent yourself as a lobbyist to get an audience.

[shawnw]

We are all lobbyists technically

[Jersey Boss]

We are all lobbyists technically

[shawnw]

Nm

[Rover]

You would have to misrepresent yourself as a lobbyist to get an audience.

If we can get listened to by being a constituent, then throw the bums out. Their arrogance should be punished by voting them OUT.

[Jersey Boss]

If we can get listened to by being a constituent, then throw the bums out. Their arrogance should be punished by voting them OUT.

I don't disagree with your sentiments. Unfortunately there are numerous examples of voters that vote against their own interests based on a candidates political party or because of one hot button issue.

[Urbanized]

You would have to misrepresent yourself as a lobbyist to get an audience.

Generally not true at the state level. I've had a number of meetings with representatives and senators. Call their office, be polite, say you'd like a brief meeting with them, be upfront regarding what the meeting is about (have an issue in mind, not simply a bitchfest), and you'll get an appointment.

[David]

But the pessimism!

[Jersey Boss]

Generally not true at the state level. I've had a number of meetings with representatives and senators. Call their office, be polite, say you'd like a brief meeting with them, be upfront regarding what the meeting is about (have an issue in mind, not simply a bitchfest), and you'll get an appointment.

That is good to hear and refreshing.

[Swake]

This was posted on TulsaNow, it brings up a good question that needs to be answered

Serious question, because we just did a renovation on this building. Between 1998 and 2002 they finished the dome and restoration work was ongoing since then... until they found the serious cracks in 2014. Most of the structural problems are IN THE DOME.

WHY IS OUR CAPITAL FALLING APART?

The main part is 100 years old, but for a solid structure of steel and stone that isn't really that old. The worst part, the dome, is younger than my high school aged son.

Did we defer maintenance?

Bad designed or poor construction?

Not designed for earthquakes?

It cost $1.5mi to build the thing in 1915. Math tells me that's $35mil in today's dollars. The Dome's total construction cost was $21mil, paid for by our NASCAR like sponsors adorning our public building.

SO--- total cost ~ $50mil.

HOW, in the hell, is it $300,000,000 to fix it?

The building is 450,000 square feet. Ironically, that's $666 per square foot FOR REPAIRS, a new parking garage, a pool and archway. Devon Tower cost $380 per square foot TO BUILD, and included land acquisition, demolition, parking, etc. The Burj Khalida, the most luxurious and tallest building in the world, cost $450 per square foot to build. You can have my house for $100 a square, and it comes with parking and a hot tub - which is kind of like a pool.

So my serious proposal is this. The state capital building is ugly, the only redeeming feature is the sculpture at the top, the complex around the capital is worse and it’s in a miserable part of the city.

Tear it down. Move the capital.

Take the $120 million and build a shiny new capital building as the center piece of Core to Shore.

Really.

[Bellaboo]

No not really. It's not in a bad part of the city as most folks think. The fringe to the East of the capitol it gets worse, but not South, North or West. I have not heard that the newly constructed dome is the problem, it's the structure beneath the dome that's the problem, along with plumbing and wiring.

BYW, it's not ugly at all.

[hoya]

This was posted on TulsaNow, it brings up a good question that needs to be answered


So my serious proposal is this. The state capital building is ugly, the only redeeming feature is the sculpture at the top, the complex around the capital is worse and it’s in a miserable part of the city.

Tear it down. Move the capital.

Take the $120 million and build a shiny new capital building as the center piece of Core to Shore.

Really.

Sorry, but worst idea in the thread.

[bchris02]

This was posted on TulsaNow, it brings up a good question that needs to be answered


So my serious proposal is this. The state capital building is ugly, the only redeeming feature is the sculpture at the top, the complex around the capital is worse and it’s in a miserable part of the city.

Tear it down. Move the capital.

Take the $120 million and build a shiny new capital building as the center piece of Core to Shore.

Really.

I disagree that the capital is in a bad part of town. As others have said, it gets worse east of it, but south of the Capitol complex is one of OKC's hidden jewels...a neighborhood that was once a part of the wonderful Heritage Hills/Mesta Park neighborhood before I-235 tore through and sealed that area off from the rest of the city. With some investment and streetcar access it could be the next Plaza, Midtown, etc.

However, I am going to agree with you that I would much rather see the Capitol in the immediate downtown area like they have in Austin. Unfortunately, I don't trust the state of Oklahoma to have OKC's best interest in mind and if they built a new one, the city might be stuck with a monstrosity right in the middle of downtown, not too different from the new Federal building in Midtown.

[Bellaboo]

I'm no authority, but I work at the capitol complex and have for years. I walk around it quite a bit and about 200 feet to the North of the building is 23rd street, which is 6 lane and underground at this point. I was walking above 23rd the other day and a semi truck blew through there and you could kind of feel it as he went through.

It makes you wonder if all these years of traffic vibrations are taking its toll on the building ?

[rte66man]

You would have to misrepresent yourself as a lobbyist to get an audience.

Cheap shot. While you may not agree with their actions, all legislators keep office hours. If you call ahead, their assistants will be glad to set up a visit, contributions or no contributions. This is true on both sides of the aisle in both Chambers.

[KayneMo]

This was posted on TulsaNow, it brings up a good question that needs to be answered


So my serious proposal is this. The state capital building is ugly, the only redeeming feature is the sculpture at the top, the complex around the capital is worse and it’s in a miserable part of the city.

Tear it down. Move the capital.

Take the $120 million and build a shiny new capital building as the center piece of Core to Shore.

Really.

**capitol**

There's a difference between "capitol" and "capital".

I disagree, I think our State Capitol is quite beautiful. Although, I would like for the area surrounding the complex to be more dense, and somehow do away with the freeway-like status of Lincoln and 23rd.

[Spartan]

This was posted on TulsaNow, it brings up a good question that needs to be answered


So my serious proposal is this. The state capital building is ugly, the only redeeming feature is the sculpture at the top, the complex around the capital is worse and it’s in a miserable part of the city.

Tear it down. Move the capital.

Take the $120 million and build a shiny new capital building as the center piece of Core to Shore.

Really.

You must not know OKC very well.

The northeast side isn't bad. It's not great either. It holds a special place. It contains some of our highest and lowest land values within a mile of each other. It contains a lot of our mid-century modern landmarks, many of which are languishing. It contains our best underrated asset that keeps growing, which is probably the medical district. It also contains a planning disaster, which is Lincoln Blvd. However, sometimes the easiest thing to fix is the worst thing in any given city that nobody cares about.

The city is doing its part. We're putting all of our CDBG and affordable housing resources currently into the inner northeast side. We don't have much in the way of housing resources because the state likes to allocate 1 award per city in any given funding round, putting us on the same level as not just Tulsa, but also Ponca and Tahlequah. It's insane. We have a program called Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI) which is an umbrella consolidation of CDBG-esque resources. The neighborhood south of the Capitol, east of Lincoln, is the current focus. Because OKC gets uniquely minimal funding for housing (sorry Speck and urbanized's English prof), we have to pick 1 neighborhood at a time, unlike most major cities. Historically the JFK neighborhood was the focus before (Douglass HS area). These are not bad areas once they are improved. JFK is a huge success.

Really what is holding the northeast side back is the state's property management or lack thereof. NE 23rd is dead because in order to get to the revitalizing part of 23rd, you have to go through 3 highway interchanges (2 at Lincoln, why??). 23rd / Lincoln has got to be fixed. That neighborhood north of 23rd behind the fugly history center is especially wrecked. Beautiful 1-story English tudor homes, not unlike $200,000 houses in Gatewood or Edgemere. Same house, other side of the capitol. I'm amazed that Lincoln's Terrace is no longer the war zone it once was, but homes of that grandeur won't languish in the same way that vernacular building stock will.

If a new state capital is built in C2S, well there goes C2S... I'm not saying to keep a bad thing in a bad area, but repeating this cycle is truly hopeless. Stopping the cycle and knocking some heads together is the only hope we have. The state has systematically built a void around the capital with the funds with which it should have been repairing and maintaining the capital. The program with which that expensive void was assembled was called "Lincoln Renaissance," which who can argue with that? They had great plans, for which they needed to do some land assembly, then the rug was pulled out from under it after Brad Henry left office. That's the story here.

At a certain point it's so bad that the only way out is by refocusing on what we've done. The parking lots have to go. The state needs to unload all of that lend that they will realistically either A, never need; or B, not need in the next 20 years. Sell it at whatever profit can be made. It is time for some structured parking. It is ****ing 2015. Just design a parking garage with a tall ingress clearance so some bumpkin "legislator" from Sapulpa or Sallisaw or wherever can park his giant asinine truck and call it a day.

(I obviously have too much contempt for these "legislators" to be effective in lobbying them, but good luck to those who try! Take 'em skeet shootin or something)

[hoya]

It would cost far more than $120 million to build something like the state Capitol building today. That much marble and limestone... It would probably cost 10 times that amount, or more. You can't just look at inflation and say "we spent this much 100 years ago, so we can get the same thing today for this much". Doesn't work that way. Construction costs are far higher today.

[Spartan]

Labor. Materials. Risk. Land. That and many more new costs.

[Swake]

Labor. Materials. Risk. Land. That and many more new costs.

Well at more than $600 per square foot to REPAIR the capitol building we must be guilding the damn place. It makes no sense.

[LakeEffect]

Well at more than $600 per square foot to REPAIR the capitol building we must be guilding the damn place. It makes no sense.

Where are you getting that per SF number?

[Swake]

Where are you getting that per SF number?

Sorry, the math I got from the other post was a little off. The building is 450,000 square feet and the state has already allocated a massive $120 million or about $267 per square foot to repair the building. But that isn’t enough, they want another $124 million bringing the total cost up to $542 per square foot. That’s not counting the $65 million for a parking garage, landscaping and archway to show off the grandeur of the state that has cut the most education spending nationally, by far.

$542 per square foot for repairs? Almost DOUBLE the square foot cost to construct the Devon tower?

Seriously, the building is just a large mid-rise box with a big dome on top and marble façade. And the dome is newish. What on earth is so expensive?