America's Favorite Cities.

**OKC PATROL** · 06-12-2007, 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by Nixon7

That would be a good thing. It would make us get a little creative....instead of our comfort zone, i.e. the Oklahoma River, in Oklahoma County, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

What name would you call it. Its not a piece of art- its a public facility...Riverside Aquarium or any other creative name is useless. People look for a strong name for a facilty like that. Anyway it would be silly to try to build an aquarium like tulsa. Let them have the recognition- like I said give the money to the zoo before the adventure district begins to decline.

**SpectralMourning** · 06-12-2007, 10:22 AM

Much agreed, OKC Patrol. I was at the zoo for my first time in a really long time last year and nothing was going on at all. This was before Oklahoma Trails opened up and everything, so I can't say how it is now.

I definitely agree about expanding Aquaticus or at least massively redeveloping what it already has into one of the most entertaining and professional marine life centers. Aquaticus should most certainly be a world class attraction, as much as or more than the zoo itself. That definitely seems to be the problem; we have the attractions and the capability of producing the attractions, but I don't think a lot of people view them in developing as being world class. Perhaps we can update and revolutionize what we have to greatly improve quality of life. I know that seems obvious, but it doesn't seem like everything that needs to be considered is being considered. At least we'll have fancy bus stops.

**OKC PATROL** · 06-12-2007, 11:40 AM

Yes- the Zoo itself is a western masterpiece. All of the natural exhibits are of high quality-which is great. The grounds are beautiful, hilly and expansive. But you have to have at least one huge attraction. It needs more than just 2 mil here and 1.5 mil there to keep up. It needs something big time. I remember in my youth being excited to see the big show with that big ticket to see the dolphins. The Fam would enjoy the grounds and then see the show. Now it has an image of just being a beautiful park with many small natural exhibits in my opinion.
They have so many possibilities for that area of the Zoo. They could extend the facility over the lake and give that part of the Zoo a very slick sophisticated look. It would be a nice contrast to the natural setting. They would probably need to build a whole new facility, but the current one is still impressive and large. I can see it expanding and being renovated. I imagine it has a lot of equipment to keep some costs down also.

**jbrown84** · 06-12-2007, 12:16 PM

Yeah, I would much prefer expanding and updating Aquaticus as opposed to cannibalizing it by building another aquarium.

I wouldn't be opposed to a large chunk of MAPS3 money going to that. I think it already has a very interesting set up with the multiple levels. It could really be world class.

**SpectralMourning** · 06-12-2007, 02:01 PM

Exactly. I'm not sure if I would favor encompassing the entire lake unless the development was extremely tasteful and involved a lot of nature to keep the animals and visitors happy.

On the matter of America's Favorite Cities and world-class attractions, I think people should consider the list of the "Best in OKC" (or Oklahoma, I skimmed through it last night) from the Gazette. If someone has a copy of the list or knows a URL containing it, please post it. We should consider each item on the list and how Oklahoma could use those or make them more spectacular to compete. Just my opinion anyway.