Maintenance Downtown Losing Ground

[Flatlander]

Good job Downtown Guy,thanks to all of the people who were involved.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

Mid-October has arrived on the Bricktown Canal and freshly planted beds of pansies greeted this old guy and a couple of other early AM joggers this morning. A thumbs-up to the OKC Parks Department for making the seasonal planting changes. Most of the planting beds and other features in the area are looking far better than they were when I started this thread. There are still a couple of annoying problems down there, but the sprinkler systems were all repaired during the summer and the dead trees removed.

Unfortunately only the lower windows at the Ford Center were cleaned during the summer and they are beginning to look bad again. But they seem to be keeping the hand prints off of the door glass so I guess you could say that we've seen a little progress. I'm still pretty disappointed with the window cleaning over there and I guess more phone calls are in order.

Across the street at the Cox, three or four of the concrete bollards flanking the drive to the big overhead doors on the SW corner of the building have been knocked over and reinstalled several times since the MAPPS remodel and they have been laying by the metal railing along the street for a couple of months now. Apparently, kids are having a little fun rolling them around because they seem to be migrating east. Sooner or later, some dumbass will roll one of them into the middle of Reno and the ensuing car crash will get the attention of whoever it is that's responsible for keeping this building in shape. This is one of those deals that is so obvious, you wonder if anyone is actually in charge down there.

[metro]

keep up the good work ODG, if you let us know the contact name, number, and list of problems, I'll be glad to put a few calls in myself.

[jbrown84]

I was involved in a car accident at Harvey and 10th about 10 days ago that including the running over of one of the recently planted streetscape trees. The tree was broken off at the base. I drove by at least a week later and the tree was still there. I couldn't believe that the city hadn't picked it up by then.

[The Old Downtown Guy]

I was out on a jog this incredible sunny Oklahoma City moring and am happy to report that there has been considerable improvement in the situations and conditions that prompted my original post.

Of special note, all of the metal posts around the trees along the southern portion of the Bricktown canal have now been removed. The planting beds are in much better shape with the addition of more metal edging, mulch and a more timely schedule of seasonal plantings. The general landscape maintainence along the canal is much better and perhpas this spring will see more improvement with repairing the few remaing areas of erosion and replacing the foundation planting materials that have been lost.

Down in the Myriad Garden, the broken sidewalks have all been repaired and more attention is being paid to the general appearance of the walk around the central pond. The improvements planned for the water stage with the arrival of Shakespear In The Park will make this a premier urban park.

Litter continues to be a problem in Bricktown, but perhaps somewhat less than a few months back. There is still a chainlink fense along the south side of Main Street that catches a lot of blowing trash and I don't understand why it is being allowed to remain there. It certainly wasn't approved by the Bricktown Design Review Commission and doesn't fit in at all.

Some of the windows and doors on the Cox and Ford Centers got washed a couple of times last summer, but they aren't kept up to a very high standard. And, quite frankly, I don't understand why there isn't a window washing contractor taking care of those two important facilities on a monthly basis. So, while there has been improvement, there is more work to be done.

Though it would be nice if everything just took care of its self and City government did everything it is charged with in a timely and efficient manner, that simply isn't the case. I know that many calls were made to elected officials last summer about these and other public property maintainence issues, and hopefully a greater awareness of the importance of taking care of our common space has resulted, but continued vigilance will be helpful in keeping these issues high on the City's radar screen.