Why you should ignore the Northside vs. Southside thread

[andy157]

I always was told it was Reno, it runs the entire city where Sheridan barely gets out of downtown. Looking at Google Earth I see that S 2nd is the one south of Reno but California sits between Reno and Sheridan, so which one is it supposed to be?

Sheridan is the unit block N & S, and Santa Fe is the unit block for the E & W. The address for the Colcord Hotel is 15 N. Robinson. If it were located on the Southside of Sheridan it's address most likely (would/could) be 15 S. Robinson.

[kevinpate]

Have never needed to look real close and I did think Reno was the dividing line.
Learned me something today. Thanks for that.

[andy157]

Have never needed to look real close and I did think Reno was the dividing line.
Learned me something today. Thanks for that.

Here is some more useless info. Had the Colcord been built on the Eastside of Robinson, it's address would/could have been 14 N./S. Robinson

[old okie]

The County Jail?


Just kidding - I don't have a dog in this fight but a multi-purpose race course would be nice.

There is a small race track on the southwest side; when it is in use, you can't be in your yard or try to sleep because of the noise. It is just horrible. I would never wish a race track on ANY part of the city. But if someone out in the boonies having NO neighbors and a section of land wanted to do a racetrack, fine.

County jail? Couldn't be in our part of the city; we're not in Oklahoma County.

The northside/southside "argument" is just ridiculous. We need to look at what is good for Oklahoma City, not just part of it.

[Spartan]

Nick, when you are 20 years older, I hope that you still have the same zeal and have grown from the wisdom that additional years almost always seem to bring ... aging a good wine, so to speak. I really don't think that you are grasping the point that Steve was/is trying to make.

Fair enough Doug, but as for your analogy, I think it would be much cooler if you compared me to a sixpack of Keystone rather than a good wine..lol (sarcasm)

[Doug Loudenback]

Fair enough Doug, but as for your analogy, I think it would be much cooler if you compared me to a sixpack of Keystone rather than a good wine..lol (sarcasm)

Consider it done ... the comparison is amended accordingly.

[Northsider]

so what happen when reno runs to lets say mid/del city is it not the dividing N/S street ?

[andy157]

so what happen when reno runs to lets say mid/del city is it not the dividing N/S street ?

Do what?

[windowphobe]

Del City divides at Reno, not that there's a whole lot north of Reno in Del City.

Midwest City varies. In the older part of town, the zero point is Mid-America Blvd. at SE 29th. (NE 10th is about the 3800 block north.) Anything east of Woodside Drive (8500 E) is basically on the OKC grid, with Reno as the N/S divider. Through streets (Air Depot, Reno, Midwest Blvd., NE 10/23, SE 15/29) use the OKC numbers regardless.

[Urbanized]

The address of the Bricktown Ballpark is 2 SOUTH Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse is 7 SOUTH Mickey Mantle. The canal Water Taxi ticket kiosk is 11 SOUTH Mickey Mantle, and the entire canal resides on the SOUTH side, according to street address. The Ford Center, if its address were on a N-S street instead of an E-W street, would have a SOUTH SIDE address. Same with the Cox Center and the Myriad Botanical Gardens. The Chesapeake Boathouse is 725 SOUTH Lincoln Boulevard, and all of the river's improvements are on the SOUTH side. The C2S park and all of its improvements, according to drawings? SOUTH side. Convention center? Well the location is yet TBD according to most involved, but the sites getting the most discussion are on the SOUTH side.

Sheridan is the dividing line, not Reno, not the river, but as others have pointed out, downtown is EVERYBODY's neighborhood and really shouldn't even be categorized as any directional part of town other than its center. To say that downtown projects are "northside" projects is to say that southsiders don't hang out in Bricktown, or go to concerts, or go to baseball/basketball/arena football/hockey games. It's simply not true.

Now, do plenty of southsiders rarely if ever frequent those areas, and do their dining and going out somewhere else in the city, I-240 perhaps? Sure. But there are PLENTY of northsiders who rarely make it south of NW 63rd, or even Memorial road.

Mostly northside/southside is a state of mind rather than a geographical thing. But to say that downtown MAPS projects were only for northsiders is silly, innaccurate, and intellectually dishonest.

[dismayed]

I think someone else mentioned that in the minds of many South Siders, regardless of the geographic reality, our downtown area is the "North Side" in their minds.

I can understand why. If you're familiar with our city's history you know that for all intents and purposes Capitol Hill was the "downtown" of the South Side. Even though that was a long time ago, I think that culturally that idea has been handed down generationally from the old timers.

The reality is that downtown, especially Bricktown, is used by people from all around the city. But like any large government project involving a substantial tax increase, at some point you have to ask yourself "what's in it for me." And while Bricktown is nice, throwing a constituency a bone to get them out to vote is even nicer. I think that the MAPS 3 vote could have been much more successful if it had included revitalization funds for several portions of the city (such as the Asian District, Paseo, Capitol Hill, and Stockyards City). That's just a political reality. It is arguable that not including these things was a bad decision though... since the MAPS supporters won, it can probably be argued that they got what they wanted and they didn't have to add on additional "pork" to do it. But at the end of the day, if finding some city unity is also a part of MAPS, I think this has been an opportunity squandered once again.