Gathering Place for Tulsa will be world-class park

[shawnw]

Tulsa Arts District

Soon to be located on Tulsa Boulevard :-P

[rte66man]

Hey at least OKC always has water in the Oklahoma River and had the foresight to build locks with the dams for navigation. The Arkansas River in Tulsa is at the whim of PSO releasing water from Keystone Dam .....

What? Keystone Dam was always built for flood control. The Corps of Engineers controls the releases. I highly doubt they ask PSO if it's ok before they open the gates.

[Swake]

At one point the McClellan-Kerr system was going to come into Tulsa with locks for actual shipping navigation onto the The Gulf, but it ended up stopping in Catoosa instead.

[soonerfan_in_okc]

Not sure if it was mentioned already, but the Roots are going to be performing on the evening they open the park. A nice get. I live right by it so I am looking forward to listening to it from my back yard.

[BG918]

What? Keystone Dam was always built for flood control. The Corps of Engineers controls the releases. I highly doubt they ask PSO if it's ok before they open the gates.

PSO generates hydroelectricity from the releases. The Corps controls releases related to flood control.

[BG918]

At one point the McClellan-Kerr system was going to come into Tulsa with locks for actual shipping navigation onto the The Gulf, but it ended up stopping in Catoosa instead.

The project was already way over budget and a cost saving idea was to terminate in Catoosa on the Verdigris where the elevation is a couple hundred feet lower than Tulsa thus cutting out additional locks and dams as well as new higher clearance bridges. I’ve been told they wanted to build the port along the West Bank just north of I-44.

[dankrutka]

Not sure if it was mentioned already, but the Roots are going to be performing on the evening they open the park. A nice get. I live right by it so I am looking forward to listening to it from my back yard.

Wow, that’s awesome!

[BG918]

Recent aerial photo

[soonerfan_in_okc]

Wow, that’s awesome!

Yep, I’m pumped! They have already hired a few full time staff members to book and run activities at the park. Will be neat to see the kind of things they bring in over the next few years.

[OKCisOK4me]

That is 1000% better than OKC's downtown park.

[Eric]

I will have to say, exploring the website, this park is pretty incredible. The amount of thought and planning that has gone in to this is impossible for me to fathom.

I still contend that the location of this just drives home that this park is for the people of Tulsa.

The aerial imagery on Google appears to have been updated as it appears to be taken pretty recently. It's even more impressive how much they squeezed into this massive space.

[PhiAlpha]

That is 1000% better than OKC's downtown park.

Thats what spending almost 2.5 times the money in an area that’s 5 acres smaller will get you.

[BG918]

I will have to say, exploring the website, this park is pretty incredible. The amount of thought and planning that has gone in to this is impossible for me to fathom.

I still contend that the location of this just drives home that this park is for the people of Tulsa.

The aerial imagery on Google appears to have been updated as it appears to be taken pretty recently. It's even more impressive how much they squeezed into this massive space.

The biggest downside IMO is that it's entirely surrounded by residential neighborhoods. It would have been better if it was closer to downtown and could've spurred new urban development. I have hope that the old Crow Creek apartments to the south will be redeveloped into something denser and mixed-use but haven't seen or heard anything about those plans. I also hope they can find funding for a hike/bike trail link to Brookside a half mile to the east to better link this attraction to the existing retail/restaurant corridor along Peoria.

The next phase includes replacing the pedestrian bridge across the river and improvements to Zink Dam that raises the water level in the lake to 10' and creates a whitewater flume:

[dankrutka]

Yeah, I agree that this park would be even better with mixed use developments near by, but it does have a great bike trail that allows for easy access from the entire downtown/Pearl District/Cherry Street area. But, yeah, it would be great to see some density and retail build up around it to the extent that is possible.

[ChrisHayes]

You can't compare the park in OKC to the Tulsa park. For one thing, the geography of OKC drastically different than that of Tulsa. Tulsa a lot of natural hills and even the river is different. Not to mention, large swaths of eastern Oklahoma are natural forest. Secondly, the park in OKC is nowhere near complete. They still have yet to plant 900 trees, put down sod, and finish up just about every building. Give it time! I just wish they were bringing in trees that were a bit more mature. Or are they?

[Ross MacLochness]

You can't compare the park in OKC to the Tulsa park. For one thing, the geography of OKC drastically different than that of Tulsa. Tulsa a lot of natural hills and even the river is different. Not to mention, large swaths of eastern Oklahoma are natural forest. Secondly, the park in OKC is nowhere near complete. They still have yet to plant 900 trees, put down sod, and finish up just about every building. Give it time! I just wish they were bringing in trees that were a bit more mature. Or are they?

they are

[OKCisOK4me]

You can't compare the park in OKC to the Tulsa park. For one thing, the geography of OKC drastically different than that of Tulsa. Tulsa a lot of natural hills and even the river is different. Not to mention, large swaths of eastern Oklahoma are natural forest. Secondly, the park in OKC is nowhere near complete. They still have yet to plant 900 trees, put down sod, and finish up just about every building. Give it time! I just wish they were bringing in trees that were a bit more mature. Or are they?

I knew someone would say this, and to save your breath, there is no time in the world for our park to get on par with Tulsa's park. Obviously the programming and landscaping is nowhere near complete with our park . But look at the scope of programming in Tulsa's tiny park compared to ours (which is primarily composed of a lake and a large outdoor concert venue with a band shell). The difference between who OKC and Tulsa hired for design is world class (as the title of this thread) and it's in Tulsa's favor.

Kudos to Tulsa for a job well done!

My only negative view is them replacing the old railroad bridge for a more modern pedestrian connection, but I'm a railroad buff so my point is biased.

[BoulderSooner]

That is 1000% better than OKC's downtown park.

i think gathering place will be very nice ... but i don't think this is remotely true ... it May turn out to be better .. but i dont think that is a lock

[gopokes88]

I knew someone would say this, and to save your breath, there is no time in the world for our park to get on par with Tulsa's park. Obviously the programming and landscaping is nowhere near complete with our park . But look at the scope of programming in Tulsa's tiny park compared to ours (which is primarily composed of a lake and a large outdoor concert venue with a band shell). The difference between who OKC and Tulsa hired for design is world class (as the title of this thread) and it's in Tulsa's favor.

Kudos to Tulsa for a job well done!

My only negative view is them replacing the old railroad bridge for a more modern pedestrian connection, but I'm a railroad buff so my point is biased.

Right, but Tulsa is only getting a park. We're getting a new CC, streetcar, white water rapids, and all the extra investments because of the maps 3 investment.

You can't compare the two. No doubt tulsa's park is bigger and better, but our park is just a sliver of the Maps 3 story.

[PhiAlpha]

I knew someone would say this, and to save your breath, there is no time in the world for our park to get on par with Tulsa's park. Obviously the programming and landscaping is nowhere near complete with our park . But look at the scope of programming in Tulsa's tiny park compared to ours (which is primarily composed of a lake and a large outdoor concert venue with a band shell). The difference between who OKC and Tulsa hired for design is world class (as the title of this thread) and it's in Tulsa's favor.

Kudos to Tulsa for a job well done!

My only negative view is them replacing the old railroad bridge for a more modern pedestrian connection, but I'm a railroad buff so my point is biased.

Tulsa’s Park isn’t tiny, it’s only a little under 5 acres smaller than our park. I guess those are differences but the primary difference is that Tulsa is dumping almost 2.5 times the money into a slightly smaller space. It was also funded through public gifts and not a sales tax. We could’ve hired the best park designer in the world but it’s tough to match the gathering place’s programming on less than half the budget.

[PhiAlpha]

Right, but Tulsa is only getting a park. We're getting a new CC, streetcar, white water rapids, and all the extra investments because of the maps 3 investment.

You can't compare the two. No doubt tulsa's park is bigger and better, but our park is just a sliver of the Maps 3 story.

Exactly.

[Eric]

Tulsa’s Park isn’t tiny, it’s only a little under 5 acres smaller than our park. I guess those are differences but the primary difference is that Tulsa is dumping almost 2.5 times the money into a slightly smaller space. It was also funded through public gifts and not a sales tax. We could’ve hired the best park designer in the world but it’s tough to match the gathering place’s programming on less than half the budget.

I see it similarly as well. I really don't see much of a comparison other than both are called parks. They weren't designed to be similar so why are we even making comparisons?

[BoulderSooner]

tulsa also isn't really spending much more money than okc ..

phase 1 which is their park (phase 2 is mostly the museum) is about the same cost as ours ..

their 450 mil numbers included money for the endowment and the public works projects adjacent to the park


also the pedestrian bridge over the river is a separate city project

[jedicurt]

i guess i'm in the small minority, but i don't think it looks good. every time i see the flyovers and such, i keep thinking "wow, this is more concrete than actual park"

[Rover]

i guess i'm in the small minority, but i don't think it looks good. every time i see the flyovers and such, i keep thinking "wow, this is more concrete than actual park"

It will be nice, but I too think it looks a little tricked up... too much going on. I actually like the semi programmed, semi natural feel of ours. But let’s wait til both are finished. I think they are apples and oranges...both good, but different.