Midtown

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ The lot immediately south of Fassler should be left as green public space, but the lot south of that is crying for development.

I thought about that the other day. A really nice, well designed park would be a great thing here.

[Plutonic Panda]

It’d be cool to have a nice compact urban park with a small lawn centered around a Japanese tea garden like this:



With another, upgraded dog park that has a more open space to it at NW 11th and Harvey this should set midtown on parks and allow all other spaces to be developed accordingly.

[HOT ROD]

@Oski Noooo!!. All of those lots need to be developed.

We have PLENTY of parks downtown and far too many (still) undeveloped lots in Midtown to keep this valuable space empty. There's a dog park LITERALLY a half block north of where we're talking about guys. ..

[Oski]

@Oski Noooo!!. All of those lots need to be developed.

We have PLENTY of parks downtown and far too many (still) undeveloped lots in Midtown to keep this valuable space empty. There's a dog park LITERALLY a half block north of where we're talking about guys. ..

Nope: a mid-rise there will suffocate Fassler, best option is a public square right there, sandwiched by Fassler and the (hopefully) mid-rise south of that, parks Downtown have nothing to do with good urban design in Midtown.

[dankrutka]

How exactly does a building suffocate?

[soonerguru]

Nope: a mid-rise there will suffocate Fassler, best option is a public square right there, sandwiched by Fassler and the (hopefully) mid-rise south of that, parks Downtown have nothing to do with good urban design in Midtown.

Huh?

[David]

Suffocate with potential customers maybe, assuming this theoretical mid-rise is housing.

[Teo9969]

I'm wondering if Oski means kill the view - but that's like, why you don't build 2 story buildings. If you expect a view to hang around forever in a 2 story building in an urban area, you're kidding yourself.

[Oski]

I'm wondering if Oski means kill the view - but that's like, why you don't build 2 story buildings. If you expect a view to hang around forever in a 2 story building in an urban area, you're kidding yourself.

This is good/current urban planning practice:


This is what many on okctalk are dreaming to see in OKC, I guess:


I’d recommend this clip to those who are interested in what make a livable, walkable city:

Just one of many sources you can find on the internet. Lots of people wish to walk around charming cities in Europe or Charleston, SC but want nothing but glass towers in their own hometowns.

[dankrutka]

Yeah, we understand walkable urban cities pretty well on this forum, Oski, but you still haven’t explained how developing empty plots in OKC’s urban core with development that would make the area more compact (a principle in the video you linked) and vibrant would be “suffocating.” I’m not trolling. I honestly don’t understand what you mean. And your examples of what you want vs what others want seems totally fabricated. Where did anyone suggest they wanted the picture you posted?

[soonerguru]

This is good/current urban planning practice:


This is what many on okctalk are dreaming to see in OKC, I guess:


I’d recommend this clip to those who are interested in what make a livable, walkable city:

Just one of many sources you can find on the internet. Lots of people wish to walk around charming cities in Europe or Charleston, SC but want nothing but glass towers in their own hometowns.

You would really hate Austin.

[Oski]

^^^ Spent almost ten years living in LA and NYC, no more glass towers for me, I’m a Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Charleston, Savannah fan.

[soonerguru]

^^^ Spent almost ten years living in LA and NYC, no more glass towers for me, I’m a Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Charleston, Savannah fan.

Totally with ya on Amsterdam. Haven't made it to Denmark yet.

[Teo9969]

Red Andrews Park is also 5 blocks away. I also think there's a way to incorporate degree of green space but that whole lot doesn't need to be green. Sometimes you need a 4 block by 4 block area that is an awesome area for entertainment, and the kind of entertainment this would bring probably specifically needs to *not* have a public space in it to prevent unscrupulous behavior at night and one weekends.

I still firmly believe they need to develop the lot with a "tight" pedestrian walkway that extends the diagonal nature of Classen Dr > NW 10th down to 9th - you know, one of those old world walk ways where if you put 2 two-top tables outside a cafe against both walls that it would be hard for a family of 4 to walk hand in hand through the area without bumping the tables.

[Oski]

I wish to see Midtown turned into a vibrant district full of top restaurants, retail stores, offices, and probably 2,000 more apartment units. So, an urban park, which also serves as a rest area, or a gathering place that people can sit down on the lawn, or benches, and take a short “break” before hitting the next venues on their shopping lists, or just sip coffee while watching people/live music, is a must. The lot in front of Fassler is right at the center of Midtown’s business/entertainment neighborhood, so it’s natural to designate it as the “rest area”. This will be a hub of inspiration, creativity, innovation, connectedness, collisions, you name it. Since I have so much time to waste, I drew up what I hope the area will look like.



Some suggestions for this urban park:

[dcsooner]

Your ideas are awesome, however, in my humble opinion OKC leadership, business community, and the States continued penchant for absurdity etc does not reflect the bold, visionary leadership to elevate OKC beyond average

[dankrutka]

Yeah, OKC leadership would, for example, never transform the urban core by convincing citizens to tax themselves to build public amenities like great urban parks, concert/sports arenas, baseball fields, streetcars, libraries, a canal, and more. They'd never do something like that, dcsooner. lol

I appreciate the ideas, Oski. A lot of great examples. I travel to Sundance Square in Fort Worth often and it's really well done and not that difficult. Unfortunately, Fort Worth has (against all epidemiological and medical advice) shut down the plaza so people cannot hang out outdoors. Instead, people are pushed into restaurants in the area. Still, it's a well done plaza that is often busy.

[Oski]

I believe a well-designed urban park with transformative landscaping, and innovative/interactive amenities will kickstart the rapid development of empty lots Midtown, park is the heart and soul of a community. Instead of totally relying on the vision of city administrators, I think Midtown residents and business association can create something by themselves, probably a MAPS: Midtown Area Projects Plan. Midtown is rich, they can definitely make changes come faster.

[king183]

Downtown and midtown were about as packed as I can ever imagine last night—it was crazy. Everywhere we went, even the CBD, had people all over the place going to various events. I know there was a big concert at Jones, PrideFest, Festival of Arts, a concert in Wheeler, and probably more. It was great to see the city so alive.

[Pete]

^

Everywhere is packed today as well.

Great to see.

[unfundedrick]

^

Everywhere is packed today as well.

Great to see.

True. We parked across the street from Neighborhood Jam today to catch the streetcar at the Dewey stop. There was a line out the door. When we got back to the car a couple of hours later there was still a line out the door.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

Heard there was a shooting near fasslers

[BG918]

Heard there was a shooting near fasslers

Police told KOCO 5 one victim is in critical condition, and the other two are recovering at a hospital.

https://www.koco.com/article/the-vil...g-out/36856572

[soonerguru]

https://www.koco.com/article/the-vil...g-out/36856572

There are only two "bars" between Walker and Hudson on 10th Street: Fassler Hall and Sunset. The news reporter seems to be going out of his way to keep those bar names out of the report.

Any guess in front of which bar this incident occurred?

[Pete]

My understanding is the gunshots were fired outside but the argument started in Sunset.