Weekend Wrap-up
Saturday, enjoying the celebration of the Lunar New Year in the Asian District… 
Thanks to everybody for your comments and participation in OKC Central. As I wrap up the week, here are some random thoughts…
OK, do we really need any evidence that I’ve still got a lot to learn? Old Downtown Guy corrects me on what the IIDA is – it’s the International Interior Design Association. The group recently met at the Red Pin Bowling Lounge in Lower Bricktown.
Here’s what Old Downtown Guy had to say: “The space was a difficult fit for the bowling alley/restaurant tenant but the design team did an excellent job of shoe-horning in all of the mechanical and sprinkler systems. The interior design, finish and materials selections were done by Cynthia Harrison and Bethany Jackson of Tandem Design. David Wanzer and Ken Fitzsimmons also worked on the architectural portion of the project. Monty Jacobs was the general contractor.”
Wanzer and Fitzsimmons are part of the influx of new talent making their mark downtown. Wanzer and his partners at J3 Architecture currently office in Deep Deuce in the Littlepage Building, but will soon be moving to Film Row on W Sheridan where they are participating in the area’s redevelopment. Fitzsimmons and his brother Bryan, meanwhile, are involved in some exciting and challenging innercity projects including the Tower Theater on NW 23.
Old Downtown Guy added he saw Jeff Bezdeck with a group at Red Pin as well. Bezdek designed the dancing fountains in Lower Bricktown, brought Centennial Clocks to just about every town in the state, designed the bell tower along the Oklahoma River and the clock tower for the MidTown Plaza at NW 5 and Walker. Bezdek also happens to office next door to Wanzer.
And here is Old Downtown Guy’s review: “Red Pin is a fun spot . . . nice bar and a decent restaurant. I don’t bowl, but I think their lanes get plenty of use . . . six or seven of the ten were going strong this evening. The pin setting equipment is very interesting and requires a full time mechanic to keep it working properly.”Second item: Harry Wilson rcorrectly reminds us that the old incarnation of the Urban Design Commission played a pivotal role in stopping demolition of the Gold Dome. The design commission, with more power to halt demolition of buildings deemed historic, created the delay needed for interested parties to attract a buyer like Dr. Irene Lam. Here’s what Wilson has to say:
How quickly we forget. Re the Gold Dome, the Urban Design Commission “saved the landmark from demolition”. If we had voted “yes” there wouldn’t have been a “landmark” for anyone to occupy.
The UDC has never received the credit it deserved for the behind the scenes leadership re Auto Alley, 23rd Street, The Plaza District, and more. For some reason the Bricktown UDC gets the headlines. I guess we were just too boring or maybe it was the professional approach of the UDC as opposed to the headline grabbing personalities of the Bricktown group.
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Comments
I know this is off-topic, but what do the numbers in the upper left corner of each post mean? I’ve failed to figure it out …
Everyone should check out Jason Bondy’s stunning Chinese New Year pic … http://radio51.blogspot.com/2008/02/1-dragon.html … it’s a winner!
It’s a feature of this particular WordPress theme: it’s the number of the post and/or page. I’m guessing that there were half a dozen false starts and/or test posts, because the first live post is numbered 7. (WordPress does not reuse numbers in the database.)
Thanks for the reminder about the work of the Urban Design Commission (UDC) Harry and thanks for your years of public service. Our city is a better place because of your efforts.
The monthly UDC meetings as well as all meetings of the other citizen populated commissions (Planning Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, Board of Adjustment, Bricktown Design Commission etc. are open to the public and the agendas are posted on the okc.gov site.
This commission was established as part of the Urban Design Ordinance that was the brain-child of Garner Stoll, former OKC Planning Department Director. Garner’s tenure in Oklahoma City was a watershed period in public planning that has had far reaching impact . . . the action of the UDC that made possible the citizen effort to thwart the thoughtless demolition of this important landmark by BankNone being quite notable to say the least.
Though I have no bones to pick with departing Director, John Dugan, I hope his replacement is more of a risk taker that will push harder for raising the design standards for public works projects, put more emphisis on pedestrian friendly design, put less emphisis on the demands of single passenger automobiles, suggest improved landscaping standards, help to establish light rail and other high quality public transit, and lead a major overhaul of OKC’s antiquated sign ordinances.
There is at lease one good candidate within the Planning Department to fill the Director position, but filling this job is one of the most important decisions that the City Council will make this year, so the search should be thorough and the qualifications bar set very high.
The districts managed by UDC just aren’t as high profile as Bricktown… Part of the media (particularly the TV news) still leads us to believe that downtown Oklahoma City is CALLED “Bricktown,” which is something like calling Oklahoma City “The Village.”
However, no matter how ignored by television journalists, the assistance from UDC in places like the Plaza District absolutely makes a difference, and people in these focused Internet urban development circles are far more likely to acknowledge and appreciate work in the Plaza or along 23rd, or Film Exchange, or Midtown, etc etc etc… No matter how small or fledgling the resurgences of these districts are, they’re big pieces of the puzzle.