OKC Central NewsOK.com Blogging Community

I really like these guys….

The first story about ”problems” parking in Bricktown was reported in 1990. That’s a fact.  

So this discussion isn’t new. I’m not sure that I saw a lot of new ideas in the consultant’s report on Bricktown parking, though as one person told me, it might take an outside consultant repeating solutions mentioned by others to get people’s attention. But there is some intriguing discussion going on at Blair Humphreys’ Imaginative America. In he past few days I’ve also heard ideas posted here and at OKC Talk that include parking meters that let you choose how long to park (and the prices go up for the longer periods) and a garage in Atlanta that lets people park for two hours free, and then charges them there after.

I did some thinking last night and read through the 70 pages again. And it occurred to me - no where in that study did the report try to delve into “what are we trying to accomplish?” By that I mean, what’s the intent here?

The folks who invented the parking meter (right here in OKC) knew what they were trying to accomplish - a way to ensure parking spaces rotated throughout the day to accomodate shoppers and other downtown visitors and discourage workers from parking curbside.

And seems to be part of the intent expressed by the study consultants from Dezman Associates. But hold on just a minute - parking meters were created for the Central Business District, where it’s assumed visitors won’t need more than an hour (most Bricktown parking meters assume two hours).

I’m also a bit uncertain of the authors’ logic of saying that those who used parking meters for more than four hours were likely employees of area business and not visitors. Oh really?

Don’t we want visitors to spend more time in Bricktown? How might one spend their time currently?

OK, they park. They stroll down Sheridan Avenue and the canal, looking around, considering where to eat. Let’s say they’re out for a really nice evening, and they choose Mickey Mantle Steakhouse. We’re easily talking about 90 minutes just doing this.

Now our couple out for a night on the town decides to check out the Painted Door gift shop, and they proceed to Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Emporium. They look at the statues and murals outside the ballpark. Add another 45 minutes.

Oh, look honey, there’s the canal boats … Add another 45 minutes, usually… BUT WAIT! Guy sees the Bass Pro Shops and asks the boat driver to let them off. They spend 30 minutes at Bass Pro. They get back on another boat and head back for the Mickey Mantle plaza drop off. All together, the boat ride and detour at Bass Pro Shops lasts 90 minutes (they had to wait about 10 minutes for another boat to come by, and they did do some strolling as well).

We are now at 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Our couple arrived in Bricktown at 5 p.m., so it’s still pretty early - not even 9 p.m. How do they cap off their evening? Do they spend a couple hours at CityWalk, SkkyBar or Lit? Do they enjoy a horse-driven carriage ride? Do they go bowling at Red Pin? Or do they catch some live music at the Purple Bar at Nonna’s or at Toby Keiths? Or do they go play pool at the Brewery?

Any way you choose, we’re looking at five hours or more. And, according to the study’s authors, these folks must be employees because visitors won’t spend this sort of time in Bricktown.

So, here’s the first question when it comes to parking meters - what is the intent of having them in Bricktown?

Now, let’s move onto the parking lots. Again, what is the intent here? Are the owners and operators motivated to balance making money with also making sure they don’t charge so much that they discourage people from visiting? I suspect that there isn’t just one answer that applies here. For people like Don Karchmer, Jeff Moore and Marsh Pitman, it seems as if they’ve kept their parking rates comparably low; they are invested in the district in a way that involves far more than parking.

Then the question moves to parking operators like Virgil Haymon, who last week was arrested on complaints of charging people to park on a lot he didn’t control and in city right of way. He’s the first to admit he has no investment in the district and isn’t a member of the Bricktown Association. He’s just out there charging people to park and sharing the proceeds with property owners like Bob Meinders and Bricktown Burgers. He only operates when Bricktown is at its busiest - weekend nights, special events - and he is often hit with complaints of price gouging, using “boots” to lock tires of cars where visitors don’t pay him. So what is his intent?

We have the Cummings lot at Mickey Mantle and Walnut. Nobody seems to even know who this guy is, and he was the only owner/operator not present at a meeting last week. Most in Bricktown agree this corner is prime for development - yet the owner has seemed content the past decade charging $5 to $10 to park, sometimes more, depending on how busy the area is. He has as many spaces cramed onto the corner as is possible. What is his intent?

Then there’s Jim Brewer, whose family controls a majority of the surface parking lots in Bricktown. Brewer is a self made man who deserves a lot of credit for Bricktown’s early development. He was a talented promoter who made what was slim pickings for entertainment in the district’s early days seem like a lot. He owns several undeveloped buildings, however, and his lots have been among those charging people upwards of $20 to park when huge crowds hit the district. And yet he was also among those agreeing last week to a parking cap of $10 for special events and $5 during non-event days. What is his intent?

Then there’s the city. The folks at City Hall didn’t spend much time discussing the inequities in parking in Lower Bricktown versus old Bricktown when they agreed to take the money Randy Hogan paid them to develop Lower Bricktown and reinvested it in canal improvements and creating free parking for the area’s visitors.

The city did not say “let the free market dictate parking, Randy, and if it can’t be done without charging visitors to park, well then, charge them.”

Yet the city has done just that in old Bricktown, and even signed away control of lots it did own to private operators. So what’s the intent here?

Now, onto the visitors. I’ve been in Bricktown at its busiest and I’ve always found a place to park. I might have had to walk a couple of blocks. But guess what - that walk is no different than what you face when you decide to catch a blockbuster movie at Quail Springs Mall or go shopping at Penn Square Mall on the weekend before Christmas. If you’re willing to walk that much in suburbia when you know it’s going to busy, why the sudden laziness when it comes to enjoying downtown? What’s the intent here?

Finally, enough with comparing Bricktown parking rates to other cities. For whatever reason, the cost of living is lower here, but so is per capita income. The consultants themselves agreed that $10 parking here is not the same as $10 parking in Denver or Dallas.

I’m back at my old stomping grounds - City Hall - awaiting to hear presentation of the Bricktown parking study.

ODOT engineer John Bowman is at the podium right now giving an update on the relocation of the Interstate 40 Crosstown Expressway. He says the project is on track for completion in 2012. He also warned significant traffic disruptions are about to begin with closures along Western Avenue and Agnew Avenue. He said the worst of it will hit in about a year.

Sounds like almost all of the construction phases are either underway or very close to starting.

Well, not really. Seems like everytime I write about parking in Bricktown, someone’s blood pressure starts to rise. Opposing sides of this debate are both less than pleased with today’s coverage.

Some say I was too easy on the parking operators and portrayed Jim Cowan in too flatering a light. I’ve had others say I spent too much time airing complaints against the parking operators and didn’t delve enough into what the parking operators and property owners are doing to improve the situation.

Ah yes, we’ve hit a balance.

Of course, there’s more to report on all this. It’s pretty much impossible to sum up a 70-page report in a 15-inch news story. Stick with me the next couple days and I’ll share more both here at OKC Central and possibly in Tuesday’s Main Street column.

So here’s the first of what represents an FAQ (frequently asked questions) of day one:

Q: Is the city really going to buy the Bricktown garage and north parking and make them free to visitors?

A: My crystal ball is broken today. Mayor Mick Cornett is clearly interested in doing just that. But city staff will have to find money to make it happen, and the mayor will need at least four council votes on his side to make it happen. And then there’s the question of whether the owners will sell…

Q: A $10 parking cap? Are you kidding me? Is this really progress?

A: Yes, it may really be an improvement. Some of these parking operators have been known to hit $15 and even $20 on a rare occassion. It’s important to note that some operators have routinely capped their rates at $5 whether or not there is a major event going on. They say they will continue to do so.

Q: I can never find a parking spot. What are they going to do about that?

A: Let me help you. First, get a parking map from www.downtownokc.com. Then, the next time you hit Bricktown, be sure to check out the north lots, the Bricktown garage and the Santa Fe garage. I’ve surveyed parking at some of the busiest moments - including the Big 12 basketball tournaments - and always found open parking spots. Sorry, but this question (or complaint) sounds like my kid telling me I “never” let him have any fun. Yeah, go tell it to the Marines.

More to come….

Read the whole story here.

Thank Architect 2010 at OKC Talk and Jeff Click over at www.modernlandrun.com for bringing this great series of panoramas to our attention. Dare you to watch it it just once.

It’s hot out there. But downtown is still moving forward at a fast clip, and I guess, so must I. As I’ve reported before, more hotels are likley to be announced, most of them in Bricktown.

More housing is coming too - and much of it will be targeted to the pent-up demand for downtown homes priced at less than $200,000.

I’m also beginning to see signs that the folks in Bricktown may be awakening to reality - let’s wait and see of course - but surely a decade of demanding $20 a square foot and not getting it should be a loud and clear answer from the market about what is and isn’t realistic.

Had a nice visit with the owner of Lit Clothing, which opened up in The Centennial. Overall, Lower Bricktown still isn’t hitting the retail mix I know some leaders hoped for several years ago, but it’s getting closer to offering the sort of diversity that’s been missing from Bricktown since day one.

I talked with Chuck Ainsworth, and yes, that is construction you can see starting up in what will the American Banjo Museum. Now, if only someone could close a deal to have the Mickey Mantle Museum. Then we would really have a regional tourism destination.

Automobile Alley is still humming along. I visited with Steve Mason yesterday and I’ll have a story on that soon. I also visited with Marva Ellard, and things are going nicely with her redevelopment of the Sieber Hotel. The Sieber family is still very emotionally attached to that old building and it’s not unusual to find one of them driving by … veeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy sssssssssssllllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyyy.

Marva is definitely one of those folks I’d call a “building hugger.” I asked her what she thought about Bert Belanger tearing down the old sex offender houses and plans to tear down the boarded up nursing home on Broadway Drive. Her response was ho-hum at best… I’m not hearing from any people who really consider these properties a big loss.

That’s it for now. Sorry for the dearth of posts this week. 

Grant Humphreys is a busy guy these days, and there’s no shortage of topics to question him on. Consider that he’s expected to start construction soon on the Flatiron, a project that as designed would dramatically alter the east entryway to downtown. Or look toward the Downtown Airpark or Lake Eufaula where he and his dad Kirk (former mayor, Flashpoint host, OKC Schools chair, busy guy himself) are preparing to launch some pretty sophisticated developments.

So what is Grant having to talk about almost daily? You guessed it - the Ferris Wheel.

Where is it going?

Grant is still not saying. But he’s out to correct the latest assumption being discussed in certain circles - that he bought the Ferris Wheel from the Santa Monica Pier to be included in the Lake Eufaula development. Nope, not true, he says. He did not buy the Ferris Wheel intending it to go to Lake Eufaula. Does that mean it’s not going to the lake? Nope. But he’s also not saying if it’s destined for the old Downtown Airpark or somewhere else.

Will he share this secret with Steve Lackmeyer, who promises not to share with anyone but maybe the couple hundred thousand people who read The Oklahoman? Nope, won’t do that either.

We won’t be left waiting forever, however. Grant says to expect an answere sometime next spring.

So, that having been said and knowing Grant is a reader of this blog, let’s manipulate him a bit and share our own ideas as to what to do with his really cool new toy.

Share your ideas with comments below, and we’ll conduct a poll on Monday.

-Steve

It’s the question asked of Grant Humphreys almost daily - where is the Ferris Wheel going to end up?

This weekend, I’ll share some new insight.