Downtown OKC 2020: Nick Roberts
Nick Roberts
Nick has been very kind to me in that he could have said “hey idiot, you didn’t run all the Downtown OKC 2020 posts!” Instead, he simply asked if all had been run. Well, he, better than I, sadly, knew the answer to this. Because Nick had one great guest blog post I’ve not run. With posts titled “Why Core to Shore Sucks” on his blog www.downtownontherange.blogspot.com and his new downtown blog http://downtownokclist.blogspot.com it’s encouraging to see 20-somethings like Nick so in tune with the community but also willing to challenge the status quo. It gives me hope that our city’s resurgence isn’t close to being done. Now, here’s Nick’s thoughts on what’s ahead for Downtown Oklahoma City:
Seems like just yesterday it was 2000. I had just graduated from kid’s meals to big kid’s meals, and all of my teachers in junior high believed the world was coming to an end..in the end though, all everyone got was a killer computer virus. Britney Spears had just hit it big, along with NSync, the Backstreet Boys, and Jennifer Lopez. It was a simpler time. In Downtown Oklahoma City, leaders were beginning to brace for an expected wave of investment in the inner city after the completion of MAPS 1. Again, it was a simpler time. In the end, what they had anticipated was exceeded again and again and again by what actually came to fruition. Nobody had predicated that the post-MAPS surge in Downtown would have been near as wildly successful as it has been.
Today I think it’s possible we’ve gotten a little full of ourselves. We all need to take a big step backward, try as we might, and remove ourselves from our place in order to get an accurate picture. In order to visualize Downtown OKC in 2020 we have to visualize Downtown OKC in 2000, and 1990, and so on. Most importantly I think we need to visualize Downtown OKC in 1920, 1930, and 1940. OKC needs to go back to the future to a time when it had excellent downtown parks, a great streetcar network, and downtown vibrancy. This period was undoubtedly the golden era for Downtown, so as we turn not to the nearest Core to Shore planner, Chamber exec, or out-of-town planning corporation but instead to our own local historians and downtown buffs, we could gain from looking at all of the grand schemes that never made it to fruition. This spirit behind Core to Shore is nothing new, OKC has always had a uniquely strong desire to want to reinvent itself as the next Seattle. The bottom line is that while there has been a major plan every 10 years or so that came up, there has only been ONE of these grand schemes ever since the 1940s that actually was successful in the end. That was the Metropolitan Area Projects passed in 1993.
That’s not to say that if I.M. Pei’s Urban Renewal was successful, it wouldn’t have been a cool thing, or that if the String of Pearls had been successful, it wouldn’t have been a cool thing, and so on. I am sure there is a lot I don’t even know about, but I do know this: MAPS is the only thing out of everything we’ve tried to actually arbitrarily add value to downtown that was successful. Because MAPS was successful doesn’t mean that MAPS 3 has to be successful, either, success does usually breed more success. The momentum we have going right now is great, and we can’t risk loosing it. The results of MAPS 3 will just be beginning to be seen in 2020, and it will either be all the difference in making that giant leap forward, or it will just keep OKC on its secondary-city track.
The bottom line is that I don’t owe any allegiance to Oklahoma City, in fact, almost none of us do. I have a great amount of admiration for the small few who actually feel compelled that way, however, the deal is that I am a student about to have my Master’s, and I live in a part of the world where luckily I’m free enough to move from one city to another as I want. Personally, I’m a lot more likely to chose a city based on how comfortable I feel there, rather than settling down where my family is. Why should I move to OKC after I graduate, instead of Seattle, Calgary, Austin, Charlotte, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Vancouver, Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta, and so on and so forth? OKC’s task to be competitive is most daunting because, while critics will argue for a slower pace and say that you can’t make up for 50-60 years of decline in 10 years..if this is going to work anytime soon, it is going to have to come close.
The reason I should consider settling down in OKC is that I believe OKC can be just as competitive as any given city. There is no reason why OKC can’t be the next Seattle. It’s a matter of playing your cards right, investing in yourself, and keeping the boastful civic pride alive. Pride is a commitment that shows through in every thing you do, and Oklahomans should be proud of the city they have set in motion recently, yet cognizant that there is a long ways to go, and mindful that mistakes being made here and there in small places have indeed been holding OKC back. Core to Shore poses a wide array of mistakes about to be made, and brilliant ideas that deserve high praise.
My advice is to listen to Jeff Speck and completely rethink Core to Shore. Extend the timeline on the projects designed to stretch urban infill all the way to the river (but not the ones close to the CBD), and consider breaking up super-block structures. Is it really a good idea to have a contiguous clump of 20+ blocks (central park, new convention center, ford center, cox center, myriad gardens, and more) that isn’t broken up by development? I think that sort of just turns the central park into a front lawn for the new convention center, but that’s just me. Having this huge cluster of civic space in the middle just turns the streets into dead space that isn’t immersed by a vibrant neighborhood.
The boulevard is obviously a waste of money and a bad idea that will backfire. Instead of encouraging pedestrian walkability, it will hinder it by being as wide if not wider than the current Crosstown Expressway. In truth, walking across the current Crosstown is far easier than crossing this proposed 8/10-lane boulevard, you just have to start walking and hope a berm holding up the highway doesn’t come down and pulverize you.
The convention center and central park also need to be reconsidered. The two sites need to be separated, or else I fear that the central park will just turn into a front lawn for the convention center as I said earlier. The convention center needs to be moved to just across the boulevard from Lower Bricktown, where OKC Rocks is. The OKC Rocks silo can be creatively incorporated into an ultra-modern convention center/convention hotel complex that would be the toast of the architecture world. The central park needs to avoid copying Millennium Park item-for-item, which is probably what will happen. If we do so, the park will never get near the notoriety of Millennium Park but instead just be a footnote of, “Oh yeah, and then in Oklahoma, _______, and _______ they also copied this pretty much.”
The focus of Downtown OKC right now needs to be achieving a critical mass of housing, ASAP. There’s no doubt that there is demand for a real downtown filled to the brim with a multitude of housing options, the glaring problem with that however is that nobody wants “downtown living” when the lots surrounding you are still mud pits that aren’t breaking ground on development anytime in the near future. It’s a massive scar on people’s romanticized vision of “downtown living” in all its glory. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that this will change, and that more housing will slowly break ground (hopefully as soon as the credit markets thaw, OKC will benefit from being a stable market that gets a lot of investment from outside). The current rate that we’re moving on housing development just isn’t good enough.
To my knowledge, there aren’t very many developments that broke ground and exceeded my expectations after they were finished. The Centennial is one of the few, Block 42 is another that exceeded my expectations. The Legacy at Arts Central looks nothing like the renderings, the Maywood Park projects might not move forward, The Hill is just a disaster in the making, and not to mention the dozens of developments that never got past the drawing board. The national economy has been the culprit 99% of the time, so it’s hard to blame any particular developer. You just have to keep downtown going and hope that some of these projects will stick, and make it a more attractive environment for more.
Downtown streetcar is probably the thing that can get development rolling the fastest. It would have an incredible array of uses beneficial to downtown, but it’s main attribute would be in attracting investment. Developers can see the rails in the ground, and the wires above the street, and know that the train will pass through here regularly. When you see a bus stop sign, you don’t have the same confidence, and you don’t feel like you’re along a fixed transit line, because you aren’t. The much maligned city buses and Spirit Trolleys aren’t cutting it, whereas rail could solve our parking problem, effectively circulate pedestrians through downtown, and create pedestrian-friendly corridors that cross downtown. There is no other alternative, not even “bus rapid transit” that can do this. I promise, if Oklahoma City passes MAPS 3 and builds a streetcar system, not only will it go to good use, but it will be the development impetus needed in order to build up a critical mass of downtown housing quickly.
When I look in my crystal ball at how Downtown OKC will appear in 2020, I occasionally see things from the point of view of a skeptic that is underwhelmed by the downtown development that actually has happened, and then more often I see things from the point of view of an optimist that is amazed at the potential of everything happening. It is my great hope that OKC can emerge from these great attempts as an urban, walkable, clean city where everyone would want to live. In 2020 I want to see very few vacant lots in the formerly-called “Triangle” area (most of which is Deep Deuce) and MidTown. I hope that there will be a grand ceremony unveiling a brilliant new central park. I hope that whatever concept is chosen for the boulevard, it works as intended. I hope that the convention center is something we can all be proud of, which for $250-400 million, it had better be. This convention center has the potential to bring in thousands of business visitors a week, so it deserves the bells and whistles. Obviously the new Devon Tower, which will be about 7 years old in 2020, will have become a symbol of Oklahoma’s urban resurgence. It’s important that Oklahomans take seriously the idea of “an urban OKC” or else people outside of Central Oklahoma certainly won’t, and nothing will have changed.
The people of OKC, who have to be the most wonderful people I have ever known, deserve a Great American City, one that can be listed among the ranks of places like Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. OKC can be well on its way to achieving this by 2020.
-Nick Roberts
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Comments
Interesting. Nick, I’d never really thought about the psychological advantage to businesses of having a fixed rail with a known route versus the flexible and potentially changeable bus or trolly system. It makes perfect sense, though, and probably is the best argument I’ve heard for the streetcar system planned (besides the fact that it will be located where I can conveniently use it!).
Good artical. I have noticed that the leaders in OKC want to copy other peoples ideals. No creativity. Dare to be uniqic which could draw tourists and more residents to OKC. A couple of ideals to be different and not a copy of other cities.
1. Oklahoma Space Needle. A large, tall oil derrick with a restaurant and observation area on top. An elevator shaft and elevator with shroud around the shaft to simulate an old style working drilling derrick as the elevator moves up and down.
2. Smaller parks with large artificial rock formations which could have multi use functions inside and on exterior.
Activities on exterior could be things like rock climbing, water sides, waterfalls with pools of water, cable car ride to top of structure, caves, museum inside, restaurants inside, cave opens for eating or resting areas small train ride through and around the exterior surface. Could be enlarged easily by adding more rock surface area anywhere on the structure.
Try to do something different that people will have to come to OKC to see or move to, to be near it.
Great job Nick and like Jill I was struck by the comment you made about the psychological advantages of the street car over a bus stop (which in OKC don’t even have posted routes or times). I continue to be impressed by the 20 somethings of this town who seem to have really done their homework. I take for granted how much this city has changed in the last 20 years since I have lived through the bad and good times being a 40 something. You guys (I suppose there are some gals out there too) have done your homework and I am especially impressed with how much history you know. I am just learning the history of the city in which I have lived most of my 43 years, mostly thanks to Steve and Doug. I just hope we can keep this great wealth of youngsters around and you all become involved in a tangible way in the future of our city. I’ll be well in to middle age and more before I see a central park or a decent convention center or practical public transportation or even a sidewalk instead of a worn rut in the grass where pedestrians now get from their houses to the grocery store or work. But that does not mean just because I may not benefit directly from these future plans that we can’t start plannning for them now. I guess it is the same reason I planted a sapling OK redbud in my backyard on November 16, 2007 with a plaque by it. I want the people who live in my house 25 years from now to look at that plaque and think it was cool that I planted a gorgeous tree indigenous to this great state as a commemoration to the centennial. Hopefully, with great planning we all can look back in 25 years and say “We did good”.
Thanks guys. Sorry about that Steve, I didn’t realize mine was the only one left, even though yes I did know you still had some columns including mine. haha.
Jill, there are a lot of creative arguments for streetcar. We’re going to have to use the more creative ones here in OKC because we can’t really justify it by saying downtown needs it right now because it’s dense enough to support it. Another great argument tailored to OKC, that I credit Steve with, is that it could be a great circulator simply for the purpose of relieving our parking issues. We have parking, just not all of it is concentrated near where people want to be.
Casey, I am currently working on my M.Arch which I just got into the upper division studies for that this year. M.Arch is a 5 year program that’s only 1 year longer (for most people) than getting a normal undergraduate degree.
Hey Nick – Nice post. On target on a number of issues across the board. The need for more housing and the desire for fixed transit got me to thinking…
Could/should the route the streetcar takes be planned in a way that creates more (or less) development opportunities? Has anyone attempted to view the issue of selecting a route through this lens?
I am fairly certain the Fixed Guideway Study route analysis did not properly take into account the role streetcar could play as a impetus for economic development. In the end, places that already have a density of users (i.e. Capitol, health sciences, etc) also have the necessary parking infrastructure to support those users. While other districts, Automobile Alley for instance, have a critical lack of parking infrastructure and would benefit tremendously from the introduction of a new streetcar line.
The idea that we should simply connect by sinuous route all of the current hubs of activity is too simplistic. In the end, we should use streetcar to shape the future city we want.
Vote Yes on Maps 3!
As far as Nick’s comments on the streetcar and dedicated rail lines for developers to see. Credit Jeff Bezdek of the MTP project….It’s his classic speech.
Great article and ideas. Nick, or a bunch like him needs to be on the Advisory Board or better yet, the Council or even Mayor!
I am on the same page as you regarding the boulevard. I was very happy that funding for it was not on MAPS, because that means there’s still time to change it. Four lanes total is plenty, and would emphasize the landscaped part of the boulevard, rather than making it a easy and fast means to bypass downtown. Rather, I’d like to see it slow traffic.
Nick,
I agree with your advice of breaking up the super block. The last super block in OKC to get finished was The Legacy at Arts Central and in my opinion it was a disaster (The Hill is probably next). Sure it is filling up and it has brought more people into downtown, but we have a suburban apartment complex in the center of OKC that is destined to become slums in 10-15 years…Maybe it suffered the fate of “Value Engineering”
As far as The Boulevard is concerned, I don’t have a preference one way or another, but I thought I read that it was to have two lanes with parking on either side? I don’t know. To me, that would be a nice boulevard, but I might have made all of that up. Somebody fill me in here.
To answer some questions posed:
Originally the Boulevard was included in the relocation plans/budget but due to the ever increasing cost of the relocation, for all intents and purposes, the Boulevard was dropped and became a separate project. Reportedly, the State is still paying for the tearing down of the existing crosstown and the replacement Boulevard (but unless this has changed recently, it still is not funded nor on ODOT’s eight year plan…believe the Mayor’s goal is to have the Park and Boulevard opening together in 2014, which puts us well within the 8 years). An article dated 9/20/08 put that cost at $100M.
Am sure I read an article saying that the City would have some costs associated with it (like streetscaping). This is a prime example where the Council’s MAPS 3 Intent Resolution is meaningless. If for some reason State funding does not come thru, the City may decide to pay for it. Because the definition of “Capital Improvement” in the Ordinance is so broad, funding for the Boulevard could indeed come from MAPS 3. The Mayor has indicated the Boulevard is essential for the City.
From Steve’s blog “Before You Make Those 2012 Core to Shore Plans…” (4/17/09)
“Cornett admits Core to Shore, the development of mostly blighted area between the river and downtown, can’t be launched without the boulevard. ‘The city grinds to a halt if that boulevard isn’t constructed when I-40 is relocated.’”
Believe Steve had a response from ODOT about the “if” it is built/funded question, and they said because the design is still in flux (4 or 2 lanes etc), that discussions are ongoing with the City.
I am in favor of the streetcars but am curious… Jill mentioned “the fact that it will be located where I can conveniently use it!” indicates the routes have been announced and finalized? Also, unless they are “one-way”, presume the streetcars are going to require dedicated “lanes” (both directions) in order to operate. Which streets downtown are capable of incorporating a streetcar if this is true? Does that mean the effective elimination of the 5 to 6 miles of streets in the downtown area for regular traffic? If that is the case, won’t that compound downtown traffic issues instead of helping them? Anyone have info or thoughts?
Well Larry the intent resolution does at least clearly define intent, which can’t be changed without another vote from the Council, in which you would see a massive public outrage. The resolution spells out the projects but doesn’t list specifics, locations, etc etc..
I think the streetcars would be/should be two-way. Or else we would be faced with the problem of, “Well I’m in Bricktown and I want to go to the Cox Center…well it looks like I have to go alllll the way around, ugh.” Either that or the streetcar would be of little use and wouldn’t be used very much. I think if you put the streetcar down the center of streets and have the streetcars go in the direction of traffic, as long as there is noise and stuff to alert cars to get out of the way, that it should be fine and traffic shouldn’t be affected too much. This isn’t light rail where it goes so fast it requires a dedicated right of way.
brilliant post, nick. the history of our city does indeed have a glorious past, which absolutely shocked me when i learned of it (having grown up here). with plenty of cheap land available, anton classen, doc nichols, and i.m. putnam made plenty of money both developing the city and operating the interurban. many of the rights-of-way are still clearly visible, such as classen, 12th street, 19th street, etc. guess what? WE CAN STILL USE THEM! one of the interesting aspects of the streetcar system is that it can connect working-class workers to the high rent districts of their employers (as well as shopping and other conveniences). it really can help tie a city together, which is far more desirable than gated communities and slums. more importantly, mass transit IS economically viable so long as it’s done intelligently.
i agree with the comments about the boulevard, but with a twist. the boulevard could be fine if it’s done like st. charles street in new orleans (i.e. a WIDE median beautifully landscaped, connecting homes, downtown, zoo, two universities, dining, etc. with parking all along the sides). two lanes of traffic per side, MAX. one wide one would be even better, so pedestrians could easily cross. besides, you want to encourage use of the streetcar while not completely abolishing the automobile.
i also really liked the comment about us doing something unique. okc rocks is cool; what else could we have that emphasized what we have here? hmmm, sun, rocks, wind, sky…. bungee jumping? hang gliding? solar drag racing? wakeboarding? noodling? catapault competitions (who else does it? we have lots of boy scouts…)?
i’m also looking forward to tying dowtown together with the old (hopefully soon-to-be-reborn) farmer’s market and packingtown. it could go on to the airport. our stockyards is a very real tourist attraction. bring back the coliseum with wrestling, MMA, and boxing!
i think it’s time to put “core to shore” on the shelf and maybe start up a new movement like “core to core”… it is much more relevant to look at the current holes in downtown than it is drooling over a few colored renderings. nick, nice work. i completely agree that these “super blocks” need to be broken up to make way for more compact/dense development opportunities. in this country we have been stuck on making things bigger (our houses, cars, dinner portions, hair duo’s etc etc) instead of making things better and more sustainable. i am not suggesting that “core to shore” be completely abandoned i am merely suggesting that if we move forward on “core to shore” without dealing with our current challenges that the CBD and surrounding neighborhoods we will be in a bigger hole in 2020 than in 2009. if you live in okc and vote “no” on maps3 you might as well pack up and leave town because you are essentially saying you don’t believe okc should strive for something greater than it currently is…i would like to end this comment by encouraging the citizens of okc to travel to first class cities before voting down initiatives that will ultimately help their city reach such standards.
Hi Nick, thanks for responding.
The Oklahoman mentioned that the Resolution of Intent is non-binding, and as such wouldn’t need a vote of the Council to change it. Any project (the Intent ones, or others) only require a majority vote of the Council to be approved. I agree that there would be an outcry if they changed it and it would be stupid for them to do so (but as OKC’s history has shown time and again, just such stupidity has happened before).
By one way or two-way maybe I wasn’t clear with the question. I understand your point about “going all the way around”, but what I meant was one lane/track going one direction and one going the other on the same street. If you have one track handling streetcars going both directions, there would have to be some sort of side rail where the east bound car would sit until the westbound car passed?
As “long as there is noise and stuff to alert cars to get out of the way”, made me laugh out loud (no offense intended). Have you seen the way some drivers respond when a emergency vehicle approaches? Some panic and just come to a dead stop in the middle of the road. Some ignore it completely. And the rest, do the right thing and pull over as safely as possible. Can definitely seeing that type of thing happening if they don’t have dedicated “lanes”
Larry, you realize right that what you’re suggesting is not “streetcar” but fully-blown “light rail.”
Very well done, Nick. I’ll add your fine essay in my Core To Shore article’s links right away.