Comments on: Point A to Point B

By: john

john — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:30:47 +0000

The city needs to really, really build some pedestrian walkways, I would recommend an arch type system to assist in moving the “walking people” from the Myriad/Ford Center areas over Gaylord and the tracks… Done correctly – it too can also be a conversation peice with nice architecture and backlite lighting at night.
You must think about the “total experience of the customer” and that is the ease of parking and the ease of the human getting to the venues! I have been to many dozens of other cities in the US and world wide and some do this well and “it is obvious” they think about this and incorporate and other don’tcare. If OKC is going to compete for convention business — they need to think about this persepctive.
In the shortterm, thousands of people and kids have to move from the Myriad and Ford over to and from Bricktown — across moving traffic.
IF you build an unrestricted avenue for the pedestrians this is a win-win-win. People move faster, people move safer, and the vehicle traffic moves faster also.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:38:17 +0000

This love fest is great and all, but it goes past the line in narcissism. The reaction OKC gets for this type of giddy pride on the national urban boards tends to be quite negative. I can tell you any number of people that think that Bricktown is a second rate knockoff of The RiverWalk in San Antonio or you could look at Shreveport/Bossier City, they have a much larger Bass Pro and Boardwalk entertainment district downtown with tons of restaurants and stores along the river with the CourtYard by Marriott and seven other downtown hotels, Imax Dome Theater, etc., etc. They are a metro city area of maybe half million and did it with private development having only infrastructure being paid for by their taxpayers. Like I said the love fest is nice, but very narcissistic.

By: slackmeyer

slackmeyer — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:59:08 +0000

Yes, the big box is Bass Pro. And thanks to you Laura for all you’ve done to let the public see how decisions are being made in regards to Project 180.
Unrelated note: some of you may be seeing a delay in comments being posted. We have a choice here between seeing a lot of spam posted by l*o*a*n and p*a*w*n shops (the latest trend in blog spam) or seeing some legit commetns caught up in the spam filter.
I’m hoping all of you will appreciate the filter working a bit too aggressively vs. not working at all.
Thanks for your patience.
- Steve

By: John R. "Radar" Doyle

John R. "Radar" Doyle — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:38:21 +0000

Steve K, the big-box is Bass Pro Shop

By: Chad Reynolds

Chad Reynolds — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:47:53 +0000

I think the big box retailer Steve is referring to Bass Pro Shops.

By: Laura S

Laura S — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:08:56 +0000

What a summary. I appreciate how awesome it is to be in OKC now. Every great story has its challenge and tension to overcome. We have so much to be greatful for.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:40:37 +0000

As a legacy-child of Urban Renewal and its subsequent depression (a nationwide phenomenon) I believe we all have much to be Thankful for in OKC. It goes to show we really can’t mess it up in the long run. The Oklahoma standard is too strong, too deep and full of the Right Stuff. Thanks Steve for the optimistic summary. This City and its people do have great vision.

By: Steve K.

Steve K. — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:24:43 +0000

What is the big box retailer you refer to being in downtown? I can’t think of anything.

By: Nick Roberts

Nick Roberts — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:13:13 +0000

Another thought.. I would argue that we have not yet reached Point B and that Point B remains to be identified. If we want to stop now, this will indeed be Point B, but if we keep going, Point B will keep getting bigger and better.

By: Nick Roberts

Nick Roberts — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:12:11 +0000

The thing with economic development and Point A is that OKC simply cannot compete with other cities in some things. MAPS3 has the potential to elevate OKC’s demographics with more of the “creative class” but the bottom line for right now is that OKC is nowhere even close to other communities in terms of educational attainment, healthy workers, size, culture, etc.. but we compete very well in quality of life. Since MAPS, OKC has had a very good quality of life, and that along with our low cost of living, has made us a very competitive city. Let’s continue to compete.