“A city’s downtown is its heart and heartbeat, the focal point of its identity. … Think about it — when you think of other cities, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? One doesn’t need to be an urban planning expert to know that the answer is, “downtown.”

With all due respect to Doug (and there is plenty of that) I just don’t see it. While this was true in my parents day, I just haven’t seen it myself. Downtown was THE place to shop back then. This is when the Street my mother was raised in Bethany was still dirt (Redmond).

Curious, has OKC’s downtown ever been the residential center they are wanting to transform it into, or is this a new thing?

When traveling on vacation etc, I rarely think of a cities downtown, if at all it is because the attraction/eating place etc is located there. As far as I know, I have never visited a place because of it’s downtown. Maybe I am in the minority, but most people I know would say the same thing.

This isn’t an argument for/against the current proposal. While nice sounding and all, just don’t see the big deal.

Also, when Downtown was THE place to shop, that was before Malls and Big Box stores were around. Seems the only way you can get back to that is to somehow eliminate those other options. Or get those malls and big box stores in Downtown too. Is that going to happen? Probably not. That’s why I think a destination shopping like the Outlet Mall that is supposed to still be happening is located in the wrong place. An ideal location would seem to be in the Core to Shore area. Seems like it would fit in perfectly with the whole concept of what they are trying to do there.

Well, I want downtown to be the center of the action, attractions, and people. And I don’t even live or work there, though I wish I did (live and/or work). As the original MAPS taught us, downtown belongs to everone in the city. You can’t say the same about other business/shopping districts throughout the metro. I don’t care how exciting I-240 is (sidebar: that was hilarious to type), I am not going to shop/eat/go to some festival down there. Same for Midwest City, Bethany, etc. I live north of Quail Springs/west Edmond. When people come to visit from out of town, we spend time in that area or downtown– and I prefer downtown if they’ll agree to go.

And when I travel on vacation, I don’t always go to cities’ downtowns, but it depends on what the focus of that trip is. In the LA area, I went to the beach, presidential libraries, Hollywood, but LA city life was not my focus– relaxing was. While visiting Mt. St. Helens, I did not think I had to see downtown Portland. But on the contrary, in NYC, I didn’t spend time in Staten Island, I spent my time in various parts of Manhattan. In my multipe trips to Seattle, I always enjoy their downtown best. In Washington DC, I always spend most of my time downtown. In a few trips to London, the only suburb I’ve visited is Wimbledon.

Some cities are forgettable when I do visit them. They are a mass of suburbs of strip malls and I have no desire to go back to. Maybe they had a good downtown– I don’t know because I didn’t visit them. But cities where I visit a vibrant downtown I leave with a good impression, sing its praises to my friends, and desire to go back myself.

From John Norquist’s “The Wealth of Cities” (one of my favorite reads):

“In almost any metropolitan area in the country, the local news begins with an aerial view of the downtown skyline. Why? Simply because the downtown is the most striking visual aspect of a city. Imagine starting the news each night with an image of a suburban strip mall and its parking lot. The downtown provides focus and context and helsps define the metropolitan community. Celebrations, charity races, parades and festivals — incongruous in malls or edge cities — are usually held downtown. When the New York Islanders won the Stanley Cup, their celebratory motorcade drove around and around the Nassau Coliseum parking lot; they had nowhere else to hold a parade, despite the population of over a million people in Nassau County.

Even organizations and businesses that have left the downtown often return to identify themselves with public events such as parades or charity runs…”

Is there anyplace — ANYPLACE — else in OKC proper that we can all come together as a community other than downtown? Be honest when you answer. Downtown is EVERYBODY’S neighborhood.

If you want to read more from Norquist’s exceptional book, preview it here: http://books.google.com/books?id=9PUPvw9ID_oC

And this is why I love my readers….

I’m with Chad on this one.