Trashing Out the Bricktown Canal
For the first time since the Bricktown Canal opened on July 2, 1999, landscaping and cleaning is no longer being overseen by the Oklahoma City Parks Department.
Bricktown folks were critical of parks personnel for letting the landscaping drop far below the standards set when the canal opened (some were concerned that resources were being diverted to the Oklahoma River). And since it was property owners in Bricktown paying for the work via the business improvement district, it was understandable when the Bricktown Association sought to privatize maintenance and convinced the city and Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. to contract with Brad Hogan, whose family oversees canal maintenance in Lower Bricktown (the area was developed by Randy Hogan’s Stonegate/Hogan).
Over the past few weeks since the transition took place I’ve seen more and more trash along the canal taken over by Hogan. And during the two hours I spent Saturday afternoon I saw the following conditions – all of which remained in place the entire afternoon.
Cigarette butts were all along the walkway between Oklahoma Avenue and Mickey Mantle Drive
Almost certainly not a leftover from the May 1 Crawl for Cancer - that was a "Budweiser-only" event (oh yes, Crawl for Cancer, I am aware of this detail and very curious about it)
Some cleaning issues like this have gone unaddressed for weeks.
The switch over in landscaping and maintenance includes a management fee paid from the BID to the Bricktown Association. I’ll be curious to see how this gets addressed.
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Comments
Steve – thank you for pointing out the trash. No one wants that on the canal! See our response to the situation on our blog –
http://www.welcometobricktown.com/node/949
Thanks again!
Very impressive! Great job in responding to Bricktown cleanup.
Now if we could only get certain property owners to do something about canal level sandbags and broken windows.
Steve:
You are right that there has been a “problem area” along the street level part of the Canal. The mix up is a miscommunication that is my fault and it is being addressed ASAP!
Our Goal in Bricktown is to make the landscaping along the Canal much more vibrant than it has been in the past. Thanks for pointing out this issue, I can assure you it is being addressed.
Jim Cowan