Keeping up with Devon Energy Center
Just a reminder – if you are an Oklahoman or NewsOK subscriber, log in and visit www.newsok.com/okcskyline to see live video streaming of the Devon tower construction. Here’s a shot from this afternoon:
And here’s a glimpse at the latest work:
Let’s Talk Transit Meetings Today
The Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA) is seeking input on the future development of public transportation in the greater downtown Oklahoma City area. COTPA is hosting two Let’s Talk Transit public meetings on August 26 at the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library Auditorium.
The meetings are a part of an Alternatives Analysis (AA) study that is designed to investigate and present solutions for addressing public transportation in a specific geographic area. The outcome of this study will result in a plan that recommends the most appropriate route and transit technologies for the greater downtown area.
Both meetings will be held at the Library located at 300 Park Ave . The lunchtime meeting will be noon to 1 p.m. The evening meeting will cover the same agenda from 6 to 7 p.m. Additional information about the transit planning process will be on display 20 minutes prior to each meeting. Read the full release
Life Goes On
The Finley Building in July.
Life goes on. When I left for vacation, the above building was still standing as it had at NE 2 and Walnut for a half century. It had a colorful history – one my friend Doug Loudenback shares here. But the building was in bad shape. It was not a surprise that it was to come down. Plans were announced last month that the site would be cleared to make way for a modern Aloft Hotel with a mix of restaurants and shops – not a bad addition to the Maywood neighborhood (is it in Deep Deuce or Flat Iron? I’m not even sure anymore).
So the site today looked like this:
The future site of the Aloft Hotel - quite a view of the downtown skyline.
The demolition crews aren’t done yet. They’re getting ready for their next project – maybe you’ve heard of it: SandRidge Commons.
Demolition crews are setting up for demolition of buildings surrounding the former Kerr-McGee Tower (now SandRidge Tower). The building shown was built in 1918 as the home of the YMCA, then stripped of its exterior years later and "modernized."
Now that I’ve returned from vacation, I’m determined to pace myself a bit more. I have about a dozen good stories to produce – and I’ll be going through the list one by one, day by day. Have no doubt – there’s a lot going on downtown and if experience is a good guide, it should only get more hectic after Labor Day.
Exciting new developments are about to pop downtown. New businesses are coming in. Yes, there will continue to be disagreements, controversies and some bitter moments. But through it all, there’s a lot of good, fun news to report.
Thanks for being patient as I traveled off to “Vienna” (actually Colorado Springs). I had a great time, I’m back, I’m refreshed and ready to roll.
Blogging, Wireless Difficulties
Well, I had hoped to have some fun stuff up by now. But I’m struggling with a 3G Wireless card that I suspect has had some drastic time reductions and a photo uploader that won’t upload.
I’ll try again later tonight.
“Vienna” Was Wonderful…
Has anyone missed me? If not, I understand.
Vienna Waits For You
You got your passion you got your pride
But don’t you know only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you
Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook
And disappeaar for a while
It’s alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I’m leaving the “grid” all together for two weeks. That means no columns, no working on stories on my time off, no blogging, no work-related social media. Thanks to all of you who have been not just great readers, but also great participants in this blog, and in the discussion of downtown and its future. I’ll be back…
Update on the Downtown OKC Model by “Russian Sam”
So What’s Next?
If everything goes in the direction currently set, this building will be razed by the city sometime in the next few years.
One interesting theme came out yesterday in the joint press release issued by SandRidge Energy and Preservation Oklahoma through the City of Oklahoma City: the idea that somehow First National is in need of preservation.
The idea just dangled there without any attribution or explanation. The building isn’t on Preservation Oklahoma’s most endangered list. And while yes, it is facing a foreclosure threat, all indications are it will either remain in current ownership, which has invested in its upkeep and continued leasing, or could end up in the control of a local group with a good track record of overseeing downtown properties.
So if the First National isn’t the most endangered building downtown, what is?
Well, let’s go back to the convention center location hunt, shall we? It’s no secret the mayor favors the site south of Ford Center and across from the planned Central Park. City staff has already bought a couple of properties in the area, and the mayor has indicated that regardless of what site is chosen for the convention center, he wants to direct $30 million from MAPS 3 to buy OG&E properties in this same area.
If the city proceeds on this course, the above building will be in the target zone for demolition. It still stands. The city also has this building in its sights as well – a building that was bought at one time by a company that was seriously desiring to renovate the property until they were told not to by city staffers who pointed out it stands on the edge of the planned central park:
This building is still standing - but for how long?
Mess Around, Open Topic
Yep, talk about what you wish today. Later today I’ll be sharing some important news about a (temporary) change in the status of this blog.
Without Newspapers … You Get Bell
Without newspapers, we get Bell
8/4/2010 5:49:00 PM
By Silas Lyons
Redding Record Searchlight (CA)
For some time now, people have been asking with increasing urgency what would happen to communities if they didn’t have newspapers.
Thanks to the leaders of Bell, which didn’t have one, we no longer have to wonder.
Three top officials of the small and depressed city in the midst of greater Los Angeles were paid enormous salaries by their wildly overcompensated City Council — all while residents endured nearly the highest rate of property taxes in Southern California.
Whatever you think of Kurt Starman’s salary for managing a city government that serves almost 100,000 people, Redding could buy four of him for the $800,000 that Robert Rizzo was earning to run the 40,000-population city of Bell. And have money left over.
To be clear, we know all of this now because of a newspaper — the Los Angeles Times.
But the Times fields a large metropolitan news force that serves a big regional audience. It isn’t going to put a reporter in every small-town city council chamber, and most of its readers probably wouldn’t be interested if it did. The Times got involved, and did a laudable job with the story — once something had already gone terribly wrong.
But Bell should never have reached that point. And a great deal of taxpayer money was consumed by its vulturous leaders before anyone noticed.
Bell is an industrial town that industry has long-since abandoned. Its population now is dominated by recent immigrants, many of them illegal. It’s no longer the kind of place where a local newspaper can survive, especially with all the other challenges the industry has faced.
In fact, the family that owned the Bell, Maywood, Cudahy Community News sold it in 1998 — “right around the time Bell hired its highly overpaid city administrator,” family member Brian Hews wrote in a column. Today, Hews is publisher of the Los Cerritos Community Newspaper Group.
“Art Aguilar was the editor at the time and, suffice to say, you did not mess with Art,” he wrote.
With the pesky local journalists out of the picture, Bell became a juicy morsel for the opportunistic and ethically challenged.
Of course, it didn’t help that the residents seem to have been uninterested for a long time.
But the fact is that the local exercise of democracy depends on the Fourth Estate. And watch-dogging local government is a job for which television, radio and even most bloggers have proven ill-equipped. Newspapers do it best — usually just by showing up, or by reviewing agendas.
“In short, the Bell spectacle is what happens to communities without their own old-fashioned diligent news coverage by veteran newspaper reporters, or at least smart reporters led by veteran newspaper editors,” wrote Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, in a column last week. “The result need not be on paper, but it must be done with the community memory and professional savvy almost unique to newspaper-trained journalists with experience watching small-town politics.”
It’s not just cities, either. We and other daily and weekly newspapers throughout the north state keep a watchful eye on school districts, community service districts and counties. The fact that journalists are watching tends to have a purifying effect.
I vividly remember showing up as a cub reporter at a school board meeting and having one of the board members publicly chastise me in the midst of the proceedings. “This is a family affair,” she said, “and the newspaper has no business here. We shouldn’t have to discuss this in front of you.”
The Mountain Gate Community Services District has given off the same vibe over the past year.
The reason I believe so passionately in the work we’re doing now to transform our newspaper and our industry is that we must thrive so that the discomfort of such public officials will never diminish.
If it does, bad things happen. Just ask Bell.
