Laura Story, a former assistant city engineer who now works as a private consultant for the project, repeatedly pleaded with the committee to approve the project design and let construction begin. … Story said that delay could jeopardize efforts to have the park makeover completed for a potential Sept. 25 celebration of the Civic Center’s 75th anniversary. … A major redesign, she warned, could result in construction bids expiring and park completion being delayed. That could complicate the city’s efforts to complete reconstruction of adjoining streets. “It’s not just the park that’s at stake here — it’s Project 180,” she said. “There are significant construction issues related to this.”

Reminds me of the saying: “Lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part.”

Which brings me to Mr. Lackmeyer:
I was not saying that you have hid PDGs involvement. But many of the concerns presented by Mr. Humphreys and others were directed at things not really controlled by Mr. Elliot; ergo I wanted to make the point in the conversation so those who may be looking to get these questions answered could have another avenue to communicate their concern.

Also, I have no stamped evidence of a six month period. After a few polite phone calls a person within the process said meetings started at least six months ago. They did not comment on if they were open to the public, or who was involved; only citing the presence of “city members.” That could probably mean city officials, city citizens, or even city business that may be involved with construction. Not being trained as a reporter, and not wanting to sound intrusive, I didn’t press for specifics.

And Dennis: The “spinning towers” have “five vertically mounted panels that spin in the breeze.” I’m sorry for not being more specific in my description of the towers.

I don’t know what catagory I fit in, I’m 45, but I find it strange that the person being vilified(Blair), is the one responding, trying to clear up ANY confusion, yet the person you are defending has yet to respond to some legitimate questions. Does that speak more for the “oldsters” catagory or your college son’s group?

From what I understand, the selection of Rand was due to his original involvement in the Civic Center long before Project 180 came along. So, they kept him involved and brought in PDG as they had helped the City with the OKC Tennis Center redo and some spray parks. If both these firms submitted resumes in a truly open, objective competition for this work, I doubt either would have been given serious consideration.

This entire process seems strange and political; completely opposite of how the home-run Myriad Gardens project was handled.

I would also add it seems to be a rather silly use of what is now limited Project 180 funds. They have cut over 40% of their scope due to cost overruns and are now throwing away monuments, a historical fountain and the biggest trees downtown to spend millions on a design that is very suspect.

I’m not knocking Blair’s passion or knowledge, however all of the wonderful parks he referenced are “Myriad-quality” spaces… multiple-function destination parks (many not nearly as open, and “safe” as the one he’s criticizing). The Myriad Garden Park is just a short walk from this park! The Civic Center Park occupies a different kind of space. Is it wrong to have a different purpose?

I think the new Civic Center Park design is good. If completed as designed it will surely bless the covers of many magazines. That said; what will these towers look like after the dulling effects of Oklahoma dust-blasting, and mud-raining, and years of improper maintenance? Will jammed, dulled, or missing dichroic panels be replaced? Will fritzed lighting be repaired? We should fully support this design only if proper maintenance is assured.

This design has been out for at least 6 months (at least that’s the earliest record I can find of it) and went through what I had be plenty of meetings with elected officials to get there. Perhaps they could provide a higher quality mock up of the actual design?