Yes, folks, that's right, a state legislator wants to build an 1100-foot tall oil ("ull") derrick across the Oklahoma River... to create an icon that would rival the Space Needle and (here comes the big one) the Eiffel Tower. Good lord... This has got to be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard from Oklahoma City.
An oil ("ull") derrick is an awesome thing of nature?
Why do we continue to allow idiots to be elected to our State Legislature?
View the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGiJ0JWaOm0
Transcript:
quote:
Rob: Generating tourism dollars is the hope of an Oklahoma lawmaker who has a dream of turning the Oklahoma oil boom into an iconic landmark that would rival the Eiffel Tower.
Shane Jett: Basically Oklahoma is the birthplace of petroleum.
Rob: And Oklahoma lawmaker, Shane Jett, wants to honor that with a one of kind monument.
Shane Jett: What we've envisioned is basically an oil derrick that may be of the 1950s with a crown at the top and the middle deck, and you just blow it up so it'll actually stretch potentially across the Oklahoma River. And so you'd have the Oklahoma River, you would create kind of like a bridge mechanism. It would be a destination point for boats from Devon Energy, the Devon boats that are coming through, a destination point for them coming to and from, and basically a stainless steel ensconced oil derrick blown up to be proportionately about 1100 feet tall.
Rob: Which is slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower, a point not lost on Representative Jett.
Jett: One of the reasons it needs to be taller than the Eiffel Tower is because you want tourists to go; and you know, it's taller than the Eiffel Tower. That's part of the marketing of it.
Rob: Jett says such an iconic landmark would bring tourists to town and with them their pocketbooks.
Jett: Seattle, in 2005, put together an economic impact study of what the space needle did for the city of Seattle, and it generated over 40-million dollars of revenue, every year; that's reoccurring revenue. I spoke with Mayor Cornett, and he said if you get someone to pull off the highway, off of I-40, into Oklahoma City, before they pull back on to leave they'll spend 250 dollars.
Rob: And Jett wants to use the water out of the river to recreate those early oil gushers.
Jett: What we would like to do is put a geyser, using water cannons at the top of the tower, and put it on a time schedule so that people will schedule to come to see Oklahoma City specifically to see this thing go off. And what we want to do is recreate that, Wow, what an awesome thing of nature.
Rob: That would pay tribute to more than just our past.
Jett: Because it commemorates those individuals who met the need of the rest of the world when we were looking for petroleum, and I believe people right here in Oklahoma are innovative enough that they're going to find whatever fuels are necessary for the future right here in this generation. So, hopefully it will be a point of inspiration to remind us where we come from, and to refreshingly let us know that there's more to come.
Rob: The cost of building such a structure could reach a hundred-million dollars, but Jett believes that cost could be offset by the money the energy tower could generate.
I give it the same chances as the American.
Its just as ugly. I like the idea of something tall and going across the river, but zeesh, cant people in OKC come up with something that looks decent?
Now I bet they are kicking themselves for not keeping the Indian statue, cause then they could have done something along these lines....
(http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7660/indian1nd0.jpg)
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
Its just as ugly. I like the idea of something tall and going across the river, but zeesh, cant people in OKC come up with something that looks decent?
I've got it! A giant orange road cone with a 100 foot blinking orange light on the top!
I give up, I am no longer going to fight the man. I just wrote a check for my share of the project cost and flushed it down the toilet as it seems all the turds end up at the state house anyway...
quote:
Originally posted by Floyd
I give it the same chances as the American.
This one has better chances of state funding.
(negativity off)
my biggest pet peeve in the world are ideas like this. The Eiffel Tower isn't cool just on its own it is cool because it is in Paris; it is like people who put Lamborghini doors on a civic, Lamborghini doors are cool because they are on a Lamborghini.
You guys are funny.
The first thing I thought of was attaching a huge propeller to the top to generate electricity. Now that would be an exercise in irony, art and functionality.
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
You guys are funny.
The first thing I thought of was attaching a huge propeller to the top to generate electricity. Now that would be an exercise in irony, art and functionality.
You are SOOOOOOOOOOO gonna get a lecture, when I have time lol.
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
You guys are funny.
The first thing I thought of was attaching a huge propeller to the top to generate electricity. Now that would be an exercise in irony, art and functionality.
You are SOOOOOOOOOOO gonna get a lecture, when I have time lol.
Be gentle. I know so little about art. It would at least be ironic and functional. You know, an oil derrick representing the past and a functional wind generator representing the future?
Man, 110 stories is tall. Surely they jest.
How about the Oklahoma version of David?
(http://mozey.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/ifdavidwasamoderndayman.jpg)
I enjoy they want to build it on a fake named river in okc instead of in.. I don't know.. the place all the oil companies were.
I think an 1100-foot oil derrick spouting water on cue is a fine idea.
Texas has the UT Tower of which the TIP lights up ORANGE after every championship game.
ORU has the CityPlex Towers.
So, what's another working representation of the male genitalia in Oklahoma?
GIT A BONR. NOT A BOMB.
Wow, an enormous oil derrick, twice as tall as the Williams Tower. Sounds like someone is compensating for something...
(By the way, that Oklahoma statue of David made me snort my iced tea. Too funny!)
They can build what ever they can get away with over there so long as I don't have to help pay for it. So I vote no.
This idea is just flat out stupid... cheesy, corny, pick a word. It's proposed by a legislator, and we all know how lacking they are in creativity.
quote:
Originally posted by OSU
my biggest pet peeve in the world are ideas like this. The Eiffel Tower isn't cool just on its own it is cool because it is in Paris; it is like people who put Lamborghini doors on a civic, Lamborghini doors are cool because they are on a Lamborghini.
On the doors you're correct, but you could apparently use a dose of architectural history to gain new appreciation of Mr. Eiffel's tower.
What is an 'ull derrick'? Also, water geysers at the top of the thing? Will the water be tinted black?
They might as well have their shot... we blew it not capitalizing on tourism with the 300-foot Jesus a while back... [:o)]
Im still looking for one of the wall posters with the "CAUTION 300 FT. X-ING" sign on South Lewis.
Priceless Tulsa memorabilia...
I read about this on okctalk...this is a horrid idea.
Breaking news from The Onion...
Midwestern Tornado Destroys 4 World's Largest Objects
May 29, 2008
SAC CITY, IA - A category F4 tornado ravaged large sections of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin Sunday, killing 15 people and irreparably damaging four of the world's largest novelty objects, including a prized 150-foot fiberglass muskie and a two-ton bail of hay in Minnesota. "It's horrifying, there are three-foot wide pieces of popcorn ball everywhere," said Midwesterner Emily Roberts, whose garage was leveled when powerful winds dropped Sac City, IA's record-breaking confection onto its roof. "That damn popcorn ball used to be the pride of our city. It's so senseless." Even as volunteers worked tirelessly to clean up debris from the World's Largest Ball of Yarn in Rockford, IL, the city's mayor had already invited Guinness World Records officials to oversee the dedication of the World's Largest Knot.