The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

We have a large trail project almost done, a Gathering Place going in next door and others pushing for "Water in the River".. what else?

More parking?

West bank shopping and housing?

More crossings?

Monorail?

Sharks with laser beams?

Since Riverparks is already part owner of the greater area known as Turkey Mountain, my wish is that if the Simon outlet proposal does not come to be that RPA or one of their kind donors buys up the land to keep it preserved as a natural wildlife habitat and recreational area.

When it was first announced, I was somewhat ambivalent, but upon further thought, there are no more pristine wilderness spaces which stretch from the river and span almost a couple of miles both ways.  It’s a way to experience nature on nature’s terms.  Not a few sterile manicured “nature” trails, but real rustic nature.

Who looks back in a half century or century and says:  “I sure am sorry they never built that mega outlet mall out in the last bits of wilderness”?

Looking around the country, this is truly a rare piece of property which benefits not just people with my interests.  School groups have taken field trips there for years.  The YMCA has used it for nature hikes and horseback riding.  I see all sorts of families criss-crossing it from one end to the other every weekend and it just seems to get more popular.

That’s the top of my RP wish list anyhow.

Plexiglas under the water so we can Jesus Lizard ourselves from one bank to the other.

I like Sharks with laser beams.  If we can't have that, how about some real trolleys in a downtown circulator with extensions to the Gathering Place, Brookside, Cherry St., the Fairgrounds and TU?

Damn, another Austin Powers reference!

Ditto.  We have really got to get some good transit access to and from those areas and every month that need grows.  Having a shop downtown has really opened my eyes as to the number of people who come to our city and need to get around, visit another of those areas, purchase this or that, etc. and find they can't.  Had some visitors from Wales just yesterday come into the shop (love the accent).  They flew in, made it downtown and then were like "Where is the visitor center? Where are the sights? How do I get to this and that place?" There was another similar couple from out of town that same day.  I get people every day who come into our city for business or vacation and feel trapped and frustrated when they get here.  Not a good impression.  Would be great once the Gathering Place is done to have yet another attraction for people to easily visit.

Gathering Place won’t make a difference if no one knows what it is or how to get there.  The Metro Chamber does a dreadful job of pointing visitors to our best assets.  It’s almost as if they don’t know what or where those assets are.  Fast forward five years and people from Wales still won’t have a clue where to go when they land in Tulsa.  Sorry for my cynical view, but it’s almost as if all anyone at The Chamber cares about is drawing a paycheck.  They sure as hell have not been advocates of smart development.

My Top 3 wish list for River Parks:
1.  Have the county make the private property west of Chandler Park part of a new urban wilderness area and develop trails, trailheads with small parking lots along both Avery Dr and W 41st St (TCC maybe?).  I've only been to a small part of it but it could be a bigger version of Turkey Mtn still close to the city.

2.  Connect Chandler Park and the new urban wilderness to the river trails with a new multi-purpose trail (like the one on the West Bank) that parallels Avery Dr by the river, and has access points up to the park.  End the trail at the Hwy 97 bridge where you could then go north to connect to the Katy trail.

3.  Finally connect the West Bank trails through Jenks.  Extend the Turkey Mtn trail south of 71st to join up with trails though Riverwalk Crossing, creating a loop on both banks from 11th all the way to 96th.

They should do smoothing on the west bank, why not build up that area?   The "Gathering Place" according to drawings I seen looks like a carnival midway, crammed with all sorts of things for the kids. I'd like to see more money spent on the jogging trails like what SXSW mentioned in his post let's extend the west bank jogging trails to Jenks and extend and link other trails to the system. The jogging  trails are the biggest draw on why people go to Riverparks in the first place.. Let's invest money on the Mingo Trail too, build parking areas so joggers have easy access to the Mingo  trail   and make that trail longer and connect it to other trail links.

As I said before the city of Omaha, NE has a outstanding system of jogging/bike trails with no street crossings. The Omaha trails also have mile markers in the pavement every 10th of a mile and the trails name on the marker.  (click on the link that says metro trails)  www.omahatrails.com

What's this "let's" crap?  Are you working on investments for the trails?  Have you donated time or money?

The Channels.....O wait.....!!!

Those are now referred to as the "Obama trails".  They renamed them since they never would've been completed without the President's help.

Sections of the Mingo Trail are crumbling and cracking- the trail needs a re-surface job  or re-build. The trails are for everyone in Tulsa to use, it's a big postive for Tulsa, let's not let them fall into dis-repair. The RiverSide Trail is a great place for jogging but I wish they would put in mile markers the whole legnth, the last trail mile marker ends around 48th street and as you run south there are no more.

Got an iPhone?  $49 get you a gps enabled heart rate monitor:

http://www.amazon.com/Skechers-Bluetooth-Chest-Transmitter-Monitor/dp/B00FFLLKHQ/ref=sr_1_230?s=gps&ie=UTF8&qid=1411677076&sr=1-230

No iPhone?  $60.  You won't get as much data, but at least you will know when you've gone a mile:

http://www.amazon.com/All-Way-Waterproof-Temperature-Navigation/dp/B00NMDNLSU/ref=sr_1_249?s=gps&ie=UTF8&qid=1411677211&sr=1-249

Seriously,  I never run without a heart monitor and a GPS.  Let's me track performance, etc.   Instead of aching about the markers, invest a few dollars and run wherever you want.

Maybe instead of the TulsaNow/Forum we should call this the Splainstufftosauer/forum.

I would be all for that if he would actually learn something from it....sadly, never.