Clear Water Carwash on Cherry Street....

[TheArtist]

It's the mindset, and I have fell victim to it as well. My wife and I spent an entire summer in New York during college and walked EVERYWHERE. I still recall a "pleasant relaxing walk" home one night consisting of a 2.5 mile walk through central park and down Madison Avenue at night (although we exited the park right at sunset  ). After college we moved to Bartlesville to an old house close to downtown. We were sitting on our porch one evening enjoying some unusually mild Oklahoma weather and could hear music in the distance. I had remembered there was an outdoor show in front of the Price Tower that day and I suggested we walk down there. It is roughly 3/4 of a mile from our old house to the Price Tower (similar to the Methodist to Cherry Street) and at that time we considered that too far. When I think about it, it is less about the actual distance than it is the scenery in between. New York has a lot of "distractions" along any route. Bartlesville (and Tulsa) not so much. Could people make those walks. Yes. Will they.........

I try to be one of those people that "reminds" others or instills in them this "new" idea/habit that "it's not that far and you can walk".    I think if there were more of us doing that, then we can begin to change the culture.  It's happened in other places.  Its really amazing how just a handful of people can make a difference.

It takes very little to do, other than remembering to take advantage of situations when they arrive.

The other day I was with a group of friends who met up over by the Hyatt downtown and we needed to go to the East End.  To my surprise as we were leaving to go there they all said "Lets just walk!"

It does work!

Every time someone comes into my store and says something about the parking downtown I laugh a little and say something about how lucky we are and how easy it is here compared to other cities, or "But isn't this a beautiful street to walk down, If more of Tulsa were this incredible I could walk forever!?".  I bet if they heard something like that from just one or two other people, most of them would change their tune.

[carltonplace]

How many people are going to get dressed up for a fancy dinner and ride a bicycle to dinner?  A casual bar stop maybe unless it's 98º at sunset in the summer.

I'm one. I don't drive if I'm going to have a drink and I take my bike if I'm only going a few miles. If I'm in a group we ride share.

[erfalf]

I try to be one of those people that "reminds" others or instills in them this "new" idea/habit that "it's not that far and you can walk".    I think if there were more of us doing that, then we can begin to change the culture.  It's happened in other places.  Its really amazing how just a handful of people can make a difference.

It takes very little to do, other than remembering to take advantage of situations when they arrive.

The other day I was with a group of friends who met up over by the Hyatt downtown and we needed to go to the East End.  To my surprise as we were leaving to go there they all said "Lets just walk!"

It does work!

Every time someone comes into my store and says something about the parking downtown I laugh a little and say something about how lucky we are and how easy it is here compared to other cities, or "But isn't this a beautiful street to walk down, If more of Tulsa were this incredible I could walk forever!?".  I bet if they heard something like that from just one or two other people, most of them would change their tune.

I'm totally with you. It's all about interaction with the walker. If there are things to interact with, even just potentially it makes the walk "shorter". Walking through a sea of parking is the opposite of that. BUT, in this city we will always need to at least not be at war with the automobile, because it still represents customers that will be the large part of the base of most businesses anywhere in town. That being said, there is not a parking problem ANYWHERE in town and that is the mindset that needs to change. Let's all just be tactful about it. People don't like to be told they are wrong or irrational. If you can show them the better way and let them "discover" it people I believe will be more willing to change their habits.

[AquaMan]

My gawd! Can't we all just agree that the new building on Cherry Street is better than the old green car wash! Its not perfect because of many reasons but the problems with Cherry Street as a pedestrian friendly, mass transit corridor, residential oriented, affordable little neighborhood with charm, excitement and convenience started decades ago. By the time we address those problems successfully we'll all be living in tiny little houses stacked on flatbeds and trailered out each morning.

[BKDotCom]

My gawd! Can't we all just agree that the new building on Cherry Street is better than the old green car wash! Its not perfect because of many reasons but the problems with Cherry Street as a pedestrian friendly, mass transit corridor, residential oriented, affordable little neighborhood with charm, excitement and convenience started decades ago. By the time we address those problems successfully we'll all be living in tiny little houses stacked on flatbeds and trailered out each morning.

Can we also agree that it's better than other development being done around town.

"Gold Standard" simply means "better than everything else".   Frankly that's a low bar in this town.

[AquaMan]

Iron Pyrite standard? Or ChalkoPyrite. I forget a lot these days.

[Ibanez]

I try to be one of those people that "reminds" others or instills in them this "new" idea/habit that "it's not that far and you can walk".    I think if there were more of us doing that, then we can begin to change the culture.  It's happened in other places.  Its really amazing how just a handful of people can make a difference.

It takes very little to do, other than remembering to take advantage of situations when they arrive.

The other day I was with a group of friends who met up over by the Hyatt downtown and we needed to go to the East End.  To my surprise as we were leaving to go there they all said "Lets just walk!"

It does work!

Every time someone comes into my store and says something about the parking downtown I laugh a little and say something about how lucky we are and how easy it is here compared to other cities, or "But isn't this a beautiful street to walk down, If more of Tulsa were this incredible I could walk forever!?".  I bet if they heard something like that from just one or two other people, most of them would change their tune.

It is always interesting to me that when we travel my wife is open to walking more. Be it NYC, Boston, etc, etc, etc....we walk everywhere. Come back to Tulsa and she has a near meltdown if I park too far away from our ultimate destination downtown. My recent "parking in the middle of nowhere" incident was when I parked on Cameron between Main and Boulder and we "had to walk all the way" to The Woody Guthrie Center.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Parking garages to replace surface parking downtown might make sense.  Uber, cabs, etc make sense within downtown but I think they are too expensive for long distances. 

Uber makes sense within about 4-5 miles of downtown. From 15th and Harvard to downtown (about 3-4 miles), it is about $6-8 and can be up to $11 late night, but typically ~$15 round trip. That's cheap and very cheap if you carpool. Plus, taking uber feels pretty neat, like you're in a bigger city. Being chauffeured around at the press of a button! You can meet up and ride with others and not worry about where you end up vs a parked car.

If Uber/Lyft/cycling all pick up (and they seem to be), it will help tremendously with auto congestion in Cherry St/Downtown, even though parking is rarely if ever an issue. You almost need big empty parking lots to keep the suburbanites and South Tulsans coming in without complaining about parking.