The "this has nothing to do with Tulsa" mega-post

[rebound]

I hadn't heard of Tulsa Tough until a few years ago and have been at Cry Baby Hill every year since. It's a great event!

The Tough is an awesome event.  It's on the Pro Road Tour, and by-far the biggest (in terms of prestige) in this part of the US.   

[Laramie]

Major universities in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area:




Oklahoma City University
Official website:  https://www.okcu.edu/

University of Central Oklahoma
Official website:  https://www.uco.edu/

National Weather Service University of Oklahoma:  http://www.ou.edu/nwc


University of Oklahoma
Official website: https://www.ou.edu/  

[rebound]

Hey Laramie,  what is your point on this last post?  Just rubbing it in that OU is near OKC and Tulsa doesn't have a major public university?   It's an active topic in other threads, I just don't know why you are posting these pics here?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Hey Laramie,  what is your point on this last post?  Just rubbing it in that OU is near OKC and Tulsa doesn't have a major public university?   It's an active topic in other threads, I just don't know why you are posting these pics here?

He is just highlighting the inequities of left side vs right side of the state.

[Tulsasooner78]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/ikea-moves-into-manhattan-with-its-first-city-center-store-in-2019.html

Interesting read.

[joiei]

From all Laramie's postings one would think he is in charge of the Chamber of Commerce or at least the Visitor's and Convention Bureau for that place at the other end of the turnpike. 

[Laramie]

   Streetcar celebration:  https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/lifestyle/streetcar-celebration/?utm_source=ChamberT&utm_medium=Social&utm_term=IntVeloCity&utm_content=streetcar-12-4-18

Streetcar stopped on Sheridan Avenue in front of the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark

Experienced another opportunity on Monday, December 2 to follow one of the Bermuda Green streetcars from Hudson Avenue north to Sheridan east toward Bricktown.

Mark Dec. 14 on your calendars because it will be a historic day for our city as the Oklahoma City Streetcar officially opens for business. The celebration will start at 10 a.m. in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City at the Business District Platform in the plaza of Leadership Square...  ...The grand opening weekend will be full of live entertainment, special promotions and family activities. Also don’t forget that the streetcar will be free through January 5!

There are planned developments being submitted to the city along the streetcar route;  many cities have seen recent developments planned along their streetcar routes.  Global Payments cited the streetcar route on Broadway Avenue and the YMCA parking garage as a reason they relocated some of their operations from Atlanta to OKC.

[Laramie]

   Historic Oklahoma City site set for facelift: https://kfor.com/2018/12/04/historic-oklahoma-city-site-set-for-facelift/

"Gardner-Tanenbaum is responsible for historic remodels such as Park Harvey and The Classen. It is looking to do the same off Lincoln near NE 50th.
113 luxury apartments are planned for the former hotel space. Over 200,000 square feet of remodeled office space is slated for the building to the north...
...The development is counting on tenants from the OU Health complex to the south on Lincoln Blvd."

The Oklahoma State Capital Complex is just over a mile south of the Lincoln Plaza redevelopment.

[heironymouspasparagus]

From all Laramie's postings one would think he is in charge of the Chamber of Commerce or at least the Visitor's and Convention Bureau for that place at the other end of the turnpike. 

Ya gotta admit...showing some nice stuff, though!

[joiei]

Ya gotta admit...showing some nice stuff, though!

Very true. 

[Laramie]

Taft Stadium does not meet FIFA regulation requirements.

A new stadium for Oklahoma City Energy FC to replace Taft Stadium is one of the proposed initiatives for the 4th Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) plan.  Energy FC ownership has plans to become apart of MLS (Major League Soccer). MLS requires its franchise to have a venue with a minimum seating capacity of 18,500.

“This is our time to write the next chapter in Oklahoma City’s story,” Holt said in a MAPS video posted on the city’s website. “It is time to talk about MAPS 4 and dream big again.”

Since October, Holt said he has received a little over 1,000 ideas from community members, and while an advisory board exists to review MAPS 3 projects, no such board has been created to assess ideas for MAPS 4 so far.  

Oklahoma Gazette - Drawing MAPS:   https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/drawing-maps/Content?oid=5220549

The city’s Better Streets, Safer City initiative launched in 2017 and the temporary sales tax incorporated through the project will expire in Spring 2020, Holt said.

“We’ll dedicate 2019 to planning and 2020 to executing our plans,” Holt said. “2020 is right around the corner.”  

Professional Football Spring Leagues:

Freedom Football League - FFL -- has been created by former NFL players, including Ricky Williams, Terrell Owens and Simeon Rice, with the intention of "reimagining, rethinking, reinventing and reforming" the game...

FFL - Freedom Football League:  http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25470052/former-nfl-players-plan-launch-freedom-football-league

The league did not say when it would begin play, though it did say the first 10 teams would be the San Diego Warriors, Oklahoma City Power, Portland Progress, Texas Revolution, Ohio Players, Florida Strong, Birmingham Kings, St. Louis Independence, Connecticut Underground and Oakland Panthers

Also there's the XFL, AAF

FFL:  http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25470052/former-nfl-players-plan-launch-freedom-football-league

Other uses for a stadium would include OSSAA state high school football & soccer playoffs, concerts & large gatherings.

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City Bus Rapid Transit wins federal grant:

The $14.3 million BUILD grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was announced Thursday — along with grants to Tulsa and the Port of Muskogee — by Sen. Jim Inhofe.

The bus rapid transit line will go up N Classen Boulevard to the Northwest Expressway, then out the Northwest Expressway past Penn Square to Meridian Avenue.--Oklahoman, William Crum, 12/08/2018

Oklahoma City this week was awarded a federal grant to develop a bus rapid transit line between downtown and the northwest side. [The Oklahoman archives

Transit Director Jason Ferbrache said the federal grant is to be matched with $10.8 million in bond funds and $2.2 million in sales tax proceeds, both approved by voters last year.

General obligation bond package:  The 10-year, $967 million bond package invests in streets, police and fire facilities, parks and other basic needs. It succeeds the 2007 bond program, which is almost complete.

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City Intermodal Transit Hub Center


This 8,000-square-foot depot will house offices & businesses; its main purpose is to be the intermodal transportation hub for people to catch a train, board the OKC streetcar, rent a bicycle or get on the bus.

State agency awards contract Santa Fe Station improvements:  https://newsok.com/article/5596963/state-agency-awards-contract-santa-fe-station-improvements

Old Oklahoma City train depot turns into new transportation hub:  https://kfor.com/2017/07/31/old-oklahoma-city-train-depot-turns-into-new-transportation-hub/

Oklahoma City Union Station Depot


Oklahoma City Union Station. Photo from Raymond Woods on Flickr.

The passenger waiting area with its 25-foot-high ceiling was restored in 1978 by Thurman Magbee and can be cleared of office pods added in the center of the area so that it can be returned to its original appearance. [Photo provided by the Oklahoma Historical Society]

 Union Train Station should be prime candidate for MAPS 3 surplus: https://newsok.com/article/5604646/union-train-station-should-be-prime-candidate-for-maps-3-surplus

[Laramie]

Seeing those cranes stationed all around the construction of the convention center, Midtown Broadway, ASA Hall of Fame Stadium's upper deck expansion, OU Medical Center's new tower, and the future projects proposed near the Capital  reminds me of vultures eating away at the decay and dying.

It's also a grim reminder of what has happened to our historic venues.

Life in OKC is very difficult; especially if you have to navigate from one area of town to the other.  They have now started on some of the $1 billion streets & infrastructure bond projects passed in 2017:  https://www.okc.gov/Home/Components/News/News/2423/18  


It's as though we are revisiting the toil and turmoil OKC experienced downtown with Devon Tower & Project 180 construction later followed by the streetcar once all of that was completed.

[Rattle Trap]

Life in OKC is very difficult; especially if you have to navigate from one area of town to the other.  They have now started on some of the $1 billion streets & infrastructure bond projects passed in 2017:  https://www.okc.gov/Home/Components/News/News/2423/18 


It's as though we are revisiting the toil and turmoil OKC experienced downtown with Devon Tower & Project 180 construction later followed by the streetcar once all of that was completed.

Yeah my wife is finishing up her last year at OU and I visit her every weekend. The drive on I35 from downtown to Norman is an absolute nightmare. Not to mention the stretch of I35 just before the Turner Turnpike exit near Frontier City, where they've had two of the three lanes blocked off for several months now for God knows what. OKC is a nice city, but the amount of traffic they have for their size is ridiculous and makes me never want to go back .