NW 7 and Shartel is still a changing battle zone
Oklahoman
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Published: January 27, 2009Buzz up!

In my earliest years at The Oklahoman, I covered crime. I was consistently baffled by the stupidity of the bad guys — and perhaps no more so than by the way that drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes openly did business along NW 7 and Shartel, a block north of the police headquarters.

That was 18 years ago, and the stretch is still a war zone. The drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes are gone. The combatants now are neighborhood activists and prominent architects fighting over the area’s name, development and future.

On one side you have architect Randy Floyd, who along with Michael Smith were urban pioneers who risked much to renovate and move into a stretch of territorial homes along NW 7. The pair are veterans of the city’s preservation movement, and their efforts on NW 7 were applauded as an example of how to bring life back to the inner-city.

More renovations followed along NW 7, as did other architects. But some came with different ideas. Architects Bryan Fitzsimmons and Dennis Wells built new homes on the block — modern-style structures that are more in keeping with the Classen Glenn condominiums built at NW 7 and Classen in the early 1980s.


Preservation activist not the ‘little old lady’
As I visited with Floyd about the progress under way a couple years ago, she was uncomfortable but holding back criticism of the modern architecture hitting her street. She also insisted that she’s not the "little old lady” who only likes old buildings, and she hinted she was eyeing a more modern design for a new home to be built on a nearby empty lot.

Yet that’s how she’s being portrayed by Wells and his supporters as they fight back against Floyd’s effort to overturn a ruling by the Urban Design Committee that supported plans for a new home designed by Fitzsimmons for William Lovallo, a professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

The issue might seem obscure to some — whether the planned Lovallo home setback is too close to the street. With one member of the Board of Adjustment abstaining and two others absent, the two remaining members last week deadlocked on whether to uphold Floyd’s effort to overturn the design committee’s approval of the narrow setback.

Building differing visions in the area
All of the sides seem intent on making the area a great downtown/MidTown neighborhood. But their visions are clearly different, even if not sharply defined.
Floyd argues she is not trying to dictate the neighborhood’s future, though she notes it is one of the city’s oldest, having been platted more than 100 years ago. She wants some basic guidelines, including setbacks, and disagrees with the contention that she is seeking strict design controls similar to those in place in neighborhoods such as Heritage Hills.

Wells agrees there should be setbacks as well, though he’s unable to say where the setback should be. Wells has established a Web site — Free SoSA — that advocates turning the neighborhood into a laboratory for modern and experimental design. And he’s even arguing the area’s name, "the Cottage District,” should be changed to "SoSA,” (South of Saint Anthony).

As I listen to both sides argue their case, I’m reminded of just how lost the neighborhood was two decades ago.


SoSA, Cottage District — it’s home
A community has arisen in place of the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes, and although these new residents might not be enjoying any block parties any time soon, it appears the future of NW 7 is an exciting one. Regardless of any setback.