Continuing the review ...
I've gotten through Chapters 7-8, doubtless the hardest to read so far. Details of the Penn Square Bank and Oil Bust and Bricktown's "Second Chance."
But, to me, the emotional focus is clearly the story of Neal Horton which began in Chapter 5. Though it's a vast oversimplification for me to say, the book clearly portrays him as a visionary and one determined to succeed in developing Bricktown but who never did ... but not because he didn't give his vision all he had. Developing financial, health, and marriage issues, shortly before his death, he was homeless. Only with the financial assistance of some friends during the last months of his life would he even have a roof over his head.
The following quote picks up during this period ... Bricktown had turned the corner ...
Quote:
The city, which for years had refused to participate in any Bricktown improvements, finally chipped in $444,000 toward improving sidewalks, curbs, and landscaping. Brewer, Tolbert, and Karchmer had also worked with the city to create an urban design committee to oversee building facade renovations. Despite his bad health and vanished fortune, Horton still presented himself with class when accepting visitors. He still wore the freshly pressed white shirts, a habit from his days he could not quite shake.
On a cold December day in late 1992, Karchmer visited Horton at his Seven Oaks Apartment. "The first nice spring day, I'm going to come get you, bring you down to Bricktown and drive you around," Karchmer said. Horton agreed - he was eager to see the old warehouses again. Horton, however, did not make the trip. Before then, he made one last trip to the hosiptal, where he finally succumbed to the emphysema that had dogged him since Bricktown had slipped from his grasp.
In his dying days, even Horton could not imagine was next for Bricktown ...
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Horton's story smacks me as being the stuff of a modern day Shakespeare tragedy. You've gotta like this classy guy ...
Oh, yeah, these guys really know how to tell a story.