BOK Park Plaza

[Fly on the Wall]

...Your excitement over this project, and positive spin, is appreciated. However it's a long-held and well-studied concept that skybridges are street life killers. Also, I don't think you've really considered any of the things you're excited about...

I don't think GoDowntownOKC's comments are "spin", I think it's an honest assessment that is in line with how many people feel about a project like this. I have to admit I'm a little mystified by some people's nearly dogmatic dislike of Sky Bridges. You know what kills street life? 20 degree F weather with a 40 knot wind howling out of the north! I've worked downtown OKC over 10 years. My group and I walk all over the place at lunch to different establishments. When the weather is bad, we often are in a sky bridge at some point going to an establishment quite a distance away to spend money as a group in a place we would not have gone to if we had to walk in the cold rain and driving wind. That particular business and others like it benefit from our little treks.

When the weather is nicer, we always walk outside, walking from anywhere to the Museum Cafe, Joey's all the way to Bricktown on foot. Sometimes we track down a food truck and just sit either in the Devon Plaza area, Myriad Gardens or where ever. So from my perspective, the much hated (here anyway) occasional weather related stroll through a Sky Bridge is a convenience. I'd much prefer a nice walk outside, even when it is cold. But, driving cold rain and 0F wind chills will have us not going out for lunch or taking a indoor route if possible to where we want to go. Not long ago we were paused overlooking a street on such a nasty day and saw some guy nailed by truck splashing a puddle of water and someone commented, "I wonder if that was they guy who's always whining about Sky Bridges on OKCTALK?".

People can and will always nitpick, but over all, this project is a big positive for the downtown area. Don't let an obsession with perfection be the enemy of progress. There are a lot of things I would like to see right now, yesterday really in OKC. Parking garages everywhere on this block, I get that distaste. I'd much rather have the ability to hop on a light rail service from Edmond, get off at the Santa Fe station and walk to work. But that option doesn't exist so the parking issue needs to be addressed.

[bchris02]

I don't think GoDowntownOKC's comments are "spin", I think it's an honest assessment that is in line with how many people feel about a project like this. I have to admit I'm a little mystified by some people's nearly dogmatic dislike of Sky Bridges. You know what kills street life? 20 degree F weather with a 40 knot wind howling out of the north! I've worked downtown OKC over 10 years. My group and I walk all over the place at lunch to different establishments. When the weather is bad, we often are in a sky bridge at some point going to an establishment quite a distance away to spend money as a group in a place we would not have gone to if we had to walk in the cold rain and driving wind. That particular business and others like it benefit from our little treks.

When the weather is nicer, we always walk outside, walking from anywhere to the Museum Cafe, Joey's all the way to Bricktown on foot. Sometimes we track down a food truck and just sit either in the Devon Plaza area, Myriad Gardens or where ever. So from my perspective, the much hated (here anyway) occasional weather related stroll through a Sky Bridge is a convenience. I'd much prefer a nice walk outside, even when it is cold. But, driving cold rain and 0F wind chills will have us not going out for lunch or taking a indoor route if possible to where we want to go. Not long ago we were paused overlooking a street on such a nasty day and saw some guy nailed by truck splashing a puddle of water and someone commented, "I wonder if that was they guy who's always whining about Sky Bridges on OKCTALK?".

People can and will always nitpick, but over all, this project is a big positive for the downtown area. Don't let an obsession with perfection be the enemy of progress. There are a lot of things I would like to see right now, yesterday really in OKC. Parking garages everywhere on this block, I get that distaste. I'd much rather have the ability to hop on a light rail service from Edmond, get off at the Santa Fe station and walk to work. But that option doesn't exist so the parking issue needs to be addressed.

[Bellaboo]

I don't think GoDowntownOKC's comments are "spin", I think it's an honest assessment that is in line with how many people feel about a project like this. I have to admit I'm a little mystified by some people's nearly dogmatic dislike of Sky Bridges. You know what kills street life? 20 degree F weather with a 40 knot wind howling out of the north! I've worked downtown OKC over 10 years. My group and I walk all over the place at lunch to different establishments. When the weather is bad, we often are in a sky bridge at some point going to an establishment quite a distance away to spend money as a group in a place we would not have gone to if we had to walk in the cold rain and driving wind. That particular business and others like it benefit from our little treks.

When the weather is nicer, we always walk outside, walking from anywhere to the Museum Cafe, Joey's all the way to Bricktown on foot. Sometimes we track down a food truck and just sit either in the Devon Plaza area, Myriad Gardens or where ever. So from my perspective, the much hated (here anyway) occasional weather related stroll through a Sky Bridge is a convenience. I'd much prefer a nice walk outside, even when it is cold. But, driving cold rain and 0F wind chills will have us not going out for lunch or taking a indoor route if possible to where we want to go. Not long ago we were paused overlooking a street on such a nasty day and saw some guy nailed by truck splashing a puddle of water and someone commented, "I wonder if that was they guy who's always whining about Sky Bridges on OKCTALK?".

People can and will always nitpick, but over all, this project is a big positive for the downtown area. Don't let an obsession with perfection be the enemy of progress. There are a lot of things I would like to see right now, yesterday really in OKC. Parking garages everywhere on this block, I get that distaste. I'd much rather have the ability to hop on a light rail service from Edmond, get off at the Santa Fe station and walk to work. But that option doesn't exist so the parking issue needs to be addressed.

My sentiments too, but with a twist. My Thunder tickets come with a parking pass in the Santa Fe garage. When the weather is okay, we park on the west side of the Stage Center site. This saves about 10 minutes each direction for the game. Now when it's a downpour or snow/ice or cold and a howling wind, we park in the garage and take the sky bridges all the way to the Cox Center. Then it's just a dash across Reno. Thank the good lord for the sky bridges.

[kevinpate]

The odds of this not happening in substantially the same manner as proposed (big garages, older buildings razed, skywalks, offset corner bldg to have a small plaza, etc.) are about the same odds of me winning the lottery drawing on Saturday without buying a ticket. Not zero, cause after all, someone might buy a ticket and mark it all up with my info and it mihgt win and all, but I don't think I'll be banking on that outcome either.

[boitoirich]

I don't think GoDowntownOKC's comments are "spin", I think it's an honest assessment that is in line with how many people feel about a project like this. I have to admit I'm a little mystified by some people's nearly dogmatic dislike of Sky Bridges. You know what kills street life? 20 degree F weather with a 40 knot wind howling out of the north! I've worked downtown OKC over 10 years.

Sorry, but weather has no bearing on whether or not a place has active street life. The cold isn't the problem (Northern Europe, for example). The driving wind isn't the problem either (When I lived in Taipei, people would still go out shopping or to restaurants during typhoons). The difference between those places that remain active during the winter/monsoon months and OKC is urban design. Taipei's arterials are lined with arcaded, sidewalk-fronting buildings featuring a contiguous wall of storefronts. This strategy is so successful that people don't mind leaving the protection of home in order to go out and do something when the weather is awful. A consequence of this is that even collectors and neighborhood streets, which aren't protected by arcades, see successful, year-round street life. Their cafes, shops, bars, and restaurants are full of locals who know there will be an umbrella stand just beyond the entryway.

When you have good urban design, you get good urban results. When you design for the office worker to arrive by car, park in a garage, sky walk to and from the office, and leave to the suburbs, you get exactly what you designed for. Weather is a red herring here.

[Urbanized]

...When you have good urban design, you get good urban results. When you design for the office worker to arrive by car, park in a garage, sky walk to and from the office, and leave to the suburbs, you get exactly what you designed for. Weather is a red herring here.

100% agree.