View Full Version : Larry Nichols



JohnH_in_OKC
10-21-2012, 10:28 AM
I just watched Flash Point on Channel 4 Sunday Oct 21st which featured an interview with Devon Energy Chariman Larry Nichols. It was interesting & informative. I hope segments of the interview will be available this next week at Channel 4's Flash Point website:

Flashpoint | KFOR.com (http://kfor.com/category/news/flashpoint/)

From the Flash Point program: There were lots of contributions to OKC from Larry Nichols & Devon Energy which I wasn't aware such as his contributions to the Lyric Theatre, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. I disagree with him on renewable energy's future since I think (hope) that inexpensive solar energy will be available to homeowners within a decade. There is new technology that can coat the entire external facades & roofs of our homes & enable us to capture far more of the sun's energy than the solar panels of present-day technology. Of course, Mr. Nichols has a self interest & a stockholder's interest as Chairman of Devon to always promote oil & gas. I hope I'm right. A caveat: I expected inexpensive energy from fusion based reactors 50 years ago & I'm still waiting.

I've always assumed he was from Michigan since his law degree was from there. But Larry Nichols graduated from Casady School here in OKC before attending Princeton & majoring in Geology. When he couldn't find a job in the oil industry, he went to law school!

I’ve never met Mr. Nichols, but I admire all that he has contributed to OKC beyond Devon Energy and the Devon World Headquarters Tower. He is responsible for the overhaul of OKC's downtown with Project 180. The redesign of the Myriad Gardens is just fantastic! His opposition to the first rendition of Kevin Durant’s restaurant led to a new more open design - much more fitting to the ambiance of the Bricktown Canal. We should all appreciate his support and his company’s support of so many of OKC’s events like Opening Night, the Arts Festival, & the Christmas lights water parade on the Oklahoma River. He also is responsible for the transit/tour boats on the Oklahoma River and the beautiful Devon Boathouse.

Another Larry Nichols topic: I opposed the convention center's inclusion in Maps 3 in favor of sidewalks for my neighborhood which was left out of the 2008 General Bond issue. But a few months before the MAPS 3 election, I concluded the MAPS 3 projects were too important to oppose & I became an active proponent on OKC Talk and on the NewsOK websites. This year, after the Thunder reached the NBA finals, I realized the sooner we get a first class convention center built, the better for OKC's future.

The international recognition of OKC as a Big League City is now established. When I lived & traveled in Europe (1973-1975, 1991) before the OKC bombing, most Europeans knew of Oklahoma City, but primarily from tornado alley destruction. This year we impressed a WHOLE LOT of people both abroad & here in the U.S. by our NBA Thunder team's performance, the character of the team, the Chesapeake Arena venue, and OKC's potential. People are curious about OKC & want to come visit to see for themselves.

When I was in San Francisco at the Moscone Center 3 years ago, I met a woman from California who had just been to OKC & she couldn't say enough good things about us -- primarily Bricktown & the canal. This kind of promotion is the best kind of advertising. Our new convention center will multiply the number of affluent visitors to OKC, give us the chance to impress a lot more people, and beyond question bring many new high-end jobs here. I know the new convention center is a part of Larry Nichol's vision for OKC & I think he's right.

Larry Nichols: Thanks for everything you do for making Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, America & our world better places to live and work.

Devon Energy employees: Someone please expand Mr. Nichols' Wikipedia article. For someone so accomplished, there isn't much there! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Nichols

Everyone: There is a great oral interview that Mr. Nichols did with Voices of Oklahoma that is really fascinating to listen to here: http://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/larry_nichols.html

John Hite, retired, Oklahoma City

kevinpate
10-21-2012, 11:58 AM
... This year, after the Thunder reached the NBA finals, I realized the sooner we get the new convention center CORRECTLY built, the better for OKC's future. ...

I don't really follow along on how you made that particular connection, nor do I agree with it. I'm not opposed to the cc, though I'm not crazed how it was moved to the forefront nor even a tiny bit elated over its planned location. Just about everything else though, um, yeah, +1 and all that.

JohnH_in_OKC
10-21-2012, 01:43 PM
I don't really follow along on how you made that particular connection, nor do I agree with it. I'm not opposed to the cc, though I'm not crazed how it was moved to the forefront nor even a tiny bit elated over its planned location. Just about everything else though, um, yeah, +1 and all that.

I have been re-editing my posting & I rewrote that sentence. The new sentence: "This year, after the Thunder reached the NBA finals, I realized the sooner we get a first class convention center built, the better for OKC's future." I agree that my statements on the convention center are incongruous, but if you read those 3 paragraphs as a whole, they should make sense (I hope).

I like to walk OKC & yesterday I walked the downtown area during the time between OSU's game and OU's game. This was the first time I had walked around the completed exterior of Chesapeake Energy Center. I envisioned what the Oklahoma City Boulevard would look like & tried to imagine the new convention center. What is positive about the new location is its proximity to the boulevard & the site is located across the boulevard from our new central park. Also, across Robinson is our revitalized (and now even more beautiful) arena. That potentially will really impress our convention visitors. The Myriad Gardens & Devon Energy building are on the north side of the convention center. In my opinion, the people who selected that site absolutely made the right choice, even though it disrupts Harvey Avenue's walkway-bicycle path from Devon to our central park. I'll be happy to detour around a beautiful convention center (or walk through it). If expansion is ever needed, we could possibly lower Hudson to tunnel underneath an expanded convention center, but that is only a possibility after MAPS 3 ends.

Here is a link to Steve Lackmeyer's article with a map of the proposed site: MAPS 3 convention center site is being questioned | NewsOK.com (http://newsok.com/maps-3-convention-center-site-is-being-questioned/article/3712898)

Below: The thumbnail map on the right side has a larger map than the thumbnail on the left.