View Full Version : Mayor's Development Roundtable



Pete
05-06-2015, 09:17 AM
This event is happening today.

Below is a great recap from this morning's keynote speaker.

His points about the "next ring" outside of the central core are very interesting. We all like to think about downtown and then the outlying suburbs, but between is an area that is decaying pretty rapidly and represents a huge part of the City.




MDR: ‘Your glory days are still ahead of you’ (http://okgazette.com/2015/05/06/mdr-your-glory-days-are-still-ahead-of-you/)
By Ben Felder


Oklahoma City ain’t Portland. But that’s okay.

That was the message from Aaron Renn of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research who was a morning keynote speaker at the Mayor’s Development Roundtable on Wednesday.

“You would be far better off being the best Oklahoma City you could be rather than the poorman’s Portland,” Renn said. “Places like [OKC] are now in the game for business and residents like you never were before”

Renn remarked that second tier cities like Oklahoma City, Nashville and Indianapolis are competing with cities like Chicago and New York in new ways. While NYC is still America’s premier urban center, Renn said, new technology and the spread of speciality businesses has allowed places like OKC to offer high quality urban lifestyles.

However, while Renn remarked on OKC’s recent success in downtown, he said challenges remain with continued development in the communities just outside the urban core.

“You need to have that product in your arsenal,” Renn said about high density in the urban core. “Where a lot of cities your size run into challenges is that next ring out.”

A lack of sidewalks, transit infrastructure and medium density is a challenge in the urban neighborhoods outside of downtown Oklahoma City, Renn said.

Other points made by Renn:

-OKC should consider ways to attract the 30 to 45 year-old demographic that is currently moving out of many cities. Renn said OKC can offer downtown amenities that are hard to find in larger cities.

-Outer suburbs need attention as they are not at the level of other cities.

– “If your parks, your schools, your streets and your crime levels are terrible, that [cool downtown] stuff doesn’t matter,” said Renn, offering advice to keep close attention to the more mundane aspects of urban life that can be overlooked in the quest for new stadiums and skyscrapers.

-The cities of the northeast and the Rust Belt have past its prime but “Oklahoma City is just now starting to emerge as a great American city,” Renn said. “Your glory days are still ahead of you.”

Pete
05-06-2015, 09:19 AM
Follow Ben Felder's live tweets from the MDR today; interesting stuff:

https://twitter.com/benfelder_okg

Teo9969
05-06-2015, 09:56 AM
As I see it, OKC is in 3 waves:

Wave 1: Urban Core: Predominantly pre-War homes and a mix of eras commercially

Wave 2: Core to Grand Boulevard Circle: Predominantly 50s - 70s homes with large extant blocks of later than 50s commercial development (mostly 80s probably…commercial has been incredibly slow to follow this outward expansion).

Wave 3: Outside Grand Boulevard: Predominantly 80s to Now homes, large swaths lacking large scale commercial development.

Naturally there are blurred lines in certain pockets. I've found it interesting in NW OKC that while the 1st Wave has been under gentrification, the 2nd Wave has maintained for the most part the way it has been for much of the last 35 years, yet the 3rd Wave is on a relatively quick decline, even over the last 10 years.

AP
05-06-2015, 10:26 AM
I guess I think these types of speakers are cool, but I don't really get the point. There is always a lot of talking points with these things, but I never see any real, practical things that the City or anyone lists as actual take-aways that the city is working on.

Things like this: "A lack of sidewalks, transit infrastructure and medium density is a challenge in the urban neighborhoods outside of downtown Oklahoma City, Renn said."
Everyone already knows this, but what is anyone doing to address it? Like real actual steps to make it better? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

bchris02
05-06-2015, 10:55 AM
I am not that familiar with the city's policies but Is it possible for the city to take on any debt to actually get things done quickly? I know the MAPS model is centered around progress without debt, but if we don't want to wait 15 years for ample sidewalks in the urban core and a Phase 2 expansion of the streetcar something more drastic may need to be done.

I also agree that the suburbs need attention. Older stock is rapidly decaying and newer development is substandard compared to suburban development in other cities.

adaniel
05-06-2015, 11:08 AM
I guess I think these types of speakers are cool, but I don't really get the point. There is always a lot of talking points with these things, but I never see any real, practical things that the City or anyone lists as actual take-aways that the city is working on.

Things like this: "A lack of sidewalks, transit infrastructure and medium density is a challenge in the urban neighborhoods outside of downtown Oklahoma City, Renn said."
Everyone already knows this, but what is anyone doing to address it? Like real actual steps to make it better? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

How do you know its "absolutely nothing"?

IMO that's mildly insulting to the scores of neighborhood groups doing a ton of heavy lifting for their communities, even though they don't get flashy headlines or live tweets about their work.

There's a lot going on in this community that doesn't ever get mentioned.

AP
05-06-2015, 11:17 AM
nm

bradh
05-06-2015, 02:18 PM
Knowing AP I'm guessing he didn't mean "nothing is being done" but I could be wrong. I think he meant these talks are all flash and no substance. Don't talk about what's needed, we know that, talk about a plan to get there.

AP
05-06-2015, 02:35 PM
Yeah. That's what I meant. I obviously know there are groups doing things.

Urbanized
05-07-2015, 08:09 AM
I am not that familiar with the city's policies but Is it possible for the city to take on any debt to actually get things done quickly? I know the MAPS model is centered around progress without debt, but if we don't want to wait 15 years for ample sidewalks in the urban core and a Phase 2 expansion of the streetcar something more drastic may need to be done.

I also agree that the suburbs need attention. Older stock is rapidly decaying and newer development is substandard compared to suburban development in other cities.
We regularly take on debt for infrastructure, in the form of general obligation (GO) bond issues. The next round is in 2017.

LakeEffect
05-07-2015, 08:36 AM
We regularly take on debt for infrastructure, in the form of general obligation (GO) bond issues. The next round is in 2017.

However, certain items, like sidewalks only, are precluded from GO Bonds because they are not "public utilities". State law has different requirements about public utility and the amount of approval an item must receive in the election in order to be included. Sidewalks are ok to fund as ancillary to a road project, but a specific sidewalk GO Bond would require a higher vote percent, if allowed at all.

Urbanized
05-07-2015, 08:38 AM
Haha I remember talking about that with someone the other day over a bowl of cereal.

adaniel
05-07-2015, 09:06 AM
Yeah. That's what I meant. I obviously know there are groups doing things.

Got it. Sorry for jumping down your throat.

These talks are just par for the course . Personally as someone who's out of town and a bit out of the loop, I enjoy hearing them.