I still think we need an animated, lighted billboard somewhere near the Cox Center/Bricktown/Ford Center area. to let visitors know the latest news, and to announce events going on downtown. This would allow better advertising for Downtown OKC events. Downtown OKC Inc. could operate the content. The sign could be paid for by advertisers like Bricktown merchants, The Hornets, The Blazers, etc. which could pay for spots on the board. Possible locations could include the south side of the Cox Center or the south side of the Trigen Energy structure just east of the Renaissance.

The sign should be huge.....a little larger than the announcement board on the State Fair's sign.

I think this is still a great idea.

I agree with you Patrick. A classy sign announcing events would be a great addition.

I was the one who was originally working on this, I got sidetracked with my city council campaign but look on starting this up again now that things have settled down. I think this may be more a reality now than before with the arrival of the Hornets and more street life downtown

I'm surprised the Ford Center doesn't have some sort of marquee, at least for the events being held there. Beyond that, I think it would be a good idea for the city to have one downtown for all of its events. I don't know if it needs to be bigger than the Fairgrounds sign, as that one is targeting freeway drivers going 75, but it definitely should be nicer.

Here's my take on a billboard system:

a) Get a main billboard and make it big and fancy. Add a video screen for video advertisements and announcements, complete with a speaker system, and put it on the facade of the Cox Center. (The facade is lacking so it would fix TWO problems ;)) It would be expensive, but worth it.

b) If we're going to spend the money for THAT then we might as well go all out and put smaller daughter boards around town-- One or two in Bricktown/Lower Bricktown, one in the middle of the CBD and one over by the Art museum, library, or memorial. The other boards would also be electronic and controlled in the same place as the main infoboard- but they could list local events as well as city-wide events. The smaller boards would obviously not be as extravagant as the main one, but they would be a nice touch.

The benefit of the BIG, all out, high-tech infoboard would be enormous: Visitors, Conventioneers, and locals would be impressed, for one, and they would see advertisements for upcoming local events. Restaurants and retailers would pay to advertise on the jumbotron portion and bring end-of-game sports fans to THEIR restaurant. It would also add some action to that area.

The benefit of the smaller ones could be even better- Occasional metro visitors to Bricktown would notice an upcoming event on the Bricktown sign and decide to come back on x date. Tourists visiting the memorial or Art museum would maybe see something that they get excited about. The infoboards would provide excellent advertisement for downtown events.

Thanks for your insight Shane. This is pretty much what I and the rest had envisioned, we even had a CGI rendering. When I get some time and revisit city leaders and advertising agencies again, we will possibly launch a task force

Woops, guess I was a little late! ;)

Would you be able to post the rendering?

Excellent suggestion Shane, I just have one question tho - which side of the Myriad would the Jumbotron face? I assume you mean the South Facade (which is lacking) but I just want to be sure.

Metro I hope your efforts can gain momentum once again.

Yeah I was thinking the south because that side looks terrible... A big beige wall for everyone to see when they come out of the Ford Center. Also placing the big board here would probably make for maximum visibility to people who don't visit downtown every day for work. And this is the largest expanse of nonembellished wallspace downtown that I can think of... ;)

Totally agree :)

I'll have to go to the city again and repull the traffic counts since earlier this year. This is what the right people are going to look at, the daily traffic count and then consider foot traffic at XYZ intersection, originally we were looking to put it on the old Trigen building going into Bricktown directly east of the Renaissance

What about putting a Times Square-like television and message board in Lower Bricktown where the new housing and retail complex is going to be constructed near the west side of the Harkins Theatre. It's too bad that no one besides us posters on OKCTALK can use their imagination to come up with things like this to enhance our city and it's image. The city has been doing well with many things, but it's time that the leaders and developers think outside the box. The state centennial is coming up and there are some nice projects getting off the ground, but this city needs to emulate some of our peer cities and larger ones as well that come up with things that create the WOW factor for citizens and tourists. The Beacon of Hope was an awesome idea, except that it isn't visible. Why?? That was supposed to be our "St. Louis Arch" concept. Can we please get a signature tower off the ground in the next five years??

I will repeat my statement of what it would take, I am a dreamer but you have to be realistic too, the Harkins area doesn't have enough traffic and foot counts during the week to support it, it needs to be in the CBD.


I'll have to go to the city again and repull the traffic counts since earlier this year. This is what the right people are going to look at, the daily traffic count and then consider foot traffic at XYZ intersection, originally we were looking to put it on the old Trigen building going into Bricktown directly east of the Renaissance

Is that the 7 story building that is in the block with Abuelos? If so, wouldn't the view of the announcement board from the west be blocked by the rail bridge? Or were you thinking the east face of the building?

I'd be interested to see the most trafficked roads. Reno is always really busy.

South Face