Innovation District

[Plutonic Panda]

This part of the city will see a boost with MAPS 4 funds although the proposed connection over 235 is not exciting to me.

WHAT IS THE INNOVATION DISTRICT?
Oklahoma City Innovation District Plan

The vision of the Oklahoma City Innovation District is to bring together the greatest minds in total collaboration, yielding world-changing results. Home to internationally-acclaimed organizations spanning Oklahoma’s diverse sectors – health, energy, aerospace, technology, research, academia, and more – the Innovation District provides opportunities for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community growth.

OKC’s emerging Innovation District currently encompasses about 1.3 square miles east of downtown –roughly between NE 13-16th Streets to the north and NE 4th to the south and Robinson and Lottie Avenues to the west and east. It crosses Broadway/Interstate 235 and includes Automobile Alley in addition to the Oklahoma Health Center, University Research Park, and numerous other institutions. The OKC Innovation District is also home to the heart of the city’s bioscience sector, where many institutions are already conducting groundbreaking research and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. A significant center of job growth, the district reflects the shifting geography of the global economy and the emergence of dense hubs of economic activity where innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and placemaking intersect.

The purpose of the Innovation District is to capitalize on OKC’s dominant industries; investing in high-quality places where research institutions, firms, and talent concentrate and connect. The district will support the region in being more competitive, both in attracting investment and the talent necessary to continue our community’s economic expansion. And, not incidentally, it is critical that we provide more opportunities for area residents who are not currently connected to the innovation economy. As an existing employment hub, the home of major anchor institutions and research assets, and a site ripe for placemaking interventions, the innovation district could propel the Oklahoma City region forward.

District website: https://okcinnovation.com/

[Plutonic Panda]

Article from VeloCity:

https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/eco...ps-4-projects/

[chuck5815]

This part of the city will see a boost with MAPS 4 funds although the proposed connection over 235 is not exciting to me.



District website: https://okcinnovation.com/

we’re definitely poor boying that District. We should be throwing far more money at it.

I don’t think folks realize just how F’d the city is right now, economically speaking.

Just look at the budget projections.

[Pete]

This is from a presentation on the Innovation Distirct as part of MAPS4.

You can see the once grandiose plan for 10th Street (which was only conceptual and never funded) has been scaled way back. You can see that original concept here: https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.p...118#post965118

[shawnw]

The bridge expansion is the best thing here.

[Plutonic Panda]

This whole thing is a disappointment. At least the Innovative Plaza looks really cool as long as it doesn’t get scaled down.

It would be a lot better IMO if the bridge expansion allowed for buildings instead of park space.

[dankrutka]

The bridge expansion is the best thing here.

I agree. This makes so much more sense than capping I-235.

It would be a lot better IMO if the bridge expansion allowed for buildings instead of park space.

Yeah, buildings would be cool. I like how they did that in Columbus, Ohio... but, you're really not connecting to any urban streetscape on the west side of I-235 anyway.

I think this pedestrian-focused addition makes a lot of sense.

Question: Is Booker T. Washington park already there or is this a new park? Is that the name preferred by Black leaders in OKC? There's a long legacy of naming places and schools after Booker T. in more conservative places (especially the South) because he accommodated Whites publicly instead of more equity-oriented leaders like Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, or Ida B. Wells. Just curious.

[Pete]

^

It's already there, so this would be an upgrade.

[shawnw]

Seems like it'd be a good time to do any reworking/restriping/etc of 10th over the bridge and in the periphery, but they're not showing any of that here (which is not to say it won't happen).

[Laramie]

Henrietta B. Foster Center use to be home of the YMCA, it has an indoor swimming pool and is fully operational. Mrs. Foster was the librarian at Moon Jr. High School that currently houses offices for OU Health Science Center area.

Site of the old Webster and Moon Jr., High Schools

There's a Plains Indians' marker still on site.

Booker T. Washington Park on 4th Street once was home to Page Stadium, the former home to Douglass High School. The 3,000 capacity all brick two-sided stadium was demolished in the late 60s., with a smaller community park stadium erected for little league football. Abram Ross (Negros in the News) use to host his annual birthday party which attracted thousands to the park during Juneteenth celebrations. Glad to see what looks like a jogging course on the park.

The 10th Street Bridge expansion (Cap) will brace for some interesting options from Downtown to the OUHSC's Innovation link which will be pivotal from downtown to the Health Science Center complex.

Our city's MAPS 4 includes community human needs and parks' projects. Can't wait to see the sequel to MAPS 4.

[HOT ROD]

Larry, thanks for that.

It's so interesting that the media is so ignorant about OKC's black culture that they often portray OKC as this all-white cowtown (mostly due to nat'l voting results) that you and I know it is not. And I'm so happy the city has diversified even moreso than when we grew up so that it's very close to being a minority majority city, yet still conservative compared to other major cities.

[dankrutka]

^^^
I feel like local and school histories have contributed to the problem. I basically had to teach myself about OKC area Black legends like Roscoe Dunjee, Ralph Ellison, and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher (Chickasha). When they are included in the curriculum, it's what multicultural educator James Banks calls the "additive" approach. In other words, they're basically just added into the White story of Oklahoma and OKC's history, sometimes literally on the margins of textbooks. We need more historical perspectives that center and teach through Black Oklahoman perspectives. And OKC has done a terrible job of promoting Black history. They've repeatedly celebrated the landrun and early White settlers, but not near enough historical markers or statues for the folks I mentioned earlier. I know Mayor Holt and others have highlighted Ellison and there's been movement on a more visible Clara Luper statue, but there's a lot more work that needs to be done.

[PhiAlpha]

I agree. This makes so much more sense than capping I-235.



Yeah, buildings would be cool. I like how they did that in Columbus, Ohio... but, you're really not connecting to any urban streetscape on the west side of I-235 anyway.

I think this pedestrian-focused addition makes a lot of sense.

Question: Is Booker T. Washington park already there or is this a new park? Is that the name preferred by Black leaders in OKC? There's a long legacy of naming places and schools after Booker T. in more conservative places (especially the South) because he accommodated Whites publicly instead of more equity-oriented leaders like Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, or Ida B. Wells. Just curious.

I was going to laugh at this comment as one of your (what I would consider) overly sensitive social justice commentaries (only kidding) but I think you do make a good point in that it could easily be named after someone else when so many things are named after Booker T. Would be cooler if it was named after a prominent black historical figure from OKC or OK. We have plenty of them to choose from.

[PhiAlpha]

^^^
I feel like local and school histories have contributed to the problem. I basically had to teach myself about OKC area Black legends like Roscoe Dunjee, Ralph Ellison, and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher (Chickasha). When they are included in the curriculum, it's what multicultural educator James Banks calls the "additive" approach. In other words, they're basically just added into the White story of Oklahoma and OKC's history, sometimes literally on the margins of textbooks. We need more historical perspectives that center and teach through Black Oklahoman perspectives. And OKC has done a terrible job of promoting Black history. They've repeatedly celebrated the landrun and early White settlers, but not near enough historical markers or statues for the folks I mentioned earlier. I know Mayor Holt and others have highlighted Ellison and there's been movement on a more visible Clara Luper statue, but there's a lot more work that needs to be done.

You were a step ahead of me!

[dankrutka]

I was going to laugh at this comment as one of your (what I would consider) overly sensitive social justice commentaries (only kidding) but I think you do make a good point in that it could easily be named after someone else when so many things are named after Booker T. Would be cooler if it was named after a prominent black historical figure from OKC or OK. We have plenty of them to choose from.

Thanks! Both for associating me with social justice and considering my comments. Both great compliments.

[lady_o]

Does anyone know how the 10th street plan would affect the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics campus?

[HOT ROD]

I agree with the above and it's the reason why Rosa Parks gets credit for the civil rights movement and not earlier pioneers like our very own Clara Luper.

However, I want it to be known that I also disagree with BLM's approach in 're-writing' history that they disagree with. Instead, I think we need to tell ALL history, good and bad, black and white (and red, yellow, brown), as THIS is what makes America. We should NOT be tearing down statues, names, or destroying flags because that history is no longer politically correct. Instead, we should be educating WHY those things were bad and the GOOD that came from it/them or in-spite of it/them.

We can't sweep history under the rug just like we shouldn't have hid OKC's black (and other) historical contribution.

[David]

We should absolutely be tearing down statues that were put up during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era in order to intimidate Black people. And that's nearly all of them, it's why you have random confederate statues over far more than just the south.

[dankrutka]

I agree with the above and it's the reason why Rosa Parks gets credit for the civil rights movement and not earlier pioneers like our very own Clara Luper.

However, I want it to be known that I also disagree with BLM's approach in 're-writing' history that they disagree with. Instead, I think we need to tell ALL history, good and bad, black and white (and red, yellow, brown), as THIS is what makes America. We should NOT be tearing down statues, names, or destroying flags because that history is no longer politically correct. Instead, we should be educating WHY those things were bad and the GOOD that came from it/them or in-spite of it/them.

We can't sweep history under the rug just like we shouldn't have hid OKC's black (and other) historical contribution.

This is getting way off topic. I'll try to keep this short (I'm a professor of social studies education so this is an area I teach on), I'd just ask you to consider the ways you're conflating "history" (which is always re-written; see historiography) with statues intended to honor and celebrate. They're not the same thing. If you're interested in a relevant book, David Blight's Race and Reunion is considered a classic on Civil War memory.

We should absolutely be tearing down statues that were put up during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era in order to intimidate Black people. And that's nearly all of them, it's why you have random confederate statues over far more than just the south.

And most people don't know that when/why these statues were put up in the first place. Confederate statues and textbooks were targeted by groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy (who were closely allied with the Klan) with the intention of re-writing Civil War history:



Now living in Texas, I feel very fortunate to not have grown up around this Confederate history in Oklahoma. It's weird to me that many Oklahomans would care about Confederate monuments considering the state had a minimal role in the Civil War.

Anyway, I was just curious about this park and who chose the name. I'd think there are better options than Booker T. Washington, but I was genuinely curious who chose the name and why.

[Rover]

I agree with the above and it's the reason why Rosa Parks gets credit for the civil rights movement and not earlier pioneerods like our very own Clara Luper.

However, I want it to be known that I also disagree with BLM's approach in 're-writing' history that they disagree with. Instead, I think we need to tell ALL history, good and bad, black and white (and red, yellow, brown), as THIS is what makes America. We should NOT be tearing down statues, names, or destroying flags because that history is no longer politically correct. Instead, we should be educating WHY those things were bad and the GOOD that came from it/them or in-spite of it/them.

We can't sweep history under the rug just like we shouldn't have hid OKC's black (and other) historical contribution.

Educate, don’t venerate.

Making the recording of history correct doesn’t mean an alternate version. It means THE version.

Cancel culture was the erecting of these statues in the first place, and writing a misleading or incomplete historical account in the first place. I hear cancel culture complaints and political correctness complaints and it is almost always from the worst offenders. They aren’t worried about rights, they are worried about being right.

[Martin]

Now living in Texas, I feel very fortunate to not have grown up around this Confederate history in Oklahoma. It's weird to me that many Oklahomans would care about Confederate monuments considering the state had a minimal role in the Civil War.

the texas state board of education finally realized that slavery was one of the key issues of the civil war way back in 2018. texas also has more active klan groups, and more public symbols of the confederacy than oklahoma. i'm curious what objective measures you're basing your opinion on.

Texas Will Finally Teach That Slavery Was Main Cause of the Civil War | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
Whose Heritage? | Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)
The KKK Is Still Based in 22 States in the U.S. in 2017 | Best States | US News

Anyway, I was just curious about this park and who chose the name. I'd think there are better options than Booker T. Washington, but I was genuinely curious who chose the name and why.

now i'm curious about this as well and will dig around to see what i can find out... given the city's historic geography (to put it kindly), i would imagine that this park is pre-ww2.

[BoulderSooner]

Now living in Texas, I feel very fortunate to not have grown up around this Confederate history in Oklahoma. It's weird to me that many Oklahomans would care about Confederate monuments considering the state had a minimal role in the Civil War.

Anyway, I was just curious about this park and who chose the name. I'd think there are better options than Booker T. Washington, but I was genuinely curious who chose the name and why.

lol

[David]

I think that was just phrased really strangely by Dan.

[Martin]

according to the city, booker t. washington park was created in 1924. Booker T. Washington Park | City of OKC

i searched the oklahoman archives and couldn't find anything in the 1920's.

i found several articles from the 1930's. other than mentions of youth programs and celebrations of emancipation day, there were some issues regarding oil wells on the property. the following was written in 1935 by a candidate for city council, charles w. offutt. please excuse the antiquated language, assuming that the site's filters don't get it for me.

when the question of the city leasing booker t. washington park for oil development was presented, there was a gentlemen's agreement between the city council and the negro representatives that the oil bonus money, or a sufficient portion thereof, would be best used by the city to procure another negro park, the site thereof to be selected by the negro people. the negro representatives selected a 50-acre tract known as "hassman park" which is located north of tenth street and east of grand boulevard. the city received $38,000 for a lease on the old booker t. washington park. the new park site cost the city $25,000. the city has received more than $100,000 from booker t. washington park in oil royalties. this booker t. washington park has been the most productive area in the city field and depended upon to bolster the city's future oil income.

while this isn't direct evidence... if the black community played a large role in selecting the site of a replacement park in the 1930's, it is likely that it had great involvement in selecting the details of booker t. washington park in the 1920's, including selecting its name. i imagine that the site reverted to a park after the oil lease expired. i'm not so sure that the rail spur that gives the park its triangular shape existed at this point... but my old okc maps are at home and i'm here at the office. i also wonder if this hassman park is what is currently called edwards park.

[TheTravellers]

We should absolutely be tearing down statues that were put up during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era in order to intimidate Black people. And that's nearly all of them, it's why you have random confederate statues over far more than just the south.

Yes, this. We watch "Southern Charm" (wife watched it, I was generally just in the room when it came on, wandering in and out, but this season I watched it) and there was a hugely tall statue (100+ ft) of John C. Calhoun which got removed. It stood for over 100 years, over 100 ft tall, and any person of color would probably be angered, dismayed, saddened, etc. when they walked by/under it while it was watching over them, and since it was over 100 ft tall, its intimidation powers were pretty considerable. So yeah, tear them down. Put them in a museum or a warehouse or something like that, maybe not destroy them, but do not leave them standing, it's a massive insult to a huge percentage of the population.