No no no! This at-least-it's-better-than-surface-parking attitude drives me crazy; it's why OKC feels like it's stuck in the mid-90s. Sure, scraping a pass is better than flunking a test, but what if you'd aimed for an A and got B-? A lot better than a pass. What if you'd aimed for an A and got it?!

Cities develop slowly over years. Change can only happen incrementally and these development opportunities don't come up all the time. This is a significant and prominent downtown development site. If you just cut'n'paste what the neighbors in Lower Bricktown did you just perpetuate the problems, you don't move anything on. Walking down Reno between LB and the arena is grim--I've done it many times--blasted by the sun and the dust off the parking lot. What if it was lined out with stores and coffee shops and bars and restaurants; even enlivened by entrances to offices or apartments? An enjoyable walk down a city block in the shade.

Maybe you can't do anything about the neigbors, but you've improved part of the journey. Maybe people realize that your stretch of street is much more enjoyable than everyone else's and they try and do what you did. Or maybe they even try to do it better ...