Homeless Hi-Rise at Admiral and Yale

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by cks511

A little CYA just hit the news:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080814_296_Anew571050

It will be interesting to see if this will pass legal.....

If so... I think you can safely say it will allow people to vent and to come to grips with the situation...

Doubt anything would change.

Maybe the targeted councilors can put together a plan to reopen Hissom and bring back warehousing, electro-shock, and lobotomy...

Progress a plenty in the little town of Tulsa.

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by Rico

quote:Originally posted by cks511

A little CYA just hit the news:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080814_296_Anew571050

It will be interesting to see if this will pass legal.....

If so... I think you can safely say it will allow people to vent and to come to grips with the situation...

Doubt anything would change.

Maybe the targeted councilors can put together a plan to reopen Hissom and bring back warehousing, electro-shock, and lobotomy...

Progress a plenty in the little town of Tulsa.

Gomerz is a Goner. The grifter got caught in this game of graft, now he's up s*#t's creek without a paddle or a raft.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Double A

quote:Originally posted by Rico

quote:Originally posted by cks511

A little CYA just hit the news:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080814_296_Anew571050

It will be interesting to see if this will pass legal.....

If so... I think you can safely say it will allow people to vent and to come to grips with the situation...

Doubt anything would change.

Maybe the targeted councilors can put together a plan to reopen Hissom and bring back warehousing, electro-shock, and lobotomy...

Progress a plenty in the little town of Tulsa.

Gomerz is a Goner. The grifter got caught in this game of graft, now he's up s*#t's creek without a paddle or a raft.

I really wish you would cinch up your nut-sack and run for D-4 councilor.  You probably go to as many council meetings as they do anyway.  I'd contribute to your campaign just to see someone stir the bucket for a couple of years on the council.

[RecycleMichael]

If this had been a four story, 76 unit apartment or condo complex at Admiral and Yale, it would have been applauded by the city and the neighborhoods.

It ain't the building, nor the location, it is the type of resident that everyone fears.

What is wrong with this picture?

[sgrizzle]

Discrimination. Now if only they were African American, Muslim, Gay or some other "acceptable" socio-economic group.

[MDepr2007]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

I was a Roper!

I was too, are they still busing in blacks for the status look ?

[MDepr2007]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

If this had been a four story, 76 unit apartment or condo complex at Admiral and Yale, it would have been applauded by the city and the neighborhoods.

It ain't the building, nor the location, it is the type of resident that everyone fears.

What is wrong with this picture?

Actually there is another hotel going in at 67th (?) and between Admiral and Archer , between Hibdon Tire and an auto parts store. The uproar but then again there is already many hotels and prostitutes anyway.

Remember the lady on TV pounding the podium and asking the THA board if they wanted this in their backyard.
Here is her website
http://wandawatsonband.com/

I think some should rethink what they call and label a blues singer. A successfull blues singer always comes from the heart and soul []

[Gold]

quote:Originally posted by Double A

quote:Originally posted by Gold


Beyond that, the Y needs to go.  If we keep people living there, we subject them to the risk of a terrible fire.  Just a thought that seems to get lost in this discussion.

Install sprinklers, problem solved.

Got the cash for that?

It's really expensive.  Several buildings downtown have been hit with this problem.

[MDepr2007]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

quote:Originally posted by Double A

quote:Originally posted by Gold


Beyond that, the Y needs to go.  If we keep people living there, we subject them to the risk of a terrible fire.  Just a thought that seems to get lost in this discussion.

Install sprinklers, problem solved.

Got the cash for that?

It's really expensive.  Several buildings downtown have been hit with this problem.

Who better to be in position to pay for it if they really cared for the occupants. Instead they have decided to keep the residents in a dangerous building longer, just so they can build an award winning building with their names on it [B)]

[Gold]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

quote:Originally posted by tshane250

People are just afraid of what they know little about, plain and simple.

Tshane, good point.

What is it they say?  "A lack of education leads to ignorance"?  Ignorance leads to ignorant comments from the looks of things.

But some of the comments I've read here and elsewhere does border on sheer ignorant prejudice of mental health issues and the people they affect.

I don't mention it much for no other reason than it's seldom relevant in my daily conversation, but I've got a relative who lives in a group home environment in Bethany (OKC).  It's a converted Howard Johnson's motel and it houses people with mental illness, some veterans, and people with substance abuse issues on their way back up from bottom.  

Honestly, it's not unlike a partial cross-section of any neighborhood or apartment complex in the Tulsa area.  Even the nicest areas have people with mental illness or who have suffered (or are still suffering) from substance abuse, near homelessness at some point or being destitute.

My relative is a vet and suffers from Schizophrenia.  Most days he's pretty lucid, but he is not capable of holding down any sort of employment.  He goes to the Vet center in OKC most days.  He's harmless and probably one of my favorite extended family members.  Most other people who live there are just as harmless and might go so far as to walk over to some of the fast food places in the area to eat, but generally, they stay out of the residential area a block away other than taking walks in the morning or afternoon.

Gold, you pretty much backed up my assertion of the "Beirut" looking building down at 18th & Boulder not affecting the neighborhood negatively.

The people around Admiral and Yale need to consider this a nice gift to the landscape.  I seriously doubt they will even notice their new neighbors.  This isn't like putting in a prison pre-release center, a sexual preditor lock-up, or a bunch of strip clubs.  I really do fail to see how this will hurt property values.

"Beirut" is a pretty good name for that building.  Made me smile -- you could also call the style "Eastern Bloc" or "gulag."  It seriously looks like every bombed out looking building in slums stretching from Poland to Mongolia.  I think I stayed in another of the architect's works in Ulan Bataar once.

Back to the topic -- ever notice how that building has virtually no parking?  That was kind of an epiphany for me as to what it was intended to be.

I won't go so far as to say there is no negative impact.  For the most part, those folks go about their lives and are just normal people.  But there are some weirdos that show up -- there was a woman who would appear on 18th or Cheyenne for about nine months and flag your car down like it was an emergency.  The emergency was that she needed bus fare.  Someone finally wrote the World about her and she vanished shortly after.  

I love the neighborhood and my wife will have to pry me away from it.  But there are some poor people or mentally ill people walking by from time to time (but that's true a lot of places).  I've had a guy show up waiving his id at the front door and asking for money while we were hosting a dinner party; I had a strange woman ring the door in the middle of the night once (I think it was a woman, I couldn't see her, which is why I just didn't open the door), and one time a homeless guy drew a smiley face with his finger on my car window (I saw him touching the car and ran out, only to see a smiley face).  For nine years, that isn't so bad.  Stranger things happen if you live along Peoria or Lewis, in my experience.  

That neighborhood is about electic as Tulsa gets, with the Dresser and McFarlin mansions nearby, townhouses, apartments for different income levels, the University Club Tower, the Mansion House, the river, the Abundant Life building, subsidized housing, law offices, a gay bar, uppity restaurants and bars, not so uppity bars, a couple of salons, and a bank all in about a five minute walk.  And despite all that cacophony, the price of the quality homes keeps going up.  I think it's all about having attractive stuff nearby and maintaining your house.

Now, I will say that if I ever hit the Powerball, I will see that the Beirut building, the Abundant Life building, and the apartments northwest of the Riverside and Denver intersection all come down.

[AMP]

TV news reporter visited the YMCA downtown.  Rooms they showed were 10 feet by 9 feet or 90 square feet.  Tile floor, a door, single bed, a chair and a small desk.  Said the new proposed units will be 3 times as large 240 square feet and have a shower & toilet, kitchen area.  Based on the size stated, one would gather these are at the best efficiency rooms and not one bed room apartments.

Efficiency apartments of that nature are currently available downtown and in areas surrounding downtown in many areas from around $250-$300 per month with most bills paid. Many have a boiler with steam heat, and a single window AC unit.  Cheap and easy cost effective housing.  May not be a Ritz Carlton resort, but it provides shelter and most I have seen appear to be well kept. Many have strict rules regarding security of doors, noise during night hours, and guests, but so do most hotel/motels today.    

[MDepr2007]

The city is really missing the chance of bumping the numbers of people living downtown. Just think what the $14 million hotel would do for downtown. Heck, they could even build lofts for the homeless.
Does downtown really want residents downtown or just a certain kind of resident. Surely there is no discrimination going on here.

I just don't get it , the leaders themselves claim this hotel will enhance the neighborhood but it's funny how everything is about getting it downtown but this.

[Gold]

quote:Originally posted by MDepr2007

The city is really missing the chance of bumping the numbers of people living downtown. Just think what the $14 million hotel would do for downtown. Heck, they could even build lofts for the homeless.
Does downtown really want residents downtown or just a certain kind of resident. Surely there is no discrimination going on here.

I just don't get it , the leaders themselves claim this hotel will enhance the neighborhood but it's funny how everything is about getting it downtown but this.

Is the issue perhaps that there is no viable space for such a facility?  We had a thread on here not so long ago about how even some of the worst pieces of real estate (like the beat up houses on Elgin) have a hefty asking price because the owners have unrealistic (and maybe greeddy) demands.

True, you have the space where the YMCA may come down.  But economics would seem to say that some entity with a profit motive will want that land.

So, you have to move them.  And maybe they are better served on cheaper land -- because you only have so many charity dollars to throw around -- and with a nicer building.

Just a thought.

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

quote:Originally posted by Double A

quote:Originally posted by Gold


Beyond that, the Y needs to go.  If we keep people living there, we subject them to the risk of a terrible fire.  Just a thought that seems to get lost in this discussion.

Install sprinklers, problem solved.

Got the cash for that?

It's really expensive.  Several buildings downtown have been hit with this problem.

It's much cheaper than a new building.

[MDepr2007]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

quote:Originally posted by MDepr2007

The city is really missing the chance of bumping the numbers of people living downtown. Just think what the $14 million hotel would do for downtown. Heck, they could even build lofts for the homeless.
Does downtown really want residents downtown or just a certain kind of resident. Surely there is no discrimination going on here.

I just don't get it , the leaders themselves claim this hotel will enhance the neighborhood but it's funny how everything is about getting it downtown but this.

Is the issue perhaps that there is no viable space for such a facility?  We had a thread on here not so long ago about how even some of the worst pieces of real estate (like the beat up houses on Elgin) have a hefty asking price because the owners have unrealistic (and maybe greeddy) demands.

True, you have the space where the YMCA may come down.  But economics would seem to say that some entity with a profit motive will want that land.

So, you have to move them.  And maybe they are better served on cheaper land -- because you only have so many charity dollars to throw around -- and with a nicer building.

Just a thought.

I'll look this weekend and hopefully TulsaNow didn't delet the post about the downtown library proposal. Seemed that one of the Zarrows or close in nature to them owned the land of the old Safeway on south Denver.Who ever it was, was willing to donate it if we voted to build a new main library there. Maybe it was a Schusterman can't remember that part.