Huge planning failure by everyone involved

[Ibanez]

with the planning of the "motivational" event at the BOK Center this morning.

Who in their right mind plans such an event for 8am? You know....rush hour. Our offices are still mostly empty this morning, not because people are sick, but because they have been calling to say they are stuck in traffic.

I personally sat next to our parking garage for 15 minutes this morning. Oh sure I could see the entrance, but it took me 15 minutes to make it to it and that was at 7:15 this morning!

The amount of horn honking, screaming and brakes I can hear slamming on from my office window is amazing.

[Townsend]

Should've used this opportunity to hang signs

"If you lived downtown you'd be at work by now".

[TheTed]

Downtown looks like an actual, legitimate city right now. There's traffic congestion on a couple of streets.

I laughed as I drove past all the congestion and into my spot at my apartment.

[waterboy]

What is the motivational event?

I thought you were going to comment on the QT event Saturday evening. It was surreal. The opposite of what you describe this morning downtown. Like a killer fog moved in and stopped everything but the Hanson's and their followers.

Great fireworks though.

[Hometown]

Is it too late to build parking at the Arena and the New Stadium?  And plan for traffic flow?

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

Is it too late to build parking at the Arena and the New Stadium?  And plan for traffic flow?

As has been indicated a million times before, parking dedicated solely to the arena, unless you build it subterranean, isn't the answer, and even then you'd have to dig 100 feet below the groud.

And within 5 blocks of the arena are 7000 parking spots.

Granted this event was a charliefox because it was an event planned during the day when parking is at a premium.  They said they were going to have six locations people could shuttle from, but they didn't do a very good job of conveying that information.

Since parking after CBD work hours has been pretty much a nonissue, I'll chalk this up to poor communications between the arena personnel and downtown tenants.

[Hometown]

Ask the people that walked through the rain to the cowboy concert if they would have preferred dedicated parking near the arena.

Think about where you decide to go when you travel around Tulsa.  My decisions are largely based on availability of close by, convenient and free parking.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

Ask the people that walked through the rain to the cowboy concert if they would have preferred dedicated parking near the arena.

Think about where you decide to go when you travel around Tulsa.  My decisions are largely based on availability of close by, convenient and free parking.

I've been to MANY venues around the country in inclement weather where I've had to park away from the arena and (oh my god say it now) had to walk a couple of blocks to the arena.   Answer to that?  UMBRELLA

And free parking is a pipe dream.  Doesn't happen in most downtowns.  OKC?  Nope.  Dallas?  Nope.  St. Louis?  Nope.

Tulsa actually has a plethora of free parking spaces if you've been downtown enough to know where to look.

This is a growing process because 90 percent of Tulsans don't know how to travel downtown.  I've been lucky enough that I do.

[AVERAGE JOE]

quote:Originally posted by HometownThink about where you decide to go when you travel around Tulsa.  My decisions are largely based on availability of close by, convenient and free parking.

Have fun in the sticks.

[TheArtist]

People in this city are so friggin spoiled lol. Today would have likely been called "normal" for most places. But I think its actually great that we are seeing some traffic. Hopefully the answer wont be found in more parking garages but in other transit options and with people getting used to using those options. Indeed the shuttles probably could have been advertised better, but hopefully it will also be the case that people will get in the habit of using a shuttle, or "trolley" or perhaps in the future the downtown "starter line" servicing parking at OSU Tulsa, Fin-Tube and the West Bank.

Its just something new for Tulsa and Tulsans to get used to. I think its a hopeful and good sign. Hope to see more and more days where people will be looking for other parking/transportation options, and I hope we satisfy those desires by going down a good development and transportation strategy path, versus a bad one which imo would be spending money on building more parking garages.

[tim huntzinger]

Wonder if they had cheesy xeroxed paper signs on all the entrances . . .

[OurTulsa]

I just got back from lunch and it was really nice to see our downtown sidewalks bustling with people.  I actually had to stop on the sidewalk while people in front of me stopped to look at the buildings...felt like I was surrounded by tourists.  Fun.

[Hometown]

When I call Tulsa a developer's dream it's because of all those surface parking lots downtown that are ripe for development.  Hopefully many of the existing parking lots will be developed with buildings.

There is nothing inherently sinful about parking.  Parking can be developed in such a way that it makes good use of space and is not an eyesore.

Tulsa seems to have become mildly schizophrenic on this subject.  We have retail developments with too much parking and an intelligentsia that has decided building large public facilities downtown without parking is the way to go.

I wouldn't want to take a risk this big with downtown.

I would love it if Tulsans would bus downtown for a big event.  I would love it Tulsa was peopled by liberals and with good paying jobs.

Lord knows we walked all over the place in San Francisco.  San Franciscans have some well developed thighs.

But this is Tulsa where we all want to park next to the front door.  Instead of hoping people will change I am more inclined to plan for them not changing.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by OurTulsa

I just got back from lunch and it was really nice to see our downtown sidewalks bustling with people.  I actually had to stop on the sidewalk while people in front of me stopped to look at the buildings...felt like I was surrounded by tourists.  Fun.

Pretty nice, must've emptied out the 'burbs traffic was nice around lunch time mid-city and no waiting at restaurants....LOL!

[dayzella]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown



I would love it if Tulsans would bus downtown for a big event.  

I did bus downtown today - as part of my normal commute.  Apparently, there was no reroute for the busses.  My fellow passengers and I got off at 15th and Denver and walked downtown once it was clear that it would take the bus another hour to make it up the hill.

In more practiced cities, the busses would have had reroutes and/or dedicated lanes in.  The bus station being next to the arena was supposed to be a mutually beneficial situational relationship ... wasn't it?