Brady District

[erfalf]

Yeah! That will make a REAL difference! The change we all needed!

I don't know why they hate MB Brady so much. I know he wasn't the best photographer, but there weren't too many others at the time.

Seriously though, this whole thing was a bit ridiculous from the beginning. Just about every single historical figure was a vile racist or involved in some heinous things (Lincoln believed that blacks were inferior to whites; Andrew Jackson led the genocide of natives; Columbus led to the slaughter and enslavement of many; etc). Very few people would have known anything about who Tate Brady  was if it weren't for the big outrage from a small group of people about it. I don't think a name change is going to take on very easily and there will be quite a bit backlash against that.

Woody Guthrie was a racist and an America-hating communist so he doesn't deserve the namesake either.

I vaguely recall one of the local news channels, hunting down some black owned businesses when the whole name change thing was going on and their reactions were priceless:

[SXSW]

If you have to dump the Brady name why not just enlarge the Greenwood District to include that whole area.  Historically Greenwood extended all the way to Cincinnati/MLK:


The area west of MLK could be the Greenwood "Arts District" while the rest would be Greenwood north of the tracks.

[Conan71]

Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around how "Greenwood District" doesn't conjure images of hatred and racism due to the race riot there in 1921 yet somehow the "Brady District" moniker does.  Leroy Chapman's research into Tate Brady was full of holes and innuendo and when challenged on it, refused to back it up, on this forum.

There's other research out there which points to a repentant Brady who renounced his earlier ties to the Klan.  I think many of us would like to think we completely understand the culture of 100 years ago, but without being there all we are left with is recollections and stories to interpret someone's character. 

Certainly the stakeholders can name it whatever they want as they are the ones who have the investment in the area.  I personally think it's a big to do about nothing. 

If the name "Brady" can make you feel repressed a century later, you are worrying about the wrong things.

[heironymouspasparagus]

There's other research out there which points to a repentant Brady who renounced his earlier ties to the Klan.  I think many of us would like to think we completely understand the culture of 100 years ago, but without being there all we are left with is recollections and stories to interpret someone's character. 

Certainly the stakeholders can name it whatever they want as they are the ones who have the investment in the area.  I personally think it's a big to do about nothing. 

If the name "Brady" can make you feel repressed a century later, you are worrying about the wrong things.

Kind of one of the things about the whole statue controversy - even us old ones don't know for real what it was like then.  I got exposure (on many occasions) to a light dose of it when very young - the 'colored only' signs on the stores downtown.  I couldn't figure out why blacks got to use that door - which was closer to the soda fountain at the drug store - and we had to walk all the way around the building and go in a different door.  Seemed unfair to me.  To 5 year old legs, that was a long ways out of the way!    Much later I understood, and it made even less sense and was even more unfair than I thought.

In mid teens, got to visit McClain for a while, met a girl who I liked and she liked me.  Asked her out and was turned down because her parents woulda had a fit for her to go out with a white kid.  Another exposure to leftovers from that long gone era.  But then, was also catching carp from goatropers, sh$tkickers, and jocks, for hanging out with Native Americans, too.

Don't know that it is the actual name "Brady" - other than being the focal point of feelings - as the collective residual effects from all those endless ages of history piling up in the backs of our heads.

[Conan71]

Kind of one of the things about the whole statue controversy - even us old ones don't know for real what it was like then.  I got exposure (on many occasions) to a light dose of it when very young - the 'colored only' signs on the stores downtown.  I couldn't figure out why blacks got to use that door - which was closer to the soda fountain at the drug store - and we had to walk all the way around the building and go in a different door.  Seemed unfair to me.  To 5 year old legs, that was a long ways out of the way!    Much later I understood, and it made even less sense and was even more unfair than I thought.

In mid teens, got to visit McClain for a while, met a girl who I liked and she liked me.  Asked her out and was turned down because her parents woulda had a fit for her to go out with a white kid.  Another exposure to leftovers from that long gone era.  But then, was also catching carp from goatropers, sh$tkickers, and jocks, for hanging out with Native Americans, too.

Don't know that it is the actual name "Brady" - other than being the focal point of feelings - as the collective residual effects from all those endless ages of history piling up in the backs of our heads.

I was born after segregation and the passage of the CRA's just barely.  But I can definitely see what society considers acceptable thought, discussion, and humor regarding race, sexual orientation, and ethnic background has changed a good deal in my lifetime.

I don't know that the thinking of the time 100 years ago was necessarily hatred as it was ignorance and society evolving.  Look where we are today, think where we will be in 100 more years.  I'm sure there's not a single person monitoring this thread whose social and moral views haven't evolved over the course of their lifetime. 

I'd sure hate to be permanently remembered for what I thought, said, or believed when I was in my teens, twenties, or even five years ago.  I can think of stupid things I said or did as a teen that I'd be horrified to be labeled for life for it.  I feel the same way about people like Tate Brady.  All a few people want to remember him for is an association with the Klan and a very murky link to the race riots.  Never mind that he was a founding father of Tulsa who helped set the course for the young town.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I was born after segregation and the passage of the CRA's just barely.  But I can definitely see what society considers acceptable thought, discussion, and humor regarding race, sexual orientation, and ethnic background has changed a good deal in my lifetime.

I don't know that the thinking of the time 100 years ago was necessarily hatred as it was ignorance and society evolving.  Look where we are today, think where we will be in 100 more years.  I'm sure there's not a single person monitoring this thread whose social and moral views haven't evolved over the course of their lifetime.  

I'd sure hate to be permanently remembered for what I thought, said, or believed when I was in my teens, twenties, or even five years ago.  I can think of stupid things I said or did as a teen that I'd be horrified to be labeled for life for it.  I feel the same way about people like Tate Brady.  All a few people want to remember him for is an association with the Klan and a very murky link to the race riots.  Never mind that he was a founding father of Tulsa who helped set the course for the young town.

It was hatred 100 years ago.  Still a lot of it today - as we have seen in recent weeks.

We are only partially evolved.

This discussion has been rolling around in my head for a few days now - I had occasion to be in a small "hicks from the sticks" town last weekend and was in a local car parts store to get some parts for minor repair.  Couple of good ole boys were talking about some hunk of junk they were working on and I heard a phrase I had not heard in probably 20 years or more related to engineering done on the African continent.  I was so surprised - not really sure why, but there it is - that I just stood there for a few seconds replaying it in my head...I guess I thought it was such an obsolete term that no one used it anymore.  Especially given the rhetoric and name calling all over the news for the last few weeks - if extremist wants to be his typical self, I guess they just immediately jump to the most vitriolic, obnoxious term they can think of - plus, the simplest, requiring the least amount of mental processing necessary (2 syllables vs 6).  Which taxes the limits of most.


As for Brady being a founding father who helped set a course for the young town - that also includes the legacy of extermination, genocide, and stealing of lands from the Natives.  Yeah.  He is more complex than just a simple Klanner. 

As were so many - half of my family was stealing from the other half at that time.  It was rationalized.

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

University of Notre Dame group to create urban designs for Tulsa neighborhoods
They work with communities to provide developmental strategies

On bicycle, on foot and in public forums, a group from the University of Notre Dame is examining how to improve a section of Tulsa.

The Notre Dame Graduate Urban Design Studio is in town this week to kick off a three-month design study on an extension of the Unity Heritage Neighborhoods Plan located immediately north of downtown.

The students, who eventually will yield urban and architectural designs they hope will foster development in the area, are looking at land that broadly encompasses places such as the Brady Heights Historic District, Emerson Elementary School, the Greenwood District and the Evans-Fintube site.

The facilitator of the project is Jennifer Griffin, who, like her husband, John Griffin, is a Notre Dame graduate and former faculty member at the South Bend, Indiana-based university. Three years ago, she moved to Tulsa with her husband, a native Oklahoman who now works at Selser Schaefer Architects.

"We've just kind of reached out to people," said Jennifer Griffin, who heads J Griffin Design LLC. "We've been able to connect with a lot of the stakeholders up there, as well as people in the community at large who are interested in the process."

Philip Bess, who teaches graduate urban design and theory at the Notre Dame School of Architecture, and students Thomas Dougherty, John Parker Wilmeth, Elizabeth Connaughton and Mary-John Blevins toured the area via bicycle Sunday. They introduced themselves at a workshop at 36 Degrees North on Monday night and have design presentations scheduled for Wednesday at the Greenwood Cultural Center and Friday at the Central Library.

The group also will tour and document the area on foot and meet with community members and city of Tulsa representatives to gain an understanding of local issues, assets and challenges. Its potential design strategies are geared toward building on local assets and community consensus.

The goal is to illustrate how to provide for a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use, and socially and economically diverse series of neighborhoods that connect north Tulsa to downtown. The area being examined is bounded by Interstate 244 on the south, Pine Street on the north, the L.L. Tisdale Parkway on the west and U.S. 75 on the east.

"It's an opportunity for the students to learn," Jennifer Griffin said. "But it's also an opportunity for the community to benefit from whatever they are able to produce for them."

The group has worked with cities and towns all over the country, including Skaneateles, New York; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Ventura, California, receiving national and international awards for its designs.

After its visit to Tulsa, the Notre Dame group will return to Indiana to continue fleshing out the initial design strategies. Halfway through the semester, local representatives from the community will be invited to Notre Dame to participate in a review of the work and provide feedback.

At the end of the semester, the group will return to Tulsa to give a final presentation, which will include recommendations the community can use as a resource.

"It's really just a tool for the community to test what's possible there in terms of future development, the different scales and densities," Griffin said.

"It's a great opportunity for Tulsa."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/realestate/university-of-notre-dame-group-to-create-urban-designs-for/article_407e8b9c-399b-55f9-953c-db14fab0e590.html

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

I thought that was a neat article very relevant to the Brady, Greenwood and Brady Heights district. I hope they find some good workable recommendations for the area as well as a big-vision plan.

It is neat the facilitator living in Tulsa is  Jennifer Griffin who is former Notre Dame faculty and graduate and wife of Selser Schaefer Architect. Great that people are taking initiative to do this kind of a study and urban design project!

[SXSW]

The renaming committee came up with the following names:

- Bridge Arts District
- NoDo Arts District
- Boomtown Arts District

How about just keeping it Brady.  I guarantee no one will ever use these ridiculous new names, and it will only confuse people especially visitors.

[sgrizzle]

The renaming committee came up with the following names:

- Bridge Arts District
- NoDo Arts District
- Boomtown Arts District

How about just keeping it Brady.  I guarantee no one will ever use these ridiculous new names, and it will only confuse people especially visitors.

NoDo? Like broke?

[TulsaBeMore]

NoDo like broke. That's funny.  Every 3rd city has something similar...SoBo, LoDo, SoDo, ToTo, MiFaSo, etc.   Boomtown sounds like a Chucky Cheese Art District. 

Bridge is different, but what does it mean? The place that is on the other side of all the bridges?  Bridging a cultural divide?  You kind of need a dramatic looking bridge for that logo, don't you?  Are they re-renaming W.M. Brady Street?  If so, the theater could be nicknamed "The Old Lady on the Bridge."  Renaming these districts is hard.  You need some strategery.  Needs to be inclusive. If I had to vote from the 3 choices, I'd take Bridge.  Or I might just fly that new Tulsa flag and call it "New Tulsa Flag Arts District."   Of course, just being silly! 

Wonder if Walsh is involved it helping pick names?  They do nice work. 

[swake]

NoDo like broke. That's funny.  Every 3rd city has something similar...SoBo, LoDo, SoDo, ToTo, MiFaSo, etc.   Boomtown sounds like a Chucky Cheese Art District. 

Bridge is different, but what does it mean? The place that is on the other side of all the bridges?  Bridging a cultural divide?  You kind of need a dramatic looking bridge for that logo, don't you?  Are they re-renaming W.M. Brady Street?  If so, the theater could be nicknamed "The Old Lady on the Bridge."  Renaming these districts is hard.  You need some strategery.  Needs to be inclusive. If I had to vote from the 3 choices, I'd take Bridge.  Or I might just fly that new Tulsa flag and call it "New Tulsa Flag Arts District."   Of course, just being silly! 

Wonder if Walsh is involved it helping pick names?  They do nice work. 

Like SoBo in Tulsa? I always preferred The South End for 18th and Boston, but SoBo caught on more.

I just thought they would go with Guthrie Arts District.

[guido911]

I am glad they are finally tackling this whole "Brady" arts thing. Once the name is changed, all the problems of the past will disappear. Solid win.

[hello]

I am glad they are finally tackling this whole "Brady" arts thing. Once the name is changed, all the problems of the past will disappear. Solid win.

Yes. Because everything won't change all at once, nothing should change. Sound logic.


Those three choices are terrible.

[Ibanez]

A friend of mine last night suggested naming it the Busey Arts District.

I'm gonna go with that from now on.