TU and University Blvd.

[Gold]

DS, you can be wrong all you want.  The real world is a better source for information than your alleged review of crime records that would take a day at least.  TU has a problem with property crime and took a step to fix it.

The whole thread is silly.  The TU campus is one of the few truly walkable places in the city and the administration has made great strides in recent years to make it less of a commuter school and then less of a place where people drive two blocks to go to class.  The apartments everyone on here whines about were huge for getting people to live on campus and then they added things like the yellow bikes and a shuttle to make it leas dictated by autos.  And the bikes lanes on Delaware . . .

I think the issue is the opposite of what is articulated by others here; the area around TU isn't all that interested in being pedestrian friendly.  Come to a football game and notice the lack of help crossing 11th.

[SXSW]

I think the issue is the opposite of what is articulated by others here; the area around TU isn't all that interested in being pedestrian friendly.  Come to a football game and notice the lack of help crossing 11th.

The point of the thread was to draw attention to the positives that TU brings to the neighborhood and how the area around TU could be a lot better.  I have already noticed that the Renaissance neighborhood has improved a lot in the past decade and is now a desirable area.  Hopefully the same can be said about the areas west of campus toward Lewis someday though the presence of dozens of small, lower income apartments makes it more difficult.  It would be interesting to see what, if anything, TU has planned for west of its campus.  The key though is 11th and turning it into more of a walkable commercial corridor.  Look no further than Peoria/Brookside and 15th/Cherry Street to see what a vibrant urban commercial strip can do for the entire neighborhood surrounding it.  

When I was living in Denver I lived right next to University of Denver which is a few miles southeast of downtown but has a stop on the light rail line.  The neighborhood to the east is really nice, like what you would find around 31st & Lewis, while the area to the west and south is similar to the Renaissance neighborhood with I-25 forming the northern border.  They have a University Blvd. that was fairly similar to 11th by TU with a few urban buildings built up to the sidewalk and some drive-thru fast food joints/convenience stores.  In the past several years though DU wanted to change that so new student housing was built along the street across from campus with retail/restaurant space on the ground floor.  They added parallel parking to University and did a nice streetscaping project that helped calm traffic on the major thoroughfare.  There are still a few buildings with parking lots out front but they have greatly improved the pedestrian experience near that campus, and the neighborhood has benefitted tremendously.  TU and DU have a lot in common and TU could learn a lot from how they have set up their campus with regards to a major commercial street and surrounding neighborhood.

TU should also look at how TCU in Fort Worth or Vanderbilt in Nashville have integrated with their surrounding neighborhoods.  Washington University in St. Louis would be good too as it's similar in size and is very near some really rough neighborhoods east of its campus, much worse than anything around or close to TU. 

[Conan71]

Vandy used to be in a very scary part of Nashvegas.  Has the area improved in the last 20-25 years?

[Gold]

The area around Vandy looks nice but is in fact a crime ridden dung hole.  Seriously, spent a really weird night there a few years back.  It makes Fresno look like Monaco.

Again, TU does way more for the area than it gets back.  It's not an entity I would complain about among the many local ne'er do wells. 

[SXSW]

In Columbus there is a street (High) that separates Ohio State University from a lower income neighborhood mixed with homes and apartments.  The areas near TU are like Maple Ridge in comparison to some of these areas in Columbus.  High is also the main commercial thoroughfare between the university and downtown 2 miles to the south.  Ohio State administrators and alums recognized the area around campus was a liability and created a public-private partnership to buy up the fast food joints, abandoned buildings, and strip malls by campus to create the South Campus Gateway, an urban mixed-use development with restaurants, shops, and student apartments across the street from campus.  The project has been a success and has helped jumpstart further revitalization of High St. towards downtown.  There are a lot of parallels to what they did in Columbus with what could be done in Tulsa.  TU would have to initiate it though, just like Ohio State did in Columbus.  While not anywhere close to the size of Ohio State, TU does have serious political pull in this city and plenty of deep pockets.

http://southcampusgateway.com/

http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/AwardsAndCompetitions/AwardsForExcellenceProgram/2008/South%20Campus%20Gateway.aspx

[dsjeffries]

In Columbus there is a street (High) that separates Ohio State University from a lower income neighborhood mixed with homes and apartments.  The areas near TU are like Maple Ridge in comparison to some of these areas in Columbus.  High is also the main commercial thoroughfare between the university and downtown 2 miles to the south.  Ohio State administrators and alums recognized the area around campus was a liability and created a public-private partnership to buy up the fast food joints, abandoned buildings, and strip malls by campus to create the South Campus Gateway, an urban mixed-use development with restaurants, shops, and student apartments across the street from campus.  The project has been a success and has helped jumpstart further revitalization of High St. towards downtown.  There are a lot of parallels to what they did in Columbus with what could be done in Tulsa.  TU would have to initiate it though, just like Ohio State did in Columbus.  While not anywhere close to the size of Ohio State, TU does have serious political pull in this city and plenty of deep pockets.

http://southcampusgateway.com/

http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/AwardsAndCompetitions/AwardsForExcellenceProgram/2008/South%20Campus%20Gateway.aspx

That's fantastic! Earlier in the thread, people were asking what TU could do to improve the neighborhood and neighborhood relations... I think this serves as an example of what they could do. Ohio State adopted a policy of active engagement with the neighborhood instead of sequestering itself behind a fence. I really would like to see a mixed-use development like this happen near TU whether it's on Sixth Street or 11th.

[Gold]

Kendall Whittier school.

[dsjeffries]

Well, they're already at it again, ripping out another street. They have now permanently closed Gary Ave. between 4th Pl and 5th Pl. for the construction of Samson Plaza and Rayzor Hall. When will the mindless, reckless destruction end??

[nathanm]

Well, they're already at it again, ripping out another street. They have now permanently closed Gary Ave. between 4th Pl and 5th Pl. for the construction of Samson Plaza and Rayzor Hall. When will the mindless, reckless destruction end??

When we stop letting them close the public streets and giving them the land they sit upon.

[SXSW]

I was driving down 11th into downtown and at Elgin the road curves and continues onto 10th.  10th goes right by TCC.  If OSU and TCC joined together for one downtown campus at 10th & Boston (see my thread in Other Discussions) with OSU expanding on the surface lots to the south then 10th would be the main drag through the campus (as well as Boston Ave).  That would make even more sense for 11th to be renamed University including the stretch of 10th between Elgin and Denver, and back to 11th all the way to OSU Med. Center (where it dead ends).  University Blvd. would connect OSU Med. Center to OSU/TCC to TU..

[bacjz00]

I was driving down 11th into downtown and at Elgin the road curves and continues onto 10th.  10th goes right by TCC.  If OSU and TCC joined together for one downtown campus at 10th & Boston (see my thread in Other Discussions) with OSU expanding on the surface lots to the south then 10th would be the main drag through the campus (as well as Boston Ave).  That would make even more sense for 11th to be renamed University including the stretch of 10th between Elgin and Denver, and back to 11th all the way to OSU Med. Center (where it dead ends).  University Blvd. would connect OSU Med. Center to OSU/TCC to TU..

Cool observation...let's just make this happen.   Neato.

[SXSW]

Another university is working with private developers to build a mixed-use development next to their campus, this one in Memphis (and in TU's athletic conference):

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/20/developers-insist-stalled-highland-row-project-nea/?partner=RSS



TU has already shown it's not shy in transforming its campus and surrounding neighborhood.  It seems natural for them to want to make 11th St. more of a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly area too. 

[brhino42]

The problem with the area west of Delaware is one of TU's making--decades ago they  fought to have that area zoned in such a way that they could buy it up cheap, extend the campus and possibly add student housing later.  Since the zoning issue has created a very undesirable real estate situation, I say let's get TU to help fix up the area west of Delaware.

And TU, putting in sub-standard width bike lanes when Delaware was 4-lanes before--that was just not community friendly.  You made it pretty and less safe at the same time.  Well done.  Why do I see TU students riding their bikes on the sidewalk next to the bike lane?  This is an everyday occurrence.  Do you not teach them how to ride?

[cannon_fodder]

So what is the area to the west zoned that makes it less desireable and cheaper to buy?  It would seem to me if the area was cheap the university that raised half a billion dollars last decade would probably buy it up.  I'm calling bs.

Second, it is a college campus.  In case you've never been on another one before kids ride bikes all over the place.  I'm guessing TU, like most every other university ignores it and there has been zero insitutional discussion about riding bikes on sidewalks.

Finally, TU does. Lot for the Kendall neighborhood via True Blue neighbors. 

[AquaMan]

I was driving down 11th into downtown and at Elgin the road curves and continues onto 10th.  10th goes right by TCC.  If OSU and TCC joined together for one downtown campus at 10th & Boston (see my thread in Other Discussions) with OSU expanding on the surface lots to the south then 10th would be the main drag through the campus (as well as Boston Ave).  That would make even more sense for 11th to be renamed University including the stretch of 10th between Elgin and Denver, and back to 11th all the way to OSU Med. Center (where it dead ends).  University Blvd. would connect OSU Med. Center to OSU/TCC to TU..

Guilty of trolling here having just read this thread. Just curious as to why and how you would change 11th, which is Route 66, into University Boulevard? From the OSU campus west of the river eastward there has been much effort spent in trying to identify it as Rt.66 including signs, street markers, sidewalks etc. As an outsider to the Universities, I don't see much identification, other than sporadic clusters of parking lots and buildings, that would tie it all together as a University Boulevard. Seems like the Rt 66 boosters will object.