(PROJECT) A Gathering Place For Tulsa

[sauerkraut]

Yes. It is just you.

There will be concerts and activities everywhere. There is planned to be a museum and retail shops.

In Tulsa, we can do more than just provide places for you to run.

Does not Tulsa already have those things??  A place for concerts is on the west bank, it sounds like the same thing they have at Jenks- the area is not that large to have tons of shops a museum and the like anyhow- what about parking, parking can be a issue at the 41st street lot. I dunno it does not sound that exciting to me.

[RecycleMichael]

Does not Tulsa already have those things??  A place for concerts is on the west bank, it sounds like the same thing they have at Jenks- the area is not that large to have tons of shops a museum and the like anyhow- what about parking, parking can be a issue at the 41st street lot. I dunno it does not sound that exciting to me.

You can't share the river with other activities besides running?

You sound selfish.

[sauerkraut]

You can't share the river with other activities besides running?

You sound selfish.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I just don't think a "Gathering Place" is something Tulsans will use- it will be a lot of money spent for nothing, -I believe in saving  taxpayer money- there already is a RiverWalk center, A River Casino, the city of  Jenks has a lot going on by the River, the River west park is like a big gathering place right now. Why do the powers that be always seem to have to do something on the River, let it alone and let the people enjoy it as it is. Do we really need more shops, stores, congestion, traffic parking problems, then after that  they want to tear up the road and make that wider, soon the restful quiet and peaceful Riverfront will be nothing more than a noisy commercial mall. BTW in Cincinnati, Ohio there is a big fuss about building a street car, a few weeks ago they claimed the project was dead & buried - a money pit, the city  said they will let the voters decide on the street car issue- now suddenly without any vote of the people the street car is alive and well and new track is being layed in a hurry. No more talk of letting the people vote on it. Who wants a street car and who will use it? The city of Cincinnati has been working on the street car project for years.. Tulsa  has been fussing with the river front and riverfront projects for decades, let the riverfront  alone..   http://www.protransit.com/FAQs/  or another site... http://www.protransit.com

[Hoss]

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I just don't think a "Gathering Place" is something Tulsans will use- it will be a lot of money spent for nothing, there already is a RiverWalk center, A River Casino, the city of  Jenks has a lot going on by the River, the River west park is like a big gathering place right now. Why do the powers that be always seem to have to do something on the River, let it alone and let the people enjoy it as it is. Do we really need more shops, stores, congestion, traffic parking problems, then after that  they want to tear up the road and make that wider, soon the restful quiet and peaceful Riverfront will be nothing more than a noisy commercial mall. BTW in Cincinnati, Ohio there is a big fuss about building a street car, a few weeks ago they claimed the project was dead & buried - a money pit, the city  said they will let the voters decide on the street car issue- now suddenly without any vote of the people the street car is alive and well and new track is being layed in a hurry. No more talk of letting the people vote on it. Who wants a street car and who will use it? The city of Cincinnati has been working on the street car project for years.. Tulsa  has been fussing with the river front and riverfront projects for decades, let the riverfront  alone..   http://www.protransit.com/FAQs/  or another site... Http://www.protransit.com

Guess what...this isn't Cincinnati...nor is it Columbus or Ft Worth or Omaha.

I'm going to guess you've never been to downtown..wait a minute, that would be presumptuous of me.  You'd have to live here to come downtown.

Sheesh.

[sauerkraut]

Guess what...this isn't Cincinnati...nor is it Columbus or Ft Worth or Omaha.

I'm going to guess you've never been to downtown..wait a minute, that would be presumptuous of me.  You'd have to live here to come downtown.

Sheesh.

Yeah but the same idea is at work- your  typical city pet projects just to spend taxpayer money, every city seems to have something like that going on, in Cincinnati, Ohio  it's a street car thing, in Tulsa it's building more river dams, building a gathering place or doing this or that project- they finish one project and have to start another. I just think they should let the river front as it is - it's fine right now. We have nice trails and places to R&R why keep throwing more money at something if a need is not even there. Like I said why not turn the west river park into the gathering place like it already is, it'll save a lot of taxpayer  money. 90% of the River Park users go there for the trails anyhow, if they want to spend money extend the current trail south of 101st street -do something people need and  can use, put the casino trail in back of the casino asap,  not in 3 years from now like they are planning. That's just me & my opinion.

[MyDogHunts]

Parks are not just about what is needed today.  Thank god for Central Park.  I'm sure it wasn't a priority on some scale.  The gathering place is what some visionaries believe.  I'm with them; it's paying forward. The returns will be endless.  It's a good vision.  What is the City % of money to be spent?

[BKDotCom]

I expect the completed park to blow everyone away.
This is ( Guthrie Green * lafortune ) ^ riverparks.
It will definitely be used.  And everyone will try to take credit for it.

[sauerkraut]

Parks are not just about what is needed today.  Thank god for Central Park.  I'm sure it wasn't a priority on some scale.  The gathering place is what some visionaries believe.  I'm with them; it's paying forward. The returns will be endless.  It's a good vision.  What is the City % of money to be spent?

What about the west river park? Why not use that as the "Gathering Place"?? - Think ahead to the future and if you think wrong or future needs change then what, more wasted money? The future people can make their own park when the time or need comes for it. The needs for the future will be best served by the people of the future. The people of 2014 can't plan for the needs of the city 50 or 75 years from now because we don't know what those needs will be.

[Hoss]

What about the west river park? Why not use that as the "Gathering Place"?? - Think ahead to the future and if you think wrong or future needs change then what, more wasted money? The future people can make their own park when the time or need comes for it. The needs for the future will be best served by the people of the future. The people of 2014 can't plan for the needs of the city 50 or 75 years from now because we don't know what those needs will be.

Then stay away from it once completed.  We don't want you there.

[Red Arrow]

Yeah but the same idea is at work- your  typical city pet projects just to spend taxpayer money, every city seems to have something like that going on, in Cincinnati, Ohio  it's a street car thing,

Looks like a lot of people in Cincinnati disagree with you on whether street cars are a waste of money.

http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_newslog2009q4.htm#CIN_20091022
http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_cin_2009-11a.htm

[MyDogHunts]

What about the west river park? Why not use that as the "Gathering Place"?? - Think ahead to the future and if you think wrong or future needs change then what, more wasted money? The future people can make their own park when the time or need comes for it. The needs for the future will be best served by the people of the future. The people of 2014 can't plan for the needs of the city 50 or 75 years from now because we don't know what those needs will be.

I never go to the west side and most people... why do I try?  Have you ever planted a tree.  so Central Park was wrong.

Plant a tree then get back to me.

[TheArtist]

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I just don't think a "Gathering Place" is something Tulsans will use- it will be a lot of money spent for nothing, -I believe in saving  taxpayer money- there already is a RiverWalk center, A River Casino, the city of  Jenks has a lot going on by the River, the River west park is like a big gathering place right now. Why do the powers that be always seem to have to do something on the River, let it alone and let the people enjoy it as it is. Do we really need more shops, stores, congestion, traffic parking problems, then after that  they want to tear up the road and make that wider, soon the restful quiet and peaceful Riverfront will be nothing more than a noisy commercial mall. BTW in Cincinnati, Ohio there is a big fuss about building a street car, a few weeks ago they claimed the project was dead & buried - a money pit, the city  said they will let the voters decide on the street car issue- now suddenly without any vote of the people the street car is alive and well and new track is being layed in a hurry. No more talk of letting the people vote on it. Who wants a street car and who will use it? The city of Cincinnati has been working on the street car project for years.. Tulsa  has been fussing with the river front and riverfront projects for decades, let the riverfront  alone..   http://www.protransit.com/FAQs/  or another site... http://www.protransit.com

The city isn't building The Gathering Place, Kaiser is and has spent hundreds of millions upgrading the trails and parks along the rest of Riverside to boot.  And they are putting aside an endowment to keep the park maintained in the future. 

I do think LOTS of people will use the park.  If you have seen the detailed model on exhibit you can see that its packed full of all kinds of great features. I was kind of wondering whether the park would be done well or not before the final designer was chosen.  Then after I saw the renderings, I was like "Yea, it's a nice park."  But then when I saw the scale model in person I was quite surprised at all the great, quality features it will have.  Those who know me know that I can be rather particular and have stubbornly high standards and am usually the one pointing out how this or that falls short with our city.  This park is top notch.  Just thinking the other day about how the suburbs are getting to where they are having a few nice things here and there and trying to compete in some areas, but this park lays it down, Boom,"We da big fish in this pond and you can't touch this". This is "The Big City" park, a world class park that even cities larger than us can't help but envy. This tied into an ever improving Riverparks, plus the new Guthrie Green, Central Park, etc. in and near downtown. Niiice.  This will be our generations quality "legacy park" like Woodward Park and Rose Garden were.  Thank you to Mr Kaiser and all the other donors that are making this park happen.

[sgrizzle]

Does not Tulsa already have those things??  A place for concerts is on the west bank, it sounds like the same thing they have at Jenks- the area is not that large to have tons of shops a museum and the like anyhow- what about parking, parking can be a issue at the 41st street lot. I dunno it does not sound that exciting to me.

You know they took out the amphitheater, right?

This new complex has 600 parking spots, they are not widening riverside, and the complex also has ties into 31st for traffic.

By your argument we have Admiral & Memorial walmart, we should just tear the rest down because it performs it's required duties at least adequately. Also, any stores that do anything remotely similar to walmart should also close for merely daring to cater to a similar audience.

[Conan71]

You know they took out the amphitheater, right?

This new complex has 600 parking spots, they are not widening riverside, and the complex also has ties into 31st for traffic.

By your argument we have Admiral & Memorial walmart, we should just tear the rest down because it performs it's required duties at least adequately. Also, any stores that do anything remotely similar to walmart should also close for merely daring to cater to a similar audience.

Last time I rode through there a month ago, the amphitheater was still there.  It hasn't been used in years but it's still there.

[Gaspar]

Last time I rode through there a month ago, the amphitheater was still there.  It hasn't been used in years but it's still there.

Last time we were there it was still moored off the bank, about half floating. Looked like it was ready to decompose.