"The American"

[heironymouspasparagus]

That is an awesome site for something cool. It has a great view of downtown and the river. It also has a path that leads right into the Turkey Mountain Wilderness area.

I hope whatever they do keeps in mind that this is true urban wilderness. There are many, many hikers, strollers, and mountain bike enthusiasts that love Turkey Mountain. A green museum, conference center, or boutique hotel would work.

Turkey Mountain area is the big problem...it's the biggest unoccupied area that could easily be converted to "growth and livability" quickly and easily.  Just scrape the top of it off so it's about 50 feet above riverbank level, slap on a few condos, gated community, a walking shopping center (we could get with the Riverwalk designers....) and the entire area will benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars of "growth and livability"....  The views would be great - gates could be added to the communities like on the east side of the river just a little south of the area.  It's a win!!




And please tell me everyone who reads this does understand the sarcasm.... with just a pinch of scorn and a little infusion of extra virgin olive oil!

[AquaMan]

Even that would not work unless........wait for it......."We put WATER IN THE RIVER!"

[Ed W]

As an upstanding suburban citizen on blood pressure meds that include a powerful diuretic, I'll do my part to put water in the river. Just let me have another cup of coffee first.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Even that would not work unless........wait for it......."We put WATER IN THE RIVER!"

Ok...so Riverwalk didn't work because of no water??



Hey!  Just had a thought!!  Maybe that's why the refineries and concrete place continue to do so well - they have water in the river next to them!!   Ok, I get it now....


Not just for you - not targeting you at all, Aqua, just commentary on our ongoing, continuous dissatisfaction, otherwise known as our short attention span (TADHD - Tulsa ADHD....

I see/hear/ these discussions about how "wouldn't it be wonderful in only we had/did/built/moved this..."  Always on the treadmill of the next big thing - never any satisfaction with what we have in place, which is actually quite a LOT.  Always makes me think of the  Gerry Rafferty song, "Baker Street"....

Paraphrased;

This city desert makes us feel so cold
It's got so many people, but it's got no dam
And it's taken us so long
To find out we were wrong
When we thought a dam held everything

Another dam and then we'd be happy...
Just one more dam and then we'd be happy...
But we're crying, we're crying now...


Maybe Weird Al should do a customized Tulsa river version...

Or if one wants to hear the real words...better entertainment....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIw09oqsYo&list=RDlSIw09oqsYo

[heironymouspasparagus]

As an upstanding suburban citizen on blood pressure meds that include a powerful diuretic, I'll do my part to put water in the river. Just let me have another cup of coffee first.

Too much of that going on now anyway - don't need anymore!

Would much rather have the dams and stop the sewage drainage....

[AquaMan]

H, I was being sarcastic. And I still am. Seems everything in Tulsa would be better, we would have attracted the Thunder, we wouldn't have lost the 66'ers, Bell's would still be here on the West Bank and the Shock would be in the playoffs.......if we just had....WATER IN THE RIVER!.

[heironymouspasparagus]

H, I was being sarcastic. And I still am. Seems everything in Tulsa would be better, we would have attracted the Thunder, we wouldn't have lost the 66'ers, Bell's would still be here on the West Bank and the Shock would be in the playoffs.......if we just had....WATER IN THE RIVER!.

Sorry...inflection missing moment...


I still would LOVE to have water in the river!!  The entire human species is definitely "keyed" into being near water....longing for our roots, I guess... but it sure won't cure anything that is terminal anyway!  And WAY too many of the development ideas we see littered around town are terminal....or already dead!!   Growth for growth's sake is the concept that needs to die!!

 

[cannon_fodder]

Does that mean 1st Place Lofts will lose funding if it doesn't have a completion plan soon?

[Conan71]

Does that mean 1st Place Lofts will lose funding if it doesn't have a completion plan soon?

Put water in 1st St. and they will get finished.

[Townsend]

Does that mean 1st Place Lofts will lose funding if it doesn't have a completion plan soon?

I think it's had several.

[saintnicster]

Does that mean 1st Place Lofts will lose funding if it doesn't have a completion plan soon?

This came out a while back. http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=20569.msg283701#msg283701.
This was specifically said about the 2025 money.

TDA gave Sager the money, in the form of a loan, as part of the Vision 2025 funds devoted to developing downtown housing.

Walker said  TDA expects Sager to pay the money back by 2017. If he does not, and Sager says he will, the TDA could pursue legal action.

[Townsend]

$460K?  Why haven't we gone this route?  Heck, the Chinese might let us have the head.

Mysterious Giant Golden Statue Of Mao Is Gone

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/mysterious-giant-golden-statue-mao-gone

A 121-foot-high statue of Mao Zedong mysteriously cropped up in a remote field in China's central Henan province, as we reported this week.

But it seems the homage to the founder of Communist China didn't have much time in the sun.

The golden statue grabbed international headlines, sparking criticism and ridicule. Now, local residents and officials say the statue has been torn down, according to media reports. Images circulating on social media show the tribute to Mao with a black cloth draped over its head and missing parts of its legs and arms.

"Demolition teams arrived Thursday morning, villagers said, and by Friday morning only a pile of rubble remained," The New York Times reports. Here's more:

"Public Security officials and groups of unidentified men in olive green greatcoats brusquely turned away visitors and blocked road access to the site, outside the village of Zhushigang.
"Villagers said the guards had been sent by officials in Tongxu County, which includes Zhushigang. They said they believed the statue was torn down on orders from provincial officials."
It's not immediately clear why the statue was destroyed. A local resident told The Guardian that he heard "it was because it had occupied a farmer's land." The newspaper says local media reports that "the statue had not gone through the correct 'approval process' before construction."

The criticism and ridicule might have had something to do with it.

As The Two-Way reported Tuesday, "Henan province was one of the worst-hit areas of what has become known as the 'Great Famine' during Mao's rule, so a statue of Mao in the middle of farmland there might seem like a surprising choice."

The statue also garnered criticism for its steep price tag — about $460,000 — in the middle of what was once one of China's most impoverished areas.

[cannon_fodder]

Hey, Tulsa is now in "The American" Athletic Conference... so we kind of got a The American. Right

Sad truth: when our own Michael was peddling his statue idea, it didn't even trigger a memory of The American.

[CoffeeBean]

How did the Vision package miss this opportunity?

[BKDotCom]

I'm starting to think this is never going to happen.

LOL