Okay, here it is high noon and I’ve challenged Swake to a fight over Civic Center. I love Civic Center. I mean I love Civic Center’s past and its potential. I think City Hall belongs in Civic Center. He doesn't.
Tulsa’s Civic Center reminds me of Brasilia. You know, the Modern capital of Brazil.
Our Civic Center is Modern like Brasilia. They call it Mid-Century Modernism and it’s popular with the in crowd. But even the in crowd doesn't care for fountains without water:
Of course, it’s not Civic Center’s fault that Tulsa forgot the first rule of economy. TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU HAVE.
Oh I know people like things that are shiny and new. Well with a little bit of elbow grease and a few million from the feds, Tulsa’s Civic Center could be as fine and shiny as it was on the day that our fathers first saw their investment in Tulsa’s future.
Tell me our library isn’t a beauty.
And there’s nothing wrong with the county court house that a good steam cleaning couldn’t cure.
Look at how the buildings line the common plaza and Fifth Street terminates in the Maxwell Convention Center. Look at how the architect played with light. Look at how city hall stands apart and seems to rise out of the plaza.
What you don’t see is the Federal Building to the north or the State Building behind the Convention Center.
Check out what Cynthia Nikitin said about civic centers.
“Traditionally, the center of most cities has been a “commons,” a civic space built according to democratic principles. The commons may be a historic commercial square, as in Madison, Wisconsin, or it may be a mall (in the original sense), like the ones that grace San Francisco’s City Hall and the U.S. Capitol. In almost every case, major public and cultural institutions are located around the commons, forming a civic center of enormous practical and symbolic importance.”
What’s the big deal with Civic Spaces? I mean what’s in it for me? Here's what the Project for Public Spaces says:
“Civic Spaces are an extension of the community. When they work well, they serve as a stage for our public lives. If they function in their true civic role, they can be the settings where celebrations are held, where exchanges both social and economic take place, where friends run into each other, and where cultures mix. They are the ‘front porches’ of public institutions – post offices, courthouses, federal office buildings – where we can interact with each other and with government. …”
Busy and full of life and beautiful. That’s how I see our Civic Center plaza. Busy with lunch time brown baggers, and free concerts and farmers markets and public gatherings. Imagine Modern sculpture, food stands, an outdoor café and sun and people taking a break and people doing business. Mothers pushing strollers and old folks playing checkers and young folks with room to breathe.
So we have something of value. Already paid for. All we need to do is restore it.
And we aren’t alone. Denver faced the same issues and decided to renew her civic center. Now she has embarked on a major overhaul of her civic center.
Fort Worth recently created a civic center out a collection of unconnected government buildings and streets. Both Denver and Fort Worth have received generous help from the feds.
Oh I know. Senator Inhofe and Senator Coburn have more important things to do than obtain federal funding for Oklahoma. But where there’s a will there’s a way and a federal program. Check out the publication – Federal Spaces, Civic Places.
I’ll end with Marin County’s Civic Center. They are famous for their Modern Civic Center. We could be too.
CITY HALL BELONGS IN CIVIC CENTER
