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OKC downtown plan, seven years later

Nick Roberts has dusted off the Downtown Oklahoma City Strategic Action Plan 2010, published in 2003 by the OKC Planning Department, and has graded his city's performance against its plan. For the most part, Roberts is not judging outcomes, but inputs -- whether city government has taken the steps it...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 7, 2010 6:06 PM

Kansas is committed to historic preservation

Wichita has a downtown grocery store. I came across it while out for a walk in the eastern part of downtown, near the recently opened Intrust Arena. (Some people go to the Y or the hotel exercise room. I walk through downtowns and historic neighborhoods.) The store would be easy...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 30, 2010 6:08 PM

Rocky Frisco on downtown development; Chamber to run downtown marketing?

From Rocky Frisco's Tulsa Metro Chamber questionnaire. Nail, meet hammerhead. The more the city government has tried to "develop" the downtown, the worse it has become. I firmly believe that if had been allowed to develop naturally, without all the wild ideas for "development," it would still be an exciting,...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 7, 2009 6:00 PM

Devon spire

Oklahoma City bloggers are agog at the unveiling of Devon Energy's plans to build the state's tallest building. Steve Lackmeyer, who blogs about downtown OKC development for the Oklahoman, has been covering the story extensively. Some of the land in question is owned by the city's urban renewal authority, which...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 21, 2008 10:15 PM