Comments on: Things I should have posted over the last 3 weeks (5 of 10)

By: Blair

Blair — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:38:28 +0000

Thanks BIll! Appreciate you taking the time to help make wikipedia an excellent resource. Please feel free to use anything you find on this blog.

By: BillTunell

BillTunell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:42:55 +0000

BTW, the Pei Plan wikipage is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pei_Plan_(Oklahoma_City).

By: BillTunell

BillTunell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:41:11 +0000

Thanks, Blair. I’ve loaded on Wikipedia with copyright standard attribution-release viewable at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pei_Plan_Map_highlighted.jpg I can change these terms if you want, just let me know. Interesting stuff you’ve put together. I look forward to seeing more.

By: Blair

Blair — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:23:41 +0000

Bill – Sure. Please do. Citing the map is appreciated, but not necessarily required.

By: BillTunell

BillTunell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:21:24 +0000

This is a great map. I’d liek to insert this on wikipedia’s artcvile for the Pei Plan if it’s all right with you. Let me know.

By: dustbury.com » Planned to death

dustbury.com » Planned to death — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:00:47 +0000

[...] already did this once, didn’t [...]

By: Lindy Adams

Lindy Adams — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Blair, Thanks so much for posting this online. I’ve been fascinated with the mistakes of the I.M. Pei plan for years. Once my husband, Ken, and I were hosting a group of exchange students from Japan for Oklahoma Christian University. This was in the early 70s. We took the group downtown, which was at the worst of the post-I.M. Pei era. The Japanese students’ professor, named Dr. Saito, took a look around and said, “This reminds me of Tokyo after the war.” We’ve laughed about that for years. Thanks for all your interest in this. But, I have great hope for the future, and really love Block 42, which I think was developed by your brother – or other relative.

By: Chad Reynolds

Chad Reynolds — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:46:31 +0000

Blair,

Amazing. Thanks for digging these up and posting them. What I’d like to know is, did everything in the shaded area actually get razed? Was Pei’s plan fully realized? What was going through these dudes heads in the 60s? It’s kinda like when Boston opened the Central Artery right through downtown in 1959. Can you imagine what MTA had to clear to make room for that monstrosity? According to MTA’s website, 20,000 residents were displaced by the project that cut off the North End and the Waterfront from downtown and eventually spawned the Big Dig, the costliest fix to the dumbest error ever. But at least the fix happened. I guess MAPS was OKC’s Big Dig, insofar as it was created to address and correct a mistake. Ernest asks a good question above…would Core to Shore repeat the mistake of Urban Renewal? I also agree with his answer: some things are worth preserving, some aren’t. But who makes this judgment call? The tastes and aesthetics of those who decide what stays and what is razed change drastically from decade to decade. The Urban Renewal folks thought they were saving downtown. Inadvertently, they nearly killed it. Thanks again for posting these maps.

By: Ernest

Ernest — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:33:34 +0000

Devastating. Are we being too swift and sweeping with Core to Shore? It’s been said that nothing significant remains in that area besides Union Station and Little Flower Church. From my own “windshield survey”, I agree.

By: Michael Bates

Michael Bates — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:01:06 +0000

Thanks for this. This sort of thing is why everyone should be skeptical of massive civic “improvement plans.”

I recognize the Civic Center in the area to be spared. Any idea about the criteria for the few parcels to be left untouched.

I look forward to seeing older plans posted online. I have some c. 1957 planning documents I need to upload somehow.