It also gives one some perspective to see other cities. In this case, I was able to look at the area that I mentioned once before--Northeast Tulsa, where I grew up. To be brief, that lower-middle class/working class area has excellent ACCESS. There are ramps off I-244 every ten to twelve blocks. I could zip by car downtown (roughly 4 to 5 miles) in minutes. Indeed, downtown has excellent ACCESS, bounded as it is on three sides by expressways with multiple exits to downtown. I would say that Tulsa is a extremely auto friendly city--the ramps and interstates dominate the city and its character now.
As I mentioned before, the ramps haven't kept the northeast area from stagnating economically. Streets that used to have viable retail lives are largely abandoned as local residents hop on the expressways to go out to newer retail developments (lots of Wal-marts). There are businesses that replace the retail shops, but they are largely repair or light industrial businesses, often using large stretches of former store fronts as storage. The most successful business within in the shadow of I-244 at Sheridan (near my childhood home) is a HUGE convenience store/gas station. Admiral, which in its hey day was a major east/west artery is now a shadow of its former self when the locals used it as its major shopping destination. The area has bounced back a bit apparently, based on my observation. I was told that there has been an influx of Hispanic immigrants who, attracted to depressed property values, are restoring the place to its tract housing charm (this is not a slight--I grew up there). It would appear that all new clothing is purchased outside of the immediate vicinity.
Downtown is dead after 6pm, as the workers jump on those excellent ramps and get the hell out of Dodge. It's a shame really, Tulsa has fascinating architecture and some character in its downtown. Many of the buildings have a real art deco flair. . . .
It only reinforces my view that putting big bucks into better auto ACCESS to an area like south Minneapolis will ultimately NOT benefit the local economy and residents.
In Tulsa, my son's skate boarding interest led us in search of a public skateboard park in west Tulsa. To get there I went down 21st Street-- a main thoroughfare and found a thriving little section of town along the part of downtown (east)that has the worst ACCESS to the expressway system and because no major expressway construction has taken place, the most trees. Came back to my parents' house using 15th--another road without a lick of ACCESS--and stumbled into a little section of arts, antiques, and restaurants. The largest and most successful Target that I saw in the inner city was between 15th and 21st, by the way, and it is used almost exclusively by local residents.
It was a graphic illustration of what we STRIDERs have been saying, that ACCESS doesn't guarantee local economic development and often kills local initiative. Indeed, I saw the pattern repeated in Tulsa. The streets furthest from the expressways had strongest business development for urban dwellers. The ACCESS nodes had lots of new gas stations and fast food joints--but little else that was otherwise new or unique.
With all due respect to the SMART folks and ACCESS obsessed, I wish I could take you on a tour of those excellent ramps throughout the north Tulsa area. I doubt that you would be impressed with numbers of folks coming into the city to hangout at those weed choked parking lots of closed retail shops near the ramps.
You would be impressed with the ease with which you could gas up and get out to a Wal-Mart or a SUPER Target and save a few cents on some paper towels, however.
Russell Raczkowski
Bancroft
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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