Streetscape
Workshop sparks ideas for downtown
improvements
Pawhuska
Journal-Capital, July 21, 2010
By
ROSEANNE SUTTON
J-C
STAFF REPORTER
Over
40 residents attended the first
“streetscape” workshop to discuss
improvements to Pawhuska’s downtown
commercial district.
The
workshop began with a visual presentation
by Keith Franklin, president of LandPlan
Consultants, Inc., describing his
company’s work in similar communities
such as Collinsville, Durant and Grove.
This was followed by a visual presentation
by Franklin of possible Pawhuska
improvements. Franklin said the
concept drawings presented would be on his
website at www.lpci.com.
The
first phase of the plan would originate
from the section of Main Street near the
Triangle Building and Kihekah Street to
the Tallgrass Prairie Gateway sign.
One element of the project would be
replacing the sidewalks and accenting
focal points of the streets with patterned
brick accents or textured paved surfaces.
Another element would be to create pocket
parks such as the one already on Kihekah
Street which contains a sculpture.
Franklin
suggested several accents near the
Triangle Building. One idea he
suggested was brick monument accents, with
lights and plants, to flank the Triangle
Building on the nearby sidewalks.
Another idea was to have patterned-accent
street paving in several locations:
on Main Street flanking the Triangle
Building and at two cross street locations
on Kihekah.
Franklin
also suggested adding a park at corner of
Main Street and Kihekah, northwest of the
Triangle Building, which could contain the
Ben Johnson sculpture already
designed. Nearby stairways to the
courthouse and terraced areas owned by the
city could be landscaped and repaired or
enhanced, Franklin said.
After
the presentation, Franklin asked the
workshop participants to think of what
image they wanted to portray in Pawhuska.
Several themes emerged including:
Native American culture, the oil industry,
and western symbols.
Martha
Spotted Bear suggested having a statue of
Chief Pawhuska, from whom the city got its
name.
Streetscape
Steering Committee Chairperson Cathy
Worten spoke of her vision for Pawhuska,
“I see it as having the potential to be
an art community, kind of a little Santa
Fe.”
Several
participants, including resident Frank
Lorenzo, said that cultivating tourism
should be one of Pawhuska’s goals.
With that in mind, pedestrian traffic and
routes should be considered, Lorenzo
added.
Thomas
Ryan Red Corn asked if technology could be
used to facilitate tourism in Pawhuska.
Candy Thomas responded saying “the
consultants developing the master corridor
plan for the Osage National Heritage Trail
are exploring the use of technology and
the media of cell phones as a means of
interpretation and relaying information
for downtown historic sites.”
When
asked about the funding of the Streetscape
project, Franklin said that the first step
would be to apply to the Oklahoma
Department of Transportation for an
enhancement grant prepared by LandPlan and
Candy Thomas, which would be approved by
the city. The draft application is
due October 1, 2010, “The final
application is due January 2011, and we
should know if we were successful by May
2011,” Franklin said. He added
that there are grants that could be
applied for wherein eighty
percent of the funds come from the grant
and the other 20 percent comes from the
city.
The
workshop concluded with participants
expressing their love of Pawhuska and
desire to see it revitalized through
unified efforts in the community.
Resident Jinx Geurin said, “we just
don’t want to lose any more than we’ve
lost.”
City
Manager Paul McAlexander said, “I’d
like to see the community work together as
a whole; if we’re going to do this, we
need to be one hundred percent behind it,
and that’s why we’re having these
meetings – to make sure this is
something we’re proud of for many years
to come.”
Resident
Angela Robinson said, “it’s the spirit
and enthusiasm of the people in the town
that will make this happen.” She
added, “a lot of us are coming back
because our hearts were always here; I
just wanted to come tonight to see if the
spirit was here, and I think it really
is.”
