EDMOND — The Edmond City Council approved this past week an important first step in creating a future for Edmond’s downtown. It created a task force that will be asked to envision what might be next for the heart of this city. This task force, created under the auspices of the Central Edmond Urban Development Board, will focus on updating a downtown masterplan last worked on in 1998.
Many of those projects have come to fruition in the past 13 years, such as the streetscape project, the creation of the Festival Market Place and the creation of the Downtown Development Guidelines that outlines a set of rules for upgrades to existing buildings in the area.
But it’s past time to take another hard look at what is needed now to help our downtown remain viable and healthy.
Part of the Council discussion focused on including the University of Central Oklahoma more in the downtown plans as it borders the downtown area and is an integral part of this portion of the city. While it’s absolutely vital to include them, there still remain some goals from the 1998 plan left undone to better connect the university to the downtown. We hope this next round of planning will place higher emphasis on accomplishing that goal.
The proposed Public Safety Center to replace the Edmond Police Department building on Littler will be a key factor within whatever the task force recommends. Whether the project is built in the heart of downtown or whether it’s built at Main and Kelly and the current downtown location is reutilized will have a major impact on the downtown’s future. This board continues to be a strong advocate of pursuing this project, especially with the hope that it will open an opportunity to create more parking in the core downtown.
The one area that is truly evolving isn’t in the heart of downtown, but is located within what’s called the Central Business District at the edge of downtown. Mark Neighbors, owner of Parkway Cleaners and Menswear, has changed not only the face, but also the scope of what’s possible with his developments along Fifth Street. His structures in conjunction with the UCO Jazz Lab are prime examples of what will take the downtown into the future.
We applaud Neighbors’ efforts to bring an exciting mix of retail, quality dining and night life to this area. We believe he’s on the right track and hope that other developers realize the potential for more dining and entertainment in this area of Edmond. Those two components will change the face of downtown and bring it the success the city needs.
With the thought of more dining and entertainment needs in the area, the task force also will have to consider what further investment should be made by the city to enable the sort of synergy downtown and its patrons will need to change. In our current economic climate it’s tough to advocate any big expenditures on taxpayer dollars, but we do encourage the task force to think big for our downtown. Economic climates can change and we hope the city is ready to invest in a dramatic improvement when the time is right.
Our View
Downtown dreams
- Our View
-
-
OUR VIEW: Fundraisers make an impression
Edmond students in both public and private schools showed their community spirit in February and March by raising $1.18 million total for charity.
-
OUR VIEW: Taking care of some old business
Earlier this month, the City Council filled an unexpected vacancy when Ward 4 Councilman David Miller took an out-of-state job opportunity.
Filling the position until the 2013 election is financial adviser Nick Massey. He’s a familiar face to Edmond Sun readers, having contributed a regular financial column for almost five years. We would like to congratulate Massey on attaining the Ward 4 council seat and we wish him the best as he learns the ropes at city hall.
But Massey’s appointment caps an almost unprecedented amount of change within the City Council structure. -
OUR VIEW: Public safety needs support
Oklahoma politicians talk often and loudly about how much they support public safety. It’s often cited as a core function of government supported by conservatives and liberals alike.
But do we really support public safety? -
OUR VIEW: Super campaigns need a revamp
Super Tuesday offers Oklahomans the chance to give their input in the presidential primaries, but the question is how much input do we really have these days?
-
Our View — Voter turnout remains tepid
On Feb. 14, 809 voters decided between two candidates for the Edmond Public Schools District 2 seat on the Board of Education. That number of voters would not sound so bad all by itself, but when you stand it up next to the number of registered voters in the district, the story changes quite a bit. According to the Oklahoma County Election Board, there are 17,475 voters in that school board district in northwest Edmond.
-
OUR VIEW: Teacher certification payment causes concern
Educators have become pitted against legislators once again over a program that should have brought nothing but good things to our schools and students. However, teachers and lawmakers alike have soured over the National Board Certified Teachers program due to insufficient state funds to keep up promised annual payments to those teachers who earned the designation.
-
OUR VIEW: Gov. Fallin scores big with speech
Gov. Mary Fallin defined her governorship on Feb. 6 and cemented her legacy as a leader. In her State of the State address, Fallin laid out her vision for how Oklahoma can grow or lead in several important areas.
Nowhere in that speech did she throw down the “my way or the highway” gauntlet to legislators or the people of Oklahoma. No, she truly offered a multi-point plan that offers opportunity for discussion that could bear rich fruit for our state. -
OUR VIEW: Feb. 14 vote about ideas
If you read any of the letters to the editor in the past two weeks regarding Tuesday’s District 2 Edmond school board race, then you already know that this election is not about the individual candidates so much as it’s about what type of school board do Edmond residents really want governing their school district?
-
OUR VIEW: Bright spots highlight 2011
Last year was mostly marked with grim economic news and continued worries for the future by most individuals and businesses. However, there were several bright spots that highlighted 2011 and they are good examples why Edmond continues to weather the nation’s economic storms better than most.
-
City still needs a business navigator
At the outset of her first term in office, then-Mayor Patrice Douglas appointed a task force dedicated to helping the City of Edmond better understand the needs of small businesses in our city. This task force met for several months and released a number of recommendations for how the city could better serve this huge sector of its economy.
- More Our View Headlines
-
OUR VIEW: Fundraisers make an impression

