A nearly $17 million beautification plan will face the Oklahoma City Council on Tuesday. It’s part of MAPS 4, which voters passed in 2019 and provided an allocation of $32.8 million for citywide beautification projects.

Most of the projects focus on improving areas surrounding high-traffic streets and entrances to the city through landscaping and public art. In the words of MAPS program manager David Todd, the city has “company coming” and needs to “spruce things up.” 

Tourism booms are expected through the end of the decade, which the city attributes to upcoming international flights at OKC Will Rogers International Airport, what will be the newest NBA arena in the league, two 2028 Olympic events, and a more aggressive strategy recruiting conferences, conventions, trade shows, and concerts.

“It’s to beautify those spaces,” Todd added. “If even if just a little bit. It’s not big streetscapes. It’s not major renovations or landscaping, but it’s some trees here and there. It’s some hardscape here and there. And where we’re concentrating are places like right as you come out of the airport; first impression places, well-traveled areas.”

There are 16 projects included in the master plan, which represent 7 of the 8 wards across Oklahoma City.

One of the proposals is more structural than the rest. 

Consultants for the city have proposed creating a plaza and erecting a statue of Ralph Ellison at Northeast 23rd and Martin Luther King, directly across from the Ralph Ellison Library.

Currently, the space is an empty lot.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice said the proposal, as it stands, does not reflect any of her input or that of nearby stakeholders.

“We wanted to acknowledge all of our leaders that came from this part of our community,” Nice said. “That’s what that corner is supposed to do.”

In discussions she has been part of, Nice said the goal had been to erect a Ralph Ellison statue in Deep Deuce, where Ellison was born.

Despite being listed as a potential stakeholder in the project plan, Ralph Ellison Foundation executive director Michael Owens said he was not consulted on the proposal. But as a steward of Ellison’s legacy, he supports the effort to further memorialize his name.

“It’s magnificent to see the city turn their attention to [it],” Owens said. “We have great sports, and we have great entertainers. But also, we have an intellectual capital here in Oklahoma City. And for the city to recognize that with Ralph Ellison and his legacy and how that legacy, not just looking past but looking forward, is something for the future.”

The area has already seen MAPS 4 investment in the form of the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center and city-supported renovation of the Freedom Center which will be the operating partner when the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center opens.

“It shouldn’t just be in this community,” Nice said about the proposed statue. “It should be all of the places of the footprint of Ralph Ellison. And [Deep Deuce] was a core footprint of Ralph Ellison, because that’s where he grew up.”

A monument outside of the Freedom Center commemorates several civil rights figures. Nice hopes that the concept can be expanded when it comes time to develop the NE 23rd and MLK lot.

“There are a lot of unsung heroes in our community that should be lifted up,” she said. “Not to slight anything of Ralph Ellison’s legacy, because we all know who he is and other people should know if they don’t, but how we approach that is where my concern is about this MAPS 4 beautification plan.”

Freedom Center executive director Christina Beatty has worked with Nice to develop a vision for the area’s ties to civil rights history.

“We have so much to be proud of in this city and in this state,” Beatty said. “In terms of our contributions to the civil rights movement here in the city, in the state, and nationally.”

While Beatty said the Freedom Center had received notice from the city consultants about the proposal for the lot, she said the organization was not substantively included in the process.

Her focus is making sure there’s a space for young people to gather and learn wide-ranging lessons about important civil rights leaders.

“That’s the legacy that will continue here at the Freedom Center,” she said. “To teach young people about those who came before them and to teach them how they can contribute to continued efforts moving forward.”

While Nice opposes the current iteration of the proposal near NE 23rd and MLK, she said there are other proposals included in the beautification master plan that she appreciates.

“I am comfortable with how we are able to use and balance and leverage other dollars to have a beautiful street enhancement project for NE 23rd,” she said, referencing the Clara Luper corridor project. “That’s what we want. That’s the intent of street enhancement projects, to get all of the things that we can for this part of our community and for it to look good.”

If the City Council approves the master plan, individual projects are likely to still require further council action in the future as the vision starts to take shape

“The master plan is really just a guide,” Todd said. “As we start to actually design on each of these projects, they could change a little bit. But it’s a guide of what can be done out there.”

A master plan related to MAPS 4 funding for city parks will also be considered during Tuesday’s Council meeting.