Potential Walkability Improvements on Shartel
The Results Are In!
The "Elevated Sidewalk" Option has won the neighborhood's recommendation.
There is a lot of data included on the above slides - please review and let us know if you have any questions. This data includes total points allocated to each option, as well as a breakdown of which options seemed to have the most 5 point and 0 point votes.
It also includes the names of the 5 people who counted, verified and "certified" these votes. They come from a range of preferences on this issue, and all are neighbors and volunteers. We know you will treat them with respect, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the data. We have included the names for transparency.
Crown Heights - Edgemere Heights is a great neighborhood, and we hope that anyone disappointed in this result will be respectful of this difficult process. Many people spent MANY hours vetting options, submitting information, and providing an all-day in-person voting option that was utilized by 21 of the total 292 voters.
Thank you to all of our committed neighbors and volunteers!
Are you wondering what’s (potentially) happening on Shartel?
The City of Oklahoma City is working on a plan to make our entire city more walkable and connected and formed a connectivity subcommittee to work toward that goal. Some of the key priorities are to connect neighborhoods, parks and schools, making them more accessible on foot, by bike or by car. Accessibility for persons with disabilities is another important goal.
A street near and dear to all of us, Shartel Avenue, between 36th and 43rd street was designated as a ‘Pedestrian Priority Area,’ and funds were allocated to modify Shartel to achieve the goals of greater and safer walkability and connectivity.
The good news? We’ve all got opinions…and we got to vote to decide what happens.
When members of the neighborhood learned about the connectivity/walkability project, reactions were mixed. There are no shrinking violets in this neighborhood, and we love that about us!
One thing everyone agreed on, however, was that the neighbors of CH-EH needed information AND input. The City of Oklahoma City felt strongly about that as does your board.
The early notion of sidewalks running through steeply sloped and highly landscaped yards have been heard, and the city is no longer considering "traditional" easement sidewalks on that corridor.
Dollars are still budgeted for infrastructure improvements related to safety and connectivity on Shartel through CH-EH (Walker is not on the table currently).
What we’ve done so far
Following the first community meeting held by the City on May 9, the neighborhood board voted during its board meeting the following week on the process that is as follows:
5/16/23 – 6/1/23 Generate Ideas
5/31/23 Meet about Ideas
A neighborhood meeting was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church (4400 N. Shartel Ave), on that evening.
6/1/23 – 6/6/23 Distribute Information about Generated Options
6/6/23 – 6/13/23 Early Electronic Voting. Instructions are below.
6/13/23 In-Person Voting: 8:00am -7:00PM
At Westminster Presbyterian Church - 4400 N. Shartel Ave.
How to Vote
Check out the options
There are the four previously vetted options, ranging from doing nothing at all to constructing a raised sidewalk. Click here to look them over.
Our voting process:
Each household had one ballot. Neighbors assigned weight to the different options according to how they felt about them.
If someone didn’t like an option, they could give it zero points.
They could mark multiple options with zero points.
If they absolutely absolutely loved an option, the maximum number of points they could give was 5.
They could mark multiple options with five points. It was recommended that they put five points on your preferred option.
If they had a second preference, then it was recommended to put four points on it and so on and so forth.
If there were multiple votes per house, an average was taken of the scores using a simple mean for each option between the different ballots.
If there was not an address given on the ballot or it is illegible, those ballots would have been excluded from the count.
Even More Information
What happened at the latest community meeting?
What is this I hear about a concerns and excitement survey?
In preparation for the May 9th community meeting, the neighborhood put together a survey to capture concerns and excitements about sidewalks. A survey and meeting information was disseminated to all neighbors through a flyer handed out via the block captains. There were also social media posts and an email that distributed the link and meeting information.
Because the informational meeting was at 6:30 on 5/9/23 any comments after 10:30am on May 9th, 2023 are not included in the below report.
What happened at the May 9, 2023 Community Meeting
The community was invited to an informational meeting with city representatives at Westminster Presbyterian Church. We were presented with 2 different conceptual images of potential alternatives to improve walkability on Shartel but the neighborhood’s options are not limited to those options. An audio recording of this meeting is here: