By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — The city of Miami has been awarded a grant of $59,099 from the Oklahoma Century Community Grant Program for a $117,353 project to develop a pocket park adjacent to the Coleman Theatre on Main Street.
Larry Eller, community development coordinator, announced the grant at a meeting Thursday of the Miami Downtown Design Review Committee.
The park will feature a water fountain, wrought-iron fencing, trees, brick pavers, antique lights and more, Eller said.
The park also will include markers honoring famous Miamians, such as artist Charles Banks Wilson, football player Steve Owens, and musicians Keith Anderson and Steve and Cassie Gaines.
The city will match the state grant with city labor and equipment, Eller said.
“The Coleman Pocket Park is going to become a reality,” he said. “This is really the icing on the cake for the Coleman Theatre and for Route 66.”
Eller said work will not begin until an addition is completed on the north side of the Coleman Theatre, which abuts the park.
Barbara Smith, director of the Coleman Theatre, said the Friends of the Coleman group is continuing a fund-raising campaign to raise the final $800,000 needed to restore the 5,000-square-foot area above the theater to be used as a ballroom and conference center.
After discussing the theater project and the pocket park, members of the design review committee discussed proposals to improve downtown parking lots.
Earlier this year, students from the University of Oklahoma in Norman presented different designs for improvements to the parking lots that included tables and chairs in alleys behind Main Street stores, and overhead elements to mask power lines.
“We have a blank canvas at this point on the parking lots,” Eller said.
Improvements would focus on the city-owned lots on the north and south sides of Main Street behind the stores.
Smith suggested construction of a multistory parking garage because of heavy attendance at events at the Coleman Theatre and at downtown businesses.
Other suggestions included making trash containers more attractive, changing entrances and exits to the parking lots, identifying disabled-parking spaces, and upgrading landscaping.
Committee member Jessica Stout said improvements could be made to existing parking lots without significantly changing the areas.
“I don’t think the basic structure is flawed,” she said.
Heisman Trophy
While playing football at the University of Oklahoma, Miami native Steve Owens was an All-American for two years and won the Heisman Trophy in 1969.
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