Depew on the map, again!

Check out OU Institute for Quality Communities Blog on DesignWorks Depew. Great things are in the works and an implementation schedule is soon to follow!

http://iqc.ou.edu/2011/12/07/depew-oklahoma-project-postcard/

I'm finished...with the semester that is!

As of yesterday I have now completed my first semester of my final year at OUUDS. I am very excited about this and a little nervous at that. It seems not that long ago I was applying for my undergrad and now I nearly have my masters complete! Saturday morning was our second jury presentation. Monday I took my final exam for Legal Framework for Design, a week early, and yesterday I had my final meeting with Shawn until January.

I also got news today that I officially passed my CDBG Certification Exam, making myself a certified CDBG Grant Administrator! Ryan and I put up the Christmas tree last night and now it is time to celebrate the holiday! As for my project I will still be working over break, so be sure to stay updated! Merry Christmas I hope everyone has a great break and stay safe if traveling!

Semester nearing an end

It has been nearly two weeks since my last post, oops. As many of you who attended DesignWorks know our event was a great success. Many creative and exciting design ideas were addressed and presented to the town, luckily with a large amount of approval. On Monday December 12, 2011, I will be presenting Project Postcard, as we named it, to the Town Board for Approval and will also be presenting an implementation schedule, led by me. I will upload some pictures here as they are on my Facebook page as well. If you would like to see the presentation come to the meeting and check it out. I very interested in community participation and feedback as well!

Tomorrow through Friday I will be heading to Oklahoma City for CDBG Certification, wish me luck! Saturday will be the midpoint in my final year of graduate school, making the second professional project jury. Lack of information will not be an issue, condensing it into a twenty minute presentation might. After these events I will be taking my final exam in Legal Framework for Real Estate Law, the official end to the semester! Wow, this week is going to be a whirlwind!

2 Days & Counting!

DesignWorks is up and coming and OU will be in Depew on Wednesday. As for me I am completing a large amount of housekeeping for the event. Today I will be creating several large maps with data including; buildings, streets, parking lots, & topography.

First thing this morning I went to Depew to take some pictures of several intersections and also of Main Street, I'm trying to capture the extreme elevation differences throughout town. Also I ran into Shawn, The Urban Design Studio director, to find out he took some aerial photography of Depew for me this morning. I also contacted the owners of the Route 66 Biker Rally and the Naturist Park this morning and are hoping to have some attendance from there as well.

Time to get back to it, enjoy my aerials of Depew!

One week remaining!

Wednesday was exactly one week until the DesignWorks Depew event which will be hosted by the University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities in Depew, OK! You might  be able to notice I'm a little bit excited about this.

Wednesday night I hosted a steering committee meeting and had an attendance of 14 people, highly successful, especially since I only invited nine of them. It's good to know I've got a great team interested in the progress of Depew and who are working hard to get the word out. We have officially figured out lunch for the Design team on both days thanks to the Senior Citizens Center and the great leadership/staff at Depew Public Schools.

I want to thank my steering committee for working so hard recently to put all of this together on such short notice. Another big thanks goes out to the Institute for Quality Communities, The Urban Design Studio, and INCOG. I can't believe the quality of people which are volunteering two days of their personal time to help Depew. All we have to do now is wait...well not really, which reminds me I must get busy!

Hitting the Streets!

I feel like I've really got some things accomplished today and all before 9:00 AM. I hit the streets this morning on my way to INCOG, I decided to stop by both the elementary and high school in order to get some flyers out. About 400 flyers later every student and faculty member at Depew public schools has received a DesignWorks invitation. I'm getting some great feedback from the faculty and am very happy for their support!

I then traveled about town placing posters and flyers for community members to see and pick up. Some of my locations included: PDQ, Superior Pipe, Dough Boyz, the Post Office, Spanglers, Jan'z Sandwich Shop, Depew Florist, the Beauty Salon, and also Town Hall. I'm still missing a few locations and I'm hoping to connect with them tomorrow or Monday morning. Speaking of tomorrow, Depew will be holding a Fall Craft Fair at the Kohler Villa on Main Street. I'm planning to attend, not only for my interest in the vendors, but I also thought it would be a great place to advertise for DesignWorks. I must restock my supply of flyers before the event. I'm also planning a little door-to-door action in dispersing the flyers as well.

Thanks to a great idea from my husband, I also stopped by our local radio station, KREK, this morning. KREK announces a community calendar in the mornings covering local events. They said announcing it should be no problem, I'm excited about DesignWorks being announced on air! I'm also in the process of contacting the Bristow Record to spread the news to a wider audience.

I'm really getting excited about the event and want to thank everyone for their support and hopefully attendance!

DesignWorks team to visit Depew

I have been a little quite on here lately, as I've been working on a few projects which I needed to keep quiet until official. Well it's official, The University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities and the Urban Design Studio will be making an official visit to Depew on November 16th and 17th for the Institute's first DesignWorks community workshop.

This workshop will be an excellent opportunity for Depew and also everyone involved. I made about 500 copies of this flyer yesterday and will be distributing them throughout the community this week. If you are interested in this or have any questions don't hesitate to comment!