OKC FRIDAY Vol. 58 No. 9 • One Section • 12 pages • July 5, 2024 $1 per copy
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving affluent far north Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills and The Village for 50 years
In rejecting lease, Metro Library wants to shift costs to The Village By Eric Oesch Staff Writer The Metropolitan Library System has rejected a lease agreement with The City of The Village to operate the Village Branch Library located at 10307 N. Pennsylvania. The Village City Council proposed a $1 lease agree-
ment for a term of one-year starting in July. City Manager Dave Slezickey said he will continue to work with the Metropolitan Library System (MLS) to bring back a lease for approval. The MLS has 19 branch libraries located throughout Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County. The
Ronald J. Norick Library, the systems’ main branch, was constructed using MAPS funds. It is located at 300 Park Ave. in downtown Oklahoma City. The Village Branch Library was built in the early 1990s through a special sales tax vote of city residents and is operated by the Metropolitan
Library System. The physical structure is owned by The Village. “At a point of time in the 80s the Metropolitan Library System gave the city a timeframe to build a new library and I think we waited until the last minute,” said Slezickey. “It was a large project, and getting the sales
tax vote ready took some time to finalize.” Prior to its current location, The Village Branch Library was hidden away in a small Casady Square storefront in the area currently occupied by Braum’s and Walmart Neighborhood See VILLAGE, Page 3
NHills updates rules for accepting art for city parks By Eric Oesch Staff Writer
“friends we don’t know,” Jonna said. As many as 30 people have converged upon the restaurant — some of whom don’t even eat oysters like Jane Krizer. In addition to the founders,
For a city of less than two square miles, or 1280 acres, Nichols Hills has a lot of city parks. Thirty-one landscaped parks, both large and small to be exact, and many feature works of art donated by city residents. At the June City Council meeting, the city’s Public Arts Commission recommended adoption of ordinance updates amending the city’s codes related to works of art in city parks. It seems there are many who want to donate works of art for display in city parks and both City Manager Shane Pate and Mayor Peter Hoffman think that’s a good thing, but there needs to be guidelines. Over the past two years Nichols Hills has received large donations totaling over $1 million for the new Love Family Park and upgrades to Redbud Park along the Grand Boulevard corridor that winds through the city. “Our Public Arts Commission has been working on these ordinance updates for several months,” City Manager Shane Pate told the
See OYSTERS, Page 5
See NICHOLS HILLS, Page 2
Investigating the activities of the Committee on the Consumption of Oysters is OKC FRIDAY Editor Rose Lane, second from right. Showing her how to slurp oysters are, from left: Jim Pepper Henry, Debbie Lindsey, Bob Lane, Alex Baird, Gaby Espino and Jonna Kirschner.
Oyster afficionados form committee By Rose Lane Editor Oysters are their world — at least on Wednesdays when members of the Committee on the Consumption of Oysters meets at La Baguette Bistro.
The committee was founded by Chairman Jonna Kirschner, Nick Barton, Jim Pepper Henry and Debbie Lindsey. The founders discovered that oysters were half-price at La Baguette and it grew from there with social media invitations of
OKC FRIDAY: Fabulous at 50
Mayor gets ‘short’ end of deal By Bruce Stone Retired City Manager The Village One of the most memorable stories that appeared in OKC FRIDAY during my almost 38 years as city manager of The Village was published in the 90s when Dave Barton was serving one of his many terms as mayor of The Village. To be honest, I don’t even remember what the story was about, but Gordon Walker, who was at the time managing
editor of the paper, needed a photo of the mayor for the article. So, Gordon called the mayor to arrange a photo shoot. Unfortunately, the mayor was in the backyard doing yard work and was wearing a dirty t-shirt and shorts and, obviously, wasn’t properly dressed for the occasion. Gordon assured the mayor that he could simply put on a coat and that they would crop See 50, Page 5
FRIDAY’s Dog of the Week Tina (Princess Christina). She is 4years-old and is a "Chorkie" (Yorkshire Terrier and Chihuahua). She looks like she's got a cigar but that's one of her chewies! Her family is Linda and Joe Piro. Email Dog of the Week, Baby of the Week and Cat of the Week submissions to rose@okcfriday.com.