After years of advocacy, planning and frustrating delays, a hotly anticipated multicultural outdoor plaza in Oklahoma City’s Historic Capitol Hill District is finally expected to break ground in mid-January.
Plaza Calle Dos Cinco, set to be built between SW 24 and SW 25 on Harvey Avenue, will feature vibrant designs reflecting the neighborhood’s Hispanic community. A celebratory ceremony kicking off official construction of the plaza is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 15 inside We the People Consulting, a Native female-owned firm located in the repurposed former bank building at 228 SW 25 in Oklahoma City.
Inspired by traditional gathering spaces throughout Latin American countries, the plaza will be surrounded by the historic church, Templo De Alabanza, and local businesses that have given SW 25 its distinctly Hispanic culture in recent decades. Design plans for the plaza include colorful art, Talavera tiles, an arched entry, gazebo stage, decorative lighting and trees, seating and other amenities honoring the history of the area.
“The plaza is our family, friends and neighbor’s gathering spot,” Gloria Torres, executive director of Calle Dos Cinco in Historic Capitol Hill, said in a statement. “Whether from a Latin country or just the other side of town, the plaza will make you feel welcomed and at home.”
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Who will be at the groundbreaking ceremony? What is the schedule?
Groundbreaking schedule
Along with Torres, the groundbreaking Thursday is set to feature a 30-minute lineup of speakers, including:
- Shannon Entz, the program manager for the city’s Strong Neighborhoods Initiative.
- Kendra Wilson-Clements, founder and CEO of We the People Consulting.
- Oklahoma City Council members JoBeth Hamon (representing Ward 6) and Todd Stone (representing Ward 4).
- Miriam Campos, vice president and head of community impact for BancFirst.
- Randy Quiroga-King, publisher of El Nacional, a Spanish-language media company operating in OKC since 1988.
- Melinda McMillan-Miller, the city’s Parks and Recreation director.
Wilson-Clements, a community advocate and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, said she jumped at the opportunity when asked to host the groundbreaking ceremony and to provide the event’s ancestral honoring.
The moment will function similar to a land acknowledgement, a statement recognizing the Indigenous people who originally inhabited the land where the event is taking place. In this case, however, the ancestral honoring is specific for an Indigenous person to deliver.
“This building that we sit on is the original homelands of the Wichita and Caddo people, and so I’ll be providing some history about those tribes,” Wilson-Clements said. “And we know that this area, this district, this river and these waterways were ancient trade zones, as well, and so we’re always wanting to honor those people who were here before — nomadic tribes that may have not called this home but were passing through, going to South America. We refer to our South American friends as our relatives from the South, which also makes this district so special.”
More:Historic Capitol Hill in southwest OKC could soon see a renaissance. What turned the tide?
How long has the plaza been in the works?
The $3 million construction of the plaza is being funded through combined federal allocations to the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. Entz, expected to emcee the ceremony, said the new plaza also represents the community’s longstanding work with the city’s Commercial District Revitalization Program to improve the neighborhood.
“I have a lot of deep love for this community because of the people that I’ve met and gotten to know, and they have such passion for their own Hispanic community but also for Oklahoma City, and for it to be better for all of their neighbors and friends and families,” Entz said. “It really resonates with me, and it is an absolute honor of my career to help bring this to fruition with them.”
Entz emphasized that the project would not have been possible without the determined, behind-the-scenes collaboration of many community organizers, neighborhood leaders and local property owners and businesspeople over the past two decades. They were all united, she said, in their shared understanding of “the greater value of a public space like this” to the southside community.
“They have been working with city staff all along the way, and they have created this and manifested this, because this is at least 20 years in the making,” Entz said. “They have tried in several different ways and with very little money over the years to make this happen, and they just couldn’t find the right funds and the right location. But I think this now is the right time and the right location.”
When will the plaza be completed and open?
The plaza, expected to be completed by August, also would open in time for the 20th annual Fiestas de las Americas, the largest Latino festival in Oklahoma City. The Capitol Hill Business Improvement District will manage the new plaza.
Construction of a short trail spur connecting the new plaza to Wiley Post Park also will begin at the same time. The $400,000 trail is meant to better link the park with neighborhoods, improving access to the park’s amenities.
