Parks Commission agrees less is more

By Mike W. Ray Staff Writer

Less is more, members of the newly created Nichols Hills Visual Arts Commission were advised by the City Council.

The three-member commission will make recommendations to the council on “art objects and artifacts” suitable for display in municipal buildings and in 60-acre Grand Boulevard Park along with the city’s 31 other, smaller parks. The council is the final arbiter on selections.

Members of the Visual Arts Commission (VAC) are Leigh Ann Albers, Steve Knox and Melissa Scaramucci; each represents one of the city’s wards. Mayor Sody Clements chose Ms. Scaramucci to chair the VAC. “A few pieces wellplaced can be plenty in our community,” Councilman Peter Hoffman told the commission members. “This is total quality, not quantity.”

Councilman Steve Goetzinger concurred. For example, “We don’t want to turn Grand Boulevard Park into a cracker-barrel park,” he said. “Whatever we do here, be judicious and consistent and make sure the scale is right.

“I am one of Cracker Barrel’s greatest patrons,” Goetzinger said afterward. “But I don’t want to adopt Cracker Barrel’s decorating methods, which are designed to resemble a crowded, old-fashioned general store. It’s my hope that we will be very judicious about the See PARKS, Page 5

(John Marshall High School, posthumous), Florence JonesKemp (Douglass High School) and Ray and Pat Potts (Unsung Heroes).

The 2023 honorees are to be inducted into the Wall of Fame on Oct. 30 at the 39th annual Wall of Fame Humanitarian Awards event.

For nearly four decades, the OKCPS Foundation’s Wall of Fame has celebrated the long, rich history of Oklahoma City