That and the fact that the Texas Turkish Chamber is heading up efforts to relocate Turkish business into OKLAHOMA, Texas, and New Mexico.

I see that OKC does have a Turkish House, hopefully it can develop into a chapter and/or affiliate of the Texas Turkish chamber so that we can welcome the business leaders and investors with open arms and perhaps create a true Turkish enclave. I think perhaps Dallas and Houston may not have the room (too overgrown with other immigrants, not cost effective), New Mexico likely not mature enough to support Int'l Investment; so that leaves Austin and Oklahoma City - to which OKC has an advantage in cost and a market willing to try International products/offerings.

Kudos to the Journal for writing about this wonderful potential opportunity - I hope the 10's of Apartment conversions do happen and that the city can host the businessmen and their families, which lead to more businesses (say a few Turkish restaurants and shoppes) and perhaps a little enclave (just like happened with the Vietnamese and the Mexicans in OKC).

Cheers!

While OKC's renaissance has been amazing, this is a good reminder of the challenges the state faces: https://medium.com/@MadiLAlexander/what-is-the-oklahoma-renaissance-9c3d811d4c6c#.bv23b07uy

I actually think most people are aware of the ridiculousness of what's happening at the state level and OKC's renaissance provides a reason, some reason, to keep believing in Oklahoma. It's not easy sometimes with such incompetent lawmakers.

I think she brings up some interesting points; we have come a long way, and generally, are heading in the right direction towards quality of life issues, at the same time though, our education system and the lack of pay for our teachers is embarrassing, to say the least. And these deep cuts to Medicaid are unethical and disgusting, imo.

One less reason to stay in Oklahoma... That list is becoming longer as the months pass.

Oklahoma has continued to put education on the back burner while surrounding states in our region have kept up with the times.

Just don't know what it is going to take to get us on the level to where we should be.

Damn the stigma of being the state with the highest sales tax--so what? That's what we get for taking our eye off the sparrow. Once the lottery passed; we apparently didn't keep increasing the education budget. It's as though we thought that the revenue from that source would maintain the costs of keeping up with rising expenditures associated with education.

Now, we need to pass that penny sales tax initiated by OU President Boren.

We don't have the revenue streams available to allow us to completely do away with the state income tax at this present time--put that on hold.

Know that many of you feel that it could have a negative affect on OKC's MAPS & Tulsa's Vision 2025 momentum when these projects come up for renewal.

One less reason to stay in Oklahoma... That list is becoming longer as the months pass.

What exactly does this comment add to the conversation? If you feel that strongly about it, move somewhere else or try to be part of the solution. This is the kind of comment is completely useless.

Once the lottery passed; we apparently didn't keep increasing the education budget.

The thing about the lottery... it didn't end up being the education bonanza we were sold. It's like a single digit percent of our education spending.

Aubrey McClendon is on the cover of this week's Businessweek, and this story accompanies the cover story.

The Shale Reckoning Comes to Oklahoma - Bloomberg Business (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/the-shale-reckoning-comes-to-oklahoma)

Oklahoma has continued to put education on the back burner while surrounding states in our region have kept up with the times.

Just don't know what it is going to take to get us on the level to where we should be.

Damn the stigma of being the state with the highest sales tax--so what? That's what we get for taking our eye off the sparrow. Once the lottery passed; we apparently didn't keep increasing the education budget. It's as though we thought that the revenue from that source would maintain the costs of keeping up with rising expenditures associated with education.

Now, we need to pass that penny sales tax initiated by OU President Boren.

We don't have the revenue streams available to allow us to completely do away with the state income tax at this present time--put that on hold.

Know that many of you feel that it could have a negative affect on OKC's MAPS & Tulsa's Vision 2025 momentum when these projects come up for renewal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't killing the income tax and going full funding from sales taxes be completely regressive and but a higher percentage of the funding burden on our lower-income citizens? Assuming that is the case, I would not be in favor of this at all - we should be raising income tax or other such taxes to fund our education. Other than that, though, I completely agree - the lack of attention to and funding for our state's education system is crippling us as a state.

Instead of relying on sales tax, they need to kill the income tax and raise property taxes, imo.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't killing the income tax and going full funding from sales taxes be completely regressive and but a higher percentage of the funding burden on our lower-income citizens? Assuming that is the case, I would not be in favor of this at all - we should be raising income tax or other such taxes to fund our education. Other than that, though, I completely agree - the lack of attention to and funding for our state's education system is crippling us as a state.

This is often the primary argument used against a fair tax or flat tax.
To answer your question, it perhaps would be to an extent, but generally speaking when people are in dire situations, they only buy what is necessary (I assume there were a few folks who chuckled a bit there). I don't think it'll be detrimentally regressive to an extent where people's lives are completely changed in a 180.
So, as I think I've used in another example - poor people won't be buying $1,000,000 yachts, thus they won't be feeling the effects of a 14% sales tax on something like that ($140,000).

A poor example, a fair one, I don't know but that is one way I look at it.


Instead of relying on sales tax, they need to kill the income tax and raise property taxes, imo.

At this point I'd be for a proposal like this. Property taxes would then rely on what we decide to voluntarily purchase as a dwelling, instead of having our incomes forcefully taken for the same effect.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't killing the income tax and going full funding from sales taxes be completely regressive and but a higher percentage of the funding burden on our lower-income citizens? Assuming that is the case, I would not be in favor of this at all - we should be raising income tax or other such taxes to fund our education. Other than that, though, I completely agree - the lack of attention to and funding for our state's education system is crippling us as a state.

This is often the primary argument used against a fair tax or flat tax.
To answer your question, it perhaps would be to an extent, but generally speaking when people are in dire situations, they only buy what is necessary (I assume there were a few folks who chuckled a bit there). I don't think it'll be detrimentally regressive to an extent where people's lives are completely changed in a 180, though. But, I have to admit this is something I'm not as well versed in as I'd like to be.
So, as I think I've used in another example - poor people won't be buying $1,000,000 yachts, thus they won't be feeling the effects of a 14% sales tax on something like that ($140,000).

A poor example, a fair one, I don't know but that is one way I look at it.


Instead of relying on sales tax, they need to kill the income tax and raise property taxes, imo.

At this point I'd be for a proposal like this. Property taxes would then rely on what we decide to voluntarily purchase as a dwelling, instead of having our incomes forcefully taken for the same effect.

While OKC's renaissance has been amazing, this is a good reminder of the challenges the state faces: https://medium.com/@MadiLAlexander/what-is-the-oklahoma-renaissance-9c3d811d4c6c#.bv23b07uy

I actually think most people are aware of the ridiculousness of what's happening at the state level and OKC's renaissance provides a reason, some reason, to keep believing in Oklahoma. It's not easy sometimes with such incompetent lawmakers.

meh...It's a college student writing on a blog who's being contrary for the sake of being contrary. She's basically saying, "Hold on OKC. Don't feel too good about yourself."

Does OKC have things it could work on and do better? Sure. Every city does. But that doesn't mean that we need to take away from the other things that we've done right or should feel good about.

This girl is a child. She has no frame of reference. She didn't live through the razing of buildings in the name of the Pei plan, she didn't live through the oil bust and the bank failures, she didn't live through United Airlines and other companies passing over OKC, and she may have only barely been alive when the Murrah bombing happened. And that happened just as we were getting the wheels moving on MAPS. We didn't even have any momentum yet. I recall after the Murrah building bombing that there was a contingent that said we should take the MAPS money and put it toward a bombing memorial or toward the families directly affected by the bombing because many were still not believers that MAPS would amount to anything. They'd been burned by OKC pie-in-the-sky too many times before. And I'm sure that many feel the same way as I do when I say I never dreamed that we would have a major professional sports team in OKC.

I'm not saying we should be okay with things if it meets the criteria of 'better than OKC in the '80s.' That's a low bar to set. Let's keep striving for better. Lets improve education in the state and fix our budget shortfall etc. But let's not forget to look where we came from compared to now. We've hit critical mass where the city government isn't the only one investing in the city. We've got an incredible amount of corporate investors in the city, people starting businesses, building hotels, downtown living, GE putting a major research facility here, investment from companies like Boeing as they move more jobs here.

OKC should be very pleased with what it's done up to this point. Are we finished? Have we arrived at our destination? Nope. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be pleased with what we've accomplished.

I think a person would have had to have been here in the 1980s and early 1990s to truly appreciate how far OKC has come since then. A lot of people currently in college or in their early twenties have no memory of the pre-MAPS years. I remember it in the mid and late 1990s as well as the early 2000s, but me nor my family ever went downtown back then. One part of the '80s story not commonly talked about is that the city as a whole wasn't failing at that time. NW Expressway was booming as was Edmond. That was also the golden age of the Putnam City school district. Downtown however was nearly completely decimated and depopulated. All I remember about the urban core of OKC is it had a reputation as being a place that nobody went. When the RedHawks ballpark opened and then the Bricktown canal, there was actually a reason to go downtown.

OKC should celebrate how far it has come since the early 1990s, but also keep it in perspective. Nearly every city in the country has embraced urban revitalization and gentrification in the years since 1990.

Living in Oklahoma City, OK | U.S. News & World Report (http://realestate.usnews.com/places/oklahoma/oklahoma-city)

Living in Oklahoma City, OK | U.S. News & World Report (http://realestate.usnews.com/places/oklahoma/oklahoma-city)

coming in at #4…Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Those rankings are about as suspect as they can be.

#4 Fayetteville, Arkansas

I can see them on the list. The region has changed and is changing and is a college town in the middle of a bunch of economic activity.

Not sure where exactly to put this, but I thought was the best place. Admin, feel free to move it:

Worth the trip: Turkish businessmen seek opportunities in Oklahoma City

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record March 8, 2016

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City is a 19-hour flight from Turkey. But more than 40 Turkish businessmen thought it was worth the trip to see investment opportunities here.

“I wanted to see the different commercial real estate opportunities,” said Emih Temiz, who came on the trip organized by the American Turkic Business Council. “It’s definitely something further we should look at.”

Temiz has a retail center in Houston and is building two new single-family homes in Austin.

“Houston has big exposure to oil market,” Temiz said. “I wanted (an economy that’s) a little more stable.”

Temiz and the other businessmen have a combined $200 million to invest, and had to have at least $500,000 in investment money to come on the trip. The men started their journey in Houston, then spent two days in Oklahoma City, and are also stopping in Dallas and New York.

“We didn’t want to have uninterested parties,” said Ersin Demirci, vice president of aerospace and energy for the American Turkic Business Council.

While in Oklahoma City, they learned about investment opportunities in commercial real estate, All About Chai coffee and tea restaurant, and manufacturing businesses. They also attended a reception at the Governor’s Mansion, where Oklahoma City Thunder basketball player Enes Kanter visited. Kanter’s father is from Turkey, and Enes Kanter played youth basketball in the country.

Clearwater Enterprises President Tony Say is also a Turkey native. He is hosting a private reception Wednesday.

This is the Turkic Business Council’s first year to host such an event, but the plan is to make it an annual occurrence, said Kadir Akkus, executive director of the Raindrop Foundation, which operates the Raindrop Turkish House. Tuesday’s lunch was held at the Turkish House on Classen.

Texas Turkish Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Orhan Osman said the businessmen want to invest in the U.S. because of political issues in Turkey. He said any company that doesn’t support the Turkish government’s wrongdoing is considered an outcast and the government will find reasons to shut down the business.

“We want them to find a safe haven in Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico,” he said.

He said similar trips have proven successful in Texas, with $150 million being invested in a manufacturing company in 2013. In 2014, a Turkish investor put $7 million into a manufacturing company in New Mexico.

He said the Turkish businessmen are not seeking EB-5 visas, though they are interested in E-2 options.

All EB-5 investors must fund new development, which means it’s completed after 1990. In exchange for the investment, the investor and family members are granted conditional permanent residence for two years.

The E-2 option allows a person from a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation to be admitted to the United States when investing a substantial amount of capital.

Burhan Altinbilek with the Texas-based Original Group LLC has invested in 10 apartment complexes in Houston and 10 more complexes in College Station, Texas. The Turkey native has been in the U.S. for seven years.

His company renovates Class C apartments into higher-quality products to get higher lease rates. In Oklahoma City, Altinbilek said he sees prospects to continue his business model.

“Maybe in the future we’ll have 10 (complexes) in Oklahoma City,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities here.”

The bolded parts, I think, are very important.

It would be great to get some Turkish business in OKC and try and get a Turkish Airlines flight set up from here to Houston. Turkish is an amazing airline.

Dallas, Houston, and NY. That's elite company, right there.

Shout out for rivers port Rapids from the Chicago tribune: 5 new attractions promise to deliver big thrills, great views - Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/sc-five-new-attractions-travel-0329-20160324-story.html)

The British Airways i360 looks like a modern and bigger version of our (former) space needle ride at the state fair.

?Worst Walking City? in U.S. Gets Back on its Feet ? Green Transportation ? MOTHER EARTH NEWS (http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-transportation/worst-walking-city-in-us-back-on-its-feet-zbcz1603.aspx)

Informative article about OKC and its effort to improve walkability.

Tulsa Ranked Most Dangerous City in United States | KTUL (http://ktul.com/archive/tulsa-ranked-most-dangerous-city-in-united-states)

Guess I'm happy to let Tulsa be #1 on this list...

Tulsa Ranked Most Dangerous City in United States | KTUL (http://ktul.com/archive/tulsa-ranked-most-dangerous-city-in-united-states)

Guess I'm happy to let Tulsa be #1 on this list...

Story's from 9/2014, might not still be true (OKC was #2 on it, suspect we're #1 and #2 because of OK's high amount of car crashes and lower amount of people w/health insurance)

Well yeah, and these rankings are as much for amusement as anything (since criteria is so subjective).

Defining "dangerous" is subjective at best

The YouTube channel "Dude Perfect" did a world record off the Cotter Ranch Tower for Worlds Highest Basketball Shot
https://youtu.be/gm2_6DX_0Bw
I remember driving by a few weeks ago and wondering why they were throwing basketballs off the building �� Some pretty cool shots though!

The YouTube channel "Dude Perfect" did a world record off the Cotter Ranch Tower for Worlds Highest Basketball Shot
https://youtu.be/gm2_6DX_0Bw
I remember driving by a few weeks ago and wondering why they were throwing basketballs off the building �� Some pretty cool shots though!

Yes!. It was very cool to watch. It took them several tries but they finally made it.

They showed it on ABC News this morning ;-)

Yes!. It was very cool to watch. It took them several tries but they finally made it.

How high did it bounce on misses?

Oklahoma City ranked as one of the best cities for jobs. Check it out.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-18/these-are-the-best-u-s-cities-for-jobs

Oklahoma City ranked as one of the best cities for jobs. Check it out.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-18/these-are-the-best-u-s-cities-for-jobs

That's great. Although OKC is on the bottom of the list for salary, OKC is near the bottom for cost of living.

This is a good list to be on.

We're mixed in with elite company there, imo. Or at least as far as tech cities go, which is rather surprising. All of the cities above us on that list have thriving tech hubs.

We're mixed in with elite company there, imo. Or at least as far as tech cities go, which is rather surprising. All of the cities above us on that list have thriving tech hubs.

As far as the tech sector, I'm not that surprised. We've had a rather thriving tech industry in Oklahoma for the past couple of decades. Working in it, I'm rather comfortable in the mindset that I'll never be unemployed for long. The longest I've been unemployed is about 24 hours. There's just so many job opportunities in Oklahoma. I make less than I'd make in Austin or Dallas, but I feel like there's much less competition for the open positions.

How high did it bounce on misses?

They were bouncing back up around 2-3 floors of the parking garage.

As far as the tech sector, I'm not that surprised. We've had a rather thriving tech industry in Oklahoma for the past couple of decades. Working in it, I'm rather comfortable in the mindset that I'll never be unemployed for long. The longest I've been unemployed is about 24 hours. There's just so many job opportunities in Oklahoma. I make less than I'd make in Austin or Dallas, but I feel like there's much less competition for the open positions.

Interesting, my opinion isn't quite as rosy - I've always had huge competition for jobs (UNIX sys admin/engineer) and so have the other UNIX sys admins/engineers I've known. Been painful for any of us to try to find a job over the past few years. What do you do that is so in demand (I might have to change fields :) )?

Interesting, my opinion isn't quite as rosy - I've always had huge competition for jobs (UNIX sys admin/engineer) and so have the other UNIX sys admins/engineers I've known. Been painful for any of us to try to find a job over the past few years. What do you do that is so in demand (I might have to change fields :) )?

Software engineer. So UI and back end development. PHP, Coldfusion, C++, Java, MySQL, etc. I do agree that web development jobs seem to be easier to come by than sys admin type positions.

Really good article about Durant, The Thunder, and OKC.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/05/24/kevin-durant-oklahoma-city-thunder-warriors-nba-playoffs

Really good article about Durant, The Thunder, and OKC.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/05/24/kevin-durant-oklahoma-city-thunder-warriors-nba-playoffs

"He now lives in Deep Deuce, just north of Bricktown, and posts up with a beer by the fire pit at Deep Deuce Grill. “You know how in your neighborhood there’s a spot where everybody goes,” Durant says. “That’s our spot. I walk there, and when I open the door, everybody is like, ‘Hey, KD. What up, KD?’ Then they go back to their beer."

That's the most OKC thing I've ever read. A huge positive for the city's image, hope we never lose that.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tornadoes/

I put this in the Thunder thread in the Sports sub forum as well:

Wanted to throw this in here. According to ESPN (who I despise for a variety of reasons - but enough about me), their formulas rank KD as the 6th most popular athlete in the world right now, behind LBJ:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/15685581/espn-world-fame-100

Westy is at 48. These two are the image of OKC to the world.
And another, game 7 was the MOST WATCHED NBA game and PROGRAM EVER on TNT:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2643407-thunder-vs-warriors-game-7-was-nbas-highest-rated-game-ever-on-cable-tv

Just another sign our economy is more diversified than people think: OKC unemployment rate falls, city adds 2100 jobs in April.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-unemployment-declines/article/5501567

^
I agree, and if you are a data nerd like me, the official BLS report is a good read.

http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.ok_oklahomacity_msa.htm

Mining jobs (which is largely O&G in these parts) is still getting hammered, down by over a fifth YoY, but everything else is showing pretty healthy growth.

One thing to also look at is the labor force size, as this would be the first sign that people may be leaving OKC. It fluctuates from month to month based on seasonal factors, so its best to compare year-over-year. As it stands now, labor force size is up about 1.7% from April 2015. Thats about in line with this decade's population growth.

Just another sign our economy is more diversified than people think: OKC unemployment rate falls, city adds 2100 jobs in April.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-unemployment-declines/article/5501567

We boom with oil, but we can still grow albeit very slowly with low prices.

Not OKC, but still worth a share

http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-national-wildlife-refuge/

This has been going around on Twitter.

http://gizmodo.com/only-three-us-cities-have-good-jobs-housing-and-cultu-1781562314

^^ One thing I staunchly believe in is that OKC is not the Midwest. Oddly, Tulsa can be classified as such, but a city that's 2.5 hours away from DFW straight South? Nope.

Anyway, here's another interesting bit I found originally through The Oklahoman's front page:

Where is real America? By Lyman Stone

https://medium.com/migration-issues/where-is-real-america-54a63a381205

Fun read

Not so much about OKC but an interesting article none the less.

It's an Adweek article about Russ and his influence beyond the court: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-russell-westbrook-nba-renaissance-man-redefining-role-spokesman-172221


There was a time when conventional wisdom dictated that to craft this type of star power on and off the court, Westbrook would have to play in New York or L.A.—and yet he's had a hand in creating this new normal in pro sports. "There's really no such thing as a small market," says Westbrook, whose Thunder play in the 43rd media market in the U.S., and third-smallest in the NBA (ahead of Memphis and New Orleans).

Not so much about OKC but an interesting article none the less.

It's an Adweek article about Russ and his influence beyond the court: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-russell-westbrook-nba-renaissance-man-redefining-role-spokesman-172221


There was a time when conventional wisdom dictated that to craft this type of star power on and off the court, Westbrook would have to play in New York or L.A.—and yet he's had a hand in creating this new normal in pro sports. "There's really no such thing as a small market," says Westbrook, whose Thunder play in the 43rd media market in the U.S., and third-smallest in the NBA (ahead of Memphis and New Orleans).

LOVE Westbrook! He is such a superstar and completely represents OKC in a different but ESSENTIAL way than Kevin does. Kevin is straigh, laid back, and reserved (which IS Oklahoma City) but then Russell is flashy, trendy, and modern vibe - which is what OKC strives to become as a big city!

So happy that OKC has both of these world top 5 superstars and I hope we do everything to keep them both; no other city in the NBA has this like OKC. .. Love how they both include Oklahoma City in their endorsement deals; they ARE Oklahoma City!!!!!!



(but IF, IF!!!! we had to pick, I'd say Russell W. is really OKC of the future and puts OKC on the hype map).

LOVE Westbrook! He is such a superstar and completely represents OKC in a different but ESSENTIAL way than Kevin does. Kevin is straigh, laid back, and reserved (which IS Oklahoma City) but then Russell is flashy, trendy, and modern vibe - which is what OKC strives to become as a big city!

So happy that OKC has both of these world top 5 superstars and I hope we do everything to keep them both; no other city in the NBA has this like OKC. .. Love how they both include Oklahoma City in their endorsement deals; they ARE Oklahoma City!!!!!!



(but IF, IF!!!! we had to pick, I'd say Russell W. is really OKC of the future and puts OKC on the hype map).

You said it HotRod; Russell's heart bleeds OKC along with his blood, sweat & tears.

I love the fact, that when Russell came to OKC he showed up with a suitcase, a ball, and his brother.... and No entourage! I agree he is the future of this city and our basketball team, They have to do whatever it takes to keep him here.

exactly, Make DAMN sure Russell goes nowhere come next year; that's priority #0. Kevin Durant, yes, priority #1 and yes should be most paid. But Russell is also a top 5 and should get his due; he's the OKC Thunder while KD is the megastar icing on the cake.

I love having both and hope/expect OKC to do whatever it takes for both of them to retire as an OKC Thunder.

And funny thing is, Steven "the Beast" Adams could be the #3 guy for OKC Thunder and the NBA's #1 Center.

Imagine OKC with three NBA Top-5 players. ... Could be as early as this next season!

Wired reports the 7 best river transformations and destinations and ranks Chicago River at no. 1 and Oklahoma River through OKC at no. 2.

http://www.wired.com/2016/08/7-cities-transforming-rivers-blights-beauties/

I wonder what shopping along the Oklahoma River they are referring to.

I wonder what shopping along the Oklahoma River they are referring to.

Maybe the giant vending machine thing? ;)

Nice if brief write up in Vouge......

http://www.vogue.com/13476259/kansas-city-indianapolis-oklahoma-city-travel-guide-not-flyover/

And, thanks to revitalized urban pockets, the city is experiencing a golden moment.
Nice