I would prefer we get the fairgrounds space needle replaced or back in shape for regular use (not just during the fair). I'd prefer the views of downtown from there rather than from within downtown. I mean, the space needle in Seattle is not downtown, so...

Some kind of observation tower would be fine. I don't think it would have the same impact on our city as the Space Needle did for Seattle, or that the Gateway Arch did for St. Louis. Those cities had already "arrived" and had a strong national reputation. The monuments were just the icing on the cake. You could build a 1000 foot cowboy statue in Lubbock and it's still just Lubbock.

Personally I think a giant oil derrick would look incredibly cheesy. Want to make people laugh at us? That's a great way to do it.

I think there are a lot of other things that would give us much better return on our investment dollar than a big cheesy monument.

Gah, can we all just admit the Steve screwed up when he made this remark & that little to nothing is actually going to come from this? If something was really this large we would've got wind from it by now. He obviously got caught up in the momentum of OKC development & got way too far ahead of himself.

I would prefer we get the fairgrounds space needle replaced or back in shape for regular use (not just during the fair). I'd prefer the views of downtown from there rather than from within downtown. I mean, the space needle in Seattle is not downtown, so...
Actually, it's about 1.25 miles away from the skyscrapers. I took an overhead monorail there this past summer. Also, there are lots of 4 to 5 floor housing units being built from the Space needle to the fringe of the taller buildings. Just a fyi....

[/B]
Actually, it's about 1.25 miles away from the skyscrapers. I took an overhead monorail there this past summer. Also, there are lots of 4 to 5 floor housing units being built from the Space needle to the fringe of the taller buildings. Just a fyi....

Oh I know. I've been there. And I've walked it, as well as taking the monorail.

Gah, can we all just admit the Steve screwed up when he made this remark & that little to nothing is actually going to come from this? If something was really this large we would've got wind from it by now. He obviously got caught up in the momentum of OKC development & got way too far ahead of himself.

Well, I think there's something out there. I think people are taking the "jealous" comment too seriously. But I think there's some proposal that is probably really impressive, and it's taking a while to get everything ready, especially with lower oil prices.

Gah, can we all just admit the Steve screwed up when he made this remark & that little to nothing is actually going to come from this? If something was really this large we would've got wind from it by now. He obviously got caught up in the momentum of OKC development & got way too far ahead of himself.

It's possible, but something definitely is/was planned. With lower oil prices it may be in jeopardy but something very impressive was more than likely being tracked or Steve wouldn't have said it. I agree with hoyasooner that people are taking the "jealous" comment to seriously. I think a better way to put it is it would be something people living in Dallas or Kansas City would be impressed by.

I think a respected developer told Steve about his grandiose plans that the developer never really started putting together or really took seriously himself. Steve probably took it as fact based on his past record & since then he's come to terms that this was just a pie in the sky dream by said developer. He has back tracked more and more on the topic & it is now at the point that he has even admitted it may not happen. He's probably so embarrassed by it that it will almost assuredly go to the grave with him.

Over the last 3-5 years what has been unveiled that OKCtalk didn't at least catch glimpses of? NOTHING. Pete or somebody else here would've heard something by now if there was even a snippet of a chance of whatever this project was supposed to be was actually going to happen.

Maybe ODOT is planning on building some new highway made out of asphalt instead of cement. That way they get the job of going back every so often or should I say (often) to patch and repair. Perhaps it can be a new Turnpike that is supposed to pay for itself but never does. OK Turnpike Authority is a racket and from I hear isn't even owned by the state but privately by someone out of state. We are going on 60 plus years of it making billions yet it's always constant patch and repair. How is that legal by the way or what ODOT does and the way they do things? Maybe that is what Dallas and KC is jealous of, more apsphalt roads and turnpikes.

Over the last 3-5 years what has been unveiled that OKCtalk didn't at least catch glimpses of? NOTHING. Pete or somebody else here would've heard something by now if there was even a snippet of a chance of whatever this project was supposed to be was actually going to happen.

There are people on this board who know what Steve was referring to, but they, like Steve, are not going to irresponsibly share that information at this time.

There are people on this board who know what Steve was referring to, but they, like Steve, are not going to irresponsibly share that information at this time.

Spill the beans.

I think a respected developer told Steve about his grandiose plans that the developer never really started putting together or really took seriously himself. Steve probably took it as fact based on his past record & since then he's come to terms that this was just a pie in the sky dream by said developer. He has back tracked more and more on the topic & it is now at the point that he has even admitted it may not happen. He's probably so embarrassed by it that it will almost assuredly go to the grave with him.


The development hit some snags early on but then it seemed very likely, at least according to Steve, prior to the oil price collapse. Now it is in question.

I think it is a bit of an overstatement to say he is so embarrassed that it will go to the grave with him. If the project really isn't going to happen, all he has to do is say it died and everybody will shut up about it and before you know it, everybody will have forgotten about it. The fact that neither Steve nor others who are in the know have declared it dead, that means its still out there as a potential development.

Maybe ODOT is planning on building some new highway made out of asphalt instead of cement. That way they get the job of going back every so often or should I say (often) to patch and repair. Perhaps it can be a new Turnpike that is supposed to pay for itself but never does. OK Turnpike Authority is a racket and from I hear isn't even owned by the state but privately by someone out of state. We are going on 60 plus years of it making billions yet it's always constant patch and repair. How is that legal by the way or what ODOT does and the way they do things? Maybe that is what Dallas and KC is jealous of, more apsphalt roads and turnpikes.

What ?

Maybe ODOT is planning on building some new highway made out of asphalt instead of cement. That way they get the job of going back every so often or should I say (often) to patch and repair. Perhaps it can be a new Turnpike that is supposed to pay for itself but never does. OK Turnpike Authority is a racket and from I hear isn't even owned by the state but privately by someone out of state. We are going on 60 plus years of it making billions yet it's always constant patch and repair. How is that legal by the way or what ODOT does and the way they do things? Maybe that is what Dallas and KC is jealous of, more apsphalt roads and turnpikes.

Nobody likes what ODOT does, but it keeps right on doing it.

Nobody likes what ODOT does, but it keeps right on doing it.

I was sort of joking earlier and just having some fun. However, I do think that ODOT is corrupt and borderline illegal in how they do things. I honestly don't know how they get away with it. Actually I do, it's protected by the folks down at the Capitol. You know the ones who protect the interests of a select few in the liquor business, the ones who neglect our education system, but put on their priorities to pass "gay conversion' and stuff like that. Keep in mind I am straight and Republican for the most part but these whack jobs are no different than the very far left whack jobs. The only difference is that the people making decisions down there now act all holy and righteous yet are full of sin and then some. They act as if they are the judge and juror and are basically just like the people who Jesus actually despised- "the pharisees".

I hope if only one person who is down on the Capitol reads this post gets the hint and spreads the word the word that even many Republicans are growing very tired of your act and think you have crossed the line in way too many ways. To be bought and paid for by several groups at the expense of us having the stupidest liquor laws in the nation ( and claim it's for our own well being), you are only setting us back when we should be going forward. You are costing us jobs that want re-locate here but refuse to do so because of the extreme views you hold. I am all for doing what is right and sticking to your guns to an extent, but when you get so far to one side that refuse to see your own sins or corruption, than we have a problem. People are starting to notice and talk about it and soon action will be taken. So, this Republican says shame on you to every person who reads this down at the Capitol and ask that you do more to bring jobs and opportunity to this city and state instead of more of the good ol boy system that scratches the back of the people who are paying you. (PS I am not saying that about TIF, Oil Companies, etc.) I know they bring more value and jobs so that was not whatt I'm saying. I am saying that by having 3.2 beer and only liquor stores being able to sell certain things is NOT going to save lives, perhaps just the opposite as they will buy more because of it). This state needs to get in the 21 century when it comes to stuff like this and our roads, etc. Sorry about my little rant. :eek: Maybe this is what Dallas and KC might be jealous of- staying on topic.

Hey, I realize that my last post wasn't exactly on topic and I ranted a little bit. Could someone start a OKC Political thread that talks about things like I just posted. I think the people down on the Capitol do read this forum and I think world needs to spread on our ideas and thoughts and how they in my opinion are hurting this city and state in some ways. I would love to comment and post on a thread such as that. Thanks.

The St. Louis Arch is the gateway to the west.

...

Yeah, I got that, but it's basically a fancy observation deck, just like the Space Needle, just like whatever thing is being proposed here, so no real purpose except a tourist attraction, which our "monument" could also be.

There are people on this board who know what Steve was referring to, but they, like Steve, are not going to irresponsibly share that information at this time. LOL! Put some mustard on that nothingburger while your at it :/

LOL! Put some mustard on that nothingburger while your at it :/

Besides Steve, I think Urbanized knows what it is.....someone put some pressure on him.

When I hear people say crap like this, I just ignore it. In the real estate world, ideas are born and die overnight. One day's magically fantastical idea, is tomorrow's history that never happened.

Until we see something publically announced AND under construction, it's just crap from someone's imagination. Remember, even the Chicago spire ended up as just a hole in the ground...and still is.

When I hear people say crap like this, I just ignore it. In the real estate world, ideas are born and die overnight. One day's magically fantastical idea, is tomorrow's history that never happened.

Until we see something publically announced AND under construction, it's just crap from someone's imagination. Remember, even the Chicago spire ended up as just a hole in the ground...and still is.

Bingo.

If its dead, Steve should say it either in an article or a chat so the entire thing can be put to rest. Until he does that, people are going to keep talking about it and speculating about it.

I don't know, I'm kind of along the same lines of jcoug on this.
There's really only a few possible things that could really make DFW and Kansas City "jealous." Again, we trust in Steve and he's not always one for highly vaulted gossip, he truly isn't. So, whatever it was, probably started out as a verbal proposal with no real footing and was only going to happen if x and/or y occurred within a certain time frame.

I'm assuming x or y did NOT occur within said time frame, thus we are seeing Steve shrink back and take back letter by letter with each passing chat. It was very obvious that he was embarrassed or annoyed by the constant questioning of it, which is why he stated he would never comment on it again until he hears something, either scrapped plans or moving forward altogether.

I'm going to highly recommend people also slowly remove themselves from this for the time being in order to keep your sanity.

I don't have any of the details, so good luck getting them out of me.

I also don't speak for Steve, but I talk WITH him on a very regular basis, and I've also known him for 20 years and trust him implicitly on this. As he has said, the moment it's real he will identify it, and if it it instead dies, the moment it is officially dead he will tell everyone what if WAS going to be.

I don't have time or patience to go back and find his original quote, but I think it was along the lines of "...I'm currently tracking...", and I think that's fair. He didn't promise anything, and it's not a stunt.

I also suspect people are probably putting too much emphasis on the idea that it is a single thing (as in a single building), and probably even the term "jealous." At this point, I take that to mean simply that it is stuff they'd like to have in their towns, but really don't. They might even have the basic stuff, but it's not grouped as elegantly.

Here's an example: Dallas has pretty much any shopping you could want, but do you think Dallasites would be a little bit jealous if they saw KC's Country Club Plaza? They'd be crazy not to be. Highland Park Village is nice, but it's closer to Utica Square than it is to The Plaza. Dallas gets pretty much every live show, but do you think they are jealous of Austin's music scene? Of 6th Street? Of course they are.

Dallas and KC (and Austin, for that matter) should ALL be jealous of The Pearl in San Antonio, but it barely even registers on this forum. If you've been there you'll know what I'm talking about.

My point is only that this could be a GROUP of things. And that it doesn't have to be a supertall skyscraper or a football stadium to be the envy of other, bigger cities.

The Devon Tower was initially planned for 925 feet - 54 stories before the development was downsized -4s to 844 feet. Dallas Bank of America Plaza stands 921 feet.

There were some posters on a site (see link below) that didn't believe the Devon Tower would be constructed; just imagine a skyscraper in OKC taller than any structure in Dallas? One poster called OKC a suburb of Dallas (LOL).

OKC Devon Energy Tower (925 ft, 54 st) (http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php/8153-OKC-Devon-Energy-Tower-(925-ft-54-st)?)

Optimism is high that we will see some kind of structure (building or space tower) constructed comparable to the Devon Tower prior to 2025.
Actually he called OKC as Dallas's Biggest Suburb.

I sadly found myself drawn back to this after my post above...

However, I was just thinking of what could make Dallas AND K.C. jealous, and my answer is Tulsa's Gathering Place currently under construction.
I'm not sure that either Dallas or K.C. have an interactive green space near the scale of A Gathering Place?

Obviously, that's Tulsa, not OKC. But it made me think if it was some mega park or something that maybe OKC was thinking about pursuing?
But, I thought some more, and that wouldn't make sense with the C2S park slated to start in a few years (I think?), which will be large enough and hopefully interactive enough, but I'm still not sure it'll be on the scale of A Gathering Place.

Thoughts?

I've already said that. FYI, from the pictures that I've seen, KC looks like a cool city, but it is not on my list of cities to visit anytime soon.

I think the park in Tulsa will be awesome for what it is. It can not compete with the Central Park in OKC because the parks are two different animals and have nothing in common with each except that they are parks. They are in two different environments and will draw two different kinds of crowds. The majority in Tulsa will likely drive to the park as a destination and the park in OKC will likely be utilized as a part of the existing community and another draw point for people that are already there for something else. Also, the Tulsa park is in a more secluded and natural area vs. the OKC park that is going to be surrounded by mid or high-rises.

Dallas also has the Trinity River Trails and Park that is a huge corridor project. I really never go there nor do I keep up with it, so I'm not sure of the current status, but here are some renderings and images.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/337/jpionthetrinitybirdseyezp7.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/9djpionthetrinitybirdseyezp7j)

http://www.trinityrivercorridor.com/assets/images/map-trinity-river-corridor-project.jpg

http://www.trinityrivercorridor.com/assets/images/margaret-mcdermott-bridge-rendering.jpg

Trinty River Corridor Project (http://www.trinityrivercorridor.org/)

While someone from Dallas might look at Tulsa's park and think "wow, that's neat," I highly doubt it will make anyone jealous or envious. When I think of something like that, I think of something like Disney World or perhaps a space port. Something huge. Dallas has been starved for a skyscraper lately, so I would think the Devon Tower made a few who keep up with development a little envious. If we got something like what was posted earlier over the river that people on here moaned about being too big, that would really raise some eyebrows - for better or worse. I thought it was really cool. Another supertall here would surely make Dallas jealous.

I guess for me, it comes down to what Dallas doesn't have and I mean the city. Saying Dallas will be jealous because of a soccer field being built in downtown OKC is laughable. If Dallas wants their soccer stadium downtown, they'll build a soccer stadium downtown.

Dallas doesn't have a top rate amusement park. Let's get real here, Six Flags is cool, but you can do park in 3-4 hours and it doesn't give the WOW factor that you get from Disney, Universal Studios, or Cedar Point in Ohio. If OKC got a world class amusement park like Universal, Disney, or something like Cedar Point(https://www.cedarpoint.com/), that would surely make Dallas jealous. BUT, Steve said this was going to be in Bricktown, so that pretty much throws it out.

Sea World. Dallas does have a Sea World. I think, however, our climate rules out any possibility on that.

Space Port, Dallas doesn't have one of those. But again, we're talking about Bricktown. No Spaceport for Bricktown. Maybe a space elevator. ;)

Dallas already has a good aquarium, so unless we get something like the one in Atlanta, I doubt they will care much.

I would think the AICC would draw from Dallas, but that is not something they will be jealous about. Perhaps a major art museum, but Dallas is not lacking in Fine Arts.

OKC has a great zoo. The Dallas Zoo sucks. Fort Worth is garbage. Their zoo has extremely and arguable enclosed structures that are so small it can be called abuse. I am not allowed back into that zoo because of some comments I made to their staff about the animal enclosures. They apparently didn't like that and things got heated. F#ck that place. Anyways, I know people who will drive down Dallas to come see our zoo, which I love. So that might be something, but again, it's not like they are envious over or mad that it isn't in Dallas. Also, with the way people's morals are going, I question how much longer zoos will be socially accepted.

I honestly don't know what else it could be except for some development like an urban lifestyle/mixed-use complex.

You want to make Dallas jealous? Something like this would have to be built

http://maxcdn.thedesigninspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Fake-Hills-01.jpg

http://stantonhochblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/south.png

http://www.gianttowers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/tallest-building-india-176x300.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1337114264-ctf-tj-elev-southeast.jpg

Otherwise, it's just something else that is cool, but won't make people leave thinking "wow, wish I had that here.

Ah, apologies. I did not know anyone else had brought that point up. I'm guilty of not going through every single page and reading every single letter, promise I wasn't plagiarizing.

However, your summary above is something right on... I literally cannot think of anything else. Unless....
The last thing I can think of is that is something to do with the Oklahoma River... Water. Dallas, K.C., and OKC all lack an ocean or major lake (they have rivers...) right near it. Perhaps this development was going to be something along/on/in the river that would be unique to this entire region?

The Soccer stadium had something to chew on, but the more I thought about that, DFW has all major sports franchises and K.C. has a few of them... Do we really think they'd be jealous of a Soccer stadium built downtown?

No problem. The Gathering Place is a great park and something a lot of cities don't have. I've been to a lot of parks around Dallas, but never one as impressive as it looks like the Gathering Place will be. Tulsa is extremely lucky to have a great guy like George Kaiser.

I do wish OKC could get someone like him.

Steve was asked about this again today in his weekly chat.



‎11‎:‎44‎:‎42‎ ‎AM
John

Was the thing that was going to make KC and Dallas jealous an MLS-level stadium in Bricktown/central OKC?

‎11‎:‎45‎:‎15‎ ‎AM
Steve Lackmeyer

No. And the project is not dead. It's going very, very, very slowly.... virtually at a standstill right now. But it's not dead.

Can anyone tell me what it means when a project is at a standstill? Does that mean the developers and whoever else is involved with the project just completely stepped away for a minute to take a break or what?

I mean, I get that things aren't moving, but what is really happening?

Can anyone tell me what it means when a project is at a standstill? Does that mean the developers and whoever else is involved with the project just completely stepped away for a minute to take a break or what?

I mean, I get that things aren't moving, but what is really happening?

plupan. surely you aren't expecting an answer to that question. It's really not even worth asking at this point.

Wouldn't say so.

‎11‎:‎45‎:‎15‎ ‎AM

Steve Lackmeyer

No. And the project is not dead. It's going very, very, very slowly.... virtually at a standstill right now. But it's not dead.

Too many 'verys' for me to comprehend; sounds like something comatose--on life support.

Steve was asked about this again today in his weekly chat.

I knew it had a large flair of wishful thinking on my part ;).

Well, I hope that we will get a nice place for soccer somewhere at some point (still think that it could be a good project for lower Bricktown).

Can anyone tell me what it means when a project is at a standstill? Does that mean the developers and whoever else is involved with the project just completely stepped away for a minute to take a break or what?

I mean, I get that things aren't moving, but what is really happening?

generally speaking in my limited experience it means the financing isn't there.

We can only dream

skyTran | High-Speed, Low-Cost, Green, Elevated, Personal Rapid Transit (http://www.skytran.us/)

generally speaking in my limited experience it means the financing isn't there.so when hey say it stalled then, does that mean they are now pursuing other financing options or simply just waiting until things change(market, business climate etc.) to resume?

so when hey say it stalled then, does that mean they are now pursuing other financing options or simply just waiting until things change(market, business climate etc.) to resume?

To put it lightly, probably a shortage of funds; looking for investors... To be frank, they're BROKE!

You know this first hand? Or are we making stuff up as we go along to fill the vacuum, as usual?

Generally right now, there are lots of investors on the equity side, but still some difficulty with new concepts approval on the debt side. Sometimes it takes awhile to get everyone on the same page and to be comfortable with the risk. I would GUESS that the slow movement may have more to do with the demand side and the oil economy slowdown than availability of investors. They may have to verify demand is still there.

But this IS a GUESS....like this whole thread.

Wow. I got liked by both Urbanized AND PluPan. I think I will quit posting for the day as I can't top that. Must have been my stay at the Holiday Inn Express last night.
:)

I appreciate the well informed response as it seems you know what you're talking about. I'm a noob when it comes to how these things really work, so I just wanted to get some input. I get that unless you're involved directly with whatever it is that they're planning, you can't really say for sure.

Don't like it. Really gaudy. It needs to serve a purpose, and it doesn't.

Thank you for the comment. I would agree that my design is gaudy. I'm not an artist. I spent hours over the summer learning the basics of Google Sketchup, and that was one of about 6 designs for the concept, and is probably the "best" one. I've forgotten everything since then and couldn't recreate it if I tried, and have little motive with work and grad school to spend more time on it. It should be shorter. I can't manipulate the curves in sketchup very well to make it "tighter" and more elegant, more spiral-y. I hesitated to post it because of this, as I feared the execution would damn the idea. Someone who is creative could probably take the concept and execute it better and persuade skeptics.

As for purpose, I hoped that I stated it clearly in the original post--a functional walkable platform from one marque destination near downtown (Bricktown/Boathouse District) to another (the need-to-be-completed-ASAP American Indian Cultural Center Museum). Instead of visitors having to drive one measely mile from the Boathouse District to the AICCM, they can simply cross diagonally over two impassable gaps, I35 and the Oklahoma River. If any development begins on the southside of the river opposite the boathouse district, then it would also assist in moving people by foot to those future destinations as well.

As for symbolic purpose, it serves a superior purpose then many if not most of these similar types of landmarks. There is no purpose behind the Calgary Tower except it's a Tower in Calgary providing scenic views of the city and the Rockies. I've been to Calgary, it's a nice little tower, but it doesn't have any purpose in and of itself outside of the observation deck. Space Needle, Tower of the Americas, their raison d'etres are meager justifications at best beyond simply having a tall tourist attraction. The Crosstown Tipi can serve these simple "landmark" tourist attraction purposes, while providing the functional purpose as mentioned above with more symbolic purpose(s) then the Calgary Tower or Tower of Americas. Such as:

1) Represents the unity of time in a single structure, in a way relevant to OK and native American history. Take a structure from premodern times (the tipi, representing the past), give a "science fiction" high technology spin on it (the future), and give it a function for people today (the present), to walk across a six lane major highway and river at once. Not to mention an extra observation deck hundreds of feet in the air.
2) Represent the gateway to the Southwest, if not the unofficial real gateway to the West. The mean population center of the United States is pulling each year to the state of Oklahoma, and may be OKC by 2100 if not earlier. We always debate about whether or not OK is in the South, the Midwest, the Southwest, the Central Plains, well we can embrace this crossroads of American culture symbolically in a way few other parts of the US can with a crossroads bridge.
3) Simply represent Oklahoma, Land of the Red People, Native American culture in a way that plays off of American stereotypes of Oklahoma. Create a modern technological marvel out of "do you have electricity in your tipis?!?" meme.
4) All of the above

I'm not really going to criticize your artistic talent. What you posted is about 100x better than I can do. I'm limited to stick figures on a piece of paper. Sometimes I can use MSPaint to put a big blue square on top of an existing picture.

The scale of your project is immense. That thing looks at least 1500 feet high to me. It spans a river and an interstate. It will make the St Louis Arch look tiny. Honestly it reminds me of one of those giant projects that you see in a place like North Korea. The scale is huge, but it's being made that size for the sole purpose of being the biggest XYZ in the world. I can't even begin to calculate how much this thing would cost. For the same price we could probably completely redevelop the Core 2 Shore area.

Please Kill this thread, there is nothing in OKC's future that would make either of those cities jealous. Get real. Whoever started this fantasy should call an immediate cease to this endless/mindless/ baseless speculation

Protip: stop clicking on it.

Please Kill this thread, there is nothing in OKC's future that would make either of those cities jealous. Get real. Whoever started this fantasy should call an immediate cease to this endless/mindless/ baseless speculationi did not start the idea, just the thread. Sorry but I can't kill it even I wanted to. I just wanted to see what people thought of it.

Please Kill this thread, there is nothing in OKC's future that would make either of those cities jealous. Get real. Whoever started this fantasy should call an immediate cease to this endless/mindless/ baseless speculation

As I said in the Big 12 basketball thread, nobody is surprised about how you feel. You regularly bash everything about everything in this part of the country and in Oklahoma and OKC in particular. Is there any possibility for you to actually contribute something positive?

Ijbab, You probably will not believe nor accept this comment, but, there is NO ONE who Loves Oklahoma more than me. Having said that I am a realist and I do not make excuses for the negative aspects of my home State. There is much to love and appreciate about the State and its largest city, but, if anyone really thinks a world class city like Dallas and a City twice the size of OKC would be jealous of some project albeit significant then I think you are kidding yourselves. Can we just get four-five towers built, more residential, a street car, more retail, american indian cultural cente built on and on before we start comparing ourselves to much more established places. My comments on any issue on this forum are usually based on a reality of the issue e.g schools poor, low health numbers etc. but I also try to celebrate the good things that are occuring in OKC. My comments are most often not meant to agitate, however, there are times when agitation may bring about positive change (if leaders read this forum).

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i199/imawingnut/fark_bNd41dJfJokFqj1KS_fR5px-vJY_zps2a1841fb.gif

Ijbab, You probably will not believe nor accept this comment, but, there is NO ONE who Loves Oklahoma more than me. Having said that I am a realist and I do not make excuses for the negative aspects of my home State. There is much to love and appreciate about the State and its largest city, but, if anyone really thinks a world class city like Dallas and a City twice the size of OKC would be jealous of some project albeit significant then I think you are kidding yourselves. Can we just get four-five towers built, more residential, a street car, more retail, american indian cultural cente built on and on before we start comparing ourselves to much more established places. My comments on any issue on this forum are usually based on a reality of the issue e.g schools poor, low health numbers etc. but I also try to celebrate the good things that are occuring in OKC. My comments are most often not meant to agitate, however, there are times when agitation may bring about positive change (if leaders read this forum).

I know it's been said many times before, but I'm going to say it again; don't click on this thread. If it bothers you that much, just ignore it. Act like it doesn't exist. Perhaps you would be happier having discussions in other threads. But to come on here and tell people who are interested in it to stop talking about it is stupid. There's a lot of threads on the forum that I care nothing about. You know how I solve that? I scroll right past and don't click on them. I don't click and then post about how stupid everyone who is posting in the thread is.

I know it's been said many times before, but I'm going to say it again; don't click on this thread. If it bothers you that much, just ignore it. Act like it doesn't exist. Perhaps you would be happier having discussions in other threads. But to come on here and tell people who are interested in it to stop talking about it is stupid. There's a lot of threads on the forum that I care nothing about. You know how I solve that? I scroll right past and don't click on them. I don't click and then post about how stupid everyone who is posting in the thread is.


Thanks

Ijbab, You probably will not believe nor accept this comment, but, there is NO ONE who Loves Oklahoma more than me. Having said that I am a realist and I do not make excuses for the negative aspects of my home State. There is much to love and appreciate about the State and its largest city, but, if anyone really thinks a world class city like Dallas and a City twice the size of OKC would be jealous of some project albeit significant then I think you are kidding yourselves. Can we just get four-five towers built, more residential, a street car, more retail, american indian cultural cente built on and on before we start comparing ourselves to much more established places. My comments on any issue on this forum are usually based on a reality of the issue e.g schools poor, low health numbers etc. but I also try to celebrate the good things that are occuring in OKC. My comments are most often not meant to agitate, however, there are times when agitation may bring about positive change (if leaders read this forum).
That's all well and good as long as all of your comments don't agitate. And that seems to be mostly the case. It's quite common and acceptable here to give negative comments about most things but those who only give negative comments are not that well received.

There is some truth to dcsooner's statement above! I am a native OKC born, raised, went to school and college in Oklahoma. I still ties with family and old friends so I am not an outsider. Moved to Florida for 5 years and then moved to Dallas (Plano) almost 12 years. I have been away from OKC for a while I do want OKC to grow, prosper and become a much more dynamic city and live up to it's true potential. However, Dallas will "never" be jealous of OKC. Dallas is many light years ahead of OKC. That is the plain simple truth.

Once again, I think "jealous" was the wrong word for Steve to use for whatever this project is/was. "Impressed by" would have probably been better. While I agree Dallas will NEVER be jealous of OKC, there is no saying there couldn't be a development here that would be impressive to a Dallasite.

There is some truth to dcsooner's statement above! I am a native OKC born, raised, went to school and college in Oklahoma. I still ties with family and old friends so I am not an outsider. Moved to Florida for 5 years and then moved to Dallas (Plano) almost 12 years. I have been away from OKC for a while I do want OKC to grow, prosper and become a much more dynamic city and live up to it's true potential. However, Dallas will "never" be jealous of OKC. Dallas is many light years ahead of OKC. That is the plain simple truth.

I think that's why there's so much speculation on here abou it. I think many of us don't believe that there's any development that could make these two metros jealous. I think bchris is correct, "impressed by" might've been a better choice of words. But Steve is a professional writer and he chose the wording he chose. It's not like it was some athlete speaking without thinking or someone who isn't good at writing. Steve's job is working with words so that's why so many of us are confounded by the words he chose.

Even though whatever the jealous topic might be hasn't been revealed, that new white water rapids course is plenty for Dallas or KC to be jealous of. Not by everyone from those metros but by quite a few I would imagine. You will find a lot of folks making day trips from Big D just to play in the water.

I don't think people are going to be leaving with the envy of not having a white water rapids course, but that's just me. It's something that's a cool asset for the city to have, but not something they would be jealous of.

I don't think people are going to be leaving with the envy of not having a white water rapids course, but that's just me. It's something that's a cool asset for the city to have, but not something they would be jealous of.

I think people are going to be totally surprised how big of a regional draw these rapids will be. We should know within a year or two.