Seventh Worst Place to Live?!!!!!

[Karried]

Please tell me I just didn't hear that OKC was the seventh worst place to live, due to high number of inmates and low coverage of health insurance. News this morning..

Boo, hoo - that ruins my day.


At least we're not first.

[Midtowner]

I have health insurance (paid for in full by employer), and do not reside in the prison system, so how do those statistics apply to me?

[Patrick]

One thing to remember....that's only looking at those two issues. What does that really have to do with quality of life and quality of our venues? Obviously, we have so many uninsured people because of the type of low-paying jobs we have here. That's the reason we need to try to attract better jobs to our state.

Also, yes, we do have a high number of inmates...I guess that reflects on our educational system. Educated people have less of a chance of being criminals. We need to spend more money on education and less on the prison system. Fortunately, we have a govenor that's doing just that, and trying to fix allof the loopholes through his zero-based budgeting. So far, it's helping...education is getting more money, and our teachers have gotten quite a few pay raises now.

[El Gato Pollo Loco!!!]

Please tell me I just didn't hear that OKC was the seventh worst place to live, due to high number of inmates and low coverage of health insurance. News this morning..

Boo, hoo - that ruins my day.


At least we're not first.

You didn't just hear that OKC was the seventh worst place to live, due to high number of inmates and low coverage of health insurance.

And seriously as a non-OKCian living in OKC, it's not really that bad.

[Midtowner]

I wish they'd have mentioned our terrific traffic management and our extremely affordable housing, gas, etc...

Nope, the number of inmates in our prison system and the number of uninsured are more important in determining our quality of life...

To me, it seems that this list was created by someone somewhere else with an agenda to make their particular berg look more appealing.

[Decious]

I agree with Midtowner. As far as quality of life goes I find OKC hard to beat. In fact, I don't see it being beatable at all in the next decade and a half. These "statistics" seem biased at best. Also, how does the inmate population impact our quality of life? Unless they give all the inmates a key to their cells and they're free to roam I think we're ok.

[HOT ROD]

I wish they'd have mentioned our terrific traffic management and our extremely affordable housing, gas, etc...

Nope, the number of inmates in our prison system and the number of uninsured are more important in determining our quality of life...

To me, it seems that this list was created by someone somewhere else with an agenda to make their particular berg look more appealing.

I could not agree with you more, Midtowner. Looks like someone's trying to step on (pick on) OKC to improve the image of their city.

[Patrick]

Personally, if those are the only two problems they could find with OKC, we're doing okay. I notice they didn't mentino anything about our natural landscape, or attractions. They must have really been stretching to find something bad on OKC is they're only two findings were inmates and health insurance.

[xrayman]

You might look at my post under MrAnderson's "Bad Report For Oklahoma" thread:
http://www.okctalk.com/t2350-oklahom...ad-report.html
This is a report heavily skewed on a social index scale. I have some thoughts in that thread that I would welcome any responses.

[HOT ROD]

I hate these heavily skewed rankings.

[okcpulse]

I don't put any stock in independent studies that release "rankings" on the most liveable to least liveable states, particularly this report. Why?

First, take a look at the rankings of all fifty states. Almost all the northern states got better rankings that the southern states.

Also, people are worried about business not moving to Oklahoma because of this report. I'm not. Why? Texas, home to dozens of major corporations, ranked 45th, two spots below Oklahoma. In addition, using an aspect such as povery statistics shouldn't relate to a liveability index, and that is something people shouldn't be paying any attention. If using poverty statistics to determine liveability, then you're telling the reader that they will live in poverty if they move to Oklahoma. If you get a decent paying job in Oklahoma (YES THEY DO EXIST HERE, DON'T TELL ME OTHERWISE) then poverty is obviously not going to be a problem. Higher poverty may lead to more crime, but where in this world can you permanently escape crime? I could move to New Hampshire (this year's most liveable state) and wind up getting robbed at gunpoint, simply because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Healthcare, however, is a big issue. So are taxes. However, so is the quality of state and city services, access to entertainment and recreation, quality of education, athletic programs, social organizations and shopping. These are variables that effect us directly. The only way poverty effects the state as a whole is if it becomes a tumor on government funding, which in turn effects taxes we have to pay, or other progras that would have to be cut. But tell me, when was the last time state government had to take drastic measures to keep state assistance programs affoat?

[mom2des_n_nate]

From the people I have talked to good health insurance is really hard to come by.. Luckly through my husband job there is really good insurance for me and my kids I paid 20.00 to deliever my son and I was a complicated pregnacy..

[floater]

Poverty should be used with some care because it's the same standard throughout the country. The poverty line (let's say $18,000 for a family) would go a lot farther in in lower-cost places than higher-cost places.

Look at the sponsor of the list and you'll see where the bias comes from.

OKC needs to do some things to get to a higher level, but to say it's the seventh worst place to live is ridiculous. You guys probably don't believe me, but living in other places has given me an appreciation for what is there and what problems aren't there. I talk about Cleveland a lot in terms of development and entertainment, but it was also rated number one recently in big city poverty, and the leadership is so fractured (think what 21 councilmen, a "council president", a competing county government, and 200+ other municipalities in the region can do to stop you) that only a dramatic crisis can get people to work together to advance the city (although the region is doing much better, ranked 47th in poverty).

Living in NE Arkansas in the Mississippi Delta requires you to drive for miles to find civilization. Anybody want to live (not visit) New Orleans? Gary, IN? Buffalo? Detroit? I have yet to hear the expression "Would the last person in _________ please turn of the lights?" applied to OKC. Because it is growing.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

Just what crackpot surveryor said this now?

[workman45]

I moved to OKC from 'rural' California 2 years ago and was pleasantly suprised at the jump in my descretionary spending. The modest increase in wages wasn't the key, but the affordable cost of living here is. Housing is 60% of what it is there, gas a minimum of 15% cheaper, electricity there is outrageous and the savings continue in almost every catagory of spending. Add in the better health coverage and you quickly begin to see the advantages of OKC, yes the insurance here beats that HMO hands down. Finally you throw in the Arts, Bricktown, Museums, Ford Center and recreation at the lakes, that's just icing on the cake. This is the message we need to send to the nation.

[Nuclear_2525]

here is a good article about OKC's future...if all these things start happening, then I say let everyone think what they want of OKC because we will have something awesome whether they want to believe it or not!

http://newsok.com/article/1441908/?template=home/main

[Karried]

Now that's the kind of news I love to hear! Thanks for sharing....

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

Too be honest... I don't really care what ONE unnamed surveyor says about OKC. Surveyors come a dime a dozen, and most are actually neutral about our fine city, news that our city has shaped up from the armpit it was a few years ago. But, for every negative review of our city, there is someone ranting about how great we are.

Let me show you:

Expansion Management: 7th Best Place For Business
Unspecified Source: 7th Worst Place To Live

[xrayman]

Again, the study was done by a firm in KC that is well thought of - for what they do.
The statistics were heavily skewed so that social problems (teen pregnancy, crime, etc.) played a huge role in how this particular "livability scale" survey rated the states. We cannot honestly kill the messenger as Oklahoma does, in fact, rank extremely poor in many of these areas relating to the social fabric. My quibble, frankly, is how this all rates to 'livability," but I recognize the problems that hurt our state in this study for what they are - and they are real. Comparing activity in Bricktown, new hotels, business climate etc., with the things that were factors in this particular study is comparing apples and oranges.

Our state is not perfect. These problems are real.