Downtownguy had a thought provoking post today. He copy/pasted comments from the TulsaNow forum. Interstingly pessimistic views of OKC were had by several posters over there. It hurts to read, but I have to admit it's the truth. My only explantion is: Rome wasn't built in a day. it takes time. However, there are some simple things that we could do to solve some of the problems that were addressed.

The biggest impact and impression we could make on visitors is simply cleaning up litter, fixing up what we got, and plants like flowers and trees. Stroll across OU's campus anyday and you'll notice a few things (and not notice a few others). What you will notice is that all the lawns are very well maintained and that there are lots of flower gardens, fountains, statues and benches. The whole campus is like a park. What you won't notice is litter and overhead powerlines. They're ugly. Now, I'm not suggesting that we get rid of above ground powerlines here. The fact is, they care about what things look like.

It comes back to the form vs function debate. OKC really needs to take steps in Edmond's direction with regards to quality and standards imposed on businesses (and I would assume homeowners as well).

All the main entrances to OKC need to be spruced up. First impressions are real.

We have to start caring about the appearance of our city. I would venture a guess that people would have a much better impression of OKC if we had more gardens, plantings, better lightposts, benches, no litter and an "average" bricktown than if we had a booming bricktown with no attention paid to any of the above amenities.

Read Downtownguy's blog here:
http://www.downtownguy.blogspot.com/

Luke