I would argue that the issues with northwest OKC have to do with TOO MUCH spending on infrastructure in far north OKC.

Basically, the City keeps building roads and providing utilities that only encourage turning cow pastures into tract housing and thus, people keep moving further and further out. And of course, there is absolutely no planning involved... Just rubber stamp every new plat that gets submitted.

I've posted this many times but the huge percentage of the people I went to Putnam City with in '70's now live in the Edmond school district and our old neighborhoods have really gone downhill.

This has much more to do with the City spending funds that encourage ridiculous sprawl. If anything, the investments downtown give people some reason to stay closer in.