Oklahoma City, In the Press

[stile99]

It's going to be Austin. Which actually if they were doing a serious search, wouldn't make it past the first round, depending where you are in Austin the friggin' airport is an hour away if you take I-35. You can take the toll road to the east and get there in a little over half an hour, but that's 6-9 bucks, I don't recall off the top of my head. Not even kidding, check out Google Maps at various times of the day. For example, right now say Amazon went where Dell is. 27.4 miles on I-35, 58 minutes. If they are serious about needing access to an airport, Austin is out.

[Pryor Tiger]

You are all correct, we likely will not be the pick for reasons said - education, infrastructure, airport, etc. However, I just meant they put their all into this bid and at the very least should be good PR and emphasize the importance of continuing our progress in all the areas that we are still behind on. We are seeing some success stories though, NTT Data is taking 120,000 square feet out on Reno Ave. by Sara Road after a multistate site search. This is one of the top 10 IT/HR companies in the world choosing OKC for a large regional facility with purpose of growth. Obviously the close proximity to Dell was helpful here, but they also cited many other things including cost of living, central location, workforce, and quality of living. Something OKC and the Chamber are doing is working, we just need to keep the momentum going.

[bchris02]

You are all correct, we likely will not be the pick for reasons said - education, infrastructure, airport, etc. However, I just meant they put their all into this bid and at the very least should be good PR and emphasize the importance of continuing our progress in all the areas that we are still behind on. We are seeing some success stories though, NTT Data is taking 120,000 square feet out on Reno Ave. by Sara Road after a multistate site search. This is one of the top 10 IT/HR companies in the world choosing OKC for a large regional facility with purpose of growth. Obviously the close proximity to Dell was helpful here, but they also cited many other things including cost of living, central location, workforce, and quality of living. Something OKC and the Chamber are doing is working, we just need to keep the momentum going.

I agree with this. OKC can and should be competing for things like this, even if it's such a longshot that it might as well be impossible. While Amazon may be out of OKC's league, smaller companies are fleeing the west coast all the time and may take note of OKC's enthusiasm and business friendly attitude.

[LocoAko]

I agree with this. The politics and culture, both at the local and the state level, make this a pipe dream. In fact I would be surprised if it ends up anywhere in the South other than maybe Austin or possibly Raleigh. With that said, it's good to see OKC putting its hat in the ring. Being more proactive in trying to recruit things like this might bring unexpected benefits down the road.

Not Atlanta? I feel like they must be a moderately strong contender...

I truly don't understand the number of folks (not here, but Twitter and elsewhere) that consider us a serious contender for the HQ. Maybe I'm being a downer, but their wish list included 1) a population of more than one million, 2) an international airport, 3) public transit, 4) quality higher education, 5) an educated workface and 6) a pro-business climate. The only one we could even lay half a claim to is the last one. I guess we'll never know if we don't try, but meh...

[Laramie]

Let not forget that there are other companies who may want to look at the cities that Amazon passed up.

[bchris02]

Not Atlanta? I feel like they must be a moderately strong contender...

I truly don't understand the number of folks (not here, but Twitter and elsewhere) that consider us a serious contender for the HQ. Maybe I'm being a downer, but their wish list included 1) a population of more than one million, 2) an international airport, 3) public transit, 4) quality higher education, 5) an educated workface and 6) a pro-business climate. The only one we could even lay half a claim to is the last one. I guess we'll never know if we don't try, but meh...

Eh....Laramie is right. Honestly OKC doesn't have a shot at the Amazon HQ, but trying to compete for it is a good thing because it may lead to a more realistic HQ relocation here down the road.

As for Atlanta, I can see that. Dallas and Houston as well. Charlotte might be a contender but I think they would go for Raleigh over Charlotte.

[jonny d]

Not Atlanta? I feel like they must be a moderately strong contender...

I truly don't understand the number of folks (not here, but Twitter and elsewhere) that consider us a serious contender for the HQ. Maybe I'm being a downer, but their wish list included 1) a population of more than one million, 2) an international airport, 3) public transit, 4) quality higher education, 5) an educated workface and 6) a pro-business climate. The only one we could even lay half a claim to is the last one. I guess we'll never know if we don't try, but meh...

I haven't seen a single, solitary person say OKC is a serious contender. All they have said is that OKC should try. No one on this board thinks it is realistic.

[stile99]

Let not forget that there are other companies who may want to look at the cities that Amazon passed up.

And will pass up those cities for the same reason Amazon passed them up. I understand the "pie in the sky, let's get it done!" attitude...but that's not going to bring anyone here. Like I said previously, apply that attitude to fixing the problems that are preventing Amazon and other companies from coming here. Make OKC so damn good, they would be idiots to pass us up.

Love the optimism, but make no mistake. OKC won't get this, and the reason will NOT be because "you were great, but we could only pick one city". So focus the optimism and energy on making the next answer "We picked OKC because it was simply too great. To not go there made no sense at all!".

[Jeepnokc]

Without getting into positions on the current legislators, I can't imagine any company wanting to come to Oklahoma with the state of our legislature and gridlock.

[FighttheGoodFight]

It's going to be Austin. Which actually if they were doing a serious search, wouldn't make it past the first round, depending where you are in Austin the friggin' airport is an hour away if you take I-35. You can take the toll road to the east and get there in a little over half an hour, but that's 6-9 bucks, I don't recall off the top of my head. Not even kidding, check out Google Maps at various times of the day. For example, right now say Amazon went where Dell is. 27.4 miles on I-35, 58 minutes. If they are serious about needing access to an airport, Austin is out.

My guess is still they did the search for PR and to make Texas give them a better deal. Not a bad deal at all. Austin (or area around there) makes the most sense.

[chuck5815]

I think it's Austin, Denver, or Atlanta. Just hate the idea of paying a company billions of dollars to do something it was already planning to do. And we wonder why so many state and local governments around this country have questionable balance sheets.

[bchris02]

Without getting into positions on the current legislators, I can't imagine any company wanting to come to Oklahoma with the state of our legislature and gridlock.

I agree. This is the biggest thing holding the state and the city back right now. Unfortunately there is little that can be done about it. The only thing that might change it is if apathetic millennials (a big problem in this state) actually get out and vote but even then, I am not sure there is much hope. The legislature is the way it is because of the priorities of the electorate.

[Jersey Boss]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...020-story.html

A timely and interesting story on how Amazon changed Seattle, as well as things that Amazon views as important to their culture and way of doing things. The hostile attitude of Texas state government to their progressive ideals might rule out Austin. Yeah I know Austin is an island of sorts, but the state government has a history of overruling the independence of municipalities there as well.

[pw405]

I didn't realize OKC actually made a bid. Like many others, I highly doubt our super conservative government would fly with them. We don't have enough tech workers here. Maybe Chesapeake could sell them the "old" campus (west of Classen), CHK could fit in the east campus now I bet. Maybe they just want to watch their old basketball team again.

[mugofbeer]

I didn't realize OKC actually made a bid. Like many others, I highly doubt our super conservative government would fly with them. We don't have enough tech workers here. Maybe Chesapeake could sell them the "old" campus (west of Classen), CHK could fit in the east campus now I bet. Maybe they just want to watch their old basketball team again.

Amazon received something around 250 APPLICATION. Several were not from US cities but from Canaduan cities where.they can approve a foreign worker visa in 48 hours and have national healthcare They may choose outside the US for HQ2.

[BG918]

Amazon received something around 250 APPLICATION. Several were not from US cities but from Canaduan cities where.they can approve a foreign worker visa in 48 hours and have national healthcare They may choose outside the US for HQ2.

That would be an interesting development. Toronto checks a lot of boxes for Amazon.

I was there last year for the first time, really amazing city. Reminded me of Chicago but with the vibrancy and diversity of NYC.

[DenverPoke]

http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/fea...most621600948/

Not sure if that has been posted. OKC comes in at #11 on this list for the most change in the last 10 years. Impressive.

[dcsooner]

http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/fea...most621600948/

Not sure if that has been posted. OKC comes in at #11 on this list for the most change in the last 10 years. Impressive.

That is a impressive statistic

[dankrutka]

http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/fea...most621600948/

Not sure if that has been posted. OKC comes in at #11 on this list for the most change in the last 10 years. Impressive.

Refreshing to see an article like this where the authors clearly explain their methods.

[Celebrator]

Here is a link to the article I told you all about last month when I was looking for potential interviewees. As it turns out Pete himself is quoted in the article...which was a surprise to me until I just read it moments ago! The genesis of this piece was a conversation I had with the author (a college acquaintance) in Boston last summer. I encouraged her to come out and see what's happening here as she is the new Heartland Correspondent for the Monitor. I think, while it doesn't contain much we all don't already know, it is fair, and it is great that a global audience will get our city's story in a very current context https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politi...ervative-flair

[HOT ROD]

nice read but it got the population wrong; OKC has a metro population nearly one and a half million, not more than half million people as stated in the article. Not sure why the media always seems to get the population wrong (usually significantly understating it) ...

this metropolitan area of more than half a million people.

[stile99]

nice read but it got the population wrong; OKC has a metro population nearly one and a half million, not more than half million people as stated in the article. Not sure why the media always seems to get the population wrong (usually significantly understating it) ...

It's really easy to explain why they get it wrong. Go to wikipedia, look at the article on Oklahoma City, specifically the part where it shows the population, which is indeed just over half a million. The problem is they throw the word metro in there without accounting for the additional population, and the OKC metro is insanely spread out, and some people who live in it don't know where it ends. Some people consider Guthrie part of the metro area, others do not. Is El Reno part of it? Noble? If El Reno is, then Union City, Minco, Tuttle, and Newcastle must be as well. And if Norman is, then why not Noble? Granted, some of these would only increase the population count slightly, but the point is there's no reporter who is going to add up the population of Mustang, Yukon, Midwest City, Del City, Bethany, Warr Acres, The Village, Nichols Hills, Edmond, Moore, Norman and so on.

The really asinine part is THEY DO NOT HAVE TO. The wiki page lists the metro population right in the same box it lists the city proper population. They just got what they thought was the number and stopped.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Yeah, that stood out when I read it yesterday. Surely referring to the population of the City of OKC proper, which is probably itself over 600K at this point (579.9K at 2010 census). It’s aggravatiing. There are a few other easily fact-checked errors in that article. Not even upset at the writer for it; everyone makes mistakes. The thing that troubles me about it is how much fact checking has gone by the wayside, even for large, respected publications. The Internet has created a journalistic culture whereby “first” is more important than “correct.”

[KayneMo]

It's really easy to explain why they get it wrong. Go to wikipedia, look at the article on Oklahoma City, specifically the part where it shows the population, which is indeed just over half a million. The problem is they throw the word metro in there without accounting for the additional population, and the OKC metro is insanely spread out, and some people who live in it don't know where it ends. Some people consider Guthrie part of the metro area, others do not. Is El Reno part of it? Noble? If El Reno is, then Union City, Minco, Tuttle, and Newcastle must be as well. And if Norman is, then why not Noble? Granted, some of these would only increase the population count slightly, but the point is there's no reporter who is going to add up the population of Mustang, Yukon, Midwest City, Del City, Bethany, Warr Acres, The Village, Nichols Hills, Edmond, Moore, Norman and so on.

The really asinine part is THEY DO NOT HAVE TO. The wiki page lists the metro population right in the same box it lists the city proper population. They just got what they thought was the number and stopped.

They are part of the metro.

[Celebrator]

Yes, I already wrote her and pointed that error out...it stood way out to me, too.