Oklahoma City, In the Press

[mugofbeer]

MAPS 5 - The Deep Fork Creek Riverwalk and Trail?

[soonerguru]

What a great story in Thrillist about OKC's cultural maturation.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nat...-oklahoma-city

[josh]

It's stupid to compare SA riverwalk to OKC bricktown canal they are two different concepts with one thing in common.

the riverwalk is the most popular thing for tourists in SA and then the Alamo plus SA is almost 3 times the population as OKC and I'm not talking about the metro.

I'd bet most people only know of downtown SA and the riverwalk and a few might be familiar with Alamo Heights, Pearl/Broadway, Olmos Park (which isn't much), Six Flags/The Rim and the Deco district and that's it

Oh and SeaWorld and forgot about King Williams/SouthTown

It was a good article but yeah, the author should never have compared the canal to the riverwalk and The Plaza to Wynwood in Miami

Do you live in OKC or go downtown/bricktown/filmrow/farmersmarket/artsdistrict/ironworks district etc? It is packed on the weekends. Only think downtown or near downtown SA is the Pearl/Broadway and the riverwalk and a few cool spots in the deco district if you know were that is.

Outside of downtown San Antonio, which itself is very expansive and has not only street level activity but sub street level activity at the Riverwalk that nowhere in OKC can compare… you have Southtown, River North, Sunset Station, North Alamo, The Pearl, The St. Mary Strip, The Main Strip, Deco District.

[josh]

Actually, wasn’t it originally a sewer creek? Thought I had read that.

No. The downtown section of the San Antonio Riverwalk is man made and part of a floor control project that is the result of a bad flood over 100 years ago.

The tourist trap Riverwalk, downtown reach, that everyone knows about is in the center of downtown but the Riverwalk was expanded two miles to the north in 2009, the museum reach, and 8 miles to the south, the mission reach. But it’s all part of the San Antonio River and that begins just north of downtown near UIW and

Here are some pictures of all three sections:

MAP OF THE RIVERWALK

Downtown Reach

Museum Reach












Mission Reach

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF DOWNTOWN REACH RIVERWALK TOUR

[Celebrator]

What an urban asset--gorgeous.

[josh]

What an urban asset--gorgeous.

Yes it is.

Since opening in 2009, the Museum Reach has had 11 residential developments (large complexes) built on its banks or just a block or two away from it with literally four currently under construction and many more in the pipe line.

The museum reach was designed and developed with locals in mind and is a complete contrast from the downtown section that is a tourist trap now. The mission reach is designed as hike and bike greenway for locals.


Edit:

Wanted to added those pictures of the downtown section but wasn’t able to.

[soonerguru]

What a great story in Thrillist about OKC's cultural maturation.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nat...-oklahoma-city

Reposting this for those who missed it between all the gorgeous photos of San Antonio.

[Teo9969]

Reposting this for those who missed it between all the gorgeous photos of San Antonio.

Yeah this was pretty incredible. I honestly had no idea how much I myself had missed over the last 5 or so years.

[shartel_ave]

Reposting this for those who missed it between all the gorgeous photos of San Antonio.

the most accurate part of that article

" more marijuana dispensaries per capita than almost any state in the US"

[Jake]

OKC listed as the #4 "Best Place to Live" in another listicle.

https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate...es-to-live/us/

[Jeepnokc]

Oklahoma listed

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/u...tes/index.html

[Plutonic Panda]

CNN ranks OKC as the most underrated destination:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/u...tes/index.html

[Celebrator]

CNN ranks OKC as the most underrated destination:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/u...tes/index.html

It wasn't just OKC, the entire state is listed as underrated!

[stlokc]

OKC'a GMP growth in 2022 places it pretty high in comparison to other metro areas.

https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/kenan...icroeconomies/

[Rover]

OKC'a GMP growth in 2022 places it pretty high in comparison to other metro areas.

https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/kenan...icroeconomies/

But it’s actual GDP and GDP per million makes it pretty low.

[stlokc]

It's certainly lower than it should be. I would like to see the "share of U.S. total" equal to or greater than the share of total population. That would signal that OKC's economy performs at the level of what is average in the country. We're below that and I'm not surprised. Still, we're far from the only metro area where that is a problem.

The reason I shared the report is that I consider the growth rate encouraging.

[Rover]

It's certainly lower than it should be. I would like to see the "share of U.S. total" equal to or greater than the share of total population. That would signal that OKC's economy performs at the level of what is average in the country. We're below that and I'm not surprised. Still, we're far from the only metro area where that is a problem.

The reason I shared the report is that I consider the growth rate encouraging.

It is, but it is still a growth rate from a low level. I’d rather have one percent of 300 than 2 percent of 100. In terms of real growth we need to do much better or keep falling behind. Education is the key. We must improve.

[GoGators]

It is, but it is still a growth rate from a low level. I’d rather have one percent of 300 than 2 percent of 100. In terms of real growth we need to do much better or keep falling behind. Education is the key. We must improve.

That's what I found interesting. San Francisco posting the highest growth rate on top of such an already huge number is beyond impressive.

[stlokc]

All true. But I have to think of the old expression:

"You can't rewrite the beginning, but you can start where you are and write the ending."

We are where we are. It's the growth from this point that matters now.

[stlokc]

As a matter of fact, I think this could be the basis for a set of goals in City Hall.

How do we, over a reasonable period of time, achieve a metropolitan-area GDP that is the equal of our share of American population? What does that mean in real numbers in terms of economic output, assuming our population continues to grow at x percent?

[Rover]

That's what I found interesting. San Francisco posting the highest growth rate on top of such an already huge number is beyond impressive.

That can’t be. Many in Oklahoma believe California is doomed. Those weirdos and all. They can actually grow businesses and economies?

[April in the Plaza]

That's what I found interesting. San Francisco posting the highest growth rate on top of such an already huge number is beyond impressive.

Part of that is a function of certain cities re-opening earlier or later than others.

[Rover]

Part of that is a function of certain cities re-opening earlier or later than others.

San Francisco didn’t open earLy.

[April in the Plaza]

San Francisco didn’t open earLy.

That’s my point.

[Teo9969]

i understand the gist of what's being said here and while I agree with, a little bit of context on the numbers:

Of the 50 cities on that list, 29 of them account for less than 1.00% of the US population. Of those 29 states:

- 4 have a share of GDP greater than their share of population (Austin & Raleigh/Durham +0.2%, then Hartford & Nashville +0.1%)
- 10 are even
- 19 are down that margin by -0.1%

Of the 10 that are even 3 have 0.5% of the population or less (Richmond, Memphis, Jacksonville). Given that were basically 100+ years behind those cities in terms of development, I think that context helps me realize that we're probably doing better than it seems. Yes, we should definitely still work to improve that and produce above our population, but realistically, doing so is incredibly difficult and would require to a large degree a great deal of luck to get there within the next 50 years.

The absolute outsized margins for New York has to do with it being a Top 5 global city (Top 3 or even #1?) and San Francisco with just the rise of technology and that just being the hub of technology almost globally (Apple & Google especially). Prying margin away from the larger cities is incredibly difficult and I would actually be content if 20-30 years from now we were just in the same spot we're in today because I don't think we're going to see de-centralization in the "production" regard.