Oklahoma gets bad report

[mranderson]

This really does not surprise me.

The report places Oklahoma as the 43rd most livable state. It cites the following.

Fourth highest prison incararation rate.
Fouth highest population without health insurance.
Fifth lowest per capita gross state product.
Fifth lowest state and local government oustanding debt per capita.
Ninth most sunny days.
12th highest in legislative appropriations to arts per capita.
14th most dangerous state.
46th healthiest state.
18th lowest rate of AIDS.
11th lowest state with adult binge drinkers.

As far as I am concerned, the prison population is a good thing. It shows Oklahoma does not tolerate crime. The danger does not surprise me. Oklahoma City has one of the highest crime rates in the country. The AIDS thing does not surprise me. The state does not tolerate the lifestyles that causes AIDS.

The health insurance and health care are related. Many employers are too greedy to insure their staff.

The rest? I am not sure. However, this does answer some questions as to why we have trouble attracting business to our state. I just wonder what we could do to raise our ranking in sunny days (Retorical). The other things? Any ideas aside from letting criminals and perverts run wild?

[Karried]

http://www.morganquitno.com/sr05mlrnk.htm

Here is the full web link to see what other states were rated - we went down three places - and I thought we were doing so well!

[Karried]

Well now I'm not feeling as bad, California 'the Golden state' is number 35. No 1 is New Hampshire and Minnesota - aren't they digging out of 12 feet of snow today? Okay, I'm feeling a little better nowThe question is? How can we improve our scores. Let's brainstorm.

[mranderson]

California has Medical. Oklahoma could consider a low cost alternative to health care insurance through major insurance companies and subsidize the cost. This would be available only to people who's employers do not provide medical insurance, or those who are not working for various reasons.

Yes. It is expensive, but so is the cost to the state to treat these people in public hospitals and clinics. I bet the cost would be the same.

[xrayman]

Take a look at the 44 factors used to arrive at this ranking and it all makes sense. Texas, by the way, is ranked 45th!

If you look at the negative list it's easy to see how Oklahoma, as a whole, landed so far down. As for the low scores of Texas and Oklahoma, it would be news to a lot of people in Sugarland, TX.....Denton and Collin counties.......Austin......and the many fine smaller communities scattered all over Texas. It would also be news to a lot of people in Oklahoma City, Tulsa.....many places. But again, the factors and methodology used makes sense and lands the states as a "whole" in the "hole."

Look at the "negative list" and you won't find much to disagree with as far as where our state finds itself. There is just not a lot that we can "spin" our way. This is very much a "nitty gritty" factoring that will hurt us. Really, it is a "social index" more than anything and doesn't factor in many of the things that other "Most Livable" type listings use. It leans very heavily to social problems being the defining characteristics.

1 Percent Change in Number of Crimes: 2002 to 2003 (Table 27)
2 Crime Rate (Table 28)
3 State Prisoner Incarceration Rate (Table 62)
4 Personal Bankruptcy Rate (Table 104)
5 Pupil-Teacher Ratio in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools (Table 124)
6 Rate of Public Libraries and Branches (Table 154)
7 Unemployment Rate (Table 173)
8 Percent of Nonfarm Employees in Government (Table 187)
9 Electricity Prices (Table 206)
10 Hazardous Waste Sites on the National Priority List per 10,000 Square Miles (Table 220)
11 State & Local Taxes as a Percent of Personal Income (Table 291)
12 Per Capita State and Local Government Debt Outstanding (Table 303)
13 Percent of Population Not Covered by Health Insurance (Table 366)
14 Births of Low Birthweight as a Percent of All Births (Table 377)
15 Teenage Birth Rate (Table 378)
16 Infant Mortality Rate (Table 384)
17 Age-Adjusted Death Rate by Suicide (Table 398)
18 Population per Square Mile (Table 435)
19 Poverty Rate (Table 495)
20 Percent of Female-Headed Families with Children Living in Poverty (Table 499)
21 State and Local Government Spending for Welfare Programs as a Percent of All Spending (Table 502)
22 Percent of Households Receiving Food Stamps (Table 527)
23 Deficient Bridges as a Percent of Total Bridges (Table 544)
24 Highway Fatality Rate (Table 547)
25 Fatalities in Alcohol-Related Crashes as a Percent of All Highway Fatalities (Table 554)

[Karried]

Yeah, once you really start researching the statistics, we come up looking a lot better, leave it to the news media to start announcing it first thing this morning..... it bothers me because there is so much good here and I can't believe people are missing it. I really want OK to get some credit for all of the hard work the people are doing to better this state.

[Midtowner]

Very few of those statistics actually effect how I personally live.

Inmates in prisons? Other than taxes, they don't effect me.

AIDS rates? I don't sleep with random people, so that doesn't effect me.

Low birth weight, teenage pregnancy, still, they don't effect me (but they could be interesting threads).

What does effect me is the availability of secure housing that fits my lifestyle, the ability to surround myself with people of similar tastes, the availability of excellent entertainment venues, the ability to get a good job and continue my education, a low cost of living, excellent traffic management, etc. Not all quantifiable things.

As I said in another thread, it almost looks like this index was put together in order to glorify one place and debase others (include Oklahoma in that mix). I'll admit though, that since it's a statewide index, many of these problems aren't the responsibility of us in the OKC Metro. Go visit Southeast Oklahoma, that might clue you in on why our "liveability index" suffers. Who is responsible for creating this index? Why was it done? And for those of you that live here, what is it worth to you?

[xrayman]

From their website:

Morgan Quitno Press is an independent private research and publishing company located in Lawrence, Kansas. Founded by Scott Morgan, Kathleen O'Leary Morgan and Neal Quitno (pronounced Quit No) in 1989, the company specializes in reference books and monthly reports that compare states and cities in several different subject areas. The corporation is not a subsidiary of any other company nor is it subsidized by any outside interest group. Its books are found in reference libraries throughout the United States and around the world.

Our primary editors, Scott and Kathleen Morgan have years of experience in and out of government and in working with data. Scott is an attorney by training and was Staff Counsel on a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee in the 1980's. He also served as Chief Counsel to Senator Dole's 1988 presidential campaign. On returning to Kansas, he served as Chief Counsel to the Kansas Governor. After one year in private law practice in Kansas City he has devoted full time to Morgan Quitno Press.

Kathleen has her Masters in Public Administration and served in a number of media and legislative liaison positions with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Ultimately she served as Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs. Kathleen also served as a researcher with a private law firm in Washington.

We at Morgan Quitno take a great deal of pride in providing the most current and accurate information possible. We know our publications are relied on by policy makers, government agencies, media outlets and numerous researchers in every state in this country and a number of countries around the world. We take this responsibility seriously.

Book Information

Morgan Quitno currently publishes six primary rankings reference books: State Rankings, Health Care State Rankings, Crime State Rankings, Education State Rankings, State Trends and City Crime Rankings. In addition, the company annually publishes 350 other state-specific publications. These basic information volumes for governments, libraries, media, corporations and general readers have earned praise from book critics as excellent sources of comparative and objective statistics.

The first book published by Morgan Quitno was State Rankings in 1990. An annual publication, this volume features state comparisons in hundreds of categories ranging from agriculture to transportation, health to government finance and crime to social welfare. The fourteenth edition, State Rankings 2005, is currently available. It is the statistics in this book upon which the annual "Most Livable State" award is based.

In 1993, Morgan Quitno launched Health Care State Rankings. This collection of health care statistics compares the states in more than 500 categories including access to health care, health care providers, health care facilities, health care costs, physical fitness, natality and reproductive health, deaths and incidence of disease. Selected statistics in this book are used to determine the annual "Healthiest State" award. Health Care State Rankings 2005 is the most recent edition available.

In 1994, Morgan Quitno introduced a third book, Crime State Rankings. This volume compares states in 512 crime-related categories. Information is featured on arrests, prisons, drugs and alcohol, law enforcement personnel and expenditures, offenses and crime clearances. Crime State Rankings 2005 is the latest edition available. The "Most Dangerous State" and "Safest State" designations are announced in conjunction with this book each year.

In 1995, Morgan Quitno launched City Crime Rankings. This 416-page book compares U.S. cities and metropolitan areas in all major areas of crime. Each large city and metro area is ranked in 40 crime categories. Police rates are also reported for large cities. The eleventh edition of this volume is now available. Morgan Quitno honors America’s "Safest Cities and Metro Areas" based on information provided in this book.

In June of 2004 Morgan Quitno switched its monthly journal State Statistical Trends, a 100-page monthly to a new annual publication called State Trends. This 464-page book continues the concept first introduced in the six years of the monthly journal of looking at important state statistics and showing trends over one, five, 10 and 20-year periods. The "Most Improved State" is based on factors taken from this book.

An annual compilation taken from the previous 12 months of the monthly Trends. The last edition, Volume 6, of State Statistical Trends in Perspective was published in August 2004. Issues are available for each state.

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State Rankings 2005, Health Care State Rankings 2005 and Crime State Rankings 2005 each sell for $56.95 (paper only; s/h $6.00 additional). Education State Rankings 2004-2005 sells for $49.95 (paper only; s/h $6.00 additional). City Crime Rankings sells for $44.95 (paper only; s/h $6.00 additional). State Trends sells for $59.95 (paper only; s/h $6.00 additional).

Electronic versions of all our books are available on CD-ROM. There are two versions of each book. One is simply the book in PDF format and sells for the same price as a printed copy of the book. The second electronic version has the PDF format and all of the data in various database formats. These expanded versions sell for $99.95 each.

Back issues of the monthly journal are available at $50 each if printed or $29.95 if ordered and downloaded online. States Statistical Trends in Perspective are $59.00. All publications are available from Morgan Quitno at P.O. Box 1656, Lawrence, KS 66044 or by calling 1-800-457-0742.

[Karried]

None of this affects me personally either, what it does, in my opinion is detract from the positives of the state. The positive aspects are what will entice companies to come here and ask their employees to transfer and relocate to OK. When people from all over the country see that OK is 43rd on the list, what does that tell them if they don't delve any further and find out what the report is based on? It tells them they shouldn' t move here because our state is not 'livable'.

If companies don't come here and we don't have a solid work force in place, that will affect the economic future, the housing market and our overall quality of life. We need businesses here to further our economy.

I know most of us on this board are excited about the improvements and strides that this state has recently made.

I have a question? Why isn't the media reporting that finally OK is featured in Frommer's Travel Guide, based on our tourism? I know that maybe it's not such a big story but it's something positive regardless.

[Midtowner]

None of this affects me personally either, what it does, in my opinion is detract from the positives of the state. The positive aspects are what will entice companies to come here and ask their employees to transfer and relocate to OK. When people from all over the country see that OK is 43rd on the list, what does that tell them if they don't delve any further and find out what the report is based on? It tells them they shouldn' t move here because our state is not 'livable'.

If companies don't come here and we don't have a solid work force in place, that will affect the economic future, the housing market and our overall quality of life. We need businesses here to further our economy.

I know most of us on this board are excited about the improvements and strides that this state has recently made.

I have a question? Why isn't the media reporting that finally OK is featured in Frommer's Travel Guide, based on our tourism? I know that maybe it's not such a big story but it's something positive regardless.

Most likely because the media never picked it up. Typically, when you hear about something about a company in the media, the story is the product of a press release. It may have been a good move on Frommer's part to do a press release in the places that were being newly featured in their newest edition. Some media outlets would even charge Frommer's if they were to give it the publicity.

[downtownguy]

My suggestion is to ignore this report, go out and buy the book recently published by ABC's John Stossell, and then realize that a lot of lazy news reporters go for this sort of hype without questioning the authorship, methods and agendas behind the report.

[OUman]

I didn't take this report too seriously. Sure, we have our own fair share of problems, but that hardly means that this state is not livable. You can skew the results any which way you want it, and get a result which makes some areas bad and others good.

I could do research on how livable Florida is based on insurance rates, alligators, hurricanes etc etc, and it would come out worse than Oklahoma. But then why are people migrating to Florida? Why do people flock to Florida in the millions? Do you see my point here?

OUman

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

Why don't we have these threads every time Okalhoma City gets a GOOD report?

[floater]

It seems like the prime buyer and consumer of lists like these are special interest groups that can use it as ammunition to push an agenda with the state and local governments. Lowest in expenditures per student??!! What an outrage!! We need to take this to the state legislature! Just an example.

[windowphobe]

The one that perplexes me is "Population Per Square Mile". It's not like it's a constant throughout the city or anything; it's just a number. You can look at the OKC number, which is presumably on the low side, and think "Well, at least they're not packed in like Vienna sausages," or you can think "Migawd, but they've got a lot of sprawl." Guess which one of these viewpoints is going to get more play among community activists?

[xrayman]

The one that perplexes me is "Population Per Square Mile". It's not like it's a constant throughout the city or anything; it's just a number. You can look at the OKC number, which is presumably on the low side, and think "Well, at least they're not packed in like Vienna sausages," or you can think "Migawd, but they've got a lot of sprawl." Guess which one of these viewpoints is going to get more play among community activists?

Very astute observation! You are exactly right.