Best & Worst Things about Oklahoma

[ShiroiHikari]

Pros:

Nice, relatively inexpensive homes
Diverse landscape
Slightly cheaper gas
Some great local restaurants

Cons:

The hot, humid, long summers
Ice in the winter instead of snow
Not enough high-paying jobs (I'd like to know where all the rich people work!)
You have to drive everywhere and everything's so spread out

[CaptDave]

I've lived here since 2002 and the OKC area has grown on me. I moved from the mountains of TN, so the transition was a bit difficult at first; too much sky, not enough trees! I've lived up and down the east coast and south and in the midwest and overseas quite a bit. OK is unique in that it has the qualities of many places - it is very difficult to classify OK as southern, midwestern, or western and this is a good thing as far as I am concerned. We just need to get rid of the less desirable influences from those places!!

PROS:
Ridiculously low cost of living!!!
Many very nice people
OKC - an up & coming city that has made remarkable progress just since I moved here
OKC is a well kept secret (so far) - not too crowded, but plenty to do.
If I can't do _____ here, I can afford to go wherever to do it.
City and business leaders who truly care about improving OKC (while still making a profit - the business leaders, not the city leaders I hope....)
The renaissance of downtown OKC - I hope most of the Core to Shore plan is implemented along with continued rebirth in other places in OKC.
Varied landscape of OK - plains, forests, large hills (sorry, those things are not mountains!), etc
OK's unique history
Pretty decent universities with reasonable tuition
The wind if we are smart enough to use it for power generation - the windmills are quite common in Germany. We must avoid the NIMBY complex though.

CONS:
Redneck simpleton image unfortunately perpetuated by a small minority of vocal simpleton rednecks
Seems like many people here have an inferiority complex about OK and try too hard to be like TX or some other place. OK is a pretty neat place, be proud of what it is. The "Bust" and bombing are in the past and OK has done a great job recovering.
Some of the most corrupt politicians anywhere (I present Gene Stipe and Associates as exhibit 1) - Chicago has nothing on these clowns
ODOT refusing to plan for the future transportation needs of OKC - too beholding to a small group of highway centric influences
HORRIBLE ROADS - pathetic situation for the "Crossroads of America". Here's a hint ODOT - you have to maintain them after you build them and it helps to build them properly in the first place!!
OU vs OSU everywhere all the time - who bloody cares?? It is just a silly game!!!
Ridiculous tax and labor laws - unions are killing the higher paying working class jobs......
Too many Bible thumpers - if they would spend more time reading and less thumping.......
The wind - I hate riding my bicycle or running into that never ceasing 15 mph wind!!!!


Like anywhere, OK is a series of tradeoffs. On balance though it is a pretty good place to live and raise kids if you get them in decent schools.

[gmwise]

I think if I see anyones name being Anderson, just to be safe I'll vote against them.

[TaoMaas]

The best thing about Oklahoma is our people. The worst thing is 100+ degree days in the summer.

[old okie]

Been in Oklahoma my entire life, would say the following:

best:
the people--friendly, helpful, caring, & very chatty
diversity of land--sand dunes to mountains
state history--totally unique


worst:
politics, politicians, judges, & reluctance of folks to throw out the bums!
unwillingness of officials to go after those who own boarded up buildings or derelict structures of any kind and make them tear down...or pay full tax on the property
the roads, highways, & bridges!
trashy roadsides
absolutely pitiful rest stops on the Interstate highways! OK has the WORST of any state I've visited!

[bretthexum]

I've lived here since 2002 and the OKC area has grown on me. I moved from the mountains of TN, so the transition was a bit difficult at first; too much sky, not enough trees! I've lived up and down the east coast and south and in the midwest and overseas quite a bit. OK is unique in that it has the qualities of many places - it is very difficult to classify OK as southern, midwestern, or western and this is a good thing as far as I am concerned. We just need to get rid of the less desirable influences from those places!!

PROS:
Ridiculously low cost of living!!!
Many very nice people
OKC - an up & coming city that has made remarkable progress just since I moved here
OKC is a well kept secret (so far) - not too crowded, but plenty to do.
If I can't do _____ here, I can afford to go wherever to do it.
City and business leaders who truly care about improving OKC (while still making a profit - the business leaders, not the city leaders I hope....)
The renaissance of downtown OKC - I hope most of the Core to Shore plan is implemented along with continued rebirth in other places in OKC.
Varied landscape of OK - plains, forests, large hills (sorry, those things are not mountains!), etc
OK's unique history
Pretty decent universities with reasonable tuition
The wind if we are smart enough to use it for power generation - the windmills are quite common in Germany. We must avoid the NIMBY complex though.

CONS:
Redneck simpleton image unfortunately perpetuated by a small minority of vocal simpleton rednecks
Seems like many people here have an inferiority complex about OK and try too hard to be like TX or some other place. OK is a pretty neat place, be proud of what it is. The "Bust" and bombing are in the past and OK has done a great job recovering.
Some of the most corrupt politicians anywhere (I present Gene Stipe and Associates as exhibit 1) - Chicago has nothing on these clowns
ODOT refusing to plan for the future transportation needs of OKC - too beholding to a small group of highway centric influences
HORRIBLE ROADS - pathetic situation for the "Crossroads of America". Here's a hint ODOT - you have to maintain them after you build them and it helps to build them properly in the first place!!
OU vs OSU everywhere all the time - who bloody cares?? It is just a silly game!!!
Ridiculous tax and labor laws - unions are killing the higher paying working class jobs......
Too many Bible thumpers - if they would spend more time reading and less thumping.......
The wind - I hate riding my bicycle or running into that never ceasing 15 mph wind!!!!


Like anywhere, OK is a series of tradeoffs. On balance though it is a pretty good place to live and raise kids if you get them in decent schools.

Wow, I couldn't have put it any better. As an out-of-stater myself living here since 2005 I totally agree!