Metroplex Hurts Okc Economic Prospects

[BG918]

The best way for OKC to "compete" with DFW is to become more business-friendly, and that is up to the Oklahoma state govt. which hasn't currently been doing a stellar job in that department. I think the fact that OKC is concentrating on downtown is great and should continue and be the focus for new businesses moving into the metro. A distinctive 24/7 urban downtown (TAP's vision for downtown, not Hogan's...) with an active riverfront and close proximity to the OHC and Capitol is very attractive along with OKC's tolerable traffic, decent schools (better than inner city Dallas and Fort Worth), and relatively low cost of living. Improving downtown and its entertainment/residential options should be a major priority along with continuing to improve OKC schools and development of the river. The addition of another lake in the metro, for drinking water/irrigation/hydropower/recreation, would also be a big plus. Creating a niche, either in creating a large arts community or expanding the Asian district or becoming a national hub for biotech/medical research is very important IMO.

[HKG_Flyer1]

I think the single, biggest reason that OKC has a hard time competing for the BIG corporations and manufacturing operations is because of the METROPLEX 200 miles to our south. We can't compete with DFW airport or even ALLIANCE in Fort Worth. Of course, there are a number of other reasons why this city just can't seem to land the BIG ONE, but our proximity to that massive metro really hurts our economic development prospects. I'm not sure there is anything that will change, at least in the near future. Any thoughts??

Dallas has some serious, serious problems that don't seem to be getting any better:
1. the highest per capital violent crime rate of any major city in the U.S.
2. crumbling infrastructure
3. terrible public schools
4. highly dysfunctional political leadership
5. mind-numbing traffic
6. police corruption
7. highest long-haul airfares in U.S. (due to American Airlines quasi-monopoly)

[HOT ROD]

The best way for OKC to "compete" with DFW is to become more business-friendly, and that is up to the Oklahoma state govt. which hasn't currently been doing a stellar job in that department. I think the fact that OKC is concentrating on downtown is great and should continue and be the focus for new businesses moving into the metro. A distinctive 24/7 urban downtown (TAP's vision for downtown, not Hogan's...) with an active riverfront and close proximity to the OHC and Capitol is very attractive along with OKC's tolerable traffic, decent schools (better than inner city Dallas and Fort Worth), and relatively low cost of living. Improving downtown and its entertainment/residential options should be a major priority along with continuing to improve OKC schools and development of the river. The addition of another lake in the metro, for drinking water/irrigation/hydropower/recreation, would also be a big plus. Creating a niche, either in creating a large arts community or expanding the Asian district or becoming a national hub for biotech/medical research is very important IMO.

Here, .. Here!!

[Omaha Cowboy]

This is a very inetersting topic..

Omaha is 190 miles from KCMO, yet Omaha is able to compete for jobs and corporations and development..Omaha currently has more Fortune 500 companies (5) than KCMO and Omaha's metro is roughly half the size of KCMO (840,000 vs 1.8 million)

True enough, OKC at 1.14 million vs Big D at 5.7 million is a huge population base difference..But with an agressive chamber of commerce and a solid word of mouth business community and infrastructure, OKC CAN complete and make major inroads economically..

Even with KCMO a mere 190 miles away..Omaha has undergone a $2+ billion DT rennovation including a $300,000 million convention center arena (Qwest Center Omaha), 2 new skyscrapers (including the regions tallest..The First National Tower at 45 stories/634 FT) and 800 downtown condo units currently under construction ..Union Pacific consolidated their St Louis, MO office and relocated 1200 workers to their new 20 story DT Omaha headquarters..Gallup corporation relocated their corporate HQ's to the DT Omaha riverfront..All of this economic development has occured (and still is occuring) between 1999 to the present..

If Omaha can do it, so can Oklahoma City!..

..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

[JOHNINSOKC]

Maybe our chamber should consult Omaha on how to land Fortune 500 headquarters.

[Decious]

When competing for businesses OK has a much higher hurdle to clear than just Dallas. The competition and potential (actual) limiting factor is the entire state of Texas. i.e. WAMU>San Antonio, KMG>Houston, Citgo>Houston, Sunoco>Houston etc.

Most higher up decision makers that I know state that when deciding upon relocation or expansion matters in this region, Texas is the default choice. Their lists can look something like this:
1)OKC
2)Tulsa
3)KC
4)Texas - and within this there is a seperate selection process to determine which Texas city will be selected between DFW, Houston, San Antonio, Austin. Because of the states extremely aggressive pursuit of companies(in forms of incentives and such), they seem to start as the defacto winner. It is then up to the remaining cities to top what Texas did.

If a company does decide to choose Oklahoma over Texas, you then have the more than worthy in state competition that comes from Tulsa.

Regional flight options from Tulsa and DFW, make it somewhat easy to understand why OKC may have lower passenger numbers than what is common for a city of our size. However, regional business location questions must include Texas as a whole. Few companies or individuals are busting out a globe and narrowing it down to the specific lat. & long. that encompasses OKC and DFW and chooses between the two. Even if it is a distribution issue the interstate system treats both equally well.

The things that Omaha Cowboy listed concerning Omaha's DT development are cool, but they were not done in spite of Kansas City. Omaha is a nice up and coming city and is making things happen. Des Moines is doing the same. OKC has done and is doing the DT thing and there are thriving companies such as Chesapeake and Devon that are growing and expanding wildly. If Chesapeke had wanted to add a new skyscraper they were more than able, but they decided to build a reserve/compound type of headquarters, which is the trend these days. OKC has plenty of tall buildings and DT is and has been booming for some time. OKC is large and vibrant enough to continue to grow and boom via its own volition. This is borne out in Bricktown, MAPs as a whole, airport renovation, UCO, OU, OCU, Urban Outfitters aggressively seeking a location, the apple store, the Quail Springs Marketplace power center selling for a record $48 million, seemingly weekly job announcements in the +100-300 range that we ignore and take for granted because we're so used to them and because of their lack of sexiness, thriving medical and research districts, booming suburbs (THAT DON'T FIGHT THE CORE CITY, and bear in mind that Tulsa's suburbs are the fastest growing in the state based on %ages only-Raw numbers wise Norman/Edmond/Canadian County outpace them by a good margine), hella high new home constuction rates area wide, a thriving top-notch military installation, a CMSA of 1.25 million people, etc.

There is no question as to whether or not OKC can grow and thrive as it is currently doing just that. The question was whether or not DFW/Texas limits the economic prospects of OKC. Well, the answer is, of course, YES. But, as has been pointed out, we have great selling points when we bid. Most of them, however, don't outweigh Texas yelling at the top of its lungs, "We'll give you a trillion dollars if you locate here!!" (tongue in cheek) In OKC we need to invest in our fledgling companies and small businesses and help them to deepen or plant their roots here. The resources that they need to thrive and grow are more than available here and they will continue to find success here, as long as we support them, by improving our education system(MAPs for kids) and supporting our higher learning centers.

The Ford Center recently hosted the 1st & 2nd round of the NCAA men's basketball tourney (and is vying 4 a future regional as we speak). If our regional business landscape were compared to the tournament, Texas would always get an automatic invite to the Final Four. Fair? Not really, but let's be honest. They've earned it. I live in OKC-Moore and LA and would never live in Texas. But DFW is great, Houston-Galveston is great, Austin is great, and San Antonio is great. The millions and millions of people that CHOOSE to inhabit these cities bear witness that they're great places to live AND work. OKC is very, very, very above good-great in a few years, and the 1.25 million people living here are a testament to that.

[JOHNINSOKC]

I've always thought of this region as the best kept secret in the nation. I've lived in a few other places and I don't see OKC being as behind the times as many people seem to think. Many people who move here or have visited for the first time are shocked when they see a major, thriving metropolis in OKC. I believe we will see Austin-like growth within the next five years. Our best days haven't arrived yet.