OKC-Not world class

[BDP]

All of these "World Class Cities", "First Class Cities", and even "Cities on the Fringe" seem to have one thing in common that drives their economies and generate tax revenues to pay for all of their attractions... huge, powerful companies.

Which pretty much has always been the case. People go where they can make money. When they get there, they want something to do.

[Bobby H]

"World Class City" is an absolutely meaningless term. Loudly pointless.

At least terms like "cosmopolitan," "international" or "sophisticated" imply something a little more specific -like their airport has lots of direct international flights.

About New Orleans, like it or not, has the history of being a very important center of our culture. New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz -the only art form invented in the United States. One can say Blues, Rock & Roll and even modern country music can all draw roots back to Jazz. International influence is very present in New Orleans. The city has also been very important in our history. Andrew Jackson and his rag tag group beat the mighty British Army in the Battle of New Orleans.

However, that history and culture doesn't mean New Orleans is a large enough market (anymore) to support an NBA franchise like the Hornets. I'm all for the team staying in Oklahoma City. That team has been on the move over the years anyway. Didn't it begin in Charlotte?

New Orleans has had, and lost, NBA teams previously. And that begs the question: why is the NBA team in Salt Lake City called "The Utah Jazz?"

Regarding other slams or raves on other American cities, they're all arguable pro/con. The United States is a relatively young country, but it has a good number of great, and fairly great cities.

One poster asked, "name an important building in Houston." The Astrodome immediately popped into mind. That's the original domed stadium, a concept copied many times by other cities. Though they can complain about the evil of domed stadii -they still copied it.

The population within the city limits of Houston quietly surpassed the 2 million mark a couple or so years back. I heard a lot more noise about cities like Phoenix and San Diego hitting the 1 million mark for actual city limits population.

And then there's Oklahoma City.

I think OKC has a lot of potential. The city is already a transporation hub, although I strongly believe OKC needs a diagonal Interstate built to Denver as part of a badly missing spoke in that highway system.

However, we doesn't need more gambling casinos. There's too many of them already and most have a half-baked, half-effort feel to them. If I liked gambling, I wouldn't go lose my next three house payments in a neon bordered corrugated metal shed. I'd fly out to Las Vegas and visit some real casinos instead.

We don't need any more strip bars either. They're counter-productive. Lots of men don't even have good times when they visit such places. They just look at what they're not getting. Pretty masochistic if you ask me.

OKC needs activities, culture, events, retailers and above all other things -employment opportunities- that will attract and retain young, college educated female workers. There's your angle right there for economic development: attract the women.

The best cities in America are typically those which are desired by women. And where the women go, the men will follow. Women like cities with glamour. And that's something sadly in short supply within all of Oklahoma.

What Oklahoma City needs is a more prominent voice in our popular culture. How many movies have used OKC as a backdrop? Or TV shows? Music videos? Sure, Garth Brooks and Toby Keith are from Oklahoma. But how many rockers are from the area?

Oklahoma City needs to find ways to visually amp up its cool factor.

How do you create that? It isn't easy, because it involves a lot of steps and demands participation by lots of people. The first step is making people give a hoot at all about their community. Your city is not cool at all if you don't care about it. Next step is working to clean up the place so it seems attractive to visitors. Then the place has to be built up visually. Every important city has some kind of visual identity punctuated with a few visual trademark places. New York has that in spades. LA, Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Washington and a few others do as well.

Bricktown is a pretty good start. It already rivals or even surpasses Dallas' West End in some ways. With a little more night life and live music venues it could be a better hangout place than Dallas' Deep Ellum.

But Bricktown alone is not enough. The city has a pretty good window of opportunity to reinvent downtown OKC with the new I-40 cross town project underway. There's lots of room there to give Oklahoma City the visual identity makeover it needs.

[fsusurfer]

"OKC needs activities, culture, events, retailers and above all other things -employment opportunities- that will attract and retain young, college educated female workers. There's your angle right there for economic development: attract the women."

According to Maxim Magazine, Oklahoma City is the 10th best city in the nation for Single Males. I'd have to say I agree, Im from Florida, and I think that OKC has just as many, if not more, women than the major cities in Florida. I also don't really think that attracting young women is a cornerstone for economic development, but hey whatever brings more chicks to the area is fine by me!

[fsusurfer]

"Then the place has to be built up visually. Every important city has some kind of visual identity punctuated with a few visual trademark places. New York has that in spades. LA, Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Washington and a few others do as well."

LA - SoCal beaches
New York - Close to the New England Coast, situated on a harbor.
Chicago - Only city not located near the ocean, but major Great Lake port.
Seattle - One of the biggest shipping ports
Miami - South Beach, Vacation spot, in Florida
Washington - Nations Capital

I really think that location plays a big part in these cities development, i.e. being by the coast. Yes Oklahoma City is at the big intersection of I40 and I35, but all that really attracts are truckers and travelers making pit stops. Not the kind of tourism we'd like, however better than nothing. What I'm saying is, one of the biggest factors that keep OKC from being up there on that list of cities, is location. However, who cares? I wouldn't want to live in a city that big. I think OKC is the perfect size city and we still have room for expansion. Serriously, if it got to much bigger, traffic would be worse, crime rates would be higher, air polution, and other things that many people dont like about the previous metropolitian areas mentioned before would become the norm. Thats not what brought me to live in the city, nor what many people who live in this city are interested in dealing with. However, living in this city right now is exciting as it is growing to be a regional power which is exactly where OKC should set its sights.

[MadMonk]

I personally hope OKC never ends up like Dallas. Small-city charm is part of the attraction for me. Too many are trying to turn OKC into NYC.

[HOT ROD]

According to Maxim Magazine, Oklahoma City is the 10th best city in the nation for Single Males. I'd have to say I agree, Im from Florida, and I think that OKC has just as many, if not more, women than the major cities in Florida. I also don't really think that attracting young women is a cornerstone for economic development, but hey whatever brings more chicks to the area is fine by me!

I agree. I think OKC is on the + side for attractive women already.

What OKC needs is to become more progressive, in business, in culture, in everything! (Note Austin, TX - they are "cool" because they are PROGRESSIVE!!!).

[HOT ROD]

Seattle - One of the biggest shipping ports

???

I'd say, Seattle is one of the most beautiful city in the nation.

[floater]

According to Maxim Magazine, Oklahoma City is the 10th best city in the nation for Single Males. I'd have to say I agree, Im from Florida, and I think that OKC has just as many, if not more, women than the major cities in Florida. I also don't really think that attracting young women is a cornerstone for economic development, but hey whatever brings more chicks to the area is fine by me!

From what I've seen in Ohio and Arkansas, and from what I've heard about LA, we males in OK do have a great situation. Just walk the OU campus at the noon hour and you'll see...

As far as trying to be like NYC, I don't think anybody really wants that. Since when did paying attention to twentysomethings become synonomous with NYC? Adding downtown living, cultural events, bars, clubs, and other entertainment venues only makes the city more interesting. That doesn't mean people stop being friendly.

[Bobby H]

From what I've seen in Ohio and Arkansas, and from what I've heard about LA, we males in OK do have a great situation. Just walk the OU campus at the noon hour and you'll see...

Just come down to Lawton for single adult male hell. It's a regular sausage festival. There's gotta be 4 single guys for every 1 single lady. I'm sure the Army helps skew that imbalance. But it still really sucks.

Anyway, I digress...

A city does not have to be located next to an ocean to have a visual identity or at least thought of as pretty. London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Montreal, Rome, Kyoto and good number of other cosmopolitan cities are not located next to an ocean.

Many of the things that make a city attractive or glamourous are based on things that were built. The cities in Europe I mentioned have an advantage in boasting a lot of historical architecture. But cities like London also have modern appeal as well. When Paris is mentioned, most instantly think of the Eiffel Tower or Arch De Triumph.

Oklahoma City doesn't really have any landmarks like that. The closest thing to it is the Murrah Building OKC Bombing Memorial. The memorial is touching, but haunting and tragic as well. Normally you want to put something positive on postcards.

I think the OKC skyline needs some more important skyscrapers. And it needs more in the way of significant monuments and sculpture down on the street.

Even on a basic level, Oklahoma City is a bit lacking on commercial visual electricity. Tulsa has OKC beat on cool looking signs. The sign company where I'm employed built a pretty fancy neon sign for a Lady Americana store in Lawton. Lady Americana is based on OKC, yet is sending video crews down to Lawton to shoot video of that sign for use in their commercials in OKC. Maybe we'll get to built a similar sign in the city.

Some of the stuff in Bricktown is decent, but there isn't much to find there that qualifies as dazzling. Toby Keith's bar has a small-ish Barco video message center mounted bare on the awning. Such displays are cool, but Bricktown is important enough to warrant larger, custom displays. Times Square in NYC has lots of them, bending to shapes of buildings. Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas has a huge multi-panel Cinerama style display that can actually break apart and move on rails. Visually speaking, OKC needs items that represent unique "thinking outside of the box" ideas.

[Curt]

[QUOTE=MadMonk]I personally hope OKC never ends up like Dallas.QUOTE]
Or Detroit, or New Orleans, or Chicago, etc.,etc.

[HOT ROD]

I personally hope OKC never ends up like Dallas.

Or Detroit, or New Orleans, or Chicago, etc.,etc.

Nah, Chicago is a great model for OKC!!! As is Denver, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC, ....

Chicago is the best all-around city in the nation, no question, and is a wonderful model for not only OKC but most who want that big city excitement/amenities with smaller city charms!!

[fsusurfer]

Nah, Chicago is a great model for OKC!!! As is Denver, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC, ....

Chicago is the best all-around city in the nation, no question, and is a wonderful model for not only OKC but most who want that big city excitement/amenities with smaller city charms!!

Thats your opinion. Besides the trafic and crime rate (http://chicago.areaconnect.com/crime...oma+city&s2=OK) a city that averages a below freezing temprature during the wintertime wouldnt be my choice for the best city in the nation.

[okcpulse]

What Oklahoma City needs is a more prominent voice in our popular culture. How many movies have used OKC as a backdrop? Or TV shows? Music videos? Sure, Garth Brooks and Toby Keith are from Oklahoma. But how many rockers are from the area?

Only locally filmed movies have used OKC as a backdrop. That and one South Park episode. How many rockers? Not many, but Flaming Lips are from the Oklahoma City MSA (Norman), as are Color Me Badd (not rockers, but Pop) from Oklahoma City.

Thelma & Louise was partly set in Oklahoma City, but the scenes were actually shot in Arizona (to save money on production since the story line went through four states from Arkansas to Arizona).

Many locally filmed movies, such as Soul's Midnight (starring Armand Assante), Surveillance (also starring Armande Assante) and Sam & Janet (starring Ryan Brown and co-starring Gary Busey) all used Oklahoma City as back-drops. Mark my words, Bobby H, that will change soon.

BTW, I am happily married, but if I were single, Oklahoma City is where I'd want to be. The city is choc-full of hot down-to-earth women. That is our city's single greatest asset. Okay, okay, my wife was born in Tulsa, but she prefers OKC.

[shane453]

Elizabethtown was a pretty big-deal movie with Orlando Bloom that had a scene at the Memorial.

There was a Southpark episode here? Awesome! I better find it.

[Bobby H]

I didn't know the Flaming Lips were from Norman.

As to the suggestion OKC look like Denver, I don't agree. Denver does have an advantage of being next to the front range of the Rocky Mountains. But huge sections of that city are pretty old and ugly looking. IMHO, Colorado Springs is better looking, Boulder even better still. One can make the same argument about Chicago. Sure, the downtown area is spectacular -mainly due to the Chicago River and all the impressive skyscrapers up and down the lake shore. However, there's big areas of Chicago that aren't anywhere near that attractive.

I haven't seen the movie Elizabethtown, so I didn't know they filmed a scene at the Murrah Bldg Memorial. Still, I think that underscores my point about OKC needing more visually unique landmarks to give the city a better, more positive, sense of identity. Anyone who lives in Oklahoma knows OKC is more than just tornadoes and terrorist bombings. The rest of the country needs to know that as well.

[El Gato Pollo Loco!!!]

Would one consider Salt Lake City "World Class"? How about Portland, Jacksonville, Orlando, Anahiem, Colombus, or Oakland for that matter? I honestly think the term is a bit overrated myself, but what do I know, I'm originally from Detroit.

[floater]

I didn't know the Flaming Lips were from Norman.

Actually, I believe they are from OKC. Wayne Coyne's lived somewhere (lately around NW 10th and Penn) in inner city OKC all this time.

http://www.flaminglips.com/main.php

[Dave Cook]

>>>>>BTW, I am happily married, but if I were single, Oklahoma City is where I'd want to be. The city is choc-full of hot down-to-earth women. That is our city's single greatest asset. Okay, okay, my wife was born in Tulsa, but she prefers OKC.<<<<

Gosh, not sure I would agree with this.

I've been in Oklahoma City since October. While I agree the folks here are super nice, not sure I would agree this is a great place to be single. I'm having a terrible time.

I think the opposite. Oklahoma City is great place to raise a family, buy a home, work, etc......but a little depressing if you are over 30 and single.

[jbrown84]

I haven't seen the movie Elizabethtown, so I didn't know they filmed a scene at the Murrah Bldg Memorial. Still, I think that underscores my point about OKC needing more visually unique landmarks to give the city a better, more positive, sense of identity.

The focus of that scene is actually the Survivor Tree, which I never thought of as a landmark until now, but I think it may be the single best one we have.

[metro]

BTW, I am happily married, but if I were single, Oklahoma City is where I'd want to be. The city is choc-full of hot down-to-earth women. That is our city's single greatest asset. Okay, okay, my wife was born in Tulsa, but she prefers OKC.<<<<

Gosh, not sure I would agree with this.

I've been in Oklahoma City since October. While I agree the folks here are super nice, not sure I would agree this is a great place to be single. I'm having a terrible time.

Actually I believe it was Maxim magazine who recently had a poll of the best places to be single men. OKC was near the top of the list.

[fsusurfer]

I think the opposite. Oklahoma City is great place to raise a family, buy a home, work, etc......but a little depressing if you are over 30 and single.

I'm not sure about the 30+ crowd. But for us in our 20's its great!

[windowphobe]

I'm 52 and single, but frankly, I'm too busy to bewail my lack of dates.

Here, anyway.

[Karried]

Anytime I'm in Bricktown or OKC attending games or going out to dinner, I always notice how many attractive people there are out and about .... I think it would be a great place for young professionals or college students to meet .. but even over 30 offers a lot of positives for younger people - like conversation, stability, cash and someone to buy beer LOL - but seriously, I wouldn't let the fact that you might be over 30 stop you - that's a definite plus!

[Curt]

Nah, Chicago is a great model for OKC!!! As is Denver, Seattle, Portland, Washington DC, ....

Chicago is the best all-around city in the nation, no question, and is a wonderful model for not only OKC but most who want that big city excitement/amenities with smaller city charms!!

I have to disagree with you.Having been there twice, I have no desire to go back.

[Dave Cook]

Interesting observations. Where on earth are you guys meeting all these women? Sherlocks?

There are single women here, no doubt....but I guess I'm stuck comparing OKC to the last place I called home....where the bars stayed open until 6am, most people under 35 were single, and us minorities were in short supply.