El Reno

[SoonerBoy18]

I lived in El Reno, Oklahoma all my life and I realized that my home town is extremely slow at developing things for example; our basketball gym took almost 3 years to be completed, (2009-2011). And out by wallmart on Country Club Rd., its this big vacant ugly center where the old Wal Mart use to be, its basically an ugly building and a empty parking lot embaressing the city because its right off i-40. Its a wonderful small community to live in, just 20 min west of Oklahoma City, I just want to know why does it feel like El Reno is super slow when it comes other surrounding areas such as Yukon and Mustang, and Piedmont.

[Thunder]

Because its an embarrassing name?

[Of Sound Mind]

Because its an embarrassing name?

As we've come to expect, a well-reasoned response.

[MDot]

Call El Reno 911, maybe they can solve it.

[adaniel]

As we've come to expect, a well-reasoned response.

Yeah, maybe I missed the joke.

As far as El Reno is concerned, it seems like a nice town, but maybe in need of a little TLC and more opportunties. Besides the prison, what is a big employer out that way?

Truthfully all of the places that are in that outermost ring of commutable towns to OKC--El Reno, along with Chickasha, Purcell, Shawnee, and Guthrie--all strike me as a bit dumpy and depressed.

I know that sounds harsh and I really can't think of a reason why. Maybe because they are too close to OKC to attract their own economic development. OTOH they are too far away from OKC to be a viable bedroom community and all that entails, at least compared to cities like Edmond, MWC, Yukon, Moore, etc.

El Reno does have AMAZING onion burgers though.

[PennyQuilts]

I would imagine they don't have nearly the economic base of small towns closer to OKC. I never thought much of El Reno the whole time I was growing up/raising my family. Since we moved back home a couple of years ago, I notice it seems to be becoming much more a presence. It has a lot going for it, more than I realized until I started thinking about it.

[Thunder]

Penny, the only time we hear about El Reno is when Gary England says, "We have an EF5 in Reno Country."

[PennyQuilts]

Penny, the only time we hear about El Reno is when Gary England says, "We have an EF5 in Reno Country."

Well, I wish I could remember the exact quote, but when the tornado was threatening the casino, the weather guy yelled (paraphrase), "They aren't going to like it but you have GOT to get those people off those slot machines and into a closet!"

[SoonerBoy18]

Penny, the only time we hear about El Reno is when Gary England says, "We have an EF5 in Reno Country."

Sarcasm at its finest...and the name is NOT embaressing, its very unique.

[SoonerBoy18]

Yeah, maybe I missed the joke.

As far as El Reno is concerned, it seems like a nice town, but maybe in need of a little TLC and more opportunties. Besides the prison, what is a big employer out that way?

Truthfully all of the places that are in that outermost ring of commutable towns to OKC--El Reno, along with Chickasha, Purcell, Shawnee, and Guthrie--all strike me as a bit dumpy and depressed.

I know that sounds harsh and I really can't think of a reason why. Maybe because they are too close to OKC to attract their own economic development. OTOH they are too far away from OKC to be a viable bedroom community and all that entails, at least compared to cities like Edmond, MWC, Yukon, Moore, etc.

El Reno does have AMAZING onion burgers though.

Well said. That explains every thing, I was on this site that shows our top employers, one of them was the HighSchool, which is not very a top place to work. The historic downtown area just shows signs of needing a major facelift rather than being historic. And yes its a very "dumpy, depressed" on slow days such as sunday and around night time. The only time where it seems a nice place is during football season where the whole town comes together and support our team.

[ExPatriot]

El Reno, Guthrie, Purcell and Chickasha suffer because they are county seats, and county seats attracted folks that are government dependent. They're also the locations for county jails, and few good stories come from these venues.

Be reminded the media has significant influence on what a lot of people think- I've heard perception IS reality, when it is not. About 75% of all OKC on-air talent lives in Edmond, and few of them want to take a trip to the 'burbs unless something really bad happens...Like a killer gets arraigned. It is sickening how many cheezy stories are generated from soccer moms with 73034 addresses.

[OKCNDN]

El Reno lost a major employer with the Rock Island railroad closing in the early '80's. Also the Indian school at Concho provided over 120 full-time government jobs with benefits. This too closed, in 1983. El Reno has also lost a state employment office, cox cable office, Southwestern Bell office. These provided a small number of jobs but shows that employers have been busy leaving El Reno, not necessarily entering El Reno.

A big employer out El Reno way is the casino. But many of those workers come from west OKC.

And the old shopping center where the Wal-Mart used to be, the owner is located in California. That whole building is falling apart. The roof where the old Subway was located is caving in and the landlord won't do anything to fix it.

The tax district, which is where the new movie theater is, never took off. City leaders were expecting much more to be added. It didn't happen. The theater is the only thing there. I really think the city messed up when they put the theater out there. It's all by itself. A much better place would have been at Country Club and Elm. Many people I know didn't realize for years that El Reno had a new theater.

[mcca7596]

About 75% of all OKC on-air talent lives in Edmond, and few of them want to take a trip to the 'burbs unless something really bad happens...

Edmond is the "'burbs".

[rickself]

Thunder, it's always easier to throw stones from the outside.
I've lived in El Reno for close to 3 years. Before that - Mustang. And before that, Norman. I would not move back to either if my way was paid. People in El
Reno are the friendliest, have the most time to spend getting to know you, go out of their way to make you feel at home. But it is a poor community. El Reno is 11% Native American, 11% Hispanic and 11% Black. There isn't much for kids to do but you don't see them out vandalizing or terrorizing the neighborhoods. The only attractions are Fort Reno, Burger Days, and Lucky Star Casino. The city is trying to change that for the better. But don't knock the little towns just because you feel the need to pat yourself on the back and grin because you came up with another way to look insensitive and stupid.
There, I feel a little better now.

[Snowman]

I lived in El Reno, Oklahoma all my life and I realized that my home town is extremely slow at developing things for example; our basketball gym took almost 3 years to be completed, (2009-2011). And out by wallmart on Country Club Rd., its this big vacant ugly center where the old Wal Mart use to be, its basically an ugly building and a empty parking lot embaressing the city because its right off i-40. Its a wonderful small community to live in, just 20 min west of Oklahoma City, I just want to know why does it feel like El Reno is super slow when it comes other surrounding areas such as Yukon and Mustang, and Piedmont.

Three years for a city project is probably not the worst around here, it is just outside of where you live the planning, acquisition, site preparation and construction they were doing is harder to notice. Plus the economy around 2009 could have made them more cautious.

Really Norman is the only town that distance from OKC that has really prospered over the last fifty years and it had OU and several related businesses/organizations as major economic drivers and population magnets. Looking at the population growth in Yukon/Mustang/OKC near those two it has been at least 10x over the last ten years vs El Reno, from the style of developments in housing in El Reno it looks like it may be true 20 to 40 years before that as well. The growing population is what would have allowed the cities to get the suburban big box stores, chain store and restaurant growth; which leads to more people moving there and more taxes payed which can then go to amenities, staffing and maintenance. Without the population growth the cities could not have convinced the businesses to develop their (not to mention the turnpike put a sign more traffic here over time).

Truthfully all of the places that are in that outermost ring of commutable towns to OKC--El Reno, along with Chickasha, Purcell, Shawnee, and Guthrie--all strike me as a bit dumpy and depressed.

I know that sounds harsh and I really can't think of a reason why. Maybe because they are too close to OKC to attract their own economic development. OTOH they are too far away from OKC to be a viable bedroom community and all that entails, at least compared to cities like Edmond, MWC, Yukon, Moore, etc.

It seems like they are just outside of the sweet spot for bedroom community, but unfortunately given how most rural cities of similar population are doing I doubt that more distance would help.

[SoonerBoy18]

This is what really ticked me off about the people here in El Reno:

El Reno had a bond issue in October 2011, they were going to build a brand new high school on COuntry Club Rd. in the open field between Wal Mart and Redlands Community College. It was going to be a state of the art type of deal with all new computers, smart boards, etc. Also in the deal, they were going to build on to two elementry schools since all schools here are over crowded. With that being said they were going to have to take two other Elementry schools offline.

In order to get the funds to do this, property tax were going to increase just 6%, the city needed a super majority vote in order to pass this bond issue. They needed 60.1%... We got 51.1% with less than 2,000 votes.

It really upset me along with the teachers here because the problem is still here; Lincoln Elementary is in super bad condition and schools are over copacity.

But no, the people here apparently were upset about the location of where the new high school was going to be, and upset about the tax increase.

It just seems to me that the people here are affraid of change and its really sad.

[SoonerBoy18]

In addition to the bond issue, people were going around town posting signs that said "Know the Facts..Vote NO" -- I would like to know, what are the facts that I didnt know??!.. If they were why didnt someone step up to the plate and tell us.

[OKCNDN]

This is what really ticked me off about the people here in El Reno:

El Reno had a bond issue in October 2011, they were going to build a brand new high school on COuntry Club Rd. in the open field between Wal Mart and Redlands Community College. It was going to be a state of the art type of deal with all new computers, smart boards, etc. Also in the deal, they were going to build on to two elementry schools since all schools here are over crowded. With that being said they were going to have to take two other Elementry schools offline.

In order to get the funds to do this, property tax were going to increase just 6%, the city needed a super majority vote in order to pass this bond issue. They needed 60.1%... We got 51.1% with less than 2,000 votes.

It really upset me along with the teachers here because the problem is still here; Lincoln Elementary is in super bad condition and schools are over copacity.

But no, the people here apparently were upset about the location of where the new high school was going to be, and upset about the tax increase.

It just seems to me that the people here are affraid of change and its really sad.

It was a good decision by the voters. A school zone on the busiest street in El Reno? Kids crossing that street during the busiest parts of the day? Should not be allowed to happen.

El Reno does need new schools. But just no this plan.

[rickself]

I think it shows the apethy of the voters. Look at the school scores and it shows, like SoonerBoy18 states, El Reno does not want to move ahead, kinda stuck in the 60's 70's. As far as Country Club, I believe that once Braum's moves to their new site in front of Wal-Mart and Chelino's moves in to the old Braum's site, Country Club is going to have be widened to put in turn lanes and a traffic light, not a 4-way stop, at Elm is necessary. It's necessary now,but I'm sure they're wantingto do this all at one time. With the new school, one would have to assume that they wouldn't leave Country Club in the same state it is now - bad and getting worse.

[rcjunkie]

It was a good decision by the voters. A school zone on the busiest street in El Reno? Kids crossing that street during the busiest parts of the day? Should not be allowed to happen.

El Reno does need new schools. But just no this plan.

How many High School kids walk to school ?

[ljbab728]

That is a poor reason to reject the school. Norman High is on a very busy Main Street. It's never been a problem.

[Just the facts]

El Reno should use a new high school to help revitalize their downtown instead of creating more rural sprawl. Build the high school as close to the center of town as they can. Heck, they could even build a downtown athletic complex for football, basketball, and baseball. They could turn downtown into something that can compete with Wal-Mart.

[kevinpate]

That is a poor reason to reject the school. Norman High is on a very busy Main Street. It's never been a problem.

+1. Talk about a non-issue being used as cover for whatever.

[SoonerBoy18]

The new High School would have a +100 for the juniors and seniors. More students would be able to take free college classes at Redlands since it would have been walking distance away. Most students here cant even take them now since they dont have the transportation.

Once the word got out in El Reno about a new high school, a lot of the residents here quickly said "The city is just mad because Yukon is constanlty moving ahead of them"

Lots of people here talk about Yukon's success since we are literally 10-13 minutes away, and use to be big rivals with them before Mustang came along.

[Midtowner]

I'm in El Reno frequently. I can hardly believe that highschool building, as old as it is, is anywhere near adequate. That said, it is certainly a central location. The new proposed location is on the eastern edge of town. Isn't there quite a bit of vacant land by the existing school complex? Maybe where a school used to stand? Right there by that old WPA pedestrian underpass? How big a campus were they planning on building?