OKC's Image Issue

[mcca7596]

You want the image to change? Well,get medical marijuana legalized in Ok. and BAM!

BTW,no agenda here as I don't smoke it.
But it would never pass in Ok. The Churchers would go nuts and kill it.

That would do the trick!

[BoulderSooner]

You want the image to change? Well,get medical marijuana legalized in Ok. and BAM!

Back in the 70s I worked for a man that had stomach cancer. You know the only thing that helped him through the day? Yep,marijuana. He smoked it in a regular pipe throughout the day whenever he needed it. He told me that his doctor had told him to try it because it was helping other cancer patients. He was no druggie just a hard working guy that put in sprinkler systems all over the north side of OKC. He smoked it till the day he died. Great guy.

BTW,no agenda here as I don't smoke it.
But it would never pass in Ok. The Churchers would go nuts and kill it.

never a great idea to pass things that are against federal law

[JAW]

Whatever problems OKC has image wise stems from the limited exposure our city and state have with the "outside" world. There are not that many reasons for people to visit Oklahoma. We have solid but unspectacular universities, compared to the NE and west coast. We don't have many fortune 500 companies located in state. We have no mountains to ski or beaches to surf. Our airports are irrelevant in the transportation of people across the country. Whatever tourism exists in our state, really is not that unique. In other words, what we have to offer, just about every other state has to offer--casinos, lakes, native American history...pretty standard across the board. There are only a handful of traits/objects/locations that we can present to the outside world and say, "Come to Oklahoma to see this, cause you can't see it anywhere else"...and some of those are rather tragic, such as the Bombing Memorial, or bland, like the Prairie Grass reserve near Pawnee (takes a rare tourist who will pass up using travel funds to go to a beach and instead use it to see endangered prairie grass).

People don't see Oklahoma for themselves, thus they are comfortable relying on heresy or bias to judge our state. And we have a bad expat population of disaffected Okies who badmouth our state to anyone who can hear, usually making the same gripes that we are sick of hearing about--too religious, too conservative, too fat, too boring, too flat, nothing to do, too spread out, ect. Of course the main reason people leave OK is due to lack of quality jobs--bring more businesses here, more middle-to-high income businesses, improve the diversity of industry here, and people won't leave to badmouth the state. And in doing so, the city and state have more tax revenue for MAPS 4 through 10 to build things worth building.

Barring a miracle revelation that suddenly makes Oklahoma an obvious tourist destination--like the Heavener runestones validated, or the so called Anubis cave revealed to be actual Egyptian hieroglyphics, or Cibola the city of Gold uncovered in some cave or cavern, or the discovery of a huge underground cavern network that trumps the Monster Cave in Kentucky, or actual documentation of Bigfoot in SE Oklahoma, or the discovery of the largest and best preserved collection of dinosaur prints in the world, or these earthquakes create some volcanos ala Paricutin in Mexico that just emerge from nowhere (with no one getting hurt, hopefully) and create natural phenomena worth seeing, or all of the above--barring such miracles, everything our city and state has to offer will be manmade. It will have to result from creativity, planning, money, audaciousness, boldness...and these offerings must surpass what anyone can get in Dallas, or San Antonio, or Memphis, or Kansas City, or Indianapolis, ect.

Then, our city can draw people here to see something that can't see anywhere else, do something that can't really do anywhere else, and then they go home and praise what they experienced, and make plans to return. But we tend to get into a "keeping up with the Joneses" mindset instead of "surpassing the Joneses." It's not good enough to just build an urban canal, when its 65% as attractive as the one in San Antonio. People interested in seeing a canal would just go to San Antonio--they have the Alamo, a famous cave with bats, and their own space needle there. We need to build a canal that is 130% as attractive as San Antonio's canal. Our mindset needs to be surpassing, not just catching up. We are the so called "Pioneer" state, that should be a motto that we are proud to embrace.

[mmonroe]

[Eddie1]

Whatever problems OKC has image wise stems from the limited exposure our city and state have with the "outside" world. There are not that many reasons for people to visit Oklahoma. We have solid but unspectacular universities, compared to the NE and west coast. We don't have many fortune 500 companies located in state. We have no mountains to ski or beaches to surf. Our airports are irrelevant in the transportation of people across the country. Whatever tourism exists in our state, really is not that unique. In other words, what we have to offer, just about every other state has to offer--casinos, lakes, native American history...pretty standard across the board. There are only a handful of traits/objects/locations that we can present to the outside world and say, "Come to Oklahoma to see this, cause you can't see it anywhere else"...and some of those are rather tragic, such as the Bombing Memorial, or bland, like the Prairie Grass reserve near Pawnee (takes a rare tourist who will pass up using travel funds to go to a beach and instead use it to see endangered prairie grass).

People don't see Oklahoma for themselves, thus they are comfortable relying on heresy or bias to judge our state. And we have a bad expat population of disaffected Okies who badmouth our state to anyone who can hear, usually making the same gripes that we are sick of hearing about--too religious, too conservative, too fat, too boring, too flat, nothing to do, too spread out, ect. Of course the main reason people leave OK is due to lack of quality jobs--bring more businesses here, more middle-to-high income businesses, improve the diversity of industry here, and people won't leave to badmouth the state. And in doing so, the city and state have more tax revenue for MAPS 4 through 10 to build things worth building.

Barring a miracle revelation that suddenly makes Oklahoma an obvious tourist destination--like the Heavener runestones validated, or the so called Anubis cave revealed to be actual Egyptian hieroglyphics, or Cibola the city of Gold uncovered in some cave or cavern, or the discovery of a huge underground cavern network that trumps the Monster Cave in Kentucky, or actual documentation of Bigfoot in SE Oklahoma, or the discovery of the largest and best preserved collection of dinosaur prints in the world, or these earthquakes create some volcanos ala Paricutin in Mexico that just emerge from nowhere (with no one getting hurt, hopefully) and create natural phenomena worth seeing, or all of the above--barring such miracles, everything our city and state has to offer will be manmade. It will have to result from creativity, planning, money, audaciousness, boldness...and these offerings must surpass what anyone can get in Dallas, or San Antonio, or Memphis, or Kansas City, or Indianapolis, ect.

Then, our city can draw people here to see something that can't see anywhere else, do something that can't really do anywhere else, and then they go home and praise what they experienced, and make plans to return. But we tend to get into a "keeping up with the Joneses" mindset instead of "surpassing the Joneses." It's not good enough to just build an urban canal, when its 65% as attractive as the one in San Antonio. People interested in seeing a canal would just go to San Antonio--they have the Alamo, a famous cave with bats, and their own space needle there. We need to build a canal that is 130% as attractive as San Antonio's canal. Our mindset needs to be surpassing, not just catching up. We are the so called "Pioneer" state, that should be a motto that we are proud to embrace.

Excellent points, very well written. You have provided a clear, honest appraisal of this city.

[LandRunOkie]

You want the image to change? Well,get medical marijuana legalized in Ok. and BAM!

Here are some interesting facts about medical marijuana:
-Current opinion polls show 70% of Americans are in favor of it, this is a rapid increase. Just ten years ago, less than half of people polled were in favor of it, if memory serves.
-This doesn't mean that 70% of voters are in favor of it. The average voter is much older than the average person capable of voting. This is because old people vote at much higher rates.

My personal view is that medical marijuana will become law in Oklahoma when the baby boomers start thinning out and Generation X ers are the new old people. This would be about year 2030.

[OKCisOK4me]

I think JAW JABBER summed it up. Close the thread.

[dmoor82]

I think just in the past 5-10 years OKC's image has done a total 180 and is just now busting out Nationaly!The Thunder and the sheer amounts of $ that the coc have Nationally invested into ad spots DO grab SOME peoples attention!I say in 20 years if OKC keeps up this momentum,We will have a far less negative vibe or feeback from people,but it will take decades of progress to make this happen,but the stereo types will always be there for our great State and city!

[Bellaboo]

In todays DOK editorials, a little blurb about OKC, Tampa and Indianapolis gaining big league status in the latest issue of World magazine.

[okcpulse]

Whatever problems OKC has image wise stems from the limited exposure our city and state have with the "outside" world. There are not that many reasons for people to visit Oklahoma. We have solid but unspectacular universities, compared to the NE and west coast. We don't have many fortune 500 companies located in state. We have no mountains to ski or beaches to surf. Our airports are irrelevant in the transportation of people across the country. Whatever tourism exists in our state, really is not that unique. In other words, what we have to offer, just about every other state has to offer--casinos, lakes, native American history...pretty standard across the board. There are only a handful of traits/objects/locations that we can present to the outside world and say, "Come to Oklahoma to see this, cause you can't see it anywhere else"...and some of those are rather tragic, such as the Bombing Memorial, or bland, like the Prairie Grass reserve near Pawnee (takes a rare tourist who will pass up using travel funds to go to a beach and instead use it to see endangered prairie grass).

People don't see Oklahoma for themselves, thus they are comfortable relying on heresy or bias to judge our state. And we have a bad expat population of disaffected Okies who badmouth our state to anyone who can hear, usually making the same gripes that we are sick of hearing about--too religious, too conservative, too fat, too boring, too flat, nothing to do, too spread out, ect. Of course the main reason people leave OK is due to lack of quality jobs--bring more businesses here, more middle-to-high income businesses, improve the diversity of industry here, and people won't leave to badmouth the state. And in doing so, the city and state have more tax revenue for MAPS 4 through 10 to build things worth building.

Barring a miracle revelation that suddenly makes Oklahoma an obvious tourist destination--like the Heavener runestones validated, or the so called Anubis cave revealed to be actual Egyptian hieroglyphics, or Cibola the city of Gold uncovered in some cave or cavern, or the discovery of a huge underground cavern network that trumps the Monster Cave in Kentucky, or actual documentation of Bigfoot in SE Oklahoma, or the discovery of the largest and best preserved collection of dinosaur prints in the world, or these earthquakes create some volcanos ala Paricutin in Mexico that just emerge from nowhere (with no one getting hurt, hopefully) and create natural phenomena worth seeing, or all of the above--barring such miracles, everything our city and state has to offer will be manmade. It will have to result from creativity, planning, money, audaciousness, boldness...and these offerings must surpass what anyone can get in Dallas, or San Antonio, or Memphis, or Kansas City, or Indianapolis, ect.

Then, our city can draw people here to see something that can't see anywhere else, do something that can't really do anywhere else, and then they go home and praise what they experienced, and make plans to return. But we tend to get into a "keeping up with the Joneses" mindset instead of "surpassing the Joneses." It's not good enough to just build an urban canal, when its 65% as attractive as the one in San Antonio. People interested in seeing a canal would just go to San Antonio--they have the Alamo, a famous cave with bats, and their own space needle there. We need to build a canal that is 130% as attractive as San Antonio's canal. Our mindset needs to be surpassing, not just catching up. We are the so called "Pioneer" state, that should be a motto that we are proud to embrace.

On a side note, we DID have people coming from all over the country and in some cases the world to go on storm chasing tours, but once they found out that tornadoes don't touch down on a daily basis and with every single thunderstorm, the demand fizzled quickly.

[okcpulse]

I will say this, Oklahoma City is starting to get a very positive image in Houston among the general public thanks to the Thunder. Any time I had my Thunder shirt on, I usually here "OKC? As in the OKC Thunder?? KD and Westbrook are my boys!!"

Then they would mention their ties to OKC and how they can't wait to go up and see a game. This has happened on four occasions. During the conversation when I tell people I am moving to OKC this year, the common reaction has been they hear it's a nice place.

[Bunty]

Well, when you have a Oklahoma reality show like Mudcats being watched by millions of Americans, what can you say? lol...

Hopefully, people after seeing that won't think Oklahoma is the dust bowl.

[Bunty]

I will say this, Oklahoma City is starting to get a very positive image in Houston among the general public thanks to the Thunder. Any time I had my Thunder shirt on, I usually here "OKC? As in the OKC Thunder?? KD and Westbrook are my boys!!"

Then they would mention their ties to OKC and how they can't wait to go up and see a game. This has happened on four occasions. During the conversation when I tell people I am moving to OKC this year, the common reaction has been they hear it's a nice place.

Yeah, a number of outsiders probably think Oklahoma doesn't have a bad image, rather they think no image at all, a blank. It's good that Thunder can change that by giving Oklahoma and Oklahoma City a positive image.

[Bunty]

never a great idea to pass things that are against federal law

But the key to this are medical marijuana laws that legalize it unconstitutional? Probably not. Oklahoma would rather blow tax money on legal fees trying to defend unconstitutional laws it passes. By the way, the church people didn't go nuts and kill lotteries, casinos and tattoos in Oklahoma.

[Bunty]

Progressiveness has absolutely nothing to do with liberal or conservative.

It's about being forward-thinking and innovative; about strong initiates to attract businesses and help them flourish and about a large commitment to improving the quality of life through education, recreation, transportation, etc.

And considering the abysmal ratings the state gets in just about every health and education category, more progressive thinking and action is sorely needed.

There are lots of states in the middle of the country that do a much better job in all these areas.

Oklahomans who want more jobs need to ask themselves why Georgia, instead of Oklahoma, got the huge Kia car factory, even though Oklahoma has experience with having a car assembly plant in the state.

[Bunty]

Work on the second one will largely take care of the first. At the same time, the first can only change so much until we take care of the second.


I'm not saying we should aim for Colorado or Connecticut; buy why can't we get to at least the middle ground occupied by states like Kansas and Iowa?

As long was we are continually keeping company with Mississippi and Louisiana when it comes to health and education, a good part of any bad rep will be completely self-inflicted.

If it requires raising taxes at the state level to get that done, forget it. State laws make doing that very difficult. Instead, people more often need to try raising taxes at the city and county levels, if they think that would work to bring about a higher standard of living, while hopefully further paying off in attracting business and industry. MAPS proves how well doing that works. Of course, Republicans will be quick to tell you that they have never heard of raising taxes in order to bring about prosperity.

[Bunty]

could not disagree more with this post

Why? Is it because it's the LOW income religious conservatives who changed their party registration to Democrat so they could vote for Randall Terry? Or do political experts believe those were real Democrat votes?

Where are the progressives in Oklahoma, other than in OKC where Councilman Shadid and new State Sen. McAffrey live?

[Roadhawg]

"Oklahoma ranked No. 1 state in prescription painkiller abuse" Doesn't help OK image any.

Neither does web sits that say OKC is "3% safer that other cities in the US" http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ok/...ma-city/crime/

http://www.cityrating.com/crime-stat...homa-city.html

[Bunty]

"Oklahoma ranked No. 1 state in prescription painkiller abuse" Doesn't help OK image any.

What are they doing about it? I guess lawmakers thought a bigger drug problem in Oklahoma was people fooling around with hashish, so last year they passed a law allowing up to life in prison for making it.

Oklahoma is rated a miserable no. 14 for suicide rate. But cutting the income tax has become a highly important and noble work at the State Capitol. I'm against it, because we've already been slowly cutting the state income tax since Keating was governor, and it doesn't work good in forcing tax revenues to go up. Except in a few spotty places, like the new part of I-40 in OKC, no wonder state highways and bridges, overall, don't seem better since Keating.

[NoOkie]

Oklahomans who want more jobs need to ask themselves why Georgia, instead of Oklahoma, got the huge Kia car factory, even though Oklahoma has experience with having a car assembly plant in the state.

The south is very popular among foreign automakers for putting US based manufacturing plants. I think they put it in Georgia because of super lax labor laws, proximity to suppliers in Alabama and some aggressive tax breaks.

Also, that's the area I'm from and I'm glad they got something. The textile mills have been vanishing for years, and unemployment in Troup county is brutal(Was as high as 14%, currently at 10% as of end of last year.)

[Snowman]

I thing the governor or mayor was stating that having a port was a factor due to the model(s) they would be producing were popular overseas and would be exported. Not that what is being told to the local political leaders or press has to be the real reasons.

[ThomPaine]

This is my first post. I just found the site a few months ago and check in when I can. Interesting topic, as I’m currently away from home and have been telling people about what OK has to offer. I’ve had the opportunity to live on both coasts and travel across the US, but have primarily made Oklahoma my home since I was in HS 20 some years ago.

How I view and attempt to sell OK: Exciting changes to our metro areas; friendly people; great economic outlook; interesting and very diverse terrain and natural beauty; temperate climate (I downplay the wind/tornadoes).

Here are the issues I ALWAYS get asked about: flat terrain/no trees; tornadoes; trailer parks; people (either “good people” or “right-wing whackos”).

So, from my perspective, here are the issues:

#1 – OKC and Tulsa images are fine. Pay no attention to Charles Barkley; he’s an entertainer, analyst, washed up athlete, and poor golfer. Our two large metro areas are true gems, and you should highlight them when possible. If people come into town for business, take them to the places you want to highlight.

#2 – Oklahomans are the number one thing the state has going for it. The people here are genuinely friendly, and will do anything in the world for you.

#2a – BUT, they have to get to know you first. We all know fundamentalist, conservative, right-wing people who would LITERALLY defend to the death, a neighbor who happened to be atheist, liberal, left-wing, and maybe even homosexual, but only if they know you. (Then it’s almost like: “Well, you know, Cameron’s got some serious issues, God bless him, but he’s a pretty good neighbor.”) The problem is outsiders never get to see that side of Oklahomans unless they are forced to relocate here.

Once people move here, they usually don’t want to leave. I have personally spoken to two families here on the east coast, who are moving BACK to OK after jobs took them away for a few years. Over time, more and more people with varying political views will move in, and sometime, within the next 8 or 12 years, the Democratic Party might actually carry a single county in a national election!

[ShiroiHikari]

Oklahoma isn't as terrible as people say, but it's not perfect, either. I've been living here most of my life, and there are a lot of things to like about the OKC metro area, and it has gotten so much nicer than it was when I was a kid (I'm 29). However, there's still a lot of room for improvement. Oklahoma shouldn't settle for just being "OK".

Let's not overlook the fact that our state government is pretty fricking baffling. Like some of you have said already, the national media picks up on the crazy bizarro laws they try to pass and don't cover the rest of the story, so people get an incomplete portrait.

Also, there's the fact that we keep showing up on "worst" lists such as prescription painkiller abuse, obesity, education, smoking, etc. Without proper context, the meth problem and the painkiller problem both seem to imply that life here isn't so great, when really it's more complicated than that.

I agree that we need a way to encourage more forward-thinking people to stay/come here. It's not that we don't have forward-thinking people-- they're just not in the state government, unfortunately.

[Roadhawg]

What's the proper context of being the #1 abuser of pain meds, making the consumption of a fetus illegal, other crazy laws, poor education, obesity and health?

I've lived here for 4 years and I do like OKC and OK but you need to quit electing crazy folks that come up with these stupid laws that make OK look like the home state of The John Birch Society. There are many other issues affecting the state, listed above, but the politicians seem to focus on the absurd. jmho

[MikeOKC]

I just wanted to chime in here and shoot down any ridiculous ideas that our city's image has anything to do with the lack of an "African-American" scene or "Urban" radio. The whole "Urban" radio is simply the entertainment option for thugs. Listen to the lyrics. Much of it is racist, sexist, violent, and is definitely better suited for DC than Oklahoma City. I'm always concerned when I see young people, of whatever color, being lured in by these thugs who claim to be "musicians." The thump-thump-thump bass of "urban" radio (that has to be played at full volume) is one of the single most irritating things to deal with - especially at 2:30 in the morning. If wanting to keep that whole gangsta crowd out of Oklahoma City hurts our image - bring it on. Don't Detroit my Oklahoma City.