OKC's Image Issue

[Bunty]

I consider myself Republican (just throwing that out there), and yes, we have some bad folks in the light who certainly don't help our image, but you guys sure paint with a broad brush blaming all our image problems on conservative politicians (you can't paint all you want on Sally Kern though).

As far as Lankford goes, I didn't vote for him because I was afraid he'd bring nothing but a religious whacko view to serving. I've actually been quite surprised and pleased with him. I've met him and heard him speak a few times, I think he has Oklahoma's best interest in mind as far as supporting Oklahoma businesses.

Interesting how Sally Kern isn't in the news for her far right Christian outbursts any more. Maybe she got the impression doing that doesn't help her or the state much. For the delightful irony, it ought to be thrown in any news story concerning Sally Kern about how Oklahoma City has the only openly gay state legislator.

Lankford is definitely more articulate than the average member of Congress. He is considered more likely than many others for Republicans to grant him a more powerful position. If so, and if he uses it to put emphasis on the 3G issues, it could hurt the Republicans at the national level.

[bradh]

Maybe its selective hearing, but I hear Lankford discuss issues like budget, energy and business over any of the moral issues many conservatives pot bang over. That's encouraging, especially since it was a big fear of mine when he ran.

[KayneMo]

I'm not sure if this has been posted here before. It's a very nice short commercial by the Chickasaw Nation. I'm sure some of the video is stock footage but it's put together very nicely. I hope it is available outside the local area.

What a great video! Apparently it is shown outside of the local area because a friend of mine from Florida said he saw this on his television. I was quite surprised!

[adaniel]

I'm not sure if this has been posted here before. It's a very nice short commercial by the Chickasaw Nation. I'm sure some of the video is stock footage but it's put together very nicely. I hope it is available outside the local area.

This is a fantastic video, but they left out the part where Lisa Billy says, "We at the Chickasaw Nation are so proud of OKC, we are suing them for millions in water rights! Yay!"

[bradh]

It's all PR. There is definitely an intent to soften people's view of their stance, indirectly, in any of these spots. I hate to think that way, because it's a wonderfully done piece, but when you are married to a PR professional, you have a tendency to view things differently.

[Dubya61]

I think it's hilarious that the tribes advertise at all. Why do they advertise? Will they recruit more members that way? Disregarding the casino or tourism ads, are the tribes selling something in those ads?

[Snowman]

I think it's hilarious that the tribes advertise at all. Why do they advertise? Will they recruit more members that way? Disregarding the casino or tourism ads, are the tribes selling something in those ads?

If I remember correctly the ones I have seen the most ads like this from is Chocktaw and Chickasaw which are largely located in the southeast and south central respectively. So they probably do need to recruit some people with specialized skills from outside of there regional areas. I am a bit surprised to hears they are showing them that far out of state but they it may be part of a larger campaign in regions they have had success with getting people to move and stay.

Compare that to the ones from the Cherokee, who's population centers are much closer to Tulsa, seem to have been more about trying to promote playing down tribes verses Oklahoma or USA.

[soonerguru]

I think it's hilarious that the tribes advertise at all. Why do they advertise? Will they recruit more members that way? Disregarding the casino or tourism ads, are the tribes selling something in those ads?

The same reason Devon does -- image building. The tribes are major employers and want to educate the public. I find most of their advertising interesting.

[Praedura]

Came across an interesting blog by a young lady from New Jersey who has temporarily relocated to OKC.

The Road to Oklahoma

She's posted a bunch of nice pics -- Bricktown, the Zoo, (and herself... she's very cute!). And made some observations about her new home. Bugs, weather, and... the niceness factor.

The nice-ness- Really really nice. Everyone. No matter what. It's weird.
If you ask any employee for an item in any store... they walk you to it.

Every cashier has a conversation with you. I've been here for three weeks and haven't heard a car horn once. Nope, not once.
Is it possible to drive anywhere in New Jersey with out hearing a car horn?

Some pretty funny comments in her post. She also says that no one here uses their cellphone, which isn't my personal experience at all.


Source: The Road to Oklahoma: The weather, the stove, the bugs, and other things that confuse me about this state.

[catch22]

Came across an interesting blog by a young lady from New Jersey who has temporarily relocated to OKC.

The Road to Oklahoma

She's posted a bunch of nice pics -- Bricktown, the Zoo, (and herself... she's very cute!). And made some observations about her new home. Bugs, weather, and... the niceness factor.



Some pretty funny comments in her post. She also says that no one here uses their cellphone, which isn't my personal experience at all.


Source: The Road to Oklahoma: The weather, the stove, the bugs, and other things that confuse me about this state.

She hasn't been around me. If I'm not on my phone it must be dead or I am suspended mid air in an aluminum pipe traveling 530mph at 35,000 feet. Even then, I'm on it in airplane mode. It's an extension of my brain.

[Pete]

Trust me, people in OKC use their phones as much as they do here in California; even more so when you consider texting and talking while driving is strictly illegal here and ubiquitous in Oklahoma.


More and more, I really believe the issue here is with self-image more than anything else.

I assure you, I tell virtually everyone I know, "OKC is a real boom town" and I almost never get much surprise, let alone dispute or disbelief.

The Thunder alone has gone a long way to making everyone realize that OKC must be of a certain size and sophistication, otherwise we wouldn't have a great NBA team.

That paves the way for openness to all the other positive press we have been receiving.


To the extent some people will always view the middle part of the country of as nothing more than something to fly-over, you are just going to have to accept that pseudo superiority. But otherwise, people have embraced the idea that Oklahoma City is on the move much in the way Charlotte, Austin and Nashville are now seen completely differently than they were 20 years ago.


I'm beginning to think the bigger issue is going to be changing the mindset (and in the extreme, an inferiority complex) of a good portion of the locals.

[hoya]

As there are more fun things that locals enjoy doing, the inferiority complex will go away.

[Pete]

^

And in absolute fairness, whatever inferior complex there may be is improving pretty rapidly.

[hoya]

Oh it absolutely exists. I was born and raised here, and I remember everyone my age couldn't wait to leave OKC. I remember wanting to go to a "real" city. Bricktown and the Thunder have made a huge difference in how a lot of people in this city view it. I remember my mom being amazed at Bricktown and all there was to do when we went down there a few years ago.

[bchris02]

I think at this point, looking at the kind of things people say about OKC on national forums and in comments sections of national news articles that mention this city, the image issue is still there and by and large its political. OKC, in the minds of many blue staters, is synonymous with radical right wing conservatism. It's similar to how liberal politics is the first thing many people think of when they hear 'San Francisco' and conservative-leaning people may be a bit concerned if they could fit in there. I say these things as a libertarian-leaning Republican myself.

A lot of liberals who live here even believe that and feel they don't belong here. Truth or not, that is the perception you will see portrayed on national forums when OKC is mentioned and it scares potential newcomers, especially younger people who tend to be liberal. I think that perception will change with time.

[Pete]

I think most people understand that larger cities tend to be more progressive, even when they are located in very conservative states.

Texas gets way more press for their far right-wing politics but it doesn't seem to hold back their big cities in the slightest, and of course Austin is bastion of liberalism.

[bchris02]

I think most people understand that larger cities tend to be more progressive, even when they are located in very conservative states.

Texas gets way more press for their far right-wing politics but it doesn't seem to hold back their big cities in the slightest, and of course Austin is bastion of liberalism.

True, but in most red states, their blue urban areas are more at odds with their state politically than OKC is with Oklahoma. It would be different if OKC was a blue city in a sea of red but that isn't the case. Now what few people consider is why OKC remains so red when virtually every other urban area in the country is solid blue. OKC has an economy heavily based on government/the military and the energy sector. Harris County (Houston) and San Diego County California used to be that way pretty much until 2008 when they both started to swing blue.

[bradh]

Houston and San Diego swinging blue has zero to do with progressive thought/thinking

[Pete]

True, but in most red states, their blue urban areas are more at odds with their state politically than OKC is with Oklahoma. It would be different if OKC was a blue city in a sea of red but that isn't the case. Now what few people consider is why OKC remains so red when virtually every other urban area in the country is solid blue. OKC has an economy heavily based on government/the military and the energy sector. Harris County (Houston) and San Diego County California used to be that way pretty much until 2008 when they both started to swing blue.

That is certainly starting to change and will accelerate with more young people staying and more diversity in the area.

Same pattern as the other cities I mentioned.

[bradh]

You know not all young diverse people are "blue state" people, by the way. That's not a bad thing either like so many will say it is.

[Pete]

You know not all young diverse people are "blue state" people, by the way. That's not a bad thing either like so many will say it is.

Not saying any of that, just that the perception and assumption that all of OKC is ultra-conservative will change just like it does for most cities once they reach a certain size.

[HangryHippo]

you know not all young diverse people are "blue state" people, by the way. That's not a bad thing either like so many will say it is.

nm

[Teo9969]

That a city touted for its innovative self-imposed tax is categorically assumed to be a far right-wing cauldron is one of the funnier things to me about the perception of oKC.

Obviously there are different types of democrats, but even OKC people tend to be unaware that this state was controlled by democrats for how many decades?

This city and state do still have a strain of Midwestern leftism that is not found in Texas, from whom we seem to have adopted and with whom we seem to have developed many of our more recent political ideologies.

This definitely a conservative state and city...but it's not inextricably so

[bchris02]

I have a question, for those who are transplants or know people who have recently moved to OKC. My perception on this is a bit skewed by the posts on the City-Data forum as well as Thunder blogs where Seattleites still feel the need to constantly come in and bash OKC. If you take those two sources, it would seem that Oklahoma City is the city America loves to bash. I no longer have a City-Data account but when I did, I got a lot of very negative DMs when I posted that I was moving to OKC from Charlotte. My question, has OKC reached a point yet there this is somewhere people actually WANT to move? For instance, if a person had two job offers, one somewhere else and one in OKC that they would pick here even if they don't have ties to this place? Or, is this still a place that people move out of desperation due to the economy elsewhere? I mean nothing against OKC by asking this, I am just trying to correct my perception of this city's outside image if it is indeed wrong. Personally, I think the city's perception is important because as the nation urbanizes from coast to coast, OKC needs to be able to compete.

[Teo9969]

I have a question, for those who are transplants or know people who have recently moved to OKC. My perception on this is a bit skewed by the posts on the City-Data forum as well as Thunder blogs where Seattleites still feel the need to constantly come in and bash OKC. If you take those two sources, it would seem that Oklahoma City is the city America loves to bash. I no longer have a City-Data account but when I did, I got a lot of very negative DMs when I posted that I was moving to OKC from Charlotte. My question, has OKC reached a point yet there this is somewhere people actually WANT to move? For instance, if a person had two job offers, one somewhere else and one in OKC that they would pick here even if they don't have ties to this place? Or, is this still a place that people move out of desperation due to the economy elsewhere? I mean nothing against OKC by asking this, I am just trying to correct my perception of this city's outside image if it is indeed wrong. Personally, I think the city's perception is important because as the nation urbanizes from coast to coast, OKC needs to be able to compete.

It would depend on what the other city is. If their actual cities we could compete with, then it would probably depend on the tastes of the person and other things as well. The only cities in the US that are an island unto themselves are NYC, Chicago, and LA. If the job offers were OKC and Portland, those are two very different places. If politics plays a major factor in your decision making for where you live, then which direction you lean there, is going to bring favor to one city.

OKC is a short drive to Dallas, which probably helps. Home values and cost of living is going to play a factor. And then in terms of lifestyle, if these people are actually comparing places, it is going to depend on what they like.

But if people are choosing between 2 cities they have never been to before, then there's no real way to know. How often do you think about life in Colorado Springs or Columbus? I don't think people tend to actually think of other places that much, especially if they're not a big city that's constantly in the news. The vast majority of person throughout most of the US rather than having a negative opinion of OKC probably have no opinion of OKC.

I think for any informed person, OKC is now in a place where it can live up to its size and provide an enjoyable lifestyle for its citizens. 10 years ago, not so much...but now...I don't think it's an issue if people do the research.