Oklahoma City, In the Press

[HOT ROD]

and OKC just behind Seattle.

[dcsooner]

These rankings are good for promoting the City, but too bad salaries are so low in OKC. City needs to improve its job categories to more high paying positions that attract more college educated, young people who with disposable income drive demand for services, products, better stores etc. Also home values appear stagnant. Low pay, low skill jobs may be holding OKC back from more impressive growth.

[bchris02]

These rankings are good for promoting the City, but too bad salaries are so low in OKC. City needs to improve its job categories to more high paying positions that attract more college educated, young people who with disposable income drive demand for services, products, better stores etc. Also home values appear stagnant. Low pay, low skill jobs may be holding OKC back from more impressive growth.

The city is progressing in this area with the GE Research Center and the growth out at Boeing, but I agree that OKC needs a more diverse economy, especially on the white collar side. It would really be nice to see some wage increases around here. A lot of salaries here are much lower than the same job in DFW or Austin. The cost of living is higher down there but its not enough to account for the difference in wages. Personally I think that is one of a few things holding OKC back from really booming in 2015.

[Rover]

I may have missed this from a month ago, but Devon Center is a finalist for the Urban Land Institute Global Excellence Award. It is one of 22 from around the world...one of 11 from the U.S.

Devon Energy Center Finalist for ULI Global Excellence Award - ULI Oklahoma

[adaniel]

#29 out of 200 in the most recent Forbes Best City for Business and Careers list. Not bad.

Graphic: The 10 Best And Worst Cities For Job Growth

[zookeeper]

#29 out of 200 in the most recent Forbes Best City for Business and Careers list. Not bad.

Graphic: The 10 Best And Worst Cities For Job Growth

Not bad at all. I was really surprised to see all the Florida cities. I would have expected Naples, maybe. But six in the top ten? I was surprised.

[adaniel]

^
I was surprised by that as well. Although the thing with Florida is there may be plenty of jobs but they by and large do not pay that well. Chalk it up to the major industries there (tourism, among others) and the whole "sunshine tax" effect.

Also, Denver notwithstanding, you can definitely see a downshifting of the major energy hubs. Houston has always been in the top 10 or so with these lists, but they are now 45 out of 200? Same with Ft Worth, Tulsa, New Orleans, Anchorage, etc. Personally I expected OKC to rank much lower for this reason.

[rlewis]

Here's another positive list to be on. Oklahoma City is considered the #5 friendliest city in the U.S (and the least snobby and rude). Ironically, it is also considered the least stylish city in the nation as well.

Travel Ideas: Friendliest Cities in America

[Dustin]

BancFirst made #10 on Forbes Best Banks in America.

Full List: America's Best And Worst Banks 2015

[baralheia]

BOK Financial made #34, as well. Not as impressive as BancFirst's showing, but still fairly high - all things considered.

[adaniel]

Nice little blurb in the Dallas Morning News this weekend:

5 fabulous bars in Oklahoma City | Dallas Morning News

[HOT ROD]

interesting comments as well, perhaps we'll get more and more Dallasites to come up to OKC and enjoy what the city has to offer.

[Plutonic Panda]

Best Trips 2015 -- National Geographic Traveler

[Plutonic Panda]

25 Cities Worth Moving to If You Want to Launch a Business

OKC is number 1

[shawnw]

Nice little blurb in the Dallas Morning News this weekend:

5 fabulous bars in Oklahoma City | Dallas Morning News

Two in Plaza, three on 10th... interesting considering 10th's youth

[PhiAlpha]

Tonight some famous burrito chef from NYC made a lunchbox on the Tonight Show and cited Edna's in Oklahoma. Very random but cool.

[sooner88]

Tonight some famous burrito chef from NYC made a lunchbox on the Tonight Show and cited Edna's in Oklahoma. Very random but cool.

^^^^^ Danny Bowien who started Mission Chinese Food and Mission Cantina

[AP]

Haha some famous burrito chef. He is from OKC.

[HangryHippo]

Some burrito chef - that cracked me up, Phi! Danny Bowien has quite the following. Here's a blurb from Food & Wine on him.

[Urbanized]

Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese has been called the best food in NYC by Anthony Bordain, who also claims they have "the best chicken wings in recorded history." Bordain has had Bowien on his shows a number of times, including as a tour guide for a San Francisco episode. SF is where the first Mission Chinese is located and where Bowien got his culinary start after leaving OKC. He reps OKC pretty often and has been back here to do a pop up food concept with Jonathan Stranger.

Miley Cyrus was also on last night's episode hawking the new record she just made with The Flaming Lips. She mentioned that Wayne was hanging out with her and was backstage at the time. I was curious as to whether he and Bowien were comparing notes on Edna's. Fallon professed his love for the Lips AND name checked Edna's (big night for OKC). By the way, the Lips will be performing with Cyrus on SNL tomorrow night.

[Urbanized]

Some burrito chef - that cracked me up, Phi! Danny Bowien has quite the following. Here's a blurb from Food & Wine on him.

From that link:

ASPIRATION: In the next five years, he’d like to open restaurants in locations as diverse as Paris, Brooklyn and Oklahoma City—his hometown.

That comment was from 2013, so he'd better get busy...

[PhiAlpha]

Some burrito chef - that cracked me up, Phi! Danny Bowien has quite the following. Here's a blurb from Food & Wine on him.

Haha, that's what I get for watching 5 minutes of the show.

[adaniel]

Danny Bowien was one of the main chefs who put on the OK Chefs Relief after the Moore tornado (he himself is a Westmoore grad). I know people who are close to his family, most of whom still live in this area, and he was quite serious about eventually putting a restaurant here.

[Martin]

How Oklahoma Declared War on Obesity?and What's Happened Since

[HOT ROD]

This is interesting, shows OKC is actually quite diverse and LEADS the nation in the "Other" category.

http://priceonomics.com/how-diverse-is-your-city/

Very interesting to see how white Seattle is, and especially Portland.