Night Food Market in Downtown OKC

[Steve]

BTW: this is a pretty bad diversion for this thread. I'm going to let that last post be my last ...

[dankrutka]

Just to be clear, there are a ton of people in OKC that appreciate what you do, Steve. You actually follow through on stories and try to be fair. We can't ask for more. Thanks.

[Steve]

Thanks Kilgore. I'm not feeling defensive here, and I'm hoping I'm not coming off that way. But I'm sincere about urging folks to contact the editors and to voice their complaints directly. We see the same discussion with restaurants... if you don't like the food, or service was bad, let the manager or owner know! I'm basically urging folks to take the same approach with various news orgs, including The Oklahoman. If you don't like that KWTV nudged out Gan Matthews, call KWTV and let them know! If you think The Oklahoman has failed in an area of coverage, call the top editors and let them know! If you think I suck, and I'm not responsive to what you think is valid criticism, then call my editor and let her know. I love OKC Talk; I know it is well read. But it's not an adequate substitute for direct communication. And now I've violated my last promise...

[dankrutka]

Point taken. People are too quick to complain without even trying to do something to change an undesirable situation. Happens in life all the time. People complain behind your back instead of constructively addressing it to your face. It's a cowards way to live. For a supposed democratic nation (I know we're technically a republic, but we are democratic at our core), a lot of people don't ever think to take action on an issue...

[Edgar]

Thank God for the internets and the Gazette, and Steve.

[Larry OKC]

Something Steve has pointed out and I am taking it to heart, is that even though it may seem like contacting the editors or the politicians seems pointless sometimes, it isn't any more pointless or time consuming than coming on these threads and going on our rants. So I am going to start again.

Oh, and when they do something you like, let them know that too.

[soonerguru]

Something Steve has pointed out and I am taking it to heart, is that even though it may seem like contacting the editors or the politicians seems pointless sometimes, it isn't any more pointless or time consuming than coming on these threads and going on our rants. So I am going to start again.

Oh, and when they do something you like, let them know that too.

Steve makes a good point, but I think it's actually more productive to criticize the Oklahoman here, where your critique is uncensored and fairly widely read, than to issue a plaint to an editor at the Oklahoman who will bury your criticism from public view and completely ignore you -- especially when the ownership of the paper is not going to change the way it does business. It's simply not going to happen.

The Oklahoman has made modest improvements over the years but it's still a disappointing journalistic enterprise. If it were a university it would have trouble receiving accreditation. It is what it is and it's not going to change unless it's sold to people who actually care about quality journalism. I've said for years I couldn't give a crap whether or not the Oklahoman is "locally owned," as local ownership has been used as an excuse by the ownership to get intricately involved in every aspect of "running" the city and state. That is a bridge too far. I would rather our newspaper be run by people who aren't going to involve themselves in every freaking city council race and dogcatcher election. Give me a newspaper that is at least one or two steps removed over this inkwell banana regime any day.

None of this takes away from the generally high quality work Steve does, of course, but he is a very rare exception.

As for the Gazette, if it weren't here OKC would be a cultural wasteland, but its standards could be higher. It offers the occasionally strong investigative piece here and there but could be far more hard hitting and / or edgy than it is.

[ljbab728]

Steve makes a good point, but I think it's actually more productive to criticize the Oklahoman here, where your critique is uncensored and fairly widely read, than to issue a plaint to an editor at the Oklahoman who will bury your criticism from public view and completely ignore you -- especially when the ownership of the paper is not going to change the way it does business. It's simply not going to happen.

I still agree more with Steve. When you see your complaints here and get some immediate feed back it may make you feel good, but it really accomplishes very little in most cases. These threads are not widely read. There are a core who visit here regularly and read most posts but it's an insignificant number overall. There is not a person who I talk to personally who even knows this forum exists. You may occasionally get someone who is in a position to accomplish something who visits here and reacts but I wouldn't count on that from the newspaper other than Steve. I think going direct to the source should always be the first option when voicing complaints or opinions.

[Thunder]

I still agree more with Steve. When you see your complaints here and get some immediate feed back it may make you feel good, but it really accomplishes very little in most cases. These threads are not widely read. There are a core who visit here regularly and read most posts but it's an insignificant number overall. There is not a person who I talk to personally who even knows this forum exists. You may occasionally get someone who is in a position to accomplish something who visits here and reacts but I wouldn't count on that from the newspaper other than Steve. I think going direct to the source should always be the first option when voicing complaints or opinions.

I disagree with your statement. This forum is widely read/viewed by thousands daily. Most of them do not register, but they have complete access to everything posted on here. If complaints was sent to The Oklahoman privately, like the other poster said, it will be buried/burned/deleted at all costs and they will not do a single thing. Now if The Oklahoman are exposed each and every time on here where its massively in public view, then yes, this frightens The Oklahoman severely and they will and should attempt to change. OKCTalk is the state's top source for everything, so yes, this forum is the serious deal here.

KWTV is also aware of us and they are skating on thin ice. OKCTalk has the power to throw out the power mongers out of there due to their recent behavior toward their own employees.

[Jim Kyle]

I would rather our newspaper be run by people who aren't going to involve themselves in every freaking city council race and dogcatcher election. Give me a newspaper that is at least one or two steps removed over this inkwell banana regime any day.

So far as I can tell, about the only newspaper in the entire country that meets that standard is "USA Today" (and possibly the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor also, but even they sometimes editorialize about national political matters). Oh, and possibly "Weekly World News" and "The National Enquirer."

Every small-town paper I've seen gets as deep into local politics as does the Oklahoman, and usually much deeper. I had more stories spiked to please local Powers That Be during the year I spent on the Daily Ardmoreite than I did in four years at Fourth and Broadway -- although I must admit that by the time I got to the Great Moral Daily (as the late Roy Stewart used to refer to it, in his articles for the Times) I had learned to simply not turn such material in to my editors...

The only major difference between today's "joke" and the local press of 55 years ago is that it's much thinner now. Three pages of classified ads, compared to a dozen or more in the old days. Eight to ten pages on Mondays, compared to 48 to 60.

If you really want to make your dissatisfaction effective, vote with your wallet. Most of the advertisers, unfortunately, already did so. Just hope that whatever (if anything) replaces it provides a platform for people like Steve to keep us at least better informed than we would be without such (admittedly flawed) platforms!

[Edgar]

"Vast" improvements? I think a fairer observation would be the paper has made subtle improvements.

It's still a puff piece for the Chamber of Commerce that blacks out critical news stories affecting the pillars of the OKC biz community.

Steve does decent work but the business page is mostly a joke and "investigative reporting" is limited to city and state workers and politicians.

Don't expect to read anything about Aubrey McClendon's imbroglios and other content that may put their friends in a negative light.

None of this even includes discussion of the petty, juvenile editorials.

It's still called the Joke for a reason.

true that, Aubrey McClendon not being recommended for retention as ceo of Cheasapeake a story with local interest the local paper should've probably covered.

[Urban Pioneer]

Approved unanimously to happen again at Council just now.

[OKCTalker]

Two points:
1. This message board IS censored, although I'd prefer the term "filtered." Owner/Administrator Pete Bryzcki exercises the right to delete posts as he sees fit, and occasionally does. Nothing excessive - and I agree with the deletions that I've seen - but this isn't a raw, unabridged forum.
2. Thunder - I doubt that"thousands" of people read this every day, and I wonder even if even 1,000 unique visitors read posts on a regular basis. More importantly, thought, is that a lot of influential people stop by here, and they get a feel for what is happening and being said. The result is that a higher QUALITY of person visits here, not necessarily a higher QUANTITY.

Pete B - Without hijacking the thread, can you give us a recent daily hit count for visitors to OKCTalk.com?

[David]

Approved unanimously to happen again at Council just now.

What exactly was approved? The night food market, or more food truck raids?

[BBatesokc]

The wife, dogs, friends and I will be there (again).

[lasomeday]

The city can approve it all they want, but if the state inspectors are there to ruin the fun, I don't see it happening. I will go once a successful one happens.

[Skyline]

Approved unanimously to happen again at Council just now.

What will happen again? .... The Night Food Market? or The Storm Troopers raiding the compound to fight off the Evil unapproved extension cords?

Somebody please get better pictures and video this time of the event and the raid.

[BBatesokc]

The city can approve it all they want, but if the state inspectors are there to ruin the fun, I don't see it happening. I will go once a successful one happens.

Give me a break. This weekends event will be a sharp contrast to last months. I've said it once and I'll say it again, the raid was probably the best thing to happen to this event - far more press than it otherwise would have received.

FYI - I'd bring your folding lawn chairs if you've got them.

[Urban Pioneer]

What exactly was approved? The night food market, or more food truck raids?

LOL The permit for next month and letting the council know that this is intended to be a monthly event.

[metro]

I'll be there with video cameras on hand

[BBatesokc]

Thought this was an interesting and related article..... http://newsok.com/food-truck-operato...rticle/3607331

Anyone wanna go to Pizza Town?

[Thunder]

A friend told me info that he received from a friend that ABLE agents and Health inspectors are planning to raid the next event shortly after all food trucks are specifically open and serving food. Everyone better be out there with cameras!!!

[BBatesokc]

A friend told me info that he received from a friend that ABLE agents and Health inspectors are planning to raid the next event shortly after all food trucks are specifically open and serving food. Everyone better be out there with cameras!!!

Not gonna happen.

[ljbab728]

http://newsok.com/h8th-outdoor-food-...ad_story_title

[Thunder]

Mom will love the Big Truck Taco. As for me, I don't know what is out there interesting for me to eat. Hope there will be plenty of tables and chairs. I will try to take mom out there and I will for sure bring my camera to catch ABLE agents in the act, especially those with loaded guns. Does anyone know if pets are allowed? I'm worried that an agent may draw a gun on the poodle.