Originally Posted by
ZYX2
Not to pile on, but the notion that Tulsa's downtown was not decimated like OKC's isn't correct. Look at downtown Tulsa from Google Earth. The southern and eastern parts are all but gone, other than a few buildings, many of which are churches. The East End is, thankfully, now seeing a decent amount of investment, taking up several empty lots within the next 1-3 years, but my point remains. Much of downtown Tulsa is/was entirely empty. There is a lot of work still to be done to fully rebuild downtown Tulsa. If you would like to see what is being done about that, refer back to Swake's posts earlier in this thread.
In my opinion, the biggest advantage OKC has over Tulsa is leadership that recognizes the importance of good urban infrastructure. OKC is about to start construction on a streetcar loop, while Tulsa won't even try to implement a decent bus loop, for example.
Where I think Tulsa is ahead:
Outdoor recreation. Some of this is due to the natural topography, but Riverparks and Turkey Mountain (and in several years, the Gathering Place) provide opportunities for recreation not available (to my knowledge) in OKC.
Live Music: Tulsa has the Cain's, Brady Theater, and the Vanguard that consistently bring in great shows. And, of course, the BOK Center which brings in many of the big names, however the Chesapeake Arena also attracts these.
Anything else that Tulsa may be ahead in, that I can think of, is intangible. I love midtown, but it is hard to compare to anything in OKC. South Tulsa/Jenks/Bixby is also unlike any area that I've been to in OKC, although probably most similar to Edmond. The two are hard to compare, due to the more spread out nature of OKC and it's suburbs.
Oklahoma City is ahead of Tulsa in nearly every tangible measure. This does not mean that OKC is necessarily better than Tulsa, but the city is experiencing faster growth.
From the time I've spent in OKC, I really do like it. A lot. But I prefer Tulsa. Tulsa suits my personality better. Tulsa feels less corporate than OKC, and there are other intangible things that I can't quite discern that give the cities, at least for me, very different personalities. However, should I ever live in OKC, I'm sure that I would be happy there, and I'm sure I would find some things that I liked better.
As dankrutka said, it's not about one city being better than the other, it's about what an individual prefers.
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