Population Growth for OKC

[jonny d]

Man, I would much rather deal with 100 degree temps than hurricanes. No way no how. But OK weather is not great. But not a single thing anyone can do about it, so no sense in complaining.

[Laramie]

Man, I would much rather deal with 100 degree temps than hurricanes. No way no how. But OK weather is not great. But not a single thing anyone can do about it, so no sense in complaining.

Agree, our weather is our weather. Our climate is moderate. Let's make the best of what we have to offer, move ahead and invest in our future.

OKC has housing that will eventually be absorbed over time. We're in a position to attract those companies situated in markets like Atlanta, Dallas & Chicago that are overcrowded. Not saying anything to slight Dallas but markets can poise more of a challenge on themselves when their corporate & population growth exceeds its capacity. Right now, Dallas can't build roads & infrastructure fast enough to keep up with its growth.

[ChrisHayes]

Agree, our weather is our weather. Our climate is moderate. Let's make the best of what we have to offer, move ahead and invest in our future.

OKC has housing that will eventually be absorbed over time. We're in a position to attract those companies situated in markets like Atlanta, Dallas & Chicago that are overcrowded. Not saying anything to slight Dallas but markets can poise more of a challenge on themselves when their corporate & population growth exceeds its capacity. Right now, Dallas can't build roads & infrastructure fast enough to keep up with its growth.

I'm still of the mindset that once the upper park, CC, CC hotel, boulevard, and streetcar are up and running, the city and the chamber of commerce need to remake the promo video from a few years ago and buy air time all over the country in certain target markets. Really drive home Oklahoma City and how it's on the up and up. I'd go after the DFW, a number of cities in Ohio, and maybe some California cities. Dallas would be a good metro area to target because it's only a few hours away and like Laramie said, they just can't keep up with the growth. The chamber of commerce could also use the promo video to show businesses around the country that are looking to relocate or open offices what OKC is about.

[Johnb911]

47 straight days over 100 degrees in 2011 is burned into my brain and soul that OK is insanely hot.

Conversely, my first summer in Oklahoma was 2007, where it rained for 30+ straight days! But I take your point

[bchris02]

Stuff like this isn't good. This state is now the prison capital of the world.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html

Oklahoma needs to get off the top of lists like this.

[HOT ROD]

^ just think of the jobs that brings. ....

[Bunty]

Stuff like this isn't good. This state is now the prison capital of the world.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html

Oklahoma needs to get off the top of lists like this.

People who don't like what's going on need to run for legislator. You don't have to be a Republican with religious right views. My rep was pro-choice, said Ten Commandments monument did not belong at the State Capitol, talked against the oil companies for causing earthquakes and in many other cases opposing Republican bills. Yet, he received no opponents for reelection in 2016. He wants justice reform. Rather than run again, he decided he could act more for justice reform by running for district attorney.

It's too late this year to run for anything, so the next best thing to do is make sure you don't vote for candidates with a history of voting against justice reform. I wouldn't be surprised if they have also voted against education.

[jonny d]

The good news today is that there were no 100 degree temps today...

[Rover]

Speaking of weather in OKC, I saw this remark about OKC in a new "Best Cities" list done by Renosance Consultancy highlighted by Bloomberg news this morn:

"You’ll be hearing a lot more about Oklahoma City very soon.

No, the Thunder hasn’t brought in Steph Curry, all but guaranteeing an NBA title. It’s more powerful than that: OKC citizens, long a prosperous group living in a state capital that is Top 25 in our deep Place category is amidst a torrent of doubling down on their great weather, low commute time and safety.
....."

FYI Had OKC in the #32 spot for big cities, ahead of cities like Kansas City, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St.Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati.

[hoya]

It gets really freaking hot in Oklahoma about two months out of the year. As in "stay inside and curse the sun" hot.

It gets really cold in Oklahoma about one month out of the year. Fortunately that one month is spread out over three months, a few days here and a few days there. When we have 50 degree days in the middle of January, we can't say our winters are that bad.

We have really bad storms 4 or 5 times a year during the spring. Those last for about 1 day each.

The rest of the time, the weather in Oklahoma is wonderful.

[catch22]

Well it really comes down to personal preferences. For me, OKC is too windy in the winter and spring. I wouldn’t call Oklahoma’s climate wonderful. It’s occasionally tolerable.

[Bunty]

The good news today is that there were no 100 degree temps today...

I think it's more important to worry about what Oklahoma is doing about its lack of support for education than worry about 100s, which haven't even started yet in OKC.

[jonny d]

I think it's more important to worry about what Oklahoma is doing about its lack of support for education than worry about 100s, which haven't even started yet in OKC.

Just going with the 30 or so posts about it being too hot in oklahoma.

[Bunty]

Just going with the 30 or so posts about it being too hot in oklahoma.

Maybe they need to be reminded that the advancement of refrigerated air conditioning got the heat problem under better control and helps to explain why the population of Arizona soar past Oklahoma during the 1980s.

[Rover]

It gets really freaking hot in Oklahoma about two months out of the year. As in "stay inside and curse the sun" hot.

From a weather data site:
Days of Hot Weather in Oklahoma City
Most summer days at Oklahoma City have highs in the 90s Fahrenheit. On average, 11 days a year heat up to 100 °F (38 °C) or more.

[ChrisHayes]

From a weather data site:
Days of Hot Weather in Oklahoma City
Most summer days at Oklahoma City have highs in the 90s Fahrenheit. On average, 11 days a year heat up to 100 °F (38 °C) or more.

Yeah, and if you look at ever year since 2012, we haven't hit 100 more than 4 or 5 times each year.

[Urbanized]

The state needs to make a significant investment in OU. Boren did a great job, but we need to build momentum and keep making improvements. It needs to become a top technical school and start churning out a bunch of science and math graduates. With Tinker being what it is, perhaps OU should really push their aerospace engineering program. More graduates in that area could lead to more aerospace companies moving jobs here.

OKC also needs to work with OU to set up some sort of "tech business incubator" system around the HSC. The Innovation District isn't gonna work without OU's cooperation. They seem to like their manicured lawns, but if the school felt like it was intimately involved with the project and that there was a direct benefit to students (i.e., something to boost their profile with potential students), they might get on board. Perhaps a residential tower for med students, with an attached office building that could lease space to startup companies founded by recent graduates. Even have faculty advisers set up to teach them how to set up a business like that. Maybe even have a degree program specifically for people who want to start their own tech business -- a combination of business and engineering. Maybe graduate programs where you can get your MBA along with a Masters in computer science or something.

And if we could build a better connection between the Oklahoma School of Science and Math, that may help too. Funnel really smart high school kids directly into an OU program, and from there they've got a clear path to starting their own business. Most of the startups won't be successful, but some of them might be. Now these kinds of developments would take some time to pay off -- a kid going into OSSM wouldn't be starting a company for about a decade, but we'd have a lot of potential in the pipeline, and this seems like the natural way to encourage this. While we're at it, let's increase the size of the OSSM. It's a great school, and I think we need to get more students there as long as we can maintain the same level of quality.

MAPS needs to continue, with roughly a 50/50 mix of quality of life improvements and economic development. Convention centers are needed, but so are parks and museums and things like that. When people visit OKC they need to think that we've got a lot of fun things to do. This will make companies more willing to consider a move here.

This is a great post that I think unfortunately got lost in the noise in this thread. Also, I especially appreciated the part about OSSM. That was such an ambitious project when it was first introduced, but I’m guessing it lost whatever champions it had in the legislature. There were grand plans to grow it into essentially a college campus, but these days it still has the same small footprint in a large, mostly underutilized site.

There are smart kids all over this state, and I’m afraid many of them either never truly flourish due to circumstances, or their only real high-level academic support doesn’t happen until college. In college there are of course lots of other smart kids, and also of course these rural Oklahoma kids may land in a place other than Oklahoma entirely when they attend a university. We need to nurture them as early as possible, and giving them a head start on college in a challenging, college-like environment is a great way to do this.

Would love to see more resources directed at this institution.

[HOT ROD]

IMO, what really doomed the OSSM was the ridiculous limitation it had on admission, that ONE student from each county would be admitted per year.

Hard to get traction from your high population area (you know, OKC) when it is limited to just 6 students from its metro area out of a population nearly 1.5 million has less admission per capita than Podunk OK which might not even have a gifted Science student at all.

I think a better approach should have been "AT LEAST" one student from each county in the state, with limits for large counties set by the board based on funding, etc. ...

[Bunty]

This is a great post that I think unfortunately got lost in the noise in this thread. Also, I especially appreciated the part about OSSM. That was such an ambitious project when it was first introduced, but I’m guessing it lost whatever champions it had in the legislature. There were grand plans to grow it into essentially a college campus, but these days it still has the same small footprint in a large, mostly underutilized site.

There are smart kids all over this state, and I’m afraid many of them either never truly flourish due to circumstances, or their only real high-level academic support doesn’t happen until college. In college there are of course lots of other smart kids, and also of course these rural Oklahoma kids may land in a place other than Oklahoma entirely when they attend a university. We need to nurture them as early as possible, and giving them a head start on college in a challenging, college-like environment is a great way to do this.

Would love to see more resources directed at this institution.

OU will have to conduct a massive private donation drive to raise, say, a billion dollars for academic investments. Maybe OU already does it. I can't imagine the current state legislature doing much of anything significant to help OU.

[Rover]

During Boren's time there they raised several Billion. But the legislature continues to cut funding and the harder they pedal, the steeper the legislature makes their climb. This is also part of the strategy of the Scholars that was questioned earlier.... to help attract research dollars which is needed to keep acquiring top notch faculty and support.

This is a relatively poor state. You can't keep going back to the same donors over and over. Sooner or later you dry the well.

[chuck5815]

Stuff like this isn't good. This state is now the prison capital of the world.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html

Oklahoma needs to get off the top of lists like this.

Of course, people could also just start following the Law.
It's difficult for the State to send someone to prison unless they've broken the Law.
Really easy stuff.

[Bunty]

From a weather data site:
Days of Hot Weather in Oklahoma City
Most summer days at Oklahoma City have highs in the 90s Fahrenheit. On average, 11 days a year heat up to 100 °F (38 °C) or more.

Really, I think how warm the winters are in a given state has a more positive impact on a state's desirability to live there than the negative impact of how hot it gets during the summer. I doubt not nearly as many people would be moving to Arizona, if its winters were as cold as Oklahoma's.

[Bunty]

Of course, people could also just start following the Law.
It's difficult for the State to send someone to prison unless they've broken the Law.
Really easy stuff.

One reason why it's easier to end up in prison in Oklahoma is because of the lower value threshold when theft becomes a felony. It's lower than in most states. It seems women like to shoplift to the point it becomes a felony, which helps explain why Oklahoma is number 1 for imprisonment of women.

[Rover]

Of course, people could also just start following the Law.
It's difficult for the State to send someone to prison unless they've broken the Law.
Really easy stuff.

So Oklahomans by nature must be some of the most crooked in the world? Incarceration must not work as we keep imprisoning more and more. We must be naturally awful lawless people. No wonder we need really lax gun laws. I am sure low educational achievements means we are stupid as well as crooked. And poor, because we are lazy.

[pw405]

So Oklahomans by nature must be some of the most crooked in the world? Incarceration must not work as we keep imprisoning more and more. We must be naturally awful lawless people. No wonder we need really lax gun laws. I am sure low educational achievements means we are stupid as well as crooked. And poor, because we are lazy.

Correct, incarceration doesn't work, in fact, it dramatically increases the chances that somebody will need to be incarcerated again, and also dramatically increases the chances that the children of the incarcerated will become incarcerated. You go in with some cursory knowledge of crime, and you come out with a Masters degree in crime and new criminal connections.

Being a relatively poor state, the financial resources poured in to our prisons is really shooting us in the foot now, and shooting us in the foot in the future.