is OKC able to develop a decent urbanity?

**OKCHerbivore** · 09-07-2009, 08:12 PM

Hey folks, I know this is a good place to find people who care about OKC's growth, in the inner city and outer, and I just wanted to extend a conversation I have been having with others and myself from my blog, would love to have some of you come visit, and help to refine my thoughts, share opinions, all in good debate form.

anyways, just posted the first in a short series blending thoughts on urban development, what makes a good urban fabric, and if it is possible here in OKC.

mine are layman's terms, for sure.

thanks!

you can find it here:

OKC Herbivore

**circled9** · 09-07-2009, 10:07 PM

a good place to start would be to expose those taking advantage of people trying to live in or near center city. there was a guy advertising "loft houses" in the gazette last year and early this year in paseo, heritage hills, as well as the miller district.

I was dumb enough to buy one. Not only was the workmanship horrible but he sold us 350 square feet of our next door neighbors property conning us to believe that he owned it. This guys claims to be lead by God to find houses that he needs to save. Yeah---right. Ok I admit to being dumb.

Yes, the Title Company should have made it right but guess who was dumb enough to let him use his friend to handle the closing.

Oh yeah----the lady next door who owns the 350 square feet doesnt want to work anything out although she knew exactly what the con guy was doing when we talked to her before we closed on the house.

All I can say is Beware of People advertising "loft houses" near the downtown area. There are people out there who will take your nesteggs and not blink an eye.

Please note that I have mentioned no names in this post. Hopefully we can get the Attorney Generals office to go after guys like this.

**mugofbeer** · 09-07-2009, 11:01 PM

Any city can become more "urban." It is simply a matter of population, density and income level. When we truly start coming out of this recession (here and worldwide) and gasoline starts going back to $4, $5, $6 ...... per gallon, there will be more and more demand for inner city housing. Other cities are better prepared for this because OKC is such a spread-out city but in-time, OKC will see more and more inner city housing. Singles in the under 30 age-group as well as the empty-nestors are the ones who most look to this type of housing and there are plenty of those here.

**Platemaker** · 09-08-2009, 10:42 AM

The under 30 age group?? I'd say it's more of the singles in the their 30s.

**OKCHerbivore** · 09-08-2009, 11:20 AM

Thanks for the thoughts-one of the things i keep running up against is that culturally, those who do call for urbanist growth, or develop it, or advocate it, we cannot simply expect everyone to go along with it, especially in a place as conservative (culturally not politically, though those sometimes intersect to affect urban development, such as Istook's past prevention of rail funding) as OKC.

Likewise our very age and patterns of growth have left us with an extremely emaciated inner core (from the period of oil growth and cheap gas/car/home building), because we only built for low car use in our earliest years, then jettisoned that wholeheartedly during the age of the freeway. It is not so much a moral evaluation as simply the way it has fallen to us now.

Anyways-hope to keep the conversation going.