Dallas is Boring

[Rover]

Reading the "OKC is boring" thread I couldn't help but compare my weekend in Dallas this Labor Day. There was very little to do there...no good festivals and nothing special going on. It was VERY slow at the Galleria and a little better at Northpark, but most retail areas appeared very slow. Traffic was even down. We had no problem getting into every restaurant we wanted. So, using the same criteria, I am glad to get back to OKC where it isn't as boring as Dallas.

[In_Tulsa]

You should have come to Tulsa it was hopping this weekend. But that's just Tulsa!!

[Rover]

Definitely Tulsa next time. We should keep the money in Oklahoma anyway.

[dmoor82]

^^^Tulsa's got some big Rock concert coming to town at The BOK Sat I think!

[EBAH]

the "African American" players from the Mavs must be sooo miserable there....sounds awful.

[ljbab728]

It's not really surprising that Dallas wasn't hopping over Labor Day weekend. It's not really a big holiday destination and probably a big part of their population decided to escape the big city for the weekend.

[Thunder]

Its not really a holiday....

[Larry OKC]

Thunder, please elaborate...

[Rover]

Folks, I was just making fun of the OKC is really boring thread. Though Dallas was indeed boring, the point was that no matter where you go it can seem boring if you don't know what is actually going on in town or where it is happening. I am sure there was more than enough "exciting" things to do last weekend in Dallas, just as there was in OKC.

[ljbab728]

Folks, I was just making fun of the OKC is really boring thread. Though Dallas was indeed boring, the point was that no matter where you go it can seem boring if you don't know what is actually going on in town or where it is happening. I am sure there was more than enough "exciting" things to do last weekend in Dallas, just as there was in OKC.

OK, Rover. You're excused then. LOL

[Laramie]

Having lived from 1995-2000 in the Metroplex I can certainly say that people there are burned out on Dallas!

A great dynamic city with plenty of things to do but nothing really new. Fort Worth is their shortest destination away from home and there is not a lot to do there.

Oklahoma City should take advantage of its proximity to Dallas and start bidding for some of those tier II, III conventions and/or gatherings.

Look around you and you can see the Texas license plates which have inflitrated our city.

[Larry OKC]

Laramie: as soon as we can get the MAPS 3 convention center built, we can do just that (but supposedly 10-12 years away).

[progressiveboy]

Having lived from 1995-2000 in the Metroplex I can certainly say that people there are burned out on Dallas!

A great dynamic city with plenty of things to do but nothing really new. Fort Worth is their shortest destination away from home and there is not a lot to do there.

Oklahoma City should take advantage of its proximity to Dallas and start bidding for some of those tier II, III conventions and/or gatherings.

Look around you and you can see the Texas license plates which have inflitrated our city.

I notice that Dallas is infiltrated with Oklahoma license tags. There are thousands of OKIES that have moved to the DFW area due to diverse job opportunities that are not found in OKC. Dallas is home to some 32 Fortune 500 companies where OKC has maybe perhaps 3 Fortune 500 companies. I know when I lived in OKC, I struggled working 2 jobs with a college degree because the pay was so pathetic. Dallas has a much better business climate and people are more open to diverse business ideas where my perception of OKC is it is not as forward thinking in their ideas. I am a native of OKC and the city has made great strides in becoming a more desired place to live and I wish my city the best of luck in achieving a healthy balance of work and diversity for it's citizens. Yes, Dallas is similar to OKC in there are no mountains, oceans, beaches etc.. but Dallas took the opportunity to play on their strengths in attracting big companies, money and prestige in the business world that rivals any most other US cities. It also makes up in the diverse wonderful things to do. 4 Professional sport teams, World class museums, Opera, World class Arboretums, excellent shopping and diverse dining options that continue to grow. If Dallas is so boring, then why do OKIES come down for the weekend and spend their money? Because Dallas "offers" a more exciting destination!

[adaniel]

Look around you and you can see the Texas license plates which have inflitrated our city.

Actually I've noticed the same thing for about 2 years now. I'm not so sure that its DFW'ers suddenly moving to OKC en mass. But I've noticed quite an uptick in people from that area doing business up here. Which will only improve both region's economies. The North Dallas area, which has the largest concentration of HQ's in DFW (think Addison, Plano, etc.) is closer to Dowtown OKC than Austin or Houston.

Also, don't forget that many kids are doing what I did and coming up here to go to college at OU, OCU, UCO, OUHSC, etc.

[Jersey Boss]

the "african american" players from the mavs must be sooo miserable there....sounds awful.

wtf????

[skyrick]

wtf????

I think that was a reference to a stupid remark made by the OP of the "OKC is Boring" thread.

[Laramie]

I notice that Dallas is infiltrated with Oklahoma license tags. There are thousands of OKIES that have moved to the DFW area due to diverse job opportunities that are not found in OKC. Dallas is home to some 32 Fortune 500 companies where OKC has maybe perhaps 3 Fortune 500 companies. I know when I lived in OKC, I struggled working 2 jobs with a college degree because the pay was so pathetic. Dallas has a much better business climate and people are more open to diverse business ideas where my perception of OKC is it is not as forward thinking in their ideas. I am a native of OKC and the city has made great strides in becoming a more desired place to live and I wish my city the best of luck in achieving a healthy balance of work and diversity for it's citizens. Yes, Dallas is similar to OKC in there are no mountains, oceans, beaches etc.. but Dallas took the opportunity to play on their strengths in attracting big companies, money and prestige in the business world that rivals any most other US cities. It also makes up in the diverse wonderful things to do. 4 Professional sport teams, World class museums, Opera, World class Arboretums, excellent shopping and diverse dining options that continue to grow. If Dallas is so boring, then why do OKIES come down for the weekend and spend their money? Because Dallas "offers" a more exciting destination!

Not disputing your observation of Oklahoma license plates in North Texas; I might add that according to AAA some 500,000 okies had made the Metroplex their home (1990 -2000) including myself; many are migrating back to Oklahoma. Notice the Native American casinos near the Texas border like Winstar; many North Texans are crossing the border.

My biggest criticism of Dallas was getting around on the expressways. The panoramic view of those beautiful mix-masters (loops) made me express-crazy and many times I turned onto the wrong road and it took me 20-30 minutes to get back on track. Thank God for many uses of technology tracking devices to help you get around.

Back on the convention center note; this is one of the first items on MAPs III that Oklahoma City needs to address. I heard that it may be 10-12 years before the new convention center will be constructed.

The convention center should be the among the first items to be built because of the economic impact of new hotel contruction and many spin-off businesses that will be tied into its' support.

As far as Dallas is concerned, many Oklahomans are burned out; they don't want to explore what's in Oklahoma--many can't afford to venture too far.

There are many destination in Dallas that people don't explore. Why? I'm not so sure, it might have something to do with people not knowing what's there.

When I first moved to Dallas area and asked for directions; many of the people I talked to didn't know where anything was because they hadn't lived there any longer than six months.

[mburlison]

I live in Plano after moving down a few years ago (from OKC). No knock on OKC, but I love the Plano area and the surrounding communites, Mckinney, Allen, Frisco et al. Hardly "Ever" go to "Dallas" itself, but nice to know it's there. The 'small town community' atmosphere of these communities, even though they are by no means 'small' is attractive to me, and if Dallas is 'boring', then one is extremely hard to please, in my opinion.

[dismayed]

I tend to agree. You have some of the finest restaurants in the US down there, great bands and other artistic events are always in town because of the size of the population, there are tons of professional sports options, and so on. You really can find something to do every night there. On the other hand, as I was reading the posts in the OKC thread where people were flipping out saying "well you should go to the Paseo" to the poster my first thought was, okay well that is the first Friday night of the month. Guess that takes care of 1 out of 30 days. Then the next poster would say they went to a farmer's market, and it was the same situation (weekend mornings/afternoons only), and so on. The fact is the sheer volume of things to do in OKC just isn't that large yet, so yeah there are things to do but often there may only be a few things to do per week, or month, that appeals to a particular personality type. I think that was the poster in the other thread's point. And you know he has a point... there are many cities our size or smaller that just have a more constant-level of a wide variety of things occurring. It's a valid concern, and it hasn't changed a lot in the entire time I've been here. It seems like the city always has these grand plans to change that and is perpetually 5 years away from making that happen....

Problem is, it isn't the city government that needs to change, it's our local business community.

[Larry OKC]

...Back on the convention center note; this is one of the first items on MAPs III that Oklahoma City needs to address. I heard that it may be 10-12 years before the new convention center will be constructed.

The convention center should be the among the first items to be built because of the economic impact of new hotel contruction and many spin-off businesses that will be tied into its' support. ...

I agree and have been saying it for a while now. The Chamber pushed it as being THE economic engine and if their numbers can be believed, it needs to be up and running sooner than later (the extra revenue can then be used to help w/other MAPS projects). Supposedly we are losing convention business now and the Cox is only 40% (?) utilized. Much less what business will have been lost 10 years from now. Although press releases from the Chamber show that bookings have been up 7-8% for the past 2 years).

The only reason I can think of for building it last is because of the primarily pay-as-you-go method of financing MAPS 3. As the most expensive item ($250-280M), it will take a minimum of 2.5 to 3 years just to collect the tax for it. Yes, I understand that you don't have to wait until the entire amount is collected to design it, break ground on it etc. That in turn would push back other MAPS 3 projects to the back of the line.

[holm1231]

Having lived from 1995-2000 in the Metroplex I can certainly say that people there are burned out on Dallas!

A great dynamic city with plenty of things to do but nothing really new. Fort Worth is their shortest destination away from home and there is not a lot to do there.

Oklahoma City should take advantage of its proximity to Dallas and start bidding for some of those tier II, III conventions and/or gatherings.

Look around you and you can see the Texas license plates which have inflitrated our city.

There are so many license plates around now, because a lot more texans are getting their education up here for a cheaper price and then moving back to texas to find work. F*#$ TeXaS

[metro]

I agree and have been saying it for a while now. The Chamber pushed it as being THE economic engine and if their numbers can be believed, it needs to be up and running sooner than later (the extra revenue can then be used to help w/other MAPS projects). Supposedly we are losing convention business now and the Cox is only 40% (?) utilized. Much less what business will have been lost 10 years from now. Although press releases from the Chamber show that bookings have been up 7-8% for the past 2 years).

The only reason I can think of for building it last is because of the primarily pay-as-you-go method of financing MAPS 3. As the most expensive item ($250-280M), it will take a minimum of 2.5 to 3 years just to collect the tax for it. Yes, I understand that you don't have to wait until the entire amount is collected to design it, break ground on it etc. That in turn would push back other MAPS 3 projects to the back of the line.

Laramie, it's not being "delayed" as you put it as much as it just takes 10-12 years for such projects. Site location, easements, utility relocations, RFP's, construction, and finally opening it. It is a 10 year process, it's not something you can slap together quickly like half of OKC is. Let's take the time to do it right. Also most conventions book 2-10 years out in advance, so we can sell future conventions the new convention center via renderings and fancy videos.