Negative attitude. What would happen

[mranderson]

If the nay sayers (pessimists) got their way, what would Oklahoma City be like?

1. Bricktown would be a group of rat infested delapidated buildings.

2. The Ford Center would still be a dream.

3. There would be no nice park downtown.

4. You would still be dodging people in a cramped downtown library.

5. Major hotel chains would laugh us out of town when we approached them for a location here.

6. The county would still be saying "what is Oklahoma City?"

7. You would still be fighting traffic on freeways (well, I do anyway, but it would be worse)

8. Istook would be Governor.

9. Will Rogers would still be an outdated design (it's still too small).

10. We would not have any minor league franchises, let alone be introduced as the newest major league city.

11. The fairgrounds would continue to wear out.

12. The FAA would not be here, nor Tinker.

13. Our homes would burn because our fire stations would be too far apart.

14. Criminals would remain at large longer due to outdated police cars.

15. Streets would be unsafe due to not enough traffic lights and worn out streets.

16. Our sewer and water lines would break right and left due to age.

17. All of downtown would be a series of empty buildings.

18. Kerr McGee would be gone.

19. Sonic would be gone.

20. Oklahoma City would only have about 250,000 in the metro while Tulsa would be over one million. (Do not say "Tulsa has more than 250,000." That is not what I am saying)

21. Retailers would avoid us.

There is more, I am sure. However, I think you get the idea. Positive attitude and progessive thinking are wonderful things to have. Negative attitudes and pessimism show and hold you back. Get on the band wagon. Either think positive, or move elsewhere!

[PUGalicious]

This coming from someone who says there was "NOTHING" good about the State Fair?

Also, there should be distinction made between practical optimism and delusional optimism. There are many who are optimistic about OKC's future and potential, but not delusional on what we can achieve and support in the short term.

[floater]

This coming from someone who says there was "NOTHING" good about the State Fair?

Also, there should be distinction made between practical optimism and delusional optimism. There are many who are optimistic about OKC's future and potential, but not delusional on what we can achieve and support in the short term.

Hmm. Here's a question for discussion: what category does Norick's push for MAPS fall into? People thought he was crazy too.

[mranderson]

Hmm. Here's a question for discussion: what category does Norick's push for MAPS fall into? People thought he was crazy too.

Exactly. That is part of the negative attitude.

About the fair. I may think it is going no where, however, that is what committees are for. We need to brainstorm ways to improve it so we can get attendance back to where it use to be.

[PUGalicious]

About the fair. I may think it is going no where, however, that is what committees are for. We need to brainstorm ways to improve it so we can get attendance back to where it use to be.

The same can be said about others who have honest disagreements about others' lofty dreams for the city. It's not necessarily that people who don't agree with you or other dreaming optimists are in fact pessimists or holding our city back.

I wholeheartedly supported the MAPS project. It was brilliant. At the same time, I am a bit more realistic about some of the more sensational "optimistic" ideas thrown around in these threads by others. That doesn't make me pessimistic about Oklahoma City. My optimism is practical optimism. I think this city's best days are still ahead and we are on the cusp of many exciting things. But that doesn't mean we get greedy and impatient. MAPS didn't happen in a day or month or year. It's taken several years to develop. Fast growth is not always good growth. Carefully managed growth helps build a sustainable foundation to continue to build and grow upon. That's not pessimism. That's wisdom.

[PUGalicious]

Hmm. Here's a question for discussion: what category does Norick's push for MAPS fall into? People thought he was crazy too.

MAPS was not delusional. It was a practical community reinvestment plan that was visionary. Yes, there were naysayers. I wasn't among them.

[Karried]

If the nay sayers (pessimists) got their way, what would Oklahoma City be like?

I agree a positive attitude is extremely important but all that happened in your list wasn't just because people had a positive attitude. Some of it was city officials working hard, tax initiatives, thorough planning and being intelligent about growth.

Some naysayers are problem solvers and they are needed so that problems don't occur with rapid growth. They bring up issues and 'what ifs' to possibly avoid failure.

I agree though that pessimism isn't the way to get things but you have to balance out a positive attitude with reality and practicality as well.

[jbrown84]

I agree that we have a problem some times with negative attitude towards our city and our state, but your list is basically just a random list of things our city has. Some of them had no real naysayers. Some of them happened far before the community had the ability to naysay in a forum such as this. What does Istook being governor have to do with pessimism. If we were pessimistic, that would allow him to win? That doesn't make any sense. And do you really think anyone was saying we shouldn't build Tinker or shouldn't have fire stations or police cars? Or that people were saying "no, we can just let the sewers break"?

It is good to encourage a positive attitude, but I think you're giving the pessimists too much credit.

[mranderson]

I agree that we have a problem some times with negative attitude towards our city and our state, but your list is basically just a random list of things our city has. Some of them had no real naysayers. Some of them happened far before the community had the ability to naysay in a forum such as this. What does Istook being governor have to do with pessimism. If we were pessimistic, that would allow him to win? That doesn't make any sense. And do you really think anyone was saying we shouldn't build Tinker or shouldn't have fire stations or police cars? Or that people were saying "no, we can just let the sewers break"?

It is good to encourage a positive attitude, but I think you're giving the pessimists too much credit.

No. They are quite real and not random. Nay sayers, pessimists, if you will, will not vote in favor of a tax even if their house was burning down right before their eyes while they watch firefighters with worn out equipment try and fight it. They would rather smell the ooze of human waste from a worn out sewer line than vote for a tax to replace it. They would rather see a killer run loose with a tec nine while a cop has to tow his or her worn out police car to the garage instead of arresting the guy.

I took. Pessimists do not know how to vote for a candidate. His name appears and they vote for him or her (if they bother to vote at all), so they keep winning. Hense, I took would have run for Governor on his name and been elected because those pessimists would think he was already Governor.

No. I put a lot of careful thought into that list.

[Curt]

If the nay sayers (pessimists) got their way, what would Oklahoma City be like?

1. Bricktown would be a group of rat infested delapidated buildings.

2. The Ford Center would still be a dream.

3. There would be no nice park downtown.

4. You would still be dodging people in a cramped downtown library.

5. Major hotel chains would laugh us out of town when we approached them for a location here.

6. The county would still be saying "what is Oklahoma City?"

7. You would still be fighting traffic on freeways (well, I do anyway, but it would be worse)

8. Istook would be Governor.

9. Will Rogers would still be an outdated design (it's still too small).

10. We would not have any minor league franchises, let alone be introduced as the newest major league city.

11. The fairgrounds would continue to wear out.

12. The FAA would not be here, nor Tinker.

13. Our homes would burn because our fire stations would be too far apart.

14. Criminals would remain at large longer due to outdated police cars.

15. Streets would be unsafe due to not enough traffic lights and worn out streets.

16. Our sewer and water lines would break right and left due to age.

17. All of downtown would be a series of empty buildings.

18. Kerr McGee would be gone.

19. Sonic would be gone.

20. Oklahoma City would only have about 250,000 in the metro while Tulsa would be over one million. (Do not say "Tulsa has more than 250,000." That is not what I am saying)

21. Retailers would avoid us.

There is more, I am sure. However, I think you get the idea. Positive attitude and progessive thinking are wonderful things to have. Negative attitudes and pessimism show and hold you back. Get on the band wagon. Either think positive, or move elsewhere!

Most of this sounds like Detroit :tweeted:

[jbrown84]

Most of this sounds like Detroit :tweeted:

I saw the movie Four Brothers, and it was a terrible commercial for the city of Detroit.


mranderson, I don't doubt that you took careful time to compile your list, I just don't think that you can connect all those possibilites/scenarios to pessimism or optimism. The people you describe that don't want any taxes aren't pessimists, they're Libertarians. And as far as voting for Istook, I just don't see any connection there whatsoever. The only reason people would vote for him would be political views, not they're level of optimism toward the city. This is probably a pointless argument and like I said I agree with you that we suffer from chronic negativity, but I just wanted to point out that these things are not all correllated with pessimism.

[mranderson]

I saw the movie Four Brothers, and it was a terrible commercial for the city of Detroit.


mranderson, I don't doubt that you took careful time to compile your list, I just don't think that you can connect all those possibilites/scenarios to pessimism or optimism. The people you describe that don't want any taxes aren't pessimists, they're Libertarians. And as far as voting for Istook, I just don't see any connection there whatsoever. The only reason people would vote for him would be political views, not they're level of optimism toward the city. This is probably a pointless argument and like I said I agree with you that we suffer from chronic negativity, but I just wanted to point out that these things are not all correllated with pessimism.

Your doubts are quite incorrect, Mr. Brown. It took me an hour to think of those. They are based on 50 years experience with the attitude of voters. Please do not doubt what you can not proove, sir, as you can not proove your alagation against me.

[jbrown84]

I said i DON'T doubt that you took careful time to make this list. Just because you spent a lot of time making a list of coulda/shoulda/wouldas doesn't mean that they necessarily are all connected to pessimism.

[mranderson]

I said i DON'T doubt that you took careful time to make this list. Just because you spent a lot of time making a list of coulda/shoulda/wouldas doesn't mean that they necessarily are all connected to pessimism.

You have my appology. I misread the part where you said you do not doubt.

[Curt]

[QUOTE=jbrown84]I saw the movie Four Brothers, and it was a terrible commercial for the city of Detroit.


QUOTE]
I have never seen that movie, but I can assure you, Detroit is nothing to brag about.