What's going on in Tulsa?

[knrstz]

Originally Posted by #1soonerfan

Now how would Tulsa make itself better? That's a bit of a vague question. Better for what? Jobs? Quality of Life? Education?

For Tulsa to really thrive, it should focus on its strengths and understand that it can't be all things to all people. Personally I would love if they boosted their already strong art and music scene. What ever happened to DFest? Bring stuff like that back. Also, before Williams and MCI careened into Chapter 11 post 9/11, Tulsa was developing a small but vibrant high tech sector. There really isn't one in Oklahoma, so Tulsa would have that all to itself.

I know the question in vague. I guess I'm not articulating it correctly. Maybe it could be better stated, what does Tulsa need to do to improve it's current strengths and overcome any weaknesses? I've not been to Tulsa in about a year and a half. I think every interstate in the city was under construction. Although a pain at the time, it's needed work. What about downtown? Tulsa doesn't want bricktown. Fine, I get that. Is downtown finshed or what more needs to be done? What would Tulsa residents like to see done to help the city develop, improve or maintain what they already have. I've considered moving back to Oklahoma and I hear so much about OKC's development, I'm just curious what's going on in Tulsa. That's the point of the thread.

[flyingcat2k]

Originally Posted by knrstz

Tulsa doesn't want bricktown. Fine, I get that. Is downtown finshed or what more needs to be done? What would Tulsa residents like to see done to help the city develop, improve or maintain what they already have. I've considered moving back to Oklahoma and I hear so much about OKC's development, I'm just curious what's going on in Tulsa. That's the point of the thread.

Tulsa doesn't want a Bricktown largely because Bricktown is full of chain restaurants and hotels, aside from both having baseball parks. Why mimic something that is relatively nearby? If you're going to have an identity, you don't want it to be your bigger neighbors who has a basketball team, for now. Tulsa's Brady District and Blue Dome District are growing but it is organic growth being driven by local businessmen. It's nice and difficult to duplicate. A better comparison for what the two cities want is that OKC wants to be Dallas and Tulsa wants to be Austin. There's room enough for both.

[swake]

Originally Posted by #1soonerfan

Personally I would love if they boosted their already strong art and music scene. What ever happened to DFest? Bring stuff like that back.

But this is just what Tulsa has done. Tulsa is opening four new arts centers downtown in the next few months and is fighting hard for the State POP museum to be a fifth. Tulsa music scene, local and touring is better than it has ever been, is better than almost any city other than the truly large cities. Certainly better than any city mentioned on this thread other than Austin and that might now be arguable.

Originally Posted by #1soonerfan

Also, before Williams and MCI careened into Chapter 11 post 9/11, Tulsa was developing a small but vibrant high tech sector.

It's not gone. I work for a global software company with a good sized office in Tulsa who may not have heard of, but whose technology it's likely you used today. MCI is still here as Verizon, Wiltel as Level3. My wife interviews on Monday with a video game company. High Tech is still big here, it's just not as obvious.

[Libsk]

Been to Tulsa, and liked it a lot. Very "Eastern" feel to the city which was a surprise to me.

[ou_norman]

Originally Posted by swake

Tulsa music scene, local and touring is better than it has ever been, is better than almost any city other than the truly large cities. Certainly better than any city mentioned on this thread other than Austin and that might now be arguable.

Oklahoma's music scene IS better than ever. Could compare the state as a whole to early Austin- easily seen when you go to something like Norman Music Festival or Free Tulsa. But comparing Tulsa to modern Austin is quite delusional. Oklahoma's act with the most momentum, Other Lives, is from Stillwater. The ACM@UCO will become the center of Oklahoma's music scene as it produces business-savvy musicians working with industry connections.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by knrstz

So I grew up in Stillwater and spent my teen years going back and forth between OKC and Tulsa. As a kid, it seemed like Tulsa was the much more upscale town. I always thought it had a completely different feel than OKC. However in the last 10-15 years OKC has come a long ways. That being said, I'm not trying to compare the two cities. That been done enough. I'm just curious, what has Tulsa done in the last 5 years to improve the city, and what are the future plans? In what direction do you see Tulsa moving? What is Tulsa doing to compete with other regional cities, such as OKC, Wichita, Kansas City, St Louis and Dallas? What is Tulsa's identity and what does it want to become?

After 10 years of not taking a " family vacation" back to Tulsa to see my siblings and other relatives ,
I howest2008 set foot back in Tulsa March 26Th - April 4Th so here goes a sprew on Tulsa , OKC ,
Wichita , St. Louis , Kansas City , Dallas Ft. Worth. "If Tulsa had the population of these other cities "
Tulsa would be "a much greater city than the above mention cities" 2.2 million KCMO..2.9 Million
S.LMO..6.5 Million Dallas(come on now) Tulsa has 950,000 People with OKC and Wichita having 1.3
and 700,000 people " and you forgot all about Little Rock Arkansas 800,000 People Metro Population.
Tulsa has only spent 700 - 800 million dollars on urban renewal whereas OKC has spent 4 to 5 Billions
Dollars in inproving their's infrastructure and CBD last 15 years..."advantage" OKC.....
Wichita Kansas has done a lot of things with it's CBD , but until
Wichita nears a Metro Population of 1 Million I wouldn't Match what
they have against Tulsa or OKC....
St. Louis was once one of America greatest cities , however decay
has reduced St. Louis from a city of about 900,000 to 350,000 people
KCMO is past it's glory days , and if Tulsa had a 2.2 Million Pop it would be a more impressive city than KCMO....
Couldn't see Tulsa with a 6.5 Million Metro
and it not be a better city than Dallas , Tulsa is a compact city of 188 Square miles.....
Little Rock needs to have some where near 1 million metro Pop to be compared to Tulsa OK.....
The TULSA Vision 2025 answer to OKC MAPS urban projects are
this Inprovement to (River Park) Inprovememnts (Historic Route 66)
Inprovement (Bradley Arts District) Inprovement (Blue Dome District)
Inprovement (Greenwood District)
Tulsa OK has a stand alone project called the Pearl District that's
having a hard times attracting financial backing , it's a urban canal sort
of like OKC , that will run East Along 6Th Street and Peoria to 6Th & Lewis.

[knrstz]

Originally Posted by Howest2008

After 10 years of not taking a " family vacation" back to Tulsa to see my siblings and other relatives ,
I howest2008 set foot back in Tulsa March 26Th - April 4Th so here goes a sprew on Tulsa , OKC ,
Wichita , St. Louis , Kansas City , Dallas Ft. Worth. "If Tulsa had the population of these other cities "
Tulsa would be "a much greater city than the above mention cities" 2.2 million KCMO..2.9 Million
S.LMO..6.5 Million Dallas(come on now) Tulsa has 950,000 People with OKC and Wichita having 1.3
and 700,000 people " and you forgot all about Little Rock Arkansas 800,000 People Metro Population.
Tulsa has only spent 700 - 800 million dollars on urban renewal whereas OKC has spent 4 to 5 Billions
Dollars in inproving their's infrastructure and CBD last 15 years..."advantage" OKC.....
Wichita Kansas has done a lot of things with it's CBD , but until
Wichita nears a Metro Population of 1 Million I wouldn't Match what
they have against Tulsa or OKC....
St. Louis was once one of America greatest cities , however decay
has reduced St. Louis from a city of about 900,000 to 350,000 people
KCMO is past it's glory days , and if Tulsa had a 2.2 Million Pop it would be a more impressive city than KCMO....
Couldn't see Tulsa with a 6.5 Million Metro
and it not be a better city than Dallas , Tulsa is a compact city of 188 Square miles.....
Little Rock needs to have some where near 1 million metro Pop to be compared to Tulsa OK.....
The TULSA Vision 2025 answer to OKC MAPS urban projects are
this Inprovement to (River Park) Inprovememnts (Historic Route 66)
Inprovement (Bradley Arts District) Inprovement (Blue Dome District)
Inprovement (Greenwood District)
Tulsa OK has a stand alone project called the Pearl District that's
having a hard times attracting financial backing , it's a urban canal sort
of like OKC , that will run East Along 6Th Street and Peoria to 6Th & Lewis.

Very interesting and I agree with most of what you say. However just because some cities such as STL have fallen on hard times, doesn't mean the city is completely dying and past it's glory days. Same true with KC. STL has a lot of work to do, but so did OKC 15 years ago. I was in ST Louis in March. There are lots urban areas being revitalized. It's a very dense city and has tons of potential. Maybe I'm more of a dreamer but I don't think there is any reason a city can't improve and get better. Detroit has it's work cut out for itself, but I don't think KC and STL are anywhere near that level. Getting back to Tulsa, I always felt that Tulsa had more potential than OKC. For so long OKC lacked what Tulsa had as far as shopping like a Uttica Square. Again, I know it's not a head to head battle between the two cities, but I hope Tulsa continue to live up to it's potential.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by knrstz

Very interesting and I agree with most of what you say. However just because some cities such as STL have fallen on hard times, doesn't mean the city is completely dying and past it's glory days. Same true with KC. STL has a lot of work to do, but so did OKC 15 years ago. I was in ST Louis in March. There are lots urban areas being revitalized. It's a very dense city and has tons of potential. Maybe I'm more of a dreamer but I don't think there is any reason a city can't improve and get better. Detroit has it's work cut out for itself, but I don't think KC and STL are anywhere near that level. Getting back to Tulsa, I always felt that Tulsa had more potential than OKC. For so long OKC lacked what Tulsa had as far as shopping like a Uttica Square. Again, I know it's not a head to head battle between the two cities, but I hope Tulsa continue to live up to it's potential.

I re-read my Post #26 , and man I sort of went off on a rant , but here's
what I way trying to say....Tulsa was able to get one of the greatest
architect in the world to help it build the BOK Center...and did it with
940,000 peoples in it's Metro Area " what a achievement for a city
Tulsa size ". If i'm allowed to dream of Tulsa having a less rural more
urban Metro Area of less say 2.2 Millions I could only "imagine what
rabbits Tulsa would pull out of it;s hat". My wife paternal family lives
in Milwaukee ,and when we drive from California to visit her's and mines
"families" we alway stop in Chicago and St. Louis and (We Love St. Louis)
it is one of the most UNDER-RATED CITY here in America along with KCMO
but they find it hard keeping up with the top 20 cities here in the USA.

Now OKC and Tulsa...Oklahoma City use to be a city strictly quanity and
and not quality whereas Tulsa was all way a city of quality and more
quality forget the quanity , until the MAPS project were put into action
" and now OKC is a city" (Quality,Quanity,Quality) and has pass up Tulsa
as a Class City.Tulsa was built by Oil Baron Money whereas OKC was
built by the TAX DOLLARS OF THE COMMON PEOPLE,....
quality excuse my spelling i'm pressed for time.