Maybe we DO need another forum just for lists we're making...

MSN Real Estate 2009 Most-Livable Bargain Markets (http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=22334217&GT1=35000#4)

Some will bristle at references to "dusty" and "not a cultural mecca." Also, the obsession that non-central-states people have with tornadoes would be comical if it didn't actually cost us potential visitors and residents. Overall, however, a nice piece.

http://fp.images.autos.msn.com/Media/RE/580x348/f7/f7420f4bb4ba49a7804273bf41410f64.jpg

Thanks for the link, Urbanized. Recognition is always good for positive things and, as you said, the positive outweighs the sleights in the article. Interestingly, the really nice photo the article used (above in your post) hardly looks "dusty," does it. Perhaps a few of the article's readers will notice the inconsistency.

It said this, that I didn't know (assuming it is true):

Because graduates can find a job here, a higher share of the population is under 35 — great news for singles.
That's good, if true ... it means that the city is winning the battle of graduates seeking their opportunities elsewhere.

A notable omission, even while mentioning OU sports, is that our NBA team didn't find a line of print.

But, as you said, in the main, a good article.

I also agree with you ... a "Best of " forum element would be a very nice thing. It would be easily linkable when we want to impress our relatives from ... wherever.

"There’s not a lot of breathtaking landscape in this table-flat land, nor is it a cultural mecca,"

My point. We've got to create an attractive city in an attempt to make up for our lack of breathtaking landscape. Parks, improving the river, increasing bike and walking trails helps. And, we need to work hard to hope to achieve anything close to cultural mecca-ness. We can't stop trying to improve our city.

"there’s not a lot of breathtaking landscape in this table-flat land, nor is it a cultural mecca,"

my point. We've got to create an attractive city in an attempt to make up for our lack of breathtaking landscape. Parks, improving the river, increasing bike and walking trails helps. And, we need to work hard to hope to achieve anything close to cultural mecca-ness. We can't stop trying to improve our city.

ditto!

http://fp.images.autos.msn.com/Media/RE/580x348/f7/f7420f4bb4ba49a7804273bf41410f64.jpg

OK Photoshop gurus, who wants to go ahead and plug in a rendering of the New Devon tower, well, as much as might fit, cause the whole thing certainly won't.

"There’s not a lot of breathtaking landscape in this table-flat land, nor is it a cultural mecca,"

My point. We've got to create an attractive city in an attempt to make up for our lack of breathtaking landscape. Parks, improving the river, increasing bike and walking trails helps. And, we need to work hard to hope to achieve anything close to cultural mecca-ness. We can't stop trying to improve our city.
I rarely disagree with you, my darling, but ...

NO! We do NOT have to "create an attractive city in an attempt to make up for our lack of breathtaking landscape."

My mother, god rest her soul, loved the terrain and red dirt and plains of western Oklahoma, where she was born in 1909. After she moved in her later years due to an inability to safely care for her own needs to live with my brother in beautiful Salt Lake City with its majestic mountains, etc., she yearned to come home to what she called "my Oklahoma." It was a challenge for us 3 brothers to figure out ways to keep her there, since this is where she really wanted to be.

We have nothing to apologize for or try to create work-arounds for ... it's simply a matter of whether one sees the beauty in what we DO have. For me, when I want to go to the beach (as I am wont to do), it's a short drive to Corpus. I'm not a mountain guy, so that doesn't matter for me. But, in MY later years, I've come to agree with Mom ... she was right. Oklahoma IS beautiful!

So there!

Doug RULES!

I'm not a mountain guy, so that doesn't matter for me. But, in MY later years, I've come to agree with Mom ... she was right. Oklahoma IS beautiful!

Yer momma was one sharp cookie.

If you prefer flatlands, we have them.
Rolling hills? Check.
Mountains extending 2,000 + vertical above surrounding terrain? Check
Clear streams and rivers? Check
Freshwater bodies? Check
Desert? Check
hardbodies on beaches? So I'm told. I do the world a favor and stay away from beaches these days, lest some greenpeacey type take pity on me and try to roll me back into the water.

ditto! Agree! You are absolutley on target. As I mentioned in another thread, even though OKC does not have mountains, beaches, oceans or forest we can certainly try to make up with cleanliness, planting thousands of trees keeping up a general neatness and tidiness. Even though Dallas is the same way geographically as OKC, they have managed for the most part to keep a clean city along with planting thousands of trees and creating new urban parks. Image and perception are everything to the outsider. OKC is making strides in improving but has a long way to go and that includes changing residents "mindset" that OKC is ok just the way it is, because as a native of OKC, it is far from it.

I rarely disagree with you, my darling, but ...

NO! We do NOT have to "create an attractive city in an attempt to make up for our lack of breathtaking landscape."

My mother, god rest her soul, loved the terrain and red dirt and plains of western Oklahoma, where she was born in 1909. After she moved in her later years due to an inability to safely care for her own needs to live with my brother in beautiful Salt Lake City with its majestic mountains, etc., she yearned to come home to what she called "my Oklahoma." It was a challenge for us 3 brothers to figure out ways to keep her there, since this is where she really wanted to be.

We have nothing to apologize for or try to create work-arounds for ... it's simply a matter of whether one sees the beauty in what we DO have. For me, when I want to go to the beach (as I am wont to do), it's a short drive to Corpus. I'm not a mountain guy, so that doesn't matter for me. But, in MY later years, I've come to agree with Mom ... she was right. Oklahoma IS beautiful!

So there!

I understand Doug. And I'm not even saying I don't think Oklahoma is an attractive state (although we're not in the most attractive part of it, in my eyes). But, if we're trying to interest people in moving here from other places, they may not see beauty in the Great Plains. Moving here from Denver was a bit of a shock. I was used to looking at snow capped mountains simply with a turn of the head. The place I grew up in Minnesota had 5 natural lakes in the town, and trees everywhere. Even Chicago has Lake Michigan, New York has its harbor. We will never be able to compete with places like Miami. So, I think we need to accept the fact that to outsiders, there are lovelier places to live, and we need to overcompensate for that fact by trying to create beautiful buildings and spaces. I don't think it's the end of the world, but definitely something to keep in mind. That's why I think the park is so important.

OK Photoshop gurus, who wants to go ahead and plug in a rendering of the New Devon tower, well, as much as might fit, cause the whole thing certainly won't.

Slip in a tornado, too. The noncenterstaters will just be wondering where it is lurking. I kid.

The one thing I wish Oklahoma City would have done differently in its early stages would have been to develop more toward the area north of I44 & west of I35... The foresty, hilly area where all of those tall towers with blinking red lights are. To me this is the most beautiful part of OKC, and it's a shame.... I take that back. If it were to be developed, all of the trees would have been cut down and there'd be Supercenters with run down apt complexes.

Nothing to see here. Move along lol.

The one thing I wish Oklahoma City would have done differently in its early stages would have been to develop more toward the area north of I44 & west of I35... The foresty, hilly area where all of those tall towers with blinking red lights are. To me this is the most beautiful part of OKC, and it's a shame.... I take that back. If it were to be developed, all of the trees would have been cut down and there'd be Supercenters with run down apt complexes.

Nothing to see here. Move along lol.

If you're in the market, just north of the tv towers, and across from Centennial High there is a decent sized house that appears to be vacant, or did a few months back anyway. Haven't had a call to be back up that way since summer. Seemed like a nice lot, sitting kind of by itself on west side of the road, a touch close to the road for my taste, but as the school is offset to the east a fair amount, shouldn't be many noise issues.

OK Photoshop gurus, who wants to go ahead and plug in a rendering of the New Devon tower, well, as much as might fit, cause the whole thing certainly won't.

No, please don't do that with this awful 20-year old picture!


Oklahoma IS beautiful!

So there!

:congrats: See here: Native America - a gallery on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasondanielbrown/galleries/72157622289248983/) and here: Native America II - a gallery on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasondanielbrown/galleries/72157622693016464/)

If you're in the market, just north of the tv towers, and across from Centennial High there is a decent sized house that appears to be vacant, or did a few months back anyway. Haven't had a call to be back up that way since summer. Seemed like a nice lot, sitting kind of by itself on west side of the road, a touch close to the road for my taste, but as the school is offset to the east a fair amount, shouldn't be many noise issues.

Yeah, there are actually a lot of high dollar subdivisions going up in NE OKC near Edmond. Not your typical run-of-the-mill packed together housing. I feel NE OKC will provide a quality of life for the city in a flavor all its own. As far as the antenna farm goes, those towers pump out a ton of wattage that gives off high EMF. Not the best place for development. Many of those TV towers are out of the wooded hills anyway. It will be interesting to see if this part of OKC takes off. I bet it does.

Yep, the move towards the NE has begun. If the NE part of the county were in Edmond School district vs. OKC, it would have happened a long time ago - not to mention the availability of city utilities.