Many on this forum have questioned the leadership of our city government, especially after the report in the San Antonio newspaper that reported that our city had thrown in the towel on a Washington Mutual call center. I've spent the last few days talking to various people at city hall about the situation, and here's what I've learned:

First of all, economic development projects are top secret. The city doesn't even use the names of the companies when they discuss them. For example, Dell was project 'm' until mid-summer. They never comment until the company tells them they can comment. That goes for the mayor, city staff, chamber folks, governor's staff etc. They don't comment. If they had a reputation of mentioning businesses in the media, no matter how vague, it would cost our city future opportunities.

So that explains why the mayor and many other city leaders defer questions from the local media.

I printed off the posts on the call center thread and let several city leaders review the posts. Their response? One city leader stated, "I don't think I've ever seen people take less information and draw so many definitive conclusions. I can assure you the information being discussed and conclusions that are being drawn are ludicrous. One person says it's a call center, and suddenly it's a call center. One person says they are $8 per hour jobs, and suddenly they are $8 per hour jobs. Each responder takes the previous information as fact. By the end of the posts, the facts had taken a long vacation. You can't treat posters like journalists."

This particular city leader, unknown to this forum, spent a great amount of time reviewing this with me, and I appreciate him/her taking the time out of a very busy schedule.

I must say I agree with him/her. There's so much that we don't know that's going on behind the scenes at city hall. For example, the Dell plan was rolling long before the media ever found out, and even when they found out, little information was given until the state was chosen.

Even before OKC was chosen over Norman, our city leaders said nothing. And they said nothing for good reason. Read my comments above.....they explain
why.

Anyways, your side has already been presented. I just wanted to present the side of our city government.

Patrick, what troubles me about these things is that city leaders have to "work" on recruiting businesses to locate here. Why don't they work on making it a place that recruits for itself?

Cities like OKC and Tulsa need to strongly lobby for statewide reforms that would bring businesses and HIGH PAYING jobs to Oklahoma.

Back in my fraternity days, there was a great activity that I used to illustrate to our pledges the function of leadership. We'd blindfold two or three of them, assign one to be the"leader" and another to be the "observer". We'd drop a pile of legos in front of the blindfolded kids and hand a set of plans to the leader. The leader could direct, but could not touch the legos or the blindfolded guys. The observer would er... observe and write down his observations on the excercise.

The message is that a leader is (or should be) working with an end vision in sight. While they may tell us what it is, unless we're in his/her shoes, we cannot see that vision. If our leader is trustworthy (which I'd say Mick is) we should follow his directives and not do things like question his leadership (especially when it could serve no possible good end purpose).

I for one like the direction that the city has taken over the last few years. I hav vehemently disagreed with a few things, but overall, I'm happy. I agree with Patrick that it's impossible to make the assumption of fact that our mayor/council are weak (well, with the exception of a few members ;) )

Patrick, what troubles me about these things is that city leaders have to "work" on recruiting businesses to locate here. Why don't they work on making it a place that recruits for itself?


I think cities will always always work to bring in new jobs, but I agree wholeheatedly that 1) OKC has to work harder to recruit jobs by offering lower salaries plus incentives 2) we need to make it a place that recruits on its own merits and attractiveness.

I think it will just take time. Companies attracted to OKC for its low costs usually find a surprise in the quality of the workforce. And many would say that we are working toward making it a place that recruits on its own, with Bricktown and the MAPS projects. They're a start, but not enough. I asked someone at a Cleveland party for its creative class why they think so many are leaving Cleveland for Chicago and New York. They said it's the lack of things to do. I countered that by saying that there seems to be a lot do in the region. They said, "I guess they just want lots of choices plastered right in front of them." Whether this is the way it should be, is a question. But I think he was right to a certain extent. The young seem to want a lot of options -- not just in "things to do" but probably also in career opportunities.

We do need to work harder at giving higher-skilled workers the opportunities (career and leisure) they look for, especially the younger ones who want to leave the state. Some of this will come from attracting major companies to the region, but we need to better equip and encourage them to start their own businesses. The rest of us can support them by patronizing their businesses instead of chains or establishments based out-of-state. I'm not talking just about restaurants and retail, but business services like copy shops, ad agencies, consultants, tool manufacturers, web designers etc. Same for artists, architects, interior designers, film production, etc. If we provide a more demanding market for their services, they might be less inclined to leave.

I think the quality of life, quality of neighborhoods, and quality of schools still play a major factor. Fortunately, MAPS for Kids is taking care of the last issue. Again, I think a MAPS for Neighborhoods which would fix the first two. Businesses might be more willing to locate here if it was more aesthetically attractive. Also, as always we have a stereotype to work against. Many big corporations still think Oklahoma City is hickville.

The CEO of Devon Energy, who works to recruit employees out of state for Devon, usually faces people who turn down the job offer because it's in Oklahoma. Many people across the nation remain generally uneducated on Oklahoma's quality of life. This is why we must focus on marketing Oklahoma City as a cosmopolitan city. Push the arts. Push the entertainment opportunities. I hope to soon one day give the nation the opportunity to see Oklahoma City on film, that will change their image of us as hickville. Even though my tour book is now complete, and after it is published, there is no guarantee someone in Massachusetts will grab a copy of my book at a Barnes and Noble. I am not even sure my book will see itself in book stores in other states. That is why I must work hard to promote my book. Only time will tell.

It is up to us in this forum, and the people of Oklahoma City, to work hard to create a high quality city that will be an easy sell, then make it an easy sell. Things will change. It's bound to happen.

I want to clarify one of my statements above. It seems that OKC has to work harder to bring in jobs by promising lower salaries. I generally do not like this tactic.

Anyway, a MAPS for Neighborhoods would be a great idea. We have some terrific neighborhoods that just don't market themselves enough. I would dare say that most Oklahoma Citians don't even know that Heritage Hills exists. They may pass through Lincoln Terrace to reach the capitol, but don't know its name.

I think Project Next may be a good opportunity to produce some kind of MAPS for Neighborhoods. If you follow the creative class theory by the book, people hunger for interesting neighborhoods. If that's true, the next MAPS should feature funding for Paseo, Little Asia, Capitol Hill, the Plaza District, and the historic neighborhoods. The money could go to things like festivals/events, garden clubs, storefront renovation work, improved signage/maps, small business assistance, game tables, vendor programs and street performers, trees and landscaping, public art and street furniture.

I agree that OK needs to market itself more. I think the centennial is a good opportunity to have a "coming out" party to show that OKC has a quality of life that rivals other cities its size. It'd be great if there was a heavily-promoted documentary on the land run by Ken Burns (we can dream can't we?) in 2007 and there be commercials touting Oklahoma cities' quality of life. At least in terms of tourism, we're getting more attention (see Frommers' thread).