View Full Version : compare Oklahoma City to Dallas



mranderson
06-23-2005, 01:17 PM
This is for discussion of Oklahoma City vs. Dallas. What do you think are the differences? Good or bad. Who do you think is better? Why? At what?

Patrick
06-23-2005, 01:25 PM
I'll start off with a few brief observations.

Cleanliness: Well, I think they're both pretty comparable....both are dirty, but I'd say OKC is probably better in this regard.

Attractions: Obviously Dallas has the edge.

Downtown: Dallas probably has an edge, only because they're a lot ffurther along than we are.

Entertainment Districts: That's debateable. Obviously Dallas has more but they're also a larger city. If you're comparing West End to Bricktown, I'd obviously say Bricktown is better. But Deep Ellum is coming along.

Sports venues and attractions: obviously Dallas

Downtown arenas: I'd say inside Ford Center is very comparable to AA Center, although outside AA Center is much more impressive.

Airports: Obviously DFW

Major Corporations: obviously Dallas.

Landscape: A toss-up

Traffic: OKC, definitely.


I wouldn't move to Dallas by any means. I don't think Dallas is any better than OKC. Personally, I like the smaller city feel of OKC. Unfortunately, I'd have to say OKC is just a small copy of Dallas in a lot of ways. As usual, we need to stop being like Dallas.

Pete
06-23-2005, 01:35 PM
I lived in Dallas for a couple of years after spending my first 28 in OKC.


It's really hard to compare the two because Big D is one of the biggest cities/MSA's in the country.

The most obvious difference to me (other than it was much bigger and all the things that go along with that) is that the large majority of people had moved there from somewhere else in the last 10 years or less.

This was due to a lot of huge employers and that several large companies had relocated to the DFW area recently.

Therefore, the city seems much more cosmopolitan, and not just due to size.


But otherwise, I have to say I didn't like the place at all. Yes, it has better restaurants and shopping but you could say that about any larger city. It's relatively dirty, boring geographically, has terrible traffic, etc.

At least OKC has a much nicer, calmer lifestyle and is a much more livable place.

NewPlains
06-23-2005, 01:50 PM
Dallas is one of the 10 largest cities in the country, so of course it has more in the way of corporations, air traffic, traffic in general, and attractions, although I feel that Dallas is pretty subpar compared to other cities in that top ten. Where OKC really shines is in quality of life. Explosive growth (as dallas, houston, and many other western and southern cities have seen in the past twenty years) is almost always accompanied at least initially by a drop in quality of life. Prices go up, crime goes up, traffic gets snarled, (especially on hastily built poorly planned freeways like in Dallas). When compared out of context, OKC is obviously much smaller and has less to offer than Dallas, but where Dallas is easily one of the crappiest of the major cities in the country and falling (for the sake of argument, we'll define "major" as being within the top 20 in population in the country), I think OKC is one of the best midsized cities in the country, and continually getting better. In any case, I think we can learn some lessons from Big D:

-Bigger isn't better, especially when growth and the problems it brings have been allowed to spiral out of control

-Visitors pay attention, and things like high crime, bad schools, and suburban flight make bad impressions.

-Having more large corporations and a better airport doesn't nessicarily equal low unemployment or high quality of life for most of the people in a city.

-City planning is very very important.

-West End is exactly what Bricktown must *not* be allowed to become.

NewPlains
06-23-2005, 01:52 PM
Also: QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. I cannot stress this enough. New crappy development is almost worse than no development at all.

adaniel
06-23-2005, 11:15 PM
As an adopted Dallasite (or Planonain, since I'm from Plano), I think I can add to this.

As much as I like OKC, Dallas is kind of home. However, it has some major issues. As far as corporate headquarters, Dallas has OKC beat, but it isn't as great as a situation as you think. Most corporate headquarters in DFW have at the most a few hundred executives who get paid overblown salaries and their spending is supposed to trickle down to the rest of everyone else. It inflates figures that show the Dallas is a huge pot of wealth. The truth is that the largest employers, like here in OKC, are government entities (UNT, City of Dallas) and hospitals (Parkland, etc.) As far as tourim and attractions go, Dallas is a regional hotspot but not much more than that. Oh, and there's a little issue with Dallas's downright hellish city government. Wanna know why Boeing's headquarters is in Chicago and not in Dallas, or why Arlington is getting the new Cowboys Stadium instead of Fair Park, or why in 2003 alone, Dallas County suffered an outmigration of over 40,000 (The metro area as a whole barley broke even in terms of inmigration that year)? Look no further than Mayor Laura Miller. She is an absolute psycho who is driving Dallas into the ground, and if it is not reversed the entire metro is going to suffer (See Tulsa). You can't be a surburb to nothing, right? But enough of my ranting. I would trade OKC's smaller corporate presence and lack of a regional destination (both of which are changing) for less traffic congestion, calmer city government, and cleaner air (you haven't experienced hell until you've lived through a "code red" air pollution watch) You would be surprised how many Dallasites would.

okieopus
06-24-2005, 08:49 AM
I love Dallas, But I have never been a huge fan of the DFW Metro Area. It is evidence to how urban sprawl can ruin an area if you let it get out of control.

Determining which city is "better" is kinda silly. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Oklahoma City will never be a Dallas, and we shouldn't try to be.

mranderson
06-24-2005, 09:00 AM
"Oklahoma City will never be a Dallas, and we shouldn't try to be."

Although I do not believe in the word never (time has not ended yet), I hope you are correct. I loathe Dallas (Texas as a whole, for that matter) with a passion.

okcpulse
06-24-2005, 10:19 AM
Amen, mranderson.

Karried
06-24-2005, 10:35 AM
I'm sure if we went to a Dallas forum and posed this same question, we would here the same arguments for Dallas - home is home.

I think it is telling where as most everything real estate related has risen in the country - Dallas and suburbs have remained stagnant and some areas have lost value - that's sad. I have some friends moving to Dallas from CA so they can buy a house outright and never again have a mortgage pmt - but part of me wants to say NO! don't do it, ( but they won't hear it, minds are made up, house in on the market, and I don't want to impose my feelings on their dream) having moved from CA to OK two years ago, it's hard for me to bite my tongue though... it'a a much different lifestyle and feeling in the Midwest - pros and cons, but Dallas in particular with traffic and smog might make them feel right at home!

jbrown84
07-08-2005, 08:45 PM
-West End is exactly what Bricktown must *not* be allowed to become.

I've been to Dallas many times but never to the West End. I'm just curious what about it you don't like or what it has "become".