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Topic: Need info on Oklahoma areas
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Mark J. Marshall
Film God
Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 10-22-2007 06:38 PM
Hey folks. I know there are some here from the great state of Oklahoma. My cousin and her family are considering a move there soon so her husband can pursue a business opportunity. No one they know knows anything about Oklahoma, so we're looking for some insights into different areas where they should and should not be looking for housing. They are religious folks from a small town on the Eastern shore of Maryland. They have two young girls, one teen and one pre-teen, and are wondering about which school districts are better than others, which areas have higher crime rates than others, etc. The new job is located in Tulsa, so they're particularly curious about areas around Tulsa. I realize this is a broad kind of question, but if anyone has any experienced insight they can share on any of these topics, we'd appreciate it.
Thanks much.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-23-2007 01:03 PM
Tulsa, overall, is a pretty decent city. Lots of stuff happening there with regard to Oklahoma's centennial.
Tulsa is not my favorite place in Oklahoma. I think certain areas near Oklahoma City and OKC itself are undergoing some major improvement and growth. Downtown Oklahoma City is getting transformed. I-40 is being re-routed to a completely new alignment. Lots of development will be happening along the river, including the world's largest Native American history museum. That area is not bad to visit now, but will be really wonderful in just a few years.
Much of Tulsa's southern side (in the vicinity of the Creek Turnpike) has good housing and peaceful neighborhoods. Tulsa has some really good public school districts. Jenks and Tulsa Union win the state championships in high school football frequently and some of that is due to the resources in their school districts.
Broken Arrow is also a pretty decent small city on Tulsa's SE side (also bordered by the Creek Turnpike).
Tulsa is the center of the evangelical community in the state. Much of Oklahoma is very religious, but none of it compares to the organizational structure in Tulsa.
Tulsa also has some pretty decent culture and entertainment outlets there. The night life is good.
Tulsa is not far away from some pretty beautiful scenery, major vacation resorts and good fishing/boating areas.
Downsides to Tulsa?
Traffic is ridiculous in certain areas. South Memorial Road is probably the worst for city driving in the state. So much business borders that road and it makes traffic levels crazy. State Farm Insurance has rated a couple intersections along Memorial in the top 10 for most dangerous in the nation.
Avoid certain areas of Tulsa's inner city. The downtown itself is not all that bad (they have an excellent blue grass festival there every year), but watch out in nearby neighborhoods. Tulsa has been struggling with a nasty rise in crime rate, and the murder rate as been especially troubling. Generally, most places south of I-44 are pretty safe. You can see the good versus bad areas of Tulsa fairly clear in Google Earth.
As Daniel said, you have to be a bit careful if locating to smaller towns outside of the city, like Olkmulgee. The crime problem mentioned mostly revolves around drugs. This is no different from Lawton (where I live) and towns around it. Young people are just more likely to gravitate to trouble if they don't have much to do.
Lawton itself is trying to prepare for a boost of up to 25,000 new residents due to major expansion of Fort Sill. "BRAC" is shutting down a lot of military installations and relocating many missions to the most important posts, such as Fort Sill. Hopefully the Lawton area can capitalize on that opportunity to improve quality of life in the area and build up the tourism industry of historic Fort Sill and the Wichita Mountains.
The economy in Oklahoma is pretty good. We didn't see the insane run up in real estate prices that took place on the coasts. So there hasn't been a real estate bust either. The high price of oil is helping Oklahoma. Cushing, OK (45 miles west of Tulsa) is oil pipeline crossroads of the world and has a massive oil storage facility whose levels are closely monitored by world oil markets.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-24-2007 12:12 AM
The main problem with Tulsa is a rise in street gang crime. Sure, some of that is drug related. However, the murders (and lots more severe beatings, shootings, stabbings and other near murders) are usually battles over turf.
Even the small city in which I live (Lawton) has seen a serious increase in murder rate -although the last few months have been relatively quiet. Well, there was one incident today in Lawton. A family came home to find a burglar in their house. The homeowner had a pistol and wound up holding the burglar on his lawn at gunpoint, also while talking to 911 on his cellphone. Before the cops arrived, the burglar jumped up. The homeowner fired, killing the burglar. The police are pretty much calling this one self defense, so it may not count on Lawton's murder rate.
One town that's really bad with street gangs in Oklahoma is Altus. It's estimated Altus and the Jackson County area has the highest number of illegal immigrants in Oklahoma (and has held that dubious title for quite a few years now). Altus is barely a third the size of Lawton, but has a much longer established street gang problem.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-24-2007 06:50 PM
Oklahoma is definitely under-rated for its level of natural scenery.
The link to Michael Hardeman's photography website shows the cover of his "coffee table book," Oklahoma, Wonder & Light. The cover photograph was taken just outside of Lawton in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Specifically, it's an image taken along the "Kite Trail" between Lost Lake and The 40 Foot Hole. Lots of people drive to the top of Mount Scott, hike up Saddle Mountain and walk along countless numbers of trails to see great sights and wildlife. Be careful of Bison and wild, original bloodline Texas Longhorns. There's a lot of important, frontier history in the Wichitas and historic Fort Sill.
The Oklahoma Centennial Commission produced a great music video from Vince Gill's "Oklahoma Rising" song. It features a lot of sweeping aerial footage showing the wide variety of terrain found across the state. The music video isn't all pretty images either. It shows footage of the dust bowl, the May 3, 1999 tornado, the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City and the thoughtful memorial which replaced it. Overall the video portrays Oklahoma as a beautiful state with wide cultural diversity and a difficult history that challenged its residents.
There's another kind of scenery Oklahoma has in somewhat good supply: beautiful women. In a recent poll Maxim Magazine rated Oklahoma City in the top 10 for cities where it's great to be a single guy. Lots of pretty ladies in Tulsa too. The current and previous Miss America pageant winners are from Oklahoma (the current one, Lauren Nelson, is from Lawton). Lawton itself isn't a great place to be single. Too many men. It's a freaking "sausage festival."
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