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7.11.2004
Why do I stay in Tulsa? I asked that question in Part One. I shall try to answer that question now. Like I said before, the short answer is my family. I have a good family that is mucho supportive and good to me. The longer answer has to do with my desire to see the underdog win. I don't like to give up and run away. I hate it when people just say "Tulsa sucks" and move away. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if everyone leaves then nobody stays to make Tulsa a better place for the next generation. The reason "Tulsa sucks" is because people like yourself bailed before you, just like you are bailing on the people who will come after you. There are people that choose to make Tulsa their home and are working to make their mark here. Its true that we have lost some of the big employers and it looks pretty grim on the surface of things. But these last few years I've seen something that I hadn't before in this city; young people starting up their own businesses, taking old buildings, cleaning them up and doing really cool shit with them. I've started hanging around downtown more often because people are doing something there. I think people have looked at this city, seen the cool buildings and architecture left over from the oil boom days and realized that with a little vision and hard work there can be some real character to this city. That's taking advantage of the natural assets that we have. But let's take a stark look at the city, what do we have to work with? We're not blessed with beaches or perpetual sun. We got crazy weather and a few lakes, but that's not going to get us far. A place like Tulsa has to make its own destiny, we can't just sit back and let our natural assets work for us, because we don't have many. So what, we're centrally located... big whoop! What makes our pervasive attitude against self improvement so devastating is that its the only way that we are going to rise above other cities and draw people here to live and invest. When you've not been given the goods from the start you have to make something for yourself; and that's going to take collective action. Things like infrastructure pay off for years to some. Like I was saying before, people are remodeling and polishing up those old art deco buildings from like 80 years ago. They were an investment that is now being realized yet again. The city leaders of today need to take a broader vision of the city and plan on future growth. But what can a landlocked place like Tulsa do to rise above the fray? Our saving grace can come from the growing realization among people that geographic location is becoming less and less of a factor in the viability of your business. No longer do you need to be physically down the street to be accessible. The new internet age has made it possible for a small business here in Oklahoma to have clients around the freaking world. It simply doesn't matter where you are anymore. It helps in certain situations, but cheap digital communications has paved the way for a world that relies less and less on physical restraints. So I might complain about how so few of the great bands come through town on their concert tours but really, I have access to just as much as everyone else when I go online. The internet has been the best thing in the world for rural parts of the world who have access. No longer are you punished with an information blackout by choosing to live outside of the city centers. If you can log on to the internet you can get access to the best information out there. You can sit around in Catoosa (a Tulsa suburb) and read the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal without ever leaving your house. How cool is that? (It also does wonders to cure our provincial and isolated view of the world...) So I might not get to see Wilco play live but I can learn all about when their new albums come out and read reviews and download songs just like some kid in the heart of New York City. And the best news? I can do so in a nice house with a yard and not get soaked on rent every month. So living in Tulsa doesn't seem so bad? Well, there is still no substitute for being some place. And that gets me to another gripe I have about Tulsa. I think its inexcusable that we don't have a cheap and easy way for people to get to OKC and Dallas without spending all day behind the wheel of a car. Sure, planes are great and fast, but they are expensive and post 9-11 not the most convenient way to travel. But trains, are nice. If we had a train that could get me to OKC in an hour I might be tempted to head down there every so often to enjoy the new arenas and development. I have to confess that the idea of driving back home after a night of partying is that LAST thing I want to do. But if I could crash on a train for an hour and wake up in Tulsa a few minutes drive from my house I would be tempted. Its simple you dumbasses, connect downtown Tulsa to Downtown OKC. Do it NOW!!! It will help the development on both sides, especially with a new arena being planned here in Tulsa. National acts will see the combined purchase power of the two cities and be more likely to come our way. Hey it works for Dallas-Fort Worth, who, by the way have invested in a rail connection. Connect Tulsa to Kansas City, OKC is already connected to Dallas. Do you see where I'm coming from? Make Tulsa part of a four city area that can share resources and population. Collective power. Make it easier for people to move around. And next, make it easier for information to move around. Find the people and business that are wanting to make an investment into high speed internet access and make it easier for them. Quit chasing those big corporate plants that are looking for mega-handouts, we just can't compete and I believe that in the long run it drains your resources. Instead look and find those young entrepreneurs that are going to INVEST some of their own time and money into making the city better and make it easier for them to get off the ground. It might cost the same money to help out a hundred small businesses but they, unlike the corporate behemoths are more likely to stay here and keep contributing instead of high-tailing it out of Dodge at the first whiff of money elsewhere. We might not be the next Silicon Valley but we can minimize the penalties people encounter by choosing to stay and live here. The easiest thing that people here can do is support local businesses that are making the city a more enjoyable place to live. That means getting out and spending money. How easy is that? But spend it wisely. Don't just go to Outback or Chedders or some other chain place. Look for a local alternative and go there instead. A city will not develop character by building the same chain stores as everywhere else. When a person thinks about living in a city they consider the "local flavor". If that local flavor is McDonald's then they might just pass. Consider that. (next time: Churches, Banks and Quiktrips... oh my!) |
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