Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live on Long Island currently and am overwhelmed by the cost of living here! And so in doing some research and talking to friends, I believe that Edmond, OK is the place for me! I've looked at prices and taxes and that all seems to a good fit for us. I'm certainly not worried about the traffic, seeing as I feel I have already spent half my life in NY traffic and so its nothing new to me! I think our best bet for now is to rent for a bit first and then buy. Hopefully I will be living there before March!
I am just wondering if you have any advice? My husband is an electrician, with three years experience and is currently in the CWA Union. I was able to do a tad bit of research and see that you have journeyman and apprentices there? I apologize if that is wrong... but would you say that there is work for him? In your opinion anyway. And if anyone knows how to go about transfering his hours from NY to OK, I would appreciate everything!
Another thing is, I've never seen a tornado in my life. Any words of wisdom on how to cope with the weather? Or is there even a ton of worry? I mean, you all still live there, it must be worth it, no?
And honestly, I am still in the research stage of this move so if anyone has any advice or things you think I should know on moving cross-country, about Edmond, anything, please let me know! Thank you all so very much!
Oklahoma has a population of about 3.5M people, and every year we have about 3 or 4 deaths via tornado. Oklahoma Tornadoes
So it's not something to worry too much about, imo.
Can't help with the employment question. I've never really known anyone in a union, and have no idea how they operate. Maybe someone else can give you more information on that.
As for the traffic, no there really isn't any. There is congestion on the major Edmond roads during the main drive times, with people trying to get to the freeways, but it's really nothing compared to most cities. I moved here from Houston about 4 years ago, and like me, I think what you will have the most difficultly with is adjusting to the general slower pace here. It's a really good thing, but just takes a little adjusting. I still just have to take a few deep breaths to try to calm down, especially when driving. I have, on more than one occasion seen things like people driving on a busy 4 lane road (like a 45mph speed zone), just come to a complete stop, to allow someone to exit a parking lot. I'm not talking about in traffic where things are barely crawling along, so you take pity and let some one slide out in front of you. I mean just zooming along at 45 mph, then suddenly just stop, so someone can drive out of a parking lot. When I first moved here, I almost rear ended a women doing that. I wasn't tailgating her, but after that, I really learned not to get too close.
As for the tornado thing, as they say, it is what it is. I've never actually seen one, but I have twice been in buildings when they were hit. However, both of those were in Texas, not OK. In this part of the world, everyone is so prepared for them, and media coverage is so advanced and intense, there's plenty of warning. When the weather gets bad, coverage is almost non-stop. Much of the time, when there is one on the ground, especially in an urban area, they literally track the storms street by street. Tons of homes here have storm shelters, often in the floor of the garage and most large commercial buildings have storm shelter areas. If a storm threat is imminent, they move everyone into the shelter area. If you don't have a storm shelter in your home, you figure out what the safest area of your home is, and you go there. Or you can do what lots of the locals do, which is to go outside and look at the sky to see if you can see it!!! During this past spring, we were under a warning and apparently there was a small one here in Edmond. My 19 year old was home from college for a visit. We got our dog, and put her in our safe place, then he and I ran out onto the front porch. At the same time be both just looked at each other and started laughing. "OMG, we've" lived here too long!!!
In all seriousness however, all of the cities have warning sirens that sound when one is near. They also test them on a regular basis. In Edmond they are tested at noon on the first Saturday of every month. They have emergency warning systems they test every week on TV. Media coverage is intense and while it may scare you at first, you will be thankful for it. And keep in mind, that much of Oklahoma is still very rural and sparsely inhabited. Many of the tornadoes happen in areas where there my only be a few cows and barns.
I live on Long Island currently and am overwhelmed by the cost of living here! And so in doing some research and talking to friends, I believe that Edmond, OK is the place for me! I've looked at prices and taxes and that all seems to a good fit for us. I'm certainly not worried about the traffic, seeing as I feel I have already spent half my life in NY traffic and so its nothing new to me! I think our best bet for now is to rent for a bit first and then buy. Hopefully I will be living there before March!
I am just wondering if you have any advice? My husband is an electrician, with three years experience and is currently in the CWA Union. I was able to do a tad bit of research and see that you have journeyman and apprentices there? I apologize if that is wrong... but would you say that there is work for him? In your opinion anyway. And if anyone knows how to go about transfering his hours from NY to OK, I would appreciate everything!
Another thing is, I've never seen a tornado in my life. Any words of wisdom on how to cope with the weather? Or is there even a ton of worry? I mean, you all still live there, it must be worth it, no?
And honestly, I am still in the research stage of this move so if anyone has any advice or things you think I should know on moving cross-country, about Edmond, anything, please let me know! Thank you all so very much!
Well congratulations! This should be an interesting move. A little scary but worth it. I presently live in NJ but am planning on moving to the Tulsa area next year. I'll have all my ducks lined up by this time next year.
I have connections in Tulsa but know a bit about Edmond. It is wonderful for family life and close to OKC.
I'm familiar with union work rules. You should contact your benefits rep in order to transfer credits to CWA Local 6016. This process should be seemless as records only have to be transferred. The major problem of course is securing employment covered by the CWA. They have contracts with AT&T, some Verizon installations and some employees employed by Oklahoma City and the State of Oklahoma. They cover other entities as well but I'm not sure what else. Local 6016 covers the Edmond area. You, of course, will be checking in with the hiring hall.
I suppose you know that union work, in general, is not the norm in Oklahoma for trades and crafts workers. Having done your research I'm sure you know that payscales, even for union projects, are substantially lower in OK than LI and NYC. The tradeoff is a higher quality of life.
I'm sure you'll be getting a lot of good advice from posters on this site. They know a lot more than I do. Just wanted to wish you and your family God's speed and the very best of everything. Please keep us up to date as you go along!
Thank you all very much! I appreciate all the information!
Yes this move should certainly be interesting! I am really looking forward to it. I definitely can understand the frustration of having to get used to a slower pace, I did love in the rural part of upstate NY for three years, and I know exactly what you're talking about debzkidz! And thank you for the reassurance on the tornados... It is the one thing that makes us a little uneasy, because our only experience with it is movies, and I'm sure you know how they are made out in those!
ERIS thank you for your help and welcome! I will definitely be looking into that local or atleast passing the information along to my husband. I have noticed that the pay is lower, but its not ridiculously lower, and more importantly the cost of everything else is ridiculously lower! lol! IDK what it is about Long Island they think is so great that they can charge so much for housing, taxes, etc!
Edmond is nice... the traffic problems mostly come from streets (2 lane) that can not keep up with the growing population. This is evident mostly in west Edmond (technically NW OKC) but they are working on widening the streets in some areas.
On the subject of the city lines.. west Edmond gets tricky.. You may have an Edmond address and Edmond Schools, but OKC utilities. In my case I have an Edmond address, Deer Creek Schools, OKC utility and live in Logan County (OKC and Edmond are in Oklahoma County...). You may have an Edmond address but because you are technically in the OKC limits the Edmond police won't respond, you have to wait for an OKC officer to drive up there.
Not trying to scare you off, Edmond is a nice place.
On the subject of the city lines.. west Edmond gets tricky.. You may have an Edmond address and Edmond Schools, but OKC utilities. In my case I have an Edmond address, Deer Creek Schools, OKC utility and live in Logan County (OKC and Edmond are in Oklahoma County...). You may have an Edmond address but because you are technically in the OKC limits the Edmond police won't respond, you have to wait for an OKC officer to drive up there.
Not scaring me off, no worries! In you personal opinion, which I won't hold you to, I swear what is the best combo with that and why?
I live on Long Island currently and am overwhelmed by the cost of living here! And so in doing some research and talking to friends, I believe that Edmond, OK is the place for me! I've looked at prices and taxes and that all seems to a good fit for us. I'm certainly not worried about the traffic, seeing as I feel I have already spent half my life in NY traffic and so its nothing new to me! I think our best bet for now is to rent for a bit first and then buy. Hopefully I will be living there before March!
I am just wondering if you have any advice? My husband is an electrician, with three years experience and is currently in the CWA Union. I was able to do a tad bit of research and see that you have journeyman and apprentices there? I apologize if that is wrong... but would you say that there is work for him? In your opinion anyway. And if anyone knows how to go about transfering his hours from NY to OK, I would appreciate everything!
Another thing is, I've never seen a tornado in my life. Any words of wisdom on how to cope with the weather? Or is there even a ton of worry? I mean, you all still live there, it must be worth it, no?
And honestly, I am still in the research stage of this move so if anyone has any advice or things you think I should know on moving cross-country, about Edmond, anything, please let me know! Thank you all so very much!
As always, I try to highlight the cultural differences for folks moving into this area and what you will experience....it is certainly something to think about. For some reason, many folks neglect the cultural differences and then end up disappointed after they move.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and I have lived on both coasts....in New England and on the West Coast I was dogged pretty heavily for my Oklahoma twang. I wasn't aware that I had an accent until I moved away. Oklahoma is an interesting place culturally....it is primarily a Southwestern/Southern hybrid with some Native American and Cowboy sentimentality to boot! I think you'll love it if you take it slow and expect it to be different on the front end.
Blessings to you and your family as you go through this time of transition.
Welcome to Oklahoma! Edmond is a nice town. Don't worry about tornadoes. All you need to do is decide where you will shelter (get underground) if one hits. You or your neighbors may have a private cellar. If not, there are lots of public shelters-usually fire stations, schools, churches, etc. Just pick the closest one to you and then you will be reassured that you are safe if anything gets crazy. You will have plenty of notice on the radio or tv if a storm's headed your way. I think of Gary England as my weather dad or an uncle or something.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think our best bet for now is to rent for a bit first and then buy. Hopefully I will be living there before March!
During this past spring, we were under a warning and apparently there was a small one here in Edmond. My 19 year old was home from college for a visit. We got our dog, and put her in our safe place, then he and I ran out onto the front porch. At the same time be both just looked at each other and started laughing. "OMG, we've" lived here too long!!!
Oklahoma is an interesting place culturally....it is primarily a Southwestern/Southern hybrid with some Native American and Cowboy sentimentality to boot! I think you'll love it if you take it slow and expect it to be different on the front end.
