Oklahoma City or Phoenix, AZ? (closing)

[weathergal]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Hey, it sure as hell beats Kansas, especially Garden City and Dodge City where you have to put up with lots of cow stink in the air and people who don't speak English well. Try traveling across western Kansas as I've done several times and you might appreciate Oklahoma better.

Amen, StillwaterTownie. I lived in the Norman/OKC area from 1997 to 2002. While I was there I did complain a lot, especially about the stupid liquor laws and the fact that everyone seems to get married straight out of high school. I've lived in Dodge City since then. I'd move back to Oklahoma in a heartbeat. For all of its problems, I think "bottom of the barrel" is an overstatement.

(Though to be fair, there are nice areas of Kansas, but not much in the western part of the state.)

[ELOrocks17]

Not to be rude, but the responses from people like Nameless, Elrocks etc. are completely baseless and inaccurate

--AZRIVERFAN

With all due respect, Every point i provided is 100% accurate. For some reason, you dont think so, and I cannot imagine why. Either you have never set foot in Phoenix, or you have never left your house. Please prove to me how anything i said is "baseless and inaccurate".

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

Very true Colleen. Several parts of his post were accurate, but that amount of venom was uncalled for. I've been all over the world and in many states; no place is perfect. But to go on a rant about how Oklahoma is the most miserable place on earth is just too much.

I visit the AZ forums quite a bit and AZ gets bashed probably more so than any other state, and undeservedly so. The state has every type of climate you can think of and is one of the most beautiful in the country.

I think the poster is a little touchy on the subject of Phoenix. It does get razzed quite a bit.

Phoenix gets razzed on its forum but its not for the reasons you think. Unlike Oklahoma City, Phoenix has a transient population. Literally 45% of the residents in the city were not even born in Arizona. In Oklahoma social settings, I noticed one of the first things people ask someone is which high school they attended because nearly everyone there is from Oklahoma. It was difficult to meet people there because if you walked into Tapwerks you had large groups of people who were hanging out with people from high school in their mid-20's. A lot of people from Cassidy, Heritage Hall and Putnam City North high were still hanging out with one another. You never see that in Phoenix. In Phoenix social settings, it's assumed you moved from some place else and when someone was born and raised in Phoenix, we call them a native because its so uncommon especially for the 23-35 crowd. So we have a large population of people who moved to Phoenix and some of them move back to California or wherever they came from. It's those people who spend their time criticizing Phoenix. If you live in Phoenix, you will observer the actual residents love it. There is a vocal minority and silent majority on the Phoenix forum so to outsiders like you, it seems like the city gets bashed. If we had a large number of residents who were born and raised in Phoenix posting on our forum like most forums on citydata, you wouldn't see the large number of negative posts. The facts speak otherwise because Phoenix was ranked as the second fastest growing city among major metropolitan cities in the country last year.

Look Oklahoma City and Oklahoma is not a place for me. I know people who enjoy it. However, there is no need to twist the truth. Oklahoma city is what it is. It's not a cutlurally diverse, socially liberal and large metropolitan city. It's a smaller sized city in a rural area with a southern conservative mindset. Sure, they are not as southern as the deep southern states like Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia but it has the same mentality as Arkansas and Texas residents. Some people prefer that environment and so I won't argue with that. However, it's ignorant to compare OKC to Phoenix because they are worlds apart in every regard. That's as ignorant as someone who comes to the Phoenix forum and asks to compare Phoenix to NYC. They are completely different cities. Likewise, Phoenix is not a urban mecca with a large downtown, public transportation and companies with several white collar jobs. I'm aware of the limitations facing Phoenix but I like it anyway. Some people don't enjoy that about Phoenix and will never move there which I respect. However, some of the information I read about Phoenix was just innaccurate and made by people who had never spent any real time in the city.

The problem is if your members can spew venom about Phoenix then I don't see why you can't accept someone doing the same in regards to OKC.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by ELOrocks17

--AZRIVERFAN

With all due respect, Every point i provided is 100% accurate. For some reason, you dont think so, and I cannot imagine why. Either you have never set foot in Phoenix, or you have never left your house. Please prove to me how anything i said is "baseless and inaccurate".

Since you asked me to respond, I shall

1. The city is not constantly blowing with dust. What does that mean anyway. Are you saying it's like Iraq in which we endure these massive dust storms? That's not true in Phoenix but I can't speak on behalf of areas outside the metropolitan area. Being a city in the desert, you will have dust but there is dust in Oklahoma as well...ever read the Grapes of Wrath. Have you heard of the Dust Bowl. Oklahoma City is extremely flat and thus windy which is why I experienced more dust winds in OKC than I ever did in Phoenix. At least I have some evidence to back my claim by quoting the Dust Bowl in which thousands of people fled Oklahoma during the depression due to the dust and headed west to places like California and Arizona. What proof do you have other than your unsubstantiated claim?

Dust Bowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country yet isn't even ranked in the top 12 for cities with bad traffic. Any large city is going to have traffic but Phoenix doesn't have traffic on the weekends or traffic outside rush hour which many cities like Dallas have.

Worst Cities For Traffic - Forbes.com

3. Oklahoma is also a Right to Work state so how is Oklahoma City better than Phoenix in this regard?
Right-to-work law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4. Rude people- that's not a fact. That's your subjective impression just like it's my subjective impression the people in Oklahoma City are racist.

[peggydavis]

[quote=azriverfan.;4286107]Since you asked me to respond, I shall

1. The city is not constantly blowing with dust. What does that mean anyway. Are you saying it's like Iraq in which we endure these massive dust storms? That's not true in Phoenix but I can't speak on behalf of areas outside the metropolitan area. Being a city in the desert, you will have dust but there is dust in Oklahoma as well...ever read the Grapes of Wrath. Have you heard of the Dust Bowl. Oklahoma City is extremely flat and thus windy which is why I experienced more dust winds in OKC than I ever did in Phoenix. At least I have some evidence to back my claim by quoting the Dust Bowl in which thousands of people fled Oklahoma during the depression due to the dust and headed west to places like California and Arizona. What proof do you have other than your unsubstantiated claim?

Dust Bowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, duh, the dust bowl was over 70 years ago in the 1930's. Here is a quote from the link above: "The Dust Bowl consisted of 100,000,000 acres (400,000 km²), centered on the panhandles of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.[1]"

Don't you know that things have changed over the past 70 years? And do you think that OKC is in the PANHANDLE of OK? Also, the OP was asking for comparisons between the 2 cities. Are you calling him ignorant?

[loose cannon]

I enjoyed my visit through Olklahoma City. I will visit again. Oklahoma is the home of Wayne Coyne, Bill Watts, and Jim Ross. Whoo!!!

[Synopsis]

azriverfan,

Apparently this is a very touchy subject with you; just give it up. None of us here really care.

BTW, I agree 100% with peggydavis' post.

Synopsis

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by weathergal

Amen, StillwaterTownie. I lived in the Norman/OKC area from 1997 to 2002. While I was there I did complain a lot, especially about the stupid liquor laws and the fact that everyone seems to get married straight out of high school. I've lived in Dodge City since then. I'd move back to Oklahoma in a heartbeat. For all of its problems, I think "bottom of the barrel" is an overstatement.

(Though to be fair, there are nice areas of Kansas, but not much in the western part of the state.)

Manhattan, Kansas is a beautiful area. There is nothing wrong with Kansas.

[loose cannon]

Raw was in OKC last night. Jim Ross who is going to Smackdown gave his farewell address only to be interrupted by Edge.

[azriverfan.]

[quote=peggydavis;4286713]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

Since you asked me to respond, I shall

1. The city is not constantly blowing with dust. What does that mean anyway. Are you saying it's like Iraq in which we endure these massive dust storms? That's not true in Phoenix but I can't speak on behalf of areas outside the metropolitan area. Being a city in the desert, you will have dust but there is dust in Oklahoma as well...ever read the Grapes of Wrath. Have you heard of the Dust Bowl. Oklahoma City is extremely flat and thus windy which is why I experienced more dust winds in OKC than I ever did in Phoenix. At least I have some evidence to back my claim by quoting the Dust Bowl in which thousands of people fled Oklahoma during the depression due to the dust and headed west to places like California and Arizona. What proof do you have other than your unsubstantiated claim?

Dust Bowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, duh, the dust bowl was over 70 years ago in the 1930's. Here is a quote from the link above: "The Dust Bowl consisted of 100,000,000 acres (400,000 km²), centered on the panhandles of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.[1]"

Don't you know that things have changed over the past 70 years? And do you think that OKC is in the PANHANDLE of OK? Also, the OP was asking for comparisons between the 2 cities. Are you calling him ignorant?

I think we need to apply some common sense. The line said "centered" on the panhandle, it didn't say "only" the panhandle. There was quite a bit of dust in the other parts of the state during that time regardless if it was more extreme in the panhandle. Also, the Dust Bowl is an extreme example. The fact that a major event involving dust occurred in the state proves there is quite a bit of dust in the state. The point is OKC is quite dusty as well. Sure, we may be in a desert and have more dust surrounding us but we don't have wind either. OKC is in the plains and has arid areas plus the addition of extreme wind which can generate these "dust winds" It just seems silly to suggest an advantage of OKC over Phoenix is that it has less dust. Maybe Phoenix has more dust but how much more to make any real impact. That's not a real advantage of OKC over Phoenix.

If someone said OKC has less crime, better educational opportunities and a cheaper cost of living, that would at least make sense. I'm willing to be objective about comparing the two cities. OKC has advantages over Phoenix as well such as education for example. I also think OKC has made much a better effort than Phoenix to develop and improve its downtown and urban core. In the last 10 years, they have done amazing things with downtown OKC. I just take issue when people contrive these strange reasons that make no sense. If anyone has been to Phoenix, they will know we don't have these crazy dust storms constantly blowing. That's absurd. However, yeah, it's really hot in Phoenix during the summer. He was right on that in addition to crime stats facing Phoenix. The crime in Phoenix is moderate. It's not in the top 10 regarding crime but it's still ranked toward the bottom of the top 25 and the number of murders has increased in recent years.