Moving to Tulsa, OK from Tucson, AZ (Broken Arrow, Owasso: high crime, safe area)

[AZMEGirl]

Hello OK people ,
I am relocating to Tulsa, OK for my new job. I would like some advices regarding safe/good/pet friendly neighborhoods where I can take my dog for walks and have some attractions/restaurants/grocery stores near by. I do not mind commuting a bit to work (around East 51st St. South and S Garnett Rd.) but the most important I would consider is a safe area I do not have kids, so I do not focus in good/bad school districts.
I read about the Broken Arrow and Jenks areas but I wonder if those would be very far away from most activities. I'm not much into the night life but I would like to be "kind" of close to restaurants and bar areas, bowling, movie theaters and such.
Also, is it "necessary" to change my car's tires for the winter in OK?
Any advice would be highly appreciate it!!
Thank you!!

[eddie gein]

Jenks and Broken Arrow are both family type suburbs. Mostly chain restaurants and the like. My guess is that where your work is, Broken Arrow might be easier access but I'm not for sure.

Mid town Tulsa is nice and has kind of the 25-40 year old types of things available. It has the same type of stuff that you'd find on 4th Ave in Tucson, and the nicer neighborhoods are kind of Sam Hughesish in that area. The major difference is that you have the UofA vs a small private school in Tulsa University.

In terms of feel, Tulsa feels about the same size as Tucson. It has more freeways than Tucson but the through streets aren't as easy to navigate. Tulsa is also very similar to Tucson in that it suffers from "second city syndrome". Much like Tucson has more character than Phoenix, Tulsa has more than OKC in terms of natural beauty, old traditional neighborhoods and the like.

And I wouldn't think you would have to change your tires in winter. I don't think very many people do that.

[AZMEGirl]

Eddie gein,
Thank you so much! It is amazing finding a person who can make such analogies. Awesome the comparisons you did to Tucson's neighborhoods/4th ave., so now I have a better pic.
What about living in the Brookside neighborhood? Is that midtown? I have read in other forums that Cherry St and Brookside are great for young professionals; are these part of what you refer to Sam Hughes area in Tucson?
Really thx a bunch!!

[maat55]

I would walk anywhere in Owasso(live here). 51 & Garnett is straight down 169hyw. West BA and SE Tulsa have good areas.

[Oklahomagirl74]

I was going to recommend Brookside, Cherry Street or even downtown in the Brady Arts District. Brookside is midtown, and Cherry street is also considered midtown. Both have lots to offer in terms of walkability and restaurants and shops, etc.


I work in Brookside and love it here. In about a year the city will complete construction on a huge new park, A Gathering Place for Tulsa, and its near Brookside. I'm sure you'd enjoy that with your dog. Brookside is also near Riverside Drive, a very popular place for biking, running, parks, dog walks, disc golf, and any sort of outdoor activity you can imagine!

[okie1962]

Funny, I just got back from Tucson, spent a week there. I used to live in Benson nine years ago, had to go back to get my Tucson fix. One thing to get used to, our traffic lights, the left turn arrows go before the green light, most of our through streets are very rough compared to Tucson. Another thing to get used to is Tulsa's lame drivers. They have absolutely no sense of urgency. Most slow down coming up to a green light. When at a red light, and the light changes to green, they will pause for a few seconds before very slowly processing through the intersection. It makes me think Tulsans are either heavily medicated or just learning to drive.

Not only do we terrible streets, we don't sweep them, or re-stripe them. I actually saw two street sweepers last week while staying in Tucson, I truly don't think Tulsa has one. We just rely on heavy rains to wash the dirt and grime away. What we call Mexican food is a joke! LOL

Other than that Tulsa is actually a pretty nice place, especially compared to other cities in the region. The high crime areas seem to be concentrated in a few very well defined ares. With the exception of a few places, everything south of I-244 is pretty safe.

[asiatrails]

For a single person look at Brookside but make sure that parking is included, not just "available".

Similar city to Tucson but no Mount Lemmon. River park is a good area to walk the pup, used to do that myself.

Street maintenance is horrible, potholes breed overnight. no need to change tires in winter, it's not that bad.

Overall a nice city but too religious for us.

They now have the first Costco in Oklahoma, at last.

Blue laws are old fashioned and take some getting used to.

Don't be surprised by the penguin statues everywhere.