Tulsa Number 5 on Best Places to Live in 2008 (Owasso, Jenks: crime, house)

[Goodpasture]

You do realize that when crime constantly makes front page news, that it is still considered important enough to be reported. When it becomes so common that it is relegated to second and third pages while inane political and feel good pieces make the front page, that you need to worry about the priorities and safety of the community.

[happytown]

OKC has had some bad shootings lately. So you might be hearing about that. I think it is because of all the changes taking place. IMO crime and bums are being forced out of the old districts that are making a major come back. Some kind of clash of poor and rich is happening in the Uptown area. One thing I will address is that OKCs crime index is significantly lower than Tulsas especially when you compare the population. So lets throw a bone at OKC. Anyway this article is great news. Tulsa was considered Americas most beautiful city at one point in time so it is not surprizing at all. Great article.

[Sorge]

It is a really strange rating!
Good for Tulsa, sure. But I wonder how Tulsa could get to this list with essentially no tourist attractions, a no-visitors downtown looking like an outcome of some biological war on Sundays and a large fraction of neighborhoods which are too dangerous to visit because of poor and angry people. What about those people who live in areas of 15K/year average household income? Are they also living in the nation's #5 best city? Until we fix those neighborhoods, we can't be proud for Tulsa being on this list.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by Sorge

It is a really strange rating!
Good for Tulsa, sure. But I wonder how Tulsa could get to this list with essentially no tourist attractions, a no-visitors downtown looking like an outcome of some biological war on Sundays and a large fraction of neighborhoods which are too dangerous to visit because of poor and angry people. What about those people who live in areas of 15K/year average household income? Are they also living in the nation's #5 best city? Until we fix those neighborhoods, we can't be proud for Tulsa being on this list.

Well, if we analyze it a bit, Tulsa really doesn't look out of place in the top five.

Here's what I found concerning the under $15,000~

Charlotte~10%

San Antonio~16%

Chattanooga~21%

Greenville~21%

Tulsa~16%

I'd also like to add that the unemployment rate is Greenville is 2% higher then it is in Tulsa.

As far as crime is concerned~on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being lowest~

Charlotte violent crime~8~~~~~Charlotte property crime~7

San Antonio violent crime~6~~San Antonio property crime~7

Chattanooga violent crime~8~Chattanooga property crime~7

Greenville violent crime~7~~~~Greenville property crime~6

Tulsa violent crime~7~~~~~~~~Tulsa property crime~7

So actually Tulsa's crime is no worse then any of them in the top 5.

As far as a vacation draw, it kind of depends on what you're looking for. We loved the parks and flowers in Tulsa. The architecture and the aquarium and museums were also very nice. Of course, if you have small children, they'll definitely find DisneyWorld more exciting.

Happy, what is OKC doing to help the displaced homeless? Do you have shelters and soup kitchens there?

[Sorge]

Originally Posted by Jammie

So actually Tulsa's crime is no worse then any of them in the top 5.

Excellent point!
I have no doubt that Tulsa is a good place to live, and it is definitely belongs to THAT list of top 10 cities, BUT the whole list is strange to me. I could not find exact criteria of ranking, does anyone have a reference?

[Jammie]

Sorge, I just went back and read Synopsis' link on the first post. It explains about the nomination process and the criteria the city needs to meet.

[Sorge]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Sorge, I just went back and read Synopsis' link on the first post. It explains about the nomination process and the criteria the city needs to meet.

"Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added.But the site's editorial team also takes into account an area's growth, its educational and employment opportunities, crime rates and housing options before granting it a spot in the top 100."

If you mean this, it has no details and it looks like people elect their towns by sending emails (??? ). Other factors?
1) Tulsa area growth is low and it was negative recently if I remember correctly.
2) Educational and employment opportunities? There is no high-tech businesses around Tulsa, there is essentially NOTHING for which the nation can recognize educational or employment opportunities in Tulsa. Just name them if you know, I don't yet know of them.
3) Crime rate, as you said Tulsa is in 30% of the worst places to live in terms of crime.
4) Housing options. YES! So now we recall that the rating is made by some realtor's network. Realtors' reality.

[Sorge]

Well. According to CNN Money, there is only one city in Oklahoma in the list of 100 best places to live, it's Jenks #43.
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Top 100

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by Sorge

Well. According to CNN Money, there is only one city in Oklahoma in the list of 100 best places to live, it's Jenks #43.
MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2007: Top 100

Yes, Jenks - a suburb of Tulsa. I started this thread to share some good news, but it appears that the Tulsa bashers would like to use this opportunity to come on board and share their discontent with Tulsa making it into the top of a good list.

[briansgi]

Originally Posted by Sorge

"Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added.But the site's editorial team also takes into account an area's growth, its educational and employment opportunities, crime rates and housing options before granting it a spot in the top 100."

If you mean this, it has no details and it looks like people elect their towns by sending emails (??? ). Other factors?
1) Tulsa area growth is low and it was negative recently if I remember correctly.
2) Educational and employment opportunities? There is no high-tech businesses around Tulsa, there is essentially NOTHING for which the nation can recognize educational or employment opportunities in Tulsa. Just name them if you know, I don't yet know of them.
3) Crime rate, as you said Tulsa is in 30% of the worst places to live in terms of crime.
4) Housing options. YES! So now we recall that the rating is made by some realtor's network. Realtors' reality.

No high tech jobs??? I have lived in the Tulsa area (Owasso) since graduating college back in 1979 except for a 5 year leave to Dallas and I work in the high tech industry. I work for a computer company that makes the world's most powerful super computers. My largest customer is EDS/Sabre. Did you know the data center at this facility is the second largest data processing center in the US!! High tech jobs is what drives this facility and supports it and has for a long long time. So to say there are no high tech industries in Tulsa is incorrect, get your facts straight!