Tell me something bad about Tulsa... (Lawton, Bell: home, job market, neighborhood)
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Lived in Tulsa from 1993-1999. I personally loved it, but like anywhere in the world, it is not without it problems.
The north side, previously mentioned, is the worst side of town. Generally not safe, but I went there for various reasons in the years I lived in T-Town and nothing bad ever happened. I now live in Metro Detroit, and moved here from southern California, so to me Tulsa's north side is no big deal.
Tulsa was in the midst of fixing it's streets when I lived there. They were all "bottleneck" streets...they widen at intersections then go down to 2 lane roads with no left hand turning lane. I think they have fixed alot of this, but that was a major problem when I lived there, causing lots of traffic problems.
Tulsa's south side feels like a suburb, all rich and bland.
Tulsa's downtown was beautiful but had no night life, unlike most major city's downtowns. I believe this is changing.
Tulsa's summers are blazing hot. The rest of the year it's pretty nice.
Tulsa has a church on every other corner. This can be a good and bad thing. Good=most people are very family oriented and try to be "good citizens"
Bad=most people are also close-minded and extremely conservative, not accepting of anyone different than themselves.
Hope this helps!
Lived in Tulsa from 1993-1999. I personally loved it, but like anywhere in the world, it is not without it problems.
The north side, previously mentioned, is the worst side of town. Generally not safe, but I went there for various reasons in the years I lived in T-Town and nothing bad ever happened. I now live in Metro Detroit, and moved here from southern California, so to me Tulsa's north side is no big deal.
Tulsa was in the midst of fixing it's streets when I lived there. They were all "bottleneck" streets...they widen at intersections then go down to 2 lane roads with no left hand turning lane. I think they have fixed alot of this, but that was a major problem when I lived there, causing lots of traffic problems.
Tulsa's south side feels like a suburb, all rich and bland.
Tulsa's downtown was beautiful but had no night life, unlike most major city's downtowns. I believe this is changing.
Tulsa's summers are blazing hot. The rest of the year it's pretty nice.
Tulsa has a church on every other corner. This can be a good and bad thing. Good=most people are very family oriented and try to be "good citizens"
Bad=most people are also close-minded and extremely conservative, not accepting of anyone different than themselves.
Hope this helps!
I moved here a year ago from suburban/country west Michigan. Total culture shock here. Crime is unreal no matter where you go. I go to walmart and want to get a DVD...they are locked up...get a $25 cordless phone, locked up...etc. Cameras in most stores and everyone staring at you waiting for you to steal something. I remember going to the grocery store in the winter for a couple of things and you could just leave the car running so it was warm when you came back. Don't try that here. I used to have a laptop mounted in my car and wanted to do it again. Everyone says, "Don't do it. Someone will break into your car to steal it." I even had a couple of kids trying to get in my car one night for my car stereo. I have a friend down here who had someone break into her condo while she was sleeping and steal some stuff with her car keys and then stole the car. Do you think the cops did anything? They took a report and that was it. No finger prints...no nothing. Cops are useless here. I am glad to be gainfully employed here but disgusted with everything else here.
I moved here a year ago from suburban/country west Michigan. Total culture shock here. Crime is unreal no matter where you go. I go to walmart and want to get a DVD...they are locked up...get a $25 cordless phone, locked up...etc. Cameras in most stores and everyone staring at you waiting for you to steal something. I remember going to the grocery store in the winter for a couple of things and you could just leave the car running so it was warm when you came back. Don't try that here. I used to have a laptop mounted in my car and wanted to do it again. Everyone says, "Don't do it. Someone will break into your car to steal it." I even had a couple of kids trying to get in my car one night for my car stereo. I have a friend down here who had someone break into her condo while she was sleeping and steal some stuff with her car keys and then stole the car. Do you think the cops did anything? They took a report and that was it. No finger prints...no nothing. Cops are useless here. I am glad to be gainfully employed here but disgusted with everything else here.
Are you talking about Tulsa? Yowsa, didn't know it had gotten that bad...
In defense of my city, we don't want to be a big, crowded city like Dallas or St. Louis. We are proud of our Christian Heritage and conservative, moral values. I could care less if there is a nightlife. And I'm 22.
The north side isn't nice, but honestly, you don't have to go there. I've lived in Tulsa for over 20 years, and I haven't gone north of downtown more than 5 or 6 times. There really is no reason to. There is nothing of cultural significance north of the Greenwood area (the historically black shopping/cultural area), and Gilcrease, which is actually more towards the west, anyway.
Someone said something about the "small roads" being bad. Well, why do you need sidewalks in neighborhoods, anyway? And everyone has a car in Tulsa, and no one walks anywhere because things are too far apart, so just drive a car! The main roads are being widened gradually, just like any city. There really isn't that much traffic, with the exception of around Woodland Hills Mall around Christmas and at rush hour.
You always feel safe you when go out, anywhere south of downtown, basically. Also, you must realize that most of Tulsa is south of downtown! It's not like the north side is as big as the south side, not by any means. The north side ends around 46th-56th St. North, and it isn't very wide, maybe 5 or 6 miles. The south side of town ends around 111st, and is about 10miles wide at some points south of downtown. That means that the areas south of downtown are about 2-3 times bigger than the areas north of downtown. This doesn't mean there aren't poor areas west of the river and in the east-northeast areas, but they aren't as bad as the north side in crime.
If there is one thing about Tulsa that isn't good it is the summer heat. It is unbearably hot for about 3 months of the year. Without fail, there will not be a cold front that comes through the city from around mid to late June til around mid September. It is regularly 95 everyday, and it doesn't drop off at night like you might think it would. If it's 100 in the day, some nights might not drop below 80! That's humid, I don't care who you are. In comparison, where I lived in Charlotte, NC, the weather in the winter wasn't as windy, cold, or snowy as Tulsa, but in addition, it was regularly only about 90 in the summer, and at night it would usually drop to around 68-72 degrees. It drops quickly there, after the sun goes down, and then stays the same throughout the night. In Tulsa, on the other hand, the temperature barely changes when the sun goes down, and inches down throughout the night, making 7 A.M. the only reasonably decent time of the day to go out and do anything in the summer. Trust me, I've been to Dallas, the east coast, and Florida, and some other places that get hot in the summer. Florida actually feels better than Tulsa, if you are near the water, even in the summer. Also, it is almost never cloudy and almost never rains in the summer. At least in the southeastern states you get afternoon showers or clouds often to cool things down a bit. It almost never happens in Tulsa. There are no mountain retreats to escape the heat like in North Carolina or some other southeast states either. You either have to drive west to the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado 12 hours away, or head straight north up to the upper midwest, which is just as far away.
So there, you asked for something negative, and that is what I see as the worst thing about Tulsa. Of course, that can't really be attributed to Tulsa itself, just the simple fact that in the summer, southern winds bring the moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico, making the days and especially the nights humid. Also, often high pressure builds over eastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma in the summer, which turn the whole area into a frying pan that keeps getting hotter and hotter with no relief in sight. This is not exaggeration. It is really true. I love my city, and the weather in the fall and spring is wonderful, but for 2-3 months in the summer, staying inside is the best bet. It can actually be dangerous being out in that heat playing sports or doing activities.
As for JeffGray's comments, I have no idea where you live, but that isn't the Tulsa I'm from! Maybe you live in a bad area of town, but have you actually had anything happen to you? I've never had anything stolen from me to my knowledge, and the southside stores are nice. I'm confused as to where you live.
And don't be stupid, of course someone would break into a car and steal a laptop if they saw it. But that would only happen very rarely. It's not like someone is stalking you. It would have to be a very unlucky situation for you to have anything bad happen.
I moved here a year ago from suburban/country west Michigan. Total culture shock here. Crime is unreal no matter where you go. I go to walmart and want to get a DVD...they are locked up...get a $25 cordless phone, locked up...etc. Cameras in most stores and everyone staring at you waiting for you to steal something. I remember going to the grocery store in the winter for a couple of things and you could just leave the car running so it was warm when you came back. Don't try that here. I used to have a laptop mounted in my car and wanted to do it again. Everyone says, "Don't do it. Someone will break into your car to steal it." I even had a couple of kids trying to get in my car one night for my car stereo. I have a friend down here who had someone break into her condo while she was sleeping and steal some stuff with her car keys and then stole the car. Do you think the cops did anything? They took a report and that was it. No finger prints...no nothing. Cops are useless here. I am glad to be gainfully employed here but disgusted with everything else here.
Coming from the suburbs or country in Michigan, maybe you could leave your car running when you went into the store, but I kind of doubt that. If you do that practically anywhere in the US, you're begging for your car to be stolen - even in a very small town.
As for certain goods being locked up, I've never seen DVDs or cordless phones locked up any place I've ever been in Tulsa. And there is not crime everywhere in Tulsa; it's mainly relegated to a few bad areas of town, which is pretty much like almost every other city in the country. I do, however, think that Tulsa should do more to fight crime in the northern areas much more so than they have in the past. It's like they've abandoned the northside because it's full of undesirables - not good.
And if you look up crime in the encyclopedia - you'll find a picture of Detroit right next to the definition as it's pretty much one of the most crime ridden cities in the entire United States.
And btw, why would anyone want to have a laptop mounted in their car? Aside from begging for it to be stolen no matter where you are in the US, how often do you drive down the road with a laptop on your dash, typing away?
Just listen to the local news, that should tell you something about the northside gangs,the illegals that take jobs and the amount of hand-outs working Tulsan's pay so the lazy and uneducated won't increase the crime rate. Some how they feel they are entitled to these things !!!! The police and I.C.E need to pull their heads out and do there jobs. Start with the northside and work east.
Just listen to the local news, that should tell you something about the northside gangs,the illegals that take jobs and the amount of hand-outs working Tulsan's pay so the lazy and uneducated won't increase the crime rate. Some how they feel they are entitled to these things !!!! The police and I.C.E need to pull their heads out and do there jobs. Start with the northside and work east.
I'm guessin' you need to 'openyoureyes' because not all people from either of those areas are like that. I live on the East side and have most of my life and work 40+ hours a week and have no problems in my neigborhood, who are all either retired or hard working blue collar people.
Stop generalizing. Nothing makes me madder than that.
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But actually we loved visiting there.
