What Do You Think Of Tulsa? (Washington: buying, university, live)

[case44]

From downtown to Broken Arrow. From Lookout Mountain to Cityplex. From Drillers Stadium to Bass Pro BA. From Riverside Drive to the Fairgrounds. From Tulsa International to Jones Airport. From the big bear statue to the praying hands. From the Tulsa City Limits sign to the big Coca-Cola light-up sign on the outbound BA. From the Gilcrease Museum to the Oklahoma Aquarium. From Ron's Hamburgers to Delta Cafe. From Route 66 to Interstate 44. From Lee and Lionel to Gusty. From KELI to KVOO. From its dynamic present time to a proud, rich history. From a streaming river to the big hills........

I'd say Tulsa's a mighty fine place.

[Synopsis]

I wholeheartedly agree case. Thanks for the nice post.

[justgreen]

Originally Posted by SashaBlue

I lived in Tulsa for 8 years and never saw either of these creatures. You will love Tulsa... really love Tulsa. Check out the forum at tulsanow.org for loads of information.

I lived in Tulsa and right outside of Tulsa (Catoosa) for over 30 years. I saw my fair share of cotton mouth snakes, black widows and the brown recluse. My son in law was bitten my a brown recluse about 3 years ago and had to have surgury to remove half the flesh on one leg that was dead and rotting.

There are also scorpions, but their sting is not poisonous.

[bigcountry1973]

Anyone familiar with the Tulsa Crowne Plaza?

[steenveld]

the cool thing with tulsa is that it's totally seperate. alot of cities have mixed-matched patches with low-income families and high crime neighborhoods. tulsa is pretty simple. the further south you go, the safer you are from violent crime.

[windylea]

Tulsa was ranked 49th--tied with Phoenix, AZ, if I recall correctly--in 2005 for murder rates with 15.0 per 100,000 people. To be fair, I also recall 2005 was a particularly bad year. The last time I was in Tulsa, the news was saying that the murder count had improved a lot, due partially to the negative reputation it was receiving for that rate. On the same site that ranked Tulsa 49th for murder rate, Tulsa was ranked 45th for population. Well, having a rate rather than a total count means that you can't really justify that one number with the other. I will say, though, that usually, the bigger and older the city, the larger the inner city will be, as it tends to spread outward. Also, Tulsa's population density might have something to do with it. The poverty percentage may too. Crime is most highly correlated with socio-economic status--not race. So, honestly? Tulsa's about as dangerous as you can expect a city of its size to be. Broken Arrow is safer, but smaller too.

Racism exists in Oklahoma. I have not been to the "South", so I personally cannot attest to it being worse, but OK is less blatant. For one thing, Oklahoma was not a state during the Civil War, so in spite of the battles fought here, there will never be a "The South will rise again" mentality to an Oklahoman's way of thinking. (We're not even treated like the South, anyway, and the culture is a bit different.) I think I have seen the "stars and bars" (confederate flag) on shot glasses and NOTHING else. I've been told that some small towns--but by no means all of them--do have a bit of a "good ol' boys" mechanism in them, but Tulsa's a bit too big for that. Tulsa had a race riot in the past--which we learn about in high-school, and it is still a tangible part of our history. An important part of the Black community was destroyed in that, and I tend to believe efforts are being made to never repeat that.

Oklahoma's history with Native Americans--and since OK history is a mandatory requirement for graduation in OK high-schools, we do know some aspects of it, such as the small-pox blankets given as a "friendly gesture" to the Native Americans--does not allow for the sort of racism towards native americans that there might be elsewhere.

Racism--or some other ethnicity/nationality-based prejudice--exists everywhere on this earth. I dare someone to prove me wrong. From nations to tribes, all "groups" have some "other group" to blame. It is really just a matter of who and how severe. However, whether it be nation, state, or tribe, there will always be people in any given "in-group" of people who will freely blame some other minority group for their troubles, or otherwise declare themselves superior. I by no means would suggest that everyone is racist or prejudiced against a certain someone else, BUT if you point out a country, I can probably tell you what "minority" is most readily made into a scapegoat. Tulsa's prejudice issue right now? Well, all political points aside--some of them valid--I know perfectly legal, second-generation hispanic people who definitely have been treated with complete disrespect because of the immigrant issue.

Snakes and Spiders? I live on the edge of Tulsa, a fifteen minute drive has me in Broken Arrow, a ten minute drive has me in another town. We live in a house, and we've seen skunks in the backyard a few times--until we got our dogs--brown recluses in the garage a few times a year, two harmless gardner snakes, two mice, and we have these huge hard-shell bugs in our front yard. The hard-shells are our fault because the tree they live in is rotting. Brown recluses are a reason to shake your shoes out, and be smart about going into dark storage spaces and the like, not a reason to cross off a city you otherwise seem to love. I've seen ONE black widow in my life, and it just sat on its web outside. I've only seen rattlers in the zoo, and if you live in Tulsa, you should not see them either. We lived near a creek once, though, and my Mom definitaly saw a copperhead. If you go to the Illinois River--up in Tahlequah, I LOVE rafting down it--you might want to be aware of water moccasins (I believe this is the same thing as a Cottonmouth?). I've seen two, but I have never known anyone personally who was bitten by one. Most of the spiders we get in our house our wolf spiders, not pleasant to deal since my Mom and I are both Arachnophobic, but NOT technically a big deal.

Mind you, people live in Australia, and love living there, in spite of the snakes and spiders THEY have to offer, so I would not worry too much about little Oklahoma ;-)

Entertainment in Tulsa can appear sparse if you don't know where to look, but others can inform you of the places to be much better than I can. (I grew up there, but I only recently got a car.)

This is not really a new thread, so probably any of the people who were thinking about living here have already made up their minds. Still, I hope everyone is happy with the decision they made. I know Tulsa has its problems, but a lot of times, those problems are comparatively smaller than in other places, the people are reputed for being friendly--I have not lived anywhere aside from Tulsa and Japan, so I don't know anything BUT Oklahoma when it comes to US culture--plenty of people have settled here happily.

[Synopsis]

Wow, great first post windylea! Welcome to the forum!

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by JameeLynn25

I heard Tulsa is notorious for car break-ins and rapes. Is this true? Is it safe to even live there as a single woman?

I Know That I must be a little bit late hitting this thread but TULSA is certainly Not A Notorious City By Any Stretch Of The Imagination...I'm A Oklahoma Transplant To California and it's more dangerous in Minneapolis St. Paul Than Oklahoma City Or Tulsa , and if a Woman Can Survive Minneapolis and St. Paul They Certainly Can Handle The Crime In TULSA.

As Far As Finding Something To Do to make up your mind on rather to move to TULSA or not.....Take The Local Newspaper For 5 Months Before You Make Your Final Decision To Move Or Not To Move "That Is The Question".

To Find Things To Do In TULSA...Google These Internet Sites...

1. Tulsa Mountains
2. Tulsa Lakes
3. Tulsa Skiatook Lake Cross Timber Resort And Marina

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by JameeLynn25

I heard Tulsa is notorious for car break-ins and rapes. Is this true? Is it safe to even live there as a single woman?

First let me identify myself I'm a Afro-American that lived in Tulsa 1954-1976 and 1988-1990 , but I also have lived On The East Coast and currenty in Cali/Los Angeles/Long Beach...San Francisco...Oakland..Vallejo...and females coming from either the West Coast or the East Coast or like yourself Minneapolis would have no problems with the crime in Tulsa , because even on the NORTHSIDE OF TULSA , the crime pales in comparison to MINNEAPOLIS. People that come from cities that are more URBAN THAN TULSA , already know how to act and conduct themselves....and it's only the people in OKLAHOMA that just getting use to dealing with two large cities that are spreading all of this fear mongoling about Northside Tulsa and Southside OKC.By the way I have never HEARD OF A SINGLE WHITE OR CAUCASIAN PERSON BEING KILLED ON THE NORTHSIDE OF TULSA...and if you have ANY INFORMATION please let me know..please keep me abrest of that. And if you stay out of the Northside you will miss some of Tulsa World Class Icon's such as THE BRADY THEATER...GILCREASE MUSEUM....THE CAIN BALLROOM....RESERVIOR HILL BLACKS LIVING ON A MINI TULSA MOUNTAIN...GILCREASE HILLS MORE BLACK LIVING IN A STUNTING SETTING OF MINI MOUNTAINS AND HILLS...MOHAWK PARK THIRD LARGEST MUNICIPAL PARK IN AMERICA.....TULSA ZOO...MOHAWK PARK LAKE...THE TULSA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM...AND THE TULSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...enought said.

[Dr.LadySquishington]

Aah, the "Buckle of the Bible Belt". I've never met such unholy people, that were so much holier than I.

The segregation is completely obvious.

"Oral Roberts University". Right next to the "City of Faith" and "Englobal", enough said. Well I guess I should mention the giant praying hands sculpture.

Though it's not hard to find your way around, it is difficult to avoid being forced onto the expressway...by the roads as well as drivers.

The third day I was there I took a drive downtown to see what was hoppin, 10pm on a weekday, and I literally saw ONE car, and ONE person walking.

Once, I was walking in a "park" (aka Wal-Mart parking lot with cyclers) and when the sun went down, the herds of people may as well have vanished into thin air.

There are signs all over the mall parking lots that read "Take your keys, lock your doors, hide your belongings."

Each native has one of the "gifts from God" whether it be speaking in tongues or the "power of discernment".

And so on...until a woman at Walgreen's tells you she is going to pray for you to quit smoking while you're buying a pack of cigarettes. Nice gesture which I appreciated, a little much though. (10 months later, still smoking in case you were curious)

Perks include: Tallamena Drive, Tulsa Gardens, and "The Flyin' Roll."