Monday, August 25, 2008

Gotta love online forum drama

For those of you Devon lovers that haven't yet gotten a chance to check out a mostly negative, anti-OKC forum, this post is for you. See, the folks over at SkyscraperCity.com don't exactly like OKC. They don't exactly like any city that's supposed to be a really sucky, dusty, flat, desolate and miserable place, but turns out to be a vibrant and booming center for industry, culture, entertainment, art, and the urban movement... which is mainly, you guessed it, OKC.

For this blog post, I thought I would pick a select few of my absolute favorite comments from just one of the 4 threads that feature a lot of pessimism about the Devon Tower. You can read the thread yourself (follow the link above) if you want maximum jollies. Enjoy:

...and it will never be built. -Geaux Tigers

Its nice to see Dallas's largest suburb building up. -Big Texan

And I'm not trying to be a d*ck, you'll end up being swamped by pretty much the whole forum saying that OKC is no where near the 'next great American city', and you guys will end up being offended. - Cajun Dude

It's going to take a lot more than an NBA team for the rest of the country to see OKC as 'major league' and that's the truth. - Cajun Dude

I could make a list for Louisville that sounds just as impressive, if not more impressive than SRG's list - eweezerinc

Cities like OKC are just playing catch up at this point. - Cashville

the office market is going to take a SUBSTANTIAL hit and this should eliminate the construction of any new office space in DT OKC for decades! - cwilson758

You act like OKC is booming or something. - papa spaz
The funny thing is, if the tower actually goes up, it will be the 1st(or near it) skyscraper to be built in OKC in nearly 3 decades. It's sure the next great American city though... - Cajun Dude

you showed us a graph that downtown has the best places to eat & shop in OKC. Congratulations, that's the case for about every major city out there. - Cajun Dude

things are great but with a CSA and MSA smaller than Greensboro NC, Oklahoma City is strictly relying on prosperous and local energy companies manipulating the economy and turning in their chips while they still have a chance. If OKC is still aggresively growing in even 4-5 years I will be VERY impressed with the infrastructure and vision of Oklahoma City.- duraleigh

quit being jealous people, be happy that this work of art can be built anywhere! - RON-E

Actually I would say OKC has a very small downtown for a city it's size and they really need several more skyline buildings. - papa spaz

Wow from reading this thread, you really get the sense that this is just eating some people up that OKC is getting this building. - gwiATLman

When will OKC people on here get over this little man syndrome? - papa spaz

Come on everyone, admit OKC has it going on. - Nic

I think what I'm most happy about is what this does for the esteem of those from Oklahoma City. They've always seemed to feel second rate about OKC, so, maybe a tall building will change that for them. It certainly represents poor city planning if it is approved. - Sean in New Orleans

Translation: "OKC is outshining my city." - Dale

I hope OKC gets about ten of these just to piss the naysayers off. - Dale

The tower does look out of place. Maybe that's b/c OKC had a very small skyline to start with. - papa spaz

Some people are mad... -BillBanneker

Why can't Toronto get at least a couple 1000 footer? Is it because we're pinkos? - to'er

For a comparison here are Nashvilles numbers. - Cashville

(if you ventured over to okmet.org and read the Devon Tower thread there you would know what Im talking about.) - Cashville

I think that OKC without this tower has vacancy issues at 23.0%. Vacancy rates in New Orleans are just below 10%, and even lower with the entire metro area (Metairie is around 5%). - Sean in New Orleans

the rest of downtown which will be close to 50% empty. - Cashville

The idea that $750 million investment in the downtown is a "problem" is so silly its not really worth debating. - gwiATLman

I just can't support this project. - lamsalfl




Special thanks go out to Cashville and Cajun Dud without whom this post wouldn't have been possible.

5 comments:

Keagan said...

Haha good guys those two.. But back on track the point is that, and this is what nobody understands and seems to misunderstand you on, is that OKC has literally done a 360 from where it was 10-15 years ago. So yes we are going to brag about it a little, yes we are going to be biased like anyone else and their hometowns. OKC is up and coming and believe it or not people, development is actually everywhere and it's not that bad of a place. Just because there's no mountains doesn't mean jack squat and I wish people would begin to realize that.

skye said...

"turns out to be a vibrant and booming center for industry, culture, entertainment, art, and the urban movement... which is mainly, you guessed it, OKC."

Sorry but I don't see it. I've lived here almost 2 years now and booming it ain't . YOU want booming go to Austin, Dallas, Seattle, Those places are booming.

NR said...

Dallas and Seattle are in a different league of cities, though.

skye said...

Well, true they are. What cities would you use as a fair comparison to OKC?

NR said...

Birmingham, Memphis, Omaha, Buffalo, Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Louisville, Albuquerque, and Columbus.

For a stretch..Kansas City (even though it's bigger, OKC still compares favorably).

Of those cities, the only one making as much upward movement might be SLC and Raleigh. For instance, I don't think Albuquerque is debating what it will take for them to be "Tier 2."