Oklahoma City

[Ytmsn]

I want to brag a bit on my city. Yesterday I rode my bike about 8 miles along the river in OKC, saw some amazing scenery and wanted to share what has happened to our town.

Back in the 90's Oklahoma City started collecting a .01 sales tax to make improvements around town and called it MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) Since then they have made MAJOR improvements all around our city, and the best part is it's all paid for.

We used to have a crappy looking river running through town. They went in and built 4 or 5 locks to hold the water back and make the river big and wide. Then they put paved pathes down both sides and landscaped. There are bridges, waterfalls, bike and skateboard parks, and boat houses. Lots of boat houses. And now you can take a river cruise, have dinner and see the skyline. It's freaking beautiful. They have lots of events, Olympic skulling training facilities, concerts, and drag boat races.

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[Ytmsn]

Then they went into an area that was pretty bad called the bricktown warehouse district and built a canal. It's similar to what San Antonio has, and it's growing and improving every year. We go to have dinner on the water all the time, and we usually take out of town guests on a canal boat ride, just because they have no idea..

Here is a before and after picture in the heart of what is now just called Bricktown. Part of the canal was dug and built right down this street at basement level. The transformation is amazing.

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[cmattj]

Beautiful pics Yt.. downtown waterfronts are special. Nice to see the city do it proudly!wow what a transformation.. Venice style..

Yes you need night lighting as I would stay there till dawn!!

[Ytmsn]

Police and Fire stations were added around town as well as new parks. And there is a paved bike/running path that goes all around. Yesterday I rode about 4 miles up one side of the river and back down the other side back to my truck.

New hotels are being built everywhere. You can't hardly buy any land anywhere along the river or canal without paying a huge price. They have cleaned out a lot of old houses and buildings and new development is going in almost every day. There used to be a few blocks along one street near downtown that had metal recycling yards, and needless to say it was pretty nasty. That's all gone and cleaned up now, and yesterday I saw that they have almost finish a new hotel there too.

A few years back they made the decision to relocate I 40 that pretty much ran through the the middle of town. That is done now and it really helped a lot. This bridge and scissortail (the State bird) is known as an OKC landmark now. My son's best friend took this picture.

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Back when I was growing up you could shoot a canon downtown at night and not hit anyone. Now on any day of the week there is a ton of people downtown and lots of activities. Pretty cool for a town in Central Oklahoma that used to be a place people dreaded coming too.

We live about 35 miles north of here so it's handy for us and we love it. But it's the people that make this a special place. Y'all are welcome anytime. I'd be glad to show you around!
#okcproud

[Ytmsn]

Thanks Matt!

[thunder550]

Wow, what a transformation. That canal is great! You just made me add OKC to my list of places to visit. Thanks for sharing

[NautiGirl]

Very cool pictures...had no idea OKC was all hip and cool! How do you fit in!?!?! I kid I kid!

[Soonerfan]

I can second the transformation as this is the area that I spent my summers and days off in and around on a daily basis. My family had multiple properties and business's that were located in the "transformed areas" and yes it was pretty bad prior to the small sales tax that the voters approved.

Prior to the sales tax I wasn't to hip on inviting people to our city. I am on the board of a organization that business's like mine belong to and prior to this I would have never thought about hosting our National Convention. In 2004 (early days of the changes) I was proud to bring our National Convention to the downtown area. To this day I still get comments about the area and how great it is. The comments come from people that visited 13 years ago and all I can say is you should see it today as it is so much better than it was then.

So, all that have hesitated to visit you can see from the pics that Ytmsn posted it is a beautiful city. Thanks Ytsmn for reminding me of that as I sometimes get caught up in what we don't have in a city and forget what we do and how far we have come!

The end result is great for the city and the area. The process in the early stages and still currently going on as it expands still leaves a sore taste in my mouth as myself and my family were subjected to condemnation and eminent domain to make it a reality.

[Big Block Power]

Very cool guys. I would have never known. I was on the riverwalk and it was pretty cool. Blackened fillet burns coming back up. Thank goodness there was water close.lol. Just kidding.lol
Sooner I hear you on the sore taste. My family went through the same thing but fought it and won. Pretty rare.

[Tuscany]

Buffalo is trying to do the same thing, but in the Vampire State, all excesss go towards the welfare group which Andrew Coumo loves to keep in his hip pocket. Without the freebies on the backs of hard working people, who would buy lobster and shrimp by the case from us?

Thank God for Terry and Kim Pegula who bought the Bills and Sabres. They are personally investing in the downtown area and basically rebuilding it themselves. Known as "Pegulaville".
I'm sure we will be building a new football stadium down by the water sometime in the next 10 years to really make the area incredibly beautiful.

We're coming along, but not as fast and certainly not as stunning as OKC.

[AsLan7]

The transformation is real. One of my favorite overnights when visiting.

I’ll have to text you Ytmsn when I’m in town on a long layover.

[Ytmsn]

Are you kiddin me?! Absolutely!

And thanks for the kind words from everyone else. That goes for any of you. If you ever stop in OKC ( instead of flying over) I'd love to meet you! If I'm in town and can make it happen I'll meet you at the airport if you have a layover.

[liquid]

Buffalo is trying to do the same thing, but in the Vampire State, all excesss go towards the welfare group which Andrew Coumo loves to keep in his hip pocket. Without the freebies on the backs of hard working people, who would buy lobster and shrimp by the case from us?

Thank God for Terry and Kim Pegula who bought the Bills and Sabres. They are personally investing in the downtown area and basically rebuilding it themselves. Known as "Pegulaville".
I'm sure we will be building a new football stadium down by the water sometime in the next 10 years to really make the area incredibly beautiful.

We're coming along, but not as fast and certainly not as stunning as OKC.

Tusc - I second the Pegulas working on Buffalo. the vision is real and the change is noticeable already... Just wish some of that would trickle down to Rochester. The Americans belong here (hockey team folks) and our Soccer team is in jeopardy. we have a terrible poverty situation in an area called the "Fatal Crescent". There's already a canal system here and it dumbfounds me that they can't figure out how to put together a riverwalk that would attract businesses. Poor, Poor leadership and I will also second Tusc's feelings on the vampire state.

As for OKC. My brother went to flight school down there in the late 90's and i went to visit. I remember thinking what a dump it was (and I'm from NJ) and was disconcerted by the "near beer". It's nice to see such a transformation.

[Driller]

I used to work up there in OK in the late 70's early 80's. There was the "near beer" problem. But worse was the liquor problem where you had to leave a bottle in every bar with your name one it!!!! No telling how many dollars worth of Crown Royale I left in OK.

Luckily I saw the error of my ways and have been sober now for 17 yrs.

[thunder550]

What is the "near beer" thing?