You want to know what the real problem is? Why it is we don't have sky-high demand around Cherry Street and downtown? Look no further:
(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3669/25999310150214856311662.jpg)
Fix this, and we'll get/keep young people, even with our backwards (to the sort of people who like to live in urban-type environs, anyway) politics.
Quote from: nathanm on December 07, 2011, 01:58:41 PM
You want to know what the real problem is? Why it is we don't have sky-high demand around Cherry Street and downtown? Look no further:
(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3669/25999310150214856311662.jpg)
Fix this, and we'll get/keep young people, even with our backwards (to the sort of people who like to live in urban-type environs, anyway) politics.
Is that the number of positions for each specialty as local City employees?
Dagnabit Nate! Tulsa's not a social democracy....
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 07, 2011, 02:02:00 PM
Is that the number of positions for each specialty as local City employees?
Job openings.
Yeh, it's not the Fluff like BOK Center, it's Meat and Potatoes -- like Jobs that really count. Remember Bartlett was going to be the "jobs gettinest mayor." Apparently, it hasn't worked. The transfer of postal center jobs to OKC is just more of Tulsa's drift into irrelevance. But we love the old girl, huh.
Quote from: nathanm on December 07, 2011, 03:08:19 PM
Job openings.
Do you have any idea of the number of existing positions? As a percentage of the population or some other metric?
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 07, 2011, 04:03:55 PM
Do you have any idea of the number of existing positions? As a percentage of the population or some other metric?
Nope. A then-soon-to-be-former-Tulsan made this list when he was looking for work earlier this year. He ended up moving to Portland, apparently.
FWIW, I think that the fluff is also important. If we want to have a vibrant nightlife downtown to help spur residential development there, we have to have fluff.
In some fairness, those are business services/marketing that generally ... follow the business. If there are no businesses selling their wares, no matter how creative the population is, those jobs won't be there. So I would say that this is more of a trailing indicator as opposed to a leading.
That's not to say Tulsa is not struggling. I'm just saying that's all.
According to careerbuilder there are 53 web development jobs in the Tulsa area.
http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobseeker/Jobs/JobResults.aspx?IPath=QH&ch=&rs=&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_rawwords=web+development&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_freeloc=Tulsa%2C+OK&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_jobtypes=ALL&qsbButton=Find+Jobs (http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobseeker/Jobs/JobResults.aspx?IPath=QH&ch=&rs=&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_rawwords=web+development&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_freeloc=Tulsa%2C+OK&_ctl0%3A_ctl1%3AucQuickBar%3As_jobtypes=ALL&qsbButton=Find+Jobs)
Once you filter out the non-local jobs and the not-web-development jobs you get one, plus an entry level web design job that pays $30,000 and requires a bachelor's degree.
Quote from: nathanm on December 07, 2011, 04:16:49 PM
Nope. A then-soon-to-be-former-Tulsan made this list when he was looking for work earlier this year. He ended up moving to Portland, apparently.
FWIW, I think that the fluff is also important. If we want to have a vibrant nightlife downtown to help spur residential development there, we have to have fluff.
I'm willing to bet there are a lot of young professionals who would prefer not driving across town after a night out (and contributing to the DUI industry revenue stream), but really, what options are we giving them? We're just not geared for being a "cool" city to work and live.
(that, and we seem to be brutally overzealous with enforcing park curfews...)
I will readily admit Tulsa doesn't have the number of job openings as DFW (5 million people) or Boston (7 million) or Seattle (3 million). That's not news. However, I know plenty of people in those positions in Tulsa - your friend isn't very good at networking.
And the BOk and such is not fluff. It is a quality of life factor. Did Portland become cool, hip, expensive, and attractive to young people because there were lots of jobs? NO. It drew the jobs because it was a place creative, educated, and affluent people wanted to live, start their businesses, move their headquarters, and work.
Start up business leave Tulsa all the time to go somewhere else and grow. Established business can be bought by other places. Businesses and most of Tulsa's population doesn't have any pride, doesn't have a solid identity, and offers little loyalty. Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland... these cities have a culture and have developed to draw people in - NOT by being overtly business friendly. But by being damn nice places to live.
Quality, educated people want to live there. Quality jobs are established by them or move there to attract that workforce - with terms and development strictly dictated by the cities in order to keep that quality. Here, in Tulsa, we beg for any crap job that we can get and do little to encourage new or maintain old startups.
We try to pull jobs by being "business friendly" (read giving away money, making illogical ordinances, and refusing to structure development), they try to pull and develop talent with quality of life that draws in business.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on December 07, 2011, 07:39:04 PM
I will readily admit Tulsa doesn't have the number of job openings as DFW (5 million people) or Boston (7 million) or Seattle (3 million). That's not news. However, I know plenty of people in those positions in Tulsa - your friend isn't very good at networking.
Yes, it wasn't a count of positions existing, it was a count of positions available. And it's not my friend, just some former Tulsan on another forum who was complaining about having to leave.
The point is that we can have all the quality of life stuff we want (and we should, it's very important), but without available jobs, we won't get anywhere when it comes to attracting new blood. People who are already here and want to stay are being driven out because most of our high tech up and left town. It's also an appearance thing. If the positions are available, but not being advertised, as is often the case, we look bad. Someone just moving here isn't going to stand a great chance of being immediately plugged in to the behind the scenes hiring.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on December 07, 2011, 07:39:04 PM
I will readily admit Tulsa doesn't have the number of job openings as DFW (5 million people) or Boston (7 million) or Seattle (3 million). That's not news. However, I know plenty of people in those positions in Tulsa - your friend isn't very good at networking.
And the BOk and such is not fluff. It is a quality of life factor. Did Portland become cool, hip, expensive, and attractive to young people because there were lots of jobs? NO. It drew the jobs because it was a place creative, educated, and affluent people wanted to live, start their businesses, move their headquarters, and work.
Start up business leave Tulsa all the time to go somewhere else and grow. Established business can be bought by other places. Businesses and most of Tulsa's population doesn't have any pride, doesn't have a solid identity, and offers little loyalty. Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland... these cities have a culture and have developed to draw people in - NOT by being overtly business friendly. But by being damn nice places to live.
Quality, educated people want to live there. Quality jobs are established by them or move there to attract that workforce - with terms and development strictly dictated by the cities in order to keep that quality. Here, in Tulsa, we beg for any crap job that we can get and do little to encourage new or maintain old startups.
We try to pull jobs by being "business friendly" (read giving away money, making illogical ordinances, and refusing to structure development), they try to pull and develop talent with quality of life that draws in business.
Well said.
I think some of it is that so many here don't think the government could or should do anything job wise other than "stay out of it". Yet, we sit here as a prime example of our city/region not diligently working to create and expand "nodes" (high tech, telicom, nano/materials science, new energy, medical, tourism, etc.). I hear talk of it from time to time, but don't see any follow-up or results. Are we just to crappy a region to attract or build up those nodes and thats why we arent seeing results? Or is it because we aren't trying hard enough or well enough? OKC has done a decent job of building up its medical complex with state and local help.
What are we doing? What are the different nodes we are trying to build up? How well are we doing it?
Quote from: nathanm on December 07, 2011, 08:33:22 PM
Yes, it wasn't a count of positions existing, it was a count of positions available. And it's not my friend, just some former Tulsan on another forum who was complaining about having to leave.
The point is that we can have all the quality of life stuff we want (and we should, it's very important), but without available jobs, we won't get anywhere when it comes to attracting new blood. People who are already here and want to stay are being driven out because most of our high tech up and left town. It's also an appearance thing. If the positions are available, but not being advertised, as is often the case, we look bad. Someone just moving here isn't going to stand a great chance of being immediately plugged in to the behind the scenes hiring.
So no real quantification as to whether or not this person tried to network into a job or was simply browsing obvious classified sites for something he/she wanted to do? That's hardly what I'd call a real indictment of the business and social climate of Tulsa. At worst, it could have been a half-hearted effort to find work in Tulsa.
I've worked for five different companies in the last 22 years, including for myself for four years. Not one of those jobs was ever advertised. A couple were via acquaintances, a couple were due to close friends. You don't even have to be a lifer here to find opportunities like that. If you have the personality, skills, and a good reputation, you can pretty well find whatever you want to do in this city. You might not find it in a matter of days, but believe me, aside from my own experience I know of plenty of others who can share that sentiment.
Quote from: TheArtist on December 07, 2011, 08:55:35 PM
I think some of it is that so many here don't think the government could or should do anything job wise other than "stay out of it". Yet, we sit here as a prime example of our city/region not diligently working to create and expand "nodes" (high tech, telicom, nano/materials science, new energy, medical, tourism, etc.). I hear talk of it from time to time, but don't see any follow-up or results. Are we just to crappy a region to attract or build up those nodes and thats why we arent seeing results? Or is it because we aren't trying hard enough or well enough? OKC has done a decent job of building up its medical complex with state and local help.
What are we doing? What are the different nodes we are trying to build up? How well are we doing it?
Each time in the past few decades that the city has tried to build up a greater variety of "nodes" we have encountered bad luck or just plain bad timing. Tech, education and tourism come to mind. Truth is we continue to fall back on our default industry, which is energy. We know that industry, we cultivate it and we actually lead the industry in some areas. We don't retain the larger components of that industry ....for now. Williams and some other local energy companies may change that.
I agree with your past assessments that of the three, education, and primarily upper level and technical education, are keys to our future diversification. That will stimulate the public school system and the synergy will radiate outwards through the city. We simply cannot write off public education without serious ramifications. And that is where the stalemate lies.
You have to know your core constituency and ours is energy and conservatism. We our uncomfortable outside that bubble.
The "they cant find a job because they are lazy" theme just gets old.
I'd be more curious to see how we stack up against similar-sized cities especially in our region. Comparing Tulsa to Dallas, Seattle and Boston is apples to oranges. We will never compete for shear number of high-paying jobs with those cities. We can compete with peer cities like OKC, Little Rock, Omaha, Colorado Springs, Memphis, Albuquerque, Louisville, Des Moines, Birmingham, Tucson, etc. but not the biggest cities in the country except in certain areas within the energy and aerospace industries.
Quote from: patric on December 08, 2011, 12:13:47 PM
The "they cant find a job because they are lazy" theme just gets old.
When it's the only story he's got....
Just like when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
OKC has much less in terms of high technology electrical/electronic type business. Tulsa has been slipping badly in that area for the last few years, but there are signs that it may be starting to improve. In particular, two new players in energy are spooling up right now. Borets Weatherford and Summit ESP. The story is they have raided Centrilift (Baker Hughes) in Claremore, as well as hiring outside.
And Wood Group was bought out by GE Oil and Gas - may be some more jobs open up there, in OKC and maybe Tulsa.
But then Bed-Chek was removed. Lowrance has changed dramatically. F W Murphy seems to be hiring from time to time, even if they are somewhat confused a lot of the time.
Quote from: SXSW on December 08, 2011, 12:14:22 PM
Comparing Tulsa to Dallas, Seattle and Boston is apples to oranges.
Yet through simple division I can see that the numbers for Tulsa are disproportionately low.
Tulsa needs the creative class. I've long believed that downtown needs to cater to creatives, artists and musicians. If the creative class will think its cool, the not so cool kids will follow along. People that aren't creative still want to be around that creative energy, so having pockets of development that encourage creativity will spur further development that caters to the fatter wallets of YP's & Baby Boomers. Have you seen Councilor Ewing's open letter to hipsters in regards to the Max Retropub? What he is apparently experiencing in his business is a microcosm of the concept. The key is keeping in step with the creatives to ensure they always have a home. Malcolm Gladwell also talks about this concept in his book the Tipping Point, wherer he calls it the "Law of the Few."
Love them or hate them, but at least the Chamber recognized it when they sponsored the group that started TYPros.
Tulsa's greatest strengths are:
We are a generator of small to mid-sized energy companies. You can take that to the bank.
We are a family orientated small city that is a great place to raise a family.
The music scene.
Tulsa's greatest weaknesses are:
Infrastructure. Regional Centers require a critical mass of infrastructure and institutions that support business. We have already lost this battle. OKC has won the battle.
Racism. The Diversity Train has left the station and we are not on board.
Public education. Somewhere down the line we gave up.
About downtown:
Tulsa does have a vibrant downtown. It is centered somewhere near 41st and Yale.
When I look at the people I grew up with, when I look at my native Tulsan friends, I see incredibly sophisticated people. We are not struggling with identity. We know who we are and we know who Tulsa is. I hold educated Tulsans to the highest standard and they rarely disappoint me.
I wouldn't be from anywhere else. Tulsa is the center of my universe. And practically everything Tulsa does makes me angry. Hey, don't blame me. I just live here.
Want to revitalize? Good luck. I'm not hopeful. But start by supporting our strengths and correcting our weaknesses.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
POST OF THE MONTH! maybe decade.....
Quote from: Ronnie Lowe on December 10, 2011, 11:31:06 AM
Tulsa's greatest weaknesses are:
Infrastructure. Regional Centers require a critical mass of infrastructure and institutions that support business. We have already lost this battle. OKC has won the battle.
No need to give up.
QuotePublic education. Somewhere down the line we gave up.
Tulsa is not unique in that. Public education needs to get repaired. Almost no one seems to agree on how to do that.
Quote
About downtown:
Tulsa does have a vibrant downtown. It is centered somewhere near 41st and Yale.
I was in the Blue Dome area last night. It seemed busy to me. A few blocks away was like a morgue.
Quote from: Ronnie Lowe on December 10, 2011, 11:31:06 AM
Tulsa's greatest strengths are:
We are a family orientated small city that is a great place to raise a family.
About downtown:
Tulsa does have a vibrant downtown. It is centered somewhere near 41st and Yale.
Want to revitalize? Good luck. I'm not hopeful.
^These are the quotes I find hard to understand or just disagree with.
Our reputation as a good place to raise a family is fading. Unless you mean the burbs and surrounding villages.
What do you mean 41st and Yale?
Vitalize would mean to energize or create excitement. There is a small core of people trying to do just that, so I am hopeful. But you're never going to add vitality to a city that is primarily viewed as a good place to raise a family...except for the school system, the traffic, the infrastructure, the lack of high paying jobs, and the reputation as a conservative, fundamentalist hotbed of, hypocrisy, guns and meth. Vitality is associated with young, smart, progressive, well adjusted people. New York has vitality. We have guns, drugs and two separate holiday parades..
Quote from: Ronnie Lowe on December 10, 2011, 11:31:06 AM
Tulsa's greatest weaknesses are:
Infrastructure. Regional Centers require a critical mass of infrastructure and institutions that support business. We have already lost this battle. OKC has won the battle.
All good, but I would probably not give OKC quite as much credit as you do. I spend a LOT of time in that area, in particular the east to south part of town down to Norman. (I was sitting watching TV less than a mile from the shoot out in Valley Brook the other night - heard the exchange of shots. Very clearly and loud.)
They are losing employers alarmingly fast, and the small family businesses you mention seem to be an endangered species. The kind of stuff I do just isn't happening there. We are having some trouble, but I think it is being shared by OKC in many ways.
And yeah, even though I am probably a whole lot older than you, a lot of your next to last line transcends the generations. At least, this one...
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 10, 2011, 01:09:59 PM
Tulsa is not unique in that. Public education needs to get repaired. Almost no one seems to agree on how to do that.
And yet, so many seem to keep getting an education. For example, Ronnie, you and me, just to name a few. Plus many of the other people posting here.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on December 11, 2011, 08:01:25 PM
And yet, so many seem to keep getting an education. For example, Ronnie, you and me, just to name a few. Plus many of the other people posting here.
You and I belong to another generation. I don't know about Ronnie. Back before rocks turned to dirt, the public education system seemed to do a better job in my opinion. I am actually a product of suburban Philadelphia, PA public education. I don't know if my old school system is any better than the local area systems or not. When we moved here (1971), my sister was starting 9th grade in Bixby. It was mostly a repeat of what she had already learned in 8th grade "back east".
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 11, 2011, 08:59:18 PM
You and I belong to another generation. I don't know about Ronnie. Back before rocks turned to dirt, the public education system seemed to do a better job in my opinion. I am actually a product of suburban Philadelphia, PA public education. I don't know if my old school system is any better than the local area systems or not. When we moved here (1971), my sister was starting 9th grade in Bixby. It was mostly a repeat of what she had already learned in 8th grade "back east".
I moved to Iowa for four years and when I got back, it took two full years before we caught up here with what I had already done. I cannot imagine what has happened in Iowa during the intervening years to get them to the horrible place they are now!
Actually, they have always been this way - when in school during one Presidential election, I can remember the little sing-song chant;
Nixon, Nixon, he's our man!
Throw Kennedy in the garbage can!
There was one little girl named Heather whose family were Kennedy supporters. They were considered to be the agents of the anti-Christ.
Anyway, grandpuppy in Union school did well in spite of it being Union. Alternatively, she could have gone to BA or even Jenks, but based on results from kids a few years ago, the results would still have been good. Problem is that the people in Union are in some major league denial about what many, if not most, of their kids are really up to. There are plenty of drugs, lots of sex in what in our generation were the "smoke holes", and some gang activity (can you spell "shakedown"). But their kids go to a "better" class of school. LOL, LOL, LOL!!!!
Cracks me up when parents get in this "my little boy or girl wouldn't do THAT" mode!
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on December 11, 2011, 09:05:57 PM
There was one little girl named Heather whose family were Kennedy supporters. They were considered to be the agents of the anti-Christ.
There was a lot of anti-Kennedy sentiment because he was Catholic. I believe he even had to sign some kind of oath that his primary duty was to the USA and not the Pope. It kind of reminds me of some of the anti Romney rhetoric. Back to my standard statements, my dad didn't like Kennedy because of the way he wanted to do things rather than his goals. I was still too young to form my own opinions politically. I remember the elections but the Johnson-Goldwater election is the one I really remember. Goldwater was painted as the war hawk. We all know what happened.
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 11, 2011, 09:22:06 PM
There was a lot of anti-Kennedy sentiment because he was Catholic. I believe he even had to sign some kind of oath that his primary duty was to the USA and not the Pope. It kind of reminds me of some of the anti Romney rhetoric. Back to my standard statements, my dad didn't like Kennedy because of the way he wanted to do things rather than his goals. I was still too young to form my own opinions politically. I remember the elections but the Johnson-Goldwater election is the one I really remember. Goldwater was painted as the war hawk. We all know what happened.
Yeah, and Nixon was supposed to be the best choice in '60, too. Both Johnson and Nixon were catastrophic for a peace loving people tired of killing our kids in useless wars. Luckily, that wasn't and isn't us!
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on December 11, 2011, 09:32:05 PM
Yeah, and Nixon was supposed to be the best choice in '60, too. Both Johnson and Nixon were catastrophic for a peace loving people tired of killing our kids in useless wars. Luckily, that wasn't and isn't us!
I liked Nixon for one thing, I didn't have to go to Nam. He said enough is enough and said screw it and pulled out. I'll never forgive him for the 55 mph speed limit.
Quote from: Red Arrow on December 11, 2011, 09:36:52 PM
I liked Nixon for one thing, I didn't have to go to Nam. He said enough is enough and said screw it and pulled out. I'll never forgive him for the 55 mph speed limit.
You must be a few years younger than I. The lottery kept me out - # 335 - I stayed out. Even with a family friend who worked at the draft board and was practically wetting herself to get me drafted. Close call.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on December 12, 2011, 02:52:31 PM
You must be a few years younger than I. The lottery kept me out - # 335 - I stayed out. Even with a family friend who worked at the draft board and was practically wetting herself to get me drafted. Close call.
I kept my college deferment to graduation by making satisfactory progress toward my degree. The year younger than I was only got to complete the semester they were presently in.
Edit:
My number was 38. I knew I was going.
Quote from: AquaMan on December 10, 2011, 01:32:15 PM
^These are the quotes I find hard to understand or just disagree with.
Our reputation as a good place to raise a family is fading. Unless you mean the burbs and surrounding villages.
What do you mean 41st and Yale?
Vitalize would mean to energize or create excitement. There is a small core of people trying to do just that, so I am hopeful. But you're never going to add vitality to a city that is primarily viewed as a good place to raise a family...except for the school system, the traffic, the infrastructure, the lack of high paying jobs, and the reputation as a conservative, fundamentalist hotbed of, hypocrisy, guns and meth. Vitality is associated with young, smart, progressive, well adjusted people. New York has vitality. We have guns, drugs and two separate holiday parades..
You are right about Tulsa's reputation for family raising fading. But it's still a strength even though it has been diminished. And I've been spending more time in southeast Tulsa. There is a concentration of commerce and a lot of energy (in spite of it being ugly) that feels like our "de facto" downtown. As far as exotic features to attract sophisticates, I'm telling you that those sophisticates in regional centers would trade it in for Tulsa if they could get a good paying "career path" job here. New York's subways get real old real fast. Finally, our old downtown is something of a historic district but it's going to take a Devon Tower to make it a contender.
Quote from: Ronnie Lowe on December 12, 2011, 03:08:13 PM
Finally, our old downtown is something of a historic district but it's going to take a Devon Tower to make it a contender.
We got one - it's the old Williams tower. Just 30% smaller than Devon....
Like I have said before, I would rather have ten more 6 story, mixed-use, pedestrian friendly buildings than one more 60 story tower aaany day.
As for downtown revitalization, was chatting with some "in the mix" people the other day about that and the topic of parking came up. The conversation got a tad bit heated, my fault I am sure for I start to get bug eyed and foam at the mouth when people start talking about building more parking garages and needing more parking downtown. But anywhoo, someone had mentioned how they went to Charlotte I believe it was, and some other cities to see how they had done things and learn from "best practices", etc. Which just made me even more exasperated.
My feeling is that we need to do something that will make us stand out from the crowd, something that will make us exceptional.
Doing what everyone else is doing or has done is not going to do that.
"Following" what other cities have done and trying to get us to be where they are at will not work... imo, we need to be playing leapfrog, not follow the leader.
If city A is 10-15-20 years ahead of us, and we go to that city to emulate their "best practices". All your assuring is that in 10-20 years you will still be 10-20 years behind. Now sure our city will be better and improve if we follow those "best practices", but in 10-20 years time we will still be in the same position relative to that competitor city because they too will now have yet another 10-20 years worth of improvements under their belts and we, our young people, businesses, etc. will be looking at them once again as greener pastures out competing us.
What these people in Tulsa are thinking is this.... Put your left hand on the table in front of you, thats competitor city A. Now put your right hand on the table in front of you, but say 5" closer to you, thats Tulsa. City A is ahead of Tulsa. What these people are thinking is that we should do "a,b,c" so that we can advance like city A has done... now move your right hand forward 5" so that its beside your left, Tulsa up to the level of City A. Thats what they think will happen and all will be fine and dandy. Right? WRONG! thats NOT what will happen. What will happen is this..... Go back to having Tulsa behind city A, now move BOTH your left hand AND your right hand up 5". Thats what will happen. As we are advancing year after year, so will our competitors be advancing. We will once again be behind and wondering what we need to do to "catch up" and be competitive.
Again, what I think we need to do is, not what everyone else is doing and magically expecting exceptional results, but do something exceptional in the first place.
Doing what every other city is now doing or has already been working on for decades, aka building "fake urbanity", won't get us ahead or even catch us up to other cities. Sure it will get us ahead of where we are now, and you can see that as beeing good if you want. But I see it as us just accepting failure once again. What we should be doing imo is aiming for the end result, what we really want, REAL, superb quality, exceptional, knock their socks off, urbanity. To do that I don't want to follow Charlotte, or Louisville, or Wichitah, or wherever, to get that type of urbanity,,, I want to chase down and get NYC/Paris quality urbanity. We had it once, but trying to squash in car culture and pedestrian/transit culture, and spending, over time, way more money by trying to pay for both types of infrastructure, to in the end only get a fake approximation, ain't the game I think we should play. Unless you like being forever behind as we tend to do.
I remember in high school when our english teacher asked us to raise our hands if we thought we would me millionaires by the time we were 30. Believe it or not a majority of students raised their hands. Being the odd little contrarian I was even then, it started me thinking. Bet the class before ours had a similar result, and the class after, and likely the other english teachers classes in our school and in others would have too... And then I also looked around at my friends and saw how heck bent on being like everyone else and following the same paths to success most of them were. Take ACT's, go to college, get married, wear these brands, have this item, listen to this or that music, etc. etc. But I knew that only very few people would ever be millionaires by the time they were 30. So my little epiphany was "What on earth was the likelihood of any of these people, who were all doing essentially the same things, beating the odds?" All of them weren't going to be millionaires by 30, not even a majority of them, it's a statistical impossibility. You can't do what everyone else does and expect exceptional results. Thats, high school kid, "magical" thinking. Teens are good at reasoning, but because they lack experience they are not good at reasoning reasonably.
So here we are having city leaders wanting us to do what everyone else has done or is working on doing,,, expecting us to somehow, magically have exceptional results. I just don't see that happening. I see us continually languishing as per usual. Perhaps better than we were before, sure. But still behind and average at best.
Instead of spending money on parking garages, lets spend it on transit. Let's spend the next 10-20-30 years building an urban core that will be the envy of every city our size, and even larger, between NYC and Seattle. Let's think outside the box and figure out a way to make that work. Lets not spend our time and effort trying to follow what everyone else is doing and expect exceptional results.
It's really really hard to get that thing that makes your city exceptional and stand out, thats your "catch", the great thing your known for that will pull in the people and businesses. We are at just the right stage in our downtown development that with the right zoning and development incentives, the right spending choices, we could choose a different route and become exceptional. The small affordable city with the knock out, wonderful, truly big city feeling, very liveable, beautiful, urban core.
Merlot?
William,
Exactly!!
And you must have gone to Jenks schools. Or one of the Catholic Halls.