I have touched on this in some earlier posts- how people from suburban Tulsa (that does include some areas within Tulsa's city limits) are completely ignorant of what goes on in Tulsa's urban core. But is it entirely their fault? The answer is a resounding NO! Perhaps they should discover places like Cherry St. and the Blue Dome district for themselves instead of just listening to heresay, but the fact remains: Tulsa does not advertise its urban core very well.
I think Tulsa should set up kiosks in places such as Woodland Hills Mall and the airport that have large signs that say something like: "Come Here to Find Something to do in Tulsa." At the kiosks should be maps of the city showing where places like the Brady Arts District are. There should be pamphlets about each major district, with space within the pamphlet used for advertising by businesses within that district.
We are constantly losing hundreds if not thousands of young people every day that grew up in Tulsa and decide to move somewhere else more exciting. The fact is, the largest high schools in the Tulsa metro are in the suburbs (that includes Union and Jenks, whose districts occupy miles of land within Tulsa's city limits). Statistically, these high school students go off to college and don't come back. Their lack of knowledge of Tulsa's urban core only aids in their exodus.
I am hoping that some members of this forum will have some other ideas on how Tulsa could get its suburbanites to come to the city core more often. Any good ideas?
I agree... There really is no "what to do/what's happening" guide in Tulsa. The boundaries of the neighborhoods aren't even really well-known or clearly defined. There's not a whole lot of 'sense of self' within the areas, or, there are but they're only contained within that self (if that makes sense). In places like New York, there are clear boundaries like Upper East Side is between 59th & 96th Streets between 5th Avenue and the East River, and within UES, there are even clearly defined districts like Carnegie Hill, Yorkville and Lenox Hill. And all of these districts are connected to each other, unlike here, where we have very well developed but noncontiguous districts. Brookside isn't connected to Cherry Street or Utica Square, which aren't connected to the Blue Dome, Pearl, or Brady districts...
Anyway, I think kiosks in malls would be alright, but television spots would be another way of reaching all these suburbanites (which, in my opinion, is the whole of Tulsa, not just the outlying parts of the city and suburbs). People are very visual, and I think that's the way they should be approached. Websites are a great way to have a ton of visuals and information, and I think this area needs to be looked to.
The Tulsa Chamber might be continuously busy promoting Tulsa at booths at fairs in other states, but they really should take a look at the people here and ways to make them stay, make it appeal to them. The Oklahoma Department of Tourism puts together wonderful TV spots, among the best I've seen of any state, and Tulsa could benefit from these types of commercials.
I'd like to see a map of Tulsa with its neighborhoods and districts clearly defined... Maybe if there was a clear definition, they could be developed in a way to define their own identity... A map like this: (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/gif/neighbor/neighd.gif)
Make a map having districts labeled and of different colors.
On the back corresponding, colored columns having a blurb about each district or area, a pic or two, then having a list of points of interest.
Each point of interest has a numbered dot, red for restaurant, blue for art deco points, green shopping, gold museums, etc. And that same numbered and colored dot on the map.
Major points of interest could have a one or two sentence description and hours open.
"Historic Mid-town". (have description of area, history of neighborhoods) Listed underneath,,,, Philbrook, Garden Center, Historic Society, Utica Square, Parks, etc.
"Downtown". (quick little blurb and pic) Events Center, Courthouse, etc, Historic Tour starts here listing major buildings, churches etc. and showing route of tour on map.
Visitors, new residents to Tulsa and just those who have never gotten to know Tulsa like many of us on here, would have a quick, easy to use overview of the City. Where things are, the types of areas, and what there is to see and do.
the problem is tulsa doesnt have an "urban core" since a core would need to be in the center of something. downtown tulsa is just an an office park stuck up in the northern part of the city.
I don't know how this affects neighborhood development or Tulsa advertising itself to itself... ? You don't have to have a core in order to have distinct districts..
I read in the TW Business section recently that the Chamber is going to promote Tulsa more. I remember thinking "It's about time!"
One of the ways I know what's going on in my community is that the city publishes a little paper (5-7 pgs) that is delivered to my mailbox every quarter. It's not a subscription, all residents receive one. I find it pretty valuable. I know what community events are coming up, adult & youth programs, farmer's market, recycling programs & the arts.
There is no advertising, just information based. http://santa-monica.org/seascape/
Tulsa could have one.. call it The Tulsa Quarterly or Tulsa Lookout.
For example, there could be a little quip about the Thomas Curtis exhibit @ Gilcrease & provide phone# & website.
Or maybe Cherry St, Brookside or Utica are having some sort of Holiday themed events (like tree lighting).
Where is the Farmer's Market? I went to one a few years ago @ 15th & Peoria.. is that still the locale? Is there more than 1?
Does Philbrook still offer art classes?
Where can you go & see the best Christmas lights?
This is the type of information that the suburbanites might want to know about & it's delivered ... how easy is that?!
Adding to the neighborhood/distric map suggestion & I believe it's a close visual to what Artist is talking about.
Montana Ave could be "15th/Cherry St.", Pacific Coast Hwy could be "Riverside Dr./jogging/bike trail" etc.
A map like this w/ shading to highlight the different neighborhoods/districts could be printed on the back of the "insert nifty name" publication.
(http://dadada.com/map/index.html)
or
http://dadada.com/map/index.html
quote:
Originally posted by inteller
the problem is tulsa doesnt have an "urban core" since a core would need to be in the center of something. downtown tulsa is just an an office park stuck up in the northern part of the city.
Actually when I started thinking about that map and what it would look like, where the points of interest would be, it quickly became clear that 95% of everything of note would be within 3 or 4 miles of downtown. That area is Tulsas core. May not be as dense and urban as some would like, but hey its an obvious start.[:)]
If I were to do a map of all of Tulsa plus a bit of the suburbs, even on a decent sized piece of paper the "numbered dots" showing the points of interest and things to do would probably overlap each other in the mid town and downtown area. To keep it from being so crowded, the main map would most likely only be the area within 5 miles of downtown.
Course this map is different than what some are talking about on here, not the "whats going on this week or month" type thing. The map would be a general overview of places, an adjunct to a regularly updated "whats happening guide".
quote:
Anyway, I think kiosks in malls would be alright, but television spots would be another way of reaching all these suburbanites (which, in my opinion, is the whole of Tulsa, not just the outlying parts of the city and suburbs). People are very visual, and I think that's the way they should be approached. Websites are a great way to have a ton of visuals and information, and I think this area needs to be looked to.
The Tulsa Chamber might be continuously busy promoting Tulsa at booths at fairs in other states, but they really should take a look at the people here and ways to make them stay, make it appeal to them. The Oklahoma Department of Tourism puts together wonderful TV spots, among the best I've seen of any state, and Tulsa could benefit from these types of commercials.
I'd like to see a map of Tulsa with its neighborhoods and districts clearly defined... Maybe if there was a clear definition, they could be developed in a way to define their own identity... A map like this: (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/gif/neighbor/neighd.gif)
Very good point- TV ads would be the most noticeable advertising (although likely the most expensive). Kiosks, TV ads, newspaper ads, and detailed maps should all be used. Tulsa does have an urban core, but it's still in the makeover process. The fact is, people from the suburbs would actually go to midtown and even downtown if they knew more about them. If Tulsa is ever going to become a real destination, it needs to start marketing its products. Marketing to the suburbs is in my opinion far more important than running ads in nearby states. There are a lot of people sitting on fat wallets in suburban Tulsa who need someone to tell them where to have a good time. This should be a priority of the mayor's office.
I've been researching Tulsa's neighborhoods/districts ever since this question was brought up, and for the most part, I've got a map that's mostly blank with only a few, disconnected colored areas. In the City of Tulsa's website, there are maps and defining borders given for the Brookside and East Tulsa areas, but that's it. It's time the rest of the neighborhoods are put up, at least so I can finish this map!
Type 'Manhattan neighborhood map' into Google images and you'll get tons of images of the map like the one I posted above. Type the same thing, substituting 'Tulsa' for 'Manhattan', and you'll get a few general Tulsa area maps, the map of East Tulsa I found, and a picture of downtown.
Such a map doesn't exist yet for Tulsa, and it's been nearly impossible to find information about our neighborhoods and their boundaries...
quote:
I've been researching Tulsa's neighborhoods/districts ever since this question was brought up, and for the most part, I've got a map that's mostly blank with only a few, disconnected colored areas. In the City of Tulsa's website, there are maps and defining borders given for the Brookside and East Tulsa areas, but that's it. It's time the rest of the neighborhoods are put up, at least so I can finish this map!
I actually created a map illustrating some of Tulsa's older neighborhoods for a little driving tour I took back in May. Most of my information came from the Tulsa Preservation Commission and from this website (Neighborhood Link (//%22http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/tulsa/allneighs.html%22)). After quite a bit of searching, I managed to find the boundaries for the following neighborhoods: Owen Park, Brady Heights, Riverview, Tracy Park, Maple Ridge, Sunset Terrace, Brookside, Terwilleger Heights, Swan Lake, Gillette, Yorktown, Kendall Whittier, Renaissance, Florence Park, Florence Park South, and White City.
quote:
Originally posted by tshane250
quote:
I've been researching Tulsa's neighborhoods/districts ever since this question was brought up, and for the most part, I've got a map that's mostly blank with only a few, disconnected colored areas. In the City of Tulsa's website, there are maps and defining borders given for the Brookside and East Tulsa areas, but that's it. It's time the rest of the neighborhoods are put up, at least so I can finish this map!
I actually created a map illustrating some of Tulsa's older neighborhoods for a little driving tour I took back in May. Most of my information came from the Tulsa Preservation Commission and from this website (Neighborhood Link (//%22http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/tulsa/allneighs.html%22)). After quite a bit of searching, I managed to find the boundaries for the following neighborhoods: Owen Park, Brady Heights, Riverview, Tracy Park, Maple Ridge, Sunset Terrace, Brookside, Terwilleger Heights, Swan Lake, Gillette, Yorktown, Kendall Whittier, Renaissance, Florence Park, Florence Park South, and White City.
Would you share? Either the map or the boundaries?? [^]
The Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods has a map which delineates the different associations and their boundaries. There are over 120 such neighborhoods.
I would have thought that Urban Tulsa Weakly (//%22http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Section?oid=oid%3A14787%22) would have the corner on the downtown scene, but their new website is a step down from their old listing.
One would think that it would be a breeze to html map a pic of the city and cross reference it with some database, but the backoffice work and programming must be cost prohibitive.
It is important to show individual neighborhood boundaries, but I would like to see a map of Tulsa that shows the boundaries of the major cultural areas of the city, such as Brady Arts District, Brookside, Cherry Street, Uptown (south Boston), East End, Downtown corporate core, etc. These areas are the heart and soul of Tulsa, they are what sets it apart from other cities. Hundreds of cities across America have a 71st and Memorial-type area, but unfortunately that is all most visitors to the city as well as many suburban residents ever see.
I would like to see maps of the businesses of Tulsa's cultural areas like this one of KC's Country Club Plaza:
http://www.countryclubplaza.com/FileUploads/11.05%20map.pdf
Here's another example, OKC's Bricktown map:
http://www.bricktownokc.com/map2/Bricktown05.pdf
quote:
Would you share? Either the map or the boundaries??
I would love to, but unfortunately I created the map on the hardrive of my computer at work (I used GIS, which is not on my personal computer) and I recently got a new computer, so all my stuff was deleted. Come to think of it I think I may have deleted it long ago. Nevertheless, it is gone. I only have a black and white paper copy. But I will post the boundaries from my map below. They are correct as best I can tell from my map. Being b/w it is kind of hard for me to read.
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p206/tshane250/NeighborhoodLimits.jpg)
Please see the topic "Guide to Tulsa-2010." I have posted an outline of a proposed brochure that details Tulsa's geographic regions and main attractions.
Stole this from a "different" forum,,,,
This is a very good article-- Hope you enjoy the read--
Discovering Tulsa All Over Again
Islands, arenas and a 21-story Native American statue, oh my!
It's no secret that Tulsa is struggling to redefine itself.
For the past 19 months, the Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau has been working with Littlefield Inc., a group of local experts on branding, to learn what Tulsa has become and how the city can flaunt that identity to bring in tourists and their pocketbooks.
Efforts have been focused so as to have marketing material ready for the high-visibility events soon to take place in Tulsa, such as the 2007 PGA Championship.
"If you're going to be a true destination, you want to find the one thing that the community can hang its hat on," said David Littlefield, founder and CEO of Littlefield Inc., 1350 S. Boulder Ave., Ste. 500. "We want to make a promise to visitors so that when they come here, we can deliver on that promise."
Littlefield Inc. won the bid to perform the research on how both residents and non-residents view Tulsa. Littlefield Inc. used a combination of web and telephone surveys, combined with interviews and city tours, to learn how Tulsans perceive themselves, as well as what outsiders think of Tulsa.
The results gathered from over 900 respondents were eye-opening.
When asked what is the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Tulsa, 34 percent of 750 survey respondents from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana said simply that they did not know. Five percent thought of oil and only 3 percent thought of a big city populated by many people.
The news gets worse: when event planners from across the country were asked what they knew about Tulsa, 76 percent said they knew nothing at all. Only 4 percent had seen ads for Tulsa, and 4 percent more thought Tulsa too small for their conventions.
And to make this story even better --
As the research from Littlefield Inc. revealed Tulsans have little confidence in their community's ability to draw tourists, Stewart said the first order of business in branding Tulsa as a tourist destination is to work on "internal marketing."
You know what I sense underlying a lot of this "lack of advertising" to itself and to others about Tulsa and the people who decide to do the advertising?
FEAR
Fear that we can't really pull it off. And as things stand now, they are right, we can't.
Tulsa has beautiful buildings, a cathedral, and churches downtown.... But the downtown is dead and you can't reliably tour these building, they are usually closed. Philbrook, The Garden Center, Tulsa historical society, rosegarden, Utica Square, Woodward Park, and the old neighborhoods around them, are the anchors for a great cultural tourism stop. But other than Philbrook, the rest aren't geared for tourists. Garden center baadly needs some gardening around it, there is compacted bare dirt and badly kept bushes around it all the time and the interior needs some sprucing up and the North addition needs to be completely torn down and a classical grand ballroom/show room/meeting room/wedding room, needs to be built instead with perhaps a small ice cream parlor type shop by it so people visiting all the things around can have a that "touristy" enjoyable experience. The historic society needs to get funds to remodel the old mansion so people can actually go in it etc.
The last place I visited I PAID to go look inside a church that wasn't half as nice as either the Holy Family, First Presbyterian, Boston Avenue or the First Methodist! Then paid to pack onto a trolly and go to another church having a real square with the obligatory fountain and park, and it wasn't all that nice either. Then ya get back home and its next to impossible to get inside the ones here, half an hour after service is over. They are empty and locked. I actually got locked inside one a while back while I was taking pics lol.
In other words we have GREAT potential that could be had with a relative modicum of funds and effort applied to making the things we have actual attractions. The Cathedral Square idea being the biggest of those I can think of. We don't nurture our potential. Yet here we are going to spend money, time and effort building a park downtown where? And what good is this park going to do there? What synergy a park and a fountain could have had in front of Holy Family and it would be nearer to places like the Mayo District and its budding shops, coffee shops, and hoped for galleries.
Whenever people come across my photos of Tulsa, the thing I get the most is "WOW, thats Tulsa?!" "I am going to have to go there, its not at all what I thought, its got some beautiful things." http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamtheartist/
But as soon as I hear that they are actually making a tripng to check out the city. A little bit of dread pops up, that FEAR I spoke of earlier. Because even though we have these great things, we and this city just do not utilize or nurture them as any other city would.
We don't do things to promote tourism, as in, not just getting people here but we don't set up the conditions for people to do the normal touristy things when they are here. Its like the park is open and the rides are there, but there is no one at the gate to greet you, there aren't any maps to show you where the attractions are and what there is to do, no food courts, hot dog stands, or restrooms at those rides and no touristy transportation to get you from one part of the park to the next, and the rides themselves aren't even running. Everything is just standing there, looking like a great park, but without any people around to run it.
Other cities spend fortunes to build attractions and then promote them and nurture them. Most of the big expenses and "rides" were set up for us a long time ago by some great people. We have so much, looking us right in the face, wasted wasted potential.
QuoteOriginally posted by TheArtist
[/quote
You're preaching to the saved Artist! My business drew most of its support from OUTSIDE the city. People were desperate to find interesting things to do here and I struggled to direct them. Yet, I was constantly reminded by locals that Tulsa is not, and cannot be a tourist draw.
It is circular causation mixed with low expectations and it is systemic. At least three factors are at play here that frustrate the development of the kind of tourist facilities one would expect in a city this size.
1. People here aren't so sure they want to encourage tourism. This stems from...
2. Not having a clear definition of what tourism is and how it breathes new capital into a community. They see communities that are overly dependent and commercialized by tourism trade like Branson, Arlington, etc. and they fear what it would do to our city. They also see tourism very narrowly, in a vacationing Disney sort of way, rather than the larger scope of family, business, research and government visits.
3. PROTECTIONISM- Nearly impossible to start a tour bus. If you were able to make it through the barbed wire of insurance, govt regs, and capital formation you would face local lobbying efforts by existing taxi, limousine, public and private transit companies. All this, so you could face a public that (refer to #1) isn't prepared to serve the tourist.
I could add number 4 which would be a what I percieved as a rather strong bias among opinion leaders that tourism would cheapen our image. I doubt we could arrive at a consensus as to what cultural neighborhood entities exist.
After reading my post it looks somewhat critical. Just want to point out from my experience what the core of the problem seems to be. I am not so insightful as to how it could be changed but I suspect that if one tourist type venture were to visibly succeed here, there would be a paradigm shift. In OKC that was the Murrah memorial and Bricktown.
Howzabout we declare 'eminent domain name' and snag tulsa.com from its current state of suckiness?
^^
The Littlefield study should be very eye-opening for city leaders.
Rather than fear, I think the two main factors contributing to Tulsa's lack of self-promotion are lack of knowledge and lack of leadership. Citizens of Tulsa really don't know much about their own city. And that isn't just because Tulsa is full of ignorant rednecks, as some will have us believe. The C&V Bureau has failed to effectively market the city's assets to people who do not pass by these assets on a daily basis. They have taken Tulsa's citizens for granted, and have not responded to the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in Tulsa in the past 25 years. The urban core can say: f*** the 'burbs all they want, but from a business standpoint, that's like saying: f*** our customers! The urban core and the suburban areas depend on each other for economic vitality. We can build a thousand East Ends, but none of them will ever realize their full potential if the only people that know of their existence are in Midtown. Not to toot my own horn, but the outline of my Guide to Tulsa provides more information about Tulsa than anything found in local malls, the airport, or any place in the city with high pedestrian traffic. That took 20 minutes at most to create. It's time for TulsaNow or some organization to take action on this issue. I would really like to develop my Guide into a true marketing tool; or else help someone with a better marketing idea. I'm sure someone with a marketing degree out there can think of something creative. Anyone care to look into this? Artist, I know you expressed interest...
Aha! just when I was wondering what I was going to do with two whole days of being holed up at home. I will start on that little map thingey I was thinking of. [:D]