Good for Oklahoma City

[Townsend]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-to-get-550-jobs-from-aircraft-maker-boeing/article/3481699

Oklahoma City to get 550 jobs from aircraft maker Boeing
Aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing is moving 550 jobs to Oklahoma City by the end of 2012.

And the OKC chamber gets to say "We did something.  It was all us.  Prove that it wasn't...go'woooon, prove it."

Greater Oklahoma City Chamber President Roy Williams said Boeing chose to move here after an intense courtship that carried on for more than six months.

To get a company like Boeing to make such a "substantial move to our market area speaks very highly of Oklahoma City and what we're trying to do here," Williams said.

Williams said Boeing has not given local officials any specifics about the jobs coming to Oklahoma City, but they will be good ones.

"We know they're going to be engineers and researchers, very highly trained and skilled people," he said.

Boeing likely will receive some kind of economic incentives from the city to move jobs here, Assistant City Manager Cathy O'Connor said.

"We don't know the amount yet," she said.

O'Connor said Boeing could be eligible for job creation grants from the city's strategic investment program, which is bankrolled by economic development funds approved by voters in 2007.

The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust is expected to authorize the city manager to negotiate with Boeing.

[SXSW]

Why is it OKC is so much more organized than Tulsa from their city government to their Chamber?  

[Gaspar]

Why is it OKC is so much more organized than Tulsa from their city government to their Chamber?  

I don't think their council is engaged in constant pissing matches.

[Conan71]

Why is it OKC is so much more organized than Tulsa from their city government to their Chamber?  

One word:

TINKER

I seriously doubt the OKC metro CC was a major catalyst.  B-1 maintenance already is performed at TIK and there's a huge avionics section there as well.  This is a matter of Boeing being able to take advantage of some tax cuts for shifting jobs from a costlier market to a less expensive market, IMO.  Also does not hurt that OKC is in possession of the old GM plant, much like we had the Douglas plant in Tulsa.  We got Boeing (now Spirit) and Navistar in there 10-12 years ago.  Something tells me there's a sweetheart rent deal in there too.  If a city has the assets, put them to use.

[Townsend]

One word:

TINKER

I seriously doubt the OKC metro CC was a major catalyst.  B-1 maintenance already is performed at TIK and there's a huge avionics section there as well.  This is a matter of Boeing being able to take advantage of some tax cuts for shifting jobs from a costlier market to a less expensive market, IMO.

But...BUT, their chamber took the opportunity to say "we're awesome".  Our metro chamber can't even seem to do that, much less what I've been told they're supposed to be doing.

Anyway, good for them.

[Conan71]

But...BUT, their chamber took the opportunity to say "we're awesome".  Our metro chamber can't even seem to do that, much less what I've been told they're supposed to be doing.

Anyway, good for them.

Yeah, but has the OKC chamber won a self-aggrandizing award from their peers this year or in recent years? 

[we vs us]

Why is it OKC is so much more organized than Tulsa from their city government to their Chamber?  

Tulsa fundamentally believes that decentralized power is a virtue, and so hobbles monolithic decision-making time and again in the name of organic growth.  We distrust 1) elites and 2) groups acting unanimously, so it's hard to recognize and act on a plurality within our city.  

I can't speak for OKC, never having lived there, but I suspect they feel differently.

[RecycleMichael]

We distrust 1) elites and 2) groups acting unanimously, so it's hard to recognize and act on a plurality within our city.  

We better citizens all decided together to censure your comments.