The Grapes of Wrath Part II: the Return Home
I was sent an email Sunday night about this incredible story that appeared in the Sacramento Bee. This, folks, is very, very significant.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Fleeing the Great Depression and a drought unprecedented in American history, a vast wave of Oklahomans and Texans dubbed “Okies” loaded everything they could onto crowded vehicles during the 1930s and headed west for California. Today, in huge numbers, their grandchildren are moving back.
It doesn’t take Loren O’Laughlin much time to come up with a reason why, in between bites of a burger at an Oklahoma City diner. “There aren’t really people lined up on the streets here competing for a few scraps,” said O’Laughlin, 23, who grew up in Sacramento but recently graduated from Oklahoma Christian University and opted to stay put. “Small businesses thrive here because networking is so easy.”
To read the entire story, go here.
Also, be sure to watch the attached video. The folks at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber are, without a doubt, high-fiving each other today.
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Comments
Well, I think the Bee has it right on this one. This is great news, but it should not be news at all for OKC residents. People ARE relocating here.
Sadly, though, our leaders have been somewhat anemic to the thought of actually recruiting businesses and people from high-tax states like California to Oklahoma City. I cite the ads from the Michigan “Upper Hand” campaign as an example of what could be done.
Perhaps, after the MAPS-3 election, our Mayor and Chamber could work on a campaign of our own, to induce corporate HQ relocation from overcrowded, high-taxed cities and states. Not just California, but also Massachusetts, New York, Conneticut, etc..
The word is starting to get out, but there is still much work to do.
This is why I like to read your blog, Steve. I would not have come across this otherwise. I agree with John, I hope our our mayor and chamber can use the national crisis that we are in to capitalize on the opportunity that it presents for our city.
See this thread at OkcTalk.com … http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/18183-californians-leaving-oklahoma.html
Michael, thanks for the compliment. I got this link via an email Sunday evening. Doug is correct that about the same time he also posted a link at http://www.okctalk.com.
Yes, but only because I didn’t have good computer access earlier in the evening. I got my email at 1:15 p.m. Sunday and could have had it up then. So nah nah nah nah boo boo… 
Incidentally, in case anyone might be wondering about this little banter, it is TOTALLY between friends. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t anyone alive or, to my knowledge, dead, in the city who does more for Oklahoma City reporting AND throws in some great Okc history books to boot, and there are none than I regard more highly than I do my friend Steve Lackmeyer. I know full well that Steve is #1 … that’s why it is incumbent on me to TRY HARDER, even though I’m usually doomed to failure!!! vbg
But, no, NOT this time. Yes, Steve might have his great excuses, per the last post’s “nah nah nah nah boo boo,” and that’s totally OK. I’ll give him the fact that his technological capabilities were momentarily substandard. Doubtless, his excuse for being second is totally legit.
Sad truth, for me, is that maybe I get one or two out of 10,000 gotchas … but I’m still trying to up the percentage. As just a little guy without the monolithic OPUBCO resources behind me, I gladly take the scraps that might come my way and then do so with a smile!
I wish that you had some smilies here or a preview feature here, Steve, to show that it’s all friendly and between friends.
Da bum.
Wow, this is tremendous PR for Oklahoma City. And to think of the irony of it all. Just goes to show the cyclical nature of history. This story and attached images/video portray some really positive and appealing images of the city.
Just imagine what people will say after we improve mass transit and added a stunning new park to downtown.