I think the tour guides are great. The setting is interesting. What you see is certainly more interesting than 10 years ago and seems to be getting better all the time.

My lone yet significant gripe about the canal tours is that the seating is way, way too cramped!

The canal design is way, way to narrow.

The bricktown water taxi and the “canal” is a cheap copy off of San Antonio and their Riverwalk water taxi along a real river, the San Antonio River and everyone knows this as fact. So, how can it be asked if it’s among the best?

Agree with Rick. Being a San Antonio wannanee might fool the locals, but it wont fool a travel editor that has seen better. The fact that a glorified drainage ditch is so popular in OKC really speaks of how little there is to do in this town (besides drink, eat BBQ, and get fat).

Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in tonight, but over the past 24 hours it feels like I’ve been bombarded with negativity.
I think I’ll throw out my wireless card if this site starts getting comments from “Paul, Yukon” or “Cletus, Mayberry.”
Go ahead and debate who has the best water taxis, waterways, etc., but to suggest the canal is a drainage ditch? Really?
And as for the “little to do” comment… this gets really old and it’s a lie. Yeah, I’m going out on the edge on this one. Having visited Paseo’s art walk last night, knowing what plays are being performed around town, knowing about the various music venues, sports opportunities, civic involvements, etc., it’s just a lie.
Having once lived in New York and traveled around the country, OKC isn’t nearly as dull and dead as critics say it is.
Does it have problems? Yeah. Are there challenges to be addressed? Of course. But geez people… if you think there is nothing to do besides drink, eat BBQ and get fat, well then, I’d suggest that’s all you’ve tried to do and the bad reflection is on yourself.

I think Joe’s comment about “fooling a travel editor” is pretty revealing. The Canal just recently was showcased by the Dallas Morning News.
Is it perfect, no, we still have plenty of work to do.
But the Canal and Bricktown as a whole has brought an enormous amount of positive publicity to Oklahoama City over it’s 10 years.
Rick and Joe, don’t ever let the facts get in the way of you uniformed opinion.

San Antonio has a wonderful boat ATTRACTION, it is not a water taxi. It is a one trip fare. You MUST stay aboard for the entire trip and disembark where you boarded. That is an excursion, not a water taxi. Very recently, San Antonio began to offer water taxi service on the newly opened section of the river, but this is not the service that everyone thinks of as the popular San Antonio ride. The San Antonio excursion has been in existance for over 45 years, so its popularity has a bit of a head start over Oklahoma City’s.
Oklahoma City has a true water taxi with an all day, hop on hop off fare, and stops anywhere a passenger requests along the canal.

This city really loves to pat itself on it’s back and we’re 47th per capita income. It’s just a sad copy of a San Antonio wannabe. Also we were warned by 49 other states not to do the I-40 realignment but we’re too smart to listen to them.

Normally I refrain from responding to these sort of comments, but I just can’t help myself this time. Does OKC have problems? Yes. Is OKC a utopia? No. And shocker of all shockers…it never will be perfect. If you are looking for perfection you will search forever as it doesn’t exist. However, I have lived in seven states, about a dozen cities (in large cities, Providence/Boston sized, and in small towns where the nearest neighbor was half a mile away) and travelled to almost every major city in the US and several places around the world. OKC has taken more steps to improve itself than any city I can think of in such a short amount of time, and is one of the many reasons I love to show off my adopted home city and try to convince all my friends and family around the country to move here. For crying out loud, this whole state is only about a century old.

If you can’t find something to do here, you aren’t trying. There is almost always a sporting event of some type all year long, you have the symphony, art museum, Shakespeare in the Park (which everyone should really go to by the way), art festivals, concerts, plays, zoo, science museum, parks, Bricktown, Memorial Musuem, the Thunder and much much more. Just this weekend my wife and I spent the evening walking around our capital complex with all the various historical items to read and see. I feel somewhat sorry for our soon-to-be-born twins who will be born into such a family and subjected to such pro-Oklahoma boosterism as we will subject them to.

When I talk to high school classes I tell them that if think you want to leave Oklahoma then do it for college, because afterward you will come back. Show me the source for the per capita income of Oklahoma City and this supposed 49-state warning and even if you do I can drag out other “facts” such as cost of living, tax rate, cost of doing business and more ad nauseum. By the way, after a two minute search the only info I could find was that OK was 28th in per capital income, per the Bureau of Economic Anaysis at http://www.bea.gov–better than Oregon (31st), North Carolina (36th), Georgia (40th) and Arizona (42nd) and many other states people may think surpass OK in income.

I love to read constructive criticism and those who have other suggestions for how OKC should proceed, but if you are just here to citicize, then guess what…you are part of the problem. This nonsense of the poor backward Oklahoma is just that, nonsense. Give me some alternatives, I love to read other points of view and that is one of the reasons I enjoy Steve’s blog and the comments herein. How about being part of the solution? What should OKC do in the future? How do we attract more businesses? How do we improve quality of life or any of the issues you think Oklahoma may have? Or how about you just get out there and frequent one of our homegrown businesses for dinner, head to the Paseo and buy a piece of local art, or one of the dozen other things to do in the OKC area. Sorry Steve, I’ll get off the soapbox…for now.

Thank you Brent…
Now Rich, welcome to OKC Central – if I’m right, this was your first comment post. And that’s great. But I’m calling you out on the following statement:

“Also we were warned by 49 other states not to do the I-40 realignment but we’re too smart to listen to them.”
Citation please.

The canal is definite plus for bricktown! The best, no, it has a sense of incompleteness to it. It would be great if it was a round trip, an actual taxi service so to speak. More development to the south would be ideal, along with an actual board walk on the Canadian. The width is perfect for a one way, improves the experience. Further development of housing, town homes and loft housing overlooking the canal would be great, more shoppes, a fresh food market and more family dining. Keep up the good work, I would like to live along the canal when the kids get out of the house.

I would like to commend our city leaders on a job well done! Will be looking forward to future developments.

The canal is great, but not the best. I am sure over time, as Bricktown continues to grow, the canal will improve as well. I like the taxi idea, but I also think there should be a one time trip pass that is not as expensive. Some people would like to ride the boats as a novelty, such as myself, rather than a taxi service. Bricktown itself needs better restaurants, the choices there are brutal, except for Mickey Mantles. Also needing improvement is the shopping. We need more stores. I am sure as we keep growing the businesses will pop up. Overall, OKC is doing a good job and just keeps getting better.