Where the action is
Brad Neese would like to live downtown, he thinks:
For the last several years, I’ve had a growing desire to live and work downtown. There’s something novel and cool about it. Granted, I’ve never done it so I really don’t know, but it still seems like fun.
So he took last weekend’s Downtown Living Tour, and he’s posting his findings. (This is the first installment; others have followed.) It doesn’t hurt that he’s working downtown now, which means that he could live a lot closer to his workplace and pour fewer dollars into the gas tank. (Then again, I used to live within six minutes of 42nd and Treadmill, and you couldn’t pay me to move back into that neighborhood.) And let’s face it, there’s a lot to be said for “novel and cool,” especially if it can be attained without having to deal with pesky drivers.
Nate said:
9 May 2008 @ 3:23 pm
I loved living downtown. The only thing that ruined it? That damn train coming by at 4:30 a.m. and blowing its horn, waking me up. I think people are going to find it’s a problem for them, too. Other than that, living in downtown OKC is ace.
CGHill said:
9 May 2008 @ 4:47 pm
When I lived out between Midwest City and Spencer, I got to hear a train on a regular basis. It didn’t wake me up, usually, but it did instill a feeling of mournfulness that helped motivate me to move away from there.
Brad said:
9 May 2008 @ 4:52 pm
Nate, I happen to live less than a 1/4 mile from a train track now. It’s certainly annoying, but moving downtown wouldn’t be that much of an adjustment as far as trains are concerned!
CGHill, thanks for the nod!
fillyjonk said:
9 May 2008 @ 6:31 pm
I once lived in downtown Ann Arbor. I realize that’s different in a lot of ways from OKC (I’d guess density of pretentious “coffee houses” being one of them), but after my experience there, I’m happy to leave the loft-life to those who really relish it.
Things I disliked about living downtown:
getting panhandled on a regular basis
getting asked to sign some nutjob’s (right OR left wing) petition on a regular basis
getting “flyered” on a regular basis by someone either promoting a cause or advertising a new pizza joint
the 2 am wakeup call every weekend night when the bars shut down (granted, I lived along the five-block stretch between the Preferred Bar of Fraternity Men and their houses, but still)
being harassed by said Fraternity Men when I walked home from the library after dark
car alarms
the grime
the litter
not having a patch of soil to call my own
having to buy my groceries at an overpriced and low-selection “market.”
The one benefit? I didn’t need to have a car (Actually, in retrospect, I probably COULDN’T have - it cost almost as much to rent a downtown parking space as it cost to rent an apartment).
I don’t think I like people enough (or rather, tolerate enough the difficult things about people living in a high-density situation) to be able to do the downtown-living thing again.