Happy Birthday to Mary Anne and John
72 degrees this morning. Walk 57:09 minutes (faster this morning for some reason, same route as yesterday), 40 sit ups and 20 lb barbells. I am planning on buying a b
Full program of exercise yesterday. Walked, then rode my bike for over 50 minutes and then swam. I actually didn’t intend to ride the bike that long, I was enjoying riding through my addition and got lost. Actually, I wan’t lost, I knew where I was. However the lack of connectivity I mentioned yesterday was a major factor in the length of the bike ride
Somehow I got on the other side of the addition an found there is only one “direct’ way to the other side (other than two major streets). I got caught on the “other” side and realized I had to go back almost a mile to get to the street which connects the other side. To make matters worse, I got my directions mixed up ( a common occurrence with me) and went the opposite way for about another mile.
Still I had a lot of fun, which was the overall objective. I probably will cut back the bicycle ride a little and try to increase it a little each day.
I haven’t had to endure the wind yet, perhaps the houses keep it down some.
The terrain in my neighborhood is very flat. I didn’t even notice a slight elevation change until I was riding my bicycle when I noticed it. My “walk route” includes some slight elevation changes, but nothing major.
Oklahoma City was on the front page of the New York Times (Monday, August 4, 2014). It was interesting because it involves some of the goals of Memphis, plus of course I am familiar with Oklahoma City. Basically the article says that Oklahoma City is gaining population partly due to lower housing costs, but also because of some innovative programs Oklahoma City started in the mid 1990’s. They are also attracting a large number of the prized 25-34 year olds, the same population that Memphis is trying to attract.
It was interesting because it documents my strong beliefs that the overall goal of a city is to make life better for it’s residents while continuing to provide essential services provided by cities.
I’ve included an excerpt from the story at the end of this post, so readers can read it if they want to. The article is worth a quick trip to the New York Times website (www.nyt.com) to read if you have any interest in it.
The daily newspapers I receive arriver at erratic times. Monday the paper was here at 3:30 a.m., today, by 6 a.m., it is still not here. I really almost wish it would just arrive at the same time each day. I guess I like my routine too much in the morning!
That’s it for now, Tuesday, August 5, 2014.
(From the August 4, 2014 edition of the New York Times)
Oklahoma City, for example, has outpaced most other cities in growth since 2011, becoming the 12th-fastest-growing city last year. It has also won over a coveted demographic, young adults age 25 to 34, going from a net loss of millennials to a net gain. Other affordable cities that have jumped in the growth rankings include several in Texas, including El Paso and San Antonio, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Little Rock, Ark.
Newcomers in Oklahoma City have traded traffic jams and preschool waiting lists for master suites the size of their old apartments. The sons of Lorin Olson, a stem cell biologist who moved here from New York’s Upper East Side, now ride bikes in their suburban neighborhood and go home to a four-bedroom house. Hector Lopez, a caricature artist, lives in a loft apartment here for less than he paid to stay in a garage near Los Angeles. Tony Trammell, one of a group of about a dozen friends to make the move from San Diego, paid $260,000 for his 3,300-square-foot home in a nearby suburb.
“This is the opposite of the gold rush,” Mr. Trammell said.
Since the start of the recession, the number of Americans who have moved each year has fallen sharply for a host of reasons, including the sluggish economy and the increasing similarity of job options from city to city. When people do move, they have all kinds of reasons, including family, climate and, especially for those who move long distances, employment.
But of those who moved more than 500 miles, the share who said they were chiefly motivated by housing has risen to 18 percent in 2014, from 8 percent in 2007, the earliest year such data is available, according to the Census Bureau. The desire for a new, better or cheaper home and the opportunity to buy instead of rent were among the housing-related reasons people cited.
The story was different from 2000 to 2006, when cities with high-cost housing grew more quickly than those with affordable housing, according to an analysis of metro areas by Redfin, a national real estate brokerage firm. From 2006 to 2012 — years that encompass the housing bust, recession and recovery — that pattern reversed itself, with most low-cost cities growing 2.5 percentage points more than high-cost cities. The analysis excluded cities with poor job growth.
Before the real estate market crashed, housing in four of the five fastest-growing metropolitan areas, including Cape Coral, Fla., and Riverside, Calif., was less affordable than in the average American city, judging by the relationship between the median home price and income for each metropolitan area. But from 2008 to 2012, all five of the cities with the most growth were more affordable than average, including Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and the cities of El Paso, San Antonio, Austin and McAllen in Texas.
“A large percentage of Americans had to read ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ ” said Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, referring to the John Steinbeck novel that chronicled the flight of Oklahomans to California in search of a better life during the Depression. Now the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those migrants are returning for the same reason. “It’s ‘The Wrath of Grapes,’ ” he said.
The mayor cited clean air, a lack of traffic gridlock and, of course, affordable housing as factors in the city’s growth. But like other midsize cities, this one has labored to give people additional reasons to move here, notably acquiring a professional basketball team, the Thunder. Along the river, a series of modern glass boathouses has risen like wind-filled sails, transforming the city into a national center for rowing sports. All 73 inner-city schools are being rebuilt or refurbished.
Downtown, there is enough streetscaping going on to render a GPS unit useless. And near the city’s historic neighborhoods, chockablock with houses in Arts and Crafts or storybook style, rejuvenated commercial areas like the Plaza District offer residents locally made goods and trendy “beer cocktails.”
“Everything is here; everything is coming here,” said Aasim Saleh, 30, who moved from Seattle to coach kayaking in the Boathouse District, where construction of a new white-water center is planned for this fall. “If Oklahoma City doesn’t have it, they’ll build it.”
Mr. Saleh moved because he had a rare opportunity to make about $60,000 a year while avoiding a desk job. The low cost of living was a major sweetener, he said, enabling him to become something he thought would not be possible: a homeowner. “I would say that, 100 percent, I had given up on the idea of homeownership in Seattle,” he said. “Which is a really big deal.”
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