"The Time for Change Has Already Arrived" - Time Out #49

Everyone knows change is inevitable.

But at warp speed?

When my family arrived in Stillwater the summer of 1953, it was a gentler, simpler time, to say the least. Of course, the people already here then had never met a stranger, so we felt right at home.

That may be the only constant fast-forwarding 63 years to now.

A recent Friday afternoon following our weekly lunch where a large group of us gather @ Mazzio's to swap stories, laugh, tell whoppers and further cement 60+year true relationships, I decided to just drive around town to look things over. It was a kind of city scouting jaunt for me.

Not a big surprise to some of you, but an absolute eye-opener for your humble scribe.

Folks,,,,,, there is mass construction, EVERYWHERE!

To zero right in on topic #1, Our Town has been totally discovered by the outside world.

Our once sleepy, laid-back university town off the busy interstate highway system, in the north central, rural portion of a middle-of-the-country state, is morphing from the proverbial caterpillar into the butterfly.

Our state has always had two principal metropolitan areas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. These two metro areas represent half the entire state's population, and we have a big state area-wise. What that equates to is most areas of our state have very few people or economic development.

Not modern day Stillwater, ladies and gentlemen.

I have seen huge construction cranes working on these private projects that are as big as I've seen in major US cities over my years. Yes, commonplace for New York City, but never previously in Stillwater. except for a few times on campus structures.

The other thing that immediately catches my eye are the high-rise nature of the structures, whether it be a new apartment complex, a parking garage or a future office building. All this mass construction, especially within a mile or so of the Oklahoma State campus (much on campus, too), have turned the city streets into virtual war zones. As you drive a vehicle up and down these streets, you have to dodge and weave through various obstacles, not to mention the large, torn up patches of concrete and asphalt that previously were easily driveable streets. Many areas are totally inaccessible with street closed barricades barring any passage .I am confident with progress comes some temporary sacrifices, so I'm sure once the new structures are complete, the infrastructure supporting them will be upgraded.

Being the curious journalist I have always been, I began asking several months ago just who and/or where is most the capital money coming from to bring about these changes?

As best as I am able to glean, most of the building boom is being done by big outside investment money. It comes from huge companies that have had large amounts of money on the "sideline" (accumulated in their reserve accounts) since their recovery from the 2008 worldwide downturn in the economy.

I guess that makes sense to me.

Along with this very obvious mass construction is the private residential upscale market surge, too, rocketing upward to the point of WOW!

Stillwater regularly now has single family homes listed and quickly selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars each week. Many listings are nipping at the $1,000,000 level, and one home has allegedly recently sold for right around $2,000,000. What that says is Stillwater is constantly attracting more and more folks with lots and lots of money.

Quite a difference from our mid-1950's home at West 4th Avenue @ South Walnut Street my father rented for our family @ $75 per month plus bills.

Finally, I guess the true test of "arrival" is after decades of absence, commercial, scheduled airline service has returned to Stillwater. On August 23rd, one of the Big 3 major carriers, American Airlines, began offering twice daily non-stop flights from here to their Dallas/Ft/ Worth Airport worldwide hub. This then allows travelers direct connections to 190 destinations all over the planet. This is a giant progressive leap forward for Stillwater, and, no pun intended, makes the sky the limit to our future

Remember, folks, change is inevitable.

That helps me get my head around it for Our Town.