… it’s one of the best places to live in the USA, but it’s nowhere near perfect.  Here is the list if items that I see DAILY that bug me that should be fixed.  What would you add to the list?

• Bury the stupid power/telephone lines!  I know this costs money, but this is the largest contributing factor to making Broken Arrow ugly.  We would have fewer power outages during ice storms and high winds. Isn’t a highly reliable power/communications infrastructure desirable for companies looking for a new city? During the Lynn Lane widening it was very frustrating to watch truck loads of new utility poles planted in the ground and power lines swung over from the old ones.
• Bring in nicer mid-tier restaurants.  BA is a beacon for all things fast and fried.  Have you noticed there seems to a McDonald’s every three miles?  Does a town of 100,000 people really need that many Big Macs?  There’s a new one opening near Broken Arrow High School on 61st Street at Lynn Lane. Thank you Louie’s, Hideaway Pizza, Los Cabos, Leon’s, Ted’s, and Thai Garden for investing here.
• Speaking of over saturation (there’s a double meaning there, do you get it?), why do we need a gas station on EVERY corner.  They are so common place, that it seems odd when there is a corner without a QuickTrip.
• Broken fences, blown over fences, discolored fences, mismatched fences, patched fences…  I guess when BA experienced such dramatic growth in the 1970s and 80s, the responsibility of maintaining privacy fences along main thoroughfares was placed on the homeowner.  The problem with this, 30 years later, is that every yard now has a different type or color fence  and at some different stage in its life-cycle. UGLY.  I like what some of the newer neighborhoods are doing now.  They require wooden privacy fences to have metal poles.  This will prevent the pole from rotting and cracking which leads to leaning fences.  Also, many developers are integrating more masonry into their fences designs. Most importantly, some developers are placing the responsibility of fence maintenance on the association and not the individual home owners.
• Clean the thoroughfares.  Yes, this takes money and lots of it, but the Lynn Lane corridor between 71st and 101st is a mess.  The same thing can be said about 71st between Lynn Lane and Elm.
• Build better homes.  Who thought it would be a good idea to let Simmons Homes build some cheaply made homes on a prime piece of golf real estate?  These homes have only been standing for a few years and they already need painting.  This does nothing to increase the surrounding property values — in fact, it makes the nearby land less valuable.  Check out the questionable homes in question. I saw this weekend that Simmons is at again in Arlington Court (across fromFloral Haven).  These homes are cheap and odd.  How odd?  Very odd. Drive by and look what they are doing to this nice gated neighborhood. If you figure out what side of the house is the front, let me know.
• Fix the blight!  BA is trying to grow downtown and they are doing a good job.  It’s too bad all the Main Street feeders are lined with dilapidated shacks.  Condemn these homes, push them over and re-develop.  Typically, I am in favor of saving old structures, but these homes offer no historic or architectural value.
• Fix zoning.  Why is one of the prime areas of town (Lynn Lane between 71st and 91st) a heavy industrial area?  I guess it’s not 100% industrial since there are homes and apartments sprinkled throughout.  Yes, that was sarcasm.
• Raze Kirkland field.  Enough said…
• Who is the primary land planner/architect for Broken Arrow High School?  The chain link fence around the football stadium really highlights the steel beams under the bleachers.  Nice touch! (More sarcasm) Did the architect ever see Lewis Stadium at OSU or Skelly Stadium at TU? Both of these were called Rustoleum Stadium by their own fan bases. How long until the new stadium looks like Kirkland? What’s up with that steel building just south of the stadium?  Did they throw a dart and say “let’s put the building here so it will be difficult to build an athletic building near the end zone.” ???   The school should build facilities the Broken Arrow High School band can be proud of!

One of the most disturbing trends I’ve noticed with new houses in the area is the amount of siding. Broken Arrow isn’t some harbor town where wood siding is expected and charming. This is Oklahoma where violent storms and harsh sun are part of our lives. Take, Fairway Crossing on County Line for example, I’m not sure what the exact requirements are for masonry, but it has to be near 0%. Another glaring example is Stonewood Hills North. This neighborhood is less than 10 years old and the siding is already in disrepair on many of these homes. Both of these neighborhoods are visible to our cities visitors. Fairway Crossing is near Broken Arrow High School and Stonewood Hills is on the drive that leads to the Bass Pro complex.
Why is this such a big deal to me? It’s all about maintenance. Over time, homes with little-to-no masonry will not stand the test of time and harsh Oklahoma weather. Yes, siding can be replaced, but let’s face it, most people start out with good intentions of keeping their homes painted and rotted wood replaced. However, intentions don’t always remain high, homes are sold, people age, and before you know it your home has gone from “look at that nice house” to “look at that scary rental house.” 

Think about all the desirable old neighborhoods across the Tulsa-metro. Even though some of these areas were developed early in the twentieth century (Florence Park for example), they have steadily increased their property value, enjoyed a high owner occupancy rate, kept crime low, and the pride of ownership is evident.  Now, compare these homes to neighborhoods which many people consider less than desirable. For example, homes between Riverside and Peoria in Tulsa and homes West of Main in Broken Arrow. Most of these homes were built with no masonry and were built cheaply. Look what has happened over time.  These homes have not been kept up, owner occupancy rates have dropped, crime has crept in, etc…
I’m obviously not saying that building homes with wood siding will lead to crime. The issue is bigger than that. In order to prevent the great BA Exodus of 2010, the city government needs to step in and do something about overall quality. This is not unprecedented. There are many documented actions of cities even putting a hiatus on building permits until they could get similar problems under control. Cities were seeing neighborhoods going up that did nothing to better the city and could possibly hurt the long term livability.  I am not suggesting that we need to build more expensive homes to keep property values up, but, we need to build better homes that will stand the test of time. A minimum percentage of masonry is obviously a good place to start. Other areas could be liners between shingles and decking. I think two straight years of ice storms and ice damming make the case here.  We’re living in the green era so we should look at new energy saving codes. I could go on.

Again, I am not advocating building bigger, more expensive homes, but I do realize that to build quality will cost a little more. When you consider the total cost of ownership over 30 years, the home will actually cost less if built with quality materials from the start. The rest of BA will benefit from sustained property values, better aesthetics, and enhanced quality of life.