Downtown people: What's the busking scene like?
- Thread starter 'Cane-man
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Last time I was downtown there was a dude in a panda suit with a boom box break dancing just down the street from Classic Cigars..
Watch out for the dude who wears a Coors Light 12-pack box over his head like he's some sort of masked wrestler.
Last time I was in town some dude randomly without warning or prior interaction threw a fully filled water bottle at my head as hard as he could breaking a window while shouting he was going to kill me. If you know me, this isn’t unusual. So I ignored it and sat down to eat.
Other patrons called the police.
I spent most of my meal clearing up the confusion of the police due to the restaurant owner, who did not witness the incident but knows the person well, insisting the man who did it should not have been described by other customers as black, but instead as a dark skinned Hispanic.
I told the cops to call me and I would ID him. I never heard from them. I’m pretty sure they knew exactly who did it. Which is why I ignored it.
I would never relocate a business to downtown Tulsa, no matter how excellent the local busking scene might be.
Other patrons called the police.
I spent most of my meal clearing up the confusion of the police due to the restaurant owner, who did not witness the incident but knows the person well, insisting the man who did it should not have been described by other customers as black, but instead as a dark skinned Hispanic.
I told the cops to call me and I would ID him. I never heard from them. I’m pretty sure they knew exactly who did it. Which is why I ignored it.
I would never relocate a business to downtown Tulsa, no matter how excellent the local busking scene might be.
I have never encountered anything like this and enjoy visiting downtown at least a half dozen times every month. I am very comfortable there with my three teenage daughters.
That's not to doubt your incident at all, just your inference.
This made me think of last fall when I was in Manhattan (the big apple rather than the little apple). I was in Madison Square Park and this guy showed up with a guitar and a bucket and started doing Dylan tunes. He was so bad people started leaving the area. I was in a nice spot across from the dog park so I stuck it out as long as I could but eventually he ran me off too. I ended up by the fountain and the Shake Shack so I had some good people watching there.
Downtown Tulsa is great (for the most part) and continues to grow. Are there a few warts? Of course there are. I think id be safe to assume most cities have warts in their downtown areas…
Could things improve? Absolutely. But downtown Tulsa has come a LONG way over the past two decades and seems to be on a trajectory for even more.
Could things improve? Absolutely. But downtown Tulsa has come a LONG way over the past two decades and seems to be on a trajectory for even more.
Very little busking unless it’s after a concert or baseball game.
I spend a lot of time downtown. What I consider to be downtown proper is going through rough period. There just isn’t my going on during the day. The increasingly crazy homeless people don’t help that.
When I switched firms I had the option of going south or moving into a classic building downtown. The south Tulsa office was nice and calmer. But part (less than a quarter) was about convenience and that’s downtown for me. I’ve never been busier. It’s not perfect but beats the alternatives.
I spend a lot of time downtown. What I consider to be downtown proper is going through rough period. There just isn’t my going on during the day. The increasingly crazy homeless people don’t help that.
When I switched firms I had the option of going south or moving into a classic building downtown. The south Tulsa office was nice and calmer. But part (less than a quarter) was about convenience and that’s downtown for me. I’ve never been busier. It’s not perfect but beats the alternatives.
What amazes me is the homelessness across the metro area, not just downtown. It is a historically new development. Still it is exceedingly rare in my experience to be hassled in a serious way. Instead, what I feel is a profound sense of sadness that our social support networks are failing the addicted and mentally ill. And we work VERY hard in Tulsa.
Fear is not the answer. Neither does it necessitate avoiding downtown. Just be alert as you would in any big city 30 years ago. It is an increasing issue but not severe IMO.
It can get pretty bad. There are some serious mental health situations, especially when it’s hot.
They shut down Tent City and that was one cause. Separately, there are just more mentally ill people passing through. I’d take a few bucks to track some of them to Springfield, Joplin, Rogers, McAlester, and Broken Arrow.
Working down here, I’ve become kind of hard on this issue. The city ignores it until it becomes a problem. Then they arrest a couple of people and go away until some other crazy thing happens. It is worse than it was 10-20 years ago and at times there are safety issues, much of which deal with sanitation and potential accidental violence.
A lot of downtown just isn’t accessible as a result. And the parts that are can have problems. I got panhandled inside Jimmy John’s when we had our winter weather. I about came unglued. It was hard enough to walk there that day. I know there are needy people and they deserve help. But so often I’m just waiting for these guys to do the next stupid thing.
A couple of years back I was talking to a church friend I ran into on the street. This idiot throws his backpack at her. He ran for several blocks when I threw it back. And don’t get me started on the charity for homeless pets.
They shut down Tent City and that was one cause. Separately, there are just more mentally ill people passing through. I’d take a few bucks to track some of them to Springfield, Joplin, Rogers, McAlester, and Broken Arrow.
Working down here, I’ve become kind of hard on this issue. The city ignores it until it becomes a problem. Then they arrest a couple of people and go away until some other crazy thing happens. It is worse than it was 10-20 years ago and at times there are safety issues, much of which deal with sanitation and potential accidental violence.
A lot of downtown just isn’t accessible as a result. And the parts that are can have problems. I got panhandled inside Jimmy John’s when we had our winter weather. I about came unglued. It was hard enough to walk there that day. I know there are needy people and they deserve help. But so often I’m just waiting for these guys to do the next stupid thing.
A couple of years back I was talking to a church friend I ran into on the street. This idiot throws his backpack at her. He ran for several blocks when I threw it back. And don’t get me started on the charity for homeless pets.
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