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Weekly Update

03/28/08

WHAT STATE IS THE OKLAHOMAN IN???...today's edition of the Oklahoman newspaper featured a story about growth in the state. It said Stillwater was the fastest growing City but it didn't mention that a lot of that growth was paper growth achieved when our neighbors convinced the census folk to count differently. Nevertheless, hizza for Stillwater for they are growing strong and that's great for our region. They also reported, however, that Ponca City had lost about 2,500 people since 2000. Uhmmmmmm. Anyone tried to make a left turn on 14th lately? According to OSU, in 2000 Ponca City had 25,070 residents. According to the US Census, Ponca City had 25,919 residents in 2000. So OSU undercounted or the Census overcounted. OSU, which you will recall might have undercounted in 2000, estimated in February that Ponca City had 25,759 residents as of the end of 2007. The census web site says no new counts are available for Ponca City since 2000, (www.census.gov). Sooooo, if you believe OSU, or have tried to get into a Ponca City restaurant at lunch recently, the population of the community has grown since 2000. If you believe the Oklahoman, the population has dropped by 2,500. We suggest you drive up 14th or go to Walmart, (being careful not to run into those people that aren't there) and decide for yourself. FYI, we've called the Oklahoman writer and said, "Huh?" We don't expect a follow-up. We also thought about saying, "Pick on PCDA, we're men, (three out of four) we're over forty, (two of three and a gentlemen never discusses a lady). Hey, it seemed to work once before...

GOING OUT LIKE A LION...since no one is here we must also be imagining the interest in Ponca City from private companies. This week, PCDA met with two companies, one from the area and the other from another state. One of the companies is interested in building something to serve customers in Ponca City. We didn't have the heart to show them the Oklahoman. The other is a manufacturing company considering a major expansion. In addition, PCDA has been focusing on our construction projects this week as well as trying to find a way for another out-of-town company to move here that needs a building. We are considering asking the Oklahoman where everyone moved from as we can't find a building for them. In addition, we've been working with some of our companies in their people recruiting efforts as new employees can't find housing and the businesses report they are moving to, uhm, Stillwater. We're confident the Oklahoman can identify the homes that are now vacant from all those people that are not making left turns on 14th Street.

SO WHAT'S THE REAL SCOPE...here's the deal. No one really knows what the population of Ponca City is and we won't know until the census does a count in 2010. We do know there are more people working here that at any time in history, save for 2001 and we started the year only 100 jobs south of that. We also know there are less than 100 homes for sale in our market. We can report that our companies tell us that many of their new employees are choosing to live elsewhere because of the lack of housing, (as opposed to a place to sleep; see Websters: house v. home). We will probably need, however to make a concerted push for a very aggressive census count in 2010 to correct the bad data that is out there.

Ponca City Development Authority. 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601

580.765.7070/580.765.0969-fax, email dmyers@goponca.com, www.goponca.com