Governing Contributing Editor Anne Jordan is in Oklahoma for a conference. She sent in this dispatch from the road:
Last evening, sitting in a hotel room in Oklahoma City, I was browsing Facebook and read a status update posted by a teenage friend of our family: "Rob Young is tired of having wet socks."
Well, this morning I can totally relate to Rob's comment. I have soaking wet socks and shoes, and the bottom six inches of my pant legs are covered in mud. All because of my 20-minute morning "commute."
I came to Oklahoma City for a conference. The site is less than a mile from my hotel. I thought I didn't need a rental car. I was wrong! I am technically in the suburb of Quail Springs -- and that makes all the difference.
Every convenience -- food, shopping, entertainment, including the Quail Springs Mall -- is within six or eight blocks. But there are no sidewalks to be found.
So this morning, I had to decide between walking in the road (minimum 45 mph speed limit) or on the grass beside it. Only the fact that I am still alive tells me I made the right choice. There was, amusingly, a single 50-foot strip of pavement in front of a new Taco Bell. Just enough hard surface to stamp out my waterlogged shoes. Clearly the folks who live in the Quail Landing subdivision that I passed don't go out for a stroll.
On the taxi ride from the airport last evening, the driver filled me in on all the wonderful improvements the city had made with money from a voter-approved (and renewed) sales-tax increase in the past decade. Clearly, sidewalks aren't a priority. Guess later today I'll head over to the mall for some more socks, and fork over a little sales tax for the city's next big building project.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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