Midwest City was mainly populated by veterans or those who had some association with TAFB. When I was a kid, there was a lot of pride in upkeep of the homes, lawns, etc. and a lot of neighbors coming out on summer evenings walking up and down the streets socializing.
As those folks began to age and move away, for a near 20 yr spell, it starting turning to sh*t. A brand new hotel was built to service the traffic on I-40 and within 5 yrs, it was nothing more than a bordello and drug dealer central. (It was eventually declared a nuisance and destroyed.) Crips and Bloods actually established "bases" in MWC and the schools had to ban colors associated with the two gangs. Houses started getting rundown and it was not uncommon to see old cars parked on lawns or up on blocks for months/years at a time. The local mall, which once thrived, closed down as did lots of other businesses and a lot of "welcome" businesses were replaced by pawn shops, predatory pay day lenders, and other unsavory businesses of that nature.
Now, the city seems to be turning around for the better. With the new development and the redevelopment of older shopping centers the business core of the city is on the uptick. Warren Theater has announced they will be building a new large upscale place in town, near where the new Academy and Hobby Lobby are located. The drug/gang issue is not completely gone, but it's not really much of an issue anymore. The city cracked down on code enforcement and the trash/junk vehicles, run down houses, and related property issues are now nearly dealt with.
The city seems to have a newer generation moving in and there's been some land developed on the eastern half of the city that is comprised of fairly up-scale homes. There's also talk that there will be some upscale shopping to accommodate those new residents are in the works.
Is it a great place? No, but it's certainly working it's way to above average at this point and there's still a lot of room for improvement that is coming to fruition in the near future.