Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / New bonds on Midterm Ballot

Transcript

New bonds on Midterm Ballot · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer, is
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Speaker 1: also here this morning. Good morning, Peyton.
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Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean.
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Speaker 1: It's a nice, rainy, Omaha, chilly, fall morning here. But
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Speaker 1: thank you all for being with us today. We want
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Speaker 1: to hear from you. We want to get your feedback.
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Speaker 1: We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints.
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Speaker 3: Really anything goes. We won't back away from anything, will we, Peyton?
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Speaker 2: Never.
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Speaker 1: Whether it's city, state, national, the world, the streetcar, whatever
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Speaker 1: you want to call about, we will have plenty of
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Speaker 1: good guests, too. And, of course, you are going to
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Speaker 1: hear plenty of opinions from me, but it is your
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Speaker 1: chance to speak up and sound off. So please send
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Speaker 1: your emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us
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Speaker 1: at 402-558-1110, or you can leave us a recorded message
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Speaker 1: on the talkback mic, and we will play it on
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Speaker 1: the air. We are very happy that you are with
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Speaker 1: us today, and I'm very happy that Nate Dodge is
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Speaker 1: in the studio with us today.
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Speaker 3: Good morning, Nate.
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Speaker 2: Mayor, how are you?
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Speaker 3: Very, very good.
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Speaker 1: And I think that name Dodge might look a little,
1:01
Speaker 1: sound a little familiar to a few people in Omaha,
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Speaker 1: but Nate is the chair of the board and the
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Speaker 1: CEO of MP Dodge.
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Speaker 3: Real Estate, right?
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Speaker 1: I do.
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Speaker 2: I work for MP Dodge Company.
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Speaker 1: And you are fifth, let's see, you are, I have
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Speaker 1: fifth chair. That's true. Of MP Dodge to take the
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Speaker 1: role of president of the company. I did not realize
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Speaker 1: that MP Dodge was founded in the 1800s, 1855. 1855,
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Speaker 1: we're in our 171st year.
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Speaker 2: And everyone's praying I won't screw it up. So we'll see.
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Speaker 3: I kind of don't think you will.
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Speaker 1: You have a pretty good history with what you do
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Speaker 1: for the city of Omaha. So thank you for your
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Speaker 1: involvement and your family's involvement for as long as you
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Speaker 1: have been doing these things. But you are here today
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Speaker 1: for another reason. You are on the Omaha Police Foundation.
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Speaker 1: And I ask you to be on today because there
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Speaker 1: are two bond issues that are on the ballot. People
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Speaker 1: have been voting now since September 28th, so a lot
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Speaker 1: of people are voting, and they really don't understand these
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Speaker 1: two bond issues. One is a public safety headquarter that
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Speaker 1: is set to be built at Crossroads. And the second
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Speaker 1: is upgrade to Tranquility Park. And we're going to talk
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Speaker 1: about both of those today. You're basically representing the police
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Speaker 1: foundation and the chamber.
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Speaker 3: Is that correct?
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Speaker 4: Yep. There's a committee called Build a Better Omaha. And
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Speaker 4: what we're trying to do is educate people on both
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Speaker 4: of these bond issues to make sure that people understand
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Speaker 4: how great they are for our city. And I must admit,
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Speaker 4: I'm sitting here as a bit of a fraud today
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Speaker 4: because I know both of these were a brainchild of
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Speaker 4: yours while you were in office.
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Speaker 2: And you've really brought to– and.
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Speaker 4: By the way, the things that you have done and
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Speaker 4: been able to help the city grow I think has
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Speaker 4: been incredible. And the fact that you know probably even
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Speaker 4: more than I do about these two bond issues.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I do. I know a lot about them.
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Speaker 1: But I was even going to make that point, Nate,
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Speaker 1: because I don't want people to think this was just
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Speaker 1: something thrown together. We started working on this police headquarter,
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Speaker 1: this combined fire police headquarter together. building back in 22, yeah, 2022, 2023.
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Speaker 1: So it's been a long time in the making. But
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Speaker 1: the main reason I wanted you on here so we
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Speaker 1: could talk about this is I want people to understand
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Speaker 1: these initiatives and these bond issues, and then you make
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Speaker 1: up your decision whether you're going to support them or not.
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Speaker 1: But I will still go back to something that when
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Speaker 1: I had Senator Kathleen Kauth in here covering for me
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Speaker 1: when I was out of And her message to the
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Speaker 1: people were, if you don't understand the initiatives and the
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Speaker 1: bond issues, she said, vote no.
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Speaker 3: Vote no.
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Speaker 1: And I said, that is terrible advice because I want
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Speaker 1: you all to understand and then make up your own mind.
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Speaker 1: So there's two initiatives on the ballot, too, 440 and 441,
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Speaker 1: that are about– gambling, online betting, wagering that you could
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Speaker 1: do on your cell phones. And I wanted to make
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Speaker 1: sure people understood the truth about that. So Mike Foley
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Speaker 1: was on yesterday, our state auditor talking about that. And
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Speaker 1: now today we're going to talk about these two bond issues.
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Speaker 1: So I think my point is let's inform people, Nate,
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Speaker 1: and let them know really what we're doing. So first
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Speaker 1: of all, there is one for a new Omaha Public
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Speaker 1: Safety Headquarters. And like we brought up before, we started
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Speaker 1: talking about this and I started planning this back in 2022.
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Speaker 1: In fact, I sent a team of people from Omaha,
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Speaker 1: including our fire chief and police chief. They went out
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Speaker 1: to San Francisco. They went to Salt Lake. They looked
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Speaker 1: at other combined public safety headquarters. But the reason I
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Speaker 1: wanted to start looking at this is not just because
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Speaker 1: the buildings downtown, the current police headquarter and fire station
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Speaker 1: is old.
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Speaker 3: I mean, just saying, well, it was built in the 70s.
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Speaker 5: It's old.
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Speaker 3: We need a new one. That's really not the reason.
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Speaker 3: The reason is.
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Speaker 1: It's become very inefficient now. The fire department and the
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Speaker 1: police department have grown. They need more space. And I thought,
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Speaker 1: what a good idea to combine those two together to
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Speaker 1: So they could collaborate in case or if there is
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Speaker 1: some big incident that they need to work together. And
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Speaker 1: I thought making it a public safety headquarter would be
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Speaker 1: the way to go and have both fire and police
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Speaker 1: in there. Back then, I asked Tom Warren to take
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Speaker 1: the lead on that. A lot of meetings with stakeholders
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Speaker 1: trying to decide what we wanted in that building. We
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Speaker 1: hired Leo Daly to design and be the architect. And
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Speaker 1: I will say, just to give you a little background,
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Speaker 1: we did identify two downtown sites. And I thought this
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Speaker 1: building should be downtown. And I'm going to let you
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Speaker 1: address the crossroads issue. But I thought it should be downtown.
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Speaker 1: But the problem is we couldn't find a site big enough.
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Speaker 1: And we identified two sites, but they were small, and
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Speaker 1: that would have necessitated that building to go up more
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Speaker 1: vertically and underground parking. So the cost became prohibitive in downtown.
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Speaker 2: Precisely.
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Speaker 1: And we decided to abandon those sites.
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Speaker 3: So we knew we weren't going to do that.
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Speaker 1: We even looked at the OPPD Energy Plaza after they left,
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Speaker 1: but the cost to renovate that would have been way
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Speaker 1: too high. So when I was still mayor, my instructions
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Speaker 1: were to the team– start looking for another site. And
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Speaker 1: so I'm going to have you take it from there about,
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Speaker 1: we'll talk about the need, but why Crossroads?
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Speaker 3: I think that's the biggest question people have.
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Speaker 4: Well, to your point, the footprint of that particular building
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Speaker 4: will allow them to only go up four stories. And
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Speaker 4: the cost to do four stories, to build four stories,
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Speaker 4: both from a design standpoint and then from an infrastructure standpoint, HVAC...
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Speaker 4: and elevators and the like is more expensive. And then
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Speaker 4: something that's really unique about this site is the fact
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Speaker 4: that there's going to be shared parking. And the fact
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Speaker 4: that if one was downtown, first of all, you'd have
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Speaker 4: to build a taller building, A. And then, B, you'd
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Speaker 4: have to dig for parking, which is very expensive.
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Speaker 3: Underground parking is very expensive.
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Speaker 2: And as you know, Crossroads will be not just a....
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Speaker 4: Not just an entertainment district, but also multi-use facilities. And
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Speaker 4: because of that, there will be parking that isn't used
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Speaker 4: during the day that they'll be able to have that
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Speaker 4: parking be for the police and fire headquarters. And then,
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Speaker 4: if I may, to your point, in 1968, when the
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Speaker 4: police headquarters were designed, we were, from a square mile standpoint,
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Speaker 4: we were a more concentrated city.
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Speaker 6: Right.
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Speaker 4: And now, 30%, 40% more square miles. And as you know,
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Speaker 4: there are people in both of these organizations that have
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Speaker 4: to service all of our city in this more central location.
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Speaker 4: I mean, 72nd and Dodge is just a great location.
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Speaker 4: that you hit the nail on the head, which is
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Speaker 4: to have Chief Bossman and Chief Schmaderer together, particularly during
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Speaker 4: a big event where they can have a command center
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Speaker 4: with each other just increases the ability for us to
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Speaker 4: service safely our city even more. And then you add
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Speaker 4: that they can share Training facilities, they can share. An
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Speaker 4: evidence locker together.
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Speaker 1: A new crime lab would be in there. New evidence
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Speaker 1: would be in there. But I want to point out
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Speaker 1: to people, this is an administration building, though. They're not
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Speaker 1: going to be dispatching. There's not going to be sirens.
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Speaker 1: They're not going to be dispatching fire trucks or police
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Speaker 1: cars from there.
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Speaker 3: This is an administration building.
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Speaker 1: And then, you know, people will say, well, a building
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Speaker 1: built in 1970s in current police headquarters, that's not that old.
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Speaker 1: And we brought up there's asbestos in there. Well, there's
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Speaker 1: asbestos probably in this building, too. But the thing is,
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Speaker 1: is if we move it and we have this combined facility,
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Speaker 1: which is going to be a lot more efficient, then
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Speaker 1: that old site downtown where the current police headquarters is
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Speaker 1: could be sold for development, right?
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and back on the tax rolls.
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Speaker 1: And back on the tax rolls because people have brought
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Speaker 1: up a lot of times, well, wait a minute. Crossroads
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Speaker 1: is a mixed-use development. If you have a civic component
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Speaker 1: out there, a new fire police headquarter, it's not going
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Speaker 1: to bring in any tax dollars. But then just think
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Speaker 1: the tradeoff. is downtown is not bringing us in tax
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Speaker 1: dollars now either. And we could sell that property and
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Speaker 1: open it up for development down there.
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Speaker 2: Precisely.
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Speaker 1: And the other thing I want to point out, being
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Speaker 1: this being just an administration building, there still is the
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Speaker 1: need for dispatching fire downtown. So that's Station 1 downtown.
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Speaker 1: And I just want to let people know how busy
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Speaker 1: that is. And that station downtown, it's probably the busiest
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Speaker 1: fire station we have. We have two engines, one truck
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Speaker 1: or a ladder truck. We have a medic unit. We
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Speaker 1: have a battalion chief. All of those, a paramedic chief supervisor,
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Speaker 1: are dispatched from that downtown fire station. So we still
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Speaker 1: need a will need a sixth police precinct, at least
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Speaker 1: a smaller one downtown, because of the growth downtown. And
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Speaker 1: so I do believe that they have purchased some land
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Speaker 1: downtown that could fit a small precinct, I think, and
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Speaker 1: perhaps a fire station, but that has not been designed yet.
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Speaker 1: They want to make sure that it's the best place.
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Speaker 4: And you also bring up one other point, which is
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Speaker 4: Chief Bossman's staff is really kind of spread out amongst...
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Speaker 4: A lot of the firehouses, this will allow them to
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Speaker 4: be in one place. So even the fire department will
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Speaker 4: have a better command and control center. And the fact
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Speaker 4: that they can team up with the police. And as
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Speaker 4: you've said, this is the direction of community safety going forward,
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Speaker 4: which is to have a place where the public feels
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Speaker 4: comfortable coming in. They can interact better. And in my mind,
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Speaker 4: it all started with Chief Warren just being absolutely transparent
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Speaker 4: with our community. And it's really followed all the way through.
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Speaker 4: Alex was that way. Chief Hayes was that way. And
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Speaker 4: Chief Schmaderer is. And I know Chief Bossman. Just the
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Speaker 4: way they react to our public and the fact that
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Speaker 4: they are transparent and quick. I think that's the direction
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Speaker 4: of public safety.
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Speaker 1: And they want their departments to run efficiently. When I
11:48
Speaker 1: think about police right now, and I think we have
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Speaker 1: been since about 2020, we have been down 90 to
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Speaker 1: 100 police officers from what our budgeted amount is. And
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Speaker 1: we still have one of the lowest crime rates that
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Speaker 1: we've had in years and years and years. They are growing,
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Speaker 1: but they're always trying to work more efficiently. And that's
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Speaker 1: what's great about these two chiefs. And these two chiefs
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Speaker 1: do not want to waste your money. Now, the other
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Speaker 1: thing is I want to bring up, too. People will say, well,
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Speaker 1: if I vote no, my taxes will go down. And
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Speaker 1: I want to explain that because these bond issues, the
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Speaker 1: city of Omaha, our bond council, our finance department, we
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Speaker 1: schedule these bond issues. And we usually have one every
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Speaker 1: four or five years for the five major bonds, public safety,
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Speaker 1: public facility, park bonds, sewer bonds, and road bonds. We
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Speaker 1: always schedule those and these two so that they will
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Speaker 1: not change. Cause a tax increase if you vote yes
12:47
Speaker 1: for them. The way we do that is we are
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Speaker 1: paying off old bond debt. We are refinancing old bonds
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Speaker 1: that we have, and we keep our bond debt payment
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Speaker 1: the same, even bringing on these new bonds here.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, these two new bonds will not change the levy.
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Speaker 3: No, not at all.
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Speaker 1: And these are public facility bonds. These are 20-year bonds.
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Speaker 1: They'll be paid off in 20 years. GO bonds, general
13:10
Speaker 1: obligation bonds, get very low interest rate, and we will
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Speaker 1: always be working to refinance them to get lower interest rates.
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Speaker 1: So they will not cause your taxes to go up,
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Speaker 1: and they will, if you vote no, it does not
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Speaker 1: mean your taxes will go down at all.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct. I think that's really important to know.
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Speaker 4: Well, we really have a moment in time here in
13:32
Speaker 4: our city where we can invest in a new headquarters
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Speaker 4: that I believe will serve us for generations. And I
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Speaker 4: also believe that the work that's going to be done
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Speaker 4: on tranquility will serve generations of kids and families, frankly,
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Speaker 4: going forward.
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Speaker 1: Let's talk about that then. Let's move and talk about tranquility.
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Speaker 1: That's the second bond issue that will be on the ballot.
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Speaker 1: And in the flyer I got at home, it just
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Speaker 1: says that it will attract national tournaments and visiting families
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Speaker 1: to Omaha, and it can help generate a projected $ 30
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Speaker 1: million in annual visitor spending. Peyton right here, our producer
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Speaker 1: sitting right across from us, is a soccer player from
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Speaker 1: probably when he was a little tyke through college. He's
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Speaker 1: been out at Tranquility many, many times playing soccer, and
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Speaker 1: I think we all recognize that If we are a
14:25
Speaker 1: soccer family, I had a kid that played soccer through college, too.
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Speaker 3: He was a goalkeeper. You travel, don't you, Peyton? You're
14:31
Speaker 3: traveling all over.
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Speaker 2: All over the place.
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Speaker 1: To Iowa, down to Kansas City, you're traveling. And a
14:37
Speaker 1: lot of our kids in Omaha that want to play sports.
14:41
Speaker 1: soccer and sports, they can't afford to leave and go
14:44
Speaker 1: to all of these tournaments. It not only helps bring
14:47
Speaker 1: tournaments and revenue into the city, it helps all of
14:51
Speaker 1: our youth in Omaha to be able to partake in
14:54
Speaker 1: these tournaments and not have to have their families the
14:59
Speaker 1: expense of traveling. And I think that's the one really,
15:02
Speaker 1: really important thing. And then Rosie was talking about this
15:06
Speaker 1: the other day on the air too. And he was
15:07
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, you're not going to track tournaments
15:10
Speaker 1: unless you have hotels and restaurants around. And that's exactly
15:14
Speaker 1: part of the plan. So Nate, talk about Tranquility too.
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Speaker 4: Well, Tranquility is used by roughly, first of all, 45,000
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Speaker 4: kids in Omaha play organized sports, soccer, baseball, and softball.
15:26
Speaker 4: And as Peyton probably chimed in, And by the way,
15:33
Speaker 4: my kids are about your kid's age, so they might
15:35
Speaker 4: have played against– you might have played against Mike. I'm
15:37
Speaker 4: an old man, by the way. But our kid– we
15:41
Speaker 4: all played at Tranquility Park. And this will add 16
15:45
Speaker 4: synthetic fields, eight baseball and softball fields. Phase one will
15:49
Speaker 4: have the soccer. Phase two will have the baseball and
15:52
Speaker 4: softball fields. But, Peyton, as you know, when it rained,
15:58
Speaker 4: your games would get called off.
15:59
Speaker 3: Especially on the north end, those fields.
16:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yep.
16:02
Speaker 7: A regular occurrence, unfortunately, especially in the springtime. You get
16:06
Speaker 7: out there and the field is coming off of a
16:09
Speaker 7: dormant winter and it just doesn't hold that water in it.
16:13
Speaker 1: You just can't play on it. And besides the one
16:15
Speaker 1: big field, no bleachers, no lights. Except for that one
16:18
Speaker 1: that used to be the home field of Creighton.
16:20
Speaker 4: Right.
16:20
Speaker 3: That's the big field out there.
16:23
Speaker 4: So what happens then is then you schedule your makeup
16:26
Speaker 4: games along with your other games and the fields get
16:29
Speaker 4: intense play. With synthetic fields, you're going to be able
16:32
Speaker 4: to get on those fields quicker, A.
16:34
Speaker 2: And also you're going to get on them earlier.
16:37
Speaker 4: So you're not going to have to wait for the
16:38
Speaker 4: grass to green up and also when it goes dormant
16:41
Speaker 4: in the fall. So it's actually going to extend our
16:44
Speaker 4: seasons that kids can play. And then, most importantly, it's
16:50
Speaker 4: enough fields for us to start attracting tournaments. And they
16:54
Speaker 4: feel that there will be 16 tournaments that will come
16:56
Speaker 4: to Tranquility, and that will bring in dollars. And more
17:01
Speaker 4: importantly than that, it will make it so that Peyton's
17:04
Speaker 4: family doesn't have to go down to Kansas City or
17:07
Speaker 4: go over to Des Moines, who have lovely facilities as well,
17:12
Speaker 4: But and spend their dollars there. It'll be those families
17:16
Speaker 4: coming to Omaha and spending their dollars here. So this
17:18
Speaker 4: is not just for kids that are playing, but it's
17:22
Speaker 4: also an economic development business. aspect to it that I
17:26
Speaker 4: believe is terribly important.
17:28
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
17:28
Speaker 1: And Tranquility is at 120th and Maple. I will say
17:31
Speaker 1: at first I wanted to get 120th widened, which we
17:35
Speaker 1: did do that from Maple on North.
17:38
Speaker 3: We did that.
17:39
Speaker 1: And then we really started concentrating on Tranquility. I will
17:43
Speaker 1: remind people that at first we had budgeted about $ 54
17:47
Speaker 1: million to do this. When the first design came back,
17:51
Speaker 1: it came back about $ 120 million. And so it was
17:54
Speaker 1: about twice as much. And we said, whoa, I think
17:56
Speaker 1: we've got to redesign. We've got to figure out what
17:59
Speaker 1: we can do that will still accomplish what we want,
18:02
Speaker 1: but that is affordable. So Nate Dodges with us this
18:06
Speaker 1: morning representing the Omaha Police Foundation and the chamber. So
18:10
Speaker 1: now we're doing it in phases. You want to talk
18:12
Speaker 1: about that?
18:13
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:13
Speaker 4: So the first phase obviously is the 16 soccer fields.
18:16
Speaker 3: And they're grading now.
18:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Okay.
18:19
Speaker 4: And then, and then phase two will be 12 soccer,
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Speaker 4: I'm sorry, will be eight baseball and softball fields.
18:29
Speaker 2: Okay.
18:29
Speaker 4: And, and, and, and those will, I believe right away
18:35
Speaker 4: and the soccer fields should be completed by the summer
18:38
Speaker 4: of 2027. And then they'll start working on the, Baseball
18:41
Speaker 4: and softball fields.
18:41
Speaker 1: Okay, so the work that they're doing now, if you
18:44
Speaker 1: drive by Tranquility, you'll see a lot of grading going on.
18:47
Speaker 1: That work, that should be done by 2027, not this year?
18:52
Speaker 7: Yes.
18:52
Speaker 3: But in 2027? Summer 2027.
18:54
Speaker 1: And that's 16 synthetic soccer fields, correct?
18:58
Speaker 2: Correct.
18:58
Speaker 3: Okay, that's what it is.
19:00
Speaker 1: And then when we brought up the whole development, the
19:02
Speaker 1: Mulhalls have bought a lot of property north of there,
19:07
Speaker 1: and they had a planned.
19:08
Speaker 3: basically for two hotels. They had restaurants.
19:12
Speaker 1: They have a plan so that if people come for tournaments,
19:15
Speaker 1: there is a place right there to stay. Now, the
19:18
Speaker 1: number of hotels will be based on the number of
19:20
Speaker 1: soccer fields. Of course, we know that. So one hotel
19:23
Speaker 1: for sure. You want to talk about what you know
19:25
Speaker 1: about the Mulhall development?
19:27
Speaker 4: Well, what I have been told is Tranquility Commons, which
19:33
Speaker 4: will include a hotel in retail, restaurant, and apartment development
19:37
Speaker 4: will all, if this park moves forward, if the rehab
19:43
Speaker 4: moves forward on the park, then they will install that
19:45
Speaker 4: and take advantage of the activity that will occur there.
19:51
Speaker 4: We have to remember, Mayor, that that.
19:58
Speaker 2: Used to be west. That's now kind of central Omaha,
20:01
Speaker 2: believe it or not.
20:02
Speaker 1: A lot of people will say, well, Tranquility, that's way
20:05
Speaker 1: out west. Tranquility is not way out west anymore. I
20:09
Speaker 1: said Omaha goes halfway to Lincoln right now, it seems like.
20:12
Speaker 1: But that is just, I mean, it's a big area.
20:15
Speaker 1: It's got room for that development, room for the hotels,
20:18
Speaker 1: the restaurants around there. That'll really be attractive for tournaments. Now,
20:23
Speaker 1: how much is the bond issue? For Tranquility, it is
20:26
Speaker 1: up to $ 30 million?
20:28
Speaker 2: Yes.
20:29
Speaker 1: To redevelop Tranquility. So there is already money in the
20:33
Speaker 1: capital improvement plan that has been identified for that. And
20:36
Speaker 1: then we'll go back to the fire police headquarters. It's
20:39
Speaker 1: authorizing up to $ 155 million.
20:43
Speaker 2: Correct.
20:43
Speaker 4: Right.
20:43
Speaker 1: And that's public facility bonds for the joint administration headquarter
20:48
Speaker 1: at Crossroads.
20:49
Speaker 2: Yep.
20:50
Speaker 1: Once again, the remaining of that total cost right now
20:53
Speaker 1: of the fire and police headquarters is around $ 180 million,
20:56
Speaker 1: I believe.
20:57
Speaker 8: So.
20:59
Speaker 2: Correct. Yes. To build it is roughly $ 180 million.
21:01
Speaker 4: And as you correctly identified, if one were to build parking,
21:07
Speaker 4: particularly if you dug, and then if one had to
21:10
Speaker 4: have the infrastructure for a multi-story building, that building could
21:14
Speaker 4: be as high as $ 211 to $ 230 million. And so
21:15
Speaker 4: this actually is going to save our community money. And
21:24
Speaker 4: also be a little more centrally located.
21:27
Speaker 1: And, you know, again, the sites that we looked at
21:30
Speaker 1: downtown were really abandoned. I mean, we weren't going to
21:33
Speaker 1: spend that much extra money to build down there. And
21:36
Speaker 1: that's why I gave the direction to start looking. for
21:39
Speaker 1: another site somewhere. I even wanted them to look at
21:42
Speaker 1: the Civic Auditorium site, Turner Park East, and I know
21:45
Speaker 1: they did their due diligence, and we're looking for the
21:47
Speaker 1: absolute best place for this. But total cost is around
21:51
Speaker 1: $ 181 million for this fire police headquarters. As Nate Dodge
21:55
Speaker 1: just said, this will... be suitable for our community now
21:59
Speaker 1: and way, way into the future. The bond issue just
22:03
Speaker 1: authorizes up to $ 155, 000 for that facility. It will not
22:07
Speaker 1: cause an increase in your taxes. And then Tranquility, they're
22:11
Speaker 1: already grading. They already have the money to do some
22:13
Speaker 1: of it. It's phased, and that is up to $ 30 million.
22:16
Speaker 1: There's already money in the capital improvement plan for both projects,
22:20
Speaker 1: but not enough.
22:21
Speaker 2: That's right.
22:22
Speaker 1: And so we want you to understand. We want everybody
22:26
Speaker 1: to understand how important these are, why we're doing it,
22:29
Speaker 1: why we're doing it the way we're doing it. It
22:32
Speaker 1: was something, like I said, we talked about since 2022.
22:36
Speaker 1: So this isn't anything we just threw together. But, you know, Nate,
22:40
Speaker 1: I was looking a little bit of searching a little bit.
22:42
Speaker 1: I was I was like stalking you last night on
22:45
Speaker 1: the Internet.
22:46
Speaker 4: By the way, I'm glad I'm on radio because I
22:49
Speaker 4: have a face made for radio.
22:52
Speaker 3: You know what?
22:53
Speaker 1: I can now dress however I want.
22:55
Speaker 3: This is what I like about it.
22:57
Speaker 1: I could come in here looking like I just crawled
22:58
Speaker 1: out of bed, which I don't.
23:00
Speaker 3: But anyway, radio is fun.
23:01
Speaker 1: But you said Omaha has always been a community willing
23:04
Speaker 1: to invest. And the better things to make our city
23:07
Speaker 1: a better place and allow our city to grow.
23:10
Speaker 3: And it is.
23:11
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is. When I go back and
23:13
Speaker 1: I talk about like the riverfront, that's $ 400 million in
23:17
Speaker 1: private money that went to these three city parks downtown.
23:21
Speaker 1: We have a great city. I know what we're trying
23:22
Speaker 1: to do is make it even greater. And these two
23:25
Speaker 1: issues on your ballot for the bond issue, I just
23:30
Speaker 1: want you to be really, really informed of what they
23:33
Speaker 1: are and how important they are. And to really let
23:36
Speaker 1: you know that it will not raise your taxes. And
23:39
Speaker 1: if you vote no, your taxes are not going to
23:41
Speaker 1: go down. I will tell you that right now.
23:43
Speaker 4: And I also think it'll affect children in our community.
23:47
Speaker 4: It'll affect the public safety I think we're taking a
23:54
Speaker 4: page from your playbook when you're thinking about generations to
23:59
Speaker 4: come of our community. And I think this is one
24:02
Speaker 4: of the– these are two projects that are going to
24:05
Speaker 4: serve generations going forward. And it's absolutely making our community
24:10
Speaker 4: a better place to live.
24:12
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely. You've got to have a vision.
24:14
Speaker 1: You've got to think not just today, but you've got
24:15
Speaker 1: to think 10 years, 20 years into the future.
24:17
Speaker 4: We are planting trees that we will not enjoy the shade.
24:20
Speaker 4: And I'm very, very proud to say that I know
24:23
Speaker 4: you've done that in your everyday life.
24:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much. Nate Dodge with N.P. Dodge
24:29
Speaker 1: representing today the Omaha Police Foundation and also the Greater
24:32
Speaker 1: Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Thank you so much for explaining
24:35
Speaker 1: to our listeners. about these bond issues and how important
24:38
Speaker 1: they are to the city of Omaha. Thank you for
24:41
Speaker 1: being here today.
24:42
Speaker 2: Madam Mayor, thanks for having me.
24:43
Speaker 3: Thank you. And we are back.
24:45
Speaker 1: I want to thank Nate Dodge again for being here
24:48
Speaker 1: from NP Dodge Real Estate, but also we're representing today
24:53
Speaker 1: the Omaha Police Foundation and the Greater Omaha Chamber.
24:57
Speaker 3: You know, the city of Omaha with.
24:59
Speaker 1: A bond issue, we can go out and give information.
25:04
Speaker 1: We cannot say when I was mayor or the city
25:07
Speaker 1: of Omaha or the finance department, we cannot say, Vote
25:10
Speaker 1: for this so that we would always have the Greater
25:14
Speaker 1: Omaha Chamber of Commerce advocate for us for our bond
25:18
Speaker 1: issues to get the information out so that people know
25:21
Speaker 1: what it means and what they're voting for. And so
25:24
Speaker 1: it's great that they have this group together with the chamber,
25:27
Speaker 1: and they are trying to get more and more information out,
25:31
Speaker 1: more and more public sessions to give information out. But
25:34
Speaker 1: I think this is a good place that we can
25:37
Speaker 1: have people come and talk about these initiatives, talk about
25:40
Speaker 1: these bond issues. The reason that I think a lot
25:44
Speaker 1: of times the bond issues are questioned, once again, is
25:48
Speaker 1: they feel like, number one, your taxes are going to
25:51
Speaker 1: go up. It says no tax increase all over this
25:53
Speaker 1: brochure I have here. But number two, a lot of
25:57
Speaker 1: people think and are being told if you vote no,
26:00
Speaker 1: your taxes will go down. And that just does not happen.
26:04
Speaker 1: And so the reason that they can add these other
26:08
Speaker 1: bonds on is we are retiring old bond debt and
26:12
Speaker 1: we are refinancing all the time. and getting better and
26:15
Speaker 1: better rates so our bond payments are less and less.
26:18
Speaker 1: And that's how they very, very carefully schedule these things.
26:22
Speaker 1: And so the good for the city, good for the
26:24
Speaker 1: city of Omaha. If you have any questions about it,
26:27
Speaker 1: I think some people ask about, is turf necessary? Peyton,
26:32
Speaker 1: you could answer this question, former soccer player. But yes,
26:36
Speaker 1: as I said before, my son played soccer from kindergarten
26:38
Speaker 1: through college. Those Tranquility fields are big. There's a lot
26:42
Speaker 1: of fields. I believe there was originally, what was there?
26:45
Speaker 1: It seems like there was 18, but those ones on
26:48
Speaker 1: the north end were always underwater.
26:50
Speaker 7: There were 12 fields at Tranquility.
26:53
Speaker 5: Total?
26:54
Speaker 2: Total.
26:54
Speaker 3: Okay. So you know more than I do.
26:56
Speaker 7: They were varying in sizes and getting it all turfed
26:59
Speaker 7: out is a bigger cost upfront, but it saves so
27:03
Speaker 7: much money in the long run. And When it comes
27:06
Speaker 7: to turf, you can play as long as there's not
27:09
Speaker 7: snow on the turf. And I remember playing games down
27:15
Speaker 7: in Kansas City in December. And they have some very
27:19
Speaker 7: fancy heated turf that just warms it enough and it melts.
27:22
Speaker 7: But you can play all the way up until December.
27:26
Speaker 7: There's snow. There's not snow. All the way until as
27:30
Speaker 7: soon as the snow melts again.
27:32
Speaker 6: Right.
27:33
Speaker 2: Then you can start playing.
27:34
Speaker 1: You can play right after, like an hour after it rains,
27:37
Speaker 1: a big rain. I mean, you can play while it's raining,
27:40
Speaker 1: as long as there's no lightning. But it's a good investment.
27:43
Speaker 7: And then the distinction is going from 12 fields up
27:46
Speaker 7: to 16 now. It reaches a new milestone. So more tournaments,
27:55
Speaker 7: bigger tournaments, higher value tournaments are coming to Nebraska and
27:59
Speaker 7: making a name for themselves. And there's a lot of really, really,
28:01
Speaker 7: really Good, high-quality, competitive soccer teams here in the state
28:06
Speaker 7: of Nebraska and the city of Omaha that make a
28:08
Speaker 7: name for themselves. And now they have the chance to
28:11
Speaker 7: have a place they call home.
28:12
Speaker 2: That's right.
28:13
Speaker 1: And, you know, originally back in 2023, the original plan
28:17
Speaker 1: was 15 soccer fields, 10 baseball fields, and then the
28:20
Speaker 1: development north, two future hotels. Right now, they are grading
28:24
Speaker 1: up to 16 soccer fields, as Nate Dodge just said.
28:27
Speaker 1: And then in the second phase would be adding other facilities.
28:32
Speaker 1: amenities to that. But the other thing is besides the turf,
28:37
Speaker 1: besides that one big field where Creighton used to play
28:40
Speaker 1: at Tranquility, that's the only turf field, but that's the
28:43
Speaker 1: only field with bleachers and that's the only field with lights.
28:46
Speaker 6: Exactly.
28:47
Speaker 1: And so that when they build these new fields and
28:50
Speaker 1: attract tournaments here, which will bring a lot of revenue
28:53
Speaker 1: into the city, they will have bleachers, they will have
28:57
Speaker 1: new restrooms and things like that there too.
29:00
Speaker 3: And they will have lights.
29:02
Speaker 1: So it just really opens up, makes them so much
29:04
Speaker 1: more flexible.
29:05
Speaker 7: And I think this is important to note too. I
29:07
Speaker 7: don't know if you've seen these before. They're the new
29:10
Speaker 7: Nebraska CHI multi-sport fields in La Vista right off of
29:16
Speaker 7: I-80 and Giles right there, kind of in between Giles
29:18
Speaker 7: and Harrison. Super, super big mega complex. And I play
29:23
Speaker 7: out there a few days a week. And It's all
29:26
Speaker 7: the way from little tykes who are kicking a soccer
29:28
Speaker 7: ball for the first time to even having practices on
29:32
Speaker 7: the field by Union Omaha.
29:34
Speaker 4: Yes.
29:34
Speaker 7: All levels, all ages are included. And I mean, in
29:38
Speaker 7: my experience in the last few years, that's been spectacular.
29:40
Speaker 2: Successful.
29:41
Speaker 7: I'm excited to see how that will turn out. I
29:44
Speaker 7: do have an email here, common at kfab.com. Answer the
29:47
Speaker 7: question about the grass to turf that should attract future tournaments.
29:52
Speaker 7: But what about concession stands, restrooms?
29:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's all.
29:55
Speaker 1: That's all out there. New concession stands, new restrooms. That's
29:59
Speaker 1: all included in this design. I mean, like I said,
30:02
Speaker 1: the first design was beautiful, but it was about twice
30:08
Speaker 1: as much as we budgeted for.
30:10
Speaker 3: And I wanted to stay on budget.
30:12
Speaker 1: They tried to pare it down as much as they can,
30:14
Speaker 1: but they still needed the number of fields so that
30:18
Speaker 1: it would attract tournaments.
30:19
Speaker 3: They still needed new concessions. restrooms, things like that.
30:23
Speaker 1: Like I said before, we didn't even start on Tranquility
30:26
Speaker 1: until we got 120th done north of Maple.
30:29
Speaker 3: And so that's done. That's widened. You know, the parking
30:33
Speaker 3: is very, very important.
30:35
Speaker 1: So all of those go along with what is needed
30:39
Speaker 1: out there for that to go forward. And then we'll
30:41
Speaker 1: still have to talk about the fire and police headquarter too.
30:44
Speaker 1: But look what the cat just drug in this studio.
30:46
Speaker 1: Gary Saddlemyer just walked in here.
30:48
Speaker 2: Hi, Peyton.
30:49
Speaker 1: Mayor.
30:49
Speaker 3: Lookie here.
30:51
Speaker 6: How are you?
30:52
Speaker 2: Good, thank you. I just have a question. Oh, good.
30:54
Speaker 6: That I think a lot of people might wonder about.
30:56
Speaker 2: Okay. Not that I don't believe you.
31:00
Speaker 6: If we're retiring old bonds and a new bond issue fails,
31:05
Speaker 6: why wouldn't the taxes go down?
31:09
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't they go down?
31:11
Speaker 1: Well, I think the reason is that there will always
31:17
Speaker 1: be another bond issue every three to four years for
31:21
Speaker 1: those five different types of bonds. And I'm going to
31:24
Speaker 1: repeat them. They're public safety, public facility. There's a sewer bond,
31:28
Speaker 1: road bonds, and park bonds. That's what funds the things
31:32
Speaker 1: that we need to do, Gary, if they wouldn't pass...
31:38
Speaker 1: Then it is the taxes could go down, but here
31:42
Speaker 1: it is. Then it would be pay as you go
31:45
Speaker 1: is what they call it. The one way or the other.
31:47
Speaker 1: And that would mean if we were pay as you
31:49
Speaker 1: go and we didn't have the general obligation bonds to
31:52
Speaker 1: pay for the sewers, for the roads, for the public facilities,
31:55
Speaker 1: for the parks, then the only option the city would
31:58
Speaker 1: have is to raise your property taxes to pay for
32:01
Speaker 1: these things.
32:02
Speaker 3: So see, that's the issue.
32:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, because I understand why your taxes don't go up.
32:07
Speaker 1: Right.
32:07
Speaker 2: Because you're retiring old ones.
32:08
Speaker 1: And refinancing all the time so that bond debt stays
32:12
Speaker 1: the same. And that's not paid out of the general fund.
32:15
Speaker 1: All this revenue comes in the city. It comes in
32:18
Speaker 1: through sales tax, property tax, restaurant tax. But there is
32:21
Speaker 1: an actual fund for the bond debt. And there's a
32:24
Speaker 1: levy for it. And they make sure that enough money
32:27
Speaker 1: goes in there to pay that debt. If we didn't
32:29
Speaker 1: have the bond, so... It would be pay as you go,
32:33
Speaker 1: and they would have to raise.
32:34
Speaker 6: Because it has to be paid for one way or
32:35
Speaker 6: the other, yeah.
32:35
Speaker 3: Right, right. Or else your city would decline.
32:38
Speaker 1: I mean, and like I said, a lot of those
32:40
Speaker 1: that are in those bond issues are the important things
32:43
Speaker 1: like roads and suits.
32:44
Speaker 6: Sure, I understand. I just... Good, I'm glad you asked.
32:48
Speaker 6: But I just thought a lot of people wonder about that.
32:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I know they do.
32:52
Speaker 6: Now, these two new ones, these have nothing to do
32:54
Speaker 6: with public safety and parks and all of that, so.
32:58
Speaker 3: Well, they do. They're public facility.
33:01
Speaker 1: For the fire and police combined public safety headquarter, that
33:05
Speaker 1: comes out of public facility bonds. So those are the
33:09
Speaker 1: same bonds. And then I believe tranquility is public facility
33:12
Speaker 1: and park bonds both. And so that's just the general
33:17
Speaker 1: category of bonds, how we pay.
33:19
Speaker 6: But in this case, in the case of tranquility specifically,
33:23
Speaker 6: if that one fails— Taxes could go down a little
33:27
Speaker 6: bit and you wouldn't have to pay for something.
33:32
Speaker 2: That's not going to happen.
33:34
Speaker 1: But those park bonds then could be also used to
33:39
Speaker 1: upgrade and keep our 256 other parks in Omaha in
33:44
Speaker 1: good shape.
33:45
Speaker 3: And that's what we have in the city of Omaha.
33:47
Speaker 6: 256, wow.
33:47
Speaker 2: We do.
33:48
Speaker 3: I know that. We have two. I don't know why
33:50
Speaker 3: I remember this.
33:51
Speaker 6: I got to get out more. I know it.
33:52
Speaker 7: I know.
33:53
Speaker 1: I used to say the parks director that I had
33:55
Speaker 1: made me visit every one of them at least once
33:57
Speaker 1: a week. Scott Parks, right? Yeah, no. By the way,
34:03
Speaker 1: we still don't have a parks director, which bothers me.
34:06
Speaker 2: It was Bench.
34:06
Speaker 3: Brooke Bench.
34:07
Speaker 6: Brooke Bench, yeah.
34:07
Speaker 3: And then followed by Matt Kalcevich.
34:09
Speaker 7: Right.
34:09
Speaker 1: Both were great, but we still don't have a parks
34:11
Speaker 1: director in Omaha, Gary, which is a concern. And, you know,
34:15
Speaker 1: Bob Stubbe is public works director.
34:17
Speaker 8: Yeah.
34:18
Speaker 1: He was going to retire last summer, and he's staying
34:21
Speaker 1: on because we still don't have a public works director.
34:23
Speaker 1: So still working on a public works director. And it's been, what,
34:28
Speaker 1: a year and a half now for no parks director.
34:30
Speaker 6: Wow.
34:31
Speaker 2: I wonder why.
34:32
Speaker 3: That would be a question for Mary Ewing.
34:34
Speaker 2: Is that a difficult position?
34:36
Speaker 1: I did not think so. I mean, I did a
34:39
Speaker 1: national search for– oh, I'll back up. Brookbench I hired
34:42
Speaker 1: from within. He was already with the Parks Department. When
34:45
Speaker 1: Brooks then went out to Cunningham, I did a national
34:49
Speaker 1: search and hired Matt Kalcevich, who I thought was great.
34:53
Speaker 1: He's the one that Mayor Ewing let go.
34:55
Speaker 6: Brookbench was the greatest name ever for a Parks Director.
34:58
Speaker 4: I know it.
34:58
Speaker 6: I know it.
34:59
Speaker 1: I know, and he was the greatest parks director, too.
35:01
Speaker 1: He was a great guy, so much fun to work with.
35:05
Speaker 1: But with that many parks in Omaha, 256, there's a
35:09
Speaker 1: lot of maintenance and a lot of capital projects that
35:13
Speaker 1: have to happen. You know, like with our golf courses,
35:15
Speaker 1: we have 418 and 419. When you need a new
35:18
Speaker 1: irrigation system for a golf course, of course, golf is
35:21
Speaker 1: now an enterprise. So all the revenue we make with
35:25
Speaker 1: golf goes back into golf. But capital projects come out
35:29
Speaker 1: of the capital improvement plan that are paid for with
35:31
Speaker 1: 20-year general obligation bonds.
35:34
Speaker 2: Good to talk to you, Mary. Thanks for letting me
35:35
Speaker 2: jump in here. Yeah, absolutely.
35:37
Speaker 1: Because it's a good question to ask because people think
35:41
Speaker 1: that all the time. Well, if I vote no, these
35:43
Speaker 1: things will still be paid for and my taxes will
35:46
Speaker 1: go down. No, I would say almost the opposite will happen.
35:50
Speaker 1: If it's pay as you go and you don't have
35:52
Speaker 1: the bonds, then your taxes are going to go up
35:55
Speaker 1: to pay for your sewers and your roads and things
35:56
Speaker 1: like that.
35:57
Speaker 7: Quick break here on the KFAB Comment Line. A little
35:59
Speaker 7: special guest host, guest there, Gary Sotomayor, jumping in behind
36:03
Speaker 7: the mic. Here we go on the KFAB Comment Line.
36:06
Speaker 7: A celebrity guest. A little celebrity guest.
36:08
Speaker 3: There we go.
36:09
Speaker 7: Gene Stothart in the KFAB Comment Line returns after a
36:12
Speaker 7: short break. Gene Stothart in the KFAB Comment Line here,
36:16
Speaker 7: wrapping up final segment of the day here on a Thursday.
36:18
Speaker 7: And Gene Stothart is your host. My name is Peyton Highlock.
36:21
Speaker 7: And in the name of being thorough, per usual, 100% accurate,
36:26
Speaker 7: Gene Stothart, more information?
36:28
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we were just talking about this during
36:30
Speaker 1: the break. And first of all, if you want more information,
36:34
Speaker 1: you could go to buildingabetteromaha.com. I meant for Nate to
36:38
Speaker 1: say that before he left, but I had it written down.
36:40
Speaker 1: So buildingabetteromaha.com will give you more information about both bond issues.
36:46
Speaker 1: But another thing I wanted to bring up that I
36:49
Speaker 1: think a joint, that I felt like a joint public
36:51
Speaker 1: safety facility would have really helped with the response and
36:55
Speaker 1: recovery efforts with the flood. And using this proposed facility
37:00
Speaker 1: as a command center during floods or tornadoes or windstorms.
37:05
Speaker 1: And so you could have this facility where it would
37:08
Speaker 1: include police and fire, public works, financing programs, purchasing all
37:12
Speaker 1: in one place would have been extremely beneficial with our
37:16
Speaker 1: recovery response plans. And so you got to think about
37:20
Speaker 1: it a little more holistically for the whole city too,
37:23
Speaker 1: about when we have these big events, not just a
37:26
Speaker 1: big crime issue, for example, but these major events that
37:32
Speaker 1: happen in the city, like floods, like tornadoes, like windstorms. Oh,
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Speaker 1: I remember when we had that one wind shear that
37:38
Speaker 1: went through the whole city and we, for the first
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Speaker 1: time ever, picked up storm debris from the entire city,
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Speaker 1: it would have been so helpful to have a command
37:48
Speaker 1: center where everybody could be together and have the room
37:51
Speaker 1: to do it. So there's many, many benefits of doing
37:54
Speaker 1: this combined public safety headquarter.
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Speaker 7: Let's get to a phone call here. Jesus is on
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Speaker 7: the line. Not too much time here, Jesus, but welcome
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Speaker 7: to the KFAB comment line. You're live with Jane Stothert.
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Speaker 2: Good morning.
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Speaker 3: Good morning.
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Speaker 8: Thank you. First time caller. I'm always one that opens
38:09
Speaker 8: up the can of worms, so I'll be quick. And
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Speaker 8: I only have limited time. One of the questions that
38:14
Speaker 8: I would be asking all of these candidates that are
38:16
Speaker 8: going on all over the country is this Islamic political
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Speaker 8: Sharia law. And it's happening all over. So one of
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Speaker 8: the questions I ask would be, what are they going
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Speaker 8: to do to help prevent that from coming into our cities,
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Speaker 8: our states?
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Speaker 5: For the senators, our country, and what are they going.
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Speaker 8: To do to help protect our children? Because, as we know,
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Speaker 8: in Sharia law, they're allowed to marry up to a
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Speaker 8: certain point, I mean, below even 18, 15. So, under
38:53
Speaker 8: all of this, and we're seeing these things happen.
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Speaker 5: The Islamic Foundation places that are popping up all over,
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Speaker 5: what are we going to, what are they going to
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Speaker 5: do to help prevent? I mean, we hear cities now
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Speaker 5: that they can't put up nativity scenes on the East
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Speaker 5: Coast because we have people that are of that persuasion
39:15
Speaker 5: who are going to keep Christmas from happening. And I
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Speaker 5: wonder what's going to happen in New York now when
39:23
Speaker 5: it comes to Thanksgiving, when it comes to the Macy's
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Speaker 5: Day Parade. Are they going to allow these things to happen?
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Speaker 5: because of this influence that this islamic democratic socialist agenda
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Speaker 5: that comes when they when they're removing god out of.
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Speaker 1: Everything Jesus, you are so spot on and right in
39:45
Speaker 1: everything that you just said. And that is a major,
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Speaker 1: major concern. And what is going to happen? And what
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Speaker 1: are these candidates going to do if elected? You know,
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Speaker 1: when we have candidates that are winning the primary that say,
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Speaker 1: They want to do away with the U.S. Constitution, with
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Speaker 1: the president, with open borders, with just about everything. This
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Speaker 1: is a good question that every candidate should be asked.
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Speaker 1: And I think you're very spot on. And it's a
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Speaker 1: question for the candidates. What are they going to do?
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Speaker 1: And are they going to allow this to happen?
40:19
Speaker 3: So you know what? We are going to be back tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: We have a lot of questions that we could answer
40:25
Speaker 1: that based on our guest yesterday and today talking about
40:29
Speaker 1: ballot initiatives and bond issues. But I want to thank
40:32
Speaker 1: you all for spending this hour with us today. And
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Speaker 1: we would love for you to join us again tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: I'm Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.