Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Free Flowing Comments about Omaha

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Free Flowing Comments about Omaha · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: Going to be on fire today. I think it's supposed
0:02
Speaker 1: to be 95 degrees out there today. Peyton shaking his
0:05
Speaker 1: head going, ooh, that doesn't sound good. I am your host,
0:08
Speaker 1: Jean Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer, is also here. Good morning.
0:13
Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean.
0:14
Speaker 1: How are you today?
0:15
Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good.
0:15
Speaker 1: You're all in green. You look Irish today.
0:17
Speaker 2: A little Irish.
0:18
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I'm Irish now by marriage.
0:22
Speaker 2: Yes, that is true. Okay.
0:24
Speaker 1: I'm married to Kevin O'Rourke. How much more Irish.
0:27
Speaker 2: Can that be? That is about as Irish as it gets.
0:29
Speaker 1: His family is from Limerick, Ireland. So, yes, I am
0:33
Speaker 1: now Irish by marriage. But I am Jean Stothert on
0:36
Speaker 1: this show, and thank you all for being with us today.
0:39
Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. We want to get
0:40
Speaker 1: your feedback. We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints.
0:45
Speaker 1: Anything goes. We've talked about the streetcar this week quite
0:49
Speaker 1: a bit. City, state, national, or the world. And we
0:52
Speaker 1: will have plenty of guests. We have a good guest
0:54
Speaker 1: coming on tomorrow. But today, the show, the floor is yours.
0:57
Speaker 1: But of course, we will always have plenty of good guests.
1:00
Speaker 1: But it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
1:03
Speaker 1: So you can send your emails. to comment at kfab.com.
1:07
Speaker 1: You can call us at 402-558-1110, or you can leave
1:11
Speaker 1: us a recorded message on the talkback mic, and we
1:14
Speaker 1: will play it on the air. We are so happy
1:16
Speaker 1: that you are with us. Boy, Peyton and I are
1:19
Speaker 1: looking at the TV screen here in the studio, and
1:22
Speaker 1: this Clancy jury, this is getting to be a little
1:27
Speaker 1: bit worrisome if you've been following the Lindsay Clancy case
1:30
Speaker 1: because they are now saying they can't make a unanimous decision.
1:35
Speaker 1: The judge just instructed them this morning to keep on deliberating. Boy,
1:38
Speaker 1: if this comes out to a hung jury, this is
1:40
Speaker 1: going to be quite interesting.
1:44
Speaker 2: Yes, it is a little bit interesting. And after the
1:48
Speaker 2: weekend off. 15 hours of deliberation yesterday.
1:52
Speaker 3: Yes.
1:53
Speaker 2: And now suspicions of a hung jury today. It's a
1:57
Speaker 2: little bit questionable.
1:59
Speaker 1: Well, we will be on Verdict Watch while we are
2:01
Speaker 1: in the studio today, and we'll come in and tell
2:03
Speaker 1: you anything if anything has been decided. But it's really
2:08
Speaker 1: an interesting case, and there's so much speculation out there
2:12
Speaker 1: about what happened and so many comments and people giving
2:19
Speaker 1: their opinion. So it'll be interesting when this jury rests
2:22
Speaker 1: and when they come out with a decision. However, today,
2:26
Speaker 1: like I said, we want to hear from you. We've
2:28
Speaker 1: had a lot of good conversations this week. One thing
2:31
Speaker 1: I did want to bring up, because it is on
2:33
Speaker 1: the front page of the World Herald, but the city council,
2:36
Speaker 1: I think Rosie and And Scott brought it up a
2:39
Speaker 1: little bit this morning, but the city council is going
2:41
Speaker 1: to consider changes to TIF use. And that's one of
2:46
Speaker 1: those subjects. It's like affordable housing. It's so hard to
2:51
Speaker 1: explain how we use TIF, how it is good for
2:55
Speaker 1: the city, the way that we use it. and to
2:58
Speaker 1: explain about affordable housing. But this has come from a
3:04
Speaker 1: plan that we developed back when I was still in
3:08
Speaker 1: office and still the mayor, and we called it the
3:10
Speaker 1: HAP plan, H-A-A-P, which is Housing and Affordability Action Plan.
3:16
Speaker 1: And we started that in 2022, and some of this
3:20
Speaker 1: ended with a recommendation to really update the city's TIF approach.
3:26
Speaker 1: And so we formed a committee, and these are basically
3:31
Speaker 1: recommendations that came from the planning department and from that committee.
3:36
Speaker 1: But I don't know. I would assume if it came
3:38
Speaker 1: from the planning department, we have a very good planning department,
3:42
Speaker 1: a very good planning director. Dave Fanslaw does a great job.
3:46
Speaker 1: But one of the recommendations, there's basically five that will
3:49
Speaker 1: go in front of the city council. And it is
3:51
Speaker 1: a resolution. And so it is not a ordinance, which
3:55
Speaker 1: would be a law. But it is a no net
3:58
Speaker 1: loss policy mandating that if projects... new projects are going
4:04
Speaker 1: to demolish residential units. They either have to replace them
4:09
Speaker 1: or pay into an affordable housing development fund. Otherwise, if
4:13
Speaker 1: they tear down affordable housing, they have to replace the
4:16
Speaker 1: affordable housing. I'm not sure that I can think of
4:19
Speaker 1: any instance where that happened. So I hope this isn't
4:24
Speaker 1: just a feel-good type of thing. I'm not sure. And
4:29
Speaker 1: so it'll be interesting what the city council, their discussion today.
4:33
Speaker 1: I know one of the council members, Don Rowe, was
4:35
Speaker 1: on that committee. But they just want to make sure
4:38
Speaker 1: that we are updating our use of TIF and make
4:41
Speaker 1: sure that the city gets the most bang for their
4:44
Speaker 1: buck by using it. A lot of people don't understand
4:47
Speaker 1: how we use TIF, and they do believe that we
4:50
Speaker 1: are taking taxpayer dollars, and we are not. Because once again,
4:55
Speaker 1: if you try to explain it, if you've got some
4:57
Speaker 1: old gas station on a corner that is vacant and
5:00
Speaker 1: empty and the property tax that they're paying is very
5:03
Speaker 1: small and you get a developer come in and he
5:06
Speaker 1: wants to build multifamily apartments with some, say, a restaurant
5:13
Speaker 1: and some retail around there, that area, if they tiff
5:17
Speaker 1: it and make it more affordable for that developer to
5:20
Speaker 1: develop there, that is only going to greatly increase the
5:24
Speaker 1: property taxes that will be paid on that corner in
5:27
Speaker 1: the future. Otherwise, it's just going to continue to be
5:30
Speaker 1: an old empty gas station that the value goes down, down, down.
5:34
Speaker 1: So it's a good thing. It's not just something that
5:37
Speaker 1: they rubber stamp when anybody applies for TIF. In fact,
5:42
Speaker 1: they have kind of a meeting, I would say, I'll
5:45
Speaker 1: call it a meeting, with the planning department when a
5:50
Speaker 1: and thinks that he would qualify for TIF, and even
5:53
Speaker 1: before they apply or the planning department gets their plan,
5:58
Speaker 1: they come in and talk to the planning department, and
6:00
Speaker 1: a lot of times the planning department will just say then, no,
6:02
Speaker 1: this isn't going to work. This is not something that
6:06
Speaker 1: I can tell you that would be something that would
6:08
Speaker 1: be eligible for TIF. So there's a lot that goes
6:11
Speaker 1: into whether they award TIF or not. It goes through
6:14
Speaker 1: the planning department. That's discussed in an open meeting in
6:17
Speaker 1: public with public comments.
6:19
Speaker 3: Then.
6:20
Speaker 1: it goes to the city council and the city council
6:23
Speaker 1: discuss it. So they use a very, very careful use
6:26
Speaker 1: of TIF. And there is a TIF report that comes
6:29
Speaker 1: out every year that anybody could look at. And it's
6:32
Speaker 1: on the planning department's webpage. The other thing is affordable housing.
6:38
Speaker 1: And it is so difficult to define, but I just
6:42
Speaker 1: want to go through it one more time since this
6:44
Speaker 1: is a topic that's going to be in the city
6:46
Speaker 1: council agenda today. But it is, hard to define affordable
6:51
Speaker 1: housing because an affordable one-bedroom unit for a single person
6:58
Speaker 1: is different than it would be for a couple. And
7:00
Speaker 1: then you also have to include utilities in the calculation
7:05
Speaker 1: along with the rental rate. So that means an older unit,
7:09
Speaker 1: say with a bad furnace or AC system, could make
7:12
Speaker 1: a unit unaffordable even if the rent is within the
7:16
Speaker 1: range because of the utility costs. So then a unit
7:21
Speaker 1: might be affordable for someone which is in workforce housing.
7:25
Speaker 1: And I told you before, I mentioned it on this show,
7:28
Speaker 1: that these definitions come from HUD. And if you start
7:32
Speaker 1: at the very bottom, you have subsidized or Section 8 housing,
7:36
Speaker 1: and those are subsidized by the government. And then you
7:39
Speaker 1: go up to affordable, then you go to workforce, then
7:43
Speaker 1: you go to market rate, and then you go to luxury.
7:49
Speaker 1: is defined at if you are making 80 to 120%
7:55
Speaker 1: of the median income in the county. Now, this is
7:58
Speaker 1: where it gets difficult. Where affordable is someone making less
8:04
Speaker 1: than 80% of the median income in the county. And so, sometimes,
8:12
Speaker 1: you know, it'll be 60 to 80% of the income
8:15
Speaker 1: could be if you make compared to the average market
8:20
Speaker 1: rate income in the area. It's really hard to understand.
8:24
Speaker 1: It seems like I'm stuttering around here. But it's all
8:27
Speaker 1: based on the county median income. Therefore, affordable in Omaha
8:32
Speaker 1: is different than what's affordable in New York or Los Angeles.
8:36
Speaker 1: So it's all based on the median income in your
8:41
Speaker 1: area or your county. And so it's very confusing because
8:44
Speaker 1: they talk about, like I said, affordable in the 60%
8:48
Speaker 1: to 80% of the median range or its workforce if
8:52
Speaker 1: it's 80% to 120% of the median range. But the
8:55
Speaker 1: easiest way to define affordable is usually to refer to
8:58
Speaker 1: the household size and the income and the use at
9:02
Speaker 1: that as the measure against the cost of renting plus utilities.
9:08
Speaker 1: For instance, you could say that a couple making– So
9:12
Speaker 1: much per year can afford rent of a certain amount,
9:17
Speaker 1: which includes utilities for a one-bedroom, or a family of
9:21
Speaker 1: four with joint income can afford something different for a two-bedroom.
9:26
Speaker 1: So it's very complex of what is affordable and what
9:29
Speaker 1: is not. And so when you hear the mayor, Mayor Ewing,
9:34
Speaker 1: is saying his number one priority is affordable housing in
9:38
Speaker 1: the city of Omaha, then that's certainly a question to
9:41
Speaker 1: ask the mayor.
9:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jean, and it sounds like you can't really define
9:46
Speaker 2: affordable in one sentence because what's affordable to me is
9:50
Speaker 2: not the same affordability to you, to somebody that I
9:54
Speaker 2: pass in my car on the street, and how big
9:57
Speaker 2: your family is, how many people are living. So affordable.
10:00
Speaker 2: has a net, if you will, of a lot of
10:03
Speaker 2: differences within it. So it's tough to define, but you
10:06
Speaker 2: have to work towards affordability. for everybody in all income ranges.
10:11
Speaker 3: Right.
10:12
Speaker 1: And if you look at the matrix, like I said,
10:14
Speaker 1: with HUD, who defines those things, there's a table that
10:20
Speaker 1: talks about your household size and your household income. And
10:24
Speaker 1: it's broken down for between the 80 and 120% of
10:29
Speaker 1: the average median income in the area, then the 60
10:32
Speaker 1: to 80%, and then under 60%. And so that's what
10:36
Speaker 1: they're looking at based on the average median income in
10:41
Speaker 1: the area that you live in. And so, again, affordable
10:45
Speaker 1: for what is affordable for, say, you and your wife
10:48
Speaker 1: for a one-bedroom without kids with two incomes that you
10:53
Speaker 1: have might be not affordable for somebody else. So, I
10:57
Speaker 1: hear that a lot when we talk about, you know,
11:01
Speaker 1: different developments, for example, where the Twin Towers were downtown
11:05
Speaker 1: that Todd Hested is developing into 707 apartments. And he said,
11:10
Speaker 1: originally about 30% of those will be affordable. And immediately
11:13
Speaker 1: people were saying, well, what is that? What's the rent
11:15
Speaker 1: for a one bedroom? When he said what the rent was,
11:18
Speaker 1: they said, well, that's not affordable for me. And that
11:20
Speaker 1: is true because it may not be affordable for that person,
11:24
Speaker 1: depending on that person's income.
11:26
Speaker 2: And you've said in the past, when talking about affordable housing,
11:29
Speaker 2: Affordable housing doesn't mean cheap housing.
11:32
Speaker 1: No, it does not. And it does not mean subsidized
11:34
Speaker 1: housing either. And again, affordable and workforce are two different things.
11:41
Speaker 1: And so workforce is right under what is market rate. And,
11:44
Speaker 1: you know, I even asked recently several developers in Omaha,
11:49
Speaker 1: what is an average one bedroom market rate apartment in Omaha?
11:53
Speaker 1: And I got three different answers. which I thought was,
11:56
Speaker 1: was quite interesting. I got 1200, I got, um, 1400
12:01
Speaker 1: and I got 1800. And so, you know, it really, it, it,
12:05
Speaker 1: that's even a little, um, questionable about what the actual
12:10
Speaker 1: market rate is in the city of Omaha. So some
12:15
Speaker 1: of it depends on the area that you're into. So
12:18
Speaker 1: all of those things play into what is affordable, but,
12:22
Speaker 1: but again, this, um, resolution that's on the agenda today
12:27
Speaker 1: that they're going to discuss, it does consider changes to
12:31
Speaker 1: how we use TIF, and that is linked to affordable housing.
12:35
Speaker 1: And so, you know, to say how the current mayor
12:39
Speaker 1: is defining it, what level of affordable housing that he
12:44
Speaker 1: wants to see, the city of Omaha has been partners
12:47
Speaker 1: with Front Porch for some time. Back when I was
12:50
Speaker 1: still mayor, we were still very, very engaged with Front
12:54
Speaker 1: Porch with affordable housing, and they are still a partner
12:58
Speaker 1: with the city. And that's under Sherwood Foundation too. So
13:04
Speaker 1: how many units that the city is wanting to build
13:08
Speaker 1: every year, that's something that I think should be discussed
13:12
Speaker 1: and the questions should be asked to the new mayor.
13:15
Speaker 2: The comments are flowing today on the KFAB comment line.
13:18
Speaker 2: We have a lot rolling in here, Jean. If you
13:20
Speaker 2: have something that you would like to say, give us
13:21
Speaker 2: a call, 402-558-1110. or comment at kfab.com. Gene, let's fire
13:27
Speaker 2: through some comments here from the listeners. This first one
13:30
Speaker 2: is from Chris. Chris, you are live with Gene Stothert
13:33
Speaker 2: here on 1110 KFAB.
13:35
Speaker 1: Good morning.
13:36
Speaker 4: Hi, I'm here, Gene.
13:37
Speaker 1: Good morning.
13:39
Speaker 4: Good morning. So I have a quick question. So you
13:43
Speaker 4: hear about the lawsuits that the state of Nebraska are
13:46
Speaker 4: selling for millions of dollars. And I'm just curious, where
13:51
Speaker 4: does that money go And do the cities like Omaha
13:54
Speaker 4: and the rest of the cities around Nebraska see any
13:56
Speaker 4: of that settlement money?
13:58
Speaker 1: You mean with META?
14:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, just in general, it always seems like, you know, there's,
14:04
Speaker 4: you know, Nebraska is one of many states that is
14:07
Speaker 4: settling lawsuits. Right. Against the citizens and stuff like that.
14:10
Speaker 4: And I'm just curious, you know, because with the, you know,
14:13
Speaker 4: with most of the state not having two nickels to
14:15
Speaker 4: rub together, you know, where does that money go and
14:18
Speaker 4: is it distributed to... you know, cities like Omaha, Lincoln,
14:22
Speaker 4: or throughout the, you know, what happens to that money?
14:26
Speaker 1: You know, what happens with the state is something that
14:31
Speaker 1: I am not 100% sure of. I would assume it
14:35
Speaker 1: would go into the state's general fund. And, you know,
14:38
Speaker 1: like if, for an example, this settlement with META, so
14:42
Speaker 1: far they said the state of Nebraska could get up
14:47
Speaker 1: to $ 200 million. So we don't know exactly... if we
14:51
Speaker 1: will get that much at this point in time. But
14:54
Speaker 1: I think usually it would go back into the general fund. Now,
14:59
Speaker 1: with the city of Omaha, there's basically four funds where
15:04
Speaker 1: your tax dollars go into. And one is the general fund,
15:09
Speaker 1: one is debt service, the other is the redevelopment fund,
15:12
Speaker 1: and then there's a judgment fund. And that judgment fund
15:15
Speaker 1: is money that we put into an account to fund
15:19
Speaker 1: basically fight lawsuits and settle lawsuits. So I think with
15:23
Speaker 1: the city of Omaha, if a lawsuit is settled and
15:25
Speaker 1: the city of Omaha wins it and gets some sort
15:29
Speaker 1: of award with it, monetary award, in my opinion, I
15:32
Speaker 1: think it would go back into the judgment fund.
15:35
Speaker 2: I looked this up too, after we had this result
15:38
Speaker 2: of the meta settlement with attorney general Mike Hilgers and the, the, the,
15:45
Speaker 2: the Money that the state will receive for this meta-settlement
15:50
Speaker 2: is going to go to the Nebraska State Settlement Cash Fund.
15:53
Speaker 1: Okay.
15:53
Speaker 2: It's a pool of money Nebraska receives when lawsuits happen
15:57
Speaker 2: like this.
15:58
Speaker 4: Right.
15:58
Speaker 2: And under state law, it's administered by the attorney general.
16:02
Speaker 1: Okay.
16:03
Speaker 2: He is the one that decides. And I don't know
16:05
Speaker 2: what the checks and balances are of that. But the
16:07
Speaker 2: legislature can also direct transfers to other state funds, including
16:12
Speaker 2: the general fund, State Patrol cash fund, financial literacy cash fund,
16:17
Speaker 2: and other funds. But it goes to the settlement fund
16:19
Speaker 2: for the state of Nebraska, which then it can be
16:22
Speaker 2: distributed other places after that.
16:24
Speaker 1: And that makes sense because that's very similar to what
16:27
Speaker 1: I said about the city of Omaha. It would go
16:30
Speaker 1: into the judgment fund, as far as I know, and
16:33
Speaker 1: that would be managed basically by the city attorney. And
16:38
Speaker 1: then it could be moved into some of these other
16:41
Speaker 1: funds like general fund, debt service, or redevelopment if that
16:44
Speaker 1: judgment fund gets to be too large, if it's a big,
16:47
Speaker 1: big settlement. Usually not. Usually they want to have enough
16:51
Speaker 1: money in there so that if the city is sued
16:53
Speaker 1: that they could pay their debt service. The reason they
16:56
Speaker 1: do this with the city, and I could talk more
16:58
Speaker 1: about the city, but I'm sure it's similar to the state,
17:01
Speaker 1: is because if there is a judgment that is settled
17:04
Speaker 1: against the state or against the city of Omaha, the
17:07
Speaker 1: last thing you want to do is pay that judgment
17:09
Speaker 1: out of the general fund because all city departments are
17:13
Speaker 1: funded out of the general fund. Police department, fire department,
17:17
Speaker 1: the libraries, the planning department. and you don't, Parks Department,
17:22
Speaker 1: and you don't want to have some settlement against the city,
17:25
Speaker 1: and you'd have to take money out of the fund
17:28
Speaker 1: that is funding all these city departments. Because you don't
17:30
Speaker 1: want to say, oh, we got a settlement against the city,
17:33
Speaker 1: so now we're going to have to get rid of
17:34
Speaker 1: a bunch of firemen and policemen. No, you don't want that.
17:37
Speaker 1: You want your general fund protected. So it makes a
17:39
Speaker 1: lot of sense to have a judgment fund, or like
17:41
Speaker 1: the state does. What did you say the state calls it?
17:43
Speaker 1: A state settlement cash fund. Yeah, it's something very, very similar.
17:49
Speaker 1: And so, but if that fund gets to be too much,
17:52
Speaker 1: I know they have, they decide on an amount of
17:54
Speaker 1: money that they feel like they need in that fund
17:56
Speaker 1: that they need to keep in that fund. If it
17:58
Speaker 1: gets too high, then I think with a vote, it
18:01
Speaker 1: could be transferred to other departments.
18:03
Speaker 2: I see this like at home with your family finances,
18:07
Speaker 2: they say to have three to six months of emergency
18:10
Speaker 2: money ready to go in case something happens, you're good
18:12
Speaker 2: for it. You know, and I think that that's pretty similar,
18:15
Speaker 2: but that's a really good question, Chris. Thank you very much. Ultimately,
18:18
Speaker 2: with this meta case, though, I don't think it's expected
18:22
Speaker 2: to come back into the Nebraska pockets, the people of
18:26
Speaker 2: Nebraska's pockets.
18:27
Speaker 1: No, no, it doesn't go. No, it's it would stay
18:31
Speaker 1: with the states.
18:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
18:33
Speaker 1: You know, with their their their budget. And, you know,
18:37
Speaker 1: right now we are still facing a budget shortfall. And so,
18:41
Speaker 1: you know, that is something that the state and the
18:43
Speaker 1: legislators and the governor will have a lot of say about,
18:46
Speaker 1: I'm sure.
18:46
Speaker 2: Gene, we talked about this last week. This is an
18:49
Speaker 2: email from Tom at comment at KFAB.com. What in the
18:53
Speaker 2: world is going on on Q Street? It's torn up
18:55
Speaker 2: between 192nd and 204th, and it looks like they're tearing
18:57
Speaker 2: up past 12th. to 204th to 208th as well.
19:04
Speaker 1: Oh, we had Todd Fitzgerald on last week that explained
19:08
Speaker 1: a lot of this. Maybe we'll have to replay some
19:11
Speaker 1: of the things that he said because that is in
19:14
Speaker 1: Douglas County that is not in the city of Omaha.
19:17
Speaker 1: And so I asked the Douglas County engineer to come
19:21
Speaker 1: on the show and he did explain what was going
19:23
Speaker 1: on there as well as several other areas that there's
19:28
Speaker 1: a lot of road construction that's in Douglas County. And
19:31
Speaker 1: so maybe we should find that. I can try and
19:35
Speaker 1: find that clip too.
19:36
Speaker 2: But I think it was essentially the delays because of
19:41
Speaker 2: what it would take to get the infrastructure and the
19:43
Speaker 2: supplies or something along those lines where the time of
19:48
Speaker 2: things to get here.
19:50
Speaker 1: The main reason he said, and the reason I really
19:54
Speaker 1: wanted him to come on, is because Mike McKnight did
19:56
Speaker 1: a story on it, and he did ask Todd Fitzer,
20:00
Speaker 1: the Douglas County engineer, he really wanted him to say
20:03
Speaker 1: it's because of the streetcar.
20:05
Speaker 2: Right. Right.
20:06
Speaker 1: And the reasons that it's delayed, and this happens with
20:10
Speaker 1: every road project that we do in Omaha, if there
20:13
Speaker 1: is utility work to be done before the road project
20:16
Speaker 1: can be complete, you are at the mercy of the
20:19
Speaker 1: utility companies, and that would be OPPD, MUD, and the
20:23
Speaker 1: cable companies. And a lot of times you'll get one
20:26
Speaker 1: to come in and do their work right away, and
20:28
Speaker 1: then you wait and you wait and you wait. And
20:30
Speaker 1: the reason that they said, oh, it's because of the streetcar,
20:34
Speaker 1: and they wanted Todd to say it, which Todd Fitzgerald
20:36
Speaker 1: did not say that. But the point is that there
20:40
Speaker 1: are so many big projects going on now, including the streetcar,
20:44
Speaker 1: that there's a lot of utility work being done. But
20:47
Speaker 1: there's a lot of road work all over Omaha, too,
20:50
Speaker 1: with a lot of utility work. So the utility companies
20:54
Speaker 1: are stretched very thin. And so they're not able to
20:57
Speaker 1: come in there and get things done as quick as
21:00
Speaker 1: the city or the county wants them so they could
21:02
Speaker 1: complete that project. And so he said basically it was
21:06
Speaker 1: delayed because they were waiting on the utility work underground
21:09
Speaker 1: to get done. And then there's really nothing that the
21:13
Speaker 1: city or the county can do about that. They just
21:15
Speaker 1: have to wait.
21:16
Speaker 2: And Todd Fitzgerald did say that that area that they're
21:20
Speaker 2: going to be tearing up West from 204th to 208th.
21:24
Speaker 2: That is a proactive construction project to get those intersections
21:29
Speaker 2: figured out. So when the expansion and the growth continues West,
21:33
Speaker 2: it'll be seamless that way. And another important distinction he
21:37
Speaker 2: said is that the man hours for the project on
21:41
Speaker 2: Q street from 192nd to 204th has not gone over
21:45
Speaker 2: the contracted man hours, which means it's not over budget
21:48
Speaker 2: in that way.
21:49
Speaker 3: Right.
21:50
Speaker 1: And sometimes they, you know, on these road projects, they
21:52
Speaker 1: will put a, you know, they'll put a timeline on them.
21:58
Speaker 1: And then there are, they call them liquidated damages that
22:01
Speaker 1: they would basically fine them. the construction company, if they
22:04
Speaker 1: don't get it done by a certain time, but they
22:06
Speaker 1: are still within that time. You know, a lot of
22:09
Speaker 1: times work around the schools, for example, have liquidated damages
22:13
Speaker 1: that are attached to the work because they want the
22:16
Speaker 1: work done before school starts. So they're like, sorry, utility companies,
22:20
Speaker 1: we are on a timeline. You have to get this
22:22
Speaker 1: done by this certain time or you're going to have
22:25
Speaker 1: to pay us more money. And so that usually gets
22:28
Speaker 1: them going. But usually the city doesn't like to do that,
22:32
Speaker 1: to have liquidated damages, because usually the construction company, if
22:38
Speaker 1: they know that's on there, they're just going to charge
22:40
Speaker 1: you more.
22:41
Speaker 2: Gene Stothert and the KFAB comment line. My name is
22:44
Speaker 2: Peyton Highlock. When we come back from break, I got
22:46
Speaker 2: comments about gas prices, the shooting in the old market
22:50
Speaker 2: and some occupying force.
22:52
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
22:53
Speaker 2: The Lindsey Clancy trial and some window tinting. Lots more
22:57
Speaker 2: to come here with Gene Stothert and the KFAB comment
22:59
Speaker 2: line on KFAB. Gene Stothert and the KFAB comment line.
23:03
Speaker 2: I'm Peyton Highlock controlling the board. And Gene, the comments
23:07
Speaker 2: are flowing today.
23:08
Speaker 1: Good.
23:09
Speaker 2: Lots of talk about from you guys. We love the input,
23:12
Speaker 2: the questions, the comments, and the concerns. We spoke yesterday, Gene,
23:16
Speaker 2: about the old market shooting.
23:17
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
23:18
Speaker 2: And we got an email from Dale Nunez. Good morning, Jean.
23:22
Speaker 2: Is it time for Mayor Ewing to call on the
23:24
Speaker 2: occupying force to help secure 12th and Howard on Saturday nights?
23:32
Speaker 1: The occupying force would be the Douglas County Sheriff's Office,
23:37
Speaker 1: but the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the State Patrol.
23:40
Speaker 1: has already been contacted about what is going on in
23:44
Speaker 1: the old market.
23:44
Speaker 2: Can we get the horses in there?
23:46
Speaker 1: In the mounted patrol.
23:47
Speaker 2: Mounted patrol? Can we get the horses in there? Because
23:49
Speaker 2: I would love to hear them on the brick roads.
23:51
Speaker 1: They're down there. I mean, they're down there already. But
23:54
Speaker 1: here's the deal with the old market. I mean, number one,
23:59
Speaker 1: what we see down there is– A lot more police officers,
24:04
Speaker 1: for example. They do have their own private security that
24:10
Speaker 1: are dedicated to the Old Market area that is hired
24:14
Speaker 1: by the Downtown Improvement District and the Old Market Association.
24:19
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to have Billy Colburn on. I've
24:22
Speaker 1: got a message out to him. He's president of the
24:24
Speaker 1: Old Market Association. But there are multiple high-volume bars in
24:29
Speaker 1: that area, about 13th and Howard. they are getting more
24:33
Speaker 1: presence of law enforcement down there, whether it's OPD, whether
24:37
Speaker 1: it's their private security, whether it's the sheriff's department, and
24:41
Speaker 1: also the state patrol in that area. There's also an
24:45
Speaker 1: increased use of cameras, drones in that area too. But
24:48
Speaker 1: here's one thing people bring up a lot, and they
24:51
Speaker 1: will say, why don't you, city of Omaha, have a
24:54
Speaker 1: curfew down in the old market? And that comes with
24:59
Speaker 1: a real challenge because basically... Then you're running up against
25:03
Speaker 1: the Constitution. And what the Constitution would say is that
25:08
Speaker 1: you can't have a curfew in one place in Omaha.
25:12
Speaker 1: And here's how you do a curfew. A mayor can
25:16
Speaker 1: do an emergency curfew, but it would only last for
25:19
Speaker 1: I believe it's three days, and then it has to
25:21
Speaker 1: go to a city council office. for an approval. I
25:26
Speaker 1: issued a curfew, and that was the first time it
25:28
Speaker 1: had been in about 30 years when we were having
25:31
Speaker 1: the riots in Omaha back in the summer of 2020.
25:36
Speaker 1: If you would try to do just a certain area downtown,
25:42
Speaker 1: which you would call the old market, I think, like
25:45
Speaker 1: I said, the Constitution would come into play and such
25:48
Speaker 1: a law would, if it would survive a challenge or not,
25:51
Speaker 1: I don't know. Because it would be very difficult to
25:54
Speaker 1: define what the old market is. And inevitably, people would
25:58
Speaker 1: congregate then in an area that was not old. determined
26:03
Speaker 1: to be in that, that area that we defined as
26:07
Speaker 1: where the curfew is. You might get, you might then,
26:09
Speaker 1: then you could say in the old market, well, this
26:12
Speaker 1: side of the street, there's a curfew on that side
26:14
Speaker 1: of the street. There isn't a curfew. So I'm going
26:16
Speaker 1: to go over on the side that doesn't have a curfew.
26:19
Speaker 1: So it gets, that's why it gets very difficult to
26:22
Speaker 1: have a curfew just in one distinct area. And that's
26:25
Speaker 1: why it has not been done. And so that, that,
26:29
Speaker 1: People will always say that. They said that about, you know,
26:32
Speaker 1: the Riverfront Parks when they first opened. And there was
26:35
Speaker 1: some of the little, we call them gang wannabes down there,
26:37
Speaker 1: the 13, 14-year-olds that would come in big groups and
26:40
Speaker 1: walk around and try to frighten people. Well, why don't
26:43
Speaker 1: you say there's a curfew in the Riverfront Parks? You really, again,
26:47
Speaker 1: that would not survive a constitutional challenge, a lawsuit against
26:51
Speaker 1: the city. And like I said, that area that is
26:54
Speaker 1: designated as the area of a curfew, you just go
26:56
Speaker 1: across the street to the.
26:58
Speaker 2: Area that's not. Well, not on a boo-boo. You can't
26:59
Speaker 2: get me.
27:00
Speaker 1: That's right. That's exactly what they would do. But there
27:04
Speaker 1: is another thing that they are working on, and I
27:07
Speaker 1: think the Old Market Association are working with the City
27:11
Speaker 1: Council Law Committee on, to try to coordinate efforts to
27:15
Speaker 1: track tavern reports. And tavern reports are when a specific
27:20
Speaker 1: bar or tavern does not follow the law and citations
27:25
Speaker 1: are issued by the police department or the sheriff's department
27:28
Speaker 1: to that specific bar. And when you get so many
27:31
Speaker 1: tavern reports, then the city council could look at what
27:34
Speaker 1: they could do as far as maybe they could even
27:37
Speaker 1: shut that bar down. And so I think what the
27:40
Speaker 1: Old Market Business Association wants to do is work with
27:45
Speaker 1: the City Council Law Committee and really keep track and
27:48
Speaker 1: coordinate the effort of tracking multiple tavern reports at certain
27:52
Speaker 1: bars in that area because each situation needs to be
27:57
Speaker 1: dealt with differently according to what specific citations were issued
28:02
Speaker 1: on that area. Like one of them could be they
28:05
Speaker 1: stayed open until 3 a.m. instead of closing at 2 a.m.,
28:08
Speaker 1: like the law says. That they're not controlling the crowd,
28:12
Speaker 1: that they need better crowd control, that they're serving to minors.
28:16
Speaker 1: Whatever that citation was issued for, they need to be
28:19
Speaker 1: handled differently. But multiple citations for one bar creates multiple
28:25
Speaker 1: tavern reports, and then that could go to the city council,
28:28
Speaker 1: and the city council could make a decision differently. what
28:31
Speaker 1: to do with that establishment there. So I think that
28:35
Speaker 1: these things, they're all working. There's a lot going on
28:38
Speaker 1: down there, but there's also a lot being done down there.
28:43
Speaker 1: And then the other thing is, I think that what
28:46
Speaker 1: the old market wants is that the residents down there,
28:50
Speaker 1: there is a lot of residents, which they would refer
28:53
Speaker 1: to as our neighbors, a lot of residents in the
28:56
Speaker 1: old market area, and they need to be assured that
29:00
Speaker 1: they are safe down there. and that the security and
29:03
Speaker 1: the police we are using are to be their eyes,
29:06
Speaker 1: to watch out for their safety, that the perpetrators of
29:09
Speaker 1: violence that are going down there, that are going to
29:11
Speaker 1: go down there, that are thinking that they're going to
29:14
Speaker 1: cause some problem, then they need to see this extra
29:17
Speaker 1: law enforcement as a watchdog. We're watching you. And you
29:21
Speaker 1: better not come down here or there will be consequences. So,
29:25
Speaker 1: you know, these things have happened in the old market before.
29:29
Speaker 1: But it seems like that we are hearing more and
29:31
Speaker 1: more this incident that happened early Sunday morning. One person
29:36
Speaker 1: was shot in the leg. But again, that means there
29:39
Speaker 1: was gunfire. into a crowd and it could just as
29:42
Speaker 1: easily hit somebody in the head as it could their leg.
29:45
Speaker 1: So then you're talking some real issues.
29:48
Speaker 2: This is a great topic that we will absolutely bring
29:50
Speaker 2: up with our host or excuse me, our guest tomorrow.
29:54
Speaker 2: And on a similar note, Jean, I got a call
29:57
Speaker 2: from Patrick. that was asking, why does the city not
30:02
Speaker 2: pull over untagged cars, cars with no license plates, paper
30:06
Speaker 2: tags that are expired, expired regular tags? And his frustration was,
30:11
Speaker 2: you know, I pay the wheel tax, and I'm paying
30:14
Speaker 2: for my tags and my plates and my registration. What's
30:16
Speaker 2: going on with this, and why isn't the city pulling
30:18
Speaker 2: over untagged? cars.
30:19
Speaker 1: They do, but it is frustrating because if they see them,
30:23
Speaker 1: they do. But they do not have enough, they do
30:26
Speaker 1: not have the amount of officers in traffic that they
30:30
Speaker 1: used to because we are still down our number of officers,
30:33
Speaker 1: about 90 down, and we are not going to be
30:35
Speaker 1: up to full budgeted strength by the end of the year.
30:40
Speaker 1: Patrick Dempsey is going to be on the show, and
30:42
Speaker 1: he is the president of the Omaha Police Officers Association,
30:46
Speaker 1: their union. And there's a lot of stuff that we're
30:49
Speaker 1: going to talk about with Pat Dempsey tomorrow. But this
30:52
Speaker 1: is one of them, and I'll bring this up tomorrow
30:54
Speaker 1: with him. Because, you know, when they don't have a
30:57
Speaker 1: lot of officers out there on traffic that are out
30:59
Speaker 1: there really monitoring these things— because the number is still down,
31:04
Speaker 1: then these things slip through the cracks. And, you know,
31:07
Speaker 1: we used to have officers that would actually go through
31:10
Speaker 1: parking lots of apartment buildings looking for cars that aren't
31:15
Speaker 1: tagged properly. And they were looking for them. And they just,
31:19
Speaker 1: they don't have the amount of officers to do that anymore.
31:22
Speaker 1: And so that's really the issue.
31:25
Speaker 2: I see things like this from Patrick with the untagged cars,
31:28
Speaker 2: and I think to myself, well, that's a genuine concern,
31:30
Speaker 2: and I understand that thought process. But then you also
31:33
Speaker 2: have people on the other side. You hear about a
31:35
Speaker 2: police officer driving through apartment building parking lots or grocery
31:41
Speaker 2: store parking lots looking specifically for untagged or expired tags.
31:46
Speaker 2: And other people would say, is that really, really what
31:49
Speaker 2: we want our police officers doing?
31:51
Speaker 4: Exactly.
31:51
Speaker 2: A task like that?
31:52
Speaker 1: Exactly.
31:53
Speaker 2: You know, go fight some crime. That's what people love
31:55
Speaker 2: to say. Go out and fight some crime. Fight some
31:57
Speaker 2: bad guys. But instead you're looking for tags in parking lots.
32:00
Speaker 1: But that's exactly why that it's not being monitored like
32:04
Speaker 1: it used to is because until we're fully at full strength,
32:10
Speaker 1: And these are a lot of the chiefs and the
32:11
Speaker 1: deputy chiefs' decision so that when we are down the
32:15
Speaker 1: numbers of officers, we do everything we can to work
32:18
Speaker 1: more efficiently and focus on those things about fighting crime, basically.
32:24
Speaker 1: But it is annoying to people to say, yep, I
32:26
Speaker 1: pay that wheel tax and I register my car every
32:29
Speaker 1: year and I get my tags on my license. Why
32:31
Speaker 1: does this guy get by with it? Well, unfortunately, it's
32:35
Speaker 1: because he's not getting caught.
32:36
Speaker 4: Right.
32:37
Speaker 1: And those things do happen. But hopefully, I would think
32:41
Speaker 1: maybe by next year that we will be full strength.
32:44
Speaker 1: But we're going to talk to Pat Dempsey about this tomorrow.
32:46
Speaker 1: I think it'll be an interesting conversation because a lot
32:49
Speaker 1: of changes have been made, a lot, that makes it
32:53
Speaker 1: much more attractive for someone to apply or want to
32:56
Speaker 1: be an Omaha police officer. We're going to talk about
32:58
Speaker 1: that tomorrow. But why are we still down as much
33:01
Speaker 1: as we are? Keep in mind, too, And I have
33:04
Speaker 1: said this before, that they might have a ton of
33:08
Speaker 1: applicants where we were down on just the number of applicants,
33:12
Speaker 1: but they might not be the applicant that we want
33:15
Speaker 1: to send through the police academy because And they do
33:18
Speaker 1: an extensive background check on these folks that apply to
33:21
Speaker 1: be police officers, because you would rather be down and
33:25
Speaker 1: have a force of good police officers than to get
33:28
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of them in that aren't suitable to
33:31
Speaker 1: be in law enforcement. And that's what we don't want.
33:36
Speaker 2: Quick question on the streetcar here, Gene. Jeremy sent a
33:40
Speaker 2: message and says, is there going to be any new
33:43
Speaker 2: streetcar traffic laws after the streetcar is finished, after Oscar
33:47
Speaker 2: is up and running, any new traffic laws in and
33:50
Speaker 2: around the streetcar?
33:51
Speaker 1: I don't think there'll be any new laws specifically because
33:57
Speaker 1: of the streetcar. Obviously, the streetcar runs with the traffic
34:00
Speaker 1: and the rails are in, got to be on Farnham
34:03
Speaker 1: and Harney where there will be traffic moving along. Um,
34:07
Speaker 1: You know, I think we might be also looking at
34:10
Speaker 1: what other cities, again, have done and been successful in doing.
34:14
Speaker 1: You know, if there's going to be laws about driving
34:18
Speaker 1: the car in front of the streetcar, behind the streetcar,
34:21
Speaker 1: too close to the streetcar, where people get off the
34:24
Speaker 1: streetcar and unload. And I think they're going to be
34:26
Speaker 1: looking at all of that before it's up and running.
34:29
Speaker 2: Real quick here, too, Jean. Chris Baker brought this up
34:31
Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon after we were talking about Oscar in the streetcar.
34:36
Speaker 2: Is there going to be any tone on the streetcar?
34:39
Speaker 2: There's been some events where streetcars can hit pedestrians and
34:44
Speaker 2: stuff like that due to the pedestrian's lack of attention.
34:47
Speaker 3: Right.
34:48
Speaker 2: Or the streetcar, if it's electric and it's on the rails,
34:51
Speaker 2: it could be kind of quiet.
34:53
Speaker 1: They are quiet. And their run, this streetcar in Omaha
34:56
Speaker 1: is going to run by two different ways, battery and electricity.
35:01
Speaker 1: And it's very quiet.
35:02
Speaker 2: Right. It's like the Prius in the parking lot in
35:05
Speaker 2: the grocery store, and it almost sounds like a spaceship
35:07
Speaker 2: is hovering by.
35:08
Speaker 1: Exactly. And now, we did not talk about that when
35:13
Speaker 1: I was still in office. We did not talk about
35:15
Speaker 1: adding a tone or a sound to it. But that
35:17
Speaker 1: is something that other cities have done. And so, you know,
35:21
Speaker 1: people crossing the street, they are very, very quiet. And
35:24
Speaker 1: some people also that are hard of hearing. I mean,
35:27
Speaker 1: they have a real problem with that. So, That is
35:30
Speaker 1: something that I'm sure that they will look into. But
35:33
Speaker 1: as the streetcar is up and running, and before it's
35:36
Speaker 1: up and running, I think all of these things will
35:39
Speaker 1: be looked at, looking at what other cities have done
35:42
Speaker 1: successfully and not successfully. For example, in Kansas City, they
35:46
Speaker 1: had a problem, and that's our nearest neighbor with a
35:49
Speaker 1: very successful streetcar that they're adding onto it now, but
35:52
Speaker 1: they would get homeless people that would, especially in the winter,
35:56
Speaker 1: And they would get on the streetcar and basically live
35:58
Speaker 1: on it all day long. And so they came up
36:01
Speaker 1: with the rule that once you make one complete loop,
36:04
Speaker 1: everybody has to get off. And so it was a
36:07
Speaker 1: simple solution to a problem that maybe you wouldn't think
36:11
Speaker 1: about it until it actually happened.
36:13
Speaker 2: Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line. My name is
36:16
Speaker 2: Peyton Highlock, 402-558-1110. Comment at kfab.com for your Questions, comments,
36:24
Speaker 2: and concerns. Gene, I got a fun phone call for
36:27
Speaker 2: you from Jake here in just a moment that we're
36:29
Speaker 2: going to get to. But one quick thing that I
36:31
Speaker 2: wanted to bring up that came through first at comment
36:35
Speaker 2: at kfab.com was gasoline prices. Andrew says, I really wish
36:40
Speaker 2: all of the KFAB crew would break people's thinking on gasoline.
36:46
Speaker 2: Gas prices go up and down, and maybe even gas
36:50
Speaker 2: stations can take advantage of it. But his one question is,
36:53
Speaker 2: why are people filling up their gas tanks to the top?
36:56
Speaker 2: With prices fluctuating so much, have a fixed dollar amount.
37:01
Speaker 2: Put that in when you can and go from there.
37:05
Speaker 2: That is the email from Andrew. Gene?
37:08
Speaker 1: I understand his point, but it depends on what you're doing.
37:11
Speaker 1: If you're going to take off on a road trip
37:13
Speaker 1: and drive to Kansas City, you might want to fill
37:15
Speaker 1: up your tank. But keep in mind that during the
37:20
Speaker 1: Biden administration, gas prices were up to $ 6 a gallon
37:25
Speaker 1: and inflation was 9%. And so to his point, yes,
37:29
Speaker 1: they do fluctuate. They do go up and down. And
37:32
Speaker 1: hopefully we're going to see them going south sometime soon.
37:35
Speaker 1: But there's, I think... people, there's little understanding about how
37:40
Speaker 1: gas prices are actually determined. And I think right now
37:43
Speaker 1: people are just, they just want to, you know, wipe
37:46
Speaker 1: their hands and say, it's because of Donald Trump. It's
37:48
Speaker 1: because of him. That's why it's that way. Well, they
37:50
Speaker 1: were up higher during the Biden administration too. And so,
37:54
Speaker 1: you know, it's just the way gas prices are determined
37:57
Speaker 1: and hopefully they will go down. But at the end
38:00
Speaker 1: of the day, golly, I mean, you got to, if
38:03
Speaker 1: you're driving a car and you want to get around,
38:05
Speaker 1: you've got to pay for it. And you just don't
38:08
Speaker 1: have a choice. I clinch when I have to fill
38:10
Speaker 1: my tank up, too.
38:11
Speaker 2: I have that same sentiment. I guess it doesn't really
38:14
Speaker 2: matter what the price is. I'm still going to have
38:16
Speaker 2: to swing through and fill up.
38:17
Speaker 1: That's right.
38:18
Speaker 2: But that's just how it goes. We'll continue to talk
38:20
Speaker 2: about that as well. Jake, on the phone lines here, 402-558-1110.
38:25
Speaker 2: You are live with Gene Stothert.
38:27
Speaker 1: Good morning.
38:28
Speaker 3: Hi, Gene.
38:29
Speaker 4: Good morning.
38:30
Speaker 3: So I like I have some some people that I
38:33
Speaker 3: know who are very like intelligent people that I would
38:37
Speaker 3: consider that always call you always call you mean gene.
38:42
Speaker 3: And every experience that I've had going to like what
38:47
Speaker 3: you've done for the city. And I had a cousin
38:50
Speaker 3: who was like a regular server for you. And like
38:55
Speaker 3: you always tipped really well. And like I've literally heard
38:58
Speaker 3: nothing about you. that would say that you're mean. And
39:02
Speaker 3: so like, and the fact that like you lived in St. Louis,
39:05
Speaker 3: like you said multiple times, like you didn't and like, how,
39:10
Speaker 3: how does that happen?
39:11
Speaker 1: You know, well, number one, thank you. Number two, I've
39:14
Speaker 1: been called a lot worse than Mean Gene. So I said,
39:16
Speaker 1: I'll own that. That's okay with me. But, you know,
39:20
Speaker 1: I think people love name calling. I mean, it rhymes.
39:24
Speaker 1: So they love to call me Mean Gene. It's just
39:27
Speaker 1: like now they think it's hilarious that they're calling Brinker Harding.
39:30
Speaker 1: stinker instead of Brinker. I mean, they think this is
39:33
Speaker 1: so funny that they come up with these things. But no,
39:36
Speaker 1: I said, you know, you want to call me Mean Gene,
39:38
Speaker 1: call me Mean Gene. I think that the thing with that,
39:41
Speaker 1: it had a lot to do with my gender and
39:44
Speaker 1: being a female. You know, I've said many times when
39:48
Speaker 1: a man is strong and makes decisions, he's a strong,
39:52
Speaker 1: courageous leader. But when a woman is that way, she's
39:54
Speaker 1: mean or she's, there's other words they call mean. a woman,
39:57
Speaker 1: when she has a powerful position too. So people just like,
40:02
Speaker 1: I don't know, they like name calling. But like I said,
40:04
Speaker 1: I've been called a lot worse than Mean Gene. The
40:06
Speaker 1: whole St. Louis thing is just, it's absurd. It started
40:10
Speaker 1: out on liberal social media. You know, my mom lived
40:14
Speaker 1: in the St. Louis area. And back in 2020, I
40:17
Speaker 1: was going back to the St. Louis area. She actually
40:21
Speaker 1: lived in Illinois, in Wood River, Illinois. helping her a
40:24
Speaker 1: lot to move from the house I grew up in
40:26
Speaker 1: into assisted living. And all of a sudden on social
40:29
Speaker 1: media that, well, where is she? Why she's not in office? Well,
40:34
Speaker 1: she's in St.
40:34
Speaker 4: Louis.
40:35
Speaker 1: Well, she lives there then. And they're just, they insist
40:38
Speaker 1: that I live in St.
40:39
Speaker 3: Louis.
40:39
Speaker 1: And you know, I have lived in St. Louis less
40:41
Speaker 1: than 10 years of my entire life. I moved there
40:45
Speaker 1: after I got out of nursing school because my first
40:48
Speaker 1: job was at St. Louis University and I wanted to
40:50
Speaker 1: live close to there, to the hospital. And lived there
40:53
Speaker 1: less than 10 years. But people are insisting that I
40:56
Speaker 1: live in St.
40:57
Speaker 2: Louis.
40:57
Speaker 1: And we've said on this show jokingly before, let's just
41:00
Speaker 1: go with it. We'll just say I live in St.
41:02
Speaker 1: Louis and I drive here every morning and drive back
41:05
Speaker 1: every night. But it's so easy to prove that they're
41:08
Speaker 1: wrong because I've lived in this same house in Omaha
41:11
Speaker 1: for the last 33 years. I pay taxes here. They
41:14
Speaker 1: could look up public records. I don't own property or
41:17
Speaker 1: pay taxes anywhere else. But I was at Hy-Vee. I
41:21
Speaker 1: go to the one at 178th and Pacific all the time.
41:23
Speaker 1: I love that store. This weekend, and some guy came
41:26
Speaker 1: up to me and said, oh. are you here for
41:29
Speaker 1: the weekend? Are you here from St.
41:31
Speaker 3: Louis?
41:31
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to slug the guy. I went,
41:33
Speaker 1: why do you say that? Finally, I thought.
41:35
Speaker 2: That's kind of mean.
41:36
Speaker 1: Oh, I know. And so I mean, I was mean
41:38
Speaker 1: Jean to him. And I said, why do you say that?
41:40
Speaker 1: And he goes, well, I just heard you lived in St.
41:42
Speaker 4: Louis.
41:43
Speaker 1: No, I don't. And so it's just, I think people
41:46
Speaker 1: like name calling and they think it's funny.
41:49
Speaker 2: Scroll through a political candidate's social media page. whether you
41:55
Speaker 2: are for that candidate or not, and just go through
41:57
Speaker 2: and look at some of the names. If you're in
41:58
Speaker 2: a bad mood, scroll through a political candidate comment section,
42:02
Speaker 2: and you'll have a laugh. Yes.
42:03
Speaker 1: I mean, look at Brinker Harding. Stinker Farting. Stinker Farting
42:07
Speaker 1: is what they call him, and they think that's really funny.
42:10
Speaker 1: And you know what? I don't think I've ever worked
42:13
Speaker 1: with a man that was more honest and more of
42:16
Speaker 1: an independent thinker than Brinker Harding. I mean, he didn't
42:19
Speaker 1: always agree with me. And so for everybody to say, oh, yes,
42:23
Speaker 1: he will do whatever Donald Trump tells him to do.
42:24
Speaker 1: What do you see into the future? No, he won't.
42:27
Speaker 1: You know, he will he will represent you. And that's
42:30
Speaker 1: what I saw him do on the city council, too.
42:32
Speaker 1: But you know what, Peyton? Golly, that is it for
42:35
Speaker 1: us today. We are so glad that you have been
42:39
Speaker 1: spending this hour with us. Tomorrow, Pat Dempsey, the president
42:42
Speaker 1: of Omaha Police Officers Association, will be with me in
42:45
Speaker 1: the studio. So I hope you all have a great day.
42:48
Speaker 1: Love to see you with us tomorrow. I'm Jean Stothert.
42:51
Speaker 1: This is 1110 KFAB.