Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / General City Talk

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General City Talk · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: Not going to back away from anything, whether it's city, state, national,
0:03
Speaker 1: and the world. And we will also have guests. Peyton's
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Speaker 1: here with me this morning too. Good morning, Good.
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Speaker 2: Morning, Jean. How are you.
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Speaker 3: I'm doing good, you know, find myself in here in
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Speaker 3: the Gary Sattlemeyer studio on a wonderful Monday. My chair
0:16
Speaker 3: is a little bit warm after Scott's sat in it
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Speaker 3: all morning.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you're in the hot seat. Yeah, like I said,
0:21
Speaker 1: he's over there. It looks like the Wizard of Oz
0:23
Speaker 1: with the auto audio panel. They are controlling everything. But
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Speaker 1: we will have guests this week too. We have some
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Speaker 1: really good guests on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and so
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Speaker 1: of course we will be hearing a lot from me
0:37
Speaker 1: and a lot of opinions from me too.
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Speaker 2: And it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
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Speaker 1: Send your emails to comment at kfab dot com or
0:44
Speaker 1: you can call us at four two five to five,
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Speaker 1: eight eleven ten. So we have a lot to talk
0:50
Speaker 1: about this morning. Did you do anything fun this weekend?
0:53
Speaker 2: Peyton, not too much.
0:56
Speaker 3: I'm getting married in August, so this weekend we had
0:59
Speaker 3: our marriage counseling thing where we met with a bunch
1:04
Speaker 3: of other couples in the church, there's about fifteen couples,
1:07
Speaker 3: and you know, we go through just listen to marriage
1:10
Speaker 3: advice for about twelve hours straight, and then you.
1:12
Speaker 2: Get married and you face the real world there.
1:15
Speaker 1: Yes, and your fiance's name is let's say it.
1:19
Speaker 2: What do you call her Lulu? Lulu? I love it, yeah,
1:22
Speaker 2: because that's my middle name.
1:23
Speaker 1: My middle name is Louise, so but nobody I'm Jean Louise,
1:26
Speaker 1: but nobody calls me Jean Louise except.
1:29
Speaker 2: My mom and my grandma. So that you know.
1:32
Speaker 1: My favorite weekends are when I have nothing to do,
1:35
Speaker 1: because for twelve years is Mayor. I swear I probably
1:38
Speaker 1: had something scheduled every night of the week, sometimes two
1:41
Speaker 1: or three times a night, and on the weekends too.
1:45
Speaker 1: So I love weekends when I don't have much to do.
1:47
Speaker 1: But yesterday my daughter took my two grandkids that are here,
1:51
Speaker 1: Raymond who's eight, Max that is six, to the movie.
1:55
Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 1: I've talked about Max last week a little bit for
1:58
Speaker 1: those who weren't tuned in last week, but he's six
2:00
Speaker 1: years old. He's in kindergarten and I get to and
2:04
Speaker 1: I mean this, I get to watch him every Wednesday
2:07
Speaker 1: at two thirty to about four thirty because he goes
2:10
Speaker 1: to Miller Public Schools and they have early dismissal every Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: and my daughter Elizabeth and my son in law Tom,
2:16
Speaker 1: they work at Union Pacific, can't get home by two thirty.
2:19
Speaker 1: So it's really really fun. And I brought up last
2:21
Speaker 1: week because this kid is so funny, I almost call
2:24
Speaker 1: him Maxisms. His name is Max, I call him Maximus.
2:27
Speaker 1: But last week, my daughter, I said, was trying to
2:29
Speaker 1: teach him to be kind and he said, well, I'm
2:32
Speaker 1: going to tell Grandma today she has a big head,
2:34
Speaker 1: which I thought was hilarious. And my daughter said, Max,
2:38
Speaker 1: try to be kind. Don't tell grandma she has a
2:40
Speaker 1: big head. And he said, no, she has to have
2:42
Speaker 1: a big head because she has a big brain, and
2:45
Speaker 1: that means she's smart. And so my daughter said, well,
2:47
Speaker 1: just stick with telling her she's smart. Max, don't tell
2:50
Speaker 1: her she has a big head. But so yesterday we
2:53
Speaker 1: go out to Village Point to see a movie yesterday
2:56
Speaker 1: afternoon and we went to see Project tail Mary, which
2:59
Speaker 1: is a great movie, just great movie.
3:02
Speaker 2: But anyway, it's all quiet.
3:03
Speaker 1: It's about the middle of the movie and all of
3:05
Speaker 1: a sudden he says, really really loud, Grandma, did you
3:09
Speaker 1: know that SpongeBob is more popular than Donald Trump or
3:12
Speaker 1: Lebron James.
3:14
Speaker 2: Where did this kid get this? And I said, what, No,
3:18
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
3:19
Speaker 1: I didn't know SpongeBob was more popular than Donald Trump
3:22
Speaker 1: or Lebron James. And then about twenty minutes later, he says,
3:26
Speaker 1: real loud, do you know who Donald Trump is? And
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Speaker 1: I said, yes, I know who Donald Trump is. This
3:31
Speaker 1: is from a six year old. This kid is so funny.
3:34
Speaker 1: Though he comes out with these things. He's super smart,
3:37
Speaker 1: but it's pretty funny coming from a kindergartener. You just
3:40
Speaker 1: have to laugh at these things that go on in
3:42
Speaker 1: their little brains. But I remembered when my.
3:44
Speaker 2: Kids were six years old.
3:46
Speaker 1: So it's really fun to be with him and to
3:48
Speaker 1: be able to spend time with him, which I couldn't do,
3:51
Speaker 1: by the way, when I was mayor because I was
3:53
Speaker 1: busy all the time. So and you know I just
3:55
Speaker 1: mentioned Donald Trump. I'm going to say another thing about
3:58
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, because you know, we had some prote here
4:00
Speaker 1: this weekend, a lot of no Kings protests all over
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Speaker 1: the country, and I'm okay with that.
4:06
Speaker 2: I mean, it's your.
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Speaker 1: Constitutional right First Amendment, freedom of speech. There is a
4:13
Speaker 1: line that people draw, though, I mean, protests are fine.
4:16
Speaker 1: And I will bring up when I was mayor back
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Speaker 1: in May twenty twenty, and remember that the George Floyd
4:21
Speaker 1: we had protest here in Omaha that turned into riots.
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Speaker 1: And I remember when I would talk about this publicly,
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Speaker 1: a lot of people would be angry and they would
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Speaker 1: correct me and they would say it was not a riot.
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Speaker 2: It is our right to protest.
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Speaker 1: But when you cross the line, when it becomes violent,
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Speaker 1: or when you destroy public property, are you're hurting people
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Speaker 1: are and you're breaking the law, then it becomes a protest.
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Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened in Omaha back in the
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Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty. It started out, if you recall,
4:51
Speaker 1: at seventy second in Dodge at Crossroads in the parking.
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Speaker 2: Lot, where it usually does where it usually does.
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Speaker 1: That's not where the No King's rally was this weekend,
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Speaker 1: though I thought that was interesting. But on a Friday
5:02
Speaker 1: night it was a protest and it got bigger and
5:05
Speaker 1: bigger and bigger, and we had able one in the air,
5:08
Speaker 1: and you know, our police had developed a station there
5:11
Speaker 1: in the parking garage, trying to keep the peace and
5:14
Speaker 1: let people protest as they wanted. But then, if you recall,
5:17
Speaker 1: it marched down downtown and then it became unlawful. And
5:21
Speaker 1: that's when Chief Schmater and I put a stop to it,
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Speaker 1: and we thought, this is not just a legal protest,
5:28
Speaker 1: this is a riot and we had to stop it.
5:31
Speaker 1: And we did call in the National Guard within three days,
5:35
Speaker 1: and we got criticized for that, but I said, not
5:37
Speaker 1: in Omaha and Omaha, We're not going to be tearing
5:40
Speaker 1: up downtown, breaking windows, hurting people. And we had to
5:43
Speaker 1: put a stop with it. And so there is a
5:45
Speaker 1: limit and I think that that's really important for people
5:48
Speaker 1: to understand. Now, Donald Trump, I'm going to go back
5:51
Speaker 1: to Donald Trump. There's a lot of talk. People are saying,
5:54
Speaker 1: no kings people. Some people don't a lot of people
5:57
Speaker 1: don't like what he's doing. They don't like personality, and
6:01
Speaker 1: that's fine, that's everybody's opinion. But I just want to
6:04
Speaker 1: say I've met Donald Trump three times, and for those
6:08
Speaker 1: who have never met him, I have to tell a
6:10
Speaker 1: few little stories about him. One time, it was before
6:14
Speaker 1: he announced that he was running for the presidency. It
6:17
Speaker 1: was over in Pottawatamee County at the Republican Party. I
6:21
Speaker 1: think he announced he was going to run for the
6:23
Speaker 1: presidency just a few months after the event over there
6:28
Speaker 1: that I met him. But anyway, I was standing in
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Speaker 1: the room, lots of Republicans in that room, obviously, with
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Speaker 1: my husband. Donald Trump was standing in the middle of
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Speaker 1: the room. The chair of the Pottawatamee County Republican Party said,
6:42
Speaker 1: mister Trump, would you like to meet the mayor of Omaha,
6:45
Speaker 1: And he said, sure, yes, and so they walked towards
6:48
Speaker 1: our way and he went right up to my husband
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Speaker 1: and said hello, mister mayor. Nice to me, which I
6:53
Speaker 1: thought was pretty funny. And I said they go, no, no, no,
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Speaker 1: she's the mayor. And he looked at me and he
6:58
Speaker 1: said no way, and I said way. And that's how
7:02
Speaker 1: we first met. He thought, obviously my husband had to
7:05
Speaker 1: be the mayor, which I thought was a little bit
7:07
Speaker 1: of a funny story. But I met him two other
7:10
Speaker 1: times at the base after he was president, down at Stratcom.
7:14
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, whether you like the president or not,
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Speaker 1: whether the president is in your party or not, or whatever.
7:21
Speaker 1: When Air Force one lands, it's pretty dark, impressive. The
7:25
Speaker 1: thing is huge, and there's huge cargo plans that land
7:30
Speaker 1: before Air Force one that have all the Secret Service
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Speaker 1: in their vehicles in it. You know, they're not just
7:34
Speaker 1: sitting here in Omaha, but they fly them in right
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Speaker 1: before the President comes. And two times I met him
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Speaker 1: down at the base. The first time it was me,
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Speaker 1: the commander and the governor who was Governor Ricketts at
7:45
Speaker 1: the time.
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Speaker 2: And I'm going to.
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Speaker 1: Tell you the three times I met Trump, the one
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Speaker 1: in Patawuaamee County before he announced in the two times
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Speaker 1: down at the base. Honest to goodness, he was delightful.
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Speaker 1: He was funny, he was witty, he was very tongue
8:01
Speaker 1: in cheek. He was very knowledgeable. He got right off
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Speaker 1: Air Force one. He came up to me and he
8:07
Speaker 1: called me Gene. Obviously they had briefed him, but they
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Speaker 1: told him a bit about Omaha. And he looks right
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Speaker 1: in your eyes, he makes eye contact. He was funny
8:16
Speaker 1: the way he was talking about the media across the tarmac.
8:19
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you all the Secret Service they were
8:22
Speaker 1: demanding what we did, even the commander down at off
8:26
Speaker 1: it and the governor and me, and it was like
8:28
Speaker 1: you stand here. You don't move, You don't move away
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Speaker 1: from this spot, you don't follow the president, you don't
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Speaker 1: do this, that or the other. And the President gets
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Speaker 1: off the plane and he sees all these reporters across
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Speaker 1: the tarmac behind this fence and deb Fisher, Senator Deb
8:43
Speaker 1: Fisher flew in on Air Force one with him, and
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Speaker 1: he looks across the tarmac and he goes, deb Gen,
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Speaker 1: walk over here with me.
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Speaker 2: Let's go talk to these reporters.
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Speaker 1: And I thought, after the Secret Service was beaten in
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Speaker 1: our heads, we couldn't move. I thought, well, the President
8:57
Speaker 1: told me to follow him, so I'm gonna do it.
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Speaker 3: It's like when you're mom says no and you go
9:01
Speaker 3: to your dad and you're like, yeah, big.
9:03
Speaker 2: Dad, exactly.
9:04
Speaker 1: And so Deb Fisher and I and a little crowd
9:07
Speaker 1: walked across the tarmac with the President to go over
9:09
Speaker 1: and talk to the media. But I'm telling you in person.
9:13
Speaker 1: Then when I met him, he was he was a
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Speaker 1: very nice, friendly no not arrogant whatsoever. And I really
9:22
Speaker 1: did enjoy.
9:23
Speaker 2: Talking to it.
9:24
Speaker 3: I wish I had a cool story like that. So actually,
9:26
Speaker 3: this one time I met Obama. No, I'm just kidding,
9:30
Speaker 3: but I met Obama. It's okay, okay.
9:32
Speaker 1: I met him coming off Air Force one, and you
9:34
Speaker 1: know he I will tell you honestly, where I thought
9:37
Speaker 1: Trump was very friendly, Obama was the one that I
9:41
Speaker 1: thought would be very friendly, and he was a bit
9:44
Speaker 1: I will use the word awkward, socially awkward. He didn't
9:47
Speaker 1: make eye contact, He kind of you know, didn't spend
9:51
Speaker 1: a lot of time talking. But I know I've told
9:54
Speaker 1: this story before too. I met Biden. It has to
9:57
Speaker 1: be twelve years ago when our cancer center opened up,
10:00
Speaker 1: and so it was quite a while ago. But he
10:04
Speaker 1: was very nice. Joe Biden was very nice when he
10:07
Speaker 1: was here when the cancer center opened up and he
10:09
Speaker 1: was here, he was the keynote speaker because his son
10:13
Speaker 1: Bo obviously died of cancer and he died down at M. D.
10:16
Speaker 1: Anderson down in Houston. But he was very, very nice.
10:19
Speaker 1: But Obama was a little bit more awkward. But we
10:23
Speaker 1: don't have a guest this morning. We got some great
10:25
Speaker 1: ones later on in the week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But
10:27
Speaker 1: you know, there's a couple other things I wanted to
10:30
Speaker 1: bring up this morning. I don't know why I keep
10:32
Speaker 1: on reading the public polls because it drives me nuts.
10:35
Speaker 1: It did that when I was mayor to and I
10:37
Speaker 1: would read it and I would go, I'm never going
10:39
Speaker 1: to read this again, and I'd pick up the paper
10:41
Speaker 1: and read it again the next day. But there were
10:44
Speaker 1: several public post letters that I wanted to bring up
10:47
Speaker 1: and one phone call and it all a street car
10:49
Speaker 1: related and we don't have to just talk about the
10:52
Speaker 1: street car, but it seems to be a popular subject.
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Speaker 2: But one man called in last.
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Speaker 1: Week at the end of the week and he did
11:01
Speaker 1: say that I keep on saying that the street car
11:05
Speaker 1: is not going to be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
11:08
Speaker 1: But he said, but TIFF is paid by for the taxpayers.
11:12
Speaker 1: And I answered this person, but I want to answer
11:15
Speaker 1: it again because I think it's so important to reemphasize
11:18
Speaker 1: this TIFF is not paid by the taxpayers. TIFF is
11:23
Speaker 1: paid by the developers that receive or is awarded the tiff,
11:28
Speaker 1: which is tax increment financing, and we follow to the
11:32
Speaker 1: t what is in state law. And I want to
11:35
Speaker 1: emphasize that when the City of Omaha awards TIFF to
11:40
Speaker 1: a developer, there is no risk to the city at all.
11:43
Speaker 1: The developer goes to the bank and gets a loan.
11:47
Speaker 1: It's not putting the city at risk at all. And
11:51
Speaker 1: it's only tiff eligible expenses that are allowed by state
11:55
Speaker 1: law which the developer gets the tiff loan for. The
12:00
Speaker 1: developer pays back the tiff loan, not the taxpayers. Look
12:04
Speaker 1: on your tax bill, there's no tiff tax on it.
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Speaker 3: So this is not paid back in my property taxes five, ten,
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Speaker 3: fifteen years down the line after I forgot about it.
12:13
Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
12:14
Speaker 1: And most tiff loans are fifteen year loans, most of
12:17
Speaker 1: them with the City of Omaha are paid off earlier
12:20
Speaker 1: than that. And then who are the big winners are
12:23
Speaker 1: the schools and the cities because now that property that
12:27
Speaker 1: has been redeveloped or something new built there is worth
12:32
Speaker 1: so much more than it was before, and they are
12:35
Speaker 1: now paying taxes on that higher amount of value for
12:39
Speaker 1: that property.
12:40
Speaker 2: And they always make sure that but four.
12:43
Speaker 1: Clause that is in saint that is in the state law,
12:47
Speaker 1: that that developer could not build this property without but
12:52
Speaker 1: for the tiff. So I and this is not unlike,
12:55
Speaker 1: for instance, what we did with the Sarbone village, you know,
12:59
Speaker 1: and every likes exarbon. I mean, it is just booming there.
13:03
Speaker 1: I think there's only a couple areas that are still
13:06
Speaker 1: left to develop.
13:07
Speaker 2: They call them zones.
13:09
Speaker 1: But what happened with Exarbon Village is that the city
13:13
Speaker 1: up front paid for a lot of the infrastructure, and
13:17
Speaker 1: then the city was paid back with the profits from
13:21
Speaker 1: the tiff loan. And so you know, this is what
13:24
Speaker 1: we're doing with the streetcar, and it's not unusual. We've
13:27
Speaker 1: done something very very similar before to Exarbon Village. One
13:32
Speaker 1: public pulse letter I addressed last week and the heading
13:36
Speaker 1: was streetcar projects shouldn't get more funding, And the writer
13:40
Speaker 1: says no federal, state, or city money should go towards
13:43
Speaker 1: the streetcar. And it says this writer Michael Osterguard called
13:48
Speaker 1: Pete Rickett's office and let him know that I don't
13:51
Speaker 1: want any federal money going to the project. There is none.
13:54
Speaker 1: There is no city money, there is no state money,
13:57
Speaker 1: and there is no federal money going into the streetcar.
14:01
Speaker 1: And that's the one reason that I wanted to go
14:04
Speaker 1: forward with the streetcar. I mentioned it before, but it
14:08
Speaker 1: was the number one recommendation from the Urban Core Committee
14:12
Speaker 1: that was a lot of Omaha businessmen, and their number
14:16
Speaker 1: one recommendation was the streetcar.
14:18
Speaker 2: And I said.
14:19
Speaker 1: Okay, I understand the benefit of the streetcar, but I said,
14:24
Speaker 1: find me a way to fund it that I don't
14:26
Speaker 1: have to raise taxes, and they did, and that was
14:30
Speaker 1: using tiff. There was another letter that came up in
14:34
Speaker 1: this I'll tie this together in a minute in the
14:37
Speaker 1: World Herald this weekend and it says the Omaha streetcar
14:41
Speaker 1: route makes no sense. And the person says, the streetcar
14:44
Speaker 1: project didn't make any sense from the very beginning, and
14:47
Speaker 1: the planned root or route, however you want to say,
14:50
Speaker 1: it makes even less sense now that Epley is undergoing expansion,
14:55
Speaker 1: excuse me, and modernization, And why shouldn't have that been
14:58
Speaker 1: the plan from the beginning to start at the airport.
15:02
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the reason why. Number One, when you
15:05
Speaker 1: start at the airport, you got to have a place
15:07
Speaker 1: that you're going to end. The interminus and where's it
15:10
Speaker 1: going to end. It's great that we could have a
15:13
Speaker 1: route to the airport eventually, and we've already applied for
15:17
Speaker 1: a grant and received it to study going to the airport.
15:20
Speaker 1: Excuse me, But what we have now is the initial route.
15:24
Speaker 1: The initial route goes from Eighth Street downtown and it
15:28
Speaker 1: goes all the way out to thirty eighth Street. Originally
15:31
Speaker 1: it was going to go to forty second Street, but
15:34
Speaker 1: we stopped it at thirty eighth Street because the Metcenter
15:37
Speaker 1: really wants the streetcar to extend and go to Saddle
15:41
Speaker 1: Creek because it's going to be a great benefit to them,
15:43
Speaker 1: So we stopped at thirty eight Street. So you start
15:46
Speaker 1: at the airport, where's the interminus going to be making
15:51
Speaker 1: I'm coughing this morning, and I know there's a cough
15:53
Speaker 1: button and I'm not using it here.
15:55
Speaker 2: But the thing of it is is, you know where
15:58
Speaker 2: would it end?
15:58
Speaker 1: Would it end at the Arena Convention Center, would it
16:01
Speaker 1: end at the Hilton or the Marriott? Well what about
16:04
Speaker 1: the Farnham Hotel? Well what about the Cottonwood Hotel. You
16:08
Speaker 1: got to think where you want it to do the
16:10
Speaker 1: most good. And there is not a lot of people
16:14
Speaker 1: that live along this route that would extend to where
16:18
Speaker 1: the current route stops, which is at tenth and Capital
16:21
Speaker 1: to the airport. There's not a lot of people that
16:24
Speaker 1: can jump on and off the streetcar along that route,
16:27
Speaker 1: and that hasn't been decided yet. I mean, it could
16:29
Speaker 1: go up twenty fourth Street, it could go up thirtieth Street,
16:31
Speaker 1: nothing has been decided yet because we have to study that.
16:35
Speaker 1: But you have to think the way we are currently
16:37
Speaker 1: paying for it by the USATIF because this massive amount
16:40
Speaker 1: of development that is occurring along the streetcar route wouldn't
16:43
Speaker 1: occur along the route that would extend up to the
16:46
Speaker 1: airport if you look at what is going on in
16:49
Speaker 1: the land and the property in that area. And so yes,
16:53
Speaker 1: this is why we didn't plan that to be the
16:56
Speaker 1: initial route at all. It would be the matter of
16:58
Speaker 1: how we're going to pay for it and where does
17:00
Speaker 1: the most good. The Urban Core Committee really looked at
17:03
Speaker 1: was looking at how we can bring more business downtown,
17:06
Speaker 1: how we could replace parking lots which is half a
17:09
Speaker 1: downtown with new businesses and new residents and new employees.
17:13
Speaker 1: And this is where it's going to do the most
17:15
Speaker 1: good now, and that's why it was originally planned. I
17:19
Speaker 1: get this all the time, but the rest of this letter,
17:21
Speaker 1: and it was from a woman named Margaret Nipper, it
17:24
Speaker 1: says this is why Jeane Stouther didn't win. And I
17:28
Speaker 1: will say again it's part of the reason. I'll admit that,
17:31
Speaker 1: and I'll own the street car because I still am
17:33
Speaker 1: one hundred percent for it and support it, and I
17:36
Speaker 1: could talk about it till I'm blue in the face,
17:39
Speaker 1: but it's one of the reasons. But you know, you've
17:42
Speaker 1: got to look at really what's happening with elections and
17:46
Speaker 1: with Republicans. I was the mayor, the Republican mayor of
17:49
Speaker 1: the Blue Dot, There's no doubt about it. And if
17:52
Speaker 1: you look at what is happening to Republican incumbents all
17:57
Speaker 1: over the country right now, and not every city in
18:00
Speaker 1: the country is building a streetcar, it's a lot of
18:03
Speaker 1: Republican incumbents, their positions, if they're running again, are really
18:08
Speaker 1: threatened by what is going on all over the country.
18:10
Speaker 1: And I think we have to keep that in mind.
18:12
Speaker 1: It's never just one issue about why someone doesn't win
18:16
Speaker 1: a race, but all Republicans are are. I mean, they're
18:21
Speaker 1: in a position right now that they are really struggling.
18:24
Speaker 1: And I mentioned this before on the air, and it's
18:26
Speaker 1: worth mentioning again. The morning after my defeat with the
18:31
Speaker 1: last election, Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, called me
18:35
Speaker 1: from California and he said, Gene, this is what's going
18:38
Speaker 1: to happen to every incumbent Republican in twenty twenty six,
18:41
Speaker 1: and so I think we got to keep that in mind,
18:43
Speaker 1: you know, if we want Republicans elected. And again I said,
18:48
Speaker 1: I was going to be the mayor for everybody, Democrat, Republican.
18:51
Speaker 1: I didn't care your gender, I didn't care anything. I
18:54
Speaker 1: was going to represent all of you. But I think
18:56
Speaker 1: if Republicans seriously want to really focus on keeping Republicans elected,
19:02
Speaker 1: we've got to get out there and vote.
19:04
Speaker 3: I got a call here from Ken that's going to
19:06
Speaker 3: circle back to something that you spoke about just a
19:08
Speaker 3: second ago in regards to the street car. Ken, you're
19:11
Speaker 3: on news radio eleven to ten KFAB with Jean Stoutht.
19:15
Speaker 5: Good morning, Hey, good morning, Jean. I really appreciate you
19:18
Speaker 5: taking my call, and I got to tell you are
19:20
Speaker 5: a class act. My dear God bless you. You are
19:23
Speaker 5: a class act.
19:24
Speaker 2: Thank you.
19:25
Speaker 5: But you were on the board He show a few
19:27
Speaker 5: months back, and it was all about the businesses being
19:29
Speaker 5: affected by the street car. Yes, and you said, and
19:32
Speaker 5: if I misquote you, I apologize, But it was somewhere
19:34
Speaker 5: around the neighborhood of a million dollars that was in
19:36
Speaker 5: an account to help offset them losing business. Yes, well,
19:39
Speaker 5: all I've heard since the election is there's no money
19:41
Speaker 5: for him. There's nothing we can do. Is there should
19:43
Speaker 5: have been more pre planned. They should have looked at, well,
19:45
Speaker 5: what happened to that million bucks? And if I'm wrong,
19:47
Speaker 5: I apologize, But could you address that and all hang
19:49
Speaker 5: up and listen to your response. But God bless you,
19:51
Speaker 5: you're a class act, my.
19:52
Speaker 2: Dear, thank you so much. And yes we arranged that.
19:54
Speaker 1: I know Mary Ewing mentioned this fund in the state
19:58
Speaker 1: of the city, but we had that already and underway
20:00
Speaker 1: and it went through the chamber. There was actually about
20:03
Speaker 1: one point two million dollars came from a lot of
20:07
Speaker 1: donors that people could apply for loans.
20:11
Speaker 2: That money.
20:12
Speaker 1: A lot of it has been given out, it already
20:15
Speaker 1: has been. The issue is it wasn't enough, and it's
20:19
Speaker 1: going to be very very difficult for the donors to
20:23
Speaker 1: keep on wanting to give, to give money out and
20:27
Speaker 1: to put more money in this fund.
20:28
Speaker 2: Now we do know that.
20:33
Speaker 1: Especially restaurants and bars are really being hit bad, and
20:36
Speaker 1: we could tell that through the restaurant tax, and they
20:39
Speaker 1: really are. The issue really is is there's not enough
20:43
Speaker 1: money in that fund to give out, and that state
20:48
Speaker 1: constitution prevents city government from giving money, taxpayer dollars to
20:55
Speaker 1: private businesses. So the City of Omaha is not allowed
21:01
Speaker 1: legally by the Nebraska State Constitution to give city money,
21:05
Speaker 1: and all city money is all taxpayer money to these
21:09
Speaker 1: businesses to help them out during this really hard period.
21:13
Speaker 1: We know it's a hard period for them. We knew
21:17
Speaker 1: that they would have some hardships during the construction. But
21:20
Speaker 1: keep in mind too that originally when I pushed the
21:25
Speaker 1: streetcar forward and laid it in front of the city council,
21:28
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be completed in twenty twenty six,
21:32
Speaker 1: that is this year, So those hardships were going to
21:35
Speaker 1: be till the end of this year. Then with the
21:38
Speaker 1: additional money, our additional work that Mud was requiring, the
21:44
Speaker 1: original time frame went extended about another year. Now this
21:51
Speaker 1: more work being done by Mud is pushed it to
21:56
Speaker 1: two more years. So now the completion date is at
22:00
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight if they're lucky. And this is mostly
22:05
Speaker 1: because of utility work that Mud is insisting on doing.
22:11
Speaker 1: And I've brought this up before, but originally MUD's work
22:14
Speaker 1: was going to be less than ten million dollars. Now
22:17
Speaker 1: it's about forty four million dollars. In some of the
22:20
Speaker 1: work that they are insisting on doing, which is going
22:22
Speaker 1: to be paid for by the streetcar project, is not
22:25
Speaker 1: even near the streetcar. And you know, these these are
22:29
Speaker 1: waterlines and gas lines, and the water lines are very
22:32
Speaker 1: deep and you have to literally tear up the street
22:35
Speaker 1: to repair or to replace the water lines. And the
22:38
Speaker 1: water lines are on one side of the street and
22:40
Speaker 1: the gas lines are on the other and they crisscross
22:43
Speaker 1: in the middle of the street to go to the
22:44
Speaker 1: buildings on the other side. So when they're doing water
22:48
Speaker 1: lines and they're they're having to replace where they crisscross,
22:51
Speaker 1: they have to tear up the whole street. So there's holes,
22:54
Speaker 1: and there's piles of dirt, and there's fences everywhere. And
22:57
Speaker 1: I really think that the concentration has to be on
23:01
Speaker 1: what are we going to do to help these businesses,
23:03
Speaker 1: even parking. I mean, you know, if if it's something
23:07
Speaker 1: that public works can do with some wayfinding and some
23:10
Speaker 1: options for parking. I know mayor Ewing brought up some
23:13
Speaker 1: parking available at low cost in the city's garages. But
23:17
Speaker 1: these businesses, a lot of them are really supported right
23:21
Speaker 1: now by what's the thing Peyton, You know that that
23:24
Speaker 1: that you order and you have delivered DoorDash.
23:26
Speaker 2: Shortage a lot of them.
23:28
Speaker 1: Uber Eats and door dash support these businesses and they
23:31
Speaker 1: can't find a place to park to pick up the food.
23:34
Speaker 1: So I think that there are things that we could
23:36
Speaker 1: really look at to make this easier. But number one,
23:40
Speaker 1: MUD needs to get their work done and not to
23:43
Speaker 1: expand or extend that completion time anymore, because this is
23:47
Speaker 1: just utility work now that you know. Then then we
23:50
Speaker 1: come in and put the rails in and so you've
23:53
Speaker 1: got to say that all this additional work and added
23:56
Speaker 1: two more extra years onto the completion data of the
23:59
Speaker 1: street in my opinion, is what is causing most of
24:03
Speaker 1: the problems. And I think we've got to do something
24:06
Speaker 1: to help these businesses out. But the money is not
24:08
Speaker 1: It cannot come from the City of Omaha tax payers.
24:11
Speaker 3: We got lots of questions rolling in Froya. Jean, let's
24:14
Speaker 3: hit it right away. This one comes from Keith. He's
24:16
Speaker 3: been waiting patiently. Keith, you're on news radio eleven to
24:19
Speaker 3: ten KFAB with Jean Stouthart.
24:21
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good.
24:22
Speaker 4: Morning, thanks for taking my call of Jeane Sure. My
24:27
Speaker 4: question is you know the pros and cons of the
24:31
Speaker 4: street car I'm tired of even thinking about it, and
24:34
Speaker 4: I just kind of trust people to do what's right.
24:37
Speaker 4: But my trepidation is, like we talk about how you know,
24:41
Speaker 4: all these people are going to ride the street car,
24:43
Speaker 4: and I certainly hope that's the case. But when it
24:46
Speaker 4: comes to as trump ism would be the great big,
24:50
Speaker 4: beautiful buses. We wasn't that long ago that we bought
24:54
Speaker 4: great big buses to go all around Omaha. I've worked
24:57
Speaker 4: at the med Center as a nurse for forty seven years,
25:00
Speaker 4: and I can tell you that when I go up
25:02
Speaker 4: and down Dodge Street before work, after work and rush hour,
25:06
Speaker 4: there's nobody using those buses. You could use a small
25:09
Speaker 4: van to transport the number of people that generally on them.
25:12
Speaker 4: So I just was wondering why we aren't reducing the
25:16
Speaker 4: size of our buses or if that was a good
25:19
Speaker 4: thing that we did back when.
25:21
Speaker 1: Sure, and thank you, fellow nurse, because you know I
25:24
Speaker 1: am a former critical care nurse. Once a nurse, always
25:27
Speaker 1: a nurse. But you know, the bus system in Omaha
25:31
Speaker 1: is not run by the city. It is run by
25:33
Speaker 1: Metro Transit. Up until about a year ago, I did
25:38
Speaker 1: appoint the board to Metro Transit the mayor appointed the board,
25:42
Speaker 1: so I did for the last twelve years, but it
25:44
Speaker 1: has now changed to be an elected position, so they
25:47
Speaker 1: are elected.
25:49
Speaker 2: The thing with the bus system.
25:51
Speaker 1: Is they always need to be looking at making and
25:55
Speaker 1: creating more routes that are more and more convenient. The
25:58
Speaker 1: big buses that bought, the big articulated buses that Metro
26:02
Speaker 1: Transit has that are out working now is called the BRT,
26:08
Speaker 1: the Bus Rapid Transit, and it is meant to go
26:11
Speaker 1: at higher speeds. It is meant to have multiple stops
26:15
Speaker 1: along the way, and you don't need a bus schedule
26:18
Speaker 1: because if you miss it within five or ten minutes,
26:21
Speaker 1: another one is going to come by. The BRT started
26:24
Speaker 1: out at about eighth Street downtown and it went straight
26:28
Speaker 1: out to the West Roads. You have to look at
26:31
Speaker 1: it as the initial route because not unlike the streetcar,
26:34
Speaker 1: they are already looking into multiple routes that will come
26:38
Speaker 1: off this initial route with the BRT going up to
26:40
Speaker 1: North Omaha and to South Omaha. And I will tell
26:43
Speaker 1: you that Metro Transit does keep track of ridership and
26:49
Speaker 1: people do use our buses. That's the issue I know.
26:52
Speaker 1: I hear a lot of times people saying well, I
26:55
Speaker 1: saw one of those big articulated buses and no one
26:57
Speaker 1: was on it. But there are millions of people in
27:01
Speaker 1: Omaha that ride our bus system every year and depend
27:05
Speaker 1: on it. Some people absolutely depend on it and don't
27:08
Speaker 1: have cars and it's their only way to get from
27:11
Speaker 1: their home to work or to the doctor's office or whatever.
27:15
Speaker 1: And so it's it's in Metro Transit's hands where these
27:18
Speaker 1: bus stops are going to be with the regular buses
27:22
Speaker 1: and the big articulated buses, but people do use them
27:26
Speaker 1: and do depend on them. And it's so important to
27:28
Speaker 1: have a public transportation city or a system for a
27:32
Speaker 1: big and growing city. We have to look at every
27:35
Speaker 1: way people commute, and so that's by automobiles, by bikes,
27:40
Speaker 1: and pedestrians and public transportation. I get a lot of
27:44
Speaker 1: people saying, well, nobody's using the bike lanes either, but
27:47
Speaker 1: some people do depend on it. Now that is true
27:50
Speaker 1: that in Omaha about ninety no I would say maybe
27:53
Speaker 1: eighty eighty eighty five percent, And that's just an estimate
27:56
Speaker 1: of people commute by using cars, and it will probably
28:00
Speaker 1: probably stay that way. But you need to have other
28:02
Speaker 1: options available for those that want to use public transportation.
28:06
Speaker 1: Or one a walk or want to use their bikes.
28:09
Speaker 1: So all of those things are important. But there is
28:12
Speaker 1: that ridership there with our bus system, and we can
28:15
Speaker 1: only hope that the Metro transle will continue to look
28:18
Speaker 1: at more routes to make it more convenient for more
28:21
Speaker 1: people to use the buses.
28:23
Speaker 3: Just because you are not actively using a bus line
28:25
Speaker 3: or a bike lane doesn't mean that other people aren't
28:29
Speaker 3: or that it's not important.
28:30
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. You know, there's a Millard Express. I
28:32
Speaker 1: live in the Millard area. I live about one hundred
28:35
Speaker 1: and twenty thin Q and that Millard Express goes downtown
28:38
Speaker 1: every morning and it's full. I mean it really does.
28:41
Speaker 1: But I tried riding the bus one time, just when
28:43
Speaker 1: I was married. Oh yeah, really for really, just to
28:45
Speaker 1: see what it was like, and I wanted to experience
28:48
Speaker 1: it myself. And the experience wasn't that good. I mean,
28:51
Speaker 1: I live again about one hundred and twentyeth ink QU.
28:54
Speaker 1: The closest bus stop was right by where H and
28:57
Speaker 1: H Chevrolet used to be, which is eighty fourth and L.
29:00
Speaker 1: So I had to get down there and then the
29:02
Speaker 1: bus was late, and then but when I got on
29:05
Speaker 1: the bus, I mean it took forever to get downtown,
29:08
Speaker 1: and I had to go through Exarbon Village, I went
29:11
Speaker 1: through the Med Center, I went through a seemed like
29:14
Speaker 1: a dozen different areas and then the bus dropped me
29:17
Speaker 1: off at Joslin and then I had to walk from
29:20
Speaker 1: Joslyn down to City Hall. So that one experience that
29:24
Speaker 1: I had. Now, this was years ago and they might
29:27
Speaker 1: not even have that route anymore, but you have to
29:29
Speaker 1: make it convenient for people that depend on it.
29:31
Speaker 3: Well, hey, that says a lot about you willing to
29:33
Speaker 3: go out and actually experience it and see what it's like.
29:36
Speaker 3: Because people can tell you anything, oh, this and that,
29:39
Speaker 3: but actually seeing it yourself, that's interesting context.
29:42
Speaker 2: It is and it's helpful to do that.
29:44
Speaker 1: And so if you if you haven't experienced what it's
29:48
Speaker 1: like to use the bus or to use the BRT,
29:51
Speaker 1: the bus rapid transit, you know, I suggest that you do.
29:54
Speaker 1: Now one thing about the bus Rabbit Transit. It was
29:57
Speaker 1: launched and first started running and COVID hit so I
30:01
Speaker 1: mean bam, and yeah, when it was first launched, there
30:04
Speaker 1: weren't a lot of people riding the buses at all,
30:07
Speaker 1: but there weren't many people flying in airplanes. Either and
30:10
Speaker 1: we weren't going to shut down the airport, so we
30:13
Speaker 1: just had to get through COVID. And since COVID, the
30:16
Speaker 1: ridership has increased and increased.
30:19
Speaker 3: We have a new caller here on the line. This
30:21
Speaker 3: comes from Larry. Larry, you're on news radio eleven ten
30:24
Speaker 3: KFAB with Jean's author.
30:27
Speaker 6: Thank you for taking McCall. Thanks. In relation to Vision zero,
30:33
Speaker 6: but also the homeless situation along the Northwest Radio Highway.
30:38
Speaker 6: I went to the meeting last week. Very confusing, but
30:42
Speaker 6: it does explain what appears to be severe neglect of
30:47
Speaker 6: the Radio Highway and Saddle Creek along the northwest between
30:53
Speaker 6: Coming and a little ways north of Hamilton. Severe neglect
31:01
Speaker 6: in the Walnut Hill area and part of Dundee ranging
31:06
Speaker 6: from forty fifth Street to about forty eighth Street. Now
31:12
Speaker 6: Kiff development is part of it also. But Vision zero
31:16
Speaker 6: meeting was pretty confusing, but it's a large scale plan
31:21
Speaker 6: for reducing traffic difference to zero. It's correct, a lot
31:26
Speaker 6: of smoking mirrors, I think, but that explains what that
31:33
Speaker 6: area is really severely blinded.
31:38
Speaker 1: Yes, I agree, I agree with you, and let me
31:41
Speaker 1: explain Vision zero a little bit first, because when I
31:45
Speaker 1: first put a Vision zero team together. You know, I
31:49
Speaker 1: got some criticism for it, saying it's just a it's
31:52
Speaker 1: a liberal movement. But Vision zero is a multi national
31:58
Speaker 1: traffic safety program and the strategy is to eliminate and
32:04
Speaker 1: reduce all traffic deaths and fatalities and injuries. Now that's
32:10
Speaker 1: a very lofty goal. We're never going to meet it.
32:12
Speaker 1: But I thought we could never say, well, I just
32:15
Speaker 1: I want only X many deaths with traffic, so the
32:18
Speaker 1: goal is none. It started in nineteen ninety seven in Sweden,
32:23
Speaker 1: and like I said, it's a national, multinational effort, and
32:27
Speaker 1: it isn't just smoke and mirrors, because what it does
32:31
Speaker 1: is that team worked with public works and our engineers
32:35
Speaker 1: and they looked at all in any way that we
32:38
Speaker 1: could make our roads safer. What have other communities done,
32:41
Speaker 1: What of other cities in other you know, in Europe
32:45
Speaker 1: and other countries done. And for example, in New York
32:48
Speaker 1: City when they implemented their Vision zero, their number of
32:53
Speaker 1: traffic deaths fell to a historic low. And so I mean,
32:57
Speaker 1: we're looking at how we construct our roads. We're looking
33:01
Speaker 1: at safety things that are proven, like roundabouts. People when
33:07
Speaker 1: I mentioned a roundabout, they tend to go, oh my gosh,
33:09
Speaker 1: I hate the thought of a roundabout.
33:11
Speaker 2: I don't like them.
33:12
Speaker 1: I hate them, but they work because the number one reason,
33:16
Speaker 1: there's two reasons that people get into traffic accidents and
33:21
Speaker 1: ended up in fatalities are two things, and number one
33:24
Speaker 1: is red light running and number two is speeding a
33:28
Speaker 1: traffic You know, a roundabout takes care of both of
33:31
Speaker 1: them because there are no signals and you have to
33:33
Speaker 1: slow down. So all of these recommendations that came from
33:38
Speaker 1: the Vision zero group and task force that I put
33:41
Speaker 1: together are now being implemented in our road projects, and
33:46
Speaker 1: so yeah, they really do make a lot of sense.
33:49
Speaker 1: But like I said, this has been around since nineteen
33:51
Speaker 1: ninety seven, and I gave New York City as an example,
33:55
Speaker 1: But cities that have implemented have seen a lot less
33:58
Speaker 1: fatality serious in reason traffic crashes.
34:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna run for mayor and propose putting roundabouts
34:05
Speaker 3: at every single intersection.
34:06
Speaker 2: I bet I'll get you would.
34:07
Speaker 1: Be very unpopular by doing that. But they do work,
34:12
Speaker 1: is the thing. And people always think it would inhibit
34:15
Speaker 1: fire trucks public safety for getting around them. Those fire
34:18
Speaker 1: trucks are going to get around to roundabout. There's no
34:21
Speaker 1: way they won't. If they have to go over the top,
34:23
Speaker 1: they'll get through.
34:24
Speaker 3: And they're designed to be accessible by all those vehicles.
34:27
Speaker 3: You're not gonna build one and not have that in mind.
34:30
Speaker 3: Are those big trailers or a semi coming through? Sometimes?
34:33
Speaker 2: You know, people hate the thought of them, but they work.
34:35
Speaker 3: It's accounted for, right, DJ, You're on news radio eleven
34:38
Speaker 3: ten KFAB with Jean's author.
34:40
Speaker 5: Good morning, Good morning, just curious.
34:46
Speaker 6: I'm DJ, the grandson of W. D. Clark.
34:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, why.
34:53
Speaker 6: Hi, I'm wondering if his name goes away from the
34:56
Speaker 6: library system with the closing of that branch.
35:00
Speaker 1: You know when that's a gal really good question, because
35:03
Speaker 1: it you know it did. And you know when when
35:08
Speaker 1: the opportunity came to me to build a brand new
35:13
Speaker 1: skyscraper downtown and they really needed to be on a
35:19
Speaker 1: streetcar line because of the number of employees they had,
35:23
Speaker 1: we thought as a team that the very very best
35:26
Speaker 1: place to put it would be at the site of
35:29
Speaker 1: the Dale Clerk, the old Dale Clark Library.
35:31
Speaker 2: Now, I will be honest with you.
35:33
Speaker 1: All, I got criticized a lot for taking that library down. However,
35:38
Speaker 1: the library did many, many, many studies before that decision
35:43
Speaker 1: was made, and they did not like The library director
35:46
Speaker 1: did not like that library at that site anymore. It
35:49
Speaker 1: was outdated, it was not safe, there was a it
35:53
Speaker 1: was not functional anymore, and they really wanted a new
35:57
Speaker 1: downtown library to be built really serve the client tele
36:01
Speaker 1: that is down there now, and so we did make
36:04
Speaker 1: the decision to take that down. We did build a
36:07
Speaker 1: new downtown library and it is not called the Dale
36:11
Speaker 1: Clark Library, because it was pretty iconic that one building
36:15
Speaker 1: was the Dale Clark. But you know, I would have
36:17
Speaker 1: to do a little more research into that to see
36:21
Speaker 1: about will that name and can that name be preserved,
36:25
Speaker 1: because I think when people talked about the Downtown library,
36:28
Speaker 1: they talked about the Dale Clark Library, and you hate
36:31
Speaker 1: for that to be lost, and you hate for the
36:33
Speaker 1: history of.
36:34
Speaker 2: That to be lost too. So I understand your question.
36:37
Speaker 1: I was, you know, I could dig into that a
36:39
Speaker 1: little further and we could talk about that maybe tomorrow.
36:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interesting too. What does it mean for naming rights?
36:46
Speaker 3: I mean, it was already named that it was.
36:50
Speaker 1: It's changed over the years naming rights, and that's in
36:54
Speaker 1: city code.
36:55
Speaker 2: I know.
36:56
Speaker 1: I told the story about when Webster Downtown when I
36:59
Speaker 1: was on the council was renamed Mike Fahey. Now that
37:03
Speaker 1: is a permanent renaming. But then the council at the
37:06
Speaker 1: time and I was a no vote on this, changed
37:09
Speaker 1: what is in city code and says you have to
37:12
Speaker 1: be not only dead, but you have to be dead
37:14
Speaker 1: ten years to get something permanently named after you. Interesting,
37:19
Speaker 1: but you can have a commemorative like people will say, well,
37:22
Speaker 1: then why did mayor you ain't get a street named
37:24
Speaker 1: after him after he was mayor two months? That's a
37:27
Speaker 1: commemorative street renaming. So if you look at a map
37:30
Speaker 1: of the city, I can't even remember the original name
37:33
Speaker 1: of the street that is now commemoratively commemoratively named after
37:37
Speaker 1: mayor you ing that stays permanent, so that naming rights
37:41
Speaker 1: are for city applied to streets and city facilities. So
37:45
Speaker 1: like the arena Convention Center there, you know, now it's
37:49
Speaker 1: called CHI, but they went through a big process for
37:52
Speaker 1: naming rights for CHI for example, and so but it's
37:57
Speaker 1: it's like a twenty twenty five year agree and it
38:00
Speaker 1: costs c CHI millions and millions and millions of dollars
38:04
Speaker 1: to have their name on the arena convention Center. And
38:07
Speaker 1: the same with the ballpark. Remember the ballpark has changed
38:10
Speaker 1: what the names were to. Yes, so but I'm going
38:13
Speaker 1: to do a little research into the Dale Clark if
38:15
Speaker 1: if that name can be preserved in any way, and
38:18
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that tomorrow. Mary Ewings is low that's
38:23
Speaker 1: right Low. Yeah, and that was an area where he
38:26
Speaker 1: kind of grew up in that area. So it's still
38:28
Speaker 1: if you look at the map of the city, it
38:30
Speaker 1: still remains low Thrup. But if you drive around there,
38:33
Speaker 1: there's a round sign underneath that would say Mayor John
38:37
Speaker 1: Ewing Jr.
38:38
Speaker 2: Very interesting. Thank you for the call.
38:39
Speaker 6: DJ.
38:40
Speaker 3: That's that's good questions. And I always like interesting new
38:42
Speaker 3: topics like that too. And now Gene has to do
38:45
Speaker 3: a little homework and see where we can go with
38:49
Speaker 3: the naming rights. I'm good at that too, yeah, as
38:51
Speaker 3: she always likes to go. All right, we're going to
38:53
Speaker 3: touch on this real quick before we get out of here.
38:55
Speaker 3: This is coming from people, and they you said something
38:59
Speaker 3: about Nebraska state law or constitute law, constitution. They said,
39:06
Speaker 3: miss mayor, is the city allowed to partially or completely
39:09
Speaker 3: defray property taxes on the businesses involved?
39:15
Speaker 2: Pure?
39:15
Speaker 3: Okay, so the city not reimburse the businesses in form
39:19
Speaker 3: of a loss of compensation. You have about sixty seconds.
39:21
Speaker 2: Well, like I.
39:22
Speaker 1: Said, it's there in the Nebraska State Constitution. It prevents
39:27
Speaker 1: government from giving out public funds. This is taxpayer funds
39:30
Speaker 1: because the city, all the city's budget is based on
39:33
Speaker 1: taxpayer funds sales tax, property tax, restaurant tax. But it
39:37
Speaker 1: prevents any government from giving up public funds to private
39:41
Speaker 1: business and that includes loans and grants. And there is
39:45
Speaker 1: no exception to that prohibition, no exception, no exception at all.
39:50
Speaker 1: And the businesses that I know have been already informed
39:53
Speaker 1: of that. So it is it's the City of Omaha
39:57
Speaker 1: is not able to give taxpayer dollars to private businesses.
40:02
Speaker 3: And that one point two million that you had in
40:04
Speaker 3: an account that was from donations. That was people giving
40:07
Speaker 3: their own money on their own accord.
40:09
Speaker 1: It was from donations and mostly from bigger businesses giving donations.
40:13
Speaker 1: It was run through the chamber, so it was not
40:16
Speaker 1: run through the City of Omaha. But those a lot
40:18
Speaker 1: of that money has been dispersed. But there is the problem,
40:23
Speaker 1: like I said before, is they are still these businesses
40:26
Speaker 1: being affected and being affected very negatively in mostly the
40:30
Speaker 1: restaurants and the bars, and a lot of it is
40:33
Speaker 1: just that they can't even find a place to park.
40:36
Speaker 1: But it's because now it's taking two years longer than
40:39
Speaker 1: it originally was, and so they're going to be inconvenienced
40:43
Speaker 1: and perhaps devastated their business because now this is going
40:48
Speaker 1: to last two more years, which is not positive.
40:52
Speaker 3: We have some really really good guests on the slate
40:55
Speaker 3: this week. I know Gene knows, but you don't know yet.
40:58
Speaker 3: You'll have to keep listening to find out. This This
41:00
Speaker 3: is the gens Au third show. Cafa be comment line.
41:03
Speaker 3: My name is Peyton Highlocked, producer of the show. We
41:05
Speaker 3: are going to catch you guys tomorrow
41:06
Speaker 2: And thanks for listening, Thanks for being with us today.